# Car 54

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© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 42:
Use Right Lane for Alternate Route

As soon as I got out of the car, Lucille was on her feet and hurrying toward me.

"I'm so glad you're home. I was worried," she almost bleated, then threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. "Where did you go? No one seemed to know, and even your folks are worried now, but that's probably because I called them to see if you were down there."

"Whoa, I just went into the hospital to visit with Grampa Bender and Sandy," I patted her back to calm her. "When did you get here?"

"I don't know, before six, I think, but you'd already left. I checked and the chores all seemed to be done. The dogs were just cleaning up the last of their food when I came."

"Well, they eat darn fast, so you must have just missed me," I frowned then. "Wait a minute, I never saw you as I was driving out. In fact I never even saw any dust on the road. How did you get here that fast?"

"Oh," she shrugged as she pulled away, then looked at me in embarrassment. "I was thinking about something as I drove along the new road, so I missed the turnoff to come here. Then I guess I got a bit lost. I must have driven for miles before I came to a T in the road where I could turn that truck around and feel safe doing it."

"Well, actually the first T in the road is only a little more than a mile from the cutoff coming down to the ranch, but it probably felt further," I grinned. "However, I'm curious, where did you get the truck and why did you drive it out here?"

"Well, I came because I wanted to talk to you, and I got the truck from your friend, Mr. Dolens. I went to him to try to rent a car, but when I used your name as a reference, he said you were thinking of buying a pickup. Since he'd just gotten this one in a trade with another dealer, he thought I could drive it out here so you could see if you liked it."

"Okay, I understand," I nodded and glanced at the pickup, then back to her. "Just what was so important that you were willing to drive all the way out here to see me?"

"Oh, I needed to talk to someone and somehow, you seemed the logical person," she sighed heavily, looking like she was about to cry. "Could we go inside and maybe have a cup of coffee or something?"

"Sure, is something wrong?"

"Yes, but could we sit down first before I say anything, please?"

So we went inside and she plopped down on a chair at the kitchen table. I didn't comment while I made coffee. Then while it was perking, I decided to call home and let everyone know I was okay. Luckily it was Beth who answered, but since she was waiting for a call from George, I didn't tie the phone up for long. I just told her that I was home and had gone to town to visit Grampa Bender and Sandy, so she said she'd pass that on. Because she was waiting for that call, we only spoke for a moment or two before we said goodnight.

However, it wasn't long before the coffee was ready and I set a full mug in front of Lucille. She had her elbows on the table and her head hidden in her hands, looking like she had the weight of the whole world on her shoulders.

"There's your coffee," I gestured at the cup. "Now, do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Well, I guess I've been lying to everyone for my whole life," she sniffed, lifting her head so I could see the tears running down her cheeks. "I always thought I was a Bender, but it turns out that I'm not."

"Huh?" I grunted in surprise, not knowing what to say, but wondering what she meant.

"Well, I first noticed something about a year ago. Mother was quite ill and needed to have a blood transfusion. Father registered and donated blood and I donated too, but I was told that they couldn't use my blood for Mom. We aren't even the same type. Mother and Father both have type A blood. I'm type B. That didn't make sense to me until Father got angry with me today when I called to let him know that I was transferring to the hospital up here," by then she was weeping heavily and tears were streaming down her face. "That's when he completely lost his cool and screamed at me that I was an idiot and that he was glad that I wasn't his real daughter. When I asked what he meant by that, he told me that I was adopted as a baby."

"Oh shit!" I muttered, then as she stood as if to walk away, I moved around to pull her into my arms and hug her close to my chest.

I couldn't imagine how anyone could be as cruel as her old man had been. Even more than that, I couldn't imagine Lucille holding that sort of information to herself while arranging to borrow a vehicle, then driving thirty odd miles, just to share her pain with someone she trusted. I felt honoured in some ways, but extremely angry in others, however even as those feelings passed through my head, I was relieved in other ways. Now it made sense to me that she wasn't anything like the uncle that I despised, because she wasn't even one of his descendants.

The more I thought about that idea, the more I thought Lucille should hear my thoughts on the subject. But, I knew that I had to pick the right moment to say anything and the right way to say it.

Finally, her sobs eased somewhat and I heaved a deep sigh to express my relief.

"Sorry," she said, trying to pull away.

"What are you sorry for? I wasn't sighing about you being upset. I'm just damn relieved that you aren't really related to someone I despise," I murmured. "I was having a hard time reconciling the facts about you and him, but now they all make sense. I sighed in relief that I wasn't losing my marbles."

"Pardon me?" she pulled her head back and looked into my eyes, her tears slowing and her face wreathed in a frown. "I don't understand what you mean by that."

"Oh, it's simple really," I smiled slightly. "I never really liked your old man, not that I ever saw much of him, but he always seemed to be a greedy, selfish son-of-a-bitch. I was ashamed to be related to him at all. That's why when I met you I reacted the way I did at first, but you didn't act at all the way I expected. Instead, my gut reaction was to trust you and that bothered me. I couldn't understand how a shithead like him could possibly have a saint for a daughter."

"Hey, I'm not a saint," she said with a sniffle, wiping tears from her cheek with one hand.

"Okay, you're not a perfect saint, but you're still young. You can work on that," I grinned.

"Oh, sure," she snapped, but managed a weak smile, then she frowned again. "But, what is everyone else going to think?"

"Don't worry, I think Mom and Dad will be happy about it. I know Dad doesn't like your old man any more than I do. On top of that you really impressed Mom and Aunt Alice by the way you stepped in and helped all the girls as much as you could. You certainly impressed Grampa Bender. He thinks the sun rises and sets on the crack of your butt," I hugged her close. "To us, you've been a great friend and in your case, that's just as close or even closer than being part of the family by blood. Besides, although your old man says you're adopted and he's disowning you, he didn't ask us. I'd rather disown him. Come to think of it, I suppose Grampa Bender just did that, in his own way."

She sniffed again, then looked up at me and smiled weakly once more. Then her expression became thoughtful and her weak smile slowly strengthened to become a grin.

"That's better, what brought that on?" I asked, pulling back to look at her face more fully.

"Oh, I was just realizing how right you were about Father being greedy and selfish and . . ," she paused and then grinned even wider. "Wait a minute. He never was my father. You were right there too, he was just my old man and he is a greedy, selfish bastard. Hey, how did you get so smart for your age?"

"Well, I like to think I learned from the older members of my family, especially the women folks," I grinned.

"Even me?"

"Yes, Lucille, even you," I grinned. "Now, it's getting late. Since you might get lost on the roads again and since I don't want to drive all the way to town, then back at this time of night, do you want to stay for the night?"

"Oh, I'm invited tonight, am I?" she asked, teasingly.

"Yes, you're invited."

"And can I sleep with you for a cuddle?"

"Yes, I think that you might need a cuddle or two," I agreed, wondering where this was going.

"Okay. Just let me wash my face, but I like that idea," she said, leaving me wondering.

I was still puzzling her quiet comment later, when she came into the bedroom and turned out the light before slipping into bed. Then she rolled over into my arms and I realized that she was nude.

"What's this?" I asked, running my hand down her bare back.

"Well, it turns out we aren't related and I'm probably more impressed with you than you are with me. Besides, Sandy tells me that she thinks you've lost two of the women in your harem," she chuckled softly.

"What?" I tried to sit up, but she was leaning over me with her face inches from mine.

"Oh shush. Quit worrying so damn much. Your honour is still safe. However, I was really upset when I came out here tonight and you've made me feel much better. Just be quiet and let me say thanks."

Then she kissed me.

However, we didn't have sex that night. Instead, we talked. Mostly, we talked about the family and about the differences between our lives. She told me about her training and about nursing, while I told her about the farm and the ranch. In fact, we talked a lot, probably for an hour or perhaps two. We even discussed the fact that the night before we had been very comfortable just holding and touching each other. Finally though, we were both too tired to carry on a conversation and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

Lucille was comfortable to sleep with and a joy to wake up beside. Not only did she wake up wide awake and eager for the day, but she insisted on cooking breakfast while I did the chores. Then we sat at the kitchen table and talked about the sketches I'd done for the addition. Later, we were outside, looking over the truck that Frank Dolens had let Lucille bring out to show me, when we noticed Dad's pickup driving down the grade to the ranch.

"Oh, oh. This could be awkward," I sighed deeply. "Mom will be with Dad. In fact Dad warned me that she was coming with him, because she was planning to apologise about saying you could stay with me the other night without asking me first. Now you've spent a second night here at my invitation and she's going to know that."

"Let me handle it. I'll distract her by telling her about my old man instead. From what little I know of your Mom, she'll be fighting mad, but at him, not at you. If you treat things right, she'll know you forgive her without a word being spoken," Lucille smiled, handing me the keys to the truck. "You can take your Dad for a test drive while I talk to her. If we're lucky, she won't even realize that I spent last night in your bed."

So by the time Mom and Dad pulled into the yard, I had the truck running and appeared to be ready to drive away. Lucille went directly over to Mom's door and began to talk to her, while I invited Dad to come along as I test drove the truck.

"Nice truck," Dad said as he slid in and I started driving back up the hill. "You aren't trying to avoid talking to your mother are you?"

"Not really, Dad. Lucille needs to talk to her, because her old man is a real shit, so she wants to talk to Mom about what happened when she called him yesterday. I thought we'd let them have some space."

"Oh? What's that asshole done now?"

"Well, it's not really my business to say, but he disowned Lucille and told her that she was adopted. I guess they'd kept that a secret from her until yesterday."

"That rotten son-of-a-bitch. Did you know that bastard is adopted as well and that he always was a cheap prick with an ego too damn big for his brain," Dad growled. "At least Lucille seems to be taking it okay."

"She was pretty busted up last night," I sighed, deciding to tell him almost everything. "She went to Frank Dolens and tried to rent a car so she could come talk to me. Instead he lent her this truck and said I was to try it out, then she got lost on the way out here. When I got home, she was really wound up, but after telling me what her old man had done, I managed to get her calmed down somewhat. Then we spent most of the night talking."

Dad just nodded at that, then didn't say much for a few minutes. To my surprise, he changed the subject completely.

"You know, Chris, this isn't a bad truck. It's got four-wheel drive, doesn't it?"

"Unh huh. Actually, it's got everything I want and a few extras. I like the way it handles, and how it looks and runs, but I'd like to have either Frank's mechanic or Tom go over it before I even think of buying it. Besides, I don't even know how much Frank wants for it yet."

"Well, he's a good man and he's never done me wrong."

I just grinned at that. Frank had certainly never done me wrong either. Our talk drifted away from the truck then, going back to the extension on the cabin, and all the work that entailed. I told Dad about the sketches I'd made, so we decided we should go back to the ranch and look them over while Mom and Lucille were both there. On the way back to the cabin, I made up my mind that I should think hard about the pickup and perhaps dicker with Frank over it. As well I was also going to have to talk to Mom about the ranch accounts. With all the things we were planning to do and needed to buy, I wanted to be prepared if I had to go to the bank for a loan to cover any of the costs.

When we got back to the house, Lucille had spread my sketches on the kitchen table again and she and Mom were talking up a storm about them. Dad walked over to hug Mom, then grabbed Lucille and hugged her just as tightly.

"Welcome to the Crawford side of the Bender clan, kid. I hear Chris has adopted you," he said quietly, but with a big grin on his face. "I think that's great. You didn't belong with those snooty Calgary Benders anyway."

Lucille smiled and hugged him back, but I could see tears in her eyes. While Mom was watching them, I took the opportunity to wrap an arm around her shoulders and give a squeeze, smiling at her when she looked at me. She snuggled back for a minute, then picked up one of my sketches and began to ask questions. So much for an apology between us, but then, we did understand each other quite well.

We discussed the plans for a while, then Mom and Lucille made lunch while sending Dad and me to roughly stake out the area I'd planned for the new addition. Since it was a relatively nice day we actually ate outside and carried on talking about what I wanted to do and how to go about it. Somehow as we talked and walked around where the addition would be built, it grew in size. I'd planned on increasing the old cabin's size by making the addition half again as wide and having the new section two stories high. Somehow the addition increased in size as we talked until it would be twice as wide and while it would still be two stories high, the master bedroom and bathroom would now be built above the old cabin. Mom and Lucille both said that even then it wouldn't be a huge house because the old cabin's footprint was only twenty-four feet square. However since the new addition was to be twenty-four by forty eight it tripled the main floor area and by adding on a second floor I felt the place was going to feel immense, but Mom just laughed at me over that idea.

"Chris, knowing the way you attract women, I can't see you remaining a bachelor for long and once you have a wife, you're going to have kids. After that happens the house will soon feel a lot smaller, no matter how big it seems now," she grinned at me. "Just ask me, I know how fast a few kids can make a house seem to shrink."

The changes we'd decided on meant I needed new sketches and since Clarence Walker was dropping by the next day, Mom called Beth on the phone. I drew plans just as well as Beth did, but she was much faster - and probably much neater. It wasn't long before Wil and Corinna had brought Beth up to the cabin and she was soon sitting at the kitchen table and busily sketching away.

It was mid afternoon before we realized it was Sandy's birthday. Needless to say, that almost caused a panic, but somehow, inside of an hour, we were all grouped around her bed, singing 'Happy Birthday' to her. I'm not sure about anyone else, but my gift to her came from the only store in town that was open on a Sunday, the local drug store.

The rest of afternoon flew by and before long, Lucille and I were back at the cabin once more. We did the chores, then while I went out with the Jeep to check on the cattle further from the cabin, Lucille cooked. We hadn't discussed it, but somehow we both knew she was going to spend another night cuddling and chatting with me. She did, but we fell asleep earlier and woke later than before, in fact we'd hardly finished the chores and had breakfast before Clarence arrived. After showing him the sketches we'd made and giving him a quick tour of the building site, as well as a quick look at the rest of the ranch, we followed him to town. I drove my car and Lucille followed me in the pickup truck so she could return it to Frank Dolens and I had a talk with him about it. It was a one owner vehicle and Frank had copies of all the service records on it, so I ended up buying that pickup that day and driving it home that afternoon.

Lucille was quite happy that I'd bought the pickup since it meant I had a spare vehicle she could drive and she definitely made use of that car for the next two weeks. In fact during that time she was between jobs and getting a final okay for her transfer to the hospital in Mountview from Calgary General so some of her driving was accounted for in straightening out that mess. And it was a mess, because she was leaving Calgary General on short notice in order to start work in Mountview as soon as possible, since they were short staffed. Still she spent most of her nights at the ranch, sleeping at my side, then preparing my breakfast each morning.

However those weeks were absolute chaos for me and I was wishing I'd been born twins because it always seemed as if I was needed in at least two places at once most of the time. First, actual drawings had to be made up by an architect so everyone would know the size, shape and position of every feature of the cabin. Then, I had to arrange to hire people who would work on each separate trade that would be involved in the job. After that was done I had to order many of the supplies like windows, doors, tubs, toilets, sinks and so on. Then due to complications in the way the family agreement was set up, I had to talk to the banker, our lawyer and Grampa Bender at least once or twice every week. Not only that, but my family couldn't help much since they were in the midst of harvesting grain from the two farms right then, so I was pretty well on my own.

I was also involved in other responsibilies too. The funeral for Sam and Ann McAdam kept me from doing any work for almost two days. Then I had to appear in court when Bill McAdam challenged Sam and Ann's will and tried to gain custody of the McAdam twins. Thankfully he failed. Not only that, but with Wil and two Calgary Police officers as well as several of Bill McAdam's neighbours testifying in the same courtroom, he and his wife also lost custody of Jackie. Since the Bill McAdam and his wife had given temporary custody of Jackie to Sam and Ann, and since they in turn had granted custody of their children to my parents if anything happened to them, Mom and Dad suddenly had another dependent. The legality of that situation was still questionable though. Bill McAdam had stated openly that he was going to hire another lawyer and take the custody battle to a higher court. However, each of the events concerning the McAdam family only affected me by taking more of my time, so while I was interested, I managed to keep my emotional involvement to a minimum. Okay, I'll admit I darn near broke into cheers when the magistrate told Bill McAdam he no longer had legally custody of Jackie, but that's beside the point. I was close enough to listen in when a Calgary police officer told Bill McAdam that they were investigating him on the possible charge of child abuse over his methods of disciplining Jackie. That took the wind out of McAdam's sail for the time being, because the cop told him he'd seen photos of the scarring on Jackie's back and bottom.

Once Carissa and Jackie were stable John and Wilma Coulter worked with Mom and Dad to have the girls transferred to the local hospital. So, for about a week, I was able to visit Sandy and both Carissa and Jackie, as well as Lucille, all at the same time. Then Lucille began to work at the local hospital and Sandy was healthy enough to be discharged, so the two of them moved into the McAdam house and were joined by Jess and Jean. Since Sandy was eighteen that was quasi-legal, but in theory the two younger girls were still in Mom and Dad's custody, so someone could have challenged it. However, all that really happened was that Mom and Aunt Alice spent a lot of time visiting at Sandy's house, making certain things there went well. I think part of that was just Mom and Aunt Alice trying ease the girls through the trauma of living in their old house now that their parents were gone. For me, having them live there was just one more place I had to try to find time to visit each day and while it meant I regained the use of my car, it also meant I lost my nightly cuddle partner. Now Lucille was staying in town instead of driving back and forth from the ranch to town each day. However the night before she left she said something about the fact that she felt we should cool it and she should see other guys for a while. I think I can honestly say that I saw that coming, just because of the difference in our ages – she was 22 and I was only 16.

On top of all that, I was involved in the construction that was going on at the ranch. First off the excavation we needed to do was a lot larger and deeper than I'd originally thought because I'd decided I wanted a full basement under the new addition and I wanted to deepen the cellar under the old cabin. That cellar was a problem on it's own, because originally it had only been six feet deep and had been walled with native slate, but had a dirt floor. I wanted to have concrete walls and floor, but I didn't want to jack up the whole cabin to replace the stone walls. Instead I settled for excavating the cellar floor, then pouring concrete sub walls to retain the stonework. I definitely wanted a concrete floor in the cellar, but I also wanted more head room. Of course before we could do anything in the way of construction, Dad, Wil and I spent a rainy Saturday clearing out Grampa Bender's still and his stash of white lightning that had been stored in the cellar. That was all moved to the loft of the barn and hidden inside a stack of hay bales for the time being. While we were doing that, Mom, Corrina and Lucille climbed up into the loft of the cabin and packed up all of Grampa Bender's 'salvage,' things like old Christmas decorations, Aunt Tilly's spinning wheel and items of that sort. They were all shipped off to the barn as well, but they were stored in one of my empty stalls and covered with a tarp, not carried upstairs and hidden.

Once construction actually started, I worked with Charlie Engels first as he did the trenching and excavation. Even while I was working with Charlie, I had to spend some time working with the Yarowski's as they ran in the sewer lines and surface drains. Then I was working with Charlie's concrete crew as we ran in forms, poured concrete, then stripped the forms again, but the sewer had been run in and all the concrete was ready for Clarence to begin construction by the middle of September.

While I was busy with all of that, my family and friends were involved with their lives too. The harvest was going ahead, but Beth, Tom, George and the McAdam twins went back to school. Even Wil needed to leave in the middle of September to go back to Olds to the Ag. School. That left Dad, Uncle Tom and Bob Grant short of help. Of course that made me feel guilty because by then I was up to my ears in construction details and couldn't help them at all.

Then to complicate matters, Jackie's brothers showed up in Mountview. As it happened, Lucille had been working in the hospital that day and when they had tried to insist that they were there to sign Jackie out of the hospital, she'd called the cops, then the Coulters, then me. I literally dropped what I was doing, apologised to Charlie Engels for leaving, and headed for town as fast as I dared drive. As I was driving through town on my way to the hospital, I saw John Coulter's car parked at the RCMP Office though. Adding two and two, I parked across the street and walked over to see what was going on.

When I walked into the RCMP Detatchment I saw that John Coulter was talking to Constable Davis in his office while four young guys in well worn clothes were sitting on chairs off to one side of the waiting room. I waved to Constable Davis and John through the glass in the office front, then plopped down on an empty seat near the four young guys.

"Man, just what's going on? This place is busy as Grand Central Station today," I muttered to the guy next to me. "Are you guys in trouble with the guy talking to the cop?"

"Maybe. I dunno? Why'd you want to know?" The guy answered just as quietly.

"Unh, that's a local big wig. Crossing him is like tackling a cougar with your bare hands."

"Oh jeez," he sighed. "Dad's tossed us to the wolves."

"Huh?" I murmured, frowning as I looked at him.

"Unh, we quit our jobs so's we could come get our sister, 'cause Dad said we had to, but now we've been busted by the cops. We've got almost no money and nobody to back us up," he complained. "We didn't know we was bustin' the law. We was just doin' what the old man told us to do. You know; 'Obey thy father' an' all that stuff."

"So, have the cops charged you with anything yet?"

"No, but that officer there was sayin' somethin' about attempted kidnappin' an' that's serious stuff."

"Oh Boy!" I said slightly louder. "I'm glad I'm not you."

I paused and looked thoughtful, then grinned at him. "Hey, I've got an idea. You said you guys were out of jobs and I know a bunch of folks that are looking for workers, somebody who can run farm equipment and do harvest work. You guys think you could do that?"

"Sure, we've all done that sorta stuff. Lately though we been workin' in the bush, cuttin' trees and haulin' logs."

"Well, hey! I'm building a log cabin. I might even hire one of you. You don't mind being split up do you, going to different farms and such? At least you could make enough money to get you home. If you'd willing to do that, I might be able to swing something."

"Hey man, you do that and we'll all be happy as a pig in sh... uh, in the mud. By the way, I'm Matt and these three are Mark, Luke and John, my brothers."

"Religious family, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess we are, why?"

"And you were working in the bush?"

"Yeah," Matt answered tentatively.

"That Mormon outfit, near Sundre by any chance?"

"Unh huh," he grunted and I could see he was expecting me to pull back my offer.

"Well, to each his own, but I wouldn't push it too much around here if I were you. There have been a few things going on lately that have made folks around here a bit touchy about dealin' with Mormons."

"But you're still goin' to help us out aren't you?" I could see by the pleading look in his eyes that he was feeling desperate.

'Sure, why not. Your religion is your business just like mine is my own. You don't push me and I won't shove back, it's almost like Jesus said about Caesar, only in this case it's about churches and religions, not taxes," I smiled. "If you can go along with that, I'll go see what I can do."

All four of them nodded, so I got up and knocked on the office door, then went inside to see Constable Davis and John Coulter.

"You had quite a chat out there," Constable Davis said as I closed the door to his office behind me.

"Yeah, I did. Those are some very scared kids you've got on your hands."

"Yes, and they're broke, out of jobs and don't dare call their parents. We've been trying to think of something we can do with them," The Constable sighed heavily. "If your cousin, Lucille, swears out a complaint, I have to arrest them and since it appears that they're indigent, they might get jail time. I don't really like that idea. They're just misled kids with an idiot for a father."

"Well, if I can talk Lucille into forgetting the complaint and can find each one of them a job, would you let me and my family take them into our custody for a while?" I grinned, but made sure my back was to the window to hide my expression. "The idea would be for three of them to help out my Dad, Uncle Tom and Bob Grant with the harvest on the three farms and the fourth one to work for me up at the ranch. That would separate them from each other for a while until they settle down a bit."

"Do you think you can swing that with your family?" Constable Davis asked me in surprise.

"Unh huh. But I'd need to call Dad."

"There's the phone," he pointed at it, shaking his head and looking at me as if I was nuts.

When I called home, I happened to catch Dad inside and he laughed at my story at first, then got serious and decided it was a darn good idea. In the long run, Luke, who was the same age as Tom, went to work for Uncle Tom, while Mark went to work for Bob Grant. John, who was the youngest, went to work for Dad and Matt, who was the oldest brother, spent one night at Dad's, then came to work for me.

Now considering the fuss that had been created when Lucille had the four brothers arrested for attempted kidnapping, I warned them that I wouldn't be taking them to the hospital to meet their sister right away. However I went back to town that night to talk to everyone that was involved at the hospital. Lucille thought my idea was brilliant and went along with it, agreeing to forget the idea of filing a formal complaint. Carissa just shook her head and laughed, calling me 'Svengali' and patting my hand in praise. The surprise to me was the way Jackie and Grampa Bender reacted. For some reason both of them broke into tears. Okay, Grampa Bender only looked a little teary eyed, but Jackie wept openly, while Sandy just rolled her eyes, then hugged me tight.

Matt arrived just in time, because Clarence and his crew arrived two days later, just as Charlie's crew finished pulling the last of forms and backfilling around the newly cured concrete basement. Now, I'd rented a forty-foot trailer and moved it down to the ranch because I'd need to move out of the cabin while the roof was lifted and the back wall was replaced. As a result Matt's first job for me was to help move into that darn old trailer and we lived in the trailer for three weeks, then later Matt and Mark stayed in it and later all four boys crammed themselves in there for a while.

The whole deal with the four McAdam brothers worked out very well, at least if you made allowance for the fact that they had no farming experience at all when they arrived in Mountview. Dad, Uncle Tom and Bob Grant told me afterward that they were willing workers and very good equipment operators, but were almost useless around animals. Of course since they'd been raised in the city and had no experience with farm animals, that shouldn't have been a surprise. They hadn't even had a dog when they were living at home and once they were sixteen they'd been sent off to work in the bush, so the disparity in their education was natural. All of them were willing to learn though, which rated high in my books. Actually Matt was a great help for me, not only on the ranch, but even more on the cabin. He was willing to learn anything I could teach him about caring for animals and he knew as much about handling logs as the two guys who were on Clarence Walker's crew. In fact, after the harvest down on the lower farm when the other three boys came to work for me as well, they impressed me just as much. They must have impressed Clarence too, because he hired Mark and Luke to work for him right away, but Matt and John turned down his offer to move on with him once the basic cabin was built. Those two seemed to prefer the idea of working for me, doing some work on the ranch as well as working on the finish work on the cabin.

Once the log construction was finished, the roof was on and all the windows and doors installed, Mark and Luke left with Clarence's crew. Matt and John offered to stay to help me with the interior of the addition, then later, they offered to stay even longer to look after the ranch during the winter. By then, we'd moved back into the cabin because that trailer had become too darn cold to even sleep in. In fact, we'd taken the trailer back to the place where I'd rented it. I agreed to them staying because I knew they had other reasons for wanting to stick around. By that time, Matt had started to date someone locally, but was being secretive about who it was, while John had a crush on my cousin, Jasmine. It was a weekend in the middle of October before I found out who Matt was dating. Even then I only found out because of a storm that hit while a lot of my friends were out at the cabin helping work on various inside jobs.

Matt and I were working on finishing the painting of the last of the three bedrooms on the upper floor in the new addition when I noticed the first snow flakes. John, Sandy, Lucille, Jasmine and the two McAdam twins were cleaning up all the construction crud on the main floor, so I called down to them to look out the window.

"Eew, snow!" Jess squealed in delight.

Before I could say much, most of my helpers had put on clothes to go outside. The only ones who remained behind were Sandy and Matt.

"Shit, I hope this isn't an early blizzard," I growled. "With seventeen miles of back roads to travel, it would be too late for anyone to take off now if this is a blizzard and if it comes in fast."

"You mean we could be snowed in?" Sandy asked.

"Yeah, it could happen. Last year we got snowbound for a week up at the log camp west of Sundre," Matt answered her. "It started about like this and this place is almost as deep in the foothills."

"Actually we're higher in elevation here and closer to the mountains too," I sighed. "At least we've got lots of food and plenty of room. You and I had best go out and look after the stock though, just in case things do get bad."

"But can't you find out how bad it will get? Can't we call someone?" Sandy asked.

"Well, the weather forecast said that we might have snow and a bit of wind, but they never know for sure," I sighed. "I suppose I could phone Jason Dumfries, he's almost ten miles closer to the mountains than we are."

"Could you please call him? The girls need to go to school tomorrow, and Lucille needs to be at work at midnight," Sandy asked me quietly. "If it's not safe to leave, we'd better warn some people that we're stuck here, but that we'll be okay."

So I called Jason, but the news wasn't good. He was already having white-out conditions with a visibility of about thirty to forty feet, and he was only ten miles away. By the time Matt and I got our clothes on and got outside, the others were coming back in. The temperature had risen slightly, but the wind had risen with it and the snow was coming down heavily. By the time we'd given the animals extra feed and bedding, then were ready to head back to the cabin, there was more than an inch of snow on the ground and it was already starting to drift. We weren't having white-out conditions, but it was close. On the way back to the house, I grabbed the roll of light rope Grampa Bender kept in the barn, then Matt and I strung a guideline from the barn to the pig pen and from there to the porch of the cabin.

"Does it get like this up here very often?" Matt asked as we finished tying that guide line to one of the posts on the porch at shoulder height.

"See that line we just strung? Grampa Bender used to do that every year, just in case. The guy who first homesteaded up where Jason Dumfries lives now died in a blizzard. He'd gone out to the barn to look after his stock and got lost on the way back. They found his body only fifty feet from his house," I answered flatly.

"Oh shit. I don't think we should tell any of the girls that story," Matt said soberly as we headed for the door to the cabin.

"Maybe not, but I'll be honest, I'd rather they knew and took care, rather than have someone die because they were careless," I growled.

"Well, I'm glad you're the boss," he said just as we stepped inside.

"Why are you glad he's the boss?" Lucille demanded as we stripped off our coats.

"Because we both think we're in for a bad storm and we may have to be dang cautious or someone could get hurt or killed," I said calmly. "Let's get everybody in here, so I can lay down a few rules."

"Are you serious?" Sandy asked.

She'd been on the phone, but had covered the mouthpiece to speak to me.

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm talking to your Mom and she just said that Carissa and Jackie are on their way up here. Carissa is driving her new Jeep."

"Shit," I swore. "Ask her how long ago they left?"

She asked, then after a brief pause she looked at me questioningly. "She said they left only fifteen minutes ago, but she said they were going to stop at Tom's place first. Then ... I think she hung up on me, either that or the phone died."

"Is there a dial tone?"I asked.

When she shook her head, I ran across the room and fired up the CB radio.

As it warmed up, I heard Dad's voice. "Mile High Ranch. This is Crawford Farm, Mile High Ranch. This is Crawford Farm, come in please. Over."

"Hi Dad, it's Chris. What's up? I think the phone is out. Over."

"Yes, we know your phone is out, that's why I called, but our phone is still okay. I wanted to let you know that the Carissa and Jackie are okay. They stopped at Tom's place, but we wondered if you folks are going to be alright? Over."

"Yeah, I think so, Dad. We've got lots of food. We still have electricity, at least for now, and we do have the generator for backup. The new furnace is keeping us warm and we have the wood stoves for backup. Thanks to Mom and Aunt Alice going nuts about buying mattresses and bedding, we'll all have somewhere to sleep. I guess the girls are going to have to get used to wearing guys' clothes, or else doing a lot of washing, but we've got lots of room and we're all safe. Matt and I were just out to the barn and the animals are all snug and warm with everything under shelter. On the way back we strung the blizzard line, just in case this thing lasts a while. Over."

"Well, the storm just hit here a few minutes ago. I won't keep you on here for long, but how would it be if we set up to be on air at nine and nine? We can use those for contact times. At least until we see you again. Over."

"Sounds good to me, Dad. One of us will call you at nine tonight. Over."

"Ten four. Over and out." And I could hear the snap as his receiver shut off.

I spun around and got to my feet, then saw that everyone was looking at me. I took a deep breath and thought for a minute, then did my best to smile.

"Well, it looks like we're going to get to know each other a little better. If the wind here in the valley is an example, then we could be stuck here for a while because it always blows a lot harder up on the plateau, so drifts are usually a lot deeper up there. We're going to have to have a few rules though. The first one is that no one goes outside alone. If possible Matt, and I will be the ones who will go out, because we've got the gear for it and we're the ones who know our way around the farm the best. I'm not just trying to be bossy about this either. I've got a damn good reason."

I paused then and took a deep breath. "About the time I was born a fellow who lived not more than ten miles from here went out to look after his stock in a blizzard that was something like this. His barn was about two hundred feet from his house, but he never made it back. Instead, he froze to death less than fifty feet from his front door. If you look out the front window toward the barn, you'll see a rope strung there; that's so Matt and I can follow it when we need to look after the animals. You see, I don't want to be a statistic and I don't want any of us to die in this blizzard."

I saw Lucille looking at me and frowning. "Yes Lucille, did you want to say something?"

"Yeah, I didn't get through to the hospital to let them know that I won't be able to make it in tonight before the phone died. They need as much warning as I can give them."

"Okay, do you know how to run the CB?" I gestured toward it.

"Not really, but perhaps we should all learn."

"You got that right. Sandy, you know proper procedure, so would you please show the others how it's done? You can use the CB and try to get through to Frank Dolens, then he can let the hospital know Lucille is stuck here. I think the list you and Carissa made up for CB call signs is in that binder sitting by the rig. You can find Frank's call sign in that, but if you can't get through to him, call my folks and have them pass on the message" I smiled at her, then sighed softly. "This house is quite dependent on electrical power now and I'd rather be safe than sorry, so Matt and I have another job to do at the moment. I want a rope leading to the generator shed, just in case hydro goes out and we need to start it."

Matt and I went out the new side door of the house that time. I'd bought a hundred-foot long hank of three eighths inch nylon rope just to have around the house for emergencies and I thought this was a perfect way to use some of it. Since the generator was set up next to the pole that had the yardlight mounted on it, I turned the light on, but in the blowing snow I couldn't see it. So to be safe I had Matt stand on the back porch, feeding the rope to me, then I stepped off the stoop and headed in the direction of the yard light and generator shed. I knew approximately where I had to head in relation to the house, but even then I'd have missed it if the yardlight hadn't been on. Since the wind didn't blow steadily in one direction I'd veered slightly, and would have walked right past it except that I happened to see the glow of the yardlight through the swirling snowflakes.

Even though I'd known how easily that could happen, it really bothered me. Since I'd asked Matt to keep the line taut, I was able to tie it off, then run one hand along it as I went back to the house. Not only was the snow coming down harder now, but the daylight was failing as well. When I got back to Matt, he quickly tied off the rope, then we went inside.

Once we were inside, Matt looked at me and frowned. "Is something wrong, Chris? You look worried."

"No, nothing's really wrong, but I just got the shit scared out of me," I answered. "If we hadn't turned that light on before I went out and if I hadn't been able to follow that rope back, I might not have made it. On the way out I got turned somehow and was headed off in the wrong direction, so if it hadn't been for the glow of the yardlight, I'd have missed the generator shed. Then coming back I couldn't even see the lights in the house until I got quite close."

"Oh," he looked surprised, then smiled and clapped me on the back. "That's okay. We did it right. You're still here."

For the next three days it snowed and the wind blew that snow around, so we had blizzard conditions for seventy-two hours. Over supper that first night, I talked to everyone, explaining that the one thing we needed to do was to keep busy. Then I smiled and told them that we'd manage somehow, but that either work or play could get boring, so we had to work out a decent mix of activities to keep everyone happy.

That first night we had to set things up for the next while. The first thing we needed to set up was beds, because the only beds that were set up in the house were Grampa Bender's old bed, and the new one in the new master bedroom. Since we'd gotten rid of the trailer, Matt and John had been sleeping on the old double bed in Grampa Bender's old bedroom. As soon as the new master bedroom was finished, I'd been sleeping on the king-sized bed that Mom and Aunt Alice had set up in there, but they'd bought springs, mattresses and bedding for the other two bedrooms as well. So once we set them up we'd have one more double bed and two single beds, as well as the old roll-away cot. Before we set them up though, we had to decide who slept where and that's when things got interesting.

Amongst other things, I learned who Matt had been dating. He made it plain that he and Lucille would be sleeping in Grampa Bender's bed and John would have to find somewhere else to sleep. I didn't think it was my place to comment on that, but Lucille shrugged her shoulders, so I assumed she was okay with Matt's surprising announcement. Meanwhile Sandy looked at me and raised an eyebrow, and I assumed she was asking me if I was interested in her company at night. When I winked, she walked to my side and grabbed my hand.

That left our four younger folks, but when John looked over at Jasmine, she quickly shook her head and Matt barked: "No!"

Jess and Jean started to grin, but I just frowned at them and shook my head so they didn't say anything more about it. Instead, Jess suggested that they take the other double bed, leaving a single bed for Jasmine and the other one for John.

So in short order we set up the double bed and one single bed in the second of the upstairs bedrooms. Since the third bedroom still smelled of fresh paint, we cleared the worst of the junk and building materials out of the main floor room that was supposed to become my office and set up John's bed in there. The one bonus from that was the fact that John would be sleeping on the main floor and the girls would be sleeping upstairs.

By that time it was nine and I called Dad on the CB, checking in with him. Then Matt and I donned our cold weather gear and went out to check the animals once more before calling it a day. When we came back inside, we were astonished to find that Sandy and Lucille had fired everyone up to clean the worst junk out of the new living room area. The room was far from finished, but it did have a fireplace that worked and they'd started a fire in it, burning the scraps from our construction work. By the time Matt and I got back inside, they had Grampa Bender's old chairs set up on an old rug and had spread some cushions on the floor as well. Best of all they'd made hot chocolate and popcorn, so instead of feeling that we were trapped, it felt almost as if we were having a party.

All of us were affected by the storm though. The party atmosphere faded away almost as fast as the scraps of lumber burned in the fireplace. It wasn't long before Sandy asked me if the girls could borrow some of my long sleeved shirts to wear as nighties. Not much later, we were all in bed.

However, it's a good thing that I'd bought a king sized bed. Half an hour after Sandy and I climbed into bed, we were joined by her two sisters who needed a cuddle and only minutes later, Jasmine appeared as well. There was no sex involved. They just needed reassurance. I'm not sure how long any of them stayed with us because I fell asleep, but the next morning Sandy and I awoke alone.

The next day didn't seem to go badly at all. We got a lot of work done inside the house and we played a few games of cards, so we all got along well. Things were a little boring at times, but we didn't have any arguments or anything. Once again, Sandy and I only had a few moments to ourselves before we were inundated by young female bodies, but that night they left sooner. Sandy and I talked about it, wondering what was going on, but we decided it wasn't something to worry about and we went to sleep spooned tightly.

The second day things didn't seem to go quite as well. Somehow everyone seemed a bit tense and I noticed one or two of the habits of the others that I found a bit annoying. I think some of the others were having the same sort of problem, but perhaps because we were all so young we noticed things more, or else we had less control of our emotions. That night we all went to bed early, but Sandy and I hardly had time to get into bed before the three girls joined us. Jasmine was quite upset because although no one else had noticed it, she said John had been bothering her.

It took a while to calm her down and I decided I had to go talk to John. Luckily it was still fairly early and he wasn't asleep. I really didn't know what to say, but I kept my cool and just asked him to give her some space, explaining that she was feeling slightly weird because of his attention. He seemed to take what I said well, then admitted that he really didn't have much experience with girls and I felt that he didn't know enough to realize when he was pushing a bit hard. We chatted for a while and he promised to back off and give Jasmine space, so I went back to bed. The girls were still there, so I told them that I'd talked to John, but that if he started to bother any of them to speak up. They all slipped away shortly after that. It must have been an hour later before Sandy and I finished discussing the problem and she fell asleep. I didn't stay awake much longer though.

The third day, everyone was a bit touchy. I didn't really know how to handle the situation between John and Jasmine, but decided to simply keep an eye on things, then I'd step in if any action was needed. I think that was affecting the six of us who knew about the problem though. All of us seemed tense. To make matters worse, the hydro went out about noon and we had to power up the generator.

That night Sandy and the three girls all slept in my bed for the whole night. Before we fell asleep, Sandy decided that she and the twins needed to talk to John the next day. She felt responsible for him because he was her cousin and nothing I could say about his sheltered upbringing seemed to mean much to her. Of course I wasn't around John or Jasmine all that much, so she might have noticed things that I didn't see, so she may have had a reason for feeling as strongly as she did.

Luckily for us the storm eased off during the night because everyone needed a break. I have to say that for eight young folks from several different backgrounds, all stuck in one house, we did pretty darn well.

Unfortunately, when the blizzard stopped and we could go outside, we found that we were snowbound. Even near the cabin and on the first stretch of road down to the bridge there were two and three-foot deep drifts. I didn't even want to think about how deep the snow would be packed on some stretches of the road, especially the section that ran up the gully and climbed out of the valley.

At the moment though, I didn't say anything about that. Instead I let them all play in the snow like kids will, hoping that they'd disperse some of the tensions that had been building up between them.

Then I grinned, realizing that I'd had to act like a grownup and I'd had no problem assuming the responsiblity for everyone's safety. That still felt strange to me, especially since both Matt and Lucille were several years older than me, yet they had deferred to my authority. I think that's when I actually started to admit to myself that I could do this job and could become a real rancher. Maybe Grampa Bender's faith in me wasn't misplaced after all.

### Chapter 43