A Time in Heaven (23 page)

The group took their time walking to the cabin. It wasn’t just because of Jesse’s leg, but they knew that ol’ g
rizzly could still be
around.  Katie had named him Bruno, but Jesse would have just as well not talked about him at all.

When they reached the meadow, the beauty of the place took their breath away.  The sky was cobalt blue with puffy, white clouds slowly drifting toward the mountains.  The wildflowers carpeted the whole field which was alive with butterflies.  Jesse let Sadie of
f
leash.  She had a ball chasing
the delicate insects.  Her antics made Katie and Jesse laugh.
They spent most of the glorious morning just enjoying the place called Heaven.

Arriving at the cabin
early that afternoon
, Katie and Jesse unpacked the backpacks.  Katie left to get more of their things from the lodge.
Jesse went about putting away the supplies
they had just brought to their new place.

It didn’t take him long to finish his chore.  As he walked across the main r
oom from the kitchen to a chair
near the fireplace, he almost tripped ov
er something under the large rug
in the center of the room. “Ow, ow!” Jesse exclaimed as he put weight on his injured leg to keep from falling.  He hopped to the chair on one leg and sat down.  Sadie had come to him when he stumbled.  She looked up at him and wagged her tail.  It was almost like she was telling him that it would be alright
.  She then, lay down by his feet.

“I’m okay, girl.  It just hurt so much just then.” He patted her head.
“I wonder what that is under the
rug.
”

He rested for several minutes since his leg was throbbing.
As he sat there
rubbing his leg,
he became
more curious of
what he had tripped on.  He eventually went over and picked up the rug to look underneath it.  There he
found a handle to a trap door. Jess
e lifted the door to see a large dark room.  He couldn’t see much and for sure he couldn’t climb down the rickety ladder.  He wished that he had the flashlight, but he guessed he would have to wait for Katie to return to find out what was down there.

Jesse wondered what other secrets the cabin was keeping.  He looked around.  He already knew that the middle door in the main room led to the bathroom, but they hadn’t checked out the third door.  He too remembered the surprise he got in the lodge, so he carefully opened the door.  He
had
found the guns that he could
n’t
find in the lodge. Inside the closet was a gun case with several shotguns and rifles.  On top of the cabinet was an obscene amount of ammunition.

The old owner of the camp hadn’t
trus
ted
his employees
, who were most
ly
transients
, so the guns were kept in
the caretaker’s cabin with Hank
in charge of them.
When Hank left and Colby had died, no one knew the guns were there.

As much as he hated guns, he admitted to himself that he was glad that he had found these.  They made him feel more secure.  Now
,
he could protect Katie and Sadie.

As Jesse was closing the gun closet
, Katie returned with her arms full of supplies from the lodge.
Jesse helped her get them into the cabin
and onto the table
.  Sadie wasn’t much help since she was excited to see Katie.
  The lab jumped on Katie almost knocking her down.

Jesse
grabbed Katie and
kissed
her. “Hey, why all the excitement?  Did you discover gold while I was away?” She asked. 

“Almost as good as gold!” Jesse said eagerly. 
He couldn’t wait to show
her what he had found in the cabin. He
lifted the rug and showed her the trap door
. 
He picked up the door.  “I can’t see what’s down there.”

Katie
told him, “I can
go down
.” As she
slowly
went down the ladder
,
he
r eyes adjusted to the darkness. A
ll she found was
a dark storage room.  One of the walls was lined with empty shelves.
  “Not much down here,” she called
Jesse.
“At least nothing to get excited about.”

Being a little disappointed, Katie asked
as she climbed from the dark space
, “What else did you find, Jess?” 

“Guns.” He announced.
Katie knew that Jesse had wanted to find a gun since they found themselves alone on the island.  She wasn’t thrilled that he had finally found one.
He took her to the closet that held the arsenal.  He opened the cabinet and took out a shotgun. “Now we will have some protection when we are outside.”

Katie didn’t like this at all.  She hated guns and she thought Jesse did too.  Looking a
t him right now he seemed too happy
to have found these guns.
She didn’t like it. She looked at Jesse and shook her head.

Jesse saw the concern in her face.
“Babe, I don’t like these guns
any more
than you do, but we are alone in the wilderness.  We’ve already encountered dangerous humans and bears.  What will be next?  I don’t think either of us wants to end up alone here, so
like it or not,
we are going to keep these guns close.”

He held the shotgun up in front of Katie.  “We are both going to have to be able to use
one
of these.  I went duck hunting with my uncle once when I was young.  I didn’t like it much. 
Actually I hated it.
I haven’t picked up a
real
gun since then. I know
nothing about them.”  He admitted
. “I guess I could load one, maybe.”

Katie remembered trying to skeet shoot once.  It had been fun and she was good at it.  “Other than that one time, I know nothing
about them either
.  I didn’t even have to load my own gun.
I wouldn’t know where to start to even load the thing.
” She paused, “
This is not a good idea, Jess.
”

Jesse didn’t want to f
ight over the guns.  He got Katie to agree
to keep one of the guns with them
when they went outside
.  Katie still hated the idea, but went along with Jesse for now.  She was concerned that if they had to use it, one of them might be hurt or what if they only wounded an animal.  That wo
uld make things worse. “Maybe the novelty will were off. I hope
.” She thought.

They finished moving the things that they
needed from the lodge to the care taker’s
cabin. 
It had taken Katie longer than she had planned because Jesse insisted
she carry the shotgun with her all the time.
He would load it before she left.  She was terrified that she would accidently fire it.

Moving ended for the day at dusk.  Everyone was near exhaustion.  Katie and Jesse made up their bed.  They didn’t even eat dinner that evening. Sadie curled up on a blanket Jesse put on the floor for her.  They were asleep in minutes of getting into bed.

The morning after their first night in the cabin found Katie up first.  She showered and
went to the kitchen to
make breakfast.  Still being half asleep
, Katie opened the refrigerator door. The light came on. She closed the door and opened it again – there was the light
bright
ly
illuminating the inside of the refrigerator
!
  “Jesse!” She yelled.  He jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen thinking something was wrong.  “We have electricity.  Look!” She opened the door.  Jesse went to the switch on the wall.  Lights came on all around the cabin.

“My God!  This is great.”  He exclaimed.

“Why do you suppose
the electricity is
on here and not at the lodge?”  Katie asked.

“I don’t know.  Maybe this place belongs to someone other than the fishing camp. But my guess is that no one should be using electricity here.  So, if we use a lot may
be someone will come to see why,” Jesse said as his eyes lit up with some hope of being rescued. He kissed Katie.  “Maybe, just maybe someone will come and we can go home.”
Then his mood changed.  “Or maybe they’ll just turn it off.”

Over the next couple of weeks, the couple enjoyed their new home
, using as much electricity as they could
.  Jesse’s leg was almost healed, but he still limped when he put his
full
weight on it. 
Katie would occasional
ly
catch him
winching if he turned just
the wrong way. 

One bright sunny morning, Jesse woke first. He lay in bed watching Katie’s
breasts
rise and fall with every breath she took.  It had been
over a
month since they had been intimate.  He missed their closeness.  This morning, he thought, a sore leg wasn’t going to keep him from her any longer.

Jesse gently kissed Katie on the forehead, then the tip of her nose, and then between her breasts.  He had come to
consider
that this was his special way of showing his love for his lady.

Katie opened her eyes and smiled.  They kissed. Jesse laughed with pleasure. Katie pulled him back to her. They became lost in each other
’
s embrace.  Making love was never
as
sweet as it was between Katie and Jesse that morning in Heaven.

That
early
summer in Heaven was sheer enchantment
.  For the most part, the rains held off for many days in a row.  The temperature was in the low seventies during the warmest part of the day.  Night time brou
ght a chill to
the air, but was most comfortable for the lover’s endeavors. 

Katie and Jesse had settled into the caretaker’s cabin.  They
had
made it their own.
To their surprise,
they had become neat fanatics.  Every morning after breakfast they did all their chores
together
until the cabin was immaculate. 
It pleased Jesse that they had become such a team.

This particular late June m
orning Katie was up before just before dawn
.  She took Sadie out and fed her.  She hadn’t heard Jesse moving around so she decided to take her shower.  She turned on the water heater.  It didn’t take long before the water was hot
and the shower was steamy
.  When she stepped into the
sultry
fall of water
, the chill of the morning air melted away.

Without saying a word,
Jesse sli
pped into the shower behind her.  Kissing her neck he wrapped his arms around her to caress her breasts.  He turned her around and kissed her in his favorite
spot between her breasts.   Katie took her hands and held his face as she kissed him.  As the warm water enveloped their
bodies, she slid her hands down his back and pulled him ever closer.  They made love there in the
warm
, seductive
shower.

As the lovers were lost in their passion in the shower,
Sadie let out a ferocious bark.  This was different than her bark at the wolves.  It sounded more alarming. It brought the lovers back to reality.  They sprang from the shower and wrapped themselves in towels. Sadie was still barking when they heard
a scream.  It wasn’t the dog.  When they came into the main room, they saw s
tanding just on the o
ther side of the screen door,
a large male cougar!

The big cat had seen
Jesse and Katie as they came into t
he room. He let out another ear-
piercing scream.  Katie grabbed Sadie by the collar as Jesse pulled both of them into the bedroom. Jesse saw the cat leap from the porch and run toward the pines. 
He slammed the inside door shut and grabbed the gun propped next to the door.

After a few minutes things
had calmed down, Jesse looked at Katie wrapped in a to
wel and la
ughed.  He whipped off his towel and threw it on a chair.  “Who did we think Sadie was barking at?” He said still laughing.  Katie realized how silly it
had been for them to put on the t
owels.  She threw hers at Jesse and ran into the bedroom.
He put the gun down and chased after her.

They were laughing so hard neither could catch their breath. Jesse stole
a quick kiss and started
to get dressed. 
Katie went into the bathroom to get dressed.