Chapter 6

Senior Attraction

Gran very much liked their new bedrooms upstairs in the lodge, looking out over the rear of the building into the dark forest. She had her own room. Nita and Bug shared another, and the twins, Shyla and Shayla, shared a third bedroom. Each room had its own dormer extending out from the roof with wide patio doors instead of windows. They could open the sliding patio door and step out onto a railing-enclosed deck that fronted the dormer. A person could sit quietly at a round patio table absorbing the scents, the breezes, and the solitude looking out into the surrounding forest.

Each bedroom had its own closets, dressers, table and guest chairs, and a half-bath including shower. Another three bedrooms opened out from the front of the central building with dormers that held conventional shuttered windows—no patio doors or walkway decks.

A room at one end of the second-story hallway held a jacuzzi tub, a pair of vanity sinks set in cabinets under mirrors, a walk-in shower, and a built-in sauna.

A room at the opposite end held laundry machines, utility sinks, folding and ironing tables, and cleaning supplies.

Gran enjoyed the fact that she and the girls had the upstairs all to themselves. The girls and their exuberant activities disturbed no one.

Reese’s quarters were in the north single-story wing which was an entire home all to itself. Buck lived alone in the remote cabin that she’d seen while walking the grounds after they’d arrived.

After they’d gathered in the main room which took up much of the central section downstairs, Buck explained that they had entertained a great many friends and guests in former years and because of their remote location, far from any public lodging, they had built a lodge to host their many guests. Since the death of the grandparents and the highway accident that claimed Reese’s parents, the building sat mostly empty except for Reese’s quarters in the north wing.

“How do you folks get supplies out here? You’re so far from anything!” she asked Buck. She sat side by side with him on a leather couch facing the stone fireplace. They watched the flames dancing from a fire he’d built.

“We’ve gotten used to it. We’ve learned to plan ahead and keep careful track of our stock of necessary things,” Buck explained. “It’s about 60 miles downriver to the county seat where we can get groceries and such. And there’s a small medical clinic there. Going out to the main river highway and west, then south, back-tracking the way you folks drove in over Galena pass, its about 85 miles to Ketchum and Hailey for groceries and medical help. But for anything major, most folks keep going south to Twin Falls. That’s about 150 miles. Going to Idaho’s larger east side towns is over 200 miles. And going west to the state capitol is 200 miles, to Boise. North of here? There’s nothin’ but horse trails and wilderness areas. A jeep road, that’s open only in the summer, is a shortcut to the county seat.”

“Good grief!” Gran shook her head. “So there’s no running to town for anything spur of the moment, is there?”

Buck laughed. “Not hardly! We live ‘off the grid’ here, which means we don’t have access to the utilities that most folks take for granted. Our electricity comes from a hydraulic generator down on the river. It supplies both our houses and the mine buildings. We have telephone and internet access through a satellite system. Our water comes from a riverside well and we have our own sewage system. We’re quite self-contained here.”

“But your supplies? And fuel?”

“Two or three times a year we get a fuel delivery. Gasoline, diesel, and propane come from a local supplier who trucks it in and fills our storage tanks. As for supplies, well, the internet and package delivery is a blessing. I can order pretty much anything and have it here in a week or two. That’s a real luxury. It didn’t used to be that way.

“For instance, I could order complete fishing outfits for you and the girls: rods, reels, hooks, line, and sinkers, clothes and boots, and have it all here in two weeks or less, delivered! Or we could take a chance and make a 120-mile round trip and pick it up down in town, if Clyde’s got it in stock at his general store.”

“Really? I love to fish and oh, gosh, its been years since I’ve camped or fished. John and I... “ and her words faded out. Her eyes grew moist and she choked on a flood of memories of her early years with John, dead and gone, memories past.

Buck sat silent, realizing her mood. Older people accumulate memories and emotions from past experiences and they share a common bond of lives past. He understood.

Later that evening, back in his cabin, he went online and ordered complete fishing outfits for her and the girls, delivery promised in ten days. Leaning back in his chair, he reconsidered and added to the order: sleeping bags, hiking boots, outdoor clothing, backpacks, hats, gloves, and whatever else he could recall. Sizes were no problem. He used the online fitting charts by age and body type.

He chuckled. The package delivery driver in the brown truck was always eager to make the long trek to the Yankee Girl. Reese and Buck made sure the driver’s tips made his long delivery trip very worthwhile.

Reese sat warming himself in the morning sunshine streaming onto his front deck, sipping coffee and scanning his laptop for overnight news. He watched Buck and Gran strolling together down by the stream, the girls playing around them, bending to scoop up pebbles to toss into the water. Little Bug clung to Buck’s hand. She’d instantly taken a huge ‘like’ to his old friend. It seemed mutual. Buck, a loner who’d once been married and then widowed, had never shown interest in any other woman.

I’ve never found another woman who’d put up with my ornery ways, Buck protested. And besides that, I’ve never met a woman whose reformin’ ways I could tolerate!

That seems to have changed. She was Gran to her grand daughters but Ms. Happy to Buck, explaining it was her childhood nickname that all her friends would use. Nita, he noticed, had started calling her Granny Happy which made her growl in a good natured way.

So Buck’s attitude changed. He and Happy were usually found together, whether sitting by the fire in the evening, reading, or walking the stream side or the forest trails together, often surrounded by the girls with Bug either in hand or riding Buck’s shoulders. Buck never said anything but his smile had grown bigger and he acted years younger than his actual 63. Reese teased Buck when he found him alone, checking the power plant penstock and generator housing.