Authors: Bret Tallent
The Winter People
THE WINTER PEOPLE
By Bret Tallent
Text copyright © 2013 Bret R Tallent
All Rights Reserved
For Fred and Barbara
Always there for me
THE
WINTER THE STARS FELL
November
12, 1833
During the night
of one of the coldest winters in American history, there was a tremendous
meteor shower visible all over North America. It is recorded in several Indian
Chronicles from various parts of the country. It was simply called, "The
Winter the Stars Fell", and to every tribe that recorded the phenomenon,
it was deeply significant.
During that same
winter, many brave Ute warriors lost their lives, and no explanation in the Ute
Chronicle is given. There are only myths and legends passed down from
generation to generation. Stories spoken only in the dead of winter when the
snows were deep, and Ute had moved into the lowlands.
Ellis Campbell was
a bitter old man. He knew it and he just didn't give a shit. The only friend
he had was his old coon hound Jynx, and Ellis suspected that was just because
he fed him regular. If there was ever a case of an animal resembling its
owner, this was it. Both were crotchety and ill tempered. Bony thin with the
skin sagging on little used muscles and the fur on both of their faces was
white.
It's not that
anything real traumatic had ever happened to Ellis, he just didn't like
people. In all his years he'd never met more than two or three that were worth
the powder to blow 'em to hell, and there was only one man he had ever called
his friend, Raleigh Smith. Ellis had no use for females either. They were
domineering, money grubbing individuals who used a man up and took away his
freedom.
Ellis had seen it
happen to Raleigh too. As soon as he married that woman, his balls were in a
mason jar on the pantry shelf. And every now and then, if he was a good little
boy, she would take them down and show them to him. Oh, he was fine when it
was just the two of them, out hunting or something. But as soon as
she
showed up, you could see the bulge at his crotch disappear.
Even so, Raleigh
and Ellis had managed to maintain their friendship. And after Raleigh died,
Ellis shed only his second tear in his entire life. The first being when
Jynx's predecessor died, three years before Raleigh. It was after this that
people thought he had become such a cantankerous bastard. Ellis laughed at
this. That people had to have some reason for a person's hatred was ludicrous.
But, that's how
people were. They couldn't accept the fact that they were not liked on the
whole, it went down like a bitter pill. They needed justification, rhyme and
reason. It made them avoid him, which was just fine and dandy with Ellis. He
didn't have much use for people, they were self-important hypocrites.
There was one
fella that Ellis had taken a shine to, but he would have denied it if you'd
have asked him. Hayden Smith had been the sheriff over in Copper Creek for
sixteen years now and was the only man around that Ellis could tolerate. Maybe
it was because he’d known Hayden's father, or maybe it was because Hayden
couldn't be riled by the irritable old man, but, Ellis suspected it was because
he could see so much of Hayden's father in the boy. Not that Hayden was a boy,
he was nearly sixty three, but Ellis would always think of him as a boy.
Hayden's mother,
he thought, was the typical woman. If she'd had her way the boy would have
been a fancy-pants; a real yahoo. It was bad enough that she had named the
poor kid after a town. Fortunately for Hayden, she had died when he was nine.
Raleigh had raised him right, the way a boy should be brought up; hunting,
fishing, totally independent without needing anything from anybody. Ellis
still didn't know why he wanted to live in that jerkwater cesspool of gossip
and backstabbing. Probably something left over from that domineering female,
he thought.
***
Ellis Campbell
preferred the company of his dog to that of any person, and had spent most of
the last fifteen years in just such company. The dog was now very old and
having a difficult time getting around and Ellis knew that he was going to die
soon. He also knew that he would not have another dog, for he too was getting
on up there in years and would most likely be dead before it was a year or two
old.
Ellis regarded his
canine companion and his eyes swelled with tears. He fought them back though
and quickly pulled a rumpled handkerchief from the hip pocket of his bib
overalls. The old rag looked nearly as worn and faded as he did, it was dingy
grey from years of use and he had to pull it apart so that he could blow his
nose in it. He gave a quick honk and a wipe, sniffed once, and then shoved the
cloth back in his pocket.
He glanced around
the cabin and a flood of memories washed over him. He didn't know why he was
being so sentimental all of the sudden, it wasn't like him. But this time he
just sat there and let them run their course. It was as if his life was
flashing before his eyes, showing him quick little snippets of this or that. The
closer he came to the present, the more vivid the memory and its detail.
He seemed to fit
the cabin he lived in as much as it fit him. Both were rustic and had been
well used. They may have been missing a shingle or two, the trim in places
weathered with age, but they were both fully functional. They seemed to complement
each other. Looking at Ellis with his blue flannel shirt with the sleeves
rolled up a turn or two, long johns poking out from underneath, you instantly
knew that this was where he truly belonged. That he was as much a part of this
cabin as it was a part of him.
The old man stared
at the fire in the hearth without really seeing it. Its gentle orange glow
reflected in his hard, tired eyes. Ellis remembered when he built that
fireplace, stone by stone. Raleigh had helped him. Jesus, it had been forty
years ago. There hadn't even been a deer trail up here then. They packed
everything in on horseback. The whole reason Ellis had bought this place was
because it was out in the middle of nowhere. He was on the southeastern slope
of Sand Mountain, with five miles and a river between himself and Copper
Creek. It wasn't much more than a general store back then, but now it was a
real touristy town and Ellis avoided it as much as possible.
The town of Copper
Creek sat on the river Copper Creek, which fed into the Yampa River to the
south. Ten miles to the north lay the Wyoming border and Sierra Madres. He
was in the heart of the Continental Divide, and loved it there. It was such a
rugged wilderness that not too many city fools ventured there. Not too many
woodsmen either. There were other small towns about that catered to sportsmen,
like Craig and Donner and Hayden; but they were pretty far to the south and the
would-be hunters and fishermen that came to them in the summer and fall stayed
close.
Then, in the
winter all of those idiotic skiers stayed down in Steamboat. Except for the
ones who had to book lodgings there in Copper Creek because they had been too
slow in making their reservations. This was the thing that made Copper Creek a
town, and Ellis hated the skiers for it. Without them, Ellis figured the town
might just dry up and blow away. Ellis liked that idea. Although he was still
fairly isolated, he felt as though the world was closing in on him.
Ellis' thoughts
turned back to his home. A rugged place not built for personal comfort, it
wasn't much more than a two room line shack. The indoor plumbing consisted of
a hand pump in the sink that pretty much froze up in the winter. If he needed
water, he simply melted snow or ice. He had no shower or indoor toilet. It
was a rustic place that looked very much like a scene out of a Remington
painting.
The main room
consisted of the fireplace, a sink and counter with pantry, and a sitting
room. The back room was his bedroom. Everything in the cabin was handmade,
the couch and chair, the coffee table, the bed, and even his night table. In
the corners stood the few possession that Ellis owned, his fly rod, a few
tools, and a stack of old newspapers and magazines that he used to start his
fires and wipe his ass. There were two windows in the entire place, one in the
bedroom and the other in back of him above the couch. The only door to the
place was beside the kitchen.
Jynx lay on the
hardwood floor in front of the stone hearth, snoozing. Which was pretty much
all he did these days. He used to be a great hunting dog, but his sight was
going and his gate was gone. Ellis too had been a proficient hunter, but his
legs weren't what they used to be. His 30/30 hung unused on the wall above the
mantle, one of the few things that decorated his walls. The others were a pair
of antlers from a four point elk he had shot when he was forty two (4 points
per side, making it 8 points the way the city assholes counted 'em), a picture
of he and Raleigh taken back in '51, and a couple of kerosene lanterns.
Ellis had been a
very self-sufficient man and it galled him that he would need anyone's help.
At least he liked Hayden. He knew the only way into his place in the winter
from the county road a mile away was by snowmobile, but Hayden still managed it
once a month. That road wouldn't even be there if it hadn't been for that
bonehead doctor and his wife building a cabin down there, Ellis thought.
Thanks to Hayden,
Ellis managed along rather nicely. The government paid him his dues from the
war and it was just enough to keep him comfortable, and Hayden kept him from
having to deal with the local yokels. Hayden did all of his running around for
him, cashing his checks, getting any supplies he might need, or stuff Hayden
thought he might like. Hayden was very much like a son to Ellis, or as close
to one as Ellis would ever allow.
There was a
crackle and pop of pitch from the fireplace and Ellis looked up. His eyes were
not quite so hard, his expression not quite so cold. Jynx only barely paid it
any attention then laid his head back on his paws. Ellis got up from the couch
and walked over to a small shelf mounted on the wall beneath the picture of
Raleigh and him, the floor creaking under his weight. From the shelf he
retrieved a pipe and pouch, compliments of Hayden's last visit.
Ellis filled the
pipe with tobacco and tamped it down with his thumb. Taking a piece of
kindling from the wood box, he stuck it in the fire and held it there until it
held a flame. Then he lit the pipe with it and tossed the kindling back into
the fire. He drew in several deep breaths and allowed the aroma of apples and
cherry wood to encircle him. He moved to the couch and sat back down, then
opened the Zane Grey book that Hayden had brought along with the pipe, and
began to read.
***
It had to be close
to bedtime, Ellis thought. He didn't own a watch, didn't need one, but his
internal clock had seldom been wrong. Ellis closed the book and tapped his
long cold pipe out on the table. He brushed the ashes away and sat it down
next to the pouch of tobacco. He got up and bundled up for his routine pre-bed
visit to the outhouse. Jynx got up to follow.
When he opened the
door a biting wind hit him solidly and forced the door opened further, knocking
him backwards a step. While reading, he hadn't really noticed how hard it had
been blowing. But now he could hear its angry shrieks and feel its force.
"Coldest damned winter in all the years I've lived here!” he thought,
"Must be near to forty below out here." The two of them stepped
quickly out to avoid much heat loss and went to their business.
Jynx wandered out
beyond the covered wood porch, while Ellis followed the well-worn path to the
john. He sat in pitch blackness, relieving himself and listening to the wind.
In it he could hear the occasional creaking of the tall lodge pole pines as
they swayed under its power. Then Ellis heard it make a sound he had never
heard before. The wind cried in agony with a note of bitterness that matched
his thoughts towards mankind.
His skin instantly
broke out in gooseflesh and fear raised in the pit of his stomach. He
swallowed hard and listened. Again the shriek came, mixed in with wind but a
separate entity, he was sure. This time, it was closer somehow. His muscles
tightened and he could no longer do what he was out here for. The hair rose on
the nape of his neck and then he heard the unmistakable sound of Jynx, howling.
Ellis rose up off
of the cold wooden seat and fastened his pants. He ran to the cabin door as
fast as his old legs would carry him. Half way there he slipped in the deep
snow and fell, face first. There was another howl of wind that wasn't wind and
this time it was very near. It seemed to be just beyond the outhouse. He
looked up and could see Jynx sitting at the front door in the faint glow that
encompassed the house from the light within. Jynx was looking directly at him,
his eyes locked on Ellis's.
In those eyes
Ellis could read fear. As if they were telling him to get up and move, that
something was right behind him. Ellis could hear the rustle of brush and
branches moving in that direction, from behind his outhouse. His first thought
was that it was only the wind, but then he knew deep down that it was something
else. He scrambled towards the door on all fours. Jynx began to jump wildly
the closer he came, something he had not been able to do in years.
As Ellis reached
the door and pulled himself up he heard the cry again. It was a deafening roar
that echoed through his head and caused tiny tremors in the wood of the door.
Jynx howled again, pushing inward on the door with his chest. Ellis knew that
if he took the time to turn around he would be dead. He didn't know what was
back there, but it was coming for him, and it was very close.
An internal voice
screamed at him. It shouted out an alarm and warned him that this moment was about
survival. His eyes were wide and the wind was stinging them, causing them to
tear. His vision had become blurry and he was having trouble with the latch.
The wind suddenly became warm and felt as if it were the breath of a living
being upon his neck. As he fumbled with the simple slide latch, gripped with
fear, his bladder released and he wet himself. But he was oblivious to its
warm progress down his leg.
Ellis Campbell
could feel only one thing…that he was going to die. Suddenly, his hand found
purchase on the latch and he threw it back. Jynx's forward power, along with
the wind, pushed the door open into the cabin in a forceful burst. Ellis fell
into the room and quickly slammed the door behind him. He had to reach the
latch to throw it and a strong wind buffeted the door just then, causing it to
open a few inches against his strength. He pushed harder and managed to slide
in the latch.