New Title 3 (6 page)

“
Look who’s back!” Earl announced. “Thought we’d lost the two of you.”

Everyone turned. Sara’s head poked out of our tent. I waved, wiping my mouth. Then I looked down at myself, remembering I only had my boxers on.

Noting everyone’s stares, Connor spoke in my defence. “What? He went for a swim.” Leaning toward me, he then whispered, “Why don’t you throw on something dry. I’ll set us up with a night cap.” I shook my head. I wasn’t ready for bed yet.

After assuring Sara that all was well, I joined the diehards at the fire. The group, now quiet, gazed at the night sky. I followed suit and picked my star. I noticed something strange though- tonight the earth seemed to stand still. The mood was right and the sky was clear, so I should have been cruising through the universe on my little planet, secure in the passenger seat. What was wrong? I felt panic set in again. Next black soot began to fill my field of vision, floating silently down all around me, like a dirty snow. I swatted at the flakes as they fell on my shoulders and in my hair.

Was it from the fire? No, no one else was being bothered by it, though it fell on them as well, on their shoulders, their laps, at their feet. I closed my eyes hard. Opening them again, I saw that all had returned to normal.

“
I could see it too,” Jake said to me.

Shivers ripped through my body. I sat up, slowly. “See what?”

“
The... snow?” He paused. “The black snow.” He pointed a hesitant finger above my head.

“
You saw it?” I was floored.

Jake rubbed his eyes hard. Then he massaged his face roughly. He was now waking from his drug-induced nap. He steadied himself and lit a cigarette. Seeing that the drink at his side was still full, he took a nervous swallow. Scanning the ground and the group, he began to realize what he experienced hadn’t actually happened. “Just what the… what did I see?”

I retreated tactfully. “Jake, I was just messing with your head, buddy. I don’t know what it is you’re talking about.” A forced smile followed the lie. Jake squirmed a bit in his seat. Then he began to laugh.

“
I must really be over the edge tonight, man.” Jake continued to laugh, chalking the vision up to substance abuse. “I’m FUCKED!”

Sonny scowled. “Yeah, we know you’re fucked, you idiot. Now shut up before I knock you out. You’re ruining my trip.”

Connor was now staring at me with that damn look on his face, that
knowing
look. “Something going on? You want to tell me anything, man?”

Get outta my head, Connor
. That’s what I wanted to say to him. Actually I would have loved to tell them all about what I’d just witnessed, but doing so would have gotten me tagged as a whack job, or an asshole. No thanks. For all I knew, I was just having a bad acid trip.

“
What would I have to say about anything, Connor? Jake was just freaking out at something he thought he saw. I’m fine.” I could tell that he wasn’t buying it, but he let it go.

The Sweet Bitch came out and made the rounds. As I passed it to Connor, he attempted to read my mind again. I gazed at the sky just to avoid his prying eyes. Remembering my last vision, I quickly shifted my attention to the soil surrounding my bare feet. Playing with it soothed my soul.

Gil, Seth, and Kevin returned from their nighttime stroll in the forest. “We spotted a nasty cloud south of our position, blacker than the sky,” Seth reported. “We should bear down for a crazy storm in about an hour or so.”

Gil nodded as he gestured at a fine mist that was drifting off the water into our midst. “The wind’s picking up off the lake, blowing this fog to shore. The cloud has blotted out the moon.”

“
You should be pleased, Joel,” added Kev, remembering my love of storms. “This one’s going to be a competitor.”

Connor challenged me. “Going to ride this one out? Sounds like a rough one.” He was pushing my buttons. If I could stay up for another hour I would fight it. I shook a lame fist at the sky. Nature’s power. I respect it, that’s why I challenge it.

*****

Gazing up at the ominous sky, I remembered a time, not long ago, when I was in the forest behind my house, facing a storm of similar size and fury. With me were Connor, Earl, and Jake - before Jake had ruined his life. The wind was wreaking havoc on the treetops and screaming through the fields, ushering in the rains. We stood our ground, leaning into the powerful gusts, shielding our faces with our hands and shirts as breathing became a chore.

We’d been playing war games all afternoon. No one had successfully ambushed anyone else the whole day, so I tuned into channel three on our communications gear and directed everyone to emerge from their positions to rethink our game strategy. They came, trigger fingers ready, when
BOOM!
Thunder crashed in the distance. We flinched. A wind pounded through the trees, knocking Jake on his ass. This gale had twister characteristics, so we planted ourselves.

“
So, what do we do? Stick it out?” Connor asked. The rain was getting thick, making it hard to see the person in front of you. It was even harder to hear anything. About ten seconds later, the wind changed direction drastically, now pulling rather then pushing. Then it all came to a screeching halt: the wind, rain, all of it.

Drenched to the bone, we looked at the devastation around us, wondering how in the hell we’d managed to survive it unscathed. The forest was a mess. All around us trees were split or uprooted – only the very largest or the youngest remained. Yet not one of us incurred a single injury. Later we learned that we’d survived a mini-twister that killed five people and injured twenty others.

It made you wonder. Ever since that fateful day I’d adopted the practice of challenging every storm that came my way. Connor was the same. Earl considered himself lucky but didn’t invest any deeper meaning into it. Jake, I think, just got the shit scared outta him.

*****

Half an hour had passed without a word from the circle. We listened to the wind sweep the fog past our camp. Thunder soon broke our trance, obscure and still very distant. I glanced in the direction of my tent as Sara wandered out. Looking around and rubbing her eyes, she noticed me rooted to my chair. I smiled. She came over and planted herself on my lap, wrapping her warm arms around my neck. I kissed her exposed shoulder while she pulled her fingers through my matted hair. We were back.

The rain never arrived. It could be heard on the far side of the lake, keeping its distance. We joked about how the storm didn’t want to challenge us to a fight tonight. Waiting made everyone tired. Some slept in their chairs while others made it to the safety of their tents. Ending the weekend was tough; no one really wanted to be the first to crash on the last night. It was hard to let go of a good thing.

W
e awoke to a sticky, humid morning. Fog still hung at knee level, but at least we could see. A heavy grey cloud had replaced yesterday’s stunning blue sky. Wiping my face in a desperate race to keep the sweat out of my eyes, I acknowledged that the humidity was absolutely brutal.

Sara and I had completed the task of loading the truck and now awaited the others. Kevin was attempting to wake up Jake who, we suspected, could end up dead one morning to no one’s surprise. Gil and Seth had been up for a few hours- they were down at the lake catching and releasing their last few fish while Tom and Sonny made coffee for the crew. Freddy was out purging himself, as unbelievable as that might seem on a day like this, while Sidney, John and Caroline loaded up John’s car. Earl was busying himself with his truck, fixing a leak: always something wrong with that truck. Connor and Julia returned from a nature walk, reporting a Freddy sighting.

“
As he darted by us he said he’d be back in a half hour. One more lap around the forest, I guess.” Connor shook his head, giggling at Fred’s determination to be the picture of health. I shook my head.

“
Jesus he can’t be serious. It’s so humid.”

Gil came back from the lake, fishing rod in hand. “No fish today.” He looked puzzled. “I can’t understand it. We did so well this weekend.”

I bit my lip as my heart skipped a beat. Gil added, “And that damn cloud’s still hangin’ in the south.” He pointed in its direction.

A pain in my chest ignited an anxiety attack. I squeezed Sara’s hand a little too tightly. She pulled free, rubbing the reddened skin. “Joel, what’s the matter?”

“
Sorry.... I didn’t mean to...”

“
You need some down time, Joel. I think this weekend took a lot out of you.” She smiled. “When we get home, I’ll make you some soup, run you a bath, and tuck you in, alright lover?”

“
Okay.” I relaxed. We kissed. A hug followed, long and deep, melting us into each other. She was such a comfort.

The group was ready to go by 12:30, so we reluctantly began the long ride back to civilization. The fog cleared as we drove further from the lake. Pulling out of the forest and back onto the main road which would take us home, we spotted the dark cloud, hanging ominously overhead.

Silence reigned during the drive. Connor’s radio picked up only static, and we were all too tired to talk much. An hour into the three-hour trip, we pulled into a gas station. Anyone with a full bladder took advantage of the facilities as we all gassed up. I wandered into the store to talk to the attendant and hopefully get an update on the Reaper’s activity.

“
Nope, can’t say,” replied the old man behind the counter. “Our t.v. and radio have been all screwy since I got up this morning. Must have something to do with that storm cloud there.” He pointed out the window. “Not a lot of traffic either, not since yesterday. Come to think of it, yesterday I saw more people pass through here, headed north, than I’ve seen on most long weekends.”

“
Alright, thanks.” I pushed through the heavy glass door, disheartened at the lack of information, and approached Connor, who was still pumping gas. “This guy’s radio is out too, man. He’s blaming it on the cloud.” I paused. “I’d say he’s right.”

“
No worries, buddy.” Connor was in good spirits. “Get in the truck. I’ll pay the man and we’ll be on our way.”

When we were on the road again, I fought the urge to tell Connor to turn around, to take us anywhere but home. I couldn’t explain it. I told myself that the hovering cloud was the product of an early summer storm, that what the skunk had told me was nothing more than acid-induced bullshit. I fidgeted in my seat, feeling hot and anxious. Connor agreed that it was unusually warm and turned on the air conditioning.

Suddenly the cloud was on top of us – that’s when huge flakes of what looked like snow began to fall. Connor’s wipers fought valiantly to clean up our field of vision as the flakes became thicker. The cleaner steamed as it hit the windshield, lubricating the wipers and messing the view. Connor finally pulled off the road, got out, and tried to clean the window himself with a rag. After a couple of futile wipes, he hopped back into the truck.

“
What
is
this shit?” He brushed it out of his hair and collar. “It’s hot too, did you see that? Look at how my wipers are dragging along the windshield. Everything’s so hot and the visibility is really starting to suck.” The sound of the wiper motor struggling suddenly became audible.

“
It looks like ash,” Julia said. “Not to alarm anyone, but when I was in Costa Rica and the Arenal Volcano erupted, this is exactly what it looked like a few minutes later. Maybe there’s a forest fire somewhere, burning out of control.” She reached out the window, collected some of the downpour onto her palm, and studied it. “This is some pretty big ash, though.”

Sara’s voice trembled. “Just don’t go back out in it unless you have a rag or something to put over your mouth and nose. We don’t know what this stuff is. It could be from a chemical plant that burned down somewhere.”

We stared at each other, anxiety and confusion visible on our faces as we tried to figure out what was happening. The silence was finally broken by John knocking on Connor’s window.

“
I’m not going to ask you guys what the hell’s happening here, but I will suggest we get to cover as soon as possible.” He glanced back at his vehicle covering his face and head with his hands.

“
Shit. Okay, let’s all go to Joel’s house and wait this out. We can call our houses from there. That cool, Joel?” Connor looked at me.

“
Sure, my place is closest. Let’s do it.”

John nodded. “I’ll tell the rest of them.”

Sara handed him a t-shirt from her bag. “Put this over your mouth, John, to be safe.”

He thanked her, then ran back to his car, jacket pulled over his head, t-shirt pushed into his face.

Trying my best not to panic, now sure of what had happened,
knowing
the source behind the dirty snow, I turned and forced a smile at the girls. “It’ll be alright... We’re almost home.”

Connor stepped on the gas and we rocketed back into action. During the final approach home we ran into a type of traffic congestion that only a farming town could throw at you. A herd of panicked cattle was pouring onto the road, pushing into one another as they squeezed through the narrow opening in the driftwood fence. Once again our motorcade was forced onto the shoulder. The stampede ended quickly enough, thank God, and soon we were moving again. I thought of my neighbour- did he know that his livestock had broken free? The trees were on fire behind his house: perhaps that was what spooked the cows. Shit, what if my forest was going up in flames? Or my house!