I know Kate’s a little sad still about the cabin being gone. I mean, her father built it and she was born in it, so I can understand. But the new house is so cool, and the way it got built is even cooler. Ms. Doogan said it was positively Amish.
Van is living with Mr. and Mrs. Mike. She says it seems kind of funny to be living with the parents of the guy her uncle murdered, but she says they love kids and that seems to include her. They’ve got a little baby they adopted from Korea and sometimes she baby-sits and she likes that, too, especially since they pay her. There might be some trouble with DYFS when they find out that Billy and Annie just took her in, Kate says, and I’m quoting, “but it’s not like we haven’t bearded that lion in his den and whupped his ass before.” Sheesh.
Van says they talk at the Mikes, and you can play music and make as much noise as you want, Annie doesn’t mind. I’m letting Van settle in and then I’ll go visit. Mrs. Mike makes fry bread almost as good as Auntie Vi’s.
Jim hasn’t been around much lately, but we heard that Virgil Hagberg pled guilty to all charges. Auntie Vi says the stuffing went out of him when Telma was put into care, whatever that means. Hard to feel sorry for him. I mean, he killed two people and he would have killed Kate if we hadn’t shown up in time. And me, when he burned down the cabin. And Mutt. Still, it’s sad. Those poor dead babies. Mrs. Hagberg must really be crazy.
I’ve been reading up on the corvis family of birds, magpies, crows, jays, and ravens. I was having a hard time dealing with what they did to Mr. Mike’s son. I know it’s just nature but it was really ugly. I told Ruthe about it and she gave me a couple of books and I’ve been reading them. This Bernd Heinrich guy has spent a whole lot of time with birds, I’ll say that much for him.
I think I saw a wolverine the other day. I didn’t tell Kate because she hates them, which is kind of funny because she’s kind of like a wolverine. They’re pretty solitary and so is she. They defend what’s theirs and so does she. They need a lot of territory, a lot of space, and so does she. They stay off by themselves except in mating season. No way I’m going near that one. The wolverine I saw was beautiful, almost black with two lighter stripes down its sides, real shiny coat, shiny as Kate’s hair. It looked very tough and muscular, able to take care of itself. That’s like Kate, too.
Kate’s got her bedroom in the loft and I can hear her moving around up there. She’s already scrounging for some Blazo boxes so she can have shelves. I tell her she ought to break down and buy a dresser, but she say that an old Blazo box is probably better made than any new piece of furniture. I don’t know, my new bed is kinda comfortable. I like it.
The other day I asked Kate a question. “Why don’t you carry a gun?” I said. I mean, if she carried a gun, no way would Mr. Hagberg have been able to take her out with a shovel. Dad had a gun. Jim Chopin has a gun. Kate gets into it with bad guys all the time. I can’t figure why she doesn’t carry one. And then when she does, like when she grabbed the rifle when we heard Mac Devlin’s Cat up the trail, she never even took the safety off.
She got this funny look on her face. “Guns are too easy,” she said. And that’s all she said.
So now I’m wondering. Too easy for what? Too easy to shoot? But if someone’s trying to kill you you’ve got a right to defend yourself, and why should you have to work at it, why shouldn’t it be easy?
I’ll never understand Kate. Van says maybe I’m not supposed to, and maybe I’m not. She’s got a lot to teach me, though, Kate does, and I want to learn it all.
I’m home.
Dana Stabenow
