The House

By Dawn Natelle

Another daily dose of happenings in the Grove: Dawn.

Chapter 11 – Wood theft

In January the pair worked as hard as before. They finished another canoe, and 10 more snowshoes. Their balances at Frank’s Bank were getting low with all the expenses and no income. They were buying the majority of the groceries for the house. During this time Grey spent half days fixing up more rooms in the house, and starting on the balcony, which was in worse shape than the verandah had been. Sun worked in the barns. She had the LTD tuned and working in a few hours, but the mill equipment intrigued her and she started taking apart the rip saw, since Grey said that was the most useful tool, if she could make it work.

The insurance money finally came in, and a heating and cooling company from Peterborough was called in to replace the old oil furnace, which no longer worked. A new propane unit was installed that was large enough to heat and air-condition the house. For the past five years, since the old furnace died, Daisy had kept warm in the winter with the wood stove in her living room. Trips to the bathroom were cold, but she got used to it. Dan chopped wood for the fire, and stacked in where she could get it. In the summer, air conditioning meant going out onto the verandah.

During the week the contractors were installing the equipment Sun spent all her time at the house, helping wherever she could. She wanted to learn how to do the work since the contract was not for the entire house, and eventually she hoped to complete it. She made friends immediately with the men when she helped them bring the new furnace into the house. She carried almost as much of the weight as the other three men.

Later, when the men were installing ducts, her height allowed her to stand and hold up one end of a duct while the HVAC man at the other end fastened it. The furnace/air conditioner contract was $12,000, and the equipment was over-powered to be large enough for the whole house, but to install ducts through the entire place would have more than doubled that price. Only the east side, where Daisy and the others lived, was completed.

The work Sun provided meant the men were done nearly a day early. She sweet-talked them to putting a duct into the second story above Daisy’s living room, just so she could learn how it was done. The duct was installed, replacing the old tin one, and Sunflower learned valuable knowledge on how to install second floor ducts. The duct was closed off though: there was no sense wasting gas to heat the unused room. There were now heat in five unused rooms on the east side of the house that could be used for guests.

While Sun was learning everything that she needed to know about HVAC, Grey took a trip up to the old camp. The river was now frozen thick enough to cross, and he wanted to scope out the area where Daria would nest. Flint told him that the cow moose was pregnant, and feeding in the area, so he felt sure she would come to his camp in April.

Grey looked around the campsite where he had spent nearly two years before they moved across the river. He took a sip of water from the stream, deciding that it was just as pure as the spring in Lone Goose grove. He headed back across the river to the grove, and then stopped dead. There were two stumps where there once had been mature Black Walnut trees growing.

«Men came the last two nights,» Red Oak said. «Did you not know? We thought you sent them.»

“No we didn’t,” an outraged Grey said. “How many men?”

«Two. They had a truck like Dan’s with a long trailer. They cut down the tree, cut off the branches, and split the tree into three sections for the trailer. They used the noisemaker’s that you and Dan use now.»

Chainsaws. Grey studied the stumps and saw that the trees were thicker than the saws, and two cuts had to be made. Full trees like these would sell for $6,000 each at a lumber mill that dealt in exotic hardwoods. No doubt they would try to take down the remaining 48 trees, and then start in on the less valuable oaks and maples. The tree rustlers must have thought they found a goldmine. And it was clear they knew they were stealing, since they came at night, driving the lane beside the river. Suddenly Grey knew why Rabbit had awaked barking two nights ago. The dog was warning them of the intruders, and Grey had snapped at him, ordering him to be quiet. Grey leaned over and rubbed the neck of his faithful friend, who had accompanied him on the trip over the river.

“Will they come back? Tonight?” Grey asked Red Oak.

«Probably,» the spirit said. «White men tend to work five days then take two off. I think they will come tonight, and then again tomorrow.»

“They will find a reception for them tonight, so I don’t think we will have to worry about tomorrow,” Grey said.

That night they heard the pickup truck bouncing down the lane with the wagon attached to it at around 2 a.m. Rabbit wanted to bark at it, but Grey just put his hand across his muzzle, and the dog understood to stay quiet. Sun was not with them, but was elsewhere in the woods, also watching.

The men turned the truck around, with the wagon near to one of the Black Walnut trees. Soon the saw roared to life, and in a minute the sound changed as the saw bit into wood. That was when Grey stood up, and moved into action, pointing his most powerful flashlight, torch as he called it, at the saw, then turning it on.

The saw died as soon as the light was on it, and the operator pulled it out of the inch-deep cut he had already made. As the saw sputtered to silence, Grey heard one man shout. “What was that?”

The other man had a torch of his own, and played it across Grey. “It’s a kid. And he is alone. Unarmed.”

The first man ran to the truck and returned holding a long gun: Grey didn’t know if it was a rifle or shotgun. The other man kept his torch on the boy. Grey kept his on the man with the gun.

“Drop the flashlight or you won’t like the consequences,” Man two called out. Man one aimed the gun.

“Aieeeee, shit. I am shot,” Man one screamed as he tried to drop the gun. It didn’t fall, since an arrow through his forearm had pinned the gunstock to his arm. Nice shot, Sun, Grey thought as he walked up to the men. Man two was lying on the ground, quaking in front of a vicious snarling Rabbit.

“He has a wolf with him,” that man said. “What happened?”

“I was shot, that’s what happened. I’ve got an arrow through my arm and into my shotgun.”

“You’re in trouble, kid,” the man on the ground said. “This is a legal logging operation, on crown land, and you are interfering with it.”

“I’m in trouble?” Grey chuckled. “I’m not the one with a semi-feral wolf about to tear out his throat. One certain word from me, and he will do it.” The man cowered closer to the ground. “And remember, there is my Ojibwe friend in the bush with an arrow pointed at your friend’s heart. Did you know that a good Ojibwe archer can let a second arrow fly without missing before the first one lands? You two are in deep trouble.”

“First, if this was a legal logging operation, why is it happening at 2 a.m.? Second, this is not crown land, and we are employees of the lady who owns it. You have stolen $12,000 worth of wood, and we insist on being paid. The only statement you made that was true is that we are interfering with it.

Grey heard a truck on the road. He hoped it was who he thought it was, and not another ‘logger.’

«Yes, it is Dan,» Flint said. «Good shooting Sunflower. I notified him, and he has a police officer coming.»

Dan appeared, and the men realized they were in real trouble, with an adult male now present. Both men were leaking: one bleeding from his hand, and the other had a wet spot around his crotch as he cowered in front of the ‘wolf.’ Dan’s truck headlights flooded the area, so Grey turned off his torch. Rabbit jumped up to great his friend Dan, and the man on the ground cursed. “It’s only a dog,” he said with a swear. When he started to get up, Dan kicked him in the side, hard, with steel-toed boots.

“Bad idea,” he said as the man let out a woof as the air left his body. “I have a friend who is coming out to look after things. Wait where you are for a few minutes.”

Less than a minute later an OPP cruiser pulled up, and the man on the road groaned again. His friend was less worried. Being arrested wouldn’t be too bad for him, if it meant he would get that arrow out of his arm.

Const. Cindy Rohmer looked over the situation. She cuffed the man on the ground and was cursing that her cruiser was going to be covered in piss. Then the tallest woman she had ever seen appeared, carrying a bow and quiver. And the deerskin she had been sitting on in the bush. She set it down on the rear seat of the cruiser and gestured for the man to sit on it.

“You got shot by a woman, Andy,” the man yelled to his friend, “but she’s a flippin’ giant.”

Cindy radioed in for an EMT, and then went to the bleeding man. The wound was still bleeding, but not in a terminal way. She had the joy of handcuffing that man too, and with his arm stapled to the gun, doing so was more than a little painful.

She interviewed that man first, so that when the EMT arrived he could be taken to the hospital. The ambulance arrived, and the attendant agreed to take the man to the hospital in Tweed without a police escort. He only asked for the key to the cuffs.

“I could take that arrow out for you,” Sun said sweetly.

“I’m sure you could,” Cindy replied, “but we will need to have photos.”

“Can I get the arrowhead back?” Sun asked.

“Unlikely,” the officer said. “Even if you are not charged, it will probably not be released. The OPP don’t look kindly at people shoot arrows into other people.”

“Even when he was pointing his gun at my brother?”

“Even then. And I will have to take your bow and the other two arrows.” Grey’s eyes lit up then. There is no way that Sun would have come out with less than two dozen arrows. And that didn’t look like her best bow.

Cindy took the bow, and pulled on the string. She was barely able to pull it six inches. “How can you shoot a bow like this?”

Sun took the bow from her, and pulled it back a full three feet. The constable’s eyes widened. “I wouldn’t want to have to take you down in a barroom brawl,” she said.

“Not a problem,” Grey said. “Sunflower doesn’t drink.”

The ambulance drove off, and the officer ordered the others to wait while she got into the cruiser and interviewed the second thug. Then she got out and went up to Dan.

“You know, every time I meet you I wind up with an incident report that has all the guys in the station laughing aloud. Why do I think this will happen again? What did you see?”

“Not much,” Dan said. “It was pretty much over by the time I got here. The one fellow was bleeding, but not badly, and the other was laying in the dirt.”

“He said you beat him,” Cindy said.

“I gave him a good clip in the ribs with my boot when he tried to get up. He didn’t try again, and I didn’t hit him a second time.”

“I can vouch to that,” Grey said. “And I,” Sun added. “I was in the woods at the time, but the lights from Dan’s truck pretty much lit up everything.”

“Okay pretty boy,” she told Dan with a smile that Sun found interesting. “You wait here while I talk to the First Nations pair.”

Grey immediately eased up at the woman’s use of the proper terminology. He told her how they had discovered the two trees missing, and decided to stake out the site this night, hoping to catch the thieves in action.”

“So you went vigilante on us instead of calling the police?” Cindy said.

“It we had called you out to look at two stumps, do you think your chief or sergeant, or whatever would have authorized you to participate in an all night vigil? Grey asked.

“No, probably not,” Cindy said. “But that arrow went a long way into the gun stock. A few inches either way and we might have needed a coroner out here instead of an EMT.”

“Sun does not miss, even by an inch, when she is aiming from that distance,” Grey bragged.

“We don’t know that,” Cindy replied. “But no harm was done. I’m going to have to ask you to stop shooting at people,” she told Sun.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot promise that,” the bigger woman said. “If a man is pointing a gun at my brother I will do what I can to stop him. If he had fired, that arrow would have gone into his head, and then another would have killed his friend, so I could go and tend to Grey.”

The officer was conflicted. She couldn’t disagree with Sun, but at the same time she couldn’t encourage vigilantism. Finally she just moved on.

She got Grey to admit to seeing one of the men sawing into the tree. She got small evidence bags from her cruiser, and took samples of sawdust from the tree and from the saw. She wanted to move the saw to the bed of the pickup but didn’t know how without disturbing fingerprints until Grey and Dan lifted it with a branch through the middle of the saw. “I’ve seen you cops do that on TV with a pencil and a pistol,” Dan claimed with a smile. She smiled back, and Sun noticed the connection again.

Finally she was finished, and drove the second thug to Tweed, where she would pick up his partner from the hospital, sans arrows. She also needed the gun as evidence. She hoped that the medical personnel would have gloves on, and not leave prints.

Grey shook Dan’s hand as she drove out. “That girl likes you,” Sun accused.

“What? I am too old for her,” Dan insisted. “I’m close to 50, and she is what? 32?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Sun insisted. “A woman will put up with a lot for a good guy, and you are a good guy. Who else will she meet up here? The louts she pulls drunk out of the bar? Tree rustlers? You need to ask her out.”

“She is really cute,” Grey added. “Maybe if you won’t ask her out, I will.”

“What?” Dan’s head snapped around. “You are too young for her. The other way round. You’re still a teenager, aren’t you?” Grey nodded, finished with goading his friend.

“Naw,” Dan finally said, climbing into his truck.

Police had come and picked up the truck and saw the next day, after dusting for prints. Then Grey had repaired the damage to the third tree, and planted two Black Walnut saplings beside the stumps. Red Oak specified the distance, saying that the rotting stumps would nourish the new trees in the cycle of life.

The court case was two months later. The pair pled guilty on the advice of their lawyer, offering restitution for the two trees they had taken. They had only spent a little of the cash they had gotten from the mill. The judge determined that the value of the saw would equal the amount they had spent.

The truck was returned to the man who owned it, who promptly sold it to pay for his lawyer. The saw was released to Grey, along with the restitution money, as the agent for Miss Ridgmark.

The week after the trial was over, Sun called Cindy Rohmer and asked her to come to Sunday dinner to thank her for her help.

Cindy and Dan were seated next to each other at the dinner table, and were largely quiet through the meal, in spite of Sun’s attempts to get them to talk. Finally, as she was serving dessert, she whacked Dan on the side of his head, and a whack from Sun is no small thing.

“What?” he said, rubbing his head.

“You’ve spent the last hour sitting next to the prettiest woman in Hastings County, and you don’t say a word to her. Are you daft?”

“Is this dinner a setup?” Cindy finally was catching on.

“Yes, but the big lug sitting next to you is too stupid to figure it out,” Sun said. “He thinks he is too old for you.”

Cindy looked intently at Dan, who turned so red he nearly glowed. “I think I would go out with him, if he asked.”

Suddenly Dan was 13 again, asking a girl to the school dance. “I … er, I mean … uhm … would you like to go out? With me? Maybe dinner and a movie in Peterborough?”

“I would love to,” Cindy said, sliding her chair closer to Dan. By the end of the evening they were talking. Not lovers. Not yet. But at least talking. And with a date planned.

Long before this set up, Grey had moved out of the house, with a small wigwam across the river. There were a lot of sealer jars this time: there was a big set of them in the basement of the house that Sun found when she cleaned up down there.

Daria returned while Grey was erecting the hut, and immediately bugled for attention. He watered her, then chopped down a young cedar to feed her. He barely had the wigwam finished by nightfall. Jane was not to be seen: moose usually chase away the yearlings when they have mated again.

Rabbit wanted to come with Grey, but Daria found him too much like a wolf to make friends, so Grey sent him back to Sun. He was only allowed to come to the camp when she came to visit about once a week, to pick up the filled sealers that were like gold to her. The dog had to stay near the wigwam and not go near the moose.

Daria gave birth to two young males, and once they were firm on their feet Grey packed things up and headed south to the house. There were no wolf attacks or any other kind of scare this time and Daria let him go with a parting bleat. She would have been fine with having him close for protection and to feed and water her, and didn’t seem to understand his reluctance to devoting the rest of his life to her luxury.

She tried to follow him across the ice, but it was just starting to break up in early April and wouldn’t take her weight. Even Sun wouldn’t cross it, but the lighter Grey carried his camp goods across and walked home to the big house.