ON THE MOUNTAIN

By Wednesday afternoon, they had filled the last order for spars, and had only to get them to the Little River where the boats were waiting to ship them out. That could be done tomorrow. If the snow held off.

Maybe they should start today?

Jason stood, arms crossed, frowning and studying the clouds. There was, for the moment, no wind. Nothing moving.

Good or bad? Were the clouds still because they were ready to start dumping? Or were they waiting for a change in direction and the night to set in? Like maybe a warm wind from the south?

"Everything's ready to go, Jason," Josh reported. "Are we gonna get them moving tonight, or wait until morning?"

"What do you think?"

Josh was startled. Jason rarely asked for advice about the daily work. "We got finished sooner than we planned. May as well stay ahead if we can."

Jason slanted him an amused look. "Before it starts snowing?"

Josh shrugged. "Snow might help move 'em faster, but we can't count on that."

"Let's have a meal and a break, and then we'll see."

"We don't have much light left, and with those clouds –"

"A quick meal and a short break?" Jason suggested, with a smile. "I'm hungry and more than a bit tired. The rest of you must be, too."

"You're the boss."

"I'm not above taking advice. It's always good to have someone else to share the blame when I make the wrong decision."

"That sounds right. What's Jeremy supposed to be doing?"
"Trimming tops for firewood. Isn't he?"

"No. Mostly he's staring at them and talking to them."

"What's he telling them, do you know?"

"Nope. He's using his talk-to-the-trees voice."

Jason laughed. "I'll see to him. You get the men started on supper."

"Okay."

Jeremy had done some cutting, but not nearly what was expected. Jason wondered for a moment if he had expected too much. The boy had stood four; no, five of the spruce tops up and leaned them against the standing trees. He was looking at them all thoughtfully and, as Joshua had said, murmuring to them, occasionally straightening a limb or lightly touching the needles.

Jason found a place to sit, made himself as comfortable as possible, "Is there a problem, young 'un?"

Jeremy looked over his shoulder at his brother, and then shook his head, turning his attention back to the trees.

"That doesn't look to be an effective way to turn treetops into firewood. In fact, it looks downright dangerous to me. Dangerous for you, I mean. You start chopping at the base, they're like to fall over on you."

"I'm jus' looking."

"May I ask why?"

"They're awful p-pretty. Somebody should look at 'em. And 'member them."

Jason shook his boy was full of surprises, that was for sure. "I'd rather remember them for keeping me warm while I'm watching the snow pile 't they rather be remembered that way?"

Jeremy shook his head and came to where Jason was, still looking at his treetops. "It ain't snowing. Until tomorrow."
"And what do you base that prediction on?" Jeremy tended to be right more often than wrong about the weather, so he was worth listening to. He paid attention to stuff like that.

"The clouds ain't big enough. And they're too flat."

"I see. Well, we're taking a break for supper. Come on and eat. You can get back to this later while we start moving logs."

"'Kay," Jeremy agreed.

When the break was over, Jason walked Jeremy back over to his stand. "Do what you can. Be careful. And."

"Stay outta the way. I know. That's the only reason you gave me this job."

"I could put you to tending the fires instead."

Jeremy shook his head. "If you wasn't going to be busy, I could try pretend chopping on the trees."

"But I am going to be busy. So is Josh, and everyone else. One of us will come for you when we've done enough for tonight."

"Or I can go into the camp? You'll be working the other way."

"Yes, but stay there if you do so."

"An' k-keep the f-fires burning?" Jeremy smiled.

"Of course."

Jason, Joshua, and their three jubilant loggers entered the Bolt Brothers mountain had got the job done, and they were about to be paid. Jason had arranged being paid, in cash, on delivery. (Had they not made the delivery on time, they would have had a lot of lumber and owed the men, but that young braggart Jason Bolt had been the only one willing to even try to fill the buyer's order. And he had done it. It was a terrific step toward getting a reliable business reputation.)

Their excited talk stopped when they opened the door.

Jeremy was standing by the table, with a half dozen books open, and he was cutting out a design on sheets of folded paper. In the far corner stood one of the treetops with strips of something shiny scattered on the branches. He put down his knife and unfolded the paper and he had somehow created chains of snowflakes.

"Jeremy Bolt, what are you doing?" Jason was amused. It was plain what the kid was doing. Last year the boy had expressed an interest in the Christmas trees in the stories Jason had been reading to them, but Da had opposed the idea. He said there was no sense in dressing up the firewood and littering up the house, and that bringing the outdoors inside did no honor to the birth of the Christ Child which was the reason the day was celebrated. It wasn't hard to imagine Da's reaction to tin cans cut into slivers, spirals, and other shapes. That and the paper bits on the floor were without a doubt the litter he'd objected to.

But that was at Da's house, and this one was theirs. Da didn't make the rules here.

Jeremy looked up at Jason through his lashes. "Are you mad?"

"Do I sound mad? I'm not happy about you cutting up tins with your knife while nobody was nearby, but you obviously handled that. Let's clear off the table though, and have some of that coffee while I sort out this money." Jason started closing and stacking the books, briefly glancing at the printed descriptions of ornately decorated (or not so much) trees.

Joshua started getting cups out for the men, stopping to stare at his younger brother every now and then.

Jeremy stared back.

The men were seated at the table, and the talk started again, as Jason pulled out paysheets and money.

"How do you do these things?" Josh asked, helping place the snowflakes. "I wouldn't have dared. At least I would have asked first."

"But then somebody could have said no," Jeremy explained. "If ya just do it, maybe they won't."

"We're not even going to be here."

Jeremy shrugged. "Here now."

Josh shook his head. "I don't know about you!"

Jason and the men started playing cards and Josh rushed over to join them, demanding Jason to give him some money, because he'd worked, too.

Jason laughed, made a comment to the men to hold onto their money, and dealt Josh in.

Jeremy sat on the floor looking at his very first very own Christmas tree in his very own (shared) house.