Authors: Charles Hayes
Pansy (9 page)
They were on their way back from town, and neither man had spoken for the last few miles. They had been gone less than an hour, but it proved to be a much needed break. Randy was trying to get his mind off his situation. He couldn't solve a problem unless he had some room to think. To break the silence, he asked, “Is there a reason why sisters would name their kids Mandy and Randy?”
Ed kept his eyes on the road. With a heavy sigh, he began, “One year, before you were born, Amy’s family gave a big New Year’s Eve party. I was in the kitchen, and your mother was planting a big kiss on me just as Amy came around the corner into the room. Not long after that, your mom said she was pregnant, and then she and Amy had a big fight. They went several years without speaking to each other. Then, when Mandy was born, Amy called your mother to announce her new daughter. The name she chose sounded so much like yours, it broke the ice. From then on, those two were very close again . . . until your mom died.” Ed shook his head. “The things that make families strong are the same things that make them stupid. Most of us don’t learn very well from experience, and that includes me.”
“Why do you think that’s true?” Randy asked.
“Too much emotion, I guess.”
They pulled into the driveway just as the mobile slaughter caravan was pulling out. A young man stuck his head out the truck window and told them that the girl at the house had gone after two calves that got away and ran into the woods toward the mountain. Ed just nodded and gunned the truck, stopping at the house. Inside, Ed gathered a rifle and pistol, gave Randy a shotgun, and grabbed a partially filled backpack. Then, jumping on the four-wheelers, they took off.
Speeding wide-open throttle toward Kellogg Mountain, Randy sensed the excitement coming back. This time he was scared. He didn't believe in omens, but if he did, this would be one.
* * * * *
It was later in the day than she thought, late enough that it might be dark before they could get back to the house. If they could find the girls, that is. Mandy couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving Pansy and Nellie out here alone with so many bears in the area, especially the blond one. But she was beginning to wish she hadn’t brought Nadia along. Randy would likely be angry. Nadia in these woods this far from the house seemed like a flower in a field of weeds. They were walking up Kellogg Mountain, and the going was getting tough. Then, looking toward the crown a good five hundred yards away, she could see Nellie standing still in the middle of the path.
“There they are,” Mandy said, pointing. “Right up there just before the crest.”
“I see, but only one,” Nadia said.
“Yes, but if Nellie is there, Pansy can’t be far.”
Mandy started to run but then stopped. She wasn’t sure Nadia was dressed for it. This was not exactly a planned outing. She dropped back to a fast walk and was relieved that Nadia was keeping up. The farther they went, the steeper the incline, and the harder it was to walk. By the time they reached the spot where they had seen Nellie, they were breathless and no cows were in sight.
As loud as she could, Mandy began yelling, “Pansy, Pansy, Pansy.”
Nothing. No sounds. And then, bursting from the woods, Nellie headed straight toward them, running hard. When she got near, she gave them wide berth and ran into the woods on the other side of the path. Just as she disappeared, another commotion sprang from the woods where Nellie had been. It was the blond grizzly bear. As soon as he saw Mandy and Nadia, he roared back on his hind legs and stood erect. His ears flattened, and his teeth made an unnatural clicking sound like a machine.
Mandy and Nadia froze, speechless. In an instant, the bear dropped to all fours and bolted toward them. Stepping backward, Mandy raised the rifle and nearly fell down firing a shot. The bear stopped. He stood still for a moment, then wheeled about and headed back into the woods in the direction he’d come.
Watching the woods, transfixed, the girls heard someone calling their names. Randy and Ed were running up the mountain as fast as they could. Out of breath, Ed shouted, “What was that shot about, and what in God’s name are you two doing out here at this time of day?”
“Mandy shoot the bear,” said Nadia before Mandy could speak.
“Where is the bear?” Randy asked, looking in all directions. Both girls pointed to the woods.
Ed stepped closer. “Where was he when you fired?”
Nadia gestured toward a spot closer to the woods.
Ed walked forward, looking at the ground. Then he stopped, knelt down, and studied one patch of dirt for what seemed like a long time before speaking. “Well, you hit him. Do you know where?” he asked, looking at Mandy.
“No. I almost fell down when I fired the rifle.”
“Randy, take Mandy and Nadia back to the house,” said Ed. “I’m going to go find the bear.”
“Not a chance,” said Randy. “Nadia, you and Mandy go down the mountain. Our four-wheelers are parked near the first big ridge. You can go back on one of them, and we’ll follow in a while.”
“But it’s going to be dark soon. Can’t you go in the morning?” Mandy asked.
“No, we need to get him now,” said Ed. “He's been hit, and we need to find him before he hurts someone.”
“Go on now. We’ll be there soon enough.” Randy kissed Nadia on the cheek. She looked terrified. How he hated this mess, not being able to talk to anyone about her secret. Imagining what could go wrong was getting unbearable. He would rather face the grizzly, armed with only a club.
Ed had a flashlight and extra batteries in his backpack, but he wanted to find Methuselah before he needed them. Things were happening so fast, he had lost track of time. At least two hours had passed since they had discovered the girls had run into the woods looking for the cows. Darkness came earlier these days; soon only the long twilight would remain. Not much of a blood trail was evident, but he could tell the bear had been in such a hurry to flee that he’d broken through small brush instead of going around it. Enough of the woods stood between them and the drop-off of the mountain that the bear could go anywhere, even back toward the house, and that was indeed worrisome. If they were following the right track, the beast appeared to have doubled back down the mountain, which meant it could be going in the direction the girls were headed.
“We need to pick up the pace,” said Ed. “You see where he’s going?”
Randy nodded, and they both began a slow jog, trying hard to keep their eyes on the brush. There was only an occasional drop of blood, but there were plenty of signs of an animal in a hurry.
Ed figured they were three or four hundred yards down the mountain from where they’d started when they heard a rifle shot. “That was close,” he said, alarmed. They began running faster toward the sound.
* * * * *
The girls were still some distance from where Randy had said the four-wheelers were parked when the bear emerged from woods. This time he didn’t stand up on his back legs. He just moved forward, like a mechanical bear in a carnival shooting gallery, swinging his head side to side and making the same clicking noise with his teeth, only louder.
Mandy and Nadia walked backwards until they stood at a ledge with a shear drop-off to what looked to be several hundred feet to the valley floor. Trying to remember if she’d already put a shell in the chamber, Mandy lifted the rifle and pulled the lever action. She fired too fast without taking time to aim. When she tried to lever another shell into the chamber, the rifle jammed. Nothing she could do seemed to clear it. The bear wasn’t in a hurry this time, and the noise of her shot didn't seem to faze him. Slowly but surely, he was coming after them along the edge of the cliff.
In a single moment, Nadia screamed, “Randy!” and Mandy screamed, “Help us!”
* * * * *
Ed and Randy heard the girls’ screams, but they were still too far away to see what was happening. All they knew for sure was that Nadia and Mandy were in trouble, and it was their fault. They should have known better than to send them down the mountain alone with a wounded bear on the loose. They ran as hard as they could without tripping, dodging trees and stands of thick brush.
When Ed fell to the ground, Randy continued to run. He was back in combat—this was Afghanistan on steroids. His cousin and the love of his life were in danger, and his thoughtless actions had put them there. If they were hurt, he would never forgive himself. Nadia's citizenship was no longer important.
Breaking into the open, Randy stopped cold, stunned. The bear was only a few feet from Nadia. They were both on the ledge of the cliff. Mandy was in between him and the bear, so he couldn’t shoot. Ed came up from behind, and Randy signaled him to halt. One swipe and the bear could kill Nadia. If the blow didn’t kill her, the fall surely would. Randy felt the adrenaline surge, and the scene shifted to slow motion. Time seemed to stand still.
Then a thunderous sound came from the woods a few yards to the right of where they stood. It was the calf, Pansy, running at full gallop. She sped by them in a flash, and Randy and Ed watched in frozen silence as the calf charged into the bear mid-shoulder. The weight of the assault carried both animals over the edge of the cliff.
For what seemed like a full minute, no one spoke and no one moved. The four of them kept looking at one another, sweeping from one face to the next, trying to make sense of what they had witnessed. In the history of animal husbandry, had such a thing ever happened—a beast bred for human consumption purposely saving a human being’s life at the expense of its own?
Ed stepped to the cliff’s edge and looked over the side. The bear was lying on his back, still twitching and jerking convulsively. Pansy, lying still, was next to him, her neck obviously broken. Ed waved at Mandy not to look, but she looked anyway, tears streaming down her face.
Cautiously peeking over the edge, Nadia shook her head and began to cry. “Goodbye, dear Pansy,” she said, taking Mandy in her arms.
Ed leaned forward, flipped the safety off his rifle, took careful aim, and fired. Methuselah stopped moving.
There was a message on Randy’s home phone to call Judge Hopgood's office. When he called and asked to speak to the judge, the secretary said he couldn't come to the phone, but the judge wanted Randy to come to his office as soon as possible. It was urgent, and an appointment wasn't necessary.
Near the entrance to the judge's office, Randy spotted Ben Atwood leaning against the building and smoking a cigarette. He had to fight his instinct to stop and wipe the smirk off the bully’s face. If Atwood was still there when he came out, he might not be able to restrain himself.
The receptionist led Randy to a waiting chair in the judge's office and said his honor would be with him shortly. The judge's workplace appeared to be set up to intimidate anyone who dared enter, and Randy wondered if being brought in like this was a routine procedure to weaken folks a little psychologically. On the back wall behind the judge's high-back leather chair were diplomas, awards, certificates, and photos of Hopgood with too many politicians to count and at least two United States presidents. On the wall to his left was the mounted head of the biggest bull moose he had ever seen, and to his right, a Delta Junction buffalo of equal stature.
Hopgood entered abruptly, as if in a hurry, and greeted Randy with a handshake. “Morning, young man. I'm guessing you know why I asked you to come see me."
"Yes, sir, I think I can guess."
"Well, then, you know that the young lady I saw you with at the steakhouse, pretty though she certainly is, is an illegal immigrant. In my book, that makes her a fugitive from justice."
"Her name is Nadia Ivanov, Judge, and she is the girl I am going to marry."
Hopgood studied Randy for a moment and began to frown. He put his hand to his chin and said, "Is that so?"
"Yes, sir."
"You know, son, this case is open and shut. There is nothing gray about this situation."
"Sir, I'm not as old or as experienced as you are, but if I have learned anything in my few short years, it is that nothing is black and white. It's gray all the way down, Judge."
"You know who you’re talking to, son?"
"Yes, sir. Can I show you something?"
It was late September. The moving van was nearly loaded and ready to go. The plans were made. Ed and Mandy would drive the Alaska Highway south to Idaho. Mandy would help Ed set up a new household, and then in January, he would take her to Colorado to begin her long period of study to become a veterinarian. In some ways, her father now seemed like a different person. After Pansy killed the bear to save her and Nadia, Ed was easier to talk to and less apt to get angry when she disagreed with him. He was so much more thoughtful now, she regretted having kept him at such a distance for so long.
Mandy was deliriously happy for Randy and Nadia, but she was perplexed by their plans. She, Ed, and a few close friends had attended their wedding at Randy's ranch house the week before, but she didn't understand why Randy had said it was the first of two weddings and that it might be a long time before they could come for a visit in Idaho.
Later that evening, when Ed and Mandy were sitting at the table making a list of things to do and not forget, Randy knocked at the door. Letting himself in, he said, "Good. Both of you are here." He took off his cap and cleared his throat. "I need to just say this right out. Nadia is in Alaska illegally."
Exchanging concerned looks with Mandy, Ed said, "But you were just married."
"Yes, that is part of the plan."
"Plan, what plan?” Mandy asked.
"The one our attorney is working on," Randy said.
Ed sat forward. "Who is your attorney?"
"Emmitt Hopgood."
"You mean the judge's son?" Ed smiled as he spoke.
"That's the one. Let me start from the beginning. I always knew there was something Nadia wasn't telling me. At first, I thought she was just embarrassed about her living conditions. She’s had a hard life. Her father, before he passed away, gave his brother all of the money he had saved and asked him to get Nadia to Alaska. Nadia's uncle knew someone here in Delta. He had a contact in Homer, who arranged it all and even got them forged legal papers good enough to pass, or at least that’s what they thought. But, long story short, Ben Atwood found out that Nadia is here illegally and he told the judge."
"If he told the judge, why aren’t she and her uncle in jail?" Mandy wanted to know.
"Because, I guess you might say, I talked him out of it."
"You talked No Hope Hopgood out of following the law?" Ed sounded impressed. "Randy, if you did that, maybe you should be an attorney."
Mandy’s eyes widened. "What did you say to get him to change his mind?"
"I don't remember exactly, but I started a conversation about principle and about things being not as they appear, not black and white but gray. I said it's all gray to me, Judge, and then I told him about Pansy. When I first brought up the subject, he said cows are dumber than rocks or dirt. So I showed him the video that Mandy and Nadia made of Pansy."
"But why would that change the judge's mind?" Ed asked.
"It didn't. It just softened him up. After he saw Pansy opening gates, tracking bears, bringing you her brush, and all of the other stuff she did, then I told him about Pansy charging the bear. I said, ‘Judge, from my brief life experience, I think the most honorable and courageous thing a person can do is to be open to the exceptions we encounter,’ and then I tried an appeal to his sense of patriotism."
"What do you mean?" Ed and Mandy said together.
"I handed him a little box with my medals from Afghanistan, and I said to him, ‘Judge, I would like to trade these for an exception to laws that, if they are followed to the letter, will ruin my life. Can I do that?’"
"What did he do?" Ed was getting intrigued.
"He just sat there for a few minutes and didn't say anything. Then he got up and went to a shelf, found a business card, and told me to call Emmitt and to say he’d told me to call him. When I asked about Ben Atwood, the judge said not to worry about him."
"So, what about Atwood?"
"I watched him go into Hopgood’s office right after I left, and he was out so fast, the judge must have chased him out."
"Have you talked to Emmitt?" Ed asked.
"Yes, he drove in from Anchorage, and we met him in the judge's office yesterday afternoon. He said he was overdue visiting family in Delta anyway. He told me not to worry. It will take some time and a little expense, but it's all good. Nadia was brought here as a minor and is married now, so that helps. He said, a few years ago, this wouldn't have worked, but now it's not that big of a deal. There’s no chance she will be sent back to Ukraine to wait things out, which would have been sure to happen back then. As for Nadia's uncle, if he is found out, Emmitt says he can stall his deportation for longer than the old gentleman is likely to live."
"Did the judge keep your medals?" Mandy asked.
"No, he gave them back. Said I would have more use for them than he would and that I earned them and he didn't. I said, ‘Well, Judge, if I could give a bronze star to a cow named Pansy, I would.’ He just shook his head, and I left.”
Ed gave a thumbs up, and Randy took a deep breath. “I’ve decided I'm going to go to college, and unless I change my mind along the way, I plan to become a psychologist. I'm going to specialize in PTSD. Look, I know I'm not cured of my own combat stress. I'm going to get some counseling. But now I have the advantage of knowing what I should have known before I went to Afghanistan. I’m hoping I can help new recruits before they develop combat stress that they can't deal with."
Mandy and Ed both looked relieved, but before they could speak, Randy added, "Oh, and on the side, Nadia and I are going to raise bison. Her uncle is going to finish the fencing for us, if he’s able, and we will invite you two to the second wedding, which will happen when Nadia is a citizen."
Mandy shook her head. "You’re always going to be in the slaughter business, then."
"Well, I suppose that's true. I've given a lot of thought to what you've told us about sentient creatures, and if I ever run across a buffalo that's as smart as Pansy was, you can bet it’ll never wind up as burger meat. Nadia and I did a Google search for intelligent cows and we were surprised by how many examples we found. It makes you wonder how many really smart ones slip by without anyone noticing. I agree that animals raised for food should be treated humanely, but I think it's important to keep in mind that if we didn’t raise them for food, the vast majority of these animals would never have a chance to exist. Isn't a short life better than none at all?"
"Not if you’re a veal calf," Mandy said.
"Touché." Randy winked, straightened his cap, and left through the kitchen door, waving.
A moment later, he came running back, a little out of breath. "Mandy, do you think Pansy did what she did to save you and Nadia, or was it because she had a grudge against the bear for killing Daisy?"
Mandy smiled and shook her head slowly in disbelief. "That's something we will never know for sure, but I'm glad you took to heart what I said about cattle holding grudges." Randy mirrored her smile, tipped his cap, and was gone.
After they heard Randy drive off, Ed turned to Mandy. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Yes."
"It has to be forever, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm serious, you must never tell anyone."
Mandy crossed her heart.
"What Randy said about things being not what they appear, is indeed one of life's greatest lessons,” said Ed. “It's hard to keep law enforcement matters quiet in Delta. I heard about Nadia's situation and couple of weeks ago, and then last week I heard about the judge being involved."
"So, what does that have to do with Randy talking to the judge?"
"Well, you can't really reason with most people like the judge. He's an ideologue through and through. He sees the world as existing in black and white with no gray. People of his ilk believe everything they do themselves is automatically justified by nature of who they are. They don't respond to reason unless it suits them. The only thing they really respond to is power and force."
"I don't understand. What kind of force?"
“One night, years ago, before I went to work on the North Slope, I stopped a car that was weaving on the highway. The driver happened to be Judge Hopgood. He was less than a quarter-mile from his house, but he was so drunk, he could barely walk. Unbeknownst to him, I got an emergency call just as I was about to cuff him. So I turned him loose. But we had just started using cameras to tape people suspected of being under the influence, and I told him I was going to keep my video of his condition forever. He thought I let him go as a favor because of his position, and I never told him any different.”
Ed leaned his chair back in self-congratulation. “So, shortly before Randy saw him, I paid him a visit and reminded him of our little secret. When he refused to back off from sending Nadia and her uncle to jail, I had to tell him I would give my video to the media."
"What did he say?"
"He said if I did that, it would look just as bad on me, but I said I didn't care. I told him my nephew's happiness was more important to me than anything that could happen as a result of the disclosure."
"What did he do then?"
"He didn't do or say anything. He didn't let on what he was going to do. We just let the matter drop.” Ed shrugged. “I didn't know until just now that he was going to relent."
"Don't you think Randy should know the truth?" Mandy asked.
"No, he’s full of idealism at a time when that is precisely what he needs. I don't want to do anything to dampen his enthusiasm for dealing with people like the judge. Some folks are open to experience and are able to see that the exceptions in life, like Pansy, are trying to tell us something, but most aren't. Still, I would rather give up a future in law enforcement than see Randy and Nadia unable to have a life together."
"The secret is safe with me, Dad."