Chapter 6: A Seasonal Employee
Cody arrives at a home outside of Glacier National Park. Cody is renting a room at his mentor's house. Cody walks up to the door and rings the doorbell. Little girl answers the door.
"Hello, little lady. Are your parents' home?" Cody asked.
"Yes," little girl says shyly. "Are you Mr. Birdie?"
Cody laughs a little. "I am Mr. Hawkes, but you can call me Cody."
Just than the little girl's father walks up to the door, "Daddy, this is not Mr. Birdie, this is Cody."
Micky smiles and opens the screen door. "Cody, it is good to see you again."
"Ranger Garside, good to see you as well," Cody said.
"Cody, come on in. Looks like you have met Maggie, our youngest. She is four," Micky said.
"Not formally. Maggie, nice to meet you," Cody said. Maggie just smiled at Cody shyly.
"Cody, did you find the house okay?"
"Yes, sir. The directions were perfect," Cody said.
"You interned here the last two summers?" Micky asked.
"Yes, I worked in the Dispatch and the Forestry Techician Department," Cody said.
"You ride horses, right?" Micky asked.
"Yes, I have ridden horses my entire life," Cody said.
"Let me show you around and introduce you to the family." Micky said. They walked into the kitchen where Micky's wife was cooking dinner. "This is my wife Susan, my son Joshua who is 8, and my other daughter Kimmy who is six. You are just in time for lunch." Micky said.
"Nice to meet you Cody, the bathroom is just around the corner if you like to get washed up before we eat. Then you can sit right here." Susan said.
"Thank you, ma'am," Cody said.
"Please, please call me Susan." Susan said.
Cody got washed up and joined the family for lunch. The family was religious, so they prayed before lunch. Once they were done praying.
"Cody, tell us about your family." Susan asked.
"I have an older brother Matt; he is married to my sister-in-law Robin. They have their first baby on the way. They live in South Lake Tahoe My mom lives in Atlanta with my step dad Pete and my dad is a bounty hunter in San Francisco." Cody said.
"A bounty hunter, how cool. Have you ever worked with him," Joshua asked.
"I have, but it is pretty dangerous work," Cody said. "Better if you do the job when you are trained for it and have experience in law enforcement."
"Did you?" Joshua asked.
"I did not. My dad would not let me do any of the dangerous stuff. I mostly had to stay in the background. I now have the training but need to gain some experience." Cody said.
"Do you want to work as a bounty hunter in the future?" Joshua asked.
"No, I have seen things and know that is not the direction I want to go in my life. Being a park ranger is what I want to do." Cody said.
"Joshua, that is enough. Let the poor guy eat. Cody, sorry he is obsessed with bounty hunting." Micky said.
"No problem. Joshua, I can tell you. It is not a glamorous life. It is a lot of sitting round in dark, cold, rainy weather for hours and hours." Cody said.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Kimmy asked.
Cody had a little nervous laugh, "Ah… I don't have a girlfriend at the moment."
"Okay, kids. Let the poor guy eat," Micky said.
"But daddy, mommy wanted to know?" Kimmy said.
"Oh," Susan said as she blushed. "I am sorry Cody. Kids like to repeat everything."
"No problem," Cody said.
Micky is a veteran ranger who will be showing Cody the ropes and was getting him familiar with park layout and duties of the rangers. The two worked well together. Since Cody could ride horses, they took visitors on horse trails. And they used the horses to go through the camping area. Micky was a Chopper Pilot as well. He knew it was something Cody was also interested in, and he encouraged Cody to take lessons. He helped Cody to enroll into Chopper Pilot lessons. On his off hours, Cody got his flight hours in.