A Time in Heaven (2 page)

Jesse did a pretty good job at convincing himself to just let her be.  But he knew there was chemistry
between them
and that could be trouble
.

As the plane lifted off, Jesse asked Smith how long it would be until they reached the fishing camp.  Smith replied, “About two hours or so.”

Jesse tilted his seat back and rested his cowboy hat over his face saying, “Then
, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to take a little nap.
I didn’t get much
sleep
last night.”

Katie
was trying very hard not to stare at Jesse, so she looked out the plane’s window.  She
noticed that
Smith was flying the plane unusually low. 
They were barely clearing the tree tops.
“Are we going to fly any higher? 
I figured we’d be seeing more scenery
than
just
the tops of trees
.”

“There’s a lot of turbulence higher today, miss, so best we keep
‘
er
low
.”
  He knew that wasn’t true.  He
was keeping the plane low
and under the radar
because his
flight plan said
his
take of
f would be at noon not 5 a.m. – the time
it was now.
“
This
first time to Alaska?” he asked changing the subject.

“No.”
Katie replied.  “I’ve been here two other times, but on cruise ships.  This time, I wanted to actually see the real Alaska
, not just the tourist stops
.”  Katie looked out the window again, hoping to see
something beside
s
tree tops.  “
Do you fly to the Heaven Fishing camp a lot?  Is there much to see on the way?” she asked Smith.

“Usually three or four times a season.  This is my last trip.  Gonna retire soon.
” He didn’t like all this talking.
“
Just keep looking; you might see a bear or a moose along the way.”

“You can retire from being a bush pilot?  I wouldn’t think you could save enough to l
ive on.” Katie questioned Smith
.

“Most can’t, but I expect to be getting some good money soon, then I’m done.”

“But you’ll be flying us back in a couple of weeks? Right?” Katie asked.

Mike got a strange little grin on his face that Katie couldn’t see, and replied, “No miss I’m not coming back to get you.”

Since there wasn’t much to see, Katie leaned back for a little nap too.
She put her hand reassuringly on Sadie’s head. As she closed her eyes,
she
thought of
how she could make Jesse
Danvers
think she wasn’t a total twit.
Katie couldn’t believe the nonsense that had
already
shot from her mouth.

2.
THE
ARRIVAL
IN HEAVEN

“Better wake up miss, we’ll be landing soon
.” Smith turned and looked
irately
at Sadie.
“
I wouldn’t want that dog spooked.” Smith announced as Heaven Island appeared ahead.

Smith’s
loud
voi
ce woke everyone
.  Sadie jumped to her feet
with a loud bark, bu
t Katie put her hand on
the dog’s back to reassure her.
Sadie lay back down.

Jesse sat up
with a start
. After quickly looking around and getting his bearings,
he adjusted his hat as h
e stretched and yawned.  He looked back at Sadie
,
but she
was calm with her eyes closed
.

Katie said apologetically, “I’m sorry if she scared you. 
She is the gentlest thing in the world; you don’t have to worry about her.”

“Naw, she didn’t
scare me
. I had a lab once.  G
reat dogs.” Jesse said to Katie as their eyes briefly met.

His look and gentle voice made Katie relax. Or was it that he likes labs
,
too?  Whatever it was, she didn’t feel like a nervous little “teeny-bopper” any more.  This was someone she wanted to know better.  Th
e attraction was more than that of being
his fan. 
Their eyes met
again
.  They both looked away. 
Katie knew that she couldn’t act on her
feelings
.
After all,
Jesse Danvers is a famous musician; what would he want with her? She shook her head and accepted that
he i
s on this trip to get some
rest
and do some fishing
.  She had to respect that
. She decided to be pleasant but to keep her distance.

“Hold on to your seat
and
that dog
of yours
.
” Smith ordered
.
“
It’s gonna get bumpy.  The water has some waves on her today.”

The plane touched down and bounced a couple of times. 
The plane
had
landed on the bay side of the island.
Smith ta
xied the plane toward land
, where there was a dock visible.  He shut down the engines and drifted in
alongside
the dock.

When they had stopped, Smith
unbuckled his seat belt and
moved toward the door between Katie and Jesse.  Sadie wasn’t too happy and gave a low growl
to let the pilot know
her displeasure with him
.  Jesse looked down at the dog a little startl
ed.  Katie said in a whisper, “S
he’s never done that before. I don’t think she likes our
Mr.
Smith.”

“I’m not too sure of him either, girl” Jesse directed his comment toward Sadie.  With her tail wagging, she gave Jesse something as close to a smile that a dog can give.
Katie saw that Sadie and Jesse were bonding.  She smiled.

After Smith had secured the plane to the dock, he
put the steps down
for his passengers
.
Without saying a word, he
went about starting to unload their luggage.

Jesse got out
of the plane
first and offered a hand to
help
Katie, but
instead
she handed him Sadie’s leash.
Jesse looked a little confused, but took the leash.
Katie realized what she had just done and thought to herself,
“How dumb was that?”

With
Sadie
and Jesse off the plane,
Katie followed them to
help
get the luggage from
the plane.  But Smith had already gotten most
of their
things off and lying on the
dock.
  The two of them were to be at the camp for only two weeks, so they had brought minimal luggage.

“Get what you can this trip.  I’ll come back for the rest of your stuff after I show ya around the place
.
” Smith said picking up a couple of suitcases.  Jesse handed over Sadie
to her master,
and then gathered up his fishing gear and his guitar.  Katie had her hands full with Sadie
.  Being a lab her first inclination was to get into the water.
Katie
managed to keep the leash taut
while
getting her fish
ing gear and her backpack.  The
entourage headed
up the dock toward the tree-
lined path that would take them on an adventure they never dreamed of.

“
This is Heaven Fishing Camp as she is. The cabins are back that trail.”  Smith grunted as he pointed to a dirt trail going between a stand of tail, regal Sitka spruce.
The first of six cabins were visible from the dock.
“The lodge is past the cabins at the end of that trail”

It was a sh
ort walk to the first cabin.  The small log structure
w
as nothing fancy, just a very rustic
two room cabin
with a small porch
.  “Best part of these cabins is the indoor plumbing” Smith commented as
he unlocked and pushed open the door.  “
Mr.
Danvers, I guess this-un is yours.” He handed Jesse the cabin key.

Jesse
went into the simple
cabin and
put down his things on the bed.  “Let’s see what we have for you, miss.” 
Smith said as he started to walk away.
“Wanna follow us Mr. Danvers; we’ll do the tour now.
” He was speaking very fast and impatiently
.
“It’s
looking like rain, and I want to get back before the storm sets in.”  But that wasn’t why he was in
such
a hurry.

Smith shut the door behind Jesse and the group
started walking down the path. They passed
a cabin on the left,
and then
approached
the next one on the right. 
This cabin looked just like Jesse’s, but there was an old chair sitting outside
on the small porch
.

Smith pushed
past Katie to open the door. In doing
so
, he
bumped Sadie.  Again, she growled at the pilot. 
Katie followed him inside and
dropped her
things
down
in the middle of the floor.
As she looked around, she commented to Sadie,
“Not bad, huh, girl?  This will do fine for
the next
two weeks.”

“Let’s get moving, okay?” Smith said as he handed Katie her key.
“The lodge is a little farther down this path.”
Smith directed the group
.   He
quickly
took the lead
, leaving Jesse and Katie to follow. While
walking
to the lodge
, Jesse and Katie were side by side with Sadie between them. 
They both fought the
impulse
to look at the other. Not giving in, they walked behind Smith looking straight ahead
.

Strolling
quickly, Smith pointed to a path taking off to the right.  “The pond is right down there.  You’ll probably want to explore around there on your own. Lots of big trout in that pond
.
”   It was becoming
more than just a little bit
obvious that he wanted this tour to speed up.

As t
hey came
up
to the main lodge
, they could see that it was a
large
two-story
log building.  Nothing fancy, but it looked welcoming. There were huge pines all around it.

Smith
took them around
to the other side of the building
to the main entrance
. He
led
them
up a few steps onto the deck.  Here there was a set of
double
doors leading into the lodge’s lobby
.
The doors were already open.
Smith looked surprised, but then said, “The owner told me
to leave the lodge unlocked for you people.  I guess you’re the last guests for t
he season.” Smith led
the two campers
into the lodge.  He flipped the switch on the wall
and nothing happened, “Oh damn,
the electric is off again.
It tends to come and go
. It’ll probably come back on soon.
”
Smith had told another lie.

Jesse was looking around suspiciously.  He thought that is was very strange that there were no other staff members to be seen.  He wasn’t keen on the idea of being alone on this island when Smith left.  He tried to shake of
f
the idea.  He told himself that there had to be staff somewhere.

Once inside, t
he lobby
décor
looked like a much used fishing lodge. 
There was a musty smell that reminded Katie of her neighbor’s barn. Hanging on the walls
were trophies of monster fish, elk, caribou and grizzly bear.  Most of them looked like they had been there for a mighty long time. 
The wooden floor had well-
worn paths
leading
in many directions. 
One
,
they could see
,
led to the staircase at the other end of the large room.