The Winter People

by Bret Tallent

  THE WINTER PEOPLE

  By Bret Tallent

  Text copyright © 2013 Bret R Tallent

  All Rights Reserved

  For Fred and Barbara

  Always there for me

  Table of Contents

  PREFACE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  Author’s Note

  PREFACE

  THE WINTER THE STARS FELL

  November 12, 1833

  During the night of one of the coldest winters in American history, there was a tremendous meteor shower visible all over North America. It is recorded in several Indian Chronicles from various parts of the country. It was simply called, "The Winter the Stars Fell", and to every tribe that recorded the phenomenon, it was deeply significant.

  During that same winter, many brave Ute warriors lost their lives, and no explanation in the Ute Chronicle is given. There are only myths and legends passed down from generation to generation. Stories spoken only in the dead of winter when the snows were deep, and Ute had moved into the lowlands.

  CHAPTER 1

  Ellis Campbell was a bitter old man. He knew it and he just didn't give a shit. The only friend he had was his old coon hound Jynx, and Ellis suspected that was just because he fed him regular. If there was ever a case of an animal resembling its owner, this was it. Both were crotchety and ill tempered. Bony thin with the skin sagging on little used muscles and the fur on both of their faces was white.

  It's not that anything real traumatic had ever happened to Ellis, he just didn't like people. In all his years he'd never met more than two or three that were worth the powder to blow 'em to hell, and there was only one man he had ever called his friend, Raleigh Smith. Ellis had no use for females either. They were domineering, money grubbing individuals who used a man up and took away his freedom.

  Ellis had seen it happen to Raleigh too. As soon as he married that woman, his balls were in a mason jar on the pantry shelf. And every now and then, if he was a good little boy, she would take them down and show them to him. Oh, he was fine when it was just the two of them, out hunting or something. But as soon as she showed up, you could see the bulge at his crotch disappear.

  Even so, Raleigh and Ellis had managed to maintain their friendship. And after Raleigh died, Ellis shed only his second tear in his entire life. The first being when Jynx's predecessor died, three years before Raleigh. It was after this that people thought he had become such a cantankerous bastard. Ellis laughed at this. That people had to have some reason for a person's hatred was ludicrous.

  But, that's how people were. They couldn't accept the fact that they were not liked on the whole, it went down like a bitter pill. They needed justification, rhyme and reason. It made them avoid him, which was just fine and dandy with Ellis. He didn't have much use for people, they were self-important hypocrites.

  There was one fella that Ellis had taken a shine to, but he would have denied it if you'd have asked him. Hayden Smith had been the sheriff over in Copper Creek for sixteen years now and was the only man around that Ellis could tolerate. Maybe it was because he’d known Hayden's father, or maybe it was because Hayden couldn't be riled by the irritable old man, but, Ellis suspected it was because he could see so much of Hayden's father in the boy. Not that Hayden was a boy, he was nearly sixty three, but Ellis would always think of him as a boy.

  Hayden's mother, he thought, was the typical woman. If she'd had her way the boy would have been a fancy-pants; a real yahoo. It was bad enough that she had named the poor kid after a town. Fortunately for Hayden, she had died when he was nine. Raleigh had raised him right, the way a boy should be brought up; hunting, fishing, totally independent without needing anything from anybody. Ellis still didn't know why he wanted to live in that jerkwater cesspool of gossip and backstabbing. Probably something left over from that domineering female, he thought.

  ***

  Ellis Campbell preferred the company of his dog to that of any person, and had spent most of the last fifteen years in just such company. The dog was now very old and having a difficult time getting around and Ellis knew that he was going to die soon. He also knew that he would not have another dog, for he too was getting on up there in years and would most likely be dead before it was a year or two old.

  Ellis regarded his canine companion and his eyes swelled with tears. He fought them back though and quickly pulled a rumpled handkerchief from the hip pocket of his bib overalls. The old rag looked nearly as worn and faded as he did, it was dingy grey from years of use and he had to pull it apart so that he could blow his nose in it. He gave a quick honk and a wipe, sniffed once, and then shoved the cloth back in his pocket.

  He glanced around the cabin and a flood of memories washed over him. He didn't know why he was being so sentimental all of the sudden, it wasn't like him. But this time he just sat there and let them run their course. It was as if his life was flashing before his eyes, showing him quick little snippets of this or that. The closer he came to the present, the more vivid the memory and its detail.

  He seemed to fit the cabin he lived in as much as it fit him. Both were rustic and had been well used. They may have been missing a shingle or two, the trim in places weathered with age, but they were both fully functional. They seemed to complement each other. Looking at Ellis with his blue flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up a turn or two, long johns poking out from underneath, you instantly knew that this was where he truly belonged. That he was as much a part of this cabin as it was a part of him.

  The old man stared at the fire in the hearth without really seeing it. Its gentle orange glow reflected in his hard, tired eyes. Ellis remembered when he built that fireplace, stone by stone. Raleigh had helped him. Jesus, it had been forty years ago. There hadn't even been a deer trail up here then. They packed everything in on horseback. The whole reason Ellis had bought this place was because it was out in the middle of nowhere. He was on the southeastern slope of Sand Mountain, with five miles and a river between himself and Copper Creek. It wasn't much more than a general store back then, but now it was a real touristy town and Ellis avoided it as much as possible.

  The town of Copper Creek sat on the river Copper Creek, which fed into the Yampa River to the south. Ten miles to the north lay the Wyoming border and Sierra Madres. He was in the heart of the Continental Divide, and loved it there. It was such a rugged wilderness that not too many city fools ventured there. Not too many woodsmen either. There were other small towns about that catered to sportsmen, like Craig and Donner and Hayden; but they were pretty far to the south and the would-be hunters and fishermen that came to them in the summer and fall stayed close.

  Then, in the winter all of those idiotic skiers stayed down in Steamboat. Except for the ones who had to book lodgings there in Copper Creek because they had been too slow in making their reservations. This was the thing that made Copper Creek a town, and Ellis hated the skiers for it. Without them, Ellis figured the town might just dry up and blow away. Ellis liked that idea. Although he was still fairly isolated, he felt as though the world was closing in on him.

  Ellis' thoughts turned back to his home. A rugged place not built for personal comfort, it wasn't much more than a two room line shack. The indoor plumbing consisted of a hand pump in the sink that pretty much froze up in
the winter. If he needed water, he simply melted snow or ice. He had no shower or indoor toilet. It was a rustic place that looked very much like a scene out of a Remington painting.

  The main room consisted of the fireplace, a sink and counter with pantry, and a sitting room. The back room was his bedroom. Everything in the cabin was handmade, the couch and chair, the coffee table, the bed, and even his night table. In the corners stood the few possession that Ellis owned, his fly rod, a few tools, and a stack of old newspapers and magazines that he used to start his fires and wipe his ass. There were two windows in the entire place, one in the bedroom and the other in back of him above the couch. The only door to the place was beside the kitchen.

  Jynx lay on the hardwood floor in front of the stone hearth, snoozing. Which was pretty much all he did these days. He used to be a great hunting dog, but his sight was going and his gate was gone. Ellis too had been a proficient hunter, but his legs weren't what they used to be. His 30/30 hung unused on the wall above the mantle, one of the few things that decorated his walls. The others were a pair of antlers from a four point elk he had shot when he was forty two (4 points per side, making it 8 points the way the city assholes counted 'em), a picture of he and Raleigh taken back in '51, and a couple of kerosene lanterns.

  Ellis had been a very self-sufficient man and it galled him that he would need anyone's help. At least he liked Hayden. He knew the only way into his place in the winter from the county road a mile away was by snowmobile, but Hayden still managed it once a month. That road wouldn't even be there if it hadn't been for that bonehead doctor and his wife building a cabin down there, Ellis thought.

  Thanks to Hayden, Ellis managed along rather nicely. The government paid him his dues from the war and it was just enough to keep him comfortable, and Hayden kept him from having to deal with the local yokels. Hayden did all of his running around for him, cashing his checks, getting any supplies he might need, or stuff Hayden thought he might like. Hayden was very much like a son to Ellis, or as close to one as Ellis would ever allow.

  There was a crackle and pop of pitch from the fireplace and Ellis looked up. His eyes were not quite so hard, his expression not quite so cold. Jynx only barely paid it any attention then laid his head back on his paws. Ellis got up from the couch and walked over to a small shelf mounted on the wall beneath the picture of Raleigh and him, the floor creaking under his weight. From the shelf he retrieved a pipe and pouch, compliments of Hayden's last visit.

  Ellis filled the pipe with tobacco and tamped it down with his thumb. Taking a piece of kindling from the wood box, he stuck it in the fire and held it there until it held a flame. Then he lit the pipe with it and tossed the kindling back into the fire. He drew in several deep breaths and allowed the aroma of apples and cherry wood to encircle him. He moved to the couch and sat back down, then opened the Zane Grey book that Hayden had brought along with the pipe, and began to read.

  ***

  It had to be close to bedtime, Ellis thought. He didn't own a watch, didn't need one, but his internal clock had seldom been wrong. Ellis closed the book and tapped his long cold pipe out on the table. He brushed the ashes away and sat it down next to the pouch of tobacco. He got up and bundled up for his routine pre-bed visit to the outhouse. Jynx got up to follow.

  When he opened the door a biting wind hit him solidly and forced the door opened further, knocking him backwards a step. While reading, he hadn't really noticed how hard it had been blowing. But now he could hear its angry shrieks and feel its force. "Coldest damned winter in all the years I've lived here!” he thought, "Must be near to forty below out here." The two of them stepped quickly out to avoid much heat loss and went to their business.

  Jynx wandered out beyond the covered wood porch, while Ellis followed the well-worn path to the john. He sat in pitch blackness, relieving himself and listening to the wind. In it he could hear the occasional creaking of the tall lodge pole pines as they swayed under its power. Then Ellis heard it make a sound he had never heard before. The wind cried in agony with a note of bitterness that matched his thoughts towards mankind.

  His skin instantly broke out in gooseflesh and fear raised in the pit of his stomach. He swallowed hard and listened. Again the shriek came, mixed in with wind but a separate entity, he was sure. This time, it was closer somehow. His muscles tightened and he could no longer do what he was out here for. The hair rose on the nape of his neck and then he heard the unmistakable sound of Jynx, howling.

  Ellis rose up off of the cold wooden seat and fastened his pants. He ran to the cabin door as fast as his old legs would carry him. Half way there he slipped in the deep snow and fell, face first. There was another howl of wind that wasn't wind and this time it was very near. It seemed to be just beyond the outhouse. He looked up and could see Jynx sitting at the front door in the faint glow that encompassed the house from the light within. Jynx was looking directly at him, his eyes locked on Ellis's.

  In those eyes Ellis could read fear. As if they were telling him to get up and move, that something was right behind him. Ellis could hear the rustle of brush and branches moving in that direction, from behind his outhouse. His first thought was that it was only the wind, but then he knew deep down that it was something else. He scrambled towards the door on all fours. Jynx began to jump wildly the closer he came, something he had not been able to do in years.

  As Ellis reached the door and pulled himself up he heard the cry again. It was a deafening roar that echoed through his head and caused tiny tremors in the wood of the door. Jynx howled again, pushing inward on the door with his chest. Ellis knew that if he took the time to turn around he would be dead. He didn't know what was back there, but it was coming for him, and it was very close.

  An internal voice screamed at him. It shouted out an alarm and warned him that this moment was about survival. His eyes were wide and the wind was stinging them, causing them to tear. His vision had become blurry and he was having trouble with the latch. The wind suddenly became warm and felt as if it were the breath of a living being upon his neck. As he fumbled with the simple slide latch, gripped with fear, his bladder released and he wet himself. But he was oblivious to its warm progress down his leg.

  Ellis Campbell could feel only one thing…that he was going to die. Suddenly, his hand found purchase on the latch and he threw it back. Jynx's forward power, along with the wind, pushed the door open into the cabin in a forceful burst. Ellis fell into the room and quickly slammed the door behind him. He had to reach the latch to throw it and a strong wind buffeted the door just then, causing it to open a few inches against his strength. He pushed harder and managed to slide in the latch.

  Ellis quickly got to his feet and threw down the 2x4 mounted to the wall next to the door on a bolt. It pivoted on the bolt and fell into the metal L shaped brackets on the door, and wall on the other side of the door. His heart had caught in his throat and he just stood there, listening. All he could hear was the wind. Then the door banged loudly and it caused him to jump back. It banged again and caused it to shake on its hinges. It banged a third time, sounding like a tree trunk was being thrown against it.

  Suddenly, it stopped. To Ellis the silence was more maddening than the pounding the door had just taken. Ellis wasted no time, he turned and moved quickly to the hearth and took down his 30/30. He cocked back the hammer and saw that it was indeed loaded. Ellis was trembling. He had never been afraid like this before. Not even in Korea had he been this scared.

  He went to the lanterns on each wall and blew them out. The only light in the room was what faint light was granted by the fire. Everything was in shadows. He turned and saw Jynx sitting in the corner by the sink, trembling and wild eyed. It seemed to Ellis that the world was an unearthly quiet. The fire made no sound, the wind was non-existent, and all of his efforts were trained on what lie beyond the door.

  Jynx barked once then growled a deep, low, throaty growl. Ellis leaned forward, toward where Jynx was looking, towards the door.
He heard nothing. Jynx growled again and this time Ellis heard it too. It was the sound of nails on wood, claws scratching against the wood of the door. Not the fast, light scratch of a dog wanting in, but a slow and deliberate, hard scratch, like that of nails on a chalkboard. It was a tormenting scratch from top to bottom.

  Ellis was shaking. He waited for the sound again but it never came. Instead, his ears picked up on a different sound. This time, it came from the window over the couch.

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  It was as if someone were tapping a metal rod against the window pane. Ellis raised the rifle and squeezed off a shot at the window. The blast was deafening in the tiny room and his ears rang in defiance to the roar. The window blew outward and disappeared into the darkness beyond. Ellis wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a cry of surprise, or pain. Either way it made him feel somewhat triumphant. The blue smoke from the rifle quickly dissipated with the draft from the opened window.

  Ellis re-cocked the gun, ejecting the spent cartridge and replacing it with another. The old cartridge clinked onto the floor and rolled away. He peered out into the night through the broken window and could only make out the distant form of trees; tall thin shadows that he could not get to come into focus. Beyond those closest to the house was only blackness, and bitter cold.

  The temperature in the room had already dropped nearly fifteen degrees in the few moments since the window had been obliterated. Ellis could feel the cold on his face and hands, and strangely, he thought, down his right leg where the wet material of his pants lay against his skin. He stood there for what seemed like eons, the rifle raised and sighted on the opened window, his finger on the trigger.

  There was nothing but the constant cry of the wind. Ellis exhaled slowly, and could see his breath. It billowed out before him in a dense fog that sat heavy in the air until the draft from the casement carried it away. There was a whimper from the corner where Jynx sat, rigid, staring at the wall as Ellis did. Ellis ignored it and concentrated on what he could hear beyond the walls.