Rampike

by European P. Douglas

  Joe lived in the station house which had one small cell, an office and then a bedroom and kitchen cum dining room at the back. So far, the only occupant of the cell during his tenure had been Mouse Allen one night when he was too drunk to drive home and Joe too tired to drive him there. There was no life at all in the place, but Joe had to admit it was a beautiful part of the country and he enjoyed living here. He’d become something of a hiker and hunter in his time and his evenings were spent in the effort of writing a book — something else that had come to him since living in Mercy.

  The snows had all but cleared over the past few days and as Joe stepped out of the station, the only evidence was the brown stained sludge piles at the side of the road. The ground was slick and wet from the melting and would remain so until some decent sun came he supposed. Jeff Sorkin was looking out the window of his store and Joe nodded in greeting to him. Jeff called some kind of greeting out but the words were lost through the glass and shut door of the store. Joe waved as if understanding and went on up the street towards the Lone Wolf.

  Sally smiled at him as he came in and took out the cup and saucer for the coffee she knew he would order.

  “Morning Sally,” he said. “Coffee and apple pie.” He ordered this every time he came into the tavern during the day, which wasn’t often. Joe was very fond of Sally’s pie and he had the coffee just to wash it down.

  “Catch any international jewel thieves this morning Joe?” Sally asked putting his coffee down in front of him.

  “Just a couple,” he answered with a nod of thanks. “Had to let one go though.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, not enough room at the jail to hold both.”

  “You could have locked one up in here.”

  “This place is too nice to be locked up in.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Sally said looking around, “I’m locked up here most of the time and I’m always aching to get out!” Joe smiled; he was very fond of Sally and wondered why she had never found herself a husband. True she would be a handful but she had a heart of gold and an easy way with everyone she ever met, even Maul Thorndean. The thought struck Joe then that he’d not seen Maul Thorndean for a long time. He knew Maul had been down only a couple of months ago but Joe had missed him that day. As he ate his pie, he thought more on this and decided that it was odd that he had not seen Maul on any of the hikes or hunts Joe had been on in that time too. Now that he was on it he didn’t remember hearing Maul’s old rifle booming up in the hills lately either.

  “You seen Maul Thorndean of late?” he asked Sally. If anyone in town might have seen him it would be her, he supposed.

  “Actually no,” she said taking a serious interest. “It’s funny you mention it as I would have been expecting him last week or so.”

  “I never noticed he came down on any schedule,” Joe said wondering how he’d missed something like that.

  “Well, he doesn’t,” Sally said, “But I generally notice when it's been a few days longer than usual and that was last week this time round.”

  “He might show up today then,” Joe said but something in his experience told him this would not be the case.

  “Maybe,” Sally said but there was a look of doubt in her face for an instant and then she looked out the window to the rear of the galley kitchen. Joe wondered what she was thinking but decided to let it rest for now.

  The day passed much as ever when Joe left the tavern. People from town would engage him in conversation and let him know the same pet peeves they had with their neighbours — mostly those who didn’t live here in winter but would be back in only a matter of weeks now for the end of the spring season and summer. Joe would listen politely to their inane gripes and tell them once again that what the neighbours did was not against the law and he could do nothing about it unless it crossed that line. The stock response to this was always a look of disgust and a shake of the head,

  “Well it should be against the law!”

  All of this jawing and then helping Jeff Sorkin move some lumber to get to his water tank that was not heating properly took his focus from Maul Thorndean and his intention of going up to check on the old man. Joe wasn’t worried exactly; he thought it would take quite a bit to knock that old buzzard of his perch, but he would be remiss if he didn’t check on Maul occasionally just to be sure he was doing alright.

  By the time the idea of going up there came again, it was growing dark and to his dismay the snow piled down again as heavy as it had the last few weeks before. The trip up mountain would have to wait until light. As the end of his official working hours came — there was no such thing really — he stepped out of his little office and looked at the street covered in snow. Voices came to him from a little away and he looked up to see Mouse Allen and Jeff going into the tavern. The desire for a beer came over Joe. Why not, he thought, he could ask anyone who was in there too if they had seen Maul. Killing two birds with one stone, wasn’t that what they called it. He was sure one of the others would have seen Maul on their travels over the hills.

  The heat inside the tavern hit Joe as soon as he entered from the street. All eyes in the place looked to him when he came in and silence fell over the conversation — nothing new there at least.

  “Come in for the heat, Joe?” Jeff asked.

  “That and a beer,” Joe said nodding to Sally who pulled one for him. “And I was wondering if anyone has seen Maul Thorndean lately?” he added. At this, everyone looked around at one another in surprise.

  “Why are you looking for him?” Mouse asked, his eyebrows raised.

  “I want to make sure he’s alright, I haven’t seen him in weeks now, so I’m hoping someone here has to ease my mind on his safety.”

  “Well,” Mouse said, losing interest now that Maul was not a wanted man. “The last time I saw him was when he was here about six or seven weeks ago.”

  “Same for me,” Jeff nodded agreement.

  “Anyone else seen him since?” Joe asked looking around the room, “Even a glimpse?” he added when no one answered him.

  “I saw him a good few weeks ago, after he was in town,” Sam Brainard said from his table. Now all eyes on the room were on him. Joe walked over closer and looked at him,

  “Where, Sam?”

  “I was chopping a mile or so from his land,” Sam said, “when he came up with a lump of wood in his hands.”

  “What wood?”

  “Part of a trunk from his land; he was worried about some disease his trees had and he asked me to come and look.”

  “Why did he ask you to do that?” Joe asked.

  “I don’t know really, I guess he thought since I worked with trees I might know something about it,” Sam said with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “And did you?” Joe asked. Sam shook his head, looking a little embarrassed by this,

  “No, I hadn’t seen anything like it before,” he said.

  “You went up to his land?” Mouse asked incredulous. “I’m surprised you’re still counted among the living.”

  “I didn’t go to his land, the disease had spread beyond and he showed me some trees that had it,” Sam said defensively. Joe wanted to ask more about the disease but he thought he should focus on Maul.

  “What happened then?” he asked.

  “Nothing, I said I’d look it up in one of my books and get back to him if I could find anything out.”

  “Did you find what it was?” This voice was Sally Briers from behind the bar. Sam looked over to her,

  “No, nothing I could find sounded like what’s out there.”

  “So you left Maul, and that was the last you saw of him?” Joe asked. Sam nodded, “How did he seem?” Joe asked.

  “About the same as I ever saw him,” Sam said noncommittally.

  “Crazy as fuck you mean!” Mouse cackled and a few people laughed along with him.

  “He didn’t seem sick or ill or anything to you?” Joe asked ignoring this. Again, Sam shook his head but
Joe was unsure, he felt there was something Sam was not telling him and he meant to find out when there wasn’t so much of an audience.

  “Thanks, Sam,” he said taking his drink from the bar. “Now, if no one else has seen him since then I’ll go off duty at this point!”

  There was no answer and Joe took a swig of his beer and sat down at a table close to the bar. As Joe expected, a conversation started up with people recalling things that had happened involving the Thorndean family over the many years. There was not one person in the room who could attest to first-hand knowledge of any of the old stories they told but there was also not one of them who had any doubt about their veracity. Joe would go up there in the morning and see what was going on with the old man. He was probably fine and would curse Joe to hell for coming near his land, but if that was the worst of it, that would be a good outcome. Something inside told him this would not be the case, he didn’t know what it was or why he felt this way, but it was there. He didn’t think there was a good ending to this one.

  Chapter 6

  The old Buick spurted a plume of dark smoke that diffused in the air in the starkest of contrasts to the gleaming white of snow gathering on the road.

  “It’s getting worse, Jarrod,” the female passenger said looking out through the back window. She was getting frightened now that the dark had closed in around them and the car was failing.

  “Don’t worry, Ava,” the driver said, “this old car hasn’t let me down yet!” The smile he flashed her was one of complete confidence in what he was saying and she smiled back too. He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it tenderly.

  “I still think we should have stopped in that last town,” Ava said.

  “They said there’s another town just up the road, here,” Jarrod said nodding to the black road ahead. Ava looked there too but could see very little and certainly nothing that could be mistaken for the lights of a town on up ahead. Trust him, she told herself, he is your husband now. The term ‘better or worse’ rang out in her memory and she smiled. “That’s my girl!” Jarrod said when he saw her smile and this only broadened it, lighting up her entire face.

  Jarrod, for his part, was far too excited with life right then and all he could think about was getting to California as fast as they could. If someone could invent the car that could drive itself he would happily sleep on the road. He was still in shock that not only had Ava married him against her family’s wishes but that she had also committed to going west with him. For the first time in his life, he felt free, and it was as if something infused within his soul. All he could see in his mind was the sun of California and Ava and him going about their days in blissful happiness.

  The car spluttered again and backfired more of that black smoke and this time he wasn’t so sure all was rosy underneath the hood after all, perhaps it would be best to get to this next town sooner rather than later. He didn’t like the idea of getting stranded on a cold mountainside with next to nothing to eat and only their extra clothes to keep them warm. He chanced pressing down on the gas a little more; the people in Emerson had said Mercy was only ten miles away after all. They should almost be there by now if the odometer was anything to go by.

  Jarrod’s prayers — and Ava’s too — were answered when they crested a rise in the road and saw the houses in the road ahead.

  “What did I tell you,” he said leaning his head towards Ava.

  “Is this it?” Ava said still looking ahead. “There doesn’t seem to be much to it.”

  “They said it was small, but there was a tavern we could stay at.”

  “That must be it over there,” Ava said pointing to the only building that even had a light on.

  Jarrod was aware then someone was looking at him and he saw a man standing in a doorway looking out at them curiously. Jarrod waved but continued on to the lights of the tavern and pulled up.

  “Wait here and I’ll make sure there’s a room for us,” Jarrod said. Ava nodded, and he jumped out of the car and went inside.

  While he was gone, Ava checked in her purse once again for their marriage license. They were both young, and she was sure they would have to produce it everywhere they went on their way to the coast. Looking out through the windows of the car, she felt the darkness of the night all around her. She worried now about getting a room. If they didn’t get one here, they would have to go all the way back to Emerson to stay, and she didn’t like the idea of that last drive either. Jarrod’s face when he came back out told her she need worry no more on that score.

  “Come on,” he said pulling her door open. “There’s a couple of steaks on for us and the landlady said she’d set up a bed for us while we eat.” His smile was infectious and the idea of the food and the warm bed filled her with joy. She leaped out, and he took her in his arms and spun around laughing before going inside out of the snow.

  The tavern was very warm and a low fire sparked in the grate on the wall to the right as they came in. There were plenty of free tables and she saw the one she wanted right off. Some customers looked them up and down and nodded hello as Jarrod guided her to the bar.

  “This is my wife Ava,” he said to a large, though by no means fat, woman behind the counter.

  “Sally’s my name,” she said with a smile. “Your steaks are on, so why don’t you take up a seat and warm up over there.”

  “Thank you very much,” Ava said, “You have a lovely place here.”

  “Shame about the clientele, though,” Sally said and laughed. No one else laughed and Ava was suddenly very embarrassed and not sure at all how to react to this. “Don’t mind them, they’re all sour about the snow starting up again,” Sally said to her and then Jarrod led her over to the very table she had thought would be best.

  Soon after steak and vegetables were placed in front of them both and Sally announced that she was going up to make up a room and no one would get another drink for at least ten minutes. While she was away, the other customers talked lowly amongst themselves and looked at them now and then.

  “You come in from Emerson?” an older man asked when Jarrod met eyes with him.

  “We did,” he answered with a friendly smile.

  “How come you didn’t stay there overnight?” a big man sitting with the older man asked.

  “We’re heading to California and every mile we can get done in a day counts,” Jarrod said. The man looked at him for a few moments with a very serious look on his face,

  “You’re lucky to make it here at all in the dark,” he said.

  “Oh. The road wasn’t so bad.”

  “I wasn’t talking about the road,” the man said and he looked around the room in a way that made both Jarrod and Ava wonder what it was he was not telling them. They exchanged a nervous glance.

  “Then what are you talking about?” Ava asked, her voice barely more than a cracked a whisper. Her hand reached out and took hold of Jarrod’s. The man at the bar looked at his neighbour and then around the bar before looking back to the couple and leaning forward in his seat like he would whisper some dark secret to them.

  “We don’t know ourselves,” he said conspiratorially, “but there’s something out there in those woods that surround us.”

  “What, an animal of some sort?” Jarrod laughed, but the laugh was nervous.

  “Like I say,” the man said. “We don’t know what it is. It could be an animal but it doesn’t leave the tracks of anyone I know about, or want to!”

  “You got that right, Mouse,” the man beside him chimed in. Ava looked to Jarrod to see his reaction to this, but she saw that his own eyes were darting around the room to gauge the other people there. That was all she needed to see to know that Jarrod didn’t know whether or not to believe this story.

  “What’s it done?” Jarrod asked after his scan.

  “Killed livestock mostly,” Mouse said.

  “What kind?”

  “Everything from chicken to cow,” Mouse said and then turning to the man next to him said,
“You lost a dog too, wasn’t it Jeff?”

  “That’s right,” Jeff said nodding glumly. Now Ava really was scared and wished they had stayed in Emerson. She had never liked the woods even in daylight and now it was pitch black for who knew how many miles around them.

  “What was your dog’s name?” Jarrod asked with a sly smile on his face.

  “Toby,” Jeff answered without a beat. This seemed to surprise Jarrod who Ava felt must have doubted the story to ask in the first place.

  “Leave it off, guys,” a younger man said from the table by the fireside. His corner was darker and out of the direct heat of the fire but his eyes looked to the strangers and they were kind. Mouse and Jeff also looked over at the man.

  “You think we should let these people walk around Mercy without telling them of the monster that lives up the hill, Sam?” Mouse asked. Sam shook his head and looked back to the couple as he answered this,

  “I think we should let these people have their dinner and get a good night’s sleep without having nightmares about a man you don’t like.”

  “A man?” Mouse said almost indignant “The name beast is too good for him, even creature is too kind!” Ava didn’t like the sound of whoever this man was talking about but she was very at least that it was a man and not some fairy-tale wolf or demon of the forest.

  “I’m not having this same conversation again,” Sam said. “We had it earlier when the sheriff was here and there’s no need to go over it again.”

  “Over what again?” Sally said coming back into the room.

  “Nothing,” Mouse said turning back to the bar like a slinking schoolboy caught at some mischief

  “Maul Thorndean?” Sally asked, and she looked to Sam to answer. He nodded and Sally shook her head. She looked to the couple.

  “I hope these idiots haven’t been trying to scare you with their rubbish?” she said apologetically

  “Not at all,” Jarrod said in better humour now. “They were just razzing us.” His smile was bright and cheery and Ava couldn’t help but mirror it in her relief. She would be happy to get to bed away from these people all the same.