The Anything Box

"Oh, Crae!" Ellena cried reproachfully, "Don't spoil it!" She pushed himflat on the blanket and collapsed, laughing, against him.
"Oof!" grunted Crae. "A few more weeks of six fish at a sitting and all therest of the grub you're stashing away and I'll have to haul you home in astock trailer!"
"Six fish!" Ellena pummeled him with both fists. "I'm darn lucky to salvagetwo out of the ten when you get started—and I saw you letting your belt outthree notches. Now who's fat stuff!"
ABC Amber Palm Converter,http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
They scuffled, laughing helplessly, until they both rolled off the blanket
onto the squishy black ground that was still wet from spring and the nearness
of the creek. Ellena shrieked and Crae, scrambling to his feet yanked her up
to him. For a long minute they stood locked in each other's arms, listening to
the muted roar of the little falls just above camp and a bird crying, "See me?
See me?" from the top of a spruce somewhere.
Then Ellena stirred and half-whispered, "Oh, Crae, it's so wonderful up
here. Why can't it always—" Then she bit her lip and buried her face against
him.
Crae's heart reluctantly took up it's burden again. "Please God, it will
be," he promised. "Like this always." And she lifted her face to his kiss.
Then he pushed her away.
"Now, Frau, break out the corn meal and the frying pan again. I'm off to
the races." He slipped the creel on and picked up his rod. "I'm going down
where the old beaver dam used to be. That's where the big ones are, I’ll
betcha."
" 'By, honey," Ellena kissed the end of his sunburned nose. "Personally, I
think I'll have a cheese sandwich for supper. A little fish goes a long way
with me."
"Woman!" Crae was horrified. "What you said!"
He looked back from the top of the logging railroad embankment and saw
Ellena squatting down by the creek, dipping water into the blackened five
gallon can they used for a water heater. He yelled down at her and she waved
at him, then turned back to her work. Crae filled his lungs with the crisp
scented air and looked slowly around at the wooded hills, still cherishing
drifts of snow in their shadowy folds, the high reaching mountains that lifted
the spruce and scattered pines against an achingly blue sky, the creek,
brawling its flooded way like an exuberant snake flinging its shining loops
first one way and then another, and his tight little, tidy little camp tucked
into one of the wider loops of the creek.
"This is it," he thought happily. "From perfection like this, we can't help
getting straightened out. All I needed was a breathing spell."
Then he set out with swinging steps down the far side of the embankment.
Crae huddled deeper in his light Levi jacket as he topped the rise on the
return trip. The clouds were no longer white shining towers of pearl and blue,
but heavy rolling gray, blanketing the sky. The temperature had dropped with
the loss of the sun, and he shivered in the sudden blare of wind that slapped
him in the face with a dozen hail-hard raindrops and then died.
But his creel hung heavy on his hip and he stepped along lightly, still
riding on his noontime delight. His eyes sought out the camp and he opened his
mouth to yell for Ellena. His steps slowed and stopped and his face smoothed
out blankly as he looked at the strange car pulled up behind theirs.
The sick throbbing inside him began again and the blinding flame began to
flicker behind his eyes. With a desperate firmness he soothed himself and
walked slowly down to camp. As he neared the tent, the flap was pushed open
and Ellena and several men crowded out into the chill wind.
"See," cried Ellena, "Here's Crae now." She ran to him, face aglow—and eyes
pleading. "How did you do, honey?"
"Pretty good." Somewhere he stood off and admired the naturalness of his
answer. "Nearly got my limit, but of course the biggest one got away. No
fooling!"
Ellena and the strange faces laughed with him and then they were all
crowding around, admiring the catch and pressing the bottle into his cold
hands.
"Come on in the tent," Ellena tugged at his arm. "We've got a fire going.
It got too cold to sit outdoors."
Then she was introducing the men in the flare and hiss of the Coleman
lantern while they warmed themselves at the little tin stove that was
muttering over the pine knots just pushed in.
ABC Amber Palm Converter,http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"This is Jess and Doc and Stubby and Dave." She looked up at Crae. "My
husband, Crae."
"Howdy," said Crae.
"Hi, Crae." Jess stuck out a huge hand. "Fine wife you got there. Snatched
us from death's door. Hot coffee and that ever lovin' old bottle. We were
colder'n a dead Eskimo's—wup—ladies present."
Ellena laughed. "Well, lady or not, I know the rest of that one. But now
that we've got fish again, why don't you men stay for supper?" She glanced
over at Crae.
"Sure," said Crae, carefully cordial. "Why not?"
"Thanks," said Jess. "But we've stayed too long now. Fascinating woman,
your wife, Crae. Couldn't tear ourselves away, but now the old man's home—" He
roared with laughter. "Guess we better slope, huh, fellers? Gotta pitch camp
before dark."
"Yeah. Can't make any time with the husband around," said Stubby. Then he
leaned over and stage-whispered to Ellena, "I ain't so crazy "bout fishing.
How ’bout letting me know when he's gone again?"
After the laughter, Crae said, "Better have another jolt before you get out
into the weather." So the bottle made the rounds slowly and finally everyone
ducked out of the tent into the bleakly windy out-of-doors. The men piled into
the car and Jess leaned out the window.
"Thought we'd camp up above you," he roared against the wind, "but it's
flooded out. Guess well go on downstream to the other campground." He looked
around admiringly. "Tight little setup you got here."
"Thanks," yelled Crae. "We think so too."
"Well, be seeing you!" And the car surged up the sharp drop from the road,
the little trailer swishing along in back. Crae and Ellena watched them
disappear over the railroad.
"Well," Crae turned and laid his fist against Ellena's cheek and pushed
lightly. "How about chow, Frau? Might as well get supper over with. Looks like
we're in for some weather."
"Okay, boss," Ellena's eyes were shining. "Right away, sir!" And she
scurried away, calling back, "But you'd better get the innards out of those
denizens of the deep so I can get them in the pan."
"Okay." Crae moved slowly and carefully as though something might break if
he moved fast. He squatted by the edge of the stream and clumsily began to
clean the fish. When he had finished, his hands were numb from the icy snow
water and the persistent wind out of the west, but not nearly as numb as he
felt inside. He carried the fish over to the cook bench where Ellena shivered
over the two-burner stove.