mOther: The Great Dark
A story of rewilding
Sarah, ‘Serendipity,’ crept up the lodge stairwell, depositing Brian in a large upstairs room, saying, “Make yourself at home. Dad will help you with your truck in the morning.”
Brian thanked her but didn’t mention he knew nothing about fixing cars. He inspected the space. Safe space. It was a great room with an open log ceiling and creaky wooden floor that hid nothing. Looked like it was used as a second family room; there wasn’t much up here. He guessed that someone like Mel got a bedroom.
Brian tossed open a nylon blue sleeping bag. It unraveled like a midnight tell-all.
Moth balls, dust, or whatever arose from his father’s old sleeping bag. His mom and real dad once had used these matching, connectable bags for backpacking. What the hell happened after dad…? And where was the other sleeping bag. Donated to the Good Will? His mom didn’t even car camp with her second husband.
He grabbed a dog bed from the corner and laid his sleeping bag on top. He drew off his t-shirt and balled it inside-out, placing it at the top of his ‘bed.’ A plastic cup of luke-warm lodge water went beside. They filtered the spring water and dispensed it from water tanks downstairs. There was no bathroom up here. He folded his jeans and placed them over tennis shoes.
He sniffed, and swiped his nose. Last night he’d slept in a twin bed he’d thought was his. A dented spot on his blankets, which he’d protected from getting upset, was where Marx, the gray tomcat, had liked to sleep. Wasn’t life painful enough without his parents…? Fuck. Most his clothes. A drum set in the corner. All gone by afternoon.
Brian kicked the dog bed to perk it up. He was glad he’d packed his truck before school. She’d warned him, but he hadn’t really believed her. That they’d pack while he attended the last day of school and be gone by the time he came home was unbelievable. They didn’t even leave a card. They were unbelievable. He would never forgive her compliance.
Brian turned off the hanging light overhead and crawled into his bag. Cold against his skin. It was a very dark night, so dark in this little place there weren’t city lights or anything. The room began to speak to him using tiny noises he wasn’t used to. Creaks and cracks. Wood settling as cold settled into the mountain valley. Skittering. Was that a mouse. His toes curled in. Maybe a raccoon? Skittering growing to galloping on the roof was clearly a four-legged animal racing across.
Laughter, giggling outside. Brian opened his eyes to the little starlight there was peeping through the bank of windows facing the mountain skyline. And he drew himself up to look.
***
“Come on, Mel!” Seren called from the edge of the steaming pool which reflected stars like an ink-black sky.
Seren had her little orange bikini on. Must live in it, Mel thought. Could Mel live in a bathing suit? She shuttered.
Mel called, “I’m good right here, thanks!”
Seren’s eyelids narrowed into this flat look. “You’ll enjoy it, I promise.”
Seren pranced up and grabbed Mel’s hand. Mel’s eyes widened. No one touched Mel without asking. Her spikiness kept them away, usually. As if they thought her spiky dark hair was actually sharp.
“Um, I still don’t have a suit,” Mel said.
“Just go naked! There’s no one else out here.” Seren smiled encouragingly like Mel was the kid in this situation.
Mel blushed. Another first.
“I don’t swim,” Mel confided. “Last thing you need is a drowned body.”
Seren stood back inspecting her. “Is that why you wanted front desk?”
Mel nodded.
Seren said, “You’ll have to learn, then!” But her expression wrinkled as she looked over the inky surface. “In the daylight, I guess.”
Her baby blue eyes tossed a look at Mel that made Mel’s heart skip. “Stay safe, Melly baby. I’m going in!”
Seren dropped Mel’s hand suddenly and walked to water’s edge. Steam and starlight caressed Seren’s curves as she slid the backs of her hands down her legs, sliding off her bottoms and popping off the top. Then she dove in. Mel’s heart nearly stopped.
She came up grinning and spitting. Mel couldn’t help but giggle when Seren hooted like an owl.
“It’s warm, alright!” Seren flipped to her back and swam around like a fish, the tips of her breasts disappearing and reappearing under silken waves.
Mel looked for a patio chair. Probably rude, and maybe not the safest, to just leave her swimming alone. You’re never supposed to leave a kid in the pool alone, for instance. Of course, obviously, Seren was a young woman. Not the toddler Mel should have been nannying. But what about cramps?
“Not that I’d be much help,” Mel murmured. She could swim, actually, but not well enough to save someone. Really she just didn’t want to show her lumpy body.
If something did happen, she’d yell for help, Mel supposed. She reviewed the lodge, wondering where that boy was staying.
Mel narrowed eyes as she noticed a shadow in the top window draw away silently. She was pretty sure Dad slept in the cabin by the driveway. Of course it was that boy. Mel settled into an Adirondack chair smugly. Who wouldn’t want to watch Ms. Dippitty-Doo swim naked? She did.
***
At the window, Brian swallowed, deciding it wasn’t worth feeling shame. They were the ones making all the noise. It was just a peek to check that everyone was OK.
But now he lay wide awake on his makeshift bed, wishing they’d stop. Undoubtably it would be a while before he could fall asleep. A big splash and laughter made him jump. So easy to imagine Serendipity’s Venus-like figure.
He sipped down the whole cup of water and tried to think of other things than the girls. His view out the window, lying on his back, showed a dark sky and even darker mountain range. But he could pick out the branches of the tree growing in the corner of the lodge. The branches were almost black, but really a forest green so deep they just looked black. The patio finally became silent. He let his thoughts drift. His vision landed softly on each branch humming with wind picking up. Then humming in a silver cast glowing on gray-green tips. The moon was coming out.
This is an OK place, he decided. It would be great if they had a cat. But he’d landed OK for now. He sleepily blinked at the branches, then noticed a particular branch bent more upright than the others. It was a long branch sort of split away. Maybe an old lightning strike caused a second tree top to grow. A two-headed monster, but it was just a tree. Or so he thought. The space between branches didn’t hum with the wind. It was perfectly still. He focused in. The space between grew bright with the moonrise behind it, but then he could see mountains surrounding it—not darkened but green and surreal like a painting of a mountainside. What??? It should be all moonlight, but an eagle flew through the space, tracking critters in green treetops below, just like it was broad daylight in the framed painting.
What??? Nothing, Brian, it’s just a dream. He was sliding into sleep. Close your eyes, he thought, or you’ll dream awake.
Later he would wonder how many crazy dreams he’d had. Because once he was fully asleep, he dreamt he walked out to the patio and stood beside the pool. He could see straight down to its rock bottom and a rock ledge beneath. He could almost feel the smooth ripples, and heat rising from the rough bedrock. In his dream, he was the one who stripped down naked, swam to the bottom, and felt the rough ledge. He placed his hand inside. The crack encompassed more rock, but different. There were ancient tiles made of lava rock exposed by the breaking of the ledge.
Subscribe to get extra content that’s extra juicy!!!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Magical Western to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.