think you’d soon be impossible to live with, but I checked and the weatherman is predicting snow for the next twenty-four hours at least and temperatures cold enough so it won’t melt off immediately this time.”
“I know. I checked, too,” she told him gleefully, stomping on boots and reaching for her coat. “Don’t take off your parka. I’ve got a load of dog food that needs to go in the shed and can use some help.”
I watched from the window as they went out together. Jessie skipped ahead and scooped up enough snow for a snowball, which she hurled at Alex. He instantly retaliated and the battle continued for a few minutes until he grabbed up a handful and washed her face with it.
What a great couple they made, I thought as I watched and laughed at their antics. In a few trips to the storage shed, they had unloaded the sacks of dog food, then fed and watered the dogs in the yard, and were coming back inside, shaking off the snow before entering.
“She gets like this every fall, waiting for snow. I think she’d be happy to have it year-round if the weather would cooperate,” Alex told me with a grin. “Now—everyone ready to head over to Oscar’s? How’re you at dart tossing, Maxie?”
“Rusty, but willing,” I told him.
So we were soon on our way in his larger truck with its crew cab, taking Stretch and Tank along, knowing they were always welcome at the Other Place.
TWELVE
WE HAD A FINE EVENING AT OSCAR’S OTHER PLACE.
From behind the bar he greeted our two dogs and us warmly, as he set up our bottles of Killian’s lager.
“Good to see you again, Maxie,” he told me. “Has it snowed in Homer yet?”
“Once, but it was gone when I left a couple of days ago. There’ll be more soon, according to the predictions.”
He waved us toward the chili, which was set on a table across the room in a large kettle with a hot plate under it and bowls and spoons handy.
“Help yourselves. Good thing you came early. It’ll be gone in another hour. Word gets out, you know?”
The place was full of local people, mostly those with kennels of sled dogs, all delighted with the snowy weather, but we found a table somehow and enjoyed the chili between greeting friends and fellow mushers of Jessie’s. As soon as we had finished, Alex removed the bowls and replenished our Killian’s, and Jessie went to meet a challenge at the pool table. Alex and I waited for a dartboard and he trounced me badly two out of three, but somehow I managed to beat him once—though I think either he allowed it with intent or I got extremely lucky.
We drove home pleasantly satisfied with the evening and went shortly to bed. Sometimes just hanging out with friends is one of life’s best pleasures, and this had been one.
Sometime in the middle of the night I woke in the dark, slipped out of bed, and went to the window, where I could see that snow was, as Alex had predicted, still falling, even more heavily than it had earlier.
Jessie will be delighted, I thought with a smile as I reached down to give Stretch a reassuring pat, for he had heard me rise and come to join me.
“Back to sleep, bitser,” I told him, going back to bed myself. “It’s not time to get up yet.”
Satisfied, he lay down again on the rug and soon I could hear him snoring contentedly.
For me, sleep didn’t come quite so fast or easily.
Thoughts of the woman I thought I had seen in the shop at Meta Rose Square kept me awake and wondering if it had been my imagination working overtime. But I didn’t really think so. It was simply too much of a coincidence to have come out of nowhere to startle and worry me. Why in the world would she be following me around? And who was she?
For a few minutes I questioned it, found no answers, then gave myself a mental shake and decided to think about the upcoming holidays that were approaching rapidly and would require some early planning.
There should be at least one evening gathering of people we know and love,
“I know. I checked, too,” she told him gleefully, stomping on boots and reaching for her coat. “Don’t take off your parka. I’ve got a load of dog food that needs to go in the shed and can use some help.”
I watched from the window as they went out together. Jessie skipped ahead and scooped up enough snow for a snowball, which she hurled at Alex. He instantly retaliated and the battle continued for a few minutes until he grabbed up a handful and washed her face with it.
What a great couple they made, I thought as I watched and laughed at their antics. In a few trips to the storage shed, they had unloaded the sacks of dog food, then fed and watered the dogs in the yard, and were coming back inside, shaking off the snow before entering.
“She gets like this every fall, waiting for snow. I think she’d be happy to have it year-round if the weather would cooperate,” Alex told me with a grin. “Now—everyone ready to head over to Oscar’s? How’re you at dart tossing, Maxie?”
“Rusty, but willing,” I told him.
So we were soon on our way in his larger truck with its crew cab, taking Stretch and Tank along, knowing they were always welcome at the Other Place.
TWELVE
WE HAD A FINE EVENING AT OSCAR’S OTHER PLACE.
From behind the bar he greeted our two dogs and us warmly, as he set up our bottles of Killian’s lager.
“Good to see you again, Maxie,” he told me. “Has it snowed in Homer yet?”
“Once, but it was gone when I left a couple of days ago. There’ll be more soon, according to the predictions.”
He waved us toward the chili, which was set on a table across the room in a large kettle with a hot plate under it and bowls and spoons handy.
“Help yourselves. Good thing you came early. It’ll be gone in another hour. Word gets out, you know?”
The place was full of local people, mostly those with kennels of sled dogs, all delighted with the snowy weather, but we found a table somehow and enjoyed the chili between greeting friends and fellow mushers of Jessie’s. As soon as we had finished, Alex removed the bowls and replenished our Killian’s, and Jessie went to meet a challenge at the pool table. Alex and I waited for a dartboard and he trounced me badly two out of three, but somehow I managed to beat him once—though I think either he allowed it with intent or I got extremely lucky.
We drove home pleasantly satisfied with the evening and went shortly to bed. Sometimes just hanging out with friends is one of life’s best pleasures, and this had been one.
Sometime in the middle of the night I woke in the dark, slipped out of bed, and went to the window, where I could see that snow was, as Alex had predicted, still falling, even more heavily than it had earlier.
Jessie will be delighted, I thought with a smile as I reached down to give Stretch a reassuring pat, for he had heard me rise and come to join me.
“Back to sleep, bitser,” I told him, going back to bed myself. “It’s not time to get up yet.”
Satisfied, he lay down again on the rug and soon I could hear him snoring contentedly.
For me, sleep didn’t come quite so fast or easily.
Thoughts of the woman I thought I had seen in the shop at Meta Rose Square kept me awake and wondering if it had been my imagination working overtime. But I didn’t really think so. It was simply too much of a coincidence to have come out of nowhere to startle and worry me. Why in the world would she be following me around? And who was she?
For a few minutes I questioned it, found no answers, then gave myself a mental shake and decided to think about the upcoming holidays that were approaching rapidly and would require some early planning.
There should be at least one evening gathering of people we know and love,
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