by Jen Wright
She pushed her fears aside, giving in to her rising need once more to take the risk. She had to see her lover soon.
CHAPTER 18
Morning three at the cabin brought a sense of familiarity and home to Jo and Zoey as they let the dogs out to wander freely on the land, and brewed up some French roast coffee. Jo half expected a knock at the door with a request for help with some neighbor's crisis, but the morning was quiet. The sun shone brightly through the windows of the cabin, and Jo was surprised when she looked at the thermometer and saw that it registered minus thirty. Inside, the cabin easily held a comfortable temperature, but the floors felt cold. They had taken to wearing the liners of their Mukluks over wool socks as they padded around inside.
"Do you remember what Sandy and Ree are up to today?" Zoey asked.
"Not a clue. What do you want to do? Do you have more grading or writing to do?"
"No, I'm on break, remember? How about you? Have something in mind?"
"Not really… How about I walk over and see what they're up to. Want to come?"
"Yeah, I'll join you. I've never been out in thirty below before."
They bundled up in all of their warm clothes, capitulated to Cocoa and Java's pleas to bring them along, and began the short walk. With each step, their boots crunched the hard snow. As they made the small bend in the trail that led to the big house, they both stopped and found the other's gloved hand while they took in the ice-covered branches of a huge white spruce.
"Mother Spruce," Jo informed Zoey.
The snow and ice had weighed heavily on her branches, and she seemed to be saddened by the weight. The tree was higher than the cabin, and half as wide. The smoke from Sandy and Ree's chimney trailed high above their green roof and seemed frozen as it attempted to climb up and away from the cabin. Zoey ran in place, and the dogs lifted their paws off the cold snow, so Jo nudged Zoey in the direction of the cabin.
"Let's go. It's beautiful, but friggin' cold out here."
"Ya think?"
They sprinted as fast as their boots would carry them the final distance to the cabin.
Sandy and Ree answered their door in long underwear and the liners from their boots. Jo and Zoey laughed when they saw that their new invention was common practice.
"We were thinking about walking over to see you. Care to join us in our minus-thirty ritual?" Sandy asked.
Jo looked at Zoey. "Well now, that all depends on what it is. Does it involve jumping into water naked or anything equally horrifying?" That made everyone laugh.
"No, it's kind of something the township people started doing by accident. We all end up at G's Café, and some of the local writers bring stuff to read. No one really remembers how it started, but it's what we do. Poetry and coffee in the morning. Some of the writing is really bad, but we have some published poets, too, you know, trying out their stuff." She raised her eyebrows, looking for an answer. "The food is always good."
"We're in. Sounds great."
Jo and Zoey left their dogs in the big cabin with Sandy and Ree's dogs, so that they could enjoy each other's company for the day, and piled into Jo's Range Rover. The parking lot at G's was filled with cars, and once inside, they took the last available booth. The floor was yellow pine boards, and all of the walls and ceiling were knotty pine, yellowed with age. Customers drank coffee, or ate eggs, scones, muffins, and pancakes.
A fire crackled in the open fireplace, and cups and saucers clinked throughout the café as a woman approached the small stage built into one corner of the large open room. There was no microphone — only a small elevated stage and a stool. As everyone sat down, Jo said she would join them in a second and made her way toward the back door where she knew there was a pay phone. She placed a call to Nate, and he answered on the second ring.
"Nate, it's Jo."
"Hey, Jo. What's up?"
"I have to be quick here, I'm at a café. I'm calling to tell you I walked the area where I think Rick went missing."
"Find anything?"
"Yeah. In the woods right by where he was last seen… well, there are hundreds of crosses."
"Crosses? As in religious crosses?"
"All over the place."
"What do you make of them?"
"I don't know. A religious fanatic or a cult of some kind. No one has seen any people, only the crosses. Out in the middle of the freaking woods. I don't think Rick is religious."
"I doubt it. From what we've gathered here, he may have been into meth. Guy used to have a good job, and just left it all. Took the quick trip down, you know?" Jo could hear Nate's breathing. She pictured him running his beefy hands through his thinning hair.
"Maybe it was him," she said. "Paranoid as hell and wandering around the woods building crosses." Jo felt a sadness she couldn't share with Nate. "I thought meth labs were a thing of the past after Sudafed went behind the counter."
"No, there are less of them, but Mexico still sells it in bulk to whoever will buy it. We have middlemen smuggling Sudafed in the mail, on ships, you know the drill. We find a hole to plug, and another one opens up somewhere else."
"You think Rick could have those kind of connections?"
"Hard to say. Thanks for checking it out, Jo, but you don't need to use up your vacation on this case. This is a good piece of information, though. I'll buy you a lunch when you get back."
Jo smiled at that. He was always saying he would buy her a lunch, but neither of them had time to get together so that he could follow through on his promises. "I'm going to take you up on that, Nate. I gotta go."
"Wait, Jo. I'm serious. Don't waste your time on this."
"What's the matter, afraid you'll have to share some of that detective pay with me?"
"No."
"The glory, then?"
"That's our usual arrangement, but seriously, be careful, you hear?"
As Jo got back to their table, a writer cleared her throat, and the noise lowered to silence. A sturdy looking woman of about 35 stood tentatively, without looking up from the yellow legal pad she held, and began reading.
I Want Her
I want her
to be rough around the edges
to laugh just a bit too loud
at parties
or to be too smooth
so that your emotions slip off her mirrored surface.
I want her
kisses to be just slightly askew
so that your lips never quite nestle together
like the hummingbird slipping inside a trumpet flower
for a long drink of nectar.
I want her
lovemaking to be too sweet and soft
without the strength to wrestle your passions into a
steamy tangle of blankets and sweat slicked bodies.
I want her
to fall asleep afterwards
and snore just loud enough to keep you wide eyed,
staring into the darkened bedroom, unsatisfied.
But most of all
I want you
To want me
When she wants you.
The crowd stopped eating and heartily clapped, as Jo turned to Sandy, "Do you know her? Is she family?"
Sandy nodded and waved the woman over to their table. "Sherry, I'd like to introduce you to our friends Jo and Zoey." Sherry shot her hand out to formalize the introduction.
"Nice to meet you. Where are you guys from?"
"Duluth and the Valley," Jo piped up. "Hey, great poem."
"Thanks… I just play around, really. It's fun to read stuff here. I mean, like, there's no risk. We all know each other."
Sherry grabbed a chair and joined them at their table as another poet walked up to the stage. This woman was wiry and grey, wearing canvas work pants and an old wool sweater. Sandy elbowed Jo and in a hushed voice said, "That's Trudy. Listen closely. She's intense." The crowd quieted again, and Trudy spoke in a strong voice.
Sushi
The sea tang of you lingers on my
fingertips
As does the memory
Of your anemone fingers racing soft
And silken wet across my skin
To dive and curl hermit crablike
Into my waiting shell of
liquid mother of
Pearl
She looked sheepish after a hearty burst of applause and then continued with a second poem.
Snow Blind
Delicate, intricate, particulate
pieces of ice
slip silent
to the trees.
Shaping and softening the
separation between Earth and
Sky.
Bright night full
Moon shines white
on white
goading the field mouse into a
Dance toward death
under the watch of
Owl eyes.
As she finished, the crowd clapped and engaged in a low murmur. Sandy nodded at the group and said, "Kind of a downer, huh?"
That brought a laugh at their table and at a neighboring one. Sherry leaned into Sandy a bit. "I was hoping to see you guys here. I have a favor to ask. I actually had to snowshoe here. Any chance you could give me a ride back and jump my car. I gotta go into town and get a new battery. Mine won't hold a charge. Neither of my snowmobiles will start, either." She looked pleedingly at Sandy and Ree, who gave Jo and Zoey a "What do you guys think?" look. Jo saw a sympathetic expression cross Zoey's face, and then they said in unison, "OK with me."
The stage was empty, so they paid the bill, Sherry collected her snowshoes, and they all climbed back into Jo's Range Rover. Jo felt a certain amount of guilt about owning such a gas guzzler, but she couldn't bear to think about getting rid of her ancient vehicle. She'd begun thinking about buying a plow for it, and then purchasing a smaller vehicle to commute to work in, but she'd done nothing about it as yet. She took some comfort in knowing that her motorcycle, which she rode to work as often as possible in the summer, got 55 miles per gallon. Maybe it made up for some of her gas-guzzling winter ways. She chuckled a bit at the thought that she was daydreaming about riding her motorcycle on a thirty-below day. Zoey gave her a curious look but didn't dare prod her in public.
Sherry's place was about a half mile north on old County Road 42. On the way, they passed a homestead that looked like a junkyard. Rusty machinery and junkers sprouted like unruly underbrush in between the pointed pines. The humped backs of mud-covered hogs were visible beyond haphazard, broken-down fencing.
"Who lives here?" Jo asked.
"Shantrees. Why, do you need a car?" Sherry teased, but Jo wasn't in a humorous mood.
"I doubt any of those actually run. Tell me about the family."
"Well, you should know them, most of 'em are on probation right now."
"In Two Harbors?"
"I suppose so."
"Not my jurisdiction. What are they into?"
"Stealing whatever they can. Drinking, drugging, making illegitimate babies. In fact, I had a near miss with a youngin' there."
"As in sleeping with?"
"As in almost. I thought better of it. Can you imagine bringing out a sixteen year old from that family? Those brothers would have eaten me for breakfast. Definitely not worth the toaster oven."
"Was her name Katie?"
"That it was. A real cutie, but she could teach you more about devilry than you'd ever want to know. Do you know her?" Sherry looked suspicious for a second.
"Not really. So, do you think the brothers are violent?"
"Most definitely. They get into bar fights all the time. But it's the patriarch who really makes me nervous. He's insane."
Jo pondered this as they made the turn into Sherry's driveway. The trip up the driveway was another hundred yards. Jo was dumbfounded at the lengths these Big Noise residents went to in order to get around in this community. In her world, women called Triple A. She wondered what Zoey thought of the whole process and looked forward to having a conversation about it once they were alone in their cabin.
"Thanks, guys, I really appreciate this," Sherry said. "Can we jump my car first, and then I'll make you some tea or something?"
Jo pulled her jumper cables from the back of the Rover and hooked them up to her car while Sandy held the other end of the cables apart. Once both cars were connected, they waited an eternal minute for Jo's car to give the dead battery car enough juice for a start. Everyone was hopping in place when Sherry's car finally started. She waved everyone inside, saying, "Go in where it's warm, and we'll be right in."
Zoey, Ree, and Sandy bolted into the little cabin without a second thought.
The cabin wasn't the usual log cabin found in the area. It was still rustic, and hand made, but it was primarily built out of cordwood, mortar, and stone. The walls appeared to be a foot thick, and the structure had a sloping shed-style roof made of long, hand-stripped logs. Like most of the other cabins, it was heated by a small woodstove. The main part of the cabin was timber framed, and many of the logs had designs carved into them. One post had a totem pole theme. The furniture was upholstered in well-worn leather, and decorative and colorful blankets draped over the couch and chairs. A tabby cat eyed her new guests out of the corner of her eye while pretending to look out the window.
Jo and Sherry came in from the cold, and Sherry offered to make tea. Sandy spoke for the group and politely declined. Sherry needed to hit the road in search of a new battery.
On the way back, Zoey asked the group if anyone knew the story of the totem pole.
Ree let out a little chuckle. "It has a lot to do with Sherry's ex. He was Anishinabe."
"He?" Jo asked.
"That was before she met her next ex, Hanna."
Eyebrows shot up all around the car, and Ree waited a beat before replying. "Ron even carved a final chapter in that little pole for Sherry about her new relationship with Hanna, as a way of accepting that this was a part of her journey."
"How long did it last with Hanna?" Jo went after the scoop.
"About two months. Sherry got some great writing done in that time, though. Some steamy writing." Eyebrows went up again. "Since that time, she's had a couple of other girlfriends. She writes about it all. It's been really interesting to watch her be so public about it. Good thing Ron didn't feel the need to keep carving — he'd still be going." That brought another round of laughs.
Zoey and Jo dropped Sandy and Ree off at the main cabin before heading back to their own for a quiet afternoon.
They fueled the fire, then removed their many layers of warm outerwear. Zoey found Jo staring at her.
"What?" She knew exactly what was on Jo's mind.
"I can't stand seeing you taking your clothes off without wanting to remove them all, but I'd hate for you to freeze to death. Come here, and I'll warm you up."
Zoey walked over to Jo and into her arms. They fit together in all the right places. Jo kissed Zoey, eliciting a deep moan.
Jo whispered, "I think we'd be a lot warmer in bed."
They quickly ascended the ladder up into their loft and made quick work of thawing out from the cold.
Jo sighed contentedly, "Now that should be part of our thirty-below ritual."
"I'll make a note of it," Zoey said in a sleepy voice. They both slowly drifted off into a sweet post-sex afternoon nap.
Jo found herself sinking into another realm. She was walking in the woods looking for Rick. She followed a set of animal tracks into a cave.
The cave was cold and dark and smelled of earth. Even though it was dark, she couldn't stop herself from moving into the unknown area. She stopped and listened. She could smell something terrible. Something rotting from within.
