The Star of All Valleys

by Vicki H. Cutler

  Chapter 4

  Long before sunlight hit the windows Willy was awake. She looked out at the green, rocky hillside close by and listened to the morning birds welcoming the new day. It took a few minutes for her thoughts to collect themselves and her mind to awake from a pleasant dream. Then she sat bolt upright, bumping her head on the low ceiling. Max! He was coming to take them to the intermitting spring today.

  "You crazy woman!" she shouted in her thoughts. "What have you done? How can you subject your kids and your sister to a total stranger?" Well, not exactly total, she amended, smiling in remembrance of last night. He has nice arms--and lips. She climbed down from the bed, cheeks again bright red. "I can't face him in the daylight. I just can't! What must he think of me?"

  She immediately began trying to think up some excuses to put him off. She didn't know a thing about him. Her instincts told her he was reliable, but, remembering where her instincts had gotten her a few weeks ago when she had gone to her first and only dance after Ryan had died, she didn't have much faith in them. The man who had invited her to go out for ice cream after the dance had scared her badly. He had looked so normal and nice and clean cut. She had hesitantly gone with him at the urging of her friend who knew him.

  They had eaten their ice cream and then he had driven her back to her car. The parking lot was deserted by then and he wanted to talk some more. She knew she was in trouble when he noticed she had kicked off her heels and he began trying to persuade her to let him kiss her toes. She cringed again at the very thought. When polite talking and even a flat refusal hadn't worked, she was starting to feel a little afraid. Finally she had escaped his clutching hands by smacking his face hard and jumping barefoot out the door. Luckily, it had only been a short run back to her car and she had jumped in and driven off. He hadn’t followed her and she had never seen him again. All she lost that night was a pair of shoes. After that, she decided being alone wasn't so bad. Until now.

  Pushing all thoughts of strong arms and brown eyes out of her head, she dressed. The kids were stirring. Aggie sat up and smiled. "I think I'm going to love it here," she said. They made their trip to the facilities down the road then ate breakfast. Willy had been thinking all the time what she could say to Max when he came. No really plausible excuse came to mind but she was feeling worried that she had let it go this far. Maybe she could just have him point out the way on her map and then get rid of him. Politely, of course. Willy was always polite to a fault.

  Distractedly packing a picnic lunch, she realized a way out. Of course! There wasn't room for all of them in the cab. She would ask if he would just show her on the map where to go and they would not put him to the trouble of guiding them. The sound of a vehicle approaching sent the butterflies fluttering in her stomach and she jumped when his knock sounded on the door. She opened it and looked down into his eyes and hardened herself to tell him of the change in plans.

  "Morning, Ma'am," he said. Allison and Jeffy crowded around her at the camper door and looked at the tall stranger. He didn't look like a ranger at all today. He was dressed in jeans, a plaid shirt over a tee shirt with a light jacket on top, and cowboy boots. He had topped it off with a big hat.

  "Who's that, Mommy?" Jeffy whispered shyly, clinging to his mother’s leg. Allison had hidden behind Aggie.

  "This is Mr. Bell. He is a forest ranger and knows all about that special spring I came to write about," Willy explained. She introduced the kids to him. "These are my children, Allison and Jefferson. And this is my sister, Agatha."

  Aggie rolled her eyes at the use of her full name and Jeffy piped up, "He doesn't look like a forest ranger. He looks like a cowboy." Then as the possibilities filled his little mind, he asked in awe, "Do we get to ride horses?"

  “Mr. Bell,” Willy broke in, grabbing the map from the table and stepping down from the camper. She ignored Jeffy’s question. “I’ve been thinking that I really don’t want to impose on your day off and have you spend your free time showing us around. If you’ll just draw the route on a map I’m sure I can find it just fine.” She spread the map on the picnic table. "I believe we’re here,” she said, pointing. “Where do we go after we get back on the main road?” she asked. “I haven’t been able to locate the spring on the map.”

  “It’s much too hard to find by yourselves,” he grinned. “And I wouldn’t have offered to take you if I had other plans. I can give you a first rate tour, free of charge or other obligation.” He turned to Jeffy and said, “And yes, horse riding can be arranged!”

  Willy knew when she was defeated as the kids jumped up and down squealing in glee at this unexpected news, but she bravely played her trump. “We can’t possibly all fit in the cab. Just draw the route on the map and we’ll be fine.”

  "Oh, I planned that we could take my car. The roads are rough and there's plenty of room for four passengers," he said.

  Blowing her cheeks out and torn between reluctance and glee herself, Willy stared into his eyes a moment and then made the choice to trust him. What could possibly happen with the whole group there? She handed out jackets for everyone and picked up the cooler. “I brought a picnic,” she explained. Max took the cooler from her and put it behind the back seat in his jeep.

  He opened the doors. "Oh boy!" the little ones shouted, piling in. "We never rode in this kind of a car before." Aggie still looked a little confused, but said nothing. Soon they were all belted into the seats. She sat with Allison and Jeffy in back and Willy sat in the front.

  The jeep had soft sides and zippered windows but Max suggested they open everything up so they could see and smell the fresh mountain fragrances. He started the motor and turned into the roadway around the campground.

  “I’ll need to learn all about you,” Max called over the sound of the motor. "How old are you, Agatha?" he asked, looking in the rear view mirror.

  "It's Aggie. I'm thirteen," she replied shortly.

  "Oh, sorry. Where are you from in Washington?" he persisted.

  "Portland." Aggie's voice was sullen and she rolled her eyes.

  "Oh, I see. From your plates, I assumed you were all from Washington," Max observed.

  "Aggie lives with our parents in Portland and spends part of the summer with me to help with the kids while we’re travelling doing my research and writing," explained Willy. "The kids and I live south of Seattle in Kent."

  "All right," said Max. "And Allison, let me guess. You're five, am I right?"

  Allison giggled and nodded, still shy but warming up fast. "How can you tell?" she asked in her soft voice.

  "It's easy," laughed the big man in the front seat. "You've got 'Kindergartener' written all over your face!"

  Allison put up her hands and felt her face. She turned to Aggie with big eyes and asked, "Will it come off?" The tension broke as everyone laughed. Allison ducked her curly blond head, not understanding the laughter, but not offended.

  Then Jeffy, unable to stand being confined any longer, and eager for his turn, unbuckled his belt and pulled himself up behind the stranger. "Big hat!" he said, awe in his little voice. Max grinned.

  "You like my hat? Today I'm a Wyoming cowboy," he exclaimed. "Do you want one like it?"

  Jeffy nodded vigorously, then remembering his purpose in standing up, he yelled, "I'm free, Mr. Rangerbell!"

  "Free? Oh, three!" Max caught on just in time. "You're a big boy for being three. Are you the man of the family?"

  "No, we don't got no mans," Jeffy shook his head. "Daddy got burnded," he said, his eyes big and blue and clouded just now. "He's in heaven and watches us through the stars. Where are the stars today, Mama?"

  Willy ruffled his hair and told him how the sun is so bright it keeps us from seeing the stars but they are still there all the time.

  "How about getting back in your seat belt, little man?" Max called over the wind. "This road is bumpy and you could fly into the trees."

  Jeffy sat back down and let Aggie buckle him in. "He called me 'li
ttle man'," he giggled in an undervoice to her.

  They watched the scenery go by and soon were out of the canyon and heading north on the main highway. All across the valley were the silver arcs of sprinkler systems bringing water to the green fields.

  "What are the crops around here?" Willy wanted to know.

  "Mostly alfalfa. A little barley. It's so dry this time of year the season is about over," Max answered. "They have to share out the water now because the creeks and river get so low. That's when the Spring works best, though. It doesn't intermit when the water is high in early summer."

  After a few miles they slowed and drove into the small town of Afton. "What's that?" asked Allison as they passed under a huge arch in the middle of town.

  "Those are elk horns," Max explained as he pulled into an empty parking spot on the street. "Do you want to take a closer look?" They all piled out. Willy caught herself thinking how nice it was to have someone else lift the children out of the car. Max swung Jeffy up in his arms and held Allison's hand when she shyly offered it. They walked over to the arch and touched the bony horns.

  "There are hundreds of them," marvelled Aggie, coming out of her silence. "Why did they have to kill all those elk just to make an arch? How disgusting!" The budding ecologist in her was incensed.

  Max quickly disabused her mind of the picture of hundreds of dying elk having their antlers chopped off. "Elk lose their antlers every winter after the mating season. There is a big feeding area about thirty miles north of here and the Boy Scouts just picked most of these up off the ground from there."

  "Can we go see the elk, Mr. Bell? What is an elk?" asked Allison, all shyness gone. Something about the man gave her a sense of safety and she held on tightly to his hand.

  Max explained that they looked like big deer but that they were up in the high mountains at this time of year and just came down to the feeding grounds when the winter snows were too deep for them to find food. When they were through looking at the arch, instead of returning to the jeep, Max led them into a variety store and headed for the hat counter.

  "You can't be a Wyoming cowboy without the proper hat," he said. He picked one out that was Jeffy's size and tried it on him. The delighted little boy bounced around with joy. There was even a pink one for Allison and her eyes lit up with surprise. "How about you, Aggie? The sun is pretty hot up there. Here's one your size."

  "Gross!" she retorted, pulling a face. "I brought my Laker's hat." She remembered her manners just in time and said, “Thanks anyway.”

  "Mrs. Milton?" Max asked, holding up a feminine version of his own large hat.

  "Sorry, I can't stand to wear hats, hot sun or not," she replied, thinking how much all this was going to cost. She needn't have worried, though, because Max insisted it was included in the tour and paid not only for both hats but also for matching official cowboy scarves which he tied around the necks of both kids, explaining the many uses real cowboys found for them. Glowing with pleasure, the kids skipped back up the street and they all climbed into the jeep.

  Max pulled out and drove a short distance past more stores. He took a right turn on the street that was marked, Swift Creek Canyon. They passed through a pretty residential section of town and Allison spotted a familiar sign. "Garage Sale!" she shouted, pointing.

  “Do you read already before you even start school?” Max was impressed and winked at Allison in the rear view mirror.

  "No. She’s just seen a lot of them,” Willy answered for her, her face growing pink again. “We're not stopping at garage sales today, Allison." Willy was momentarily embarrassed, but she had found the great economic advantage of doing a lot of their shopping for clothes and other things at garage sales. She saved huge amounts of money that way but knew that her parents and Aggie in particular abhorred the practice. They were of the opinion that used goods were somehow tainted and none of them would be caught dead wearing something someone else had worn previously.

  Willy smiled to herself when she reflected that Aggie would have a fit if she knew that the Laker's hat that she cherished as a prized possession had come from a garage sale. Willy had been thrilled to find it and only had to part with fifty cents for it. It had been a wonderful birthday present, but she knew it would be garbage if Aggie discovered its origins. Luckily, Willy had found it when the kids had been playing at a neighbor’s so they didn't know its history and couldn't blab.

  Her wandering thoughts were snapped back to the present when Max called out, "I see a star!"

  "Where? Where?" shouted the children together.

  "Right up there on the mountain," said Max, pointing. High on the face of the nearest foothill was a painted white star.

  "How did it get there?"

  "What is it up there for?"

  The questions buzzed and Max laughed and explained that in Wyoming like most towns in the west, every community with a hill of any size close by would paint a letter or symbol of some kind up high to show school spirit for the local high school. Here, he told them, they always put torches around the star on the night before the big homecoming football game and had a pep rally downtown.

  "Why don't they have an A for Afton, then?" asked Aggie.

  "There are a lot of little towns all around the two valleys here so the whole area is called Star Valley," Max answered. "One of the early settlers called it 'The Star of all Valleys' and that's where it got it's name." Chuckling, he continued, "A lot of the old-timers joke that its real name was 'Starve Alley' because of the cold, hard winters we have here. For many years, the settlers were snowed in the valley for most of the winter and I guess it wasn't the easiest place to live."

  "Has your family been in the valley long?" Willy asked.

  "Yes," he answered. "My great grandmother rode into the valley in a wagon one day and delivered a baby the next. They had to camp out in their wagon for most of the summer until they could get a house built. It must have taken a lot of guts to live a life like that."