My legs felt like rubber by the time I arrived. I drug the deer up near the cabin and collapsed on my back beside it. Kate came out the door and I grinned as I heard her gasp, but I kept my eyes closed for a minute while I rested in the warm sun.
“I’m just resting,” I told her.
“I thought for a minute you and that deer had killed each other,” she said as she sat down beside me, fluffing her skirt out around her daintily.
“I kinda feel like it too.” I sat up and pulled her into my lap, kissing her hard on the mouth. “But I did it. I brought home the dinner.”
“Now we just have to skin it and butcher it.”
I groaned at the thought. “Just let me rest a minute first.”
“I’ll see if I can find some rope or something to hang it by while you rest up.” She jumped off my lap and headed to the storage room in back while I lay back down beside my kill. I was damn proud of myself now that the nasty killing part of it was over. I’d seen my dad shoot and dress out deer when I was young, but I’d never actually shot one myself.
Kate came back a few minutes later with a piece of rope she’d found in the shed and carrying the ax I’d been using to chop wood. I lay still and watched her throw the rope over the limb of a tree and tie one end to the deer’s hind legs. God, but this woman is amazing. So sweet and tender one minute, so tough and strong the next.
I jumped up when she handed me the ax and she directed me in removing the deer’s head. Then, when she began pulling on the rope to lift the deer into the tree, I reached over her and, grabbing the rope above her small hands, we both heaved until the deer was hanging upside down from the tree. I tied our end of the rope off to the trunk of the tree, then we began the work of butchering the deer.
“Do you want to keep the skin?” Kate asked.
I hadn’t given it any thought, but now it set my mind to racing.
“Do you know how to tan hides?” I asked her.
“I only know a little from my father, but he never let me help. Those two Indian boys told me their tribe soaks the hide in deer brains and hot water.”
“Ugh. That sounds really gross.”
“I guess the brain oils soften the hide for making their buckskin clothing.”
“Well, let’s keep it then and I’ll give it a try. We could certainly use the clothing.” I only had the two sets of her husband’s clothes and my pair of pants I’d arrived in. I didn’t really expect any of it to last very long with this rough lifestyle. I’d already caught my pants on a tree limb and torn a hole in them.
We carried the skinned deer to the storage room and hung it from a rafter along the back wall, the coolest area of the room. I went back out to deal with the brains and skin, while Kate cut us some venison steaks for dinner. I took the ax and split the skull of the deer, removing the brains into the washtub, which was the only thing I could find to put them in. Next, I picked up the skin, trying to figure out what I could hang it on. I remembered the icepick-looking tool I’d seen in the shed and I headed back around the cabin, where I met Kate as she was coming out the door with her venison steaks.
“Hey, do you know what this tool is?” I picked it up off the shelf and held it out to her.
“It’s an awl…for making holes in leather.”
“Aah. Should work.” I took it with me back to the skin and used it to make several holes around the edge of the skin. Through these holes I inserted pieces of the rawhide string and then, stretching the skin between two trees, I tied it to various limbs with my rawhide string.
“Not bad,” Kate said when she returned. She instructed me on scraping all the flesh and fat from the underside of the skin. I went after it with the blade of the knife for a couple hours, until Kate called out the door.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“I’ll just go wash up first,” I called back. I looked at my hands, there were bits of flesh and fat and blood everywhere. I just hope I can figure out what I’m doing, I thought as I stared at my hands.
I cleaned up and went in to dinner. The smells in that warm little cabin almost knocked me down when I opened the door. The bread, the vegetables, the steaks—oh, beautiful venison steaks—I felt like I could eat the whole deer right now. Must be the fresh air. I sat down on one of the hard wooden benches and Kate set a filled plate in front of me and a hot cup of tea. Never in my life had I been so grateful for these basic necessities…food, warmth and a good woman to share it with.
We curled up on the animal skin rug in front of the fire after dinner, warm and full and comfortable. I stretched out on my side, and Kate curled up into my chest.
“Tell me more about your family,” she said.
“My mom is short and round and strong, but the sweetest, most lovable woman you would ever want to know. She has a quiet, classy wisdom that I’ve always admired. She worked the farm and orchard right alongside my father and still made time to raise three rowdy boys. She was determined that we be raised with the proper manners and etiquette. She taught us to dance and play piano. I always thought of it as if she were trying to tame wild horses.”
Kate giggled at the thought. “And your father?”
“My father was strict and strong, but at the same time warm and loving. He kept us boys busy working on the farm, but he also loved to take us fishing and camping, and a night out for dinner and a movie was a weekly family affair. Good times.” I stared into the flames as my mind traveled into my past, which ironically, was now in the future. “They found him a couple of years ago, out in the orchard. His heart had given out and he died out there, doing what he loved.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate said quietly.
“My brothers,” I said with a lighter tone, “on the other hand, were the wild ones. I was the youngest and I could hardly keep up with them. They were constantly playing jokes and pranks on me, on my mother, on each other. They were horrible little devils. Actually, we all were.”
“What did they do?”
“Well, we had a tire swing hanging from a tree. We would swing out over the river, then let go and drop into the water. My brothers cut part way through the rope. Then, when I got on the swing, they got it swinging and gave me a pig push. I landed all the way across the river in the bushes and brambles while they laughed their asses off.”
Kate laughed too and sat up to look at me. I stretched out more and leaned my head on my hand as I talked. “I got them back, though. The oldest, Brad, I opened a can of tuna and hid it under the seat of his car…in the summertime. After a few days, the whole car smelled like dead fish.”
Kate’s eyes lit up as she laughed and her face had a happy, relaxed look.
“The other one, Jake, I waited in the bathroom til he was pounding on the door, then I put superglue on the toilet seat. He was in there for a while. I had left a new magazine in there for him. When he stood up, he ripped off some of his ass hair. You could hear his howl of pain throughout the house. Probably a good thing I didn’t put much glue, or he woulda been walking around with a toilet seat attached to his ass.”
“Oh, that’s horrible! But you’re family sounds wonderful.”
“They are. I really miss them. I didn’t even think about it when I jumped off that bridge. I bet they found my car and I know a guy saw me jump. I bet it broke my mother’s heart. I wish I could go back and tell her that I’m okay and that I’m happy here with you.”
“You are?”
I stared into those beautiful ice-blue eyes. “Of course I am. It may be harder times here, but it’s also a simpler, cleaner, better place than in my time. No smog, no factories polluting the air and water. This area seems so clean and pure now. The air is so fresh, the water is crystal clear and full of fish. I think the world would have been a better place without the progress men have made.”
“But you said you were happy here with me?” Her gaze was intense now as she stared at me.
I took her small hand and pulled it to my chest, keeping it in my larger one. “I’ve had lots
of girlfriends in the past and a few that I thought I was in love with,” I told her.
“Yes?”
“I did love them, but now I know that I wasn’t in love with them.”
“How do you know that now?”
“Because now…now I know what it’s like to fall head over heels, madly in love with someone.”
Her eyes grew shiny as tears welled up.
“I think you were right about providence, Kate. Maybe God sent me here to show me what I still have to live for.” I don’t think I’d ever opened up to anyone like that before and if she didn’t feel the same, I didn’t think I could take it. “I think we’re soul mates, Kate. I think you’re the one I’ve always been searching for.” I moved her hand on my chest over to my heart. “This belongs to you now.” I kept my hand over hers where I held it on my heart.
Her tears spilled over now and I watched as one rolled down her cheek. I leaned forward and kissed it away, followed by a passionate kiss on her soft lips. She responded in kind and I was surprised when she pushed me down onto my back and, straddling my waist, she ripped her dress off over her head. We made love for hours right there in front of the fire, until we were exhausted and she fell asleep in my arms.
Chapter 16
I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my life, Kate thought as she lay nestled in John’s arms, staring into the flames. When John had professed his love to her, she’d felt her own heart slamming against her chest. He’d stared into her eyes with such love and passion and, when he kissed her, she’d let go of her senses completely and pulled her dress off over her head. She wondered as she was falling asleep in his arms, if he would ask her to marry him and, if so, where would they be able to find a preacher out here in the wilderness? She snuggled against his broad chest as he wrapped both arms tight around her. She drifted off to sleep, happy and secure in John’s love.
Chapter 17
We woke up late, still in front of the fire, which only had a few glowing coals left. I slipped my arm from under Kate’s head and added wood to the fire. As the fire grew and the firelight played off my naked skin, I looked down at myself. I knew that I’d grown leaner since I woke up in her wagon, but I really hadn’t had time to give it much thought. I could see now that every inch of my body had transformed into taut, lean muscle. I ran my hand down each arm, across my shoulders, even down my legs. Every muscle was firm and hard like an athlete. Just like those two Indian boys. All those hours of chopping wood and walking had turned me into a different man. It felt good to get my body into the shape of an athlete. I had always been in pretty decent shape, or at least I had thought I was. I thought about how much money was spent in my time on diet pills and gyms. All those folks really need is to go out into the wilderness and work your ass off to survive. I smiled smugly as I threw on some clothes and headed out to the shed to cut off some venison for breakfast. I had never been more content and happy with my life than I was at this moment, here with Kate.
There was a morning mist hanging along the river. It looked eerie and ghostly, yet peaceful and serene. I stopped as I made my way back to the cabin and took in the beauty of it, the fresh, clean air and the absolute silence. Never in my life had I known such peace, such sheer, unadulterated happiness.
Kate woke up when I went back inside and I watched her stand and stretch, the firelight dancing off her naked body. It froze me in my tracks and I forgot what I was doing. I still had the steaks in my hand and I was about to throw another log on the fire, but as I stared at her splendid nakedness, I almost threw the steaks into the fire instead. I caught myself in the nick of time and picked up a log, tossing it on the fire as I grinned sheepishly. I cooked breakfast for her and we ate in front of the fire, still giddy from the most passionate night of romance I had ever known. Lucky for her she had gotten dressed, or it would have continued right through the morning.
“I love you, John Baker,” she said softly as we ate. I reached over and touched her face with the back of my hand.
“I love you too, little one.” I stared into her eyes. She had a warm, gentle glow to her amazing blue eyes this morning. I almost felt like I could see my soul in them, as if I could drown in the deep, blue depths of them.
After breakfast, I went back to my morning routine of wood chopping and knife throwing. I decided to try the knife throwing first, before my arm got tired from swinging the axe. I tried moving in closer to the log I’d been throwing at. I tried twenty feet, then fifteen. I found that at fifteen feet, I could hold the knife by the handle and get it to rotate a full flip and stick into the end of the log. I tried it again and again, hitting the mark every time. I moved back to twenty feet and tried again. The knife bounced off the log and, frustrated, I tried again and again. Finally, a thought struck me, what if I held the knife by the blade. I flipped it around and, aiming as I did before, I watched the knife rotate one and a half flips and stick into the log. Perfect. I retrieved it and tried it again, and again, hitting the mark each time. Now I was getting a hang of the distance versus blade rotation.
“You’re getting really good.”
I was so absorbed in my practice, I didn’t know she had even come up behind me.
“Its progress. I think I’m getting the hang of it.” I wrapped an arm around her and gave her a kiss, then put the knife in her hand. “You give it a try.” I moved her closer and instructed her how to aim. She hit the target on her first try.
“I did it, I can’t believe it.”
“You did good.”
Kate tried it a few more times with no luck, then gave it up for the day. I kept trying to show her how to extend her arm, but she insisted on girl throws, with her arm too limp. I practiced for about an hour, improving more and more as I tried out different distances, and then went back to chopping wood.
We had more of the deer for lunch, and afterward I went back to the skin I was drying. I was able to scrape the underside better now that it had dried out some, but it was still a messy job. I removed all the hair from one side and the remaining bits of fat and flesh from the other side. I was left with an unidentifiable skin, similar to the one in front of the fireplace, but without the hair. I took it down and added it to the tub with the brains. I started a fire in the yard and boiled water in the tub with the deer brains, using a stick to stir the brains in like a soup. “Ugh, brain soup,” I said as I stirred, smiling to myself. I had to look like a witch out there, stirring my potion over the fire with a stick.
While the skin was soaking, I went about building a frame to stretch it on. I used more of the rawhide strips to tie my frame together and leaned it against the cabin wall. It was really no more than poles forming a square, but it should work, I hoped.
When this was done, I built another frame in the middle of the yard, burying the upright poles so that it was standing. I built a new fire under it, using green wood to create more smoke. Then I went to the shed and cut strips off the deer, hanging them on the frame over my fire. I was hoping I could learn the art of making jerky since we had no freezer for our meat. I kept a small fire going under it the rest of the day, flipping the venison on the rack occasionally.
I pulled the deer skin from the tub before dark and stretched it out on the rack I’d built, making more holes along the edge with the awl and tying it tight with the rawhide string. I pulled the strips of venison off the smoker rack and hung them back in the shed. I seemed to have achieved more of a smoked meat than jerky. I cut off a small piece and tried it. It was good, it had a nice smoky flavor. Maybe it just required longer smoking to make it into jerky? I figured I could throw it back on the rack tomorrow to find out.
Kate had made a venison stew for dinner, with potatoes, onions and carrots and one small biscuit for each of us. It was wonderful after my day of labor. The cabin was warm and cozy with a small fire going in the fireplace.
“We haven’t seen another human since we found this cabin,” I said to Kate over dinner. “It seems like we’re the only two people
on earth.”
“I know. I rather like it myself.”
“Me too.” I didn’t think there had been a day in my life that I hadn’t been surrounded by people. This solitude was a nice change and I was enjoying the challenges of learning how to survive.
“I would like a bath after dinner, John. If you would be so kind as to scrub the deer brains out of our washtub?”
“Sure,” I said. “Sorry. I couldn’t find anything else to put them in.”
Kate boiled water in the washtub after I cleaned it and we took turns bathing in it. We got cleaned up and turned in early, cuddling together under the blankets.
The next morning, I started my fire and put the strips of meat back over it and stretched my deer skin tighter on the frame, poking at it with my fingers, trying to test the drying process. If I had the internet, I could figure this tanning process out in a minute, I thought wryly. It didn’t seem to be drying very well with the chilly, damp days we’d been having. I moved the frame over by the fire and leaned it against my smoking rack. I didn’t know if the smoke would be too good for it, but I figured the heat from the fire should help dry it out.
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