# Car 54

####
© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 21:
Steep Grade - Check Brakes

Once Carissa and I were in the car, Carissa sighed deeply.

"It's strange, but I feel better that Mom knows about what happened that night," she said softly.

"Yeah, but the way you told her, you didn't say you'd seen anything, you made it sound like it was just a wild dream of mine."

"Better that than telling her that I knew it happened," she snorted. "By the way, I don't blame either you or Corinna for that."

"You don't?" I glanced over at her in disbelief.

"No, I don't," she gave a short bark of laughter. "If I'd protested or if you guys had snuck away to have sex behind my back, I might have had a reason to be pissed off, but that's not what happened. That night you two both looked at me before you did anything as if you were asking my permission and I don't know why, but right then I thought it was a good idea."

"You've got to be kidding," I pulled over and parked on the side of the street, not daring to drive at the moment in case she shocked me any more.

"I know; it's a weird reaction," she sighed, then grabbed my hand. "First off, Corinna and I are twins, okay? We've shared so much and in some ways we're so alike, but at the same time, Corinna always seems to get the shitty end of the stick. Because of that, I always give in an extra little bit to ... well, I guess to make allowance for what always seems to happen to her. On top of that, I knew you'd make her happy for a while, besides it would mean you would always know in your own mind that you'd had sex with both of us. In a way, I guess I felt I owed you that much for being such a wonderful guy to both of us.

She paused and then sighed even more deeply. "I guess I wanted to give you a chance to compare us as lovers too."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I held up one hand as if holding off that idea. "That's not how I see things at all. I'm nice to you because I like you. I like Corinna too, but nowhere near as much, because she has that weird streak that actually frightens me a bit. I'm not being nice to earn any sort of privileges or rewards, and I'm certainly not trying to compare the two of you in any way."

"I know that, but that night I was pretty drunk, remember," she laughed softly then her gaze sobered and she frowned. "If I'd known she'd quit using the pill, I like to think that I might have reacted differently. I certainly don't want you to have to be the daddy to her kid. That's another reason I tried to cover your ass with Mom and told her you couldn't get it up."

"But what if it is mine and not Wil's?"

"Tough," she snapped. "In a way, Wil and Corinna deserve each other, at least I think they do. Both of them dive into things without thinking and both of them blame any problem they happen to encounter on others. Surely you see that?"

"Yeah, I guess, but they're so much alike that they'd be bound to squabble and fight if they were married or even just living together."

"At first, yes, but I think being together would force both of them to grow up."

"Maybe, but I'd feel damn stupid about having my brother raise a kid that might be mine," I managed to say quietly.

"Well heck, he is your brother, how would you ever tell if the baby wasn't his?"

"You forget, he's only my half brother. His mom and mine aren't the same."

"That doesn't matter, I don't think there's any way they could tell," she shrugged her shoulders."I think they're working on that though, so I guess I could be wrong. Someday maybe they'll be able to test for something like that I guess."

"How would they do that?"

"Didn't you take biology? Everyone has chromosomes and the mother and father each pass on half of their chromosomes to their kid. I think there are labs working on that all over the world, but I guess it's pretty complex."

"Well, whatever you say, I really don't understand that too much. All I remember is that they said everyone has differences in their chromosomes, even twins."

"Well, I'll be honest, I don't believe she's pregnant, so I'm positive we aren't going to have to worry about it."

Carissa chopped each of her words off short. I'd been around her long enough to know that meant she was done with the discussion. With that in mind, I started to put the car in gear again.

"Say, why did you pull over?" she asked then.

"Well, I didn't want to be driving if you said something that surprised me," I chuckled. "After all I really didn't know what you were going to say on the subject because I didn't know how upset you were about it."

"Hmm, I can see we're going to have to talk about this over a coffee when we're completely alone and out of the car, maybe tonight."

I just glanced at her and kept my mouth shut. At that moment I was thinking that she might be having a change of heart and I really didn't want to talk about it at all if she was going to get angry. She didn't say anything more though and it was only a few minutes before we pulled up in front of the cafe again. Even as we got out of the car I could tell that Dad and Uncle Tom had gotten done all they wanted to do and had no major problems. You could hear their voices all the way out in the street and could instantly tell that the two of them were in a good mood.

Once we stepped inside everyone grew quiet, then Mom asked how Corinna was doing. I left it up to Carissa to explain what was going on.

"Oh, the silly fool thinks she's pregnant," Carissa blurted out.

Suddenly there was dead silence and Wil turned bright red.

"Jeez, Carissa!" I snapped. "Couldn't you be a little more diplomatic?"

"How can you be diplomatic about that?" she wheeled on me. "Heck, even if she is up the stump, it's way too soon to tell. The doctor as good as told her that flat out, but she doesn't want to believe him. Corinna is just being a damn drama queen again. She knows if she does that, she gets attention."

"I wasn't worried about Corinna right now; I was thinking about Wil," I frowned.

Carissa's face fell and she turned pale.

"Oh God. I'm so sorry, Wil," she said much more quietly. "I'm positive that she's not pregnant though. For a minute I forgot that this affected all of you as much as it does Chris and me and my family. It's just that we've been covering her butt for years with all the weird things she does and ..."

With that she spun in my arms and hugged me tight, crying on my shoulder. Mom was on her feet and at her side almost instantly with Aunt Alice not far behind. Somehow they eased her hands from around my neck and moved away to another empty booth at the far end of the cafe.

That left me standing and looking at all the guys in my family. I walked over to Wil and sat down at his side.

"Sorry, guy. I think I agree with Carissa and her mom, I think the doctor is right that it's too soon to tell anything. On top of that, I agree with Carissa on the other thing too, from what I've seen of Corinna she does overreact to things. I really wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't unconsciously creating enough internal stress to be screwing up her own body, just from anger and jealousy," I snorted softly. "It got so bad last week that we had to bring her into town before she drove Carissa and me up the wall. In a way that might have been a bad thing because it left her sitting at home, stewing on her problems and getting worse. But I don't know what else we could have done."

"Chris, you can't always solve everyone's problems," Dad said quietly

"Yeah, but I like to do my best not to make anyone's problems any worse than they already are," I sighed.

Thankfully, Uncle Tom changed the subject at that point and started talking about the Hydro and telephone line project up at the ranch. He and Dad explained that two lines of poles were going to have to be run in and that the cut through the bush was going to have to be at least twenty feet wider and preferably even more than that. On top of that Hydro had mentioned a service road of sorts and that bothered me.

"Wait a minute, do you mean we're going to end up with a road coming in from that end of the ranch?" I asked.

"Well, not a road as much as an access route, probably something that only a four-wheel drive vehicle could manoeuver over. Even then we can put in a gate at the property line and slap up some no trespassing signs," Dad said thoughtfully. "We don't have to clear the way for a road down the cliff or build a crossing over the creek either."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of any kind of access road at that end of the property," I sighed. "But, I suppose you have to take the bad with the good."

"I agree, but at the same time, a person can take a few precautions," Dad grinned at me. "Now, Tom and I were talking about this project and we were looking at the map of Hydro's planned approach of Jason Dumfries' supply lines. Did you realize that Hydro is going to swing the line down within a quarter mile of the present road into the valley?"

"Why would they do that?" I frowned. "Jason Dumfries' road doesn't come anywhere near Grampa Bender's."

"No, but Jason has a switchback road down Double Canyon. I guess running a hydro line up and down those cliffs would be a real problem, mostly because they'd have an awful job setting poles in the rock of the cliffs at that step angle and they need to have that service road along the line. They detoured onto crown land so they could miss the canyons completely," he explained.

"So what does that mean?"

"Well, instead of coming in on the top end of the ranch, what would you think of having the line come in near the existing road and across the Grampa Bender's upper lease? It would mean about another half mile of feeder line, but it would be a lot less work for us. We'd probably have to clear the alternate route with Hydro and they'd have to approach the provincial government about running across more crown land, but it would certainly simplify things for you. Most of that upper bluff in that area is only covered in sage and scrub brush. One or two passes using a cat with a dozer blade on it would clear a useable track," Dad smiled. "You could borrow our cat if you want and young Tom can haul it up on something like Frank Dolens' flat deck. I think he'd rent it to us if you asked him."

"Well it sure sounds simpler to me," I shrugged. "Do you think Hydro would mind the change in plans?"

"Actually I noticed a lightly penciled line drawn on the plan when I was looking at Hydro's map of the area. It follows that route almost exactly," Uncle Tom grinned. "I think they've already done an aerial survey, so I expect that when the surveyor comes out on Wednesday, he's going to suggest that route to you. I'd recommend that you let him argue you into going along with the idea."

"Well, that's fine with me, but we haven't even talked to Grampa Bender about any of this."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Your Mom and I plan on dropping around to see him this afternoon, so I'll handle that end of things," Dad waved off my concerns. "Right now I think it's time we had something to eat, don't you?"

It seemed everyone agreed with him, even Mom, Aunt Alice and Carissa. Fifteen minutes later, we were eating. Right after we were done, Carissa and I jumped into the car to go back to the ranch.

As far as I was concerned simply too much had happened in too short a time span and I was still trying to wrap my thoughts around it all. I think Carissa must have been as deep in thought about everything as I was. In fact we hardly spoke during the drive back to the cabin.

It rained all the rest of Monday and most of Tuesday as well. Most of Monday, Carissa and I were very quiet, doing a lot of thinking, but Tuesday we spent most of our time talking, cuddling or quite often, quietly making love. In some ways it was idyllic, but we really didn't accomplish much.

Mom called us on the CB late Monday evening to let us know that Grampa Bender had not only recognized them when they'd dropped by, but he had even been able to sign some papers that Dad had with him about the Hydro and phone installation. He'd also insisted that I was to be paid a small salary from the maintenance budget for the ranch for the work I was doing. On top of that he'd insisted that he wanted to see his lawyer, somehow that surprised everyone. He literally refused to say what he wanted to talk to the lawyer about, but everyone guessed that it was his will. Dad called and made the arrangements for him, but I think it frustrated Dad when the lawyer wouldn't tell him anything either. In a way I knew how he felt, but at the same time it tickled me that Grampa Bender was still so darn independent and such a tease. I was actually chuckling about it when Mom and I finished our talk on the CB and signed off.

Over those two rainy days, since I wasn't doing any hard work, I'd found that I could spend most of my time with the plastic cast removed from my hand, but I was very careful not to try to do much with it. Carissa loved that. She said making love to a guy in casts was getting to be very old, so those two days made her quite happy. I resolved that I'd try not to wear the cast in bed, but after one sharp bump while we were asleep, I modified that resolution. Instead I told her that I'd take the cast off while we were making love, then I'd put it back while we slept. She just grinned and suddenly I was inundated by a loving woman.

I think that two-day break was just what the doctor ordered. if anything, Carissa and I were even closer than ever by Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning dawned with blue skies and bright sunshine. Since it was such a nice day and since there was quite a bit of washing that needed to be done, Carissa informed me that she wasn't going to be helping me in any way that day. I offered to help her, but she turned me down, reminding me that I was going to be involved with the surveyor from Hydro instead.

In fact the surveyor showed up not long after we'd done our chores and had breakfast. He came wheeling across the bridge in a bright yellow Jeep. Parking his Jeep beside the one already in the yard, he hopped out with a grin on his face and his hand extended. His name was Mark Jackson and he impressed me instantly by being friendly and up front with me. It didn't hurt either that his first comment about the place was how great it looked. Another thing about Mark that impressed me was his work ethic. He wanted to get things done quickly, but at the same time he wanted them done well. Not ten minutes later we were inside the cabin, holding mugs of coffee in our hands as we looked over a mess of maps and plans spread out on the kitchen table.

It turned out Uncle Tom had been right. Mark, the surveyor, was a slightly pushy individual and he never even gave me a chance to propound the idea of coming in with the service line from the top end of the ranch. Instead he chose two maps and proceeded to prove to me that it would be to both Hydro's and our advantage to have the service line come in across crown land near our road way. We were going to end up paying for more wire, but fewer poles, so in the long run it would actually work out cheaper. It seemed that the cost of running wire was a lot cheaper than the cost of installing poles.

The winning argument for me was the fact that they would be improving the present access road to the ranch as well because they'd need all weather access for maintenance. They even insisted on bridges and culverts across the streams and gullies that we'd always forded. Not only that, but Hydro was going to be responsible for clearing the right of way across crown land. Then I was astounded by the fact that he hauled out an agreement and told me that before they left town on Monday, Dad and Uncle Tom had dropped by the Hydro office again and let them know that I had authority to sign an agreement on routing.

Once I'd looked over that agreement, the surveyor and I climbed into his Jeep and began to actually survey the route. I showed him the approximate position of the central pole in the yard and we went from there. Mostly what we did was to set up a theoretical line toward a point that he'd already picked along the edge of the break of the cliff face on the east side of the valley. That's when he told me that he and a helper had been out the day before and had worked out a survey across the crown land. When he said that, I knew he'd been certain that I was going to go along with his idea before he even met me.

Inside of an hour we had wandered around, looked over the whole area and even driven his Jeep to the base of the cliff. Then we'd driven back to the access road and up the grade so he could show me the stakes they'd put in across crown land the day before. When we were standing next to his last stake from the day before, we were right at the edge of Grampa Bender's property line. I grinned when he told me that they hadn't wanted to trespass, but wanted to have permission instead. I liked that attitude.

At that point he glanced at my casts and asked if I was up to hiking down one of the gully's that cut its way down the cliff to the level of the ranch. I just grinned and set off at my best pace, looking back and laughingly asking him if he was coming or not. In only a few minutes we'd decided that the gully was no good for either an access road or Hydro poles; it was simply too steep and too crooked for either one.

By noon we'd come to the conclusion that the aerial survey hadn't shown how steep and rugged that section of cliff really was. He'd almost decided that the best way to gain access to the valley was actually a choice of either having a pole at the top of the cliff and another all the way down at the bottom with a huge span between, or else roughly following a route along the present road down into the valley. I could tell he wasn't happy about either choice. Instead of making up his mind that day, he wanted to go back to town and get a helper as well as some more equipment. He dropped me off at the cabin and disappeared up the hill once more.

I didn't know what to do, so while Carissa and I had lunch, we had a talk. We decided that the thing to do was to hang her laundry out on the line, then to take the car and head down to talk to Dad and Uncle Tom about the new route of the feeder line.

It was fairly early in the afternoon when we pulled into the yard at home, but there didn't seem to be anyone around. No one answered our calls at the house or around the barn and I was almost ready to drive over to Uncle Tom's when I heard the sound of a hammer. We followed that sound and discovered Mom, Dad and Wil laying out stakes in the area where Dad wanted to build the new equipment shed. When Mom saw us, she came rushing over to hug us both.

As soon as I saw her face, I knew something was wrong. Then I realised that Dad looked very sober and Will looked almost as if he was on the verge of tears.

"What's the matter?" I asked Mom as she held Carissa in a tight hug.

Mom just shook her head and pointed toward Dad, then turned and guided Carissa away toward the house.

"Dad? What's going on?" I walked toward him.

He took a deep breath and looked at me with the saddest expression on his face that I can ever remember seeing.

"It seems that Corinna tried to commit suicide last night," he said very quietly. "She's in the hospital right now."

"But, why didn't you call us on the CB," I stared at him blankly. "Carissa should be there."

"Her parents didn't want us to tell Carissa, but I don't know why. In fact I can't comprehend what's going on with them at all," he said, shaking his head and now even he was crying. "I just don't understand. They don't want Wil there. They don't want you there. They don't want us there. They don't even want Carissa there. It just doesn't make sense to me because they're pushing us all away."

At that point I felt weak kneed and I don't know why, but I walked away. I suppose I was reasoning that if I moved around I wouldn't fall down. I was walking in a daze, lost to the world around me and not even thinking, just wander around by habit, trying to puzzle out what was going on. When I came to myself, I was leaning against the gate that lead out to the wheat field, gazing out at the quietly waving, wind blown wheat.

One question kept repeating itself in my brain; 'Just what the hell was going on?'

I was still leaning against the gate, gazing out at the long, slow waves travelling across wheat field when I heard someone approach from behind and cough quietly. I turned enough to look over my shoulder and saw Wil standing there, then simply cocked my head to signal him to come over.

"If you're planning on taking Carissa to town in order to see Corinna and her folks, I think I should come along," he said as he moved up and leaned on the gate beside me.

"Do you think that's wise?" I asked.

"Hell no, but I think it's probably better to do that than it would be to sit here and mope around, blaming myself and everyone else for things," he spoke quietly.

"Well, before I say either yes or no, I think we need to talk to Carissa," I said unemotionally, looking him in the eye. "First off, I want to know whether she wants to go in to town despite her family's wishes. Secondly, I think before you go, we should talk to the folks and see what they think."

"Actually, I ran the idea past Dad already," he sighed. "He suggested the same thing you did, so we need to talk to Mom and Carissa. Dad's gone for a walk because he's trying to think of a reason for either of the Coulters insisting that Carissa stay away."

"Did he ever think about the fact that Carissa is a twin and that they might be worried about what seeing Corinna in a screwed up state might be more than Carissa can handle? That's what worries me, because I'm certain that she's going to want to be there at Corinna's side, no matter what happens."

I'd managed to say the words without breaking down, but I was feeling darn close to tears. I knew that whatever happened, this screwed up suicide attempt was going to change Corinna in ways I couldn't imagine. At the same time, I knew it was going to affect Carissa as well. If I admitted the truth, I was even frightened that it would affect Carissa to the point where it would change the way she felt about me, at the moment that was the most scary worry that hung in my mind. It left me with the same feeling a hail cloud on the horizon gives a farmer; it was coming my way and there was absolutely nothing I could do to protect Carissa or myself.

"Oh. I don't think he thought of anything like that," Wil said, rattling me for a few seconds until I realised he was talking about Dad and his worries.

I shrugged it off, deciding that Dad was going to have to figure that one out himself. At the same time I decided it was time to go find out what I could do for Carissa. With that thought in mind I spun on my heels and headed for the house. My sudden decision must have taken Wil completely by surprise because he took a moment before he realised I wasn't still standing at his side and turned to follow me.

In the house, I found Carissa on the phone as Mom stood by her, acting as support. In fact Mom simply held up her hand as if telling me to stop when I came into the hallway. I paused, but Carissa had seen me and signalled me over to her side and held out an arm as if she wanted a hug.

"Look, Mom, Chris just came in. We can be there if fifteen or twenty minutes. Can you hold the plane for that long or not?" she demanded.

I'd moved to her side, but couldn't hear what her mother said. Instead I concentrated on holding Carissa and giving her what support a hug would give while she listened.

"Fine, if the plane leaves before we get there, take off, but we're leaving now. I'll either be there or I'll see you at the hospital in Edmonton later, but I'll be there, no matter what else happens."

With that she slammed the receiver of the phone down and pushed me toward the door. "Let's go! NOW! Corinna has to get to the University Hospital in Edmonton and they talked Charlie Engels into flying her there in his plane. They're taking her to his place in the ambulance while he gets his plane ready to fly. I want to go along with them."

It only took seconds before we were climbing back into the car. I've never driven on public roads the way I did during that trip. All the way Carissa was trying to talk, but constantly losing her thread of conversation and breaking down in tears. I did manage to get the gist of what she understood had happened, but some of it didn't make sense to me at the time. However I was filled in to a certain extent later at the airfield, although even then I was slightly confused about a few things.

According to what I understood. Mrs. Coulter had given Corinna some form of prescription medication as well as a sleeping pill on Monday when she'd gone upstairs, in hope that when Corinna awoke she'd be calm enough to talk. That had seemed to work, because that night they'd had a long talk which had seemed to leave Corinna quite calm and relaxed. In fact, she'd lain back in the bed and had fallen asleep. The next day she'd seemed much more rational and Mrs. Coulter had thought she was well enough that she could be left alone. She'd gone to bed and relaxed herself.

When Mrs. Coulter awoke in the morning, she'd gone to see if Corinna had slept well. Corinna's bed was empty. A quick search of the house soon had her worrying and she was just heading out the door to get into her car to look for Corinna when she heard sirens wailing. She'd followed the sirens, fearful of what she'd find. When she saw where they stopped, she simply pulled over and slammed the car into park, then abandoned it at the side of the road, and for some reason she had run the last hundred feet or so on foot.

The police and ambulance had pulled up at the entrance to the Jesus' Penitent's Evangelical Church which boasted the tallest bell tower of any church in the foothills of Alberta. The bell tower was built above a wide entrance over a tall covered porch and vestibule, but climbed much further into the air, towering high above the lower roof.

Approaching from the direction she was coming toward the church, Mrs. Coulter could see a jagged hole in the front portion of the lower roof, near the base of the bell tower. Fluttering from the edge of that hole was a rag, a distinctive coloured rag. It was a pale blue, the same colour as the nightgown Corinna had worn to bed the night before.

As soon as she noticed that rag she started to run to get closer, but an RCMP officer intercepted her and kept her back. In fact he escorted her to a squad car and had her sit in it, effectively blocking her view of the church front along with any activity which happened there. She never saw the stretcher carrying Corinna as it was removed from the church and transferred to the ambulance. In fact she didn't see Corinna at all right then, even though the RCMP officer drove her directly to the hospital in his car.

In actual fact she never saw Corinna until after the initial operation to save her life had been performed. By the time that had happened, not only Mr. Coulter, but Frank Dolens and his wife, Jennifer, were there to help her handle the situation. That was probably a good thing because the operation lasted for hours and all of them were on edge.

According to the doctor, Corinna had suffered amazingly few cuts and abrasions, but her left arm was broken, her left ankle was fractured, and so were several ribs on her left side. Those however were minor problems. The reason the surgery had taken so long was the fact that a portion of the wooden roof had splintered and been driven through her abdominal cavity. Removing that splinter and repairing the damage it had caused had taken several hours. It was too early to tell if there were any other minor internal injuries, but they suspected that there probably were some.

However, the doctor had found something else that he considered even more worrisome. There was a slightly depressed area as well as bruising on the left side of her skull and her left ear was definitely injured. Unfortunately the hospital wasn't capable of handling an operation involving brain surgery and the doctor felt an operation was essential in order to keep Corinna alive. He was certain that the depressed area was exerting pressure on the brain itself and if that pressure wasn't eased, she could die.

At the moment Corinna was stable, but comatose, in other words she was hanging in the balance. The doctor was reluctant to try anything further himself for fear he'd do more damage than good, but he suggested that she might be helped if she could be taken by an air ambulance to the University Hospital in Edmonton.

He'd hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when Frank Dolens swung into action. Inside of moments, Frank had called Charlie Engels who lived less than a mile out of town and had both a plane and an airstrip. Charlie was willing and able to fly to Edmonton within the hour, carrying Corinna on a stretcher, as well two attendants and their equipment. He even told Frank that he could take two passengers as well.

The flight was still in the preparation stages when Carissa had called the hospital and spoken to her mom. In fact Carissa and I had arrived at Charlie's place and driven to the edge of the airstrip before the ambulance arrived, followed by an RCMP car. Minutes later the plane was taxiing down the runway. I was left with an empty feeling in my gut as I watched the plane lift off and the feeling was being heightened because my body was burning off the adrenaline from driving at high speed on relatively rough country roads. I simply flopped back against the fender of my car and sighed. At that moment I was wondering once more, 'Just what the hell else can happen?'

In fact, Frank Dolens, John Coulter and I probably all felt about the same way about then, at least their faces looked as blankly worried, and as lost as I felt. I suppose it was the words of the RCMP officer standing there with us that snapped us all out of our doldrums.

"I've been adding up facts and doing some figures in my head," he said quietly. "And, I'm left with a puzzle that I can't seem to solve."

I just frowned at him, but Frank Dolens bit on the open-ended question.

"What puzzle?" Frank asked.

"Well, I was there when Mrs. Coulter was speaking to her daughter on the telephone. I understood her daughter to be calling from the Crawford farm at that time and according to my watch, she hung up the phone less than fifteen minutes ago. That farm is seventeen miles from where we're now standing. In between here and there, the road is not only gravel surfaced, with several long curves, but it also makes two right angle corners and crosses one intersection that legally requires a full stop," The officer lifted his arm and held his watch near his ear, then smiled crookedly as he looked me in the eye. "I think I'd best have my watch checked because if I have my figures worked out according to the time it registers, you would have had to travel exceptionally fast to achieve that feat. I'm quite certain that a law-abiding citizen like you would never do that, would you?"

I was going to say something, but didn't get a chance. John Coulter lifted his elbow and rested it on my shoulder as he stripped his watch off his wrist, then he shifted his arm to rest it lightly on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Here officer, you can use my watch for the day," he offered, holding out his Bulova. "I know you'll need one, and after what you've done for us, I'd be honoured if you'd let me take yours into the jewellers to have it cleaned and checked. No cost to you of course."

"Oh, I couldn't allow you to do that," The officer smiled and winked. "I think instead I may be less diligent than normal in mentioning time spans in my report. Now, who is riding back to town with me and who is riding back with young Mr. Crawford?"

I was surprised to find that both Mr. Coulter and Frank Dolens wanted to ride with me.

"Just how fast were you going, Chris?" Frank asked, once we were in the car and the cop couldn't hear anything.

"Unh, I didn't really look at the speedometer," I admitted. "Carissa was telling me what her mom had said and I tried to listen, but mostly, I was concentrating on the road. I didn't want to be involved in an accident to add to everyone's grief, so I was doing my best to be careful, but at the same time I was hurrying as fast as I could. I had an idea how long it was going to take for the ambulance get to Charlie Engel's place so I was just trying to make it in time. Luckily, I seem to have managed."

"Well, I'm glad you did, Chris," Mr. Coulter sighed. "Now, are you heading back to the ranch or what?"

"I think I have to," I sighed. "There isn't much else I can do right now. We've got hydro and the phone being surveyed in this week, along with other things that need to be done. I should really be there for that, so although I'd like to be as supportive as I can be for Carissa, I just can't be in two places at once. This is a real screw up as far as I'm concerned."

"It is for everyone," Frank spoke up from where he was riding in the back seat. "John has to go to Edmonton and I don't think he should drive. I don't suppose I could convince you to drive his car and act as his chauffer for the trip while he's needed there, could I?"

"Frank, I'll be fine," Mr. Coulter said firmly.

"You probably would, John, but you've been my friend for too damn long for me to let you risk your life on a long drive when you're this wound up and this worried. Chris happens to be one of the best drivers around and if I can hire him to see that you're safe, I damn well will."

Somehow Frank's comment about long term friendship struck a raw nerve for me.

"Excuse me, but before the two of you get into a major argument, I think my going anywhere is impossible at the moment," I said shortly, breaking into the discussion. "I know Carissa would like me to be there and I know you trust me to drive fairly well, Frank, but I simply have too much going on in my life right now to do anything like that. It may sound slightly selfish and inconsiderate on my part, especially considering how close I and Carissa have become, but I still feel that my commitments to my own family come first. Grampa Bender is in the hospital too, and he's not doing all that well either, so I really shouldn't be that far away if he takes a turn for the worse. I'm already committed to looking after the ranch while he's stuck in the hospital. I simply can't back out of that right now. Instead of trying to pressure me, why don't you ask your sons, Frank? I'll bet Jerry or Billy would be happy to do it."

I think my comments and my suggestion surprised both men. At least they both stopped bickering and became relatively quiet for the rest of the drive back to town. I didn't know where they wanted to go, but I guessed they had some kind of transportation at the hospital, so that was where I drove. When I stopped, Frank clapped my shoulder and said thanks as he got out, but Mr. Coulter sat there for a moment longer and looked at me quietly.

"Chris, I have to say that you keep on impressing me more each time I listen to your reasoning through problems and your general ethic about things," he sighed softly then. "I don't imagine I need to impress on your our wish to keep rumours about what happened with Corinna to a minimum. I don't mind you telling your family what you know, especially Wil. I have a feeling Corinna gave him a raw deal."

"Mr. Coulter, I can't very well talk much about this, because I don't really know much," I shrugged my shoulders. "Carissa wasn't certain about too many things herself, after all she was only talking to your wife on the phone for a few minutes. As for the thing between Wil and Corinna, I really don't know what happened and it's not my business to ask."

"Well, to start with, I'd like you to call me John, not Mr. Coulter, although I imagine you do that out of respect," His face twisted into a sad smile. "As for the rest, I'm not exactly sure that I even know everything that happened today, but I think you deserve to know as much as I do."

So for the next few minutes he filled me in on the happenings of the day as he understood them. I was surprised that so little of it differed from what Carissa had told me. The only real facts that were added to what I knew already was how the whole thing had come to be reported.

It seemed that one of the old timers from down the street had gone outside to work in his garden and had seen Corinna standing in the bell tower. He'd run inside to phone the police, thinking that it was someone bent on causing damage. He had been on the phone to them while watching out his window as Corinna jumped, so the police, volunteer firemen and ambulance were on the way almost before she hit the roof. The old guy had even phoned the hospital to warn them that a victim of a fall was on the way.

By the time he was finished telling me about it, Mr. Coulter was quite upset. At that point I agreed with Frank Dolens that he shouldn't drive himself to Edmonton, especially if he left that night. In fact when he got out of the car, I got out as well, then waved to Frank, calling him over to where we were.

In a way I was glad to know the additional information, but now I was worried about John Coulter's condition. He just didn't look good. However Frank Dolens took over and that made me feel better. He actually insisted that John talk to the doctor or a nurse and we escorted him inside.

Once we were in the hospital, I felt like a fifth wheel so I split away from them. I paused for a few moments to ask how Grampa Bender was and found that he'd had a decent day, but was now resting quietly. The nurse on duty didn't think I should disturb him, so I called home. After I'd explained a bit of what was going on, Mom suggested I should come eat with them before I went back to the ranch, that way we could talk things out in more detail.

After talking to her, I only stayed long enough to catch Frank and explain that I was leaving. Since John was talking to one of the doctors, I asked him to give John my sympathy and tell him that I would do my best to be there if I was badly needed. Frank nodded, and gave me thumbs up, then asked me to drop by and talk to him the next time I was in town.

The drive back to the farm felt about ten times as long as it had ever felt before. Carissa had only been gone for an hour or so, but I was already missing her company.

That evening as we sat down to eat there were only four of us there, Mom, Dad, Wil and I. Beth was spending a few days in town with the McAdam twins. I was able to apologise to Wil for running off with Carissa when we heard about the rush to fly Corinna out, but he just waved off my apology, saying that he understood my hurry. After that they wanted to know what had happened, so we discussed what had happened with Corinna.

I could see that it was hitting Wil fairly hard, so as soon as I could, I swung the conversation around to my discussions earlier in the day with the Hydro surveyor. When I mentioned that the surveyor seemed to be thinking about running the lines down our access road into the valley both Wil and Dad suddenly frowned.

"What's up with the frowns?" I asked immediately.

"Well, we were talking about something along those lines earlier today," Dad frowned. "Wil was saying that he didn't see the sense in them running the Hydro lines five miles up the public road, then across to Double canyon. Then after that coming back down about three miles along its edge, they just turn around to go back north again."

"Yeah," Wil carried on. "We've got an easement across crown land that angles across that same area and ends up less than a mile from where they'd end up. Why the blazes don't they come in that way?"

"Well, we weren't talking about running in power to the ranch before. At the time they planned that route, they were taking the shortest and easiest route they could arrange in order to supply power to Jason Dumfries' ranch," Dad chuckled. "On top of that, they'd have to come to an agreement with us and with the government about using our easement since it's tied to the lease."

"Well, should I suggest that to the surveyor if he comes around tomorrow?" I asked.

"Actually, I think that's a good idea, but I think I should go in and talk to the folks at the Hydro office as well," Dad sighed.

"Well, I doubt if I'll go along," Mom frowned slightly. "I think someone should stay in the house for the next few days since Carissa is in Edmonton. She's quite liable to call with messages for you, Chris."

"Yeah, I was actually hoping she'd call this evening and let me know that they made it okay," I sighed.

"Chris, it's awful soon. Once she gets there, she's going to be up to her ears in things for quite a while. I imagine if anyone calls anyone else, it will be Wilma phoning John. I imagine if there's anything special that Carissa wants passed on to you, he'll call here."

"Well actually, he's planning on driving to Edmonton to be there with them," I told her. "Frank Dolens even wanted me to drive him to Edmonton, then chauffer him around after we got there. I explained that I was already tied up at the ranch though. Oh by the way, when I was at the hospital they told me Grampa Bender had a good day, but that he was sleeping right then. They didn't think I should disturb him, and now that I think about it I'm wondering why."

"Did you ask, or did the person know?" Mom demanded.

"To be honest, I didn't ask. I didn't think of anything like that at the time. Let's face it, I was just back in town after putting Corinna, Carissa and their mom on the plane. I was a bit wound up with other things."

"That's completely understandable," Mom smiled, then glanced at her wristwatch. "However, I think I'll phone later and ask just how he's doing."

"I was planning on dropping around the hospital to see him tomorrow," Dad offered.

"That's fine, dear, but I want to know how he is tonight," Mom smiled at him with one of her men-are-so-slow smiles that I knew so well.

"Mom, could you call me on the CB about ten or so?" I asked her. "That will give me time to get back and do the chores before you call. I'd like to know what's going on myself, especially since I feel a bit guilty about not asking for more information when I was there."

"Certainly, Chris, and don't worry about what happened. You were under a lot of stress. Besides, if there had been anything wrong with Uncle Toby, I'm sure they would have told you. I may call a bit earlier if Carissa does phone here, but like I said, I doubt it"

"I guess that would be okay, but I may not be inside until ten," I said quickly, then pushed back from the table. "Which reminds me, I hate to eat and run, but I've got chores to do yet and Carissa left some laundry out on the line. I'd better get my butt in gear if I want to get everything done before it gets dark."

Dad walked me out to my car.

"I'll let you know what Hydro says," he said just as I was getting into the car. "If the surveyor shows up tomorrow, you might show him what you mean on a drawing or something. We may end up being able to save some money for both Jason Dumfries and ourselves. We'd certainly cut down on the distance Hydro would have to run lines."

"He was talking about improving the road too," I mentioned. "Something about culverts across the fords and things like that."

"I wouldn't turn that down either," Dad grinned.

"I didn't think so, Dad," I grinned back. "For now, I'd best get mobile. Let me know sometime tomorrow how that meeting goes."

"No problem, Chris. Have a good trip home."

It wasn't until I was out of the yard and on my way down the road toward the ranch that his words really sank in.

"Have a good trip home." Those five words gave me a strange feeling, because they meant that even Dad seemed to think of the ranch as my home now. In one way, that was eerie, because the ranch was Grampa Bender's, yet with those words it sank into my conscious mind that I definitely saw the place as my home as well. It wasn't as if Dad had been inferring that I was no longer welcome in the house where I'd been born and where I'd lived all my life either. Instead it meant that he'd accepted that I had moved away from home and on to a life of my own. The more chilling side of those words was the idea that he seemed to be admitting to me, and more importantly to himself, that Grampa Bender might never return to live in his cabin.

Yet, I was only sixteen. Did I have what it took to make it on my own, even with Dad and the rest of my family helping out? Was I man enough to turn Mile High Ranch into a money making business that would support me and any possible family I might have in the future?

That thought crossed my mind in many different ways on the trip along the dirt roads to the cabin that evening. It was still plaguing me as I crested the ridge to look down into the valley and once again saw the silvered logs of the cabin and the weathered wood of the old barn. I stopped the car and got out to have a good long look at the job I had tackled. I was leaning back against the grill of the car and I could see some of the work Carissa and I had done since we came. That's when I felt a smile slowly develop.

"Yeah," I said quietly to myself, knowing no one else could hear me and not caring. "I want to be able to call this place home for the rest of my life and I think I've got what it takes to do it damn well."

With that I slipped back into the car to drive the rest of the way home.

### Chapter 22