Avalanche Creek

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  “In fact,” Bonnie said, “Dawn and Madison helped build the lodge and have lived in the lodge and raised their family there many, many different times.”

  “Yeah, there’s an advanced math problem we haven’t got a handle on,” Duster said. “Why is it that in every timeline their kids are different?”

  Brice just shook his head.

  “You mean beyond normal variations of sperm and egg?” Dixie asked.

  “You are the same in all timelines,” Bonnie said. Their kids should always be the same in each timeline as well, but their kids are not, they vary. Beyond Duster and I at the moment.”

  “We’re hoping you two can help on that one as well,” Duster said.

  Dixie looked at Brice, clearly shocked and struggling.

  “Trust the math,” Brice said to her. “You know the math, believe it, so trust it.”

  Dixie nodded and took a deep breath.

  Duster kissed Bonnie.

  Brice just shook his head. To Duster, two months had passed. To Bonnie, only a few seconds.

  “You get into trouble?” Bonnie asked as they turned and headed for the clothing area of the big cavern.

  “No more than normal,” Duster said, laughing. He looked back at Brice and Dixie. “She always asks me that as if I’m going to tell her.”

  Brice laughed, but Dixie just looked even more shocked.

  Duster had gotten them supplies and four good horses and within an hour of arrival, the four of them were leading their horses on the trail across the hillside toward where the Cadillac was parked in 2016. Now, in 1901, it was a barren hillside, long ago logged off and pockmarked by fresh mine tailings dripping down the steep slope toward the dying town of Silver City below.

  They rode an hour and walked an hour in the growing heat of the August day. Brice was thankful for that, since it had been a few months since his last time on a horse and he hadn’t gotten that used to it them.

  And the heat was brutal in the afternoon, more than likely climbing into the high nineties with no humidity at all. Dry as a bone.

  They drank a lot and Dixie kept a wide, floppy hat on and her exposed skin slathered in suntan lotion. Being red-haired with fair skin made this weather downright dangerous to her.

  As far as riding, clearly Dixie was having the same issues with soreness he had had to start. She said she hadn’t managed to go riding, something she loved, since she took the teaching job at CalTech, so she was well out of practice.

  “You can ride all you want, now,” Bonnie said, smiling. “Call it part of the job description.”

  Dixie smiled, for pretty much the first time in the entire day.

  Brice knew she was having troubles and just stayed close to her and tried to help where he could without being in the way.

  They camped the first night near the Snake River among some cottonwood trees. Duster showed them both how to take care of the horses and Brice was glad for the refresher.

  They pitched three tents in a small clearing right over the river so they could get the fresh breeze from the water. One tent for him, one for Dixie, one for Bonnie and Duster.

  Brice felt slightly disappointed he would not be sleeping with Dixie on this first night in the past, but she looked wiped out and he felt the same way. After a great dinner of steaks and small potatoes that Duster cooked over the open fire, they all went to their tents after washing everything up and hanging the food in a tree and taking care of the horses.

  Next thing Brice knew was the smell of bacon and eggs and talking around the campfire. He managed to change shirts and slip on his oilcloth coat that looked very similar to Duster’s coat before climbing out of the tent. The morning air near the river had a chill to it that Brice knew he would miss in a few hours.

  Bonnie and Duster were talking and laughing around the campfire. You could never tell that they were two of the most famous and brilliant mathematicians of all time. They looked very much like they fit perfectly in 1901.

  And clearly both were very comfortable here.

  There was no way Brice could tell they both had lived for over a thousand years in different timelines. Clearly being able to switch timelines and live entire lifetimes while only being gone for a few minutes in their own world allowed a person to live a very, very long time.

  In fact, Brice doubted there would be an upper limit on it. He’d have to crunch the numbers when they got back to Boise. But right now he had something far, far more important to worry about.

  He was worried, very worried, about Dixie getting settled and understanding what was happening.

  If he remembered his first trip back here right, he had peppered Duster with questions all the second day. Brice still had a bunch, but he had a hunch Dixie would have even more.

  Brice had splashed water on his face and managed to comb his hair before Dixie poked her head out of her tent.

  “That smells wonderful,” she said, standing and stretching.

  “Almost ready,” Duster said.

  All Brice could do was stare at her and think how fantastically beautiful she was. Even in the morning climbing out of a tent after a long day of riding.

  He really was in love with Dixie, especially this Dixie of this timeline. Of that there was no doubt.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  August 15th, 1901

  Dixie’s Timeline

  DIXIE WAS SURPRISED how much she could ride instead of walk the second day. She had expected to be saddle sore, but it wasn’t that bad and the tight muscles in her legs relaxed as she got more relaxed. Clearly the riding she had done the first time back here had helped her get ready for this second trip. Brice seemed to be doing all right, but she could tell he would be very sore by the time they got to Boise.

  From the river to the ferry and then into Caldwell, Brice peppered Bonnie and Duster with questions. Many of them were questions Dixie had wanted to ask Bonnie, but just never got around to it.

  They were great questions. Brice was clearly settling in and understanding far faster than she had her first trip back here.

  Last night she had so wanted to go crawl in his tent and sleep with him, but they were both so tired, it had worked out better that the two of them just slept.

  The hotel in Caldwell was as bad as she remembered it and she decided that instead of taking a chance with the bed, she would sleep in her own bedding on the floor. Better to do that than catch lice.

  She found out the next morning over breakfast in a small dining hall that all of them had done the same thing.

  That afternoon they rode up to the Idanha Hotel in downtown Boise and left their horses in the stables behind it.

  The day was getting hot, but not as hot as Dixie knew it would get in a few more days. She needed a cool bath more than anything to get off the grime and dust that she felt like coated everything.

  “Wait until you see this place,” Dixie said, smiling at Brice.

  “They remodeled and restored this in our time,” Brice said, staring up at the towers on the four corners of the building and the stone and brick. “But I never took the time to go look at it.”

  “It’s amazing how history can just sit right in front of us all the time and we never see it,” Duster said.

  “I love this place,” Bonnie said. “But you two ought to see the fantastic hotels in San Francisco. Pure class and luxury.”

  Duster laughed. “And not my style at all.”

  “Yes, dear, I know,” Bonnie said, shaking her head.

  Dixie was just as shocked the second time at the spectacular beauty of the hotel as they entered.

  The huge front lobby seemed larger than she remembered, with the oak trim on everything, the stone floors with scattered carpets and furniture, and light stone columns.

  The towering windows let in the bright summer sun making the insides feel as bright as being outside.

  The open doors and windows were managing to keep a slight breeze blowing through the big rooms, keeping it moderately cool for t
he moment.

  Duster had them wait in the middle of the big lobby and went and got their keys.

  Brice just stared at the ornate room and plush furnishings. “This is amazing, simply amazing.”

  “It is a wonderful place,” Dixie said.

  “I made reservations a month ago,” Duster said as he came back over to them after just a few minutes.

  He handed Brice a key. “Sixth floor in the Lost River suite on the south corner.”

  He handed a key to Bonnie. “Our regular suite, the Dutch Flat suite on the east side.”

  Then he handed a key to Dixie and smiled. “I have you back in the Avalanche Creek suite. I hope that’s all right?”

  “It’s perfect,” Dixie said, taking the key and staring at it.

  She had made it back here, back to 1901 and the Idanha Hotel. And she was standing with the love of her life, someone she wasn’t certain she would ever be with here again.

  If it was possible, she loved this Brice more than she had loved the first one she met here.

  Now she just had to figure out a way to tell this Brice what happened to her the first time she had come here.

  She had no idea what he might say.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  August 16th, 1901

  Brice’s Timeline

  BRICE HAD SMILED and nodded his thanks when Duster put Dixie back in the Avalanche Creek suite. She didn’t know it, but she would love that suite. And at some point he would tell her how she had been there before.

  Another alternate timeline her. And what had happened. But telling her scared him to death. He felt like this news might be the news that drove her away from him.

  That first night they had a comfortable dinner down the street in one of Duster’s favorite steak houses. Both women dressed in fancy dresses and both wore wide-brimmed hats to keep the sun from their skin. Dixie had her striking red hair pulled up and tucked around under her hat.

  Brice and Duster wore suits with vests and cowboy hats.

  Dixie looked flat stunning as far as Brice was concerned, even dressed as she was for this time.

  After dinner they retired back to the hotel.

  They all planned on meeting at six in the morning for breakfast, just as the hotel dining room opened.

  Bonnie and Duster walked up the flights of wide stone stairs slowly in the heat ahead of Brice and Dixie, said goodnight at the top, then turned toward the east.

  The wide, carpeted high-ceilinged hallway at the top of the stairs went in two directions. Oak wood trim and lined wallpaper covered the walls between stone pillars with lamp sconces every ten feet giving the hallway a clean, almost bright light.

  Dixie and Brice turned in the other direction from Bonnie and Duster.

  Dixie had gushed about how much she loved her suite at dinner and thanked Bonnie and Duster at least twice for bringing her to the past and hiring her in the first place.

  “Thank Brice,” Duster had said at one point during dinner between bites of steak and the best tasting butter bread Brice remembered ever tasting. “He was the one who suggested we get you on board for some of the coming math problems we’re all going to be trying to solve.”

  Dixie had just nodded to that, but he could tell that the brilliant mind of hers hadn’t missed that comment in the slightest. Up until that comment, hiring her had all been Bonnie and Duster.

  As they walked in the direction of Dixie’s corner suite, she looked up at him and smiled from under her wide-brimmed hat. “I know this might be improper for a woman of my status in this time, but would you like to come in.”

  Brice bowed slightly to her. “I would love to.”

  When they got to the big oak door with the bronze plaque that read Avalanche Creek, she stopped and pulled out her key.

  “Any idea where that is at, or if it even exists?” She pointed at the sign.

  “Actually,” Brice said, “I do. It’s a small creek in the Monumental Creek drainage about three miles below where the town was buried under water.”

  She smiled at him and nodded and he had a hunch he had just slipped as Duster had slipped. He would have had no reason to look it up.

  They looked both ways down the hallway to make sure no one was watching, then she opened the door and they both went inside and she closed and bolted the door behind them.

  She had left two windows open, one in the bathroom and one in the corner of the living room in the round tower area of the room and a slight breeze had kept the room fairly cool. One thing he had always loved about Boise was that even on hot days, the evenings and nights cooled off. It made the hot days bearable.

  The suite was as he remembered it. All the wonderful afternoons and evenings they had spent at the table in the big round stone turret with its tall windows and perfect light. The two of them had solved Bonnie and Duster’s math problem, and even more together.

  Brice just stood gazing at the room, letting the memories wash over him.

  After a moment he realized Dixie was staring at him and he smiled. “Great room.”

  “A wonderful place,” Dixie said. Then she took off her wide-brimmed hat and flipped it on the couch, walked over to him, and pulled his head down to kiss him.

  He melted into her, holding her, kissing her, wanting the moment to never stop.

  And clearly she didn’t want it to end either, but finally she held him at arm’s length, looking up into his face. “I’m going to go down to the front desk and have the housekeeping staff bring up some hot water to take the chill off that ice water from the tap.”

  He nodded to that, but the kiss had pretty much taken his breath away and caused him to sweat even more than he had been before.

  “Then,” Dixie said, “I’m going to take a lukewarm bath to get a few layers of trail grime off.”

  “Good idea,” Brice managed to say.

  “You want to join me after the housekeeping folks leave?”

  All Brice could do was stand there, his mouth open and his head nodding.

  She laughed and pulled him down and kissed him again.

  “Now get to your room, give the staff a good thirty minutes, change into your breakfast clothes, and bring a change of modern night clothes back. I assume you brought some.”

  “Running shorts and a couple of tee shirts,” he said, nodding.

  “Good,” she said.

  She kissed him again and then the two of them went back out into the hall and she went to the staircase to go down to the front desk while he headed for his suite.

  Thirty minutes exactly, he went back to her suite and knocked lightly.

  He heard a “Yes,” from the other side.

  “It’s Brice,” he said.

  He heard the latch unbolt and the door swung slightly open and he stepped inside.

  Dixie pushed the door closed and then turned to him, completely naked and smiling.

  Again all he could do was stare at the most beautiful woman he had ever known.

  In any timeline.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  August 16th, 1901

  Dixie’s Timeline

  THEY MADE LOVE before they got to the big tub. She had surprised Brice by being naked when he came back and he had just stood there staring at her, which she flat had loved.

  When they finally got to the big tub in the bathroom, the water was cool, but not ice cold, perfect for the warm evening.

  She had brought soap from the future and they used it to scrub each other down, washing off layers and layers of dirt and more suntan lotion from her than she wanted to think about.

  But somehow, after being outside for more than three days, she hadn’t really gotten any damage at all from sun. Most of that was because of the wide-brimmed hat, long sleeve blouses, and the lotion.

  The bath felt wonderful and the big, soft towels even better.

  As they were drying each other off with big fluffy white towels, Brice asked the question she had been worried about.

  “What did Dust
er mean it was your idea to hire me?”

  She turned and reached up and kissed him. Then she said, “Put on your running shorts and tee shirt and let’s have a talk.”

  “That serious, huh?” he asked, looking into her eyes with those wonderful green eyes of his.

  She nodded. “As serious as Bonnie and Duster telling you about the lodge and the crystal cave.”

  “Oh,” was all he said.

  He moved into the other room near the bed and quickly slipped on a tee shirt and running shorts while she did the same. It felt weird to be dressing in 2016 clothing in 1901, but alone like this, there was no reason not to.

  “The table in the turret,” she said.

  He took one chair, then she took another facing him.

  He looked worried and as she sat down he said simply, “Just blurt it out. Better to start that way.”

  She nodded. She had gone over and over this moment in her mind since Bonnie and Duster had managed to get him to go to work with her. Now was the time, the final step.

  “In another timeline,” she said, “you and I sat at this very table, dressed as we are right now, for almost two months every afternoon and evening, working on math in notebooks, trying to solve a math problem Bonnie and Duster had hired us to solve.”

  He opened his mouth, then shut it and sat back. “Of all the things I was worried about you saying, that wasn’t it.”

  “What were you worried about?” she asked.

  He brushed that question away with a wave of his hand. “Me just being worried you don’t like me or couldn’t be with me for some strange reason.”

  “Actually,” she said, “that’s exactly my worry with all this.”

  “So how did it happen?” Brice asked. “I assume the me you are talking about was from another timeline?”

  Dixie nodded. “Bonnie and Duster, when looking for mathematical help on the problem they faced with the lodge happening, they boiled down the candidates to you and me. They called it a coin flip.”

  “In your timeline you won the flip and in other timelines I won the flip,” Brice said. “Standard timeline branching decision.”