Chapter 6
Justin bolted from the bed, his eyes wide. He darted across the icy floor to where the rifle stood against the door frame. “Where did you see them?” Justin demanded, looking around for the clip for the rifle.
James handed his father the clip, and Justin noticed that his son had reloaded it.
“They were walking down by the lake,” James answered. “I went down to watch the sunrise, and I saw them.”
“How many were there?” Justin pressed, loading the gun and chambering a round.
“Two. They didn’t look dangerous, but I came back to tell you.”
Justin turned to face his son. “What do you mean?”
James shrugged. “It looked like a lady and her daughter. They didn’t see me.”
Struggling to calm down, Justin frowned. “Could you tell what they were doing?”
“They were just walking, but not like we walk. They weren’t walking very fast, and they weren’t going in a straight line.” James paused and looked up at his father with serious eyes. “They looked tired.”
With a slight sigh, Justin felt himself relax slightly. “How long ago was this?”
“A couple of minutes ago,” his son replied. “I came straight back. They were near the point, across the reeds.”
He knew the place James described. It was close to two kilometers away, along the shore. From the dock that James probably had been watching from, though, it was only a few hundred yards across the lake. It would take the pair a good half hour to cover the same distance. He closed his eyes and ran a hand across his face. “Good job, kiddo. You did exactly the right thing.”
James dragged one foot slowly across the floor and looked up at his father. “Are we going to help them, Daddy?”
“Help them?” Justin asked, glancing down at his son.
“They don’t look so good,” James answered, looking down at the floor. “I thought we could talk to them… help them.”
Justin crouched down in front of James. “Jim, I know you are trying to do the right thing, but we can’t help them. We don’t know them...”
His son looked up from the floor and met his eyes. Justin was startled by the fierce intensity in that gaze. “I want to help them.”
“Jim, you don’t understand…” Justin began, but James stamped his foot firmly.
“I do. You’re scared. You’re worried about who they are and about how much food we have… but Daddy, what if it was Mommy out there and she needed help? Would you want someone to help her? I know you think I don’t understand, that I’m too young, but I do.”
Justin sat back on his heels and stared at James in astonishment.
James looked back down at his toes. “I want to help them,” he repeated.
There was a long moment of fragile silence. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Justin nodded. “Alright, Jim. Let’s go talk to them.”
*
His son had been right: the woman and the girl beside her didn’t look so good.
Justin had kept back in the trees, watching them as they stumbled along. They both wore heavy jackets that protected them from the cold, but the pace they moved at spoke of exhaustion. Every few metres they seemed to pause, and then they began again, determinedly placing one foot in front of another. The little girl walked in the woman’s footprints, and every now and then the woman would glance back to make sure she was still following. The trail in the snow behind them was erratic, almost serpentine. As they walked they never took their eyes off of the ground in front of them.
Justin glanced down at James, who nodded at him encouragingly. Shaking his head at the absurdity of a world where his six-year old son was making the decisions, he stepped out of the trees. He had his rifle in the crook of his arm, ready in case it was necessary, but he doubted it would be.
“You look a little lost,” he said loudly.
The woman in front froze, but the girl kept plodding along until she bumped into her mother. With a plaintiff noise, the girl sunk to her knees.
The woman’s face was covered by a scarf, but her eyes widened at the sight of Justin and his gun. “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t hurt us. We’re just trying to find someplace safe.”
Her voice, laced with a slight accent, was oddly familiar. Justin’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. “Where are you from?” he asked.
“Please,” the woman repeated, staggering a little as she took a step back.
Justin nodded slightly. “I won’t hurt you,” he told her, his voice soft. After a brief pause, he added, “You look like you could use a little help.”
Something flickered in the woman’s eyes, a glimmer of hope. She said nothing, but continued to watch him, one hand reaching down to grasp the girl’s shoulder. They stood there in silence for several moments, staring at him.
“Follow me,” Justin said at last.
He turned away and started back towards the cabin. He didn’t need to look back to know she would follow. It took a moment, but the woman finally helped the girl to her feet and they began to stumble after him. Justin glanced over to the trees where James was stationed and waved for him to return to the cabin ahead of them. He caught barely a flicker of movement as his son started stealthily back. He would easily outpace the trio, and he had instructions to get some soup warmed up.
While it wasn’t particularly cold, not much more than five or ten below zero, the warmth of the cabin came as a welcome respite for Justin. What was normally a five minute walk had taken nearly half an hour. He was incredibly glad he’d had James build a small fire in the wood stove before they left, to take the chill out of the air. James was standing on the other side of the counter, adding a small length of wood to the firebox. He glanced up as Justin entered and smiled, the expression telling Justin more than words could how much agreeing to help the two strangers meant to his son. Justin smiled back and turned to beckon the woman and girl in.
The woman hesitated at the entrance, glancing suspiciously at Justin. “Why are you helping us?” she asked, finally.
Justin shrugged. “My son asked me to,” he replied simply, gesturing in James’ direction.
The woman glanced inside and saw James’s face peering over the counter, grinning. A soft, almost broken sob escaped her, and she helped the little girl into the warmth of the cabin.
“Jim, is the soup ready?” Justin asked softly.
James nodded. “It’s on the table, Daddy.”
The woman glanced from James to the table, and then looked down at the little girl. Shivering slightly, she knelt down and began taking her daughter’s bulky winter clothes off.
The girl was around the same age as James, maybe a year or so younger, with long dark hair that had become a tangled mess under the toque she wore. Her features were delicate, elfin, with a rosebud mouth, pale skin, and a slightly upturned nose. Wide, dark eyes framed by long, dark lashes surveyed the room as her mother rubbed the girl’s arms briskly. “How are you, Brigitte?” the woman whispered.
Brigitte shivered slightly, but tried to smile. “I’m okay, Mama. Where are we?”
The woman looked up at Justin, her own dark eyes considering. “We’re safe, honey. Now sit down. There’s soup on the table.”
The girl’s eyes widened, and she looked over at the table. “Soup?”
James hurried around the counter and reached out a hand. “Hi,” he grinned. “I’m Jim. Come on. The soup will get cold.” Brigitte took his hand and followed him to the steaming bowl on the table.
Justin watched them for a moment, and then returned his attention to the woman. “I’m Justin McLeod,” he said as the woman began to take off her scarf and toque. The woman was an older reflection of the little girl’s ethereal beauty. Her chocolate-colored eyes watched him cautiously, still uncertain. He recognized her.
“I’m…” she began.
“Alyse,” Justin finished.
The woman stared at him, eyes narrowed. “How...”
“You used to work at a Canadian Tire in Calgary. You said you were trying to get out of the city, too.” Justin explained.
She stared at him for a moment, and then she nodded slightly. “I remember. You said you were going on a hunting trip.” He saw the tension in her shoulders diminish.
“Look, sit down and eat something. You look worn out.”
Alyse took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she murmured at last, and went to sit beside her daughter.
James had returned to the wood stove and carried over a kettle of steaming water. “I made you some tea. We don’t have any cream, but there’s a little sugar…”
Alyse stared at James for a moment, and then she placed her face in her hands and cried.
*
“So what happened?” Justin asked softly, sitting down across from Alyse. James was busy cleaning the dishes, standing on a stool behind the counter to reach the wash basin. Brigitte was already asleep on the bed under the James Dean poster. James had told his father that the girls could have his bed, and that he would sleep in the bunk above Justin’s. It had touched Justin to the core to see his son guide Brigitte to the bed and tuck her in gently. “When I saw you, you said you were getting out of the city, which you obviously did, but…”
“How did we end up here?” Alyse finished, her voice quiet. “It is a long story.”
“I haven’t spoken to another adult in over three weeks, Alyse,” Justin commented drily. “I don’t mind. Besides, it’s not like we’re going anywhere.”
Alyse took a sip of her tea. “I called my husband from work and told him we needed to leave the city. He had been watching the news, and had come to the same conclusion. He spent much of that day getting things ready. We had family in Red Deer, and we thought it would be a safe place.”
She stared down at the cup in her hands. “We didn’t think they would attack as quickly as they did. We got to his brother’s house just in time to hear the announcement that war had been declared. How could we have imagined that Red Deer would be a target? When the missiles and bombs began, my husband panicked. So many people did. My husband wanted to get us to safety, to get us out of the city…”
Her shoulders shook, and she put the cup down on the table to keep from spilling her tea. “His brother said we should hide in the basement, but Luc would not hear of it. The explosions were so loud, so terrifying. We ran out to the car. We took nothing more than the clothes we had on. The city was in chaos, fires and fallen buildings everywhere. He tried to get to the highway, but with all of the accidents and traffic, we wound up on a small road that led out of town.”
She took a deep breath. “I don’t know how long we drove. He thought we had gone the wrong way, so he took turn after turn. He was exhausted, terrified. When we ran out of gas, he said we had to leave the car. Brigitte was crying in the back seat, and I couldn’t think straight. I told him we had to stay, that we would have no chance on foot…
“I’ve never seen him like that. My Luc is a gentle man, but he shook me. He slapped me. He said if I was too stupid to run, he would go alone.”
She looked up at Justin with tears in her eyes. “I thought he would come back. He didn’t.”
Justin watched her in silence. “How long did you wait?” he whispered.
She looked away, staring blankly at the wall. “Five days,” she said finally. “There were some snacks that we kept for road trips in the car, and so Brigitte and I ate those for the first few days. After that I was able to find some late raspberries. After five days, I knew we had to go.”
“It’s been more than three weeks since the war started, Alyse… how…?”
“I caught a couple of gophers. Once we found a farm, but the farmer shot at us when we started up the drive. I snuck back after dark and stole some eggs and a chicken. It was enough, though I don’t think we could have kept going much longer.”
Justin stared at Alyse for several minutes, stunned.
Alyse studied the checkered tablecloth for a moment before looking up. “You saved our lives,” she said softly.
“No, I didn’t,” Justin admitted. “James did. He saw you and insisted that we help you. If it wasn’t for him…”
Alyse looked over at the blonde-haired boy who was struggling to carry the pan of wash water out the back door. “He has a good heart,” she observed.
“He’s a better man than I am,” Justin murmured. “I was ready to just let you pass by.”
Alyse looked at Justin from the corner of her eye, her dark lashes lowered. “You were thinking with your head. He was thinking with his heart. It is the same with Brigitte. She brings out the best in me.”
Justin nodded. He glanced down for a moment, struggling with a decision. At last he glanced up. “You can stay with us, if you want. We don’t have as much as I wish we had, but I think we have enough to get us through to spring. I had planned on having three mouths to feed, but it’s only Jim and I now.”
Alyse looked at him carefully, but said nothing. Justin felt the implied question in her silence and shook his head.
“There are no strings to the offer, Alyse,” he told her. “I won’t take advantage of you. I won’t make you stay if you don’t want to. I’ll even give you and Brigitte some supplies if you decide to go on alone.” He glanced at the door through which his son had gone. “But if you want to stay, you are welcome.”
Alyse studied him for a moment, her lips pursed in thought. “Perhaps,” she said finally. “Let me think about it.”
Justin nodded.
“So,” Alyse commented, her tone suddenly brisk. “You have heard my story. What’s yours?”
Smiling slightly, Justin leaned back in his chair. “This could take a while,” he warned her with mock gravity.
“It’s not like we’re going anywhere right now,” Alyse replied, smiling back.
Closing his eyes briefly, Justin sighed and began speaking softly in the gentle light filtering in through the window.
James handed his father the clip, and Justin noticed that his son had reloaded it.
“They were walking down by the lake,” James answered. “I went down to watch the sunrise, and I saw them.”
“How many were there?” Justin pressed, loading the gun and chambering a round.
“Two. They didn’t look dangerous, but I came back to tell you.”
Justin turned to face his son. “What do you mean?”
James shrugged. “It looked like a lady and her daughter. They didn’t see me.”
Struggling to calm down, Justin frowned. “Could you tell what they were doing?”
“They were just walking, but not like we walk. They weren’t walking very fast, and they weren’t going in a straight line.” James paused and looked up at his father with serious eyes. “They looked tired.”
With a slight sigh, Justin felt himself relax slightly. “How long ago was this?”
“A couple of minutes ago,” his son replied. “I came straight back. They were near the point, across the reeds.”
He knew the place James described. It was close to two kilometers away, along the shore. From the dock that James probably had been watching from, though, it was only a few hundred yards across the lake. It would take the pair a good half hour to cover the same distance. He closed his eyes and ran a hand across his face. “Good job, kiddo. You did exactly the right thing.”
James dragged one foot slowly across the floor and looked up at his father. “Are we going to help them, Daddy?”
“Help them?” Justin asked, glancing down at his son.
“They don’t look so good,” James answered, looking down at the floor. “I thought we could talk to them… help them.”
Justin crouched down in front of James. “Jim, I know you are trying to do the right thing, but we can’t help them. We don’t know them...”
His son looked up from the floor and met his eyes. Justin was startled by the fierce intensity in that gaze. “I want to help them.”
“Jim, you don’t understand…” Justin began, but James stamped his foot firmly.
“I do. You’re scared. You’re worried about who they are and about how much food we have… but Daddy, what if it was Mommy out there and she needed help? Would you want someone to help her? I know you think I don’t understand, that I’m too young, but I do.”
Justin sat back on his heels and stared at James in astonishment.
James looked back down at his toes. “I want to help them,” he repeated.
There was a long moment of fragile silence. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Justin nodded. “Alright, Jim. Let’s go talk to them.”
*
His son had been right: the woman and the girl beside her didn’t look so good.
Justin had kept back in the trees, watching them as they stumbled along. They both wore heavy jackets that protected them from the cold, but the pace they moved at spoke of exhaustion. Every few metres they seemed to pause, and then they began again, determinedly placing one foot in front of another. The little girl walked in the woman’s footprints, and every now and then the woman would glance back to make sure she was still following. The trail in the snow behind them was erratic, almost serpentine. As they walked they never took their eyes off of the ground in front of them.
Justin glanced down at James, who nodded at him encouragingly. Shaking his head at the absurdity of a world where his six-year old son was making the decisions, he stepped out of the trees. He had his rifle in the crook of his arm, ready in case it was necessary, but he doubted it would be.
“You look a little lost,” he said loudly.
The woman in front froze, but the girl kept plodding along until she bumped into her mother. With a plaintiff noise, the girl sunk to her knees.
The woman’s face was covered by a scarf, but her eyes widened at the sight of Justin and his gun. “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t hurt us. We’re just trying to find someplace safe.”
Her voice, laced with a slight accent, was oddly familiar. Justin’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. “Where are you from?” he asked.
“Please,” the woman repeated, staggering a little as she took a step back.
Justin nodded slightly. “I won’t hurt you,” he told her, his voice soft. After a brief pause, he added, “You look like you could use a little help.”
Something flickered in the woman’s eyes, a glimmer of hope. She said nothing, but continued to watch him, one hand reaching down to grasp the girl’s shoulder. They stood there in silence for several moments, staring at him.
“Follow me,” Justin said at last.
He turned away and started back towards the cabin. He didn’t need to look back to know she would follow. It took a moment, but the woman finally helped the girl to her feet and they began to stumble after him. Justin glanced over to the trees where James was stationed and waved for him to return to the cabin ahead of them. He caught barely a flicker of movement as his son started stealthily back. He would easily outpace the trio, and he had instructions to get some soup warmed up.
While it wasn’t particularly cold, not much more than five or ten below zero, the warmth of the cabin came as a welcome respite for Justin. What was normally a five minute walk had taken nearly half an hour. He was incredibly glad he’d had James build a small fire in the wood stove before they left, to take the chill out of the air. James was standing on the other side of the counter, adding a small length of wood to the firebox. He glanced up as Justin entered and smiled, the expression telling Justin more than words could how much agreeing to help the two strangers meant to his son. Justin smiled back and turned to beckon the woman and girl in.
The woman hesitated at the entrance, glancing suspiciously at Justin. “Why are you helping us?” she asked, finally.
Justin shrugged. “My son asked me to,” he replied simply, gesturing in James’ direction.
The woman glanced inside and saw James’s face peering over the counter, grinning. A soft, almost broken sob escaped her, and she helped the little girl into the warmth of the cabin.
“Jim, is the soup ready?” Justin asked softly.
James nodded. “It’s on the table, Daddy.”
The woman glanced from James to the table, and then looked down at the little girl. Shivering slightly, she knelt down and began taking her daughter’s bulky winter clothes off.
The girl was around the same age as James, maybe a year or so younger, with long dark hair that had become a tangled mess under the toque she wore. Her features were delicate, elfin, with a rosebud mouth, pale skin, and a slightly upturned nose. Wide, dark eyes framed by long, dark lashes surveyed the room as her mother rubbed the girl’s arms briskly. “How are you, Brigitte?” the woman whispered.
Brigitte shivered slightly, but tried to smile. “I’m okay, Mama. Where are we?”
The woman looked up at Justin, her own dark eyes considering. “We’re safe, honey. Now sit down. There’s soup on the table.”
The girl’s eyes widened, and she looked over at the table. “Soup?”
James hurried around the counter and reached out a hand. “Hi,” he grinned. “I’m Jim. Come on. The soup will get cold.” Brigitte took his hand and followed him to the steaming bowl on the table.
Justin watched them for a moment, and then returned his attention to the woman. “I’m Justin McLeod,” he said as the woman began to take off her scarf and toque. The woman was an older reflection of the little girl’s ethereal beauty. Her chocolate-colored eyes watched him cautiously, still uncertain. He recognized her.
“I’m…” she began.
“Alyse,” Justin finished.
The woman stared at him, eyes narrowed. “How...”
“You used to work at a Canadian Tire in Calgary. You said you were trying to get out of the city, too.” Justin explained.
She stared at him for a moment, and then she nodded slightly. “I remember. You said you were going on a hunting trip.” He saw the tension in her shoulders diminish.
“Look, sit down and eat something. You look worn out.”
Alyse took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she murmured at last, and went to sit beside her daughter.
James had returned to the wood stove and carried over a kettle of steaming water. “I made you some tea. We don’t have any cream, but there’s a little sugar…”
Alyse stared at James for a moment, and then she placed her face in her hands and cried.
*
“So what happened?” Justin asked softly, sitting down across from Alyse. James was busy cleaning the dishes, standing on a stool behind the counter to reach the wash basin. Brigitte was already asleep on the bed under the James Dean poster. James had told his father that the girls could have his bed, and that he would sleep in the bunk above Justin’s. It had touched Justin to the core to see his son guide Brigitte to the bed and tuck her in gently. “When I saw you, you said you were getting out of the city, which you obviously did, but…”
“How did we end up here?” Alyse finished, her voice quiet. “It is a long story.”
“I haven’t spoken to another adult in over three weeks, Alyse,” Justin commented drily. “I don’t mind. Besides, it’s not like we’re going anywhere.”
Alyse took a sip of her tea. “I called my husband from work and told him we needed to leave the city. He had been watching the news, and had come to the same conclusion. He spent much of that day getting things ready. We had family in Red Deer, and we thought it would be a safe place.”
She stared down at the cup in her hands. “We didn’t think they would attack as quickly as they did. We got to his brother’s house just in time to hear the announcement that war had been declared. How could we have imagined that Red Deer would be a target? When the missiles and bombs began, my husband panicked. So many people did. My husband wanted to get us to safety, to get us out of the city…”
Her shoulders shook, and she put the cup down on the table to keep from spilling her tea. “His brother said we should hide in the basement, but Luc would not hear of it. The explosions were so loud, so terrifying. We ran out to the car. We took nothing more than the clothes we had on. The city was in chaos, fires and fallen buildings everywhere. He tried to get to the highway, but with all of the accidents and traffic, we wound up on a small road that led out of town.”
She took a deep breath. “I don’t know how long we drove. He thought we had gone the wrong way, so he took turn after turn. He was exhausted, terrified. When we ran out of gas, he said we had to leave the car. Brigitte was crying in the back seat, and I couldn’t think straight. I told him we had to stay, that we would have no chance on foot…
“I’ve never seen him like that. My Luc is a gentle man, but he shook me. He slapped me. He said if I was too stupid to run, he would go alone.”
She looked up at Justin with tears in her eyes. “I thought he would come back. He didn’t.”
Justin watched her in silence. “How long did you wait?” he whispered.
She looked away, staring blankly at the wall. “Five days,” she said finally. “There were some snacks that we kept for road trips in the car, and so Brigitte and I ate those for the first few days. After that I was able to find some late raspberries. After five days, I knew we had to go.”
“It’s been more than three weeks since the war started, Alyse… how…?”
“I caught a couple of gophers. Once we found a farm, but the farmer shot at us when we started up the drive. I snuck back after dark and stole some eggs and a chicken. It was enough, though I don’t think we could have kept going much longer.”
Justin stared at Alyse for several minutes, stunned.
Alyse studied the checkered tablecloth for a moment before looking up. “You saved our lives,” she said softly.
“No, I didn’t,” Justin admitted. “James did. He saw you and insisted that we help you. If it wasn’t for him…”
Alyse looked over at the blonde-haired boy who was struggling to carry the pan of wash water out the back door. “He has a good heart,” she observed.
“He’s a better man than I am,” Justin murmured. “I was ready to just let you pass by.”
Alyse looked at Justin from the corner of her eye, her dark lashes lowered. “You were thinking with your head. He was thinking with his heart. It is the same with Brigitte. She brings out the best in me.”
Justin nodded. He glanced down for a moment, struggling with a decision. At last he glanced up. “You can stay with us, if you want. We don’t have as much as I wish we had, but I think we have enough to get us through to spring. I had planned on having three mouths to feed, but it’s only Jim and I now.”
Alyse looked at him carefully, but said nothing. Justin felt the implied question in her silence and shook his head.
“There are no strings to the offer, Alyse,” he told her. “I won’t take advantage of you. I won’t make you stay if you don’t want to. I’ll even give you and Brigitte some supplies if you decide to go on alone.” He glanced at the door through which his son had gone. “But if you want to stay, you are welcome.”
Alyse studied him for a moment, her lips pursed in thought. “Perhaps,” she said finally. “Let me think about it.”
Justin nodded.
“So,” Alyse commented, her tone suddenly brisk. “You have heard my story. What’s yours?”
Smiling slightly, Justin leaned back in his chair. “This could take a while,” he warned her with mock gravity.
“It’s not like we’re going anywhere right now,” Alyse replied, smiling back.
Closing his eyes briefly, Justin sighed and began speaking softly in the gentle light filtering in through the window.