Coming Home

[FOTH]

May 20, 2014 17:39:22 GMT -6 2medicine woman said:

Oh dear, poor Einar. Sometimes you have to give in to the reality. Sometimes, bodies stop functioning for a valid reason. Mine did. Everything I thought was me, was gone. I had to re-evaluate myself and my life/situation. I had to delve deeper and find the core of myself. I did.

Thank you for the new post. This story gives me so much to mull over and digest. I appreciate your talents, skills, and willingness to share.

Thank you, twomedicinewoman.


No chapter today, but I will have one ready for tomorrow.

[FOTH]

Despite dreams which ordinarily would have jarred him from sleep and sent him scrambling out into the cold to keep vigil on some high ridge until the coming of daylight, Einar barely moved during the dark hours that night. He was home, safe, for the time, in the little basin with his family safe and peacefully resting beside him, and some portion of his brain remembered that, and allowed him to sleep. Liz also slept, relieved to have a night during which she did not have to keep waking and wondering where Einar might be, whether he was warm, had eaten, if he would see the morning. In the night she was dimly aware of his restlessness, kept a hand on his shoulder in the hopes of providing him some measure of reassurance should he wake not knowing where he was. She wanted to be closer to him, keep him warm, as he was quite obviously struggling with the cold even there in the shelter, but he kept startling and inching away whenever she tried it, so after a time she let him be, huddling half in and half out of the unzipped sleeping bag where for whatever reason he seemed to find the situation most tenable, parka pulled up haphazardly over one shoulder in an attempt to keep out some of the night chill.

At least, Liz told herself, he had eaten a fair portion of the stew that evening, and would surely be in a better position for making it through the night than he had been over the past week and several days of his absence. The food ought to help. He had certainly needed it, had, much to her dismay, clearly lost more weight while out on the trail, despite his mention of moose meat and avalanche lilies whose roots he had almost obtained for food… Almost. She shook her head, moved a bit closer and was glad when this time he made no effort to increase the distance between them.

Morning, and Einar was up before daylight heading out on the trapline, feet dragging some despite his best efforts and body feeling heavy, legs reluctant to support him but a lightness in his heart as he watched the first golden fingers of the sun brush peaks still brilliantly white with lingering snow. Good to be home. No rabbits though, nothing in any of the snares, and he knew they’d be needing other food sources to supplement the occasional animal thus obtained. Deer, elk and bighorns would be somewhat scrawny that time of year, having themselves just come through a hard winter, but they would still provide a good supply of meat, should he manage to find places where they were spending the spring. This would require travel to a lower elevation, however, and he’d had quite enough travel for the moment, if more could be avoided.

Wished he’d been in a position to bring back a significant portion of that moose meat. Would have loaded a good sixty or eighty pounds of the stuff onto his back and hauled it up the canyon, had it not been for his discovery and the need to evade a couple of bat scientists who likely as not had no intentions of pursuing him, in the first place… Hadn’t been much of a choice though, as he’d had to assume he was being pursued, that the men had contacted others when they used the radio and perhaps—had they suspected the true identity of the strange wild man whose sleep they had disturbed—even passed the information on to the feds and reactivated the search. Not a time to be loading one’s self down with moose meat.

At least—he could be reasonably certain—his suspicions about a renewed search seemed to have been unfounded, as demonstrated by the blessed absence of renewed aircraft activity. Seemed nearly certain that they would have seen things start to stir by then, had his presence been reported as something suspicious. Still, reported or not, the encounter troubled him greatly, for it represented a threat of the sort they simply could not afford in their current life, and he had brought it to them as a result of his carelessness down there in the canyon.

Not deliberate carelessness, wouldn’t do that, but by allowing yourself to get into such a depleted state over the past…well, months, years, goes back a ways I guess, you kind of set yourself up for that, and set your family up for the consequences, too. Got no business doing that, not with them depending on you not only to help provide for their daily needs, but to use your experience to keep them out of the hands of the feds. Depending on you for that, and here you go creating a threat and inviting trouble by falling asleep in a place where people ended up coming. Not only falling asleep there, but—he shuddered at the memory, hadn’t really wanted to think much about it since that day—ending up unable to get up and go, when they did come across you. Do you realize the implications of that? Realize how close you came, that time? If they’d been searchers of some sort, or even if they’d simply been bat scientists, but had recognized you, it might well have all ended right then and there. They’d have had you and you couldn’t have done a thing about it.

Is that really a situation you want? Would want, even if other people weren’t depending on you? That’s just about your worst nightmare, man. Ending up defenseless like that with the enemy standing over you and you entirely unable to resist, just like in the tunnel that day when you came out of that water and had the little guy in black pajamas knock you upside the head before you could do anything about it, and drag you away to that cage… He kicked savagely at a nearby granite boulder, suddenly very angry and no longer the least bit cold, struggling hard to keep himself in the present and prevent his slipping into the dark, humid jungle world that seemed always lurking to claim him when such memories presented themselves with any degree of intensity.

No, he did not want a repeat of that situation, and the fact that he’d very nearly let it happen again infuriated him, left him wanting very badly to bash himself senseless against the nearest sizeable chunk of granite by way of recompense for acting so foolishly, such an act seeming the only way to set things right, but he kept walking, didn’t do it, knowing the resulting blood loss would only serve to worsen the situation and increase the likelihood of finding himself in another similar predicament. That was the problem, wasn’t it? The things he used to get himself through these troubles—had used all his life to do so—were killing him now, were demanding more and more of him until there quite literally wasn’t much left. Supposed perhaps he could find some new ways of doing things, if he really set his mind to it. If he really wanted to change his methods. Which, most times, he was pretty sure he did not, for reasons of his own. Enough, Einar. Let’s have a little less talk, and a lot more action, as they say. This nonsense isn’t getting us breakfast, and it’s about time you helped Liz get hold of the provisions around here. She’s been on her own with that for way too long. Your turn.

Setting aside for the time all his philosophical musings—but not the anger which had come with his remembering the incident in the tunnel; that was not so easy to set aside, once it had taken hold—Einar continued up the ridge, his pace increased and feet not dragging nearly as badly as they had been. Had to be food out there, and he meant to find it.

[2medicine woman]

That's interesting. Einar took a fairly healthy look at himself there. Never easy to do. Hope he finds some food for his family and himself.

Is it ok to ask what range they are in? I love mountains. I am a flat lander and am fascinated by the geography and geology of mountain ranges. This picture is about 40 miles n. w. of me. We live flat here!




Thanks for another great update.

[icefire]

Well, FINALLY Einar is realizing that his not eating or taking care of himself is not only putting himself at risk, but putting Liz and little Snorri/Will at risk, as well. Admitting the problem is the first step in resolving it. Let's hope that He will start making a concerted effort to get healthy and strong again...if not for himself, then for his family.

Thanks for the latest installment, Chris!

[FOTH]

May 25, 2014 13:51:59 GMT -6 2medicine woman said:

That's interesting. Einar took a fairly healthy look at himself there. Never easy to do. Hope he finds some food for his family and himself.

Is it ok to ask what range they are in? I love mountains. I am a flat lander and am fascinated by the geography and geology of mountain ranges. This picture is about 40 miles n. w. of me. We live flat here!

That is indeed some flat country there! A beautiful place, and I'm sure it is nice to be able to see such a big sky, as opposed to the sometimes-narrow strip we see, between high horizons. I would feel out of place there, though. Nowhere to hide. Got to be within easy walking distance of high ground and timber, myself.

Einar and Liz could be in one of many mountain ranges in Western Colorado, but the San Juans, the Elks and the Sawatch would most closely resemble the terrain that surrounds them.

May 25, 2014 21:22:17 GMT -6 icefire said:

Well, FINALLY Einar is realizing that his not eating or taking care of himself is not only putting himself at risk, but putting Liz and little Snorri/Will at risk, as well. Admitting the problem is the first step in resolving it. Let's hope that He will start making a concerted effort to get healthy and strong again...if not for himself, then for his family.

Thanks for the latest installment, Chris!

Thanks for reading! Yes, guess Einar is stating to take a more realistic look at things, now. Hope he can find a way to continue on this path, so he can meet his responsibilities to his family.

____________________

High on the ridge, in a spot where he could look down and see the dark cluster of timber which he knew concealed the shelter, Einar finally found the sign for which he had been searching. The elk, it seemed, had stuck to the ridge crest where wind had scoured from the rocky landscape a good bit of the snow, making travel an easier and far less exhausting prospect than it would have been some distance down either slope.

Though the tracks appeared to have been made in snow that was somewhat soft at the time and not in the frigid early hours of that morning, they were recent enough to catch his interest and give him hope of a successful hunt should he return to the ridge at the right time. Late afternoon, by all appearances, and Einar started back down the ridge excited about returning later in the day to wait for the elk to put in an appearance. Knew he would be reluctant to use a bullet in the taking of the animal—more due to the noise it would make than to the fact that it was an irreplaceable resource under current conditions—but was pretty sure the situation warranted it. Though he hated to admit as much even to himself, he somewhat doubted his present ability to hurl an atlatl dart with sufficient force to bring down a large animal, besides which he would have to start from scratch in making the atlatl, darts and dart heads, and very much hoped to bring in a significant supply of meat before he would have had time to craft such weapons. Could afford one shot from the rifle. Chances were very remote that it would be heard either by anyone on the far rim or down in the canyon, considering the geography.

On the return trip Einar saw little sign of other game, a few rabbit droppings under an overhanging branch and a spruce cone which had recently been shredded by a squirrel being exceptions, further confirming the need to take a larger animal, and soon. Well. He’d already got that settled. Was going elk hunting that afternoon, and hopefully would have success, or at least get a glimpse of the creature, if she had changed her route and habits. He had to wonder what a lone elk was doing up so high, that early in the season. Not a lot to eat, and travel remained difficult where deep banks of half-rotted snow remained under the timber. The animal, he was reasonably certain by the size of its tracks, was female, yet nothing about that high, deadfall-choked country ought to prove attractive as calving grounds. Guessed he would just have to wait and see, perhaps piece the story together from other sign he would see above the spot where he turned around on the ridge, or—hopefully—from observing the animal herself, just before he brought her home to feed his family.

The prospect of thus providing buoyed his spirits and lent a bit of a spring to his step, which had before been seriously lagging, losing speed, and by the time the shelter—and the faint wisps of almost-invisible smoke from Liz’s breakfast fire—came into sight, he was almost bounding down the trail, dodging branches and aiming for the harder-crusted, cement-like snow of the sunnier areas, where he would not sink in and thus would leave little sign. Liz met him at the door.

“Where have you been, so early? Checking the trapline?”

“Nothing in the snares this morning.”

“That’s ok. There will be tomorrow. It’s been like that. We still have some rabbit broth left, and some of the things from Bud and Susan.”

“That’s good, but guess what?”

Liz shrugged, and Einar scooped up Will, who had pulled himself to a standing position against the far wall, and was swaying on his feet, entirely unsupported, not far from walking. The little one squealed at the tough of his father’s icy hands, but it was not, Liz noted, a squeal of distress, but rather of delight. Like father, like son.

“Saw elk sign up there on the ridge above where the traplie stops. Real fresh. Yesterday’s I would say, and I’m gonna head back up there in the afternoon and see if I can get us an elk.”

“Won’t it be awfully scrawny now, at the end of winter?”

“Not as scrawny as I am, and I’m still good for something!”

“Not funny…”

“Well, I thought it was. This elk though, it won’t be as scrawny as the spruce needles and usnea lichen we’re going to be eating if we don’t get some serious meat, pretty soon! Won’t be at its peak, for sure, but will keep us going.”

“Yes. It will. If you get this elk, make sure and come down to let me know so I can help you pack it out. Ok?”

“Sure! Unless I end up accidentally loading the entire critter up on my back and galumphing down the slope, before I have time to stop and think about it!”

“Ha! Galumphing would be about right. One galumph, and you’d be flat on your stomach in the snow with an elk on top of you and no way to get loose. That would be one unique way to go, for sure, but how about let’s try and avoid it for now, ok? I need somebody to help me tan the hide and turn part of it into a parka for Will, for next winter.”

“Ok I’ll try and stick around for a while. Just kidding about carrying that whole elk, anyway. Couldn’t do that right now if I wanted to.”

“I know, but I think sometimes you forget.”

“Sometimes a person has to forget. Sometimes, it’s the only way you can keep yourself going.”

“Sometimes.” She wanted to say more, but did not, simply embracing him, glad he was back and knowing, if she had not known before, what a near thing it had been, his returning. Was always a near thing, but this time, he’d been dancing on the edge of that canyon the entire way, on the edge of the abyss, and if he had forgotten, she had not. Well. Enough of that. She let him go, returned to her breakfast preparations. They must eat, and then there was an elk hunt to plan.

[2medicine woman]

Good new post. Einar running around all "spring like." I do hope he gets some fresh meat but, also hope the price doesn't get too high. Best laid plans of mice and men type scenario.

Thanks for the addition. Little Will is going to be up and running soon. That will be interesting.

[FOTH]

There was to be no elk hunting that afternoon, a fact that became clear to Einar when he heard the third plane go over and realized where they were coming from. The party on the canyon rim was, it seemed, finally breaking up and moving on after nearly two weeks of occupying the camp. Apparently they had finished counting, following and inventorying their bats. Certainly there had been too many campers present to be ferried out all at once in the planes he’d seen beside the makeshift landing strip, which explained why they now seemed to be making multiple trips back and forth. At least, seeing that the planes did not circle or seem to take any undue interest in the area of the shelter, he found himself more of less able to accept their presence as reasonable and fully explained, not a cause for any rash actions or a hasty evacuation of the little basin.

Liz was glad he saw it that way, hoped the trend would continue, as the last thing she wanted was to be on the run again with little Will and his father, who had himself just returned from a rather extensive and exhausting trek, and could without doubt benefit greatly from a few quiet days at home. The air traffic concerned her, though. Concerned them both, though they were in agreement very likely had nothing to do with them. Anytime significant numbers of aircraft were passing over the place, the chances were increased of someone spotting an irregularity on the ground, some little detail which caught their attention and perhaps warranted, in their minds, further investigation. The trapline, for instance, and the tracks they’d left in checking it each morning. While human-made trails could look like elk trails from the air—Einar had seen it—anyone with more than a passing familiarity with elk would know that few could be found up that high in such an early season, making their trail an anomaly.

Worried, Einar paced the small space inside the shelter, three steps to the spot where the ceiling sloped down and he could no longer stand close to upright, three steps back, pausing to crouch and listen, palm against the outer wall, at the drone of yet another aircraft. Despite himself he crouched lower as the thing approached, some subconscious section of his brain thinking, perhaps, to disappear into the soil and his body shaking with the conflict of remaining still when really he wanted to hurry out and plaster himself against the trunk of the nearest evergreen, concealed, safe.

Wait. Just be still, and wait. They can’t see you in here, and besides, almost certainly aren’t looking. It will pass. They’ll all pass, and be gone, and you can… Inner words silenced, he listened again to the sky. Something changing in the quality of sound coming from that most recent plane, a change in direction, it seemed, and then he was sure. Thing was circling back, strange, and it did not fit the pattern. Silence in the shelter, even Will seeming to sense something amiss, until the drone had grow louder, passed again and faded away into the distance. When the quiet had held for the better part of a minute with no sign of the plane’s return, Liz crouched beside Einar, put a hand on his shoulder.

“What do you think they were doing?”

“Hard to say. Just looking, maybe. Hopefully not seeing too much.”

“I don’t think we’ve left too much for them to see, have we?”

“Just the trapline, mostly. And my tracks coming and going. Not much to see in most places, because the snow’s been so hard. But in others…someone who’s really looking might have plenty to see.”

“They’re looking for bats. We don’t look a lot like bats, so that ought to help quite a lot.”

“Ha! I’ve been called ‘batty’ before, among other things, but no, we sure don’t look like the little critters, and can hope these folks were just circling back to enjoy the view, or to check out a ledge or rock formation they thought might provide a good home for bats, for future reference. Think we can sit tight for now, but the elk hunt’s a wash for today. Not going anywhere while these planes are so active. If the bat camp is closing down, hopefully everyone will pack up and head out today, and things will be quiet again tomorrow.”

“The elk hunt can wait a day. We’ve got rabbit broth left, and some things from Bud and Susan still. If we could have a fire, I’d make us split pea soup with rabbit broth! But we can’t. So it will be cold rabbit broth and beef jerky, I guess. Unless you want rabbit broth with peanut butter, instead!”

“Hmm. Doesn’t sound bad at all, really. Especially if we had some garlic and chilis to put with it. Could make a real fine meal. We could use it as a sauce over a big pot of usnea lichen, make the stuff taste real edible, and keep us full for longer, too!”

“Well, when this snow finishes going and all the plants are up, I’ll see if I can find us some wild garlic to use fresh, and dry for next winter. The chilis might be a little less manageable, but there’s always some sort of wild mustard around, and we can use that, instead!”

“Well, sounds like a good plan. When summer comes. For now, I guess it’s rabbit broth and jerky tonight, then hopefully tomorrow I can make some progress on getting us an elk.”

“Elk!” Will shouted, voice triumphant if a bit squeaky, startling both Einar and Liz with his sudden acquisition of a new word. “Elk! Elk! Fire elk!”

“Oh yeah?” Einar asked, scooping him up and setting him on one knee. “And just what is a ‘fire elk,’ if I may ask? Sounds interesting, for sure. Does it breathe fire, or look like fire, or just live where forest fires have come through, like fireweed?”

“Fire!”

“Yes, fire. And just as soon as these doggone planes have gone for good, I’ll be heading out to hunt the mighty fire elk, Will. Can’t take you with me this time, because if you were to yell ‘elk’ just as the critter came into sight, it would be kind of a disaster, but maybe next time. And you can sure help us skin the critter out, and start to learn the procedure there. Maybe even help with the tanning, who knows? What do you think? Is he too little to help with the tanning?”

“I’m sure he doesn’t think so, but he’d just eat the brains. Eat them, smear them all over himself, and pretty soon we wouldn’t have enough left to get the hide tanned!”

“Hmm. That could be a little bit of a problem. Sorry little guy, guess that one might have to wait a few months, too. But you can watch, anyway.” With which Einar fell silent, another plane making itself heard in the distance.

[2medicine woman]

I never like to read planes in this story. Right away I think it is trouble. I am glad their winter is coming to an end though. Always nice to see the green and have warm air around you.

Why does Einar insist on staying in these mountains? There is a lot of mountains with lots of places to set up a home for all three of them. I would think it would be more realistic to be as far away from the place of his escape and "run" as is possible.

Thanks for the new chapter. Always worth waiting for.

[grizz]

Part of what make FOTH such a great author is not letting Einar have the easy way out, while it would feel nice for things to go along calmly for the family the story would start to loose it's edge with no "enemy" to hide from.

As always great work FOTH and thank you for sharing your considerable talent with us

[2medicine woman]

Grizz. Thank you for sharing your opinion with me. Perhaps Einar is not capable of resting and spending time with his family. Perhaps it is just the woman in me that would like to see them be able to take a breather from the constant stress of a posse on their tail. Perhaps neither of us know what we are talking about and only Chris knows?

Thank you for your comments to a great story.

[FOTH]

2medicinewoman--Perhaps Einar would be wiser to head for another area, or the border, somewhere hundreds of miles from any previous search site, but these mountains have been his home for a long time, and he has chosen not to give up the advantage of being on his home terrain, even though this can lead to difficulties.

I do understand your wishing things could settle down for the little family, though, and am pretty sure Liz agrees with you.

Grizz--Thank you. No, Einar has seldom in his life taken the easy way out, even when it has been an option. He probably wouldn't know what to do with himself if things ever got too much easier.

______________________

By sometime just after dusk that evening the planes had stopped passing overhead, a sign, Einar hoped, that the camp on the rim was finally empty, and their own lives could begin returning to something a bit more like normal. The night itself was quiet, and still being rather exhausted from his journey, Einar slept soundly and well, waking only occasionally to tilt his head and listen for the distant drone of an approaching plane. Did not really expect to hear any, not so long as all the traffic that past afternoon and evening had truly been limited to the ending of the bat camp, and not to any renewed search or surveillance of the area.

Morning brought a welcomed stillness over the little basin, skies quiet and the breeze which whispered through the firs surprisingly mild, almost warm. It had, Einar noted upon leaving the shelter to make a quick run of the trapline, barely frozen overnight, the first time this had happened since the previous fall. Good news as far as the soon-to-come availability of a wider range of foods, but a temporary disadvantage, too, for what it would do to the remaining snowpack. Already he could see the difference, feel it when he took his first steps beyond the boot-packed snow around the shelter—and promptly sunk in up to his knees in the rotten, crumbly mess. The next several steps were the same, except that on the third, he went in nearly hip-deep where an unseen drift had concealed a depression in the ground. Some fifty yards up the ridge and with little change in conditions, Einar turned back. While entirely willing to put out the exhausting effort required to propel himself forward through the crumbly remains of the winter’s snow, he was rather more reluctant about leaving the amount of sign which he knew would be left in the snow by his passing.

By the time Einar worked his way back down to the shelter Liz had, herself, discovered the snow situation and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him coming. Though concerned about the possibility of their trail showing from the sky, greater was her concern about Einar’s using up all his energy, and more, tramping through that rotten snow. From the look of him, she feared he might already have done so, but he brushed off her concerns, shaking his head when she offered to give him a hand with his pack and taking a few rough breaths before spitting out the word, springtime!

“Springtime, and we’ve lost our good, solid snow. Travel’s gonna be…”

“It’s going to be a lot more difficult for a while, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Kinda limited to the dark timber for a while, I guess. Snow will be a little more solid in there in the deep shade, and anytime we do fall through and make a mess, trees will keep it from showing as bad from above. The trapline though, that’s way too exposed, at least up high. And this lower part. We’ll have to swing through the trees to get to the middle, if we want to use it…”

“Swing through the trees? I’d like to see you try”

“Well, ok, just let me…”

“Hey! Can’t you tell when I’m kidding?”

“Sometimes. But I’m pretty good as swinging through the trees. Depending on the positioning of the branches, of course.”

“I don’t doubt it, but no, that is not really something I’d like to see right now! What if you fell out and left a big crater in the rotten snow? What would the planes think when they saw that?”

“Nothing much, so long as there were no tracks leading away from it…”

“Ha! You’re not getting away with anything like that! I’m counting on you to take that lone elk for us, just as soon as the snow melts out a little. Or freezes, either one.”

Einar just smiled and shrugged. Of course he’d take the elk, as soon as circumstances would allow. She knew he would take the elk.

Breakfast was another cold, fireless meal of soaked jerky and dried fruit, satisfying to Einar, who could not seem to bring himself to care much about food that day, aside from the matter of needing to acquire it for his family, but not nearly as hearty as Liz would have preferred, for either of them. Was looking as though they might have to resort to usnea lichen and the dried inner bark of spruces, after all. She hoped they would at least be able to have fires should it come to that, so the bark could be roasted on hot rocks to make the “spruce bacon” Einar had discovered during his first year on the run, and since shared with her. The stuff was pretty fibrous even after being roasted, but was at least crisp, fairly tasty and easy to get down. Well. It might not even come to that depending on how the spring thaw and melting progressed. One could not reliably predict such things. Einar was staring at her. She could feel his gaze even before she looked up.

“What?” She asked him. “What are you thinking?”

“I was wondering the same thing.”

“I was just thinking about spring. It’s not always an easy time for mountain-dwelling creatures, is it?”

He shook his head, leaning one elbow against the shelter wall and poking at a pile of icy snow with his boot. “One of the hardest times, a lot of years. None of the fresh stuff ready yet, no real vegetation, and the critters who eat the greens are still down lower for a while. Not easy for anyone, really. But,” he smiled, handed Will a sprig of fir that he was trying rather enthusiastically to reach, “we’ll get by. We always get by. This is gonna be Will’s first spring, his first time seeing bare ground, getting his toes in the dirt and running through the little meadows to take a dip in an ice-cold little snowmelt tarn, all of that. Will be a real good year.”

A little too young yet for swimming, Liz thought to herself, but yes, the rest of it does sound good. We just have to get there…

[2medicine woman]

Brrrrrrrr. Little Will in a snow melt creek? no.

Thanks for more of Einar's tale. I already feel better knowing that spring is moving into their world. I'm not a spring person. I love autumn. As soon as I can get out from under the plans everyone has made for me, I am heading up north. My "home." Water, cool breezes, mosquitoes the size of B-52s, fish, berries,clean air, no neighbors, no computers. YEAH!

Will be waiting for more story . . . . I am learning more patience than I had since I came here. LOL