A Snow Storm in Seattle
Chapter 1
Loving and Living in Company Housing
It had been almost three years, Carla was now 5, and she had a brother and sister, twins who were now 3. Eliza was quite the homemaker and also sold her various breads and special stew every winter. Andy had decided to go and work on a wagon train for a year or two and was planning to be back by Christmas this year. He had a surprise for Candy and Jeremy as well. Stan was now at the UW studying to be a doctor.
The Stemple Mill and The Bolt Logging Company had done well in providing housing for their employees. Bens Mercantile would not take company credits for the employees but would sell supplies and daily needs at a 5% discount. The employees were grateful. Seattle was growing by leaps and bounds; the new school was built and there were new teachers and children as well.
Christopher had been working at the feed store for quite some time when he decided that he wanted to go to school to be a veterinarian. He had saved money and was going to apply at the UW with Stan's help. Molly had gone back to New Bedford for a while to visit family.
"Hurry, we need to get the twins inside!" Eliza said as she noticed it getting colder, it looked like there was going to be an early snowstorm. Joshua had just left his office and was heading home when Candy came running to Josh.
"Josh, Jeremy is up on the mountain, if that snow hits he and Jason will be trapped up there!"
"Don't worry Candy, they have been trapped up there before! Do you remember that big snowstorm two years ago?" Josh asked Candy. She nodded yes.
"Well, unless I miss my guess, they already have plans for this!" Do you want Eliza and I and the children to come over and sit with you?" Joshua asked, he was not going to wait out this snowstorm without Eliza or the children.
"No, I will come to stay at your house. I will bring my children as well." Candy said. Joshua smiled he liked that better, he could protect both families! He went home, and Eliza had her stew cooking.
"Eliza, there is a storm brewing, Candy asked if she and the kids could come over, and I said yes, I hope that is okay?"
"You know it is Josh. The kids like to be with their cousins and Candy will be less worried if she is with us!" Eliza said. Joshua cleaned up and took Carla and the other two to read to them while Eliza finished the dinner. Candy arrived shortly after with her three children as well.
"I left a note for Jeremy, He should know to come here but just in case he will see the note. That was one of the plans we made in case something happened so that he could not get off the mountain. I am so glad you said it would be okay Eliza!" She and Eliza gave a hug and then she went to help as Joshua was given three more children to care for.
He sat there a moment and looked and said to himself:
"I have Carla, Pete and Sally, JJ, Ann and Stephen!" He thought about it for a moment and then said:
"Well, Pete and Sally, here are some toys to play with, JJ, Stephen, would you mind playing with Pete and Sally? Carla, Ann, I have something for you two to do!" he took Carla and Ann to the table gave them some paper, and told them to write their letters.
Just at that moment, lightning flashed, thunder hit, and all of a sudden silence. All the children ran to the big window and saw the snow falling. Joshua stood there as well, Candy and Eliza came in and stood there too. Each adult, each child thinking about something: Candy about Jeremy, Joshua, and Eliza about each other, their children, and Jeremy and Jason. The children were all about going out and playing in the snow.
Just then the door was opened and Swede came in carrying Jeremy. Candy ran over to him while Eliza held the children back and took them to the kitchen.
"Oh, what happened to Jeremy?" Candy asked frightened.
"He fainted Mrs. Bolt!" Swede said as he laid him on the sofa directed by Josh.
"Why did he faint and where is Jason?" Joshua asked Swede. Swede looked at him and said:
"He is still on the mountain Josh!" Josh waited for more information but Swede did not say anything.
"Swede, tell me dammit!" Josh stood up and looked Swede directly in the eyes. Swede replied almost in a whisper:
"Josh, let's step outside to the back porch!" Josh nodded. He and Swede went out on the porch. Eliza had settled the younger children in the children's room with the older ones watching the younger ones. She went out to check on Candy.
"Jeremy, Oh, Jermey, please wake up?" Candy said as her tears came down. Eliza helped her wipe his forehead.
"Candy, it is snowing too heavily to get the doctor. His clothes are still kind of wet, if we can get him in some dry clothes, He can wear Josh's long johns…" Eliza looked around for Josh and did not see them, she asked if Candy knew where they went, Candy had not seen them go so she said no. Eliza went to the front and then decided that they had either gone to the back porch or upstairs. She first went to the back porch where she overheard part of the conversation:
"Swede, you mean to tell me you left Jason up there all alone? Do you even know if he is okay?" Joshua was shouting at Swede and Swede kept silent. When Josh finally was finished with his tirade, Swede said:
The thunder was getting louder, most of the men had packed up and gone down the mountain. Corky and I were up there still along with Jeremy. We heard an explosion near the dynamite shack. That is when Jeremy suddenly fainted. Corky helped him to come to but another explosion, this time an avalanche was coming down on us. Jeremy fainted again and I picked him up and carried him. Corky went toward the office tent; it wasn't in the way of the avalanche I went down towards town to reach your house.. I wanted to get Jeremy somewhere that was warm!"
"But, what about Jason?" Swede looked sorrowful and hoped that Jason was all right.
"Joshua, we did not have time to look for him, the explosions and the avalanche happened so fast that we got out of there faster!" Eliza stepped out on the porch and said:
"I need you two to come inside. You will catch your death of cold!"
"Eliza, I have to go look for Jason!" Josh said anxiously.
"Josh, I agree that you have to look for Jason, but you cannot go now. It is too late and too dark. Right now, you have a brother who needs your long johns and your help! So, please help us undress him, get him in something warm so that he is okay!" Eliza said. She had succeeded in getting them inside and focusing on Jeremy. There was a knock on the door, the doctor and Corky were there. They came in.
"Candy, how is Jeremy?" Allyn asked.
"He seems to be sleeping." Said Candy who had just helped to change him into Josh's long johns. They had him in the upstairs bedroom by then, Joshua had carried his little brother up and laid him on the bed. Allyn reassured herself that he was okay and said to Candy:
"Stay with him. He may wake up." She left the room and everyone went downstairs. Eliza had put the small ones to bed and the older ones were sitting in one of the other children's rooms reading quietly.
"So, tell me what happened?" Allyn asked
Chapter 2
Explosive Snow
Jason had just finished creating a support for the rest of the lumber that they had felled. He was walking away and stopped to look around. The sky was darkening, everyone else had gone home, or so he thought, when he saw one of his employees, coming from the dynamite shack.
"Rick, what are you doing?" Jason shouted to him as a clap of thunder happened. Rick Lincoln stopped and looked at Jason just ahead of him. Then he looked back at the dynamite shack. A large clap of thunder snow and the dynamite shack exploded. Both Jason and Rick ducked down on the ground. Rick was just under a tree and Jason had been standing on the top of the cleared mountain. A large rock above him had been loosened and was beginning to fall over when a pack of snow came barreling down and over the edge, knocking the rock over as well. Jason saw that a split second before it happened, and he ran to the safest spot he could find. The avalanche poured over him as he slipped into a cave. Even though Rick had been near a tree, the avalanche tore the tree from its roots and took the tree and Rick with it. As he went over the top of the cave, Jason saw him and tried to grab him, but he was too late, Rick did not survive.
Jason sat in the cave, wondering if he would be able to get out of the cave. He heard the second explosion and saw some more snow pouring down over the mouth of the cave. He could not get out of the cave now. He was trapped! There was a wild sound coming from the back of the cave.
"A bear!" He thought and he looked for something to defend himself. He went a little deeper and saw that the bear had already started its hibernation. There were two smaller bears as well. He slowly moved closer to the bear. He needed warmth and she would help him, unknowingly. He squeezed between the two baby bears and getting comfortable fell asleep. The mama bear sniffed her babies, and the third 'baby' smelt a little off, but she was too tired, so she relaxed and fell asleep.
"Jason! Jason!" Jeremy shouted in his sleep. He sat up and Candy sat up and held him for a while.
"Jeremy, Jeremy, wake up, wake up!" She said. He closed and opened his eyes and then opened them again and said:
"Candy? Why are you up here?"
"Jeremy, you are here in town. Swede brought you home." Candy said to Jeremy.
"I remember now, I fainted, when there was an explosion, it was like, like…I-I-I don't know how to explain it!" There was a knock on the door and Joshua and Allyn came in. Candy covered herself with the blanket.
"I heard you calling Jason's name!" Joshua said and also said:
"I went to get Allyn so that she could be sure that you were all right!"
Jeremy smiled and said:
"I think so. At least I hope so, why did I faint" Jeremy asked Allyn. She looked at him and asked:
"So, how did it happen?" Swede was still there and began to tell her.
"Swede, I want to find out what Jeremy thinks!" Swede backed off and let Jeremy start:
"I-i-I can't really s-s-say? I just suddenly fainted?" he looked at Swede but Swede waited
"Jeremy, I need to know if you knew what happened at the same time of the explosion?" Jeremy sat and looked at her and looked at Swede and Joshua. Allyn looked at them and nodded her head 'No'. They kept silent. Jeremy looked around the room.
"Wh-wh-where is J-J-Ja—Jason?" Jeremy said when he did not see him. Candy looked at Joshua and Swede.
"Jason is still up on the mountain!" Joshua said. The air was silent in the room. Swede stood there feeling helpless, Joshua wanted to cry. Jeremy suddenly felt a tightness in his chest. Suddenly Jeremy jumped up and barely holding onto Joshua said:
"Josh! He-he-he needs us! W-w-w-we have to go find him!" Jeremy was starting to run to the door, when both Josh and Swede grabbed him and held him tightly. Jeremy looked at everyone in the room, then he said:
"I remember, there was an explosion, Rick is missing, isn't he?" Jeremy questioned Corky who had just entered. Corky nodded his head yes, and wondered how Jeremy knew when he was going to come to tell them.
"Everyone, sit down. I need to ask Jeremy one more question!" Doctor Wright said.
"Jeremy, this is most important, Now that you remember the explosion, was there one or two?" She waited patiently for him to answer her. He sat there, he did not look at anyone in particular. Then he said:
"I think there may have been a second explosion, but it was so loud that I felt like my ears popped! I don't remember anything else!" Dr. Allyn was content with his explanation and said:
"Yes, that is what I thought. You have a small concussion. Your ears popped because of the change in the air. Sometimes when an explosion happens, there is a blast of air that travels through the space and hits the ear with severe pounding or popping, like you are going down too fast. You seem to be hearing okay today. I want you to let me know if you have any hearing loss in one or both of your ears. It may show up later." She said as she concluded her examination.
"I need to go check on a few others in town who also had problems with hearing the explosion." She said as she gathered her things and said goodbye to everyone. When she was gone, Jeremy said:
"We need to go look for Jason!" Candy looked at Jeremy and said:
"I really would prefer if you did not go!" Candy said to Jeremy.
Jeremy looked at his brother Josh.
"Candy, I would like to talk with Jeremy alone for a minute. Thank you!" Josh said, that Swede stayed and so did Corky, Josh looked at them and they got the message and said:
"Corky and I will be in the kitchen." Josh nodded as he and Jeremy sat across from each other.
"Jeremy, I don't want to worry anyone but I don't know if Jason is alive. Hell! I Don't even know if he is dead!" Josh said putting his head in his hands and started to sob. Jeremy looked at his brother and he said:
"Josh, before I woke up, mama said he is okay! She said we need to go look for him!" Josh stopped for a moment and then looked at his brother and said:
I know that you believe that she talks to you, but she never talks to me and she certainly never talked to Jason! I know because I remember when we were all sick, this was after Mom and Dad died. I believe she came to you; I do, I saw a little light above your side of the bed. I wasn't feeling too well and I guess I thought I had been hallucinating but when you got better you told us you saw Mama. I think I saw her as well or at least I thought it was a light, but Jason was so very sick that I thought he was going to die, but the next day he was better, I asked him if Mama visited him and he said;
'No, she is dead!' But then I remember there was a little star above his head when he was sick as well!" Jeremy listened to his brother, then he started to have tears as well.
"Josh, when I was asleep, I thought I saw Jason, he was sleeping with some bears in a dark place…Maybe, he is in a cave?" Jeremy said. Josh thought a little and then said,
"That is easier to believe than Jason being dead!" Joshua thought a little more, if Jeremy was right and sometimes he was right, then perhaps, he was in that old bear cave they had explored when he was 12 and Jeremy was 6.
"Jeremy get some clothes on we are going to find Jason!" Joshua said, Jeremy smiled his usual smile and went to change his clothes and said:
"Josh, I need to go home to get my clothes!" That is fine, we will meet at Lottie's!"
"Candy pack the kids, we are going home!" Candy smiled they were going home and he would be with her. Or so she thought.
Chapter 3
The Three Bears
Jason was warm and comfortable in his little bear den. He was sleeping well when he felt a wet nose on his face. Then something was licking his hand. He opened one eye and then the other. When he realized where he was he lay very still. The mother bear was breathing slowly and seemed to sound asleep. The babies were awake and wanted to play. Jason was not sure what to do. He watched as the cubs climbed on their mother's back and rolled around near her. They were a bit frisky and having some fun with Mama's toes as well as with Jason's legs. Jason soon realized that he was hungry. The babies had their mother's milk but he did not want to do that!
He slowly slid out from under the bear's large paw and crawled over to the entrance of the cave. It was covered with snow. He wondered how deep the snow would be if he tried to dig his way out. He did not have anything to dig with and if he tried it with his bare hands he might get frostbite. As he was thinking about this, one of the cubs came over and started to paw at the snow, then it pawed some more. Soon the other cub came over and they were having fun, digging in the snow.
Jason sat back and watched as the two bear cubs played in the snow, he wondered if his nieces and nephews would be doing the same thing. He wanted to go home so badly. Suddenly without much help from the cubs, the snow fell away from the entrance. He had almost fallen asleep when he noticed that and he decided to go out the entrance. Just as he was about to leave, the mama bear stood in front of him and made him go back into the cave. She thought he was one of her cubs. He tried a couple more times but to no avail. He would try to leave and the other two cubs thought he was their brother and would follow him, mama would come back and corral all her 'children' and Jason was once again 'cuddled' in bear rugs!
Someone came into the cave; they were dressed in heavy furs and buckskin. The person came in only to have a warm place to rest. She built a small fire at the entrance. She had seen the bears but had not seen Jason with the bears. Setting a spit, she started to cook her meal. She had found a rabbit and had skinned and gutted it already. The baby bears were now sound asleep. The smell of the rabbit was going outside. Jason woke up again and smelled the rabbit cooking, he thought he was dreaming. But he saw the fire and he scooted out from under 'mama' and went over to the fire. The girl/woman did not move nor did she scare easily. She looked at him and saw that he needed food. So, she gave him half the rabbit and some of the broth she had made. He ate ravenously until she tapped him on the shoulder and made a sign to be quiet and not wake the bears. He slowed down and sipped the broth. When he was finished, she took the bowl and cleaned it out, packed it in her belongings. Then she put the fire out and made to leave. She gestured for him to follow, which he did without hesitating.
There was bright sunlight outside and he could not see very well, yet. She took his hand and guided him away from the cave. They walked and did not talk.
"Thank you for the food!" He said he did not want to seem rude by not thanking her. She did not answer, but she led him to a grove of trees. There she stopped and disappeared. There was a makeshift shelter and he went inside and found some more food and water. He stayed there since he was still too weak. His eyesight came back to him but he did not recognize where he was.
In Jeremy's home, he kissed his three children and his wife.
"I wish you didn't have to go, but I understand, Jason is your brother and you need to find him," Candy said as she helped him gather his things for the journey.
"Josh and I will find him. Mama said so!" Candy smiled; he talked as if his mother were still alive. She had asked Allyn about that and she said he was having a hard time accepting Jason being dead and having his mother close to him, even if it is a dream or an illusion helping him to cope.
"I know you will Darling!" Candy said. And then she said:
"Candy, do you have that 'bolt' of cloth that I gave you for wrapping JJ in?" Candy said yes. Jeremy asked her to bring it to him.
"What do you need it for?" Candy asked
"Candy, I don't know but it seems as if I need to bring it." He looked at her, took the 'bolt' and then kissed her. He got on his horse and left to meet Josh Swede and Corky at Lottie's.
Josh was saying goodbye to Eliza and their children. He asked her if she still had the 'bolt' of cloth that had been used to wrap Peter in. She said yes, but was a little confused as to why he would need that.
"Eliza, I am not sure, but it seems that it is important that I take it along!" Eliza gave it to him and he put it in his bag. He said goodbye to her and headed to Lottie's.
Swede and Corky had their supplies and horses ready for that as well. When they went to Lotties they walked in and Lottie was ready for them, she had made some food so that they would be able to feed Jason in case he needed food before they came back to town.
"I don't know what it is, but Joshua, Jeremy take this small blanket, it belonged to your mother. I think you will need it, it is too small to wrap a large man in but you have to take it!" She handed the blanket to Josh.
"Thank you, Lottie, we had some urgent feelings as well and brought a couple of blankets from our childhood," Jeremy said. She hugged the boys; they were her children and her oldest was out there somewhere. Josh was hugging Lottie when he suddenly smelled a particular perfume.
"Lottie, what is that perfume you are wearing?" Josh said as it evoked a memory deep inside him. Lottie looked at him and said:
"I am not wearing perfume at this time of the morning?" Joshua looked at her and wondered and said:
"It smelled like mama's!" Lottie looked at both the boys and said:
"Your mama is watching out for you. Things will be okay!" Lottie said in all seriousness and then kissed each of them goodbye. They left the saloon and rode up to the mountain. The snow was deep so they walked up the mountain. They would not push their horses if they did not have to. They made it up to camp and took a look around.
"Looks like there were two avalanches that night!" Swede said as he stopped at the entrance of the logging camp.
Josh, Jeremy, and Corky looked around, the office tent was destroyed, and most of the equipment that had not been tied down had been redistributed by the avalanches.
"Well, it looks like we are going to have to clean up this place soon," Jeremy said as they walked around picking through the rubble and debris. Corky had gone over to the office tent and lifted part of the tent, he saw that Jason's idea of having the papers placed in a metal file cabinet had worked well, although the cabinet had been tossed around, the doors to the cabinet had remained closed and the files seemed to have been protected.
"Well, we can get the files set up again. Just going to take a little work. I will get Joe and Sam to help with that. They know how to read and do paperwork!" Corky said. Swede was over by the equipment barn and said that most of the large tools were okay, the saw blade sharpener was still upright and worked.
"I will see about sharpening the saws and other tools!" Swede said. They made a list of what was needed and what had to be done. Then when Swede and Corky left to get the others, Josh and Jeremy were alone in the camp where they stood there and looked toward the dynamite shack.
"It's not there?" Joshua said
"I Know!" said Jeremy quietly, he was afraid to say anything more. He remembered now the reason why he fainted. He had seen Jason go up that way, he had heard the explosion, and his heart had just dropped and he dropped! Joshua came over to him and put his hand on his brother's shoulder for comfort.
"Josh, what if, that feeling happens, does it mean that Jason…" He stopped unable to say anything else.
"Not necessarily Jeremy! Remember, mama wanted us to bring the 'bolts'?" Joshua said as an encouragement for hope for Jeremy. Jeremy nodded, some tears fell on his cheeks, but he took in those words and as Candy had once told Jason, she had 'hope'!
"Joshua, if Candy can have hope, so can I!" Jeremy said to his brother. They looked at each other held their fists together and waited a proper amount of time to connect with Jason, hoping that he would know they were looking for him.