Chapter 7

Thursday, November 1, 2001

Randy felt just a little bit smug as he walked into the Spearfish Lake Cafe the next morning, but he tried to look normal. He and Nicole hadn't had a night like that in far too long. Until recently, he'd often felt too busy or tired for sex, and really, Nicole did, too. But for a start in the afternoon, then a well-needed break before a second round – well, it beat the hell out of going to bed too tired to enjoy it. Maybe they'd learned something; if so, it was about time they did.

Pretty much the usual crew was around the big table in the back of the place – it was never the same from day to day, but usually didn't change much. The dog town gang was there, even Candice, which was a little rare; usually she tried to get her kids off to school before she headed out to the dog yard.

Although he pitched in with helping to train the dogs from time to time, Randy really wasn't the committed dog musher that people like Phil, Josh, Tiffany, Duane and Candice were. In a way, it was kind of a shame, because it was something he could do in the winter when times were slow, and could lead to some real adventure. Two years ago, Candice had been a bookkeeper in a bank and had never been behind a dog team, but after she and her husband John moved to Spearfish Lake, she'd gotten involved, at least partly because Josh and Tiffany were brother and sister-in-laws. She liked it, had some talent at it, and now she was slated for taking Phil's junior varsity team to the Iditarod, the thousand-mile dog sled race across Alaska – just the kind of adventure that Randy could have loved, if he'd been a little more open to the idea. Well, water down the river, he thought. Another chance missed, and this time there was no one to blame but himself.

"You guys are looking a little brighter this morning," Randy said by way of introduction. "At least the rain quit."

"Yeah, but it's mud all the hell over everywhere," Josh snorted. "No snow even in the long range, just more rain. We've been kicking around the idea of loading up the prime dogs and heading for some snow, if we can find some on the ground anywhere."

"Anything close?"

"Not that we can find out. They're getting the same crap up in Ontario on the far side of the lake. It's getting to the point where it might be easier to head out to the Rockies somewhere. I know there are some ski resorts open, but that doesn't mean there's trail snow. They've got all those snowmaking machines on the slopes. We're going to have to spend some time on the Internet, I guess."

"Crystal worked one winter at a place called Cooper Hill," Randy suggested. "She said it was right up there but they had real snow early."

"I've heard of it," Duane commented. "Jim, Scooter's guy, worked there several winters. You're right, it's up there in elevation, but that might not be the best for training."

"Can't be worse than all the damn mud we have around here," Josh snorted. "On the other hand, the only sure way to get snow ass deep around here is to head off somewhere else to look for it."

"That's November for you; you never know," Randy nodded. "We don't usually get serious snow until the later part of the month, anyway."

"Yeah, that's true," Phil nodded. A long, rangy guy who had made a pile as a tech rep and writing software, he owned the operation but deferred as needed to Josh and Tiffany's experience. "Except that you know those guys in Alaska are training on snow and we're sitting around bitching about the weather. OK, Josh, let's try this idea on for size: how about if Duane and I load up the truck with as many prime dogs as we can get aboard, and come back when there's snow. I know you and Tiff and Candice can't leave for that long this time of the year, but Duane and I should be able to. That'll leave someone here to take care of the dogs left behind, and maybe do some training if the chance comes up."

"Might work," Josh said after a moment's consideration. "Let's spend a little time checking snow conditions out there before we go crazy about it, though. It's going to take a day to load up and two days to get out there, however you cut it."

"Well, Duane and I can get started with getting stuff around to load," Phil pointed out. "It's not like we have anything else we can do today, and there's bound to be snow somewhere out west. If Colorado doesn't have it, maybe Montana or something."

"I'd almost prefer Montana; it's a little closer the way the roads run and it's not quite as high."

"Look for a snow cover map on the Internet," Randy suggested. "I know I've seen one somewhere, I don't remember if it was National Weather Service or Weather Underground or some college or what. Any search engine ought to weasel it out for you."

"Yeah, that's a thought," Josh nodded. "Tiff, figure out what dogs he should take. They can take the big dog box, so that's a maximum of forty dogs. I don't think we should double bunk them for that long of a trip. Phil, you and Duane can start getting your shit together while I look for snow."

"Just as another thought," Randy put in, "Why not call the OLTA, that place Crystal and Scooter and Nicole went to? They're in Idaho somewhere, they ought to know where there's some snow and some trails you could train on. Nicole says they get a pot load of snow there in the winter."

"Good thought," Josh smiled. "See if you can get hold of Nicole, give us some idea of who to talk to."

"I'll run over to the school as soon as I get done with breakfast," Randy promised. "I'll let you know as soon as I know."

"OK, folks," Josh summed up. "It looks like we've got the outline of a plan. Hang loose, things could change. Duane, I hope this won't ball up your going to Crystal's wedding, but hopefully you'll be back here before then. If not, we'll just have to play it by ear."

"Yeah, I hope not, too," he said. "Randy, looks like we're going to have to hang loose on those plans we were talking about."

"You'll learn what I learned," Randy said, not altogether sarcastically. "Don't plan things too tightly since things come up that will change any plan you make." He lightened up a bit and continued, "I talked with Nicole about having you over for dinner one day next week to work out the details, but I guess that just got sluiced, too. Try to stay in touch, maybe it will still work."

--

Trey had thought for months that one of the neat things about being a senior was that he was able to avoid eight o'clock classes.

Though Trey had spent four years in the Army and was pretty good about getting around in the morning, he still occasionally enjoyed the pure, indolent sloth of sleeping in once in a while, and not having to drag his butt out of bed to face a cold November day.

Thus it was that Trey was still asleep when his cell phone started going off. The noise took a while to penetrate his consciousness, and it took him longer to fumble around, find it, and answer it. "Yeah?" he said sleepily into the little plastic box that had disturbed his slumber.

"Hey Trey, show a leg," Blake giggled. "Are you planning on sleeping all day?"

"Give me a break, there's an hour time difference here in Kansas City and I don't have a class till ten," he grumbled. "So what can I help you with this morning, anyway?"

"Is Myleigh around?"

"No, she had an eight o'clock class with a bunch of freshmen. Usually we get together for breakfast when she doesn't have one, but this was my morning to sleep in."

"So you just let her get up and head out by herself while you pound the pillow?" Blake teased. "I figured you'd get up and make breakfast for her, to get her out the door with a spring in her step."

"No 'let' involved," Trey replied. "We're not living together. She stays at her apartment, and I'm in my dorm room."

"I find that hard to believe," Blake grinned. "You two could barely keep your hands off of each other when you were up here last weekend."

"Believe it," Trey said. "You have to remember that this is a small college. If you think gossip gets around small towns, you haven't seen how the faculty gossip at a small college. People would really look down their noses at a professor and a student living together. In two months, I'll have graduated, and no one will give a shit." Trey almost added something more, but decided it wasn't any of Blake's business to know he and Myleigh weren't sleeping together, either. Though neither of them were virgins, they'd decided together that their marriage would be more meaningful to them if they hadn't had sex before marriage. Trey thought the decision had surprised both of them, but it set well with him, too.

"Boy, that sure seems strange in this day and age," Blake teased again.

"Says the guy who lived with his girlfriend for seventeen years before he married her," Trey teased right back. Blake had admitted to him that there was a damn good reason they'd waited so long to get married. "Besides, look at Randy and Nicole. They didn't live together before they got married."

"Small town, and the gossip works here, too," Blake shrugged. "So, are you getting used to the idea?"

"I think so," Trey told him. "Shit, a lot came down in a hurry last weekend. My head is still spinning. So, what have you got on your mind this morning?"

"Oh, Jennifer and I were just talking about plans and schedules," Blake replied, more businesslike now. "We're trying to get arrangements pulled together for the next album but there's no way we can start to record before the middle of summer, what with Jennifer being pregnant again. She says she can't sing right when she's that big. The thing is that Randy is coming along pretty good on the new studio, and we should be able to use it some along about February or March. What I was thinking is that you might like to come up here sometime before that and set up and adjust the recording equipment the way you want it to be."

A big part of Trey's new job with Blake and Jennifer was operating as their recording engineer. He'd worked with them recording Whispering Pines the summer before, and it had worked out so well that the job offer had eventually come out of it, along with doing some other management tasks for Blake and Jennifer. "Yeah, that might not be the dumbest idea I ever heard," Trey admitted.

"Once we get it up and running, maybe we can get Nola Johnson in here to work on her album. I know I told you last weekend that we had to put her off again, and she's not real happy about it."

"I suppose I could," Trey replied. "At one time I was thinking about taking some classes for my master's, but it's not clear how they'd transfer to the program at Weatherford. This is all so new, we haven't had time to check. Actually, I wouldn't mind having the excuse to put them off until after next spring."