Into the Cold

In the morning, Amelia woke up at the same time Caleb did and insisted that he eat an extra large helping of corn mush and softened jerky before she would let him leave.

“Alright,” he finally had to say, pushing his plate away, “I’m not going to be able to move if I eat any more.”

“Take some with you,” Amelia insisted.

“Amelia,” he said softly, taking her gently by the shoulders, remembering her injury. “I will be fine, but if I don’t leave soon, I’m going to miss what little sun there’s going to be today.”

“Okay,” Amelia replied, knowing he was right.

Caleb pulled on his spare, heavily patched jacket, and fur gloves. Shrugging on his pack, he reached for his rifle ready to leave.

“Caleb,” Amelia said, placing her hand on his arm, “I know this is your world, and you’re used to the dangers of it, but please, for the love of God, be careful.”

“I will,” Caleb nodded, offering her an assuring smile. “Keep a light on for me.”

With that he shouldered his rifle and walked out into the wilderness.

Amelia watched as Caleb’s form disappeared into the tree line. When she could no longer follow his progress, she turned away from the window and looked around the cabin. With a slight shock, she realized that since regaining consciousness she’d never really looked around it at all.

It was a decent cabin, small and cozy and well built, but definitely a man’s cabin. There was a small cast iron stove in one corner, it’s pipe running up and curving so it followed the roof line around two of the walls, then out a hole in the roof. It took Amelia a moment to puzzle out the reason for this, the engineer in her finally realizing that it spread heat around the most used corner of the cabin.

Next to the stove was the basin for washing, tools and dishes from what she’d seen Caleb do, and above it were shelves stacked with an assortment of plates, cups, bowls, even pots and pans. They all looked well used and some of them were in desperate need of replacement.

She also found dust covered stacks of canned vegetables, canisters of dried, unlabeled herbs, coffee and tea, rice and beans, everything a man on his own in the wilderness would need.

Amelia ran her finger over the table next to the basin, feeling its surface. It looked as though Caleb had made it by hand, smoothed from constant use. The top of it was littered with odd looking tools she had no idea what he did with, and seeing the rust and darker staining on them, she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.

Unable to relax, she decided to tackle the flotsam and jetsam that covered the table. The neat-freak in her screaming at tools left to rust. Knowing Caleb’s supplies were limited, she looked around for simple things she could use to do the job.

Digging through the collection of unlabeled boxes and bins under the table, she found exactly what she was looking for.

Pulling out two small bowls, she filled one with a small bit of vinegar and the other with what she hoped was baking soda. She then took a rag she found and began to scrub and buff the rust off each tool one by one. It wasn’t a perfect job, but she didn’t want to use more of Caleb’s supplies than she had to.

Amelia was able to get enough gunk and grime off that she felt like she had accomplished something. When they had all been scrubbed, she looked around and decided she would just clean the entire cabin, from top to bottom.

Hadn’t Caleb saved her life? Wasn’t he at this moment risking his own to try and find extra supplies? She’d clean the grime from years of manly neglect and make as hardy of a dinner for Caleb as she could. Nodding to herself, she rolled up her sleeves and set to work. First, she pulled everything off of the shelves and washed them down with a damp soapy cloth.

With the heat from the stove they dried quickly, making the air smell sweet and pungent of wet wood and lye soap. Amelia restocked the cans and bins doing her best to identify and mark the freshly dusted containers. In the end she had eight cans that could have been anything from string beans to peaches, but for the most part she was pleased by her progress.

Finding a tin can with a thick oily substance that looked like Crisco, Amelia turned back to the tools. A thin coat of whatever it was would help keep them from rusting too quickly. Making sure they were completely dry, she rubbed small dabs into each happily content in the job.

It had been so long since she’d taken time to do simple things, like cleaning and organizing a kitchen. Shaking her head at her own silliness, she finished polishing the last knife and laid it neatly next to the others.

She saved the table for last, since that is where she was placing everything from the floor and shelves there while she cleaned. Picking up the pallet Caleb had been using, she shook the pieces vigorously, cringing at the sound of dust and debris that fell from them. Thinking she’d love to wash them, but remembering Caleb’s warning about things smelling too clean, she settled for another vigorous shake before folding the fabric and placing them on the bed.

As she finished, she looked at the small pile of dirt and dust on the floor and sighed contentedly at a job well done. Scooping the debris into the empty bowl she’d used to hold the powder for cleaning the tools, she felt almost like her old self. Opening the door to toss out the filth, she saw for the first time that it had begun to snow, the flakes falling so thickly that she could barely make out the tree line twenty feet away.

Trying to keep the fear from overwhelming her, she went back inside. Racking her brain for anything that she could do that would be helpful, she remembered a night during her junior year at college when a tornado had torn through town causing a blackout in her dorm.

Her roommate at the time had taped a flashlight to the side of an old milk jug and filled it with water. The effect produced almost three times as much light than just the flashlight alone.

Saying a heartfelt thank you to that long lost friend, she blessed her lucky stars that she had just gone through almost the entire cabin and knew exactly where to find what she needed.

Amelia grabbed an old plastic jug Caleb used to store melted snow, strapped a headlamp to it with the light inverted. Clicking it on, the entire jug glowed to life filling the cabin and her heart with light. Taking the light-jug outside Amelia trudged around the cabin finding a stump just tall enough for her to reach the roof if she stood on her tiptoes. Gingerly, she balanced the jug on the roof of the cabin. Hopping down, she stood back and hoped it would be enough light to guide Caleb home.

With one last glance toward the direction Caleb had gone, she returned to the warmth of the cabin. Moving around the end of the bed, Amelia stubbed the toe of her boot on a trunk that had been hidden under a pile of furs.

Curious, she moved the pile aside. Looking down at it, she saw that it was an old, delicately painted steamer trunk, something one might find in their grandmother’s attic, not in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Bending down she lifted the lid.

Inside were neat stacks of pictures and cards tied with twine. As she lifted a stack of photos, one fell out. Retrieving it, she saw a striking young woman holding a toddler staring back at her. Looking at the child’s face, Amelia thought she saw a likeness to Caleb. Maybe it was a picture of him as a baby? As her gaze passed over the photo once more, a glint of metal buried deeper in the trunk caught her eye.

Putting the stack of pictures down, Amelia reached in and pulled out a metal badge, an Alaskan State Troopers badge. On it was written ‘Officer Dulac’ with a black ribbon wrapped around it.

‘Caleb was a cop?’ she thought.

She reached down and picked up the pictures again. Untying the twine she leafed through them, seeing a smiling Caleb looking at the infant with unabashed love. In others, his arms were wrapped around the woman from the first photo. In all of the images, the couple looked so happy and content. Why was Caleb living out here when it looked like he had a family somewhere else?

Taking the next stack of papers out of the trunk, Amelia found several letters of commendation for Caleb. It seemed that he had been an excellent cop. Why had he quit?

The last stack of papers at the bottom of the trunk cleared up a little of the mystery she’d uncovered. It was a divorce decree for one Caleb Dulac and one Elizabeth Shaw Dulac. The reason given was irreconcilable differences, with sole custody of their daughter, Lucy given to her mother.