Chapter 16: Winding Road - Do Not Pass

As I walked inside, Corinna turned my direction, dropped her hands to her hips and frowned.

“You could warn people that when they need to use the facilities that they need to carry an antiaircraft gun. Those flies are huge!” she snapped. “Oh, and your brother was on the CB. He wants you to call back when you’re alone.”

“Easy, Sis,” Carissa said firmly. “Don’t get all wound up over things again.”

“Fuck you too,” Corinna swore, then broke into tears and ran past me to go outside, slamming the screen door behind her.

“Oh shit!” Carissa sighed. “I’d better go out and calm her down - again! You’d better call your brother while you’re alone, but you can tell him from me that his sense of timing stinks. Oh, and remind him that everyone in the room hears your voice when you’re talking on a CB.”

Once more I was suddenly alone. I stared at the screen door for several seconds, then sighed and walked over to the CB. I wasn’t in the mood, but Carissa was right, if there was a time to talk to Wil and get done with it, that moment was it. I flopped into a chair and grabbed the microphone.

“Crawford Home, this is Mile High. You wanted me?” I growled. “Crawford Home, this is Mile High, over.”

I’d hardly lifted my thumb from the send switch on the mic. when Wil came back at me.

“Yes, Chris, is she nearby? Over.”

“If you mean Corinna, no. She told me you wanted to talk to me and then ran outside bawling. Carissa went with her. By the way, Carissa said to tell you that your timing sucks eggs. Over,” I wanted to yell at him, but decided I needed to do that later, when no one else could listen in.

“I didn’t know she was there, I just realised she was gone a few minutes ago and called Tom’s folks. They said Corinna had been with Tom in his car and thought they were coming to see you. Over.”

“Well, Tom brought her up. I don’t know what you did, but she seems really upset with you. Over.”

“I didn’t do anything, at least nothing to get mad about. I really don’t get what she was so mad about at all. All I did was comment about her picture. Over.”

“What picture was that? Over,” I sat up and frowned, hoping that he hadn’t screwed up royally.

“The one with the two of them in bed along with you. I was looking for something and happened to see it in her stuff, but I guess she might be touchy about that. Over.”

“OH, WIL! What in blazes were you thinking? First off, what in ‘H’ were you doing looking in her things? Secondly, how could you be so blasted dumb? Don’t you realise both of them feel darn touchy about those pictures? Don’t you know that they still feel that Sid used them and was putting them down? If you said something to tease her about that picture, then there’s no wonder that she got p’d off. Over.”

“But she looks so cute and sexy in that picture. All I did was tell her that I wished it had been me and not you who was there. Maybe I hinted that if I’d been there things would have been different too, but really, it wasn’t any big deal. Over.”

“Oh Wil, you dumb cluck! You couldn’t have done anything stupider if you’d tried. Over.”

“But, what was wrong with what I did? Dammit, all I did was tell her what I felt. That’s when she started comparing me with you and making me sound like a loser. I guess I got a bit riled at that and we did argue a bit, but it was no big deal! I mean I was trying not to get too mad. She just kept pushing my buttons. Over.”

“Will, the CB isn’t the place to talk about this,” I sighed deeply. “She’s here and safe. She’s physically okay, but she’s still mad as a wet hen. I’ll try to calm her down; however, don’t expect to have her come running back to you right away. I’ll explain what I think is going on when I talk to you face to face, but when Mom and Dad get home, you might talk to Mom. She can probably explain even better than I can. Over.”

“Okay, I guess, but tell Corinna that I’m sorry, okay? Over.”

“Oh I will, but having me tell her that won’t help at all. You’re the one who needs to tell her things like that,” I growled. “Over and out.”

With that I pushed my chair back and walked away from the radio, shaking my head. The thing that bothered me the most was the fact that with a lot of the girls I knew, what Wil had done wouldn’t be a big deal. However, with Carissa and Corinna, that sort of thing just wouldn’t fly. They simply didn’t accept the idea of being teased over some things and one of those things was their ‘ladylike’ actions. On top of that I was willing to bet that Wil’s comments about the picture had been more graphic than he’d implied to me, that wouldn’t have flown well either.

As long as I had known them, they had always tried to act prim and proper. Both of them had often lost their tempers if their actions had made them seem the least bit uncouth. I knew they were changing now, after all both of them were openly staying with Wil and me, but the change was coming slowly. The idea of them having their pictures taken when they were nude and in bed with me, then having those pictures seen by others was a horrible insult to them. I could certainly understand that for Wil to think it was ‘cute’ would have upset Corinna, but at the same time, I was sure there was more to the story than what he’d said.

“Now what the hell do I do, get the other side of the story from Corinna? Or would it be better to just leave it alone and keep my nose out of their business?“ I worriedly asked myself as I walked toward the door.

As I stepped outside I was surprised that it was so light, but when I walked down the steps of the front porch and looked up at the sky, I realized that it was bright out because there was a full moon.

“That explains folks acting a bit weird.“ I couldn’t help thinking.

Then I walked over toward the Jeep where the two girls had found seats for themselves. At least Corinna wasn’t bawling her eyes out now and Carissa seemed quite calm as well.

“Hi,” I said, wondering if approaching them was the right thing to do.

“Did you talk to him?” Corinna demanded.

“Unh huh,” I nodded, trying to sound as noncommital as possible.

“And, what did he say?” Carissa demanded this time.

“He wanted me to say he was sorry.”

“Well, duh!” Carissa snapped, then shook her head and grinned sardonically. “Is that all?”

“No.”

“What did he say?” her grin had disappeared.

“That he accidentally saw a picture of us all in bed and that he screwed up by telling Corinna he thought it was cute.”

“That’s not what happened at all,” Corinna snapped. “He must have snooped to find the picture. Well, maybe he didn’t snoop, but he must have been moving my stuff around a lot though. He sure didn’t say he thought the picture was cute. What he said was I had a sexy ass and that he wished he’d been there, not you.”

“Oh?” I tried to sound noncommital again, hoping to draw her out.

“Yeah, then he put his hand on my ass and said that he was tired of playing second fiddle to his younger brother all the time. That’s when I got mad, because up until then, I certainly hadn’t been even thinking about you. I told him so too.”

“Oh great, now I suppose I really am in the middle,” I sighed.

“I think you always were, at least as far as Wil is concerned,” she sighed. “He’s so fucking jealous of you that it’s not funny.”

“What? Why would he be jealous of me?”

“Oh for cripes sake, Chris! Wake up!” she spat her words out. “Fuck! You’re so fucking smart about doing things and so fucking dumb about some people. Jeez, man. Think about the difference in the way people treat the two of you for a change. People have a problem, who do they ask for help? You, of course. Someone gets in trouble, who rescues them? You do, and you make it look easy. Carissa and I pull a dumb stunt that should have pissed you right off, did you get mad? Fuck no, instead you dug in and hauled our asses out of the fire. Look at you right now. You’re up here with a fucking broken arm and leg, working your ass off to help your grandfather. Did you get asked to do it? Nope, you just volunteered and you’re doing a great job of it. Wil never even sees any of the problems until after you’ve fixed them and it bugs his ass.”

“I don’t try to annoy him. I think I’m just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There’s lots of times I wish it wasn’t me in the hot seat, in fact I’d trade places with him if I could.”

“That’s just it,” she threw her hands in the air. “He knows that you aren’t out to be a glory hound or anything and that pisses him off even more.”

“So, what can I do about it,” I sighed.

“Nothing!” Both of them said at once.

“Don’t you dare change,” Carissa grinned at me. “You aren’t the one who is jealous for no real reason. I happen to love the way you just automatically step in and do things to help others. That happens to be one of the reasons why I’m here right now.”

“Unh, thanks, I guess.”

“Oh fuck!” Corinna finally managed a grin and shook her head. “Carissa pays you a huge fucking compliment and you don’t even realise it, do you?”

“I don’t know, I guess I do. What should I do?”

“Give her a huge hug and a big kiss maybe? At least let her know that you accept the compliment.”

“But, I said thanks.”

Carissa just giggled, then slowly turned to Corinna.

“He’s trying to be noble right now and not make you jealous of me like Wil is of him,” she said in a stage whisper. “I’ll bet he gives me a proper thank you later, probably after we’re snuggling together in bed.”

“Just make sure you aren’t too loud about it,” Corinna giggled back. “Otherwise I’ll hear your squeals and groans, then it’ll be me who’ll be jealous. Either that, or I might let my erotic instincts take over and come join in on the fun.”

Just the thought of that idea teased my erotic senses enough that I was glad I was wearing a pair of blue jeans and standing where my crotch wasn’t easily visible in the bright moonlight.

“Dream on, Sister,” Carissa answered after a few seconds of laughter. “What makes you think I’d share?”

“Oh, I don’t know, just the fact that you’re my twin and you know just what I’m feeling all the time.”

“Just because I know you get hot and wet at the idea of a threesome doesn’t mean that I’m going to help you satisfy your prurient curiosity tonight,” Carissa giggled. “Not even if I think it might be fun.”

“Oh cripes,” I groaned. “I looked at the moon before and thought that people were acting weird, but you two are taking the cake.”

“I wasn’t thinking of cake,” Corinna giggled. “What I was thinking of was more of a sister sandwich.”

“Be honest now, Sis. Tell him that you expected to find lots of hot meat in the middle too,” Carissa added with a giggle of her own.

All I could do was shake my head at the two of them. Then it dawned on me that at least Corinna seemed to be in a lot better mood and was no longer mad at the world in general. I stopped myself from making a smart crack about their conversation just in time and simply sighed instead.

“You know, I think we’ve stumped him. He’s not leaping into the fray to help us out with our problem,” Carissa giggled even louder.

“Perhaps he’s wise,” Corinna snorted. “Wise enough to know that two plus one doesn’t always add up correctly. At least it doesn’t add up to anything near equal. One of that number is always going to be left somewhat resentful of that inequality.”

“Hah, a lot you know,” Carissa shot back, her giggle disappearing. “Knowing him, he’d wear himself out before he’d let that happen.”

“I think the whole idea had best be left as a theory,” I broke in before an argument broke out between them.

“Chicken!” Both of them shouted, then broke into laughter again.

“Ya darn tooting,” I laughed. “I want to save some strength for tomorrow, so I can do some fencing while I’ve got the Jeep here to haul posts and stuff.”

“But, you’d have the two of us here to help, wouldn’t that make up the difference?” Corinna chuckled.

“Oh, Sis, forget that.”

“What do you mean, forget that?”

“Oh, it’s just that I know how you and I act when we’re short of sleep and worn to a frazzle,” Carissa sighed. “I’ll be darned if I want to have all three of us dragging our asses around all day just because you’re curious about what you’ve been missing.”

I just threw my hands up and walked away. Carissa was just making things worse as far as I could tell and I wasn’t about to help her.

At that moment Old Duke, the old Collie dog, came over toward me and snuffled my hand. I thought that was strange until I heard a long howl from somewhere off to the west. In only a few seconds another howl answered the first one. I cursed softly under my breath, then realised that I’d shut the young stock in the barn for the night. The older animals could look after themselves, wolves wouldn’t dare bother them much.

“Chris. Is that coyotes or wolves?” Carissa called.

“Wolves, but don’t worry, they’re just howling at the moon,” I answered. “Besides, all the animals that they might tackle are already inside tonight.”

“Yeah? Well we aren’t inside! Not yet!” Corinna squawked, then both she and Carissa seemed to levitate out of the open Jeep and race past me to the front porch.

I couldn’t help it, I broke into laughter as Corinna whipped open the screen door and dashed inside, slamming it behind her.

“What are you laughing at, you damn fool?” Carissa demanded, as she paused near the door, turning to face me.

“Well, it’s early summer, and the wolves won’t be all that hungry at this time of the year. Right now they’d be far more worried about you than you are of them,” I chuckled, then grew more serious. “Now if it was forty below zero and there had been deep snow for weeks, I’d be worried about having any of the stock out in the pasture. But, at this time of the year and with all the young stuff in the barn? Nah, no way! They probably won’t come within a mile of the place.”

“They sound closer than that right now.”

“That’s because it’s a quiet night and the humidity is still high from the rain the other day. Sound travels well in conditions like this.”

“You aren’t bullshitting us, are you?” Corinna asked as she pressed her nose against the screen door.

“Nope, I’m telling you the truth. Besides, if they came anywhere close, old Duke here would warn me. Wouldn’t you, buddy?” I scratched the dog’s ear and he wagged his tail as if agreeing with me.

“You’re sure?” Carissa asked quietly. “I’ve never heard them before, at least not like that. They sound so close.”

“I’m sure. If they were close, the dog would be simply bristling, all the hair on his back would be standing up and he’d be acting defensive. That’s about the time I’d be hauling the old 30-30 off the wall and checking that it was loaded.”

“You’d shoot the wolves?” Corinna asked.

“Well no, not unless I had to,” I sighed. “Only if they were attacking the animals or getting too close to either them or the cabin, anything like that. Then I wouldn’t hesitate.”

“Why only then?”

“Because too many people are hunting them now,” I said quite vehemently. “We’d be in a hell of a fix if all the wolves and coyotes and bears were gone, then the darn rabbit, deer and elk populations would skyrocket. We’d be up to our ears in them and they’d eat all the grass. Then where would we raise cows?”

“I thought all farmers and ranchers hated wolves?” Corinna sounded confused.

“No, not all of them,” I sighed heavily. “Some of us can see that killing off the predators in the wild causes problems. Look what happened in the forties and fifties when there was a big bounty on coyotes and hawks. A tremendous number of them were killed off around here, then the darn rabbits and mice bred like mad. Pretty soon there were so many rodents that they cleaned out vegetable gardens in the summer and ate all the bark and low branches off the young trees in the winter, which killed the dang trees. Then at night there were so many rabbits and mice on the road that cars and trucks were running over them all the time. It was a bloody mess.”

“I remember that,” Carissa nodded.

“Yeah, I remember Daddy running over a rabbit on the road and making us both cry,” Corinna nodded, finally getting the nerve to come back out on the porch. “We weren’t very old though.”

“Old enough to have seen the results of the government being idiotic and passing stupid laws,” I sighed.

“Oh come on, Chris. There are still bounties on some things.”

“Yeah, but most people don’t try to collect them,” I growled. “Bounties are nonsense. Wild animals are part of this country and we need to learn to live with them.”

“Damn, but you’re an idealist,” Carissa chided me.

“Yep, that’s me,” I sighed. “I actually like the song of the wolves.”

“Song? You call that horrid scary noise a song? You’ve got to be kidding?” she stared at me in surprise.

“Nope, that’s a song,” I smiled, as I walked past her and sat down on one of the benches. “To me those howls sound like a melody. These songs tonight sound lonely and haunting, but some nights it sounds more vicious, more like a song of battle.”

“It just sounds scary,” Corinna shivered. “I keep remembering that it’s a full moon and thinking about werewolves.”

“You’ve got too much imagination and have watched too many Hollybush thrillers,” I chuckled.

“Damn, you would make me think of werewolves,” Carissa moved closer to me. “You’d protect us though, if they were werewolves, wouldn’t you, Chris?”

“Oh definitely,” I grinned. “Even if I haven’t a clue where I’d get a silver bullet.”

“That’s not funny,” Corinna snapped.

“Oh come on, you don’t really believe in werewolves?” I snorted loudly. “Those are just crazy stories written by a bunch of nuts and meant to scare kids.”

“Oh, Chris. Don’t tell me you don’t like going to a theatre to watch a scary movie?” Carissa said in a teasing tone.

“Not really,” I shrugged. “But then, what most people think is scary, I usually consider to be just plain stupid. I simply don’t see that it’s worth wasting the time it takes to watch them. I’d much rather read a good book, something that lets me use my own imagination.”

“You’re not very romantic, huh?” Corinna asked.

“What’s romantic about being scared of something that some damn fool dreamed up or had a nightmare about?” I asked at the same time as Carissa snorted.

“Sis, he’s very romantic, only he’s a real time romantic, not an imaginary romantic,” she said flatly. “On top of that, he makes me feel romantic and that’s the best part.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, I’m not sure I can explain, but he opens doors and thinks of what I like, stuff like that. It’s little things that he does automatically, things to let me know that he feels I’m special.”

“Which reminds me, who’d like a cup of hot chocolate?” I asked, trying to change the subject of the conversation.

“I would, but I’ll make it,” Carissa offered, moving toward the door.

“I’ll help, that way I can learn to find my way around this kitchen,” Corinna smiled and stepped inside with her.

“Well, Duke, what do you think?” I asked the old dog who had his head resting on my knee.

Duke was wise. Since he had no opinion, he made no comment, but simply wagged his tail. I chuckled and scratched him behind the ear, then both of us perked up slightly as we heard the wolves again, sounding off one after the other.

“They’re coming closer, old fella,” I said scratched gently. “I wonder what the girls will think of that if they come back outside?”

Duke decided he should move. He slowly stood and moved to the other end of the porch. Just then I was surprised to hear the yipping call of a coyote.

“Wow! That’s rare,” I said to myself, knowing that when wolves were around the coyotes would usually be quiet.

I knew there was no love lost between the two breeds and I frowned as tried to think of a reason why a coyote would draw attention to itself when it knew there were wolves nearby. The only reason I could think of was the possibility that the coyote was protecting a bunch of pups by trying to draw the wolves away from them.

It must have worked too. Only a moment later it sounded as if the wolves had found a scent. Their song now became a hunting bay. I was still listening to that when the door opened and Carissa came back outside with two mugs of cocoa. Even she noticed the difference in the sound.

“What’s up with the wolves? They sound different,” she said just as Corinna came out behind her.

“Well, my guess is that there’s a coyote who has young close by. When the wolves moved down off the hills, a coyote started howling. I think it was trying to draw the wolves away from its den.”