Julia

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Julia went about her business, stopping only once in the day to saddle Eric’s horse for him and wish him a safe journey.  She finished exercising the mare just as the sun reached the peak of its wide arc across the bright blue sky.  It was becoming a very hot day outside, so Julia mucked the stalls and went in to do house chores.
         She started by washing the dishes from breakfast and then began looking around for other things to do.  However, there was not much that needed doing.  Eric demanded that if any mess were made, it would be cleaned as soon as possible, just in case any visitors dropped in unexpectedly.  Thus the house was basically in perfect condition.
         Julia found a dusting cloth and quickly dusted what little furniture there was in the front room.  Then, deciding that there was nothing else to be done inside the house, she decided to do the laundry.  She had done laundry only four days before, but she needed to do something constructive.  Julia was not one to just sit around all day and do nothing, so laundry it was.
         Gathering all the dirty clothing she could find, she dumped it all into a basket and, grabbing a soap bar, headed down to the river.  On her way past the bar she gathered the horse blankets; they could use a scrubbing she decided.  As she gathered them together, she decided that it was a really good idea that she was washing the blankets as well as all the dirty clothing.  Some of them had not seen a bath for far too long and were covered in hair and dust.  They also reeked of musty sweat long dried in a far off corner of the barn.
         The way to the river was a well-worn path from the barn to the back of the house and over a small hill.  Julia walked the distance quickly and came to the river’s edge within minutes.  Taking a deep breath of fresh air she found it was much cooler next to the river than at the house.  The water babbled and bubbled along on its merry way as sunlight reflected off of its clear mirror-like surface.  Looking around cautiously, Julia worked her way through an almost invisible trail in the pussy willow to her left.  The trail was almost too small for Julia and the basket to go through together, but she had been this way numerous times before and working around the tight spots was not very difficult for her as if had been when she first discovered the narrow corridor through the shrubbery.  After about en feet, the massive tangle of green leaves and brown branches cleared into a small open area closed in by trees and bushes.  A beaver dam and a low spot in the bed of the river made a small pool here and everything was cut off from the outside of the world.  Not even small animals ventured here often.  Julia loved to come here and simply enjoy some seclusion and time alone to think.  This was her place to get away when the world seemed to press in too far or when work got to monotonous.
         Julia often did her laundry here.  There was a large rock about three feet into the river that was perfect for scrubbing clothes on.  The water here was very clear because all the silt had plenty of time to settle into the low spot, therefore making it perfectly clean enough to wash things in.  She sat down on the bank, took off her shoes and socks, and then rolled up her pants.  The water felt cool against her feet and the rocks at the bottom of the river were so smooth she never had to worry about hurting her feet.  Julia sighed with contentment as she slowly waded over to the rock that she used to wash. The water was up to her knees as she set the basked on a flat boulder that peeked up out of the water close by and began to wash.  She scrubbed each shirt and pair of pants meticulously, not too hard so as to rip a hole in any of them, but not too soft so that they did not get clean.  Then she carefully rinsed the soap off and laid the clothes on the bushes to dry.  Some of the blankets took extra scrubbing but she finished them quickly.  When everything was finally clean, she slipped out of the water to relax and wait for everything to dry.
         Julia simply lay enjoying the sunlight on the bank and listening to the birds sing harmony to the tune of the river continuously babbled.  As the sun rose higher and higher it began to get hotter.  Julia got up and checked on the cloths.  “Still not dry?” she asked herself.  “I can’t sit here all day waiting for them to dry.  I will go out of my mind with boredom!” S he thought about what she was going to do until everything was done drying.  She was getting awfully hot, even though much of her special place was covered in beautiful shade.  Julia looked to the river and remembered how good the water felt on her bare legs and feet.  Hmmm... she thought to herself.
         Julia quickly stripped down to her under garments, then looked around self-consciously as if to make sure there were not any hidden intruders watching her strip off her clothing.  Julia reassured herself that no one could see her and slipped into the cool water, letting it slowly carry her adrift toward the dam.  As she came nearer to the dam, she saw a pair of chipmunks running across it, fighting over some measly morsel of food. She laughed to herself.  From where she was she could see plenty of berries on the bushes, yet here these animals were fighting over a few simple nuts that had floated up to the dam.  Just when she had nearly drifted close enough to touch them, the tiny animals finally saw her and the “argument’ was quickly settled.  Both chipmunks quickly ran away to find other food.  Julia smiled.  How cute! She thought as she giggled to her self.  Julia swam for a moment longer, diving to the bottom of the river to find interesting rocks, then skipping the flat ones she found and dropping those that were interesting to find another day.
         Julia got out of the water and baked in the sun for a bit while the clothes finished drying.  When they were thoroughly dry, she put her own clothing back on, gathered and folded the laundry, then went back to the house to put it all away.


         Eric’s horse was beginning to slow down.  They had been trudging through the mountains all day and now the sun was going down.  “Come on boy, not too far now.  See that last stand of first?”  Eric’s horse shook his mane and swiveled his ears around as if to say, I see it.  So who cares?  “Well, just past that stand of trees is a trail.  We just go down the trail about a mile and then we are there.  Think you can last about thirty minutes old boy?”  Eric’s horse just walked all the slower. At this rate it’ll be an hour! Eric thought to himself.
         Eric was right.  About an hour later, he finally rode up to the house.  The farmer saw them coming and quickly came out with his wife as they neared the front of the small cabin.  “Mr. Norman, you made it finally!” called the short, slightly balding man.  “We were getting a bit worried that perhaps you would not get here.”  The man took the reigns as Eric dismounted and the two men shook hands.
         “Ooh!”  Eric said as he landed on the ground.  He rubbed his back and legs.  “Sorry John.  I would have been here sooner except that my horse got tired about a mile from here and decided that he would walk just as slow as he wanted to.  I just did not have the heart to urge him on any faster.  It has been a long day!”
         “Yes, it is a hard journey to make,” commented john’s wife Maryanne.  “But we are very grateful that you took time away from your ranch to make it.”  She was a stout woman in her mid-30’s, with curly brown hair and a bright face.  “Do come in and make yourself comfortable Mr. Norman.  Supper will be ready in a few minutes.  I just need to let he biscuits bake a little longer.”
         “I’ll take care of your horse,” offered John.
         “Thanks John.  I really appreciate that,” replied Eric.
         “Don’t mention it.  Really, it is the least I could do since you have come all this way.”
         “Why don’t you bring your things in the house?  We’ll get you settled in and then we can eat,” said Maryanne as she turned toward the house.  Eric hefted his bags off the horse and followed her into the cabin as John led the horse to the barn.
         The house was small and made entirely out of dark brown logs.  It contained only one room in the front hat served as the kitchen/dining/living room, and two small bedrooms.  The front room contained only a stove, a table with four chairs, and a fireplace.  The room its self was only about sixteen feet by sixteen feet, but it was cozy and well kept.  The floor was swept and scrubbed; the logs and the mortar that made up the walls were in good repair.  Everything was spic and span.  Much better than some of the other houses I’ve visited in this area.  People in the mountains did not seem to keep their houses this clean, for they seldom had visitors.  John McClooney’s house however seemed to be well cared for.
         “Dinner will only be a moment longer,” said Mrs. McClooney as she peeked in the oven at the biscuits.  “Your room is the one to the left, just go on in and make yourself comfy, then when you come out, I’ll set the table and dinner will be ready.”
         Eric looked around.  “This room right here?” he asked pointing to the room just to the right of the stove. 
         “Yes hon.  You just go on in there and put your things away, then tidy up a bit and we can have dinner.”  She smiled and put on an oven mitt so as not to burn her hand when she opened the door as she checked the biscuits once again.
         Eric felt slightly uncomfortable just walking alone where ever he wanted to in a strange house, even one as small as the McClooney’s home.  He stood in the middle of the room for a moment before finally walking over to the indicated door and entering.
         The room was sparsely furnished, just like the rest of the house, but it was clean.  He guessed that these people must baby-sit often, for the only things in the room besides the bed were a crib and a box full of toys.  Either that or they must have once had children.  He wondered what had happened to them if there had in fact been little ones in John and Maryanne’s lives.  The couple was certainly not old enough to have fully raised any children.  He decided not to ask about the things in his room.  He did not want to treat on painful ground with these nice people.  Looking around at the furniture and pondering a little more exactly where it came from, he simply set his things down at the foot of the bed, not bothering to unpack his bag and put his things in drawers.  I should not be here more than a day or so, he thought to himself.  After taking one last look around, he left the room to join Mr. and Mrs. McClooney for dinner.


         “Ahh.” Julia sighed as she sat down in the chair next to the fireplace.  It felt good to just sit after a long day of work.  Julia held a cup of steaming coffee in her hands, smelling the sweet aroma and savoring the warmth of the liquid.  This was her way to relax when the day was done and the barn had been locked for her way to relax when the day was done and barn had been locked for the night with the horses all safely inside.  Normally she shared this time with Eric, talking and thinking over business with him. Now that he was not here, she could easily forget everything that might be on her mind and relax.  Suddenly she heard a very loud howling.
         “So much for relaxing!” thought Julia.  She got up and went to the front door.
         “Shut up!” she yelled to Jason through the door.  “You are used to sleeping outside and I am not letting you in!”  The howling stopped.  “Good!”  Julia said with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.  She started whining.  “NO!”  Julia shouted.  The whining increased.  “Grrr!”  Julia said.  She got up again, walked over to the door and opened it.  Jason was sitting on the front porch with his back to her.  When he heard the door creak he jumped u p wagging his tail and panting.  “Hush.  I don’t want to put up with you!  In fact, I did not even want Eric to leave you here in the first place!  So if you are so lonely or whatever, just go home!”  Julia scolded.  Jason just sat there looking at her as if she had given him a compliment.  “You are not coming in the house.  Shoo, shoo.” she said waving him away from the porch.  Jason sat and looked puzzled.  Julia huffed and went back in the house, slamming the door as if to accent her firm resolve that he was not to be let in.
         Julia’s whole mood had been spoiled.  She poured the last of her coffee out then blew out all the candles but one, which she took to her room.  Julia sat on her bed for a moment listening to the night.  Then, satisfied that the dog would stay quiet, she slipped under the comfortable covers.  “Mmm,” she sighed with contentment.  Her bed was a welcome thing after the long day of work.
         No sooner was she drifting off to sleep than Jason began to howl once more.  “Oh no!  Not again!” Julia moaned as she climbed out of her warm bed.  The sound was coming from under her bedroom window.  She realized that Jason must have followed the light of the candle to her room. She opened her curtains.  “SHUT UP!”  Jason was sitting under her window panting and slobbering all over the grass beneath him.  He looked up at her and whined.  “NO!” she said with the meanest scowl she could muster.  He just looked at her all the more longingly.  Julia shut her window and then went back to bed determined not to let him keep her from sleep.  “I am not letting that dog in this house!” she said to herself with firm resolve.  Jason began his howling again.  Julia pulled the covers over her head and smashed her ear into the pillow in an unsuccessful attempt to drown out the sound.  “This is going to be a long night.” she moaned.


         Julia sat on her bed.  Her hair was tousled and her eyes drooped, but no matter how hard she tried, she could neither sleep nor get Jason to be quite.
         “Why won’t he just shut up?” Julia moaned, and then began to cry.  Jason stopped his howling only for a moment, but began again, this time louder than ever.  Julia’s cry turned into sobbing as she got up out of her bed and walked through the kitchen to the front door.  When she opened it up, Jason was on the front porch with his back to her.  He did not even stop his noise when she opened the door this time.  It was not until she spoke that he finally stopped and turned around to look at her.
         “What do you want?” she wailed.  Tears streamed down Julia’s face as she pleaded with the dog who simply stood in front of her, wagging his tail in delight that someone was paying attention to him.  “Why won’t you let me sleep? What is it you want?”  Jason looked up at the bawling, tired, tousled woman before him with seemingly a grin on his chops.  “What do you want?”  Julia squeaked once more.
         Jason looked in the door to the front room.  Then got up, and not waiting for a word form Julia, padded into the house.  This of course made Julia cry all the harder.
         “I don’t want you in the house!” she wailed.  “You are filthy, stinky and I don’t like you!” Jason looked up at Julia and whined a plea to let him stay.
         Julia ignored him and went to her room, not bothering to shut her door when she got there.  She was simply too tired to even care anymore.  She crawled into bed, still crying.  Soon after she had settled in, she heard a soft padding through the front room and down the hall.  Jason came up to her bed and let out a soft whine, then lay down at the foot of her bed.  He fell asleep there, and not long after, Julia was sleeping as well.