A Time in Heaven (6 page)

It was decided to clean up the mess
around the cabin right away.  T
hey both needed a shower, but that could wai
t until the smelly garbage was cleaned up. Katie put Sadie on a leash, and walked her close to the cabin.  Sadie would have to stay inside today.  Jesse was already picking up pieces of unrecognizable rubbish and putting them back into the garbage can.  Katie acted like she didn’t see, but he had actually gagged a couple of times.

The entire time they were outsi
de, they kept an eye open in cas
e the bear decided to come back for seconds.  When the mess was nearly cleaned up, Jesse made a l
o
w growling sound that made Katie drop what she had in her hands
.   She ran over to him.
”Jesse,
d
id you hear that?” she whispered.  “You mean this?”  Jesse did the growl
again.  K
atie smacked him on the arm.  They both laughed, but knew that the bear could do some serious damage to either of them.  Being so far from Seattle, help wouldn’t get to them for hours.

They dragged the refilled garbage can down the path toward the cabin closest to the dock.  When they got to the cabin, Jesse checked the garbage can that was sitting outside the door.  It was full of garbage, too.  “This is just great! What are we supposed to do with all this crap?  Why wasn’t it taken care of after the last
bunch of people was
here?” Jesse was truly angry at the situation
now
. Katie had never seen him like this before.  She didn’t like
it
much
either.

“Jesse, we’ll just leave our
garbage can her
e.  It’s far enough away from our
cabin,” Katie said trying to calm Jesse.

“Well if these two are full, then so are the other ones.  And what about the lodge?  This mess has put us in considerable danger from bea
rs
.  I don’t know about yo
u, but I think we should get our
money back.
We haven’t even got to d
o any real fishing at this
fishing camp
since we
got here.” Jesse kicked the garbage can.  His kick knocked it over, and spilled the disgusting stuff out on the ground again.  He surveyed his
mess, “That’ll just make it easier for the bear.”  He threw his arms over his head and started up the path toward the dock.

Katie just stood there, not knowing exactly what to do or say.  Then, she took off after him.  She caught up with him just as he stepped into the dock.

“Jesse, stop. Please calm down.” She touched his back, saying anxiously, “You’re scaring me!  It can’t be all that bad!”

“OK, I’m
sorry,” he said as he turned around.  He took her by the shoulders and said, “This is pretty serious, Katie.  The owner of this place has put us in some real serious danger here.  And, I don’t understand why there is no one else around.  Can’t you see? –
The
garbage, no electricity, the lodge hasn’t been
cleaned;
there aren’t even any row boats.  For God’s sake, this is a
fishing camp
!!
Where are the boats?
”

He let go of her and walked past her and off the dock.  He turned around to see the alarm in Katie’s face.  He
stopped,
and walked back to her saying in a calm voice, “I guess there’s not much
we can do about all this now.  You were
right;
w
e’ll just have to be careful. 
And i
f things get bad, we’ll radio for someone to come to get us.”

Katie was relieved that Jesse’s voice had quieted, and he wasn’t so angry.
”We
will be
okay,” she tried to reassure him.  “Hey, we’re here for a vacation, so don’t you think we should get to it?”  She smiled a weak little grin.  “Let’s get back to the cabin; we both need a shower.  Then, we can go fishing.  Sound good?” She said all this very fast, hoping to change the mood of the moment.

“Sure. Let’s go.” Jesse took Katie’s hand, and they started down the path back to the cabin. Neither one said a word while they were walking.  As they came up to the door, they could hear Sadie making little whimpering sounds.  “Ah, poor thing.  She’s never away from me like this – all by herself in a strange place.”

Jesse opened the door, and Sadie came bounding out, and jumped up on him.  This made him laugh.  He got down to her level and made a big fuss over her.
Sadie gave him dog kisses all over his face.
Katie sighed.  She was glad to see Jesse back to himself.  But, he was
right;
they were in some peril here.
They were going to have to be careful.

Katie asked if Jesse wanted to shower first.  “No, you go ahead.” Then, he thought, “Wait.  There’s no hot water.”

There’s a propane tank,” Katie said.  “Or is that just for the stove?”

Jesse started looking around, and, finally, some good luck.  There was a small hot water heater.  At least a hot shower could be had.

It was early afternoon before they both were showered and dressed.  They had decided to get on with their vacation, so they gathered their fishing gear and headed for the pond to see if the good luck of the hot water would carry over to the fishing.  Jesse still wanted to get to the lodge to find a gun, but gave in to Katie on the fishing idea.

Katie kept Sadie on her leash as they walked the path to the pond.  The dog wasn’t happ
y
and pulled and whined as they walked.  A couple of times she almost tripped Katie.  “I don’t understand why she’s acting like this
,” Katie said to Jesse.
“She’s always so good on the leash.”

“It’s probably some kind of wildlife scent.  She’s just not used to all the new smells.” Jesse just hoped she wasn’t reacting to a bear being around.  The morning encounter still worried him.

They reached the pond and
started fishing.  Jesse was surprised at how skillful Katie was at casting and then landing the fish.  She even took them off the hook by herself – without screaming.  This was all new to him and he liked it.  It pleased him that they had another thing in common.

They
had an excellent day of fishing.  They caught several large trout.  Katie caught a really huge rainbow that she taunted Jesse about until he landed a thirty-two inch brown trout. It was decided to keep these two
fish
for dinner later on.

A
breeze
came up
across the water
making only the slightest of waves
. T
he sun was shining
between big white cumulus clouds
sailing across the blue sky
. I
t was a perfect day.  Late in the afternoon, they all headed back to the cabin.  This time Sadie was much calmer
,
and Katie let her off leash as they approached the cabin.

After their trout
dinner
that evening
and everything was cleaned up, Jesse suggested that he and Katie sit outside to drink their coffee.  Sadie was curled up on the bed.  After her big day, she was so tired that she didn’t even ask to go out
side
with them.

“Quite a start to our restful vacation,” Jesse said as he sat down on one of the chairs outside the cabin door.  They both
chuckled
.  K
atie sat on the steps leading
onto the
cabin’s small porch. They watched the sun go down.  This was something they both loved to do in the
early chill of the
evening.  They soon realized how
much they were connected in their love of nature and its splendor.

There
was a nip
in the air as t
he light faded. 
Overhead
was a beautiful star-filled sky. Suddenly, they saw a large meteor shoot across the sky leaving a glowing smoke trail behind. “Wow, did you see that?” Jesse yelled as he followed the meteor’s trail across the sky with his arm.  “I almost forgot about the Perseid meteor shower this week.”

“Yeah, I forgot about it too.  If the weather’s good at home, we
would
always take the lawn chairs and
sit outside and watch it.”  But then she stopped, because she had started watching the Perseid meteor shower after she heard Jesse do an interview about it once.
She didn’t know how he would react.

“Look another big one!”  This time Katie was flinging her arm in the direction the meteor was flying.

They sat outside and watched the meteors for half the night; getting excited over every big one smoking across the night sky.

EXPLORING

T
he next few days were a time of discovery
for the pair.  Jesse and Katie were enjoying the incredible fishing
at the pond and the whole outdoor
experience.
W
hile they were having all this
fun,
they were getting to know each other
,
and becoming closer.  They were sleeping together in the same bed, but they
hadn’t made love since that first morning in Heaven.  It was as if
there was an unspoken respect
for each other.
When the time was right, they would both know.
Oh, they thought about the passion they shared that night of the storm, but neither one was ready to act on their feelings quite yet.

Over the course of those
early
days together, they found themselves sharing more about the each other.  Kati
e filled Jesse in on her life in Pennsylvania
.  She told him about her teaching and her family.  She
shared her excitement about
her trips to Alaska and how she had been on several camping trips to Yellowstone and Colorado.

Jesse told Katie about his family.  He showed her pictures of his kids.  He talked about his youth
spent
on the
old
family farm
. He shared with Katie the bad and good times when
he moved around
with his parents and younger brother
as a military brat
.  Stories about his fishing, camping and flying experience
s
led Katie to appreciate him beyond what she
thought she kne
w about Jesse Danvers
, the celebrity
.

But with all their talking about themselves
, neither one brought up the significant
fact that Jesse was a famous personality and Katie his bigge
st fan. Maybe it was because he
re, in Heaven, it
hadn’t
mattered
.  They could be just two people attracted to each other, learning about each other, and, maybe, falling in love.

Jesse would often remember that he was about to embark on a new part of his career. He wondered how Katie would fit into his life on the road.  It also distressed him that she was a fan.

They hadn’t seen any sign of bears since that morning when the big sow grizzly was raiding thei
r garbage can. Sadie hadn’t act
ed like she smelled
any wildlife
;
eith
er around the cabin or on their
walks around the property.  Unwisely, Jesse and Katie became a little lax in paying attention to what was going on around them.
They were caught up in the wonder of falling in love when they should have been more
aware of the dangers of the island.

Taking walks together became a favorite thing to do for the pair.  One chilly morning they walked to the dock.
They were both feeling the nip in the air.
Despite the cold, t
hey decided to walk along the beach on the north side of the dock. 
As they
stroll
ed
near
the edge of the water,
the distance between the island and, what must have been the mainland, became less and less.  Katie suggested if they go far enough, they should see the ocean.  Jesse wasn’t so sure since they had both been asleep when they landed on Heaven and neither one had really
seen
the area around the island or even how big the island was.

They continued walking for a couple of hours when Jesse said that they should go back. 
He was getting nervous being so far away from the safety of the cabin.

“Listen,” Katie said
.
“The ocean.”

Jesse listened at first not hearing anything,
and then
he said, “You were right.  I hear the ocean.”

Katie took his hand and started pulling him toward the sound of crashing waves.  When they got to the ocean
, t
he distance between the island and mainland
was very narrow.  The tide was going out and it was obvious that the water was only a few inches deep.