The Mountain Lights

Chapter 6

When Matt walked into the Full Barrel Inn with Dany holding his hand, they caused a few brows to rise. And when they saw that he was actually walking in a straight line, there was a short moment of silence, then some whispers, and then normal conversation continued. Matt drew Dany to his usual bench in the corner. There was a football game going on on the television against the wall.

Rose came over. She gave Matt a compassionate smile, stuffed the empty tray under her arm and took out her notepad. “Hey Matt,” she tilted her head, “Hi Dany,”

Dany sat up straighter. “How do you know my name?”

“Jack told me,” She winked at her.

“Morning Rose,” Matt said.

Dany thought she saw a little twinkle in his eye when he saw Rose, and she thought she saw Rose’s cheeks turn a little redder.

“Can I get you anything to drink?”

Matt looked at Dany. “Ladies first.”

“Do you have Pepsi?” Dany asked. She was really hungry by now, having eaten nothing but peanut butter cups the previous day.

Rose glanced at Matt, read something in his eyes. “I don’t think we have anymore Pepsi. How about some fruit juice?”

“Okay,” she beamed.

“Alright then, one fruit juice. Matt?” She almost sighed as she asked, “What would you like to drink?”

But her faith in him was rewarded. “What was that thing I told you to tell me a few weeks ago?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes skyward, thinking. “You told me to tell you that Harlem has the most delightful fruit juice, the cleanest water, and the richest coffee in the whole of Alaska.”

His lips curved up and Rose went a little mushy inside. “Alright, I’ll have some of that coffee.”

She wrote, “One coffee, how’s about breakfast?”

“What do you have?”

“Special today’s the reindeer sausage. Comes with eggs and toast, or a stack. Your choice.”

“How much?” Dany asked.

The adults looked at her funny.

“Doesn’t matter, Dany.” Matt said.

“I have ten dollars,” she said, taking the money out of her pocket.

Matt and Rose exchanged glances. The unease he felt for a girl of eleven who wanted to pay for her own food was mirrored in Rose’s expression. And she didn’t even see what went on inside the house where Helen was staying. Matt liked Rose. She was always good to him, like Jack, and made an effort to chat with him even when he was a drunken mess. She invited him over to her house many times.

He knew where she lived because he passed out on the bench one night, and she took him home with her to take care of him. He was completely mortified afterward. And each time she had invited him to her house after that, he’d said no. She was beautiful, and young, and single - and she deserved better.

Matt cleared his throat. “It’s alright Dany. I’ll pay. Why don’t you save that money for something you’d really like?”

“Really?” she asked with big glossy eyes, like it was a gift that he’d taken on the responsibility of feeding her.

He was dumbfounded for a moment. What the hell did his sister do for her child? “Yes, Dany. What would you like with the sausage, pancakes or eggs?”

“Pancakes!”

“Comin’ right up.” Rose gave Matt an alluring smile, then disappeared into the kitchen.

Eventually, the food came, they ate, and Dany was so full by the end of it that she just wanted to fall asleep. She hadn’t eaten that much in a long time. Matt had to admit, he felt the same. But he had work. For a change.

They went back to the log cabin, and Dany made herself at home on the floor next to the dying embers of the hearth. Frost gave her a lick on the cheek, and laid down next to her for a nap. She slept right through the sounds of the chainsaw outside, and the shuffling of furniture inside the cabin, the stomping of boots in and out of the house.

Only much later, did she awake to the slight smell of something burning.

She yawned and stretched, rubbed pasty eyes. Frost was gone. She sat up on the floor, sniffed the air. It wasn’t the fireplace. She got up, then went into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards until she found the fig cakes. She discreetly opened the packet and snuck a whole one into her mouth. Her cheeks stood out like a squirrel’s. When she wanted to throw the wrapper into the rubbish bin, she saw the bottle that had the brandy last night, broken, like someone threw it.

She went out and walked around the cabin to the back, in the direction of the woods. She saw Matt splitting wood on a stump into smaller logs using an ax. She gawped a little. He was strong. One hack and the log split in two, and there was a whole pile of them next to him. And Frost was there too, with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. She smelled the smoke again, when she turned her head she saw a huge drum-like thing. The smoke came out of it.

“Hi!”

Matt jolted, nearly dropped the ax. He brought a hand over his heart. He almost swore. Almost. “Dany, you can’t scare me like that while I have an ax in my hands. You want me to chop off my toes?”

“What’s this thing?” she pointed to the drum.

“An oven.” Matt said, stacking the wood he’d cut.

“What do you cook in it?”

“Wood.”

“Why?”

Matt smiled at the child’s curiosity. “Because that’s how you make charcoal.”

She frowned, then stepped closer. It was awfully hot near the oven. He watched her. She saw a smear of something on the platform it stood on. “What’s this stuff?”

“That’s tar.” He picked up a bunch of cut logs and brought them over to store next to the cabin under the roof. She followed him.

Then he picked up a can from atop a barrel with a small piece of wood the size of a pencil. He opened the lid. “Look here, see?”

Inside was more of the thick black stuff. “What do you do with it?” she asked.

He dipped the pencil in it, then stuck it to the wall. “Glue.”

“How do you make that?”

“I don’t. The wood does sometimes. When it’s soft.”

She scrunched up her nose. “How can wood be soft?”

He smiled. He was actually enjoying this. His own children would never have been interested in these things. He nodded her along. She followed him deeper into the forest, but not far enough that the house was out of sight. She held his hand. And now she recognized the scent she had caught beneath the alcohol the night before. Matt smelled like the forest. She liked it.

He paused next to a stump. “Look here, see these rings? How dark they are, and how dark the wood is?”

She nodded.

“This was a Birch tree. Hardwood. It’s better for making charcoal. Come on,”

Next, he took her to a stump not too far off. She c****d her head.

“What do you see?” he asked.

“It’s lighter.”

He nodded. “White spruce. It’s a softwood. The softwoods make the tar. And the charcoal doesn’t burn as long.”

She smiled brightly at him. “I like walking in the woods with you,”

He could see that. She soaked up the trees and the information like a sponge. A city kid suddenly in the midst of nature. She would love Ahnah’s classes. He tilted his head. “When did you eat a fig cake and where’s mine?”

Her eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

He grinned. “The evidence is still in your teeth.”

She looked down guiltily and kicked at the snow. He laughed. “Come on, I’ll go take my fig cake and then I’ll show you your bedroom.”

“I have a bedroom?” she gasped.

“You do now.”