She woke up to the scent of coffee and checked her watch. 6.03 am. Was he kidding? She couldn’t even remember the last time she had woken up this early. She curled on her side and closed her eyes. She could sleep a while longer, she was sure of it.
She never heard any noise, but suddenly the mattress dipped alarmingly and slightly bitter scent of coffee in the air escalated to the point where she was fully able to taste it.
“Oh, God… Please, let me sleep little longer…” She muttered, turning on her back and rubbing her eyes. Rather crabby-looking Logan eyed her with a steaming cup of coffee in his hands.
“God probably would let you sleep. But I have few things that need to be taken care of today. You’re going to tag along and learn how to deal with stuff.”
“I have to warn you, I’m a slow learner.”
“Doesn’t matter. Get up and get dressed. Wear something warm.”
“We’re going outside?” She asked. Logan shook his head.
“I’m going outside. But we really can’t afford to keep the fire going during the day. Smoke would draw attention.”
“Oh. Okay. Could you…”
“I leave you to it. There’s coffee in the thermos upstairs. If you’re hungry… You just have to suck it up. I’m going to see if I can catch us something today.”
With that said her strangely sullen host retreated back upstairs. Was he already having second thoughts about bringing her here?
She pulled on her clothes, wrinkling her nose for the lack of showering. Then took her toothbrush, shrugging her shoulders. She would probably feel icky and sticky for a while, but Logan was the one who had to bear possible disgusting sweat odor with his heightened senses.
When she was done she climbed upstairs and found Logan lacing his boots, a rifle leaning against the wall beside him.
“Coffee is by the fireplace. There’s some moss as well.”
“Moss?”
“In that bag. It’s going to be a sunny day. Cover the windows and keep the place dark. You can see all the little cracks on the wall that way. Just stuff the moss in to those cracks.”
“Oh. Could you show me how?” She asked. Logan finished tying his boots and stood up, walking to the bag and opened it. Pulled out a narrow iron rod, not much bigger than an average pencil. There was a white line painted on it.
“Take a piece of moss and stuff it in to the crack with this. When you can’t see white anymore it’s deep enough.”
“Okay…”
“Oh, and if you’re not in your room you should turn off the light. Batteries won’t last long and it takes a while from them to charge again.”
She hurried to switch off the light. Charge? How?
“I have been planning to get a better system up and running, but it has to be done during the summer and I have been busy… Well, think you can manage few hours on your own?” Logan asked grabbing the rifle and a carton of bullets.
“I guess. Is there anything else I should know about?” She asked. Logan shook his head.
“Not today. You have your hands full already. It was a dry summer and logs have been shrinking.”
Hours practically flew past once she managed to forgot her protesting stomach. And Logan had been right. It would be a small miracle if she managed to plug all the holes before sundown. She was sitting in front of the fireplace, surprised of how warm it still felt when Logan stumbled in, clothes torn, carrying carcasses of a rabbit and a some sort of bird, rifle slung over his shoulders.
“They sure did put up a fight,” she said, hurrying to close the door when Logan sunk to the floor, gulping air like it was going to run out at any given second.
“Had a bit of an argument… With my neighbor…”
“Neighbor?”
“There’s a bear cave not too far from here… Forgot all about it and fell in… Mommy didn’t much like me visiting the cub… Fuck! I found a fucking deer earlier and had to leave it there!”
“A bear! Oh, my God! Are you alright?”
She started opening his bloodied jackets, trying to move the rifle out of the way. Logan swatted her hands away.
“I’m fine… Just let me catch my breath…”
“You’re bleeding!”
“I was… Not anymore, it’s healed already… Just go back to what you were doing… I’ll…”
He was telling the truth. Once she managed to pry open his numerous shirts and jackets she found nothing but bloodstained skin. No gaping wounds, not even scratches or bruises from his ordeal. She opened the curtains to get a better look at him, to be absolutely sure. Logan flashed her a tired grin.
“I guess it’s time for a bath?”
“I guess it is. Uh… I noticed that there’s no tub or shower. How do you…”
“Depends. Usually I just roll in the snow, but… That won’t do for you. Shit. Let’s see…” Logan closed his eyes and let his head droop back against the wall, small frown on his face. She started to think that there was after all something wrong with him, but then he suddenly opened his eyes.
“There’s a hot spring near that bear cave.”
They gathered all the essentials, towels, clean clothes and a roll of tarp.
“What are we going to do with this?” She asked securing the roll to the toboggan.
“It’ll keep the wind and snow at bay. Not much use to have a warm bath if you freeze before you can get clothes on after it,” Logan explained. Last thing to go in to the toboggan was his rifle. She eyed it with suspicion.
“What do we need that for?” She asked. Logan gestured towards the bird and the rabbit that hung from the ceiling.
“We need more to eat. And it’s good to be prepared in case our dear neighbor decides to pay a visit. It’s not like that pea-shooter can actually hurt a bear, but the noise would probably scare it off.”
Wind had died down during the day, but there was a chill breeze in the air as they waded their way through the snow.
“How far is it?” She asked, stopping to check that the cloth she had wrapped to protect her practically bare ankles was still in place.
“It’s just around that small hill. Tired already?” Logan asked. She shook her head.
“No. Not much.” It was a lie, but she was quite certain Logan couldn’t detect it. He was walking up front, plowing an easier path for her. He hadn’t slept for few days, and his tangle with the bear earlier certainly hadn’t helped the matters. She tried her best to act cheerful. After all, while he was outside hunting, she had been in the cabin just tinkering with relatively easy task of plugging the holes.
“You up for a slay ride?” Logan asked after they had huffed and puffed their way through the sinking snow on top of the hill. She could see steam rising from a small spring little further down the hill.
“ As long as we get down on one piece,” she muttered, remembering her earlier experience of that same treat.
“I try to steer clear from the spring…” She heard Logan promising, then the toboggan slid forward and it was too late to jump off. She closed her eyes and tried her best not to scream.
“Oops…” She heard Logan grunting. A sound that shouldn’t be heard when sitting on a vehicle that was under the best of circumstances practically impossible to steer.
“What!”
“Nothing! Forgot the tarp up there!” Logan shouted over the wind. She cracked her eyes open. Spring was getting closer and closer. Just as it started to look like they would slide in there after all the toboggan stopped with a sudden jolt, throwing her on her face to the snow.
“Sorry about that. Be right back, just wait here…” She heard Logan huffing when she rose coughing and spluttering. When she turned to look he was already climbing back up to the hill. She could see the dark green roll of tarp up there.
She took in her surroundings. Spring was fairly large and oval shaped. It was surrounded with large boulders. They were warm to touch. Water was bubbling and churning slightly. She took off her mitten and dipped her finger carefully in to test it. It was hot, but not boiling. She was about to stand up when assortment of metal rods fell next to her. She turned to look. Logan was back with the tarp.
“You know how to pitch a tent?” He asked.
“Well, I went to camping from school last summer…”
“Good. This tarp should be wide enough to cover the whole spring. Just crank the rods in to the ground and we’ll spread it.”
After fifteen minutes she was exhausted, sweating and ready to give up. Frozen and rocky ground simply refused to accept the rods. She turned to look at Logan who was making steady progress on his side of spring. He had taken off his jacket, complaining that it restricting, and was driving the rods in seemingly effortlessly. Watching his determined and efficient moves she almost felt sorry for the bear he had disturbed earlier. The way his muscles coiled, his lips drawn slightly, small strands of hair fallen over his forehead…
“How’s it going?” He asked. She had to blink several times and shake her head to come out of her musings.
“It isn’t going at all. Stupid, stupid rods!” She huffed and kicked the three remaining rods accusingly.
“Is there anything you can do?” Logan huffed, stepping next to her and picking up the rods.
“I’m good at plugging holes. And I can cook. As long as you clean up that rabbit and the bird first.”
“I’ll take your word for it… Though you’re going to have to prove it to me as soon as we get back home…” Logan grunted, shoving the rods in to their places. After that it wasn’t so hard to cover the spring with the tarp.
“I’ll see if we can find a more permanent solution for this later. Truth to be told I was getting rather tired of snow bathing myself…” Logan said, disappearing under the tarp. She stood on her ground, completely flabbergasted.
“You’re not shy, are you?” Logan’s question took her by surprise.
“Shy?” She squeaked. Logan poked his head out from under the tarp.
“Well, there’s only this one spring, and it takes the both of us to shield it from the weather. You don’t mind sharing the bath?”
“You… We… You want us to take a bath together?” She asked.
“It’s not about what I want. But it would be better that way. If you wait until I’m done then I have to wait out there until you’re done, and standing around wet in cold weather isn’t my idea of fun.”
“Um… I don’t have a bathing suit or…”
“For Christ’s sakes, kid… Don’t you think I would have jumped on you already if I was planning to? Get in and strip. I promise not to look.”
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