A Guest for Halloween
A Lex & Ricky Mystery
by
William Henderson
SMASHWORDS EDITION
*****
PUBLISHED BY
William Henderson on Smashwords
A Guest for Halloween
A Lex & Ricky Mystery
Copyright ©2011 by William Henderson
All Rights Reserved
*****
If you like working with maps and would enjoy viewing the places that Lex & Ricky visit in this mystery, like the Tseax Cone and lava flow, then check out our map, A Guest for Halloween at Google.
Hopefully you enjoyed the first Lex & Ricky mystery. If you have any questions regarding the story, please email me and I will respond within a few days. If you are interested in reading the next Lex & Ricky mystery coming in February 2011 and would like to receive a discount coupon, simply send me an email to:
whenderson@in2000days.com
with the answer to the following mystery question, which can be puzzled out by reading the story:
"What is the approximate age of Lex & Ricky's mom, Karen?"
*****
A GUEST FOR HALLOWEEN
A Lex & Ricky Mystery
TO MY BOYS, NICK AND BEN
Chapter 1: The Coming Home
“It’s my turn, now,” Ricky was telling Lex for the third time, as he turned up the music even louder on his iPod, just to annoy him.
“Shut up, dickhead!” Lex dismissed him like he was brushing off a mosquito. The older brother was busy competing on-line with some guy named RangerBob to kill the most Nazi zombies.
“C’mon, Lex. It’s my turn!” implored Ricky, as he reached for the game controller.
“Buzz off, puke!” Lex turned his shoulder away from his little brother. “Awww, look what you made me do, you jerk!” cried Lex as he punched Ricky in the leg. “Here, you killed me anyway. You might as well have it now!” Lex tossed the controller at Ricky who had retracted into a ball with his knees drawn up to his chest at the far end of the couch.
Ricky didn’t just want to play the game, he wanted to play with Lex, like they used to. “Let’s play Little Big Planet so we can both play,” pleaded Ricky.
“You always want your own way. I hate you,” declared Lex as he got up and walked toward the game console.
“Turn it off, Alex,” the boys’ mother, Karen appeared in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen.
“Oh, hey Mom we didn’t know you where home from work already,” declared Lex looking surprised.
“Obviously, or you wouldn’t be playing the game like I asked you until after dark. And if I ever see you hit your brother again you won’t be playing that bloody game at all!” Karen chided Lex. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Look at the size of you!”
At twelve years old Lex was already taller than his mother and he had the raven black hair and tanned skin that she inherited from her father, a Gitselasu.
“Now it’s an hour until supper. Go out and see if you can meet some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Just be back in an hour!” Karen commanded as she turned to unload the groceries on the kitchen table.
The boys felt lost since moving to the small town of Terrace in northern British Columbia. The pace of life and number of distractions were nothing like those in Vancouver. They didn’t know what to do with themselves. They missed their friends and they missed their dad. To make matters worse they didn’t even live in town. Their place was out in the boonies several miles southeast of town off a main road, called the Old Lakelse Lake Drive. Apparently, the house was left to their mom and her brother Jeff, by their grandfather when he passed away two years ago. It was the house she grew up in.
There were a few streets to the west on the other side of the main road but the bush seemed more worthy of investigation. Especially considering the mood Lex found himself in. Ricky found some branch and was thrashing the brush as he tagged along behind. Lex felt guilty for resenting his constant companion. Their new place was one of two lots at the dead end of a gravel street. A large field of tall grass was straight out the kitchen door. Lex wandered aimlessly across the field until he detected a trail in the bush that gradually climbed the hill before them. They followed the trail through the close bush for a while until it gave way to a stand of old growth Western red cedars, Sitka spruce and hemlock trees. What little light made it through the canopy nourished the saplings and ferns that seemed to completely cover the forest floor. The boys stood for a moment and marveled at the sheer size of these ancient trees. Their uncle told them that many were over 150 feet tall and hundreds of years old.
“Do you think it will be easy to make new friends, Lex?” asked Ricky as he swatted every flower and bush he could find.
“For you, maybe. That is if you ever shut up long enough for anyone else to do the talking,” spitted Lex.
“How come you are so angry all the time, Lex? You’re always mad at…”
“Shhhh, be quiet!” Lex hushed Ricky as he instinctively crouched to lower his profile on the trail. “Did you hear that?” he whispered pulling Ricky down beside him.
Crack, crack, crack, came the sound of what? Gunfire? They didn’t know. Neither one of them had ever heard a real gun shot. It sounded as if it came from over the next rise in the trail. Lex motioned Ricky to follow and they did their best commando stealth moves up the trail to lay on a ridge and crawl up to peer over.
About forty feet in front of them was a kid about Lex’s age loading a short clip with shells. Beyond the shooter was a clearing about the size of a baseball diamond infield with a rock face about the height of a pickup truck. A short log lay on the ground parallel to the rock face with several assorted sized cans resting on top. The shooter took aim and fired. Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, reported the rifle. The clip was spent and the shooter hit only one of the cans.
“Gawwd. He sucks,” remarked Ricky, a little too loud.
“I hear ya!” yelled the shooter in their direction as he removed the clip and leaned the rifle against the stump that tabled his box of shells. “Show yourselves!” commanded the shooter as he began to load the clip.
The brothers stood up and looked at the shooter.
“Well, it’s not polite to spy on people in the bush around here. Come down and introduce yourselves!” yelled the shooter as he tucked the ammunition clip in the front of his jean overalls and stood squarely facing them with his hands on his hips.
The boys moved forward slowly, cautiously. They had never met a kid with a real gun before. “Hey,” Lex offered a pensive greeting, arching a slight wave of his hand in front of him.
“Hey yourselves,” the shooter returned the greeting. “Where did you guys come from?”
“Ah, we’re new around here. We just moved in down on Crystal Road,” offered Lex. “I’m Lex and this is my little brother, Ricky.”
“I’m Tommy,” responded the shooter sticking his right fist out for knuckle bumps from Lex and Ricky.
“So what grade are you both in? inquired Tommy.
“I’m going into grade five and Lex is going into grade eight,” offered Ricky.
“Hey, so you’ll be going to Thornhill Junior with me,” Tommy replied to Lex, ignoring Ricky.
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Lex. “Where do you live?”
“About a mile down that trail there that leads south to Marion Road. It’s the next road toward Lakelse Lake from where you live.” Tommy said looking at the trail that Ricky and Lex would have crossed had they not taken a detour over the berm to watch Tommy.
“Is that your gun?” Ricky asked Tommy.
“I’m shootin’ it ain’t I? Besides, it’s not a gun, it’s a .22 caliber rifle,” said Tommy proudly.
“Where did you get it?” Ricky clearly admired the rifle.
“My pa gave it to me for my twelve birthday,”
“Get out! Your pa gave you a rifle?” Ricky asked incredulously.
“Most guys around here get a rifle at twelve,” Tommy stated as though it was a matter of fact while removing a clip from his overall pocket and loading it into the rifle. “Where are you guys from?” Tommy asked, now with his back to them taking aim at the cans down range. Crack! Reported the rifle, once.
“You hit it!” exclaimed Ricky.
“Vancouver, well actually, a suburb of Vancouver called Delta,” Lex finally got the opportunity to get a word in edge wise now that Ricky was distracted.
“Oh, yeah. Never been to Vancouver,” Tommy replied as the rifle cracked off another shot.
“Ohhh, missed,” reported Ricky.
“Oh, really? Thanks, squirt.” Tommy leered at Ricky. “Want a shot, Lex?”
“I do!” Ricky hopped forward.
“You’re too young, kid,” replied Tommy dismissively.
“Ah sure,” Lex stepped forward.
“Now, always keep the rifle pointed down range or up in the air. Never pass it to someone unless the safety is on. See, here is the safety,” Tommy tucked the butt of the .22 into his stomach and rolled it flat so Lex could see the safety button at the heel of the trigger guard.
“OK, I get it,” Lex stepped forward and took the rifle from Tommy, careful to keep the barrel pointed down range.
“Now take aim lining up the two sights on the barrel, push the safety off and squeeze the trigger,” instructed Tommy.
Crack! Reported the rifle.
“Missed,” reported Ricky.
“That’s OK. You have two more shells,” Tommy guided Lex.
Crack! Crack! Lex fired off two shots.
“Hey, you got one!” Ricky yelled excitedly as he started to run down range.
“Stop!” yelled Tommy snapping Ricky back by the shirt collar and throwing him to the ground. “Never run down range until all weapons are secured, you jerk!” shouted Tommy.
“I..I...didn’t know!” cried Ricky looking to his brother for support.
“Get out of here! No little kids allowed on the range!” screamed Tommy.
Ricky slowly got to his feet looking at Lex who felt the same way as Tommy. No little kids allowed
“OK” managed Ricky. This was the first time ever that Lex didn’t stick up for him and it hurt more that any stranger throwing him to the ground. Ricky slowly backed away from Tommy who was pointing the way back down the trail, while Lex turned his back on them and leaned the rifle against the stump.
A few minutes down the trail towards home, Ricky could hear the report of the rifle as Lex and Tommy resumed their shooting practice. He had never felt so alone as he did now and decided he would call his dad when he got home. Ricky was in no hurry and was taking his frustration out on the plants along the path with a stick when he happened to look up to see a dark blur disappear into the darkness of the bush. He knew nothing of the wildlife in this part of the country. All he had been told up to now was to make sure he made a lot of noise when in the bush and to never run if chased by a bear. He could smell something that reminded him of a wet dog, so in his mind that’s what he thought was hiding from him.
Ricky stood on the edge of the trail and yelled, “Here boy! Here boy!” waving the stick in the air. The bush was still. Not a bird nor insect stirred and he might have thought he was dreaming had he not heard the distant crack of the rifle. “Here boy!” called Ricky as he left the trail and headed along a faint path through the ferns covering the forest floor into the bush, calling out for the dog about every ten feet. It was darker in here, Ricky was thinking but he could smell that dog. As Ricky moved around the biggest red cedar tree he had ever seen he heard something that sounded like someone pushing air through his nose. It reminded him of the sound that the bison and deer had made on one of those nature programs he used to watch with his dad. “Whoosh! Whoosh! Thump! Thump!” Ricky heard the hard nasal air expelling clearly this time along with what sounded like hooves stomping the ground or maybe something hitting the trunk of a tree.
That sound made the hair stand up on the back of Ricky’s neck and something, call it instinct, warned him not to go any further. As he stepped back toward the cedar his heel bumped a large pile of rocks between two large roots of the tree. No not rocks, stones, all about the same size and color. Ricky picked a stone off the top of the neatly assembled pile and noticed that it was perfectly smooth and about the size of his fist. “Whoosh! Whoosh! Thump! Thump!” came the sound from the darkness ahead of him. Ricky was beginning to realize that there was no dog in the bush with him. But that smell, what else could it be?
“Here boy! Here boy!” Ricky decided to try one last time since whatever it was already knew he was here. “Here boy!” and he whistled loud, “Sooowheeet!” as he slowly looked around still half expecting to see a dog come bounding out of the bush. Just inside the dark edge of the forest straight ahead something mimicked Ricky. “Sooowheeet! Whoosh! Whoosh! Thump! Thump!” came a reply. And then he could hear the sound of footfalls and someone running away from him really fast. Ricky looked down at the smooth stone in his hand and felt curious but unafraid. No other smell remained now but that of decaying vegetation and cedar. As he rubbed the smooth surface of the stone with his thumb he pondered what had transpired. Ricky watched a lot of nature shows with his dad and Lex but never once had he heard of something that could run like a man and whistle back to you.
*****
Ricky and his mom were at the kitchen table eating supper when Lex walked in the kitchen door, “And where have you been!” glared Karen.
“Well you wanted me to make friends, so I made a friend,” Lex retorted as he put on some oven mitts and retrieved his supper from the oven.
“And why did your brother come home by himself?
“It’s up to him, if he wanted to come home then he could come home. How is that my problem?” Lex replied indignantly.
“You haven’t been very nice to Ricky since we moved here,” Karen wasn’t sure how to deal with the conflict between the boys but supposed it was a natural evolution as people do inevitably go their own way, no matter how close they once were. Still, it broke her heart to watch as they both used to be inseparable. It didn’t seem to bother Ricky right now though as he shoveled down his supper like he hadn’t eaten in days staring at that smooth stone in his hand. Karen decided to let the matter drop. “So you met a friend. Where did you meet them and what is their name?”
“Tommy ah, I don’t know his last name. We followed the trail on the other side of the field and met up with him in the bush on the ridge,” responded Lex.
“You were in the bush? I told you not to go too far into the bush. There are a lot of bears in this country, and other things. If you want to go in the bush, go with your Uncle Jeff, he will show you the ways of the forest,” Karen tried not to let her fear of their going into the bush alone be too obvious to the boys. She believed that the more she asked them not to do something, the more tempting the forbidden action would become to them.
“OK, sure Mom,” Lex lied.
“What other things?” piped in Ricky.
“What?” Karen didn’t realize Ricky was even paying attention.
“You said bears and other things were in the bush. What other things?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” now Karen lied. “The point is there are real dangers in the bush that you boys haven’t been made aware of and are not prepared for. Your uncle can tell you all about the bush around here when he takes you to work with him in the morning.”
Ricky considered telling his mom about his encounter in the bush but decided it would only upset her and she would become even more anxious regarding any future forays into the surrounding forest.
Karen couldn’t help but notice Ricky’s fixation with the stone that he kept rubbing, “What is that you keep rubbing with your thumb, Ricky?” she asked.
“I dunno, I found a pile of these smooth red rocks just off the trail,” replied Ricky.
“Off the trail. How far off the trail?” Karen was agitated.
“Not too far,” Ricky muttered getting the drift of where this line of questioning was heading.
“I want you boys to stay out of the bush when you are by yourselves. Do you hear, me?” Karen waited for some sort of acknowledgement and they both bobbed their heads. “Now Lex, it’s your turn to do the clean up. And Ricky, you need a shower before bed. I have lessons to prepare since school starts soon and I am so far behind with this move and all. Let’s move boys, 06:00 comes early and I don’t want your uncle waiting on you.”
Chapter 2: This Land is Your Land
It was still dark when they heard the truck door slam in the driveway next to the kitchen. The grey aluminum storm door opened and in ducked the boys’ uncle Jeff, Karen’s half-brother. He was one of the biggest men the boys had ever seen and there was no mistaking that he was native with his raven black hair and tanned skin. People often said that Lex looked as though his Uncle Jeff had spit him out; they looked so much alike. This always made Ricky feel like an outsider because he looked more like the people of their father's European heritage.
“Hey what’s for breakfast, Sis?” Uncle Jeff winked at the boys as he slung his Natural Resources Canada logoed jacket over the back of a chair and sat down at the kitchen table.
“Bubble and squeak with salmon steaks just as you requested, your highness,” Karen sometimes adored her older brother. He was all the family she had left other than her two sons.
“Awesome!” Uncle Jeff grinned at them. Now the boys understood why all the furniture seemed so big in their grandfather’s house. Their Mom told them that the house had been built by their grandfather and Uncle Jeff over thirty years ago when he was just a teenager and they both moved south after Jeff’s mom died of tuberculosis.
“Awww, can’t we just have cereal,” complained Lex. “What the heck is bubble and squeak anyway?”
“Ancient Indian recipe little half-breed,” boomed Uncle Jeff in his best stereotypical Indian mimicry, “potato, leeks, eggs and mussels all fried up together. Doesn’t it smell great?”
“Mom says half-breed is a derogatory term and that we are called Métis now,” chimed in Ricky.
“Is that so?” Uncle Jeff cocked an eye toward his sister, unsure of whether he was annoyed or amused with the courage of the little fella to speak up. “Well actually…”
Uncle Jeff never got a chance to finish as his sister stepped between them and started ladling the bubble and squeak onto her brother’s plate. “Yes it is and I won’t have you telling them any different,“ Karen advised him sternly. “That war ended a long time ago and I won’t have you stoking that fire in my kids. You know more than half the people in this land have native blood in them. That means we all belong to the land.”
Jeff put a big smile on his face and gently put his hand on his sister’s arm, “I didn’t mean nothin’ by it Sis. I was just goofing around. Aren’t you hungry boys? This smells great!” Uncle Jeff winked at Ricky and started shoveling the food in. As much as he promised himself he wouldn’t, he managed to touch that nerve in his sister again, after all this time. He could never really get over the fact that his father had married a white woman within two years of his mother's death. Karen's mom was young and had a hard time coping with a bitter native son and baby. By the time Karen was two years old her mom had run off
Jeff knew he played a significant role in Karen’s mothers’ decision to leave. Being back in the family home with his sister again brought back a flood of memories of stupid heated arguments on things no one could do anything about. He was so bitter back then. Although his father never came out and said it, Jeff came to blame himself for his sister leaving and going south when she was just seventeen. So when Karen phoned him up last month telling him that she was splitting up with her husband and didn’t know what to do, he saw it as an opportunity to atone for past wrongs he had done to his only remaining blood relative.
“Disgusting!” Ricky declared. “I will have some of the salmon though,” and he speared one of the grilled steaks from the plate in the middle of the table.
“How about you Lex? You like it?” questioned Uncle Jeff digging the tines of his fork into a mussel.
“It’s OK,” answered Lex as he picked out the potato that he knew he would like, anxious to please his uncle.
“Well you kids have fun and don’t forget to clean up,” Karen was hurriedly pulling her things together to get out the door. “I should be home by 3:00 or so, I have to spend a lot of time on my lesson plan for this new class. Have fun and mind your uncle in the bush,” she reminded the boys as she kissed her sons and stumbled out the kitchen screen door.
“At last men only!” Uncle Jeff remarked as he rolled his large frame slightly to the left and squeezed one out that sounded a lot like a blast on Lex’s trumpet, “I thought she’d never leave!” He roared and made another toot.
“Yeah!” Lex laughed as he belched as loud as he could.
“Copy that!” Ricky sounded off a large burp of his own.
Odd, Jeff mused to himself as he gathered up the dirty dishes, how the most rudimentary animal functions bond all males. “Well, boys let’s get crackin’. Lex put the leftovers in the fridge. Ricky put the dirty dishes in the sink. You boys make sure to clean the dishes when you get home after our trip today, right?
“Right,” Lex marched in step.
“Sure, Uncle Jeff,” Ricky said as he quickly turned and picked up his smooth stone he had forgotten on the table.
“Hey that’s one nice piece of lava you got there, Ricky.” Jeff noticed as Ricky jammed the stone deep into his jeans.
“Lava? Is that what it is?” Ricky pulled back out to look at.
“Yeah that dark red brick color can only mean lava around here,” Uncle Jeff was looking at the smooth stone closely in Ricky’s hand. “Most are a light purple. Dark red one’s like that are really rare. You had better be careful down by the river collecting those rocks, the water in the Skeena River is fast. I once knew a guy who stood in the current the wrong way, got his foot wedged under a rock and the force of the water pushed him onto his back under the water. Simple mistake and if someone hadn’t been there close to him, he would have drowned.”
“Oh, I didn’t get it at the river,” confessed Ricky.
“Well, that’s the only place a smooth lava stone like that can come from. It takes hundreds or maybe thousands of years for the rivers to wear a stone smooth like that,” Uncle Jeff informed the boys.
“Well, I found enough of these smooth red stones in the bush up on the ridge to fill that garbage can,” Ricky said.
“Really?” Uncle Jeff was deep in thought as he took the stone from Ricky and examined it more closely, “show me.”
As the three of them left the house dawn was beginning to break east over the ridge casting a rhubarb hue into the light blue sky. Ricky wasn’t sure he would be able to find the same spot where he left the main trail but knew Uncle Jeff had a good eye for sign in the bush. After walking along the trail for about twenty minutes there began a light rain in the forest and Uncle Jeff, who was trailing the boys, stopped and pointed left.
“Is this where you went in, Ricky?” The long grass was pushed down, as it was obvious something had left the trail here.
“Ah, yeah, could be,” Ricky wasn’t really sure until he noticed the red berries all over the path. He picked up a couple, “Yeah, I remember knocking all of the berries off these plants.”
“That’s what I figured,” said Uncle Jeff looking off into the bush. “Don’t ever eat any of those red or white baneberries. Just a couple for a fella your size could stop your heart.” He looked at Ricky, “show me where you found the stone.”
Ricky led the way toward the big red cedar tree and showed Lex and Uncle Jeff the conical pile of stones between its two large roots.
“I don’t understand what brought you in here in the first place,” Uncle Jeff was down on his left knee picking up one of the scores of smooth bright red lava stones that were stacked neatly into a wide cone maybe two feet high and three feet across at the base. “And where were you Lex?”
Lex didn’t know what to say. He knew he was wrong for letting his little brother go off on his own, but he was tired of being the babysitter.
Ricky had no problem telling his story. He would have told Lex last night if he had of been nicer to him. Uncle Jeff and Lex listened with rapt attention to every detail of Ricky’s story. The wet dog smell, the breathing sounds and the whistling, they were fascinated.
The boys noticed that Uncle Jeff seemed very concerned, “You guys should stay out of the bush around here. And if you do go in the bush make sure you make lots of noise. Don’t try to be quiet. There are lots of bears and the odd mountain lion that you do not want to surprise in the bush.”
“Is that what you think it was, a bear or mountain lion?” asked Ricky.
“No. Your instincts were right there, Ricky. Animals don’t whistle,” replied Uncle Jeff contemplatively as he set the red stone he was examining back into it’s position in the pile and stood up. “It sounds like one of the Old One’s,” Uncle Jeff said more to himself than the boys.
“The old one’s? Who are the old one’s?” asked Lex.
Uncle Jeff noticed just how thick the forest’s embrace became a mere twenty feet from them and got an uneasy feeling that they might be watched at this very moment.
“Let’s move out guys, we have work to do today,” Jeff started back out to the trail with Lex close behind him. Ricky was quick to gauge his uncle’s uneasiness but couldn’t resist grabbing a couple more of those smooth red stones for his pockets.
They made it back to the house a lot faster than it took them to get to the place of Ricky’s encounter with the Old One. Uncle Jeff seemed to be in a hurry but kept looking back to make sure the boys were close behind. When the boys had a chance to talk about it later that night, Lex said Uncle Jeff was in a hurry because he was late to start his day, but to Ricky it felt more like his uncle was spooked by something. When they pressed their uncle as to who the Old Ones were all Uncle Jeff would say is that they would talk about it later.
Uncle Jeff had a job as a geologist for the federal government that provided him with a dual cab, four-wheel drive Ford pick up complete with a cap on the back. They all piled in and headed north for about an hour along the Nisg’a’ Highway until the wet, lush forests of the Coast Mountains gave way to a barren rocky wasteland covered in moss and lichen.
“Wow! What happened here!” exclaimed Lex who was riding shotgun.
“This is why we are here boys. We call this the Nass Valley lava flow, the most recent large scale eruption of lava in these mountains.”
“I don’t see any volcano. Where’s the volcano? If there is lava shouldn’t there be a big volcano?” Ricky was in the back seat moving from window to window looking for a volcano rising out of the rocky desert like those he had seen spewing lava on TV.
“Good point but no there is no volcano that blew its top here, guys.” Uncle Jeff began to explain. “This whole area is on the edge of the Kitsumkalum-Kitimat valley, formed millions of years ago by the movement along fault lines allowing the rock of the valley floor to sink, while the adjacent rocks were pushed up to form the mountains you see all around us.”
“Yeah, we talked about this in school,” chimed in Lex. “Tectonic plates come together and cause huge compressive forces that over time create mountain ranges.”
“That’s the idea,” began Uncle Jeff, but Ricky jumped in.
“But if plates are being pushed together, I thought you would get huge volcanoes?” Ricky insisted.
“Normally yes,” Uncle Jeff carried on, pleased that the boys were so keen to understand how it all worked. “In this valley the force is no longer compression but the opposite. About 50 million years ago the compressive forces of the plates coming together began to relax and the land began to pull apart, breaking into fault blocks. Rocks on the bottom of the Kitsumkalum-Kitimat valley began to sink without those compressive forces holding them in place. While at the same time the Hazelton Mountains in the east and the Coast Mountains in the west were pushed up along the fault lines.”
“So the lava seeped up through cracks?” Ricky puzzled it out.
“Exactly!” Uncle Jeff was excited, he had no idea these kids were so bright.
“Well then why is all that lava out there all broken up into big chunks instead of all smooth like tar?” Ricky asked.
“As the lava is forced up through the fault line it is about 1000 degrees Celsius, very hot and very viscous, molten rock. But as it begins to cool, say below 700 degrees Celsius, the lava begins to solidify on top but the molten rock below continues to run forming lava tubes,” Uncle Jeff explained.
“Ah, I get it,” Lex began to describe the process in his own terms. “Just like the skin on the chocolate pudding that mom makes for us. As the pudding cools a hardened skin forms and cracks on the top while the hot stuff stays runny below.”
“You got it. And as the lava flow dissipates or the volume becomes less and less these lava tubes become large and cavernous but cannot support their own weight. As the lava rock cools and contracts the lava tubes cave in on themselves and you get this landscape of lava rubble.”
Uncle Jeff pulled up to a small white, padlocked shack with a communications aerial on top, “This is one of the seismic stations I have to run through a maintenance routine. You boys don’t wander off too far, this won’t take long.”
Lex and Ricky were amazed at the size of the lava flow and took several minutes just scanning the area. Rubble and ponds of lava seemed to fill the whole valley as far as the eye could see. There was very little vegetation growing on the lava fields and the boys concluded that this must be a fairly recent event.
“How long ago did this happen, Uncle Jeff,” Lex asked as Jeff pushed his tools from the tailgate to the bed of the truck and closed up.
“Well, you tell me. How long ago do you think this happened?”
“Don’t know, we were just trying to figure that out,” piped up Ricky.
“It happened in the mid-1700’s, about 250 years ago,” Uncle Jeff responded.
“That long ago and still nothing grows here?” Lex’s found this fact incredulous.
“You have to have soil to grow. How long do you think it will take for enough organic material such as weeds, moss and lichen to break down and create soil deep enough to support the cedar and spruce trees that used to grow here?”
“A long time,” Ricky pondered aloud.
“A very long time to us. Another thousand years of what you see here, small weeds, moss and lichen. The rain will weather and break down some of the lava. Grasses will slowly take hold and eventually smaller bushes until finally after hundreds and hundreds of years, there will be enough topsoil for a forest again. Now hop in we have to get to the next seismic station quickly, I am behind.”
“I call shotgun!” Ricky bolted for the passenger side door and hopped in leaving Lex shaking his head and hopping in the back seat.
“Was there anybody living around here when the lava came through?” Ricky asked, looking out at the endless rubble desert.
“Well, yeah,” Uncle Jeff gave Ricky and Lex a long sideways glance wondering if Karen had told these boys anything of their ancestry. “Our people, your grandfather’s people, we are all related to the Nisga’a people that lived here.”
“What happened to them?” Lex was leaning forward with his arms folded on the back of the front seat.
“C’mon man, lean back and put your seatbelt on, your mother would skin me alive if anything ever happened to one of you boys,” Uncle Jeff admonished Lex. “Well, it was a long time ago but they say most of the people were killed quickly and in two villages, more than two thousand people died.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of people. How come so many died? Didn’t they have any warning?” Ricky was astounded.
“Remember that it happened 250 years ago when the fastest thing was a horse and there wasn’t even a telegraph anywhere, let alone a telephone. Molten lava can move incredibly fast when it is forced out of the ground. It took the path of least resistance like any other liquid and flowed down the Tseax River valley to the Nass River valley and the Nisg’a’ villages,” Uncle Jeff painted the picture.
“What? Were they sleeping? Did it happen in the middle of the night or were they caught off guard somehow? How come they couldn’t outrun the lava or get out of the way?” Ricky was perplexed.
“Precisely Ricky, they were caught off guard. They never had a chance because the carbon dioxide released through the fault moved down slope with the wind and killed them all through asphyxiation before the lava ever came close to them,” Uncle Jeff said as they pulled off the road.
“You mean they died from poison gas?” Lex concluded.
“No. They died from lack of oxygen. The sheer volume of carbon dioxide that seeped out of the fault at the time of the lava flow, pushed away all of the oxygen to the point where the people simply couldn’t breathe.”
“Like a fish out of water?” Lex surmised.
“Unreal,” Ricky simply stated.
Over the next couple of hours they made several stops to inspect and maintain the seismic stations along this leg of the fault block.
“This is our last station to inspect boys, the Tseax Cone, the place where it all started. It may not look like much but the lava pooled up there before the cinder cone dam burst open and lava was pushed out from below.”
“Is it still active?” inquired Lex as he looked up the 100-meter slope.
“Sure is,” said Uncle Jeff, “that’s why we monitor this area so we can warn people when it starts to rumble.
“Is it dangerous? We won’t be gasping for air around here will we?” Ricky looked concerned as he got out of the truck.
“No, the sensors we have would detect abnormally high carbon dioxide levels along with any seismic activity. We’re pretty safe here,” Uncle Jeff assured the boys as he removed his toolbox from the truck.
“I suppose we could outrun the gas in this truck anyway, eh Uncle Jeff?” Ricky was patting the tailgate at the back of the truck.
“I am sure,” smiled Uncle Jeff as he checked his instrumentation.
“Of course, it takes oxygen to burn gasoline, so the truck may not get us very far if the carbon dioxide comes out really fast like last time,” Lex said as he jumped in to ride shotgun, delighted with the uncomfortable look on Ricky’s face.
*****
It was mid-afternoon by the time Uncle Jeff dropped the boys off and they knew they had better clean up the kitchen before their mother got home. It didn’t take long. Lex washed and Ricky dried the dishes and swept the floor. By the time Ricky was finished his end of the bargain, Lex had already planted himself in front of the flat screen and hogged the Playstation in the living room. Ricky wasn’t interested in fighting about the game today, so he threw on his jacket and grabbed his shoes headed back through the living room through the sliding glass door to the to the deck out back. The rectangular, aged grey cedar deck extended from corner to corner, the entire width of the back of the house. He stood there for a moment looking through the sliding glass door into the living room where Lex sat on the couch less than twenty feet away. Lex must have caught Ricky’s movement out of his periphery vision because he turned and smiled briefly at him before returning to his game. Ricky took a couple of steps back and sat on the bench attached to the railing that ran along the whole outside boundary of the deck, and laced up his running shoes. Ricky was grateful for one more day with Lex the way it used to be.
Next week he was starting at a new school with no friends and for the first time, no big brother to look out for him. Ricky felt a chill and stood to zip up his jacket thinking it was much colder up here than in the city for this time of year. Theirs was one of only six houses scattered along a gravel road maybe three soccer fields long, carved out of a forest that loomed all around. The backyard was long and there was no real separation from their property to the adjacent field they trekked across to take the trail into the bush. Although it wasn’t yet 3:00 it seemed like dusk wasn’t far off because the sun was cresting the Coast Mountains to the west, casting long shadows that didn’t seem right for the strength of the light.
As Ricky surveyed the area a familiar odor beckoned his subconscious and he noticed the empty doghouse at the back of the yard. He was crestfallen when he learned that his parents were splitting up and he would be moving so far away from his father. The double tragedy was in losing his golden retriever, Ginger. He wanted to bring her with him but mom said it was impossible because they had enough challenges moving to a new place and all. Ricky slowly approached the old white paint flecked, tarpaper shingled doghouse feeling all melancholy about his Ginger girl. He was thinking that it must have been made for a large dog but a long time ago and noticed a small fist sized shape giving a reddish glow deep in the shadows of the doghouse. Ricky bent down and reached in to pull out a smooth, dark red lava stone just like the three he had already collected from the pile in the bush off the trail. He stood up and looked into the forest behind the doghouse holding the stone cupped in his hands one over the other feeling the heat that still radiated from it, but he was not afraid.
Chapter 3: Something is Happening Here
Lex must have heard his mom’s car door slam because the game was off and he was watching TV when she entered the living room.
“Where’s Ricky?” she asked.
Lex leaned forward and pointed out the sliding glass doors where Ricky stood by the doghouse, “Right there,” and slouched back drawing his legs up to his chest.
“Oh good,” now that she was no longer concerned about the Ricky’s whereabouts, Karen registered the resentment in her oldest son’s body language and thought she had better take some time to smooth things over.
“You know, I depend on you a lot since we have moved here.” Karen sat down beside Lex and put her arm around him pulling his head to her chest. “I know it’s not fair to ask you to look after your little brother all of the time, but you’re all I’ve got Lex. I promise it will get easier,” Karen kissed him on the head and slapped him on the knee. “C’mon, if you peel the potatoes, I’ll wash the dishes and you can go back to playing your game after supper.”
“What game?” Lex feigned innocence as he looked innocently at his mom.
“This game,” Karen laughed as she took the remote and pushed the button to convert from TV to game mode.
“Oh that game,” Lex looked embarrassed for lying, “I didn’t know you knew how to do that.
“I didn’t know you knew how to do that,” Karen mocked him and put him in a headlock and rubbed her knuckles hard against his scalp, the proverbial noogie.
Ricky came upon this mother and son melee and decided to join in on Mom’s side by jumping on Lex like he used to do. Lex realized Ricky was on his back and threw him to the floor, narrowly missing the coffee table.
“You always ruin everything!” screamed Lex with his face all red and tears streaming down his face.
“Alexander! What has come over you?” Karen was shocked and realized Lex was more resentful than she feared. “You never treat your brother that way again. Do you hear me?” She was trying to keep herself under control as she helped Ricky up off the floor.
Ricky wasn’t hurt, not physically anyway. He had been dealing with Lex’s frustrations for a while now, since before their parent’s break up. He shot Lex a grimace and bounded upstairs to his room.
Karen let her anger get the better of her and walked over and turned off the game.
“Awww…I had a high score on the game. See? He ruins everything!” yelled Lex.
“I simply don’t know who you are anymore,” Karen chided Lex wondering if it was a good idea to keep the boys together instead of leaving one with their father. She was determined to let things settle down before she gave this any more thought, “Come out and peel the potatoes for me,” she calmly asked Lex who was sitting with his head in his hands crying and obviously frustrated with all of the changes in his life. “C’mon Lexy. Come help me with supper,” beseeched Karen as she tugged him gently by the arm.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Lex said wiping his face dry with his sleeves as he followed her into the kitchen.
“I’m sorry too, Lex. I didn’t know that you were having such a hard time with everything. But you have to promise me not to take it out on your brother,” Karen commanded as she turned and took his big head between her hands and stared up into his face. “He loves you and looks up to you. You are so much bigger than him, like your uncle, and Ricky is almost three years younger and smaller like your father. You could really hurt him and that I will not have. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mom,” Lex would say anything to please his mom.
“Promise me,” she ordered Lex.
“I promise, Mom,” Lex responded as he really had no wish to hurt his brother, he just sometimes wished he would go away.
“Do you know how much I love you,” Karen offered as she smoothed back his thick black hair and gave him a big hug.
“Yeah, I know Mom,” Lex became the quintessential embarrassed teenager recoiling from his mother’s affection and prepared to peel the potatoes.
Karen, feeling somewhat relieved decided to check on her other son. As she headed toward the kitchen door to head up the stairway to the bedrooms she ran into Ricky sitting half way up rubbing a red stone in his hands again. “Hey, are you coming down to help with supper?”
“Sure,” Ricky said bouncing up and running down into the kitchen. Up to now things seemed roll off Ricky like water off of a duck’s back. He was quick to forgive and move on. “What can I do?”
“Well, you can set the table. Make sure we have butter, salt and pepper, and such,” Karen tried to make Ricky feel useful.
As Ricky set to his task, Karen noticed Lex shaking his head in disapproval and was beginning to understand the depth of the jealousy he felt toward his little brother. She knew that she was going to have to find a way to separate the two of them more and give Lex some space. Hopefully, going to different schools and having different friends would alleviate some of the tension between them.
As they were finishing up a rather strained and quiet supper Karen wanted to lighten the mood by moving the conversation in another direction. She commented on Ricky’s stone as she noticed he had been rubbing it all through the meal, just as he had done at supper last night. “Is that your new lucky stone or something, Ricky?”
“Yeah, something like that. Uncle Jeff says it is a piece of polished lava from the river bank,” Ricky seemed eager to share this knowledge.
“You’re not going close to the river, I hope” Karen expressed concern.
“Oh no I found it in the bush, remember?” Ricky had told her about going off the trail last night.
“Oh yeah, right. And you told me you boys were going to stay out of the bush. Remember?” Karen reminded the boys.
“Unless we go with Uncle Jeff,” chimed in Lex.
“Yes Uncle Jeff knows the forest and all of its dangers,” conceded Karen.
“That’s why we took Uncle Jeff to show him the pile of stones this morning,” Lex smiled looking right at Ricky.
“This morning? Why would Jeff be interested in some stones in the bush?” Karen asked knitting her brow, perplexed.
“Uncle Jeff got all upset at hearing Ricky’s story of finding the stones and wanted to see exactly where they were,” Lex spilled the beans.
“That was supposed to be our secret,” Ricky was wounded by his brother’s betrayal.
“Secret what secret? We have no secrets in this family. Spill it, little man,” commanded Karen.
Ricky told the whole story of finding the pile of stones in the forest and Uncle Jeff taking them to find the same spot this morning before they left for the Tseax Cone.
“Uncle Jeff says it is one of the Old One’s,” blurted out Lex.
Karen was upset with several aspects of this story, not the least of which the fact of Ricky discovering a pile of stones in the bush, by himself. “He does, does he? And does he know where you were when your brother was off finding a pile of stones placed in the bush by Bigfoot?” Karen leered at Lex, trying figure out if she was angrier with him for leaving his brother on his own or at her own brother for telling the boys silly local legends.
“Oh, he was off shooting with this Tommy kid we met in the woods. Bigfoot? Really?” Ricky blurted out before he could decide what was more overwhelming, the opportunity to get a jab back at Lex or the fact that he might have gotten a glimpse of Bigfoot.
“You’re dead!” shouted Lex.
“No! You’re dead! If I ever hear that you left your brother in the bush by himself again!” screamed Karen before she could bring herself under control. “What were you shooting? A pellet gun? A paint ball gun? A bow and arrows? What?” Karen wanted to know.
“A .22 caliber rifle,” Lex confessed.
Slam! Karen’s hand slapped the table so hard tears came to her eyes. Neither of them could remember their mother being so angry.
“That does it. I can’t trust you two on your own. Until I can find someone to watch you both, neither one is allowed to leave the house. Grounded! Do I make myself perfectly clear” Karen leered at both of them in turn until they capitulated.
“Yes, ma’am” said Lex.
“Yes, ma’am” said Ricky.
“You two miscreants stay here and do the dishes. Lex, you wash and sweep up. Ricky you dry and clear the table,” Karen ordered while she was putting on her boots and jacket.
“But, I thought…” Lex started to complain but his mother shot him a look that made him think better of it.
“I am going over to see your Uncle Jeff, I won’t be long. And if there is any fighting I will send you both packing to live with your dad and his girlfriend!” she almost immediately regretted saying that as she left the house slamming the kitchen door behind her.
Jeff lived some 500 meters toward Old Lakelse Lake Drive, on the same side of the street. He told her that he was able to buy the old Dickson property for a song since it was sitting empty for so long. He tore the old place down and put in a doublewide house trailer. Her old home town of Terrace had seen better economic times and she knew she was fortunate her brother held some sway with the council or she would never have gotten a teaching job at the school. Karen had walked this road many times as a child and it didn’t seem any shorter now. Crystal Road had few houses; she had one neighbor directly across the road that she had yet to meet. Other than that there was only one other home about halfway through the 400 meters of forested road between her and her brother. It took Karen maybe ten minutes to reach Jeff’s place and if she hadn’t of been so angry she would have paid closer attention to the hairs standing up on the back of her neck.
Karen was glad to see her brother’s truck was in the driveway. She needed to blow off some steam.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Jeff heard the knuckles on the door, “Thanks for the heads up. I owe you one, little brother,” Jeff said as he replaced the receiver of the phone back onto the cradle just as Karen walked in.
“C’mon in why don’t ya, “ Jeff stepped back a couple of paces as Karen came to with striking range of him.
“Well, what a kwinky dink, you just getting off of the phone as I come through the door,” said Karen, all of maybe five foot six standing there looking up at her brother with her fists on her hips, marveling the coincidence.
“Kwinky dink. Kwinky dink?” Jeff repeated, “Is that a new English word Teach? Because it sounds more native to me,” Jeff foolishly started to laugh believing he could toy his way out of this situation.
“The Old One’s!” Karen stepped closer and grabbed him by the scruff of his plaid red and white, lumber jack shirt pulling him down to her level. “The Old One’s? How do you ever expect me to keep those boys out of the bush now, Kemo Sabe!”
“Hey, I see no reason to insult me Sis, I was just trying to…” Jeff gave up as he felt his shirt collar tighten in the little woman’s grasp.
“I need someone to keep a close eye on them now that they will be looking for Bigfoot! What is wrong with you? There is no better way to get them interested in the forest than telling them those old fairy tales!”
“But I just thought…” Jeff tried again.
Karen was on a roll, “Since you are so tight with your little nephews, you get the job of keeping an eye on them until I get them settled into school and find someone who is more mature. Understand?” she turned on her heels and headed for the door.
“Uh, OK, but I have to be on the road by 7:00 in the morning, so I’ll see you at 06:30 for breakfast? French toast, maybe?” Jeff pleaded as Karen headed out the door without acknowledging him.
Karen walked for a couple of minutes from Jeff’s trailer to the gravel of Crystal Drive and stopped now feeling those hairs on the back of her neck as they bristled anew. She had forgotten how dark it could get outside of the city as she slowly looked around. Looking back at Jeff’s trailer she caught a peripheral glimpse of a big dark shape cross the road quickly, back along the way to her place. Instinctively she began to move toward big brother keeping her eyes on that spot down the road until the forest obscured it and then she bolted for the trailer. As she did she heard several cracks in the bush of something big moving parallel to her and closing the gap incredibly fast, until she crashed through Jeff’s door, again.
Jeff was standing in the middle of the room in only his boxers, “Damn, Karen you should knock you know!”
“There’s something big out there!” she declared, “It was running through the bush at me. Grizzly, I think!” Karen had her back against the door heaving for breath.
“They don’t usually come this close unless they are old or sick,” said Jeff as he grabbed his old Belgian made .762 caliber rifle and slipped a magazine in the breach.” He quickly slid into his pants, shirt and boots and turned on the floodlights twenty feet up on a pole in the front yard. Jeff went outside and jumped onto the flat bed of an old Ford he used for general mucking about. He surveyed the bush for a few minutes with a flashlight on the rifle barrel, the safety off and his finger on the trigger guard; ever on the ready for a maniacal bear attack, but nothing happened.
“C’mon, I’ll drive you home. Whatever it was it’s gone now. In the morning, I’ll see if I can find any tracks.”
Chapter 4: Relatively Midden
The boys had finished cleaning up after supper by the time Karen got home last night and figured it would be prudent to make themselves scarce by reading in their rooms for the rest of the night to allow things to cool down. This morning started out much more pleasantly with the boys salivating to the aroma of bacon in the air and the promise of lots of French toast. They heard the truck door slam and in ducked Uncle Jeff through the kitchen door.
“Good morning, men,” Uncle Jeff smiled at the boys seated at the table while removing his jacket.
“Good morning, Sis,” Uncle Jeff went over and kissed Karen on the cheek she offered.
“You’re early,” Karen said as she put the pan on the stove and lit the burner.
“Ah, only a few minutes,” Jeff replied, “I brought some real maple syrup for the French toast.”
“Oh, yeah!” Ricky loved the good stuff.
“How ‘bout you, Lex? This is one of the few good things to come from the east,” Uncle Jeff declared holding up the large glass liter sized bottle of No. 1 grade maple syrup.
“Yeah, I’ll have a little on the side, maybe,” Lex danced around any confrontation.
“Lex, likes to spread butter mixed with sugar and ground cinnamon on his French toast,” his mom helped him out.
“I will have some on the side though, to dip my toast in,” Lex included, forever the people pleaser.
“Excellent!” boomed Uncle Jeff, still navigating his way through the new family dynamics. “Man, how come your French toast smells so much better than mine?” Jeff declared, remembering that it smelled the way her mother used to make it but cautiously avoiding any touchy subjects by not saying it out loud.
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