Color Me Grey: Book One of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles (18 page)

We hiked away from the cabin at a brisk pace
for several hours and finally came to rest at the top of a peak. We
were at the top of a sheer cliff. I don’t know how high we were,
but looking down made me dizzy. The view was sensational. The
mountains in the foreground and trees were all staring up at us on
this glorious peak. We stood for a moment taking it all in and he
said in a quiet voice, “I love this place.” I didn’t know if he
meant that particular peak or the mountains themselves. Which ever
it was I was hard pressed not to agree with him.

We stood enjoying the view for a moment that
didn’t last long enough for me. Then Mr. Black retrieved the two
packs that we carried up. One of them was the chute I had packed
earlier. He attached them together and threw them off the cliff. We
watched as they fell. My chute didn’t open.

I was a bit discouraged and disgusted. I
looked to Mr. Black.

“
Parachute packing is an art that you
will
learn.” We turned back to the barely visible packs just
as they hit the ground.

“
Ready?” he asked a moment later with
desire in his eyes. He didn’t even wait for a reply before he took
off top speed toward the cliff. He plunged over the side and I ran
to watch. Immediately he let go of the mini chute that would pull
his ripcord.

“
Hell, yeah I’m ready,” I said to
nobody and followed his lead. Watching the two packs fall to the
ground so far below us could have made me think twice about
jumping, but I didn’t let it. I made sure to push off from the
cliff. I didn’t want to hit the side of it. As I fell, I took it
all in. This was different than skydiving. Not totally different,
but a different rush. We were much closer to the ground for one
thing. I saw Mr. Black touch down at the bottom of the cliff and I
tried to land close by.

Actually, I didn’t do all that bad, compared
to yesterday. And I had loved it. I wanted to go again. I collected
my chute and started folding it back the way I was shown. Mr. Black
came up to me and said, “Wait. Watch me again.” He folded up his
chute and then stood over me and watched my every move.

“
You’ll get it, but I want to watch you
re-pack every time for a while.” He said. His mood had lightened. I
think the jump was just what he needed.

“
Are we headed back up?” I asked
eagerly.

“
Not today. We have other things to do
yet,” he replied looking up the face of the cliff.

Each of us carried two packs as we jogged
back to the cabin, which was actually not that far away. All this
time a huge, gorgeous cliff was in our backyard and I didn’t even
know about it. When we reached the cabin we dropped off the chutes
and trooped back to the shore of the lake. Mr. Black proceeded to
kick my butt in hand-to-hand combat maneuvers. This lasted into the
evening and by the time we got back to the cabin I was famished and
worn out. But it soon became apparent I was going to have to be the
cook this time around. I guess it was only fair because the first
time we were up here Mr. Black did the cooking.

I looked through the cupboards and was able
to come up with a different menu than last night. As I was cooking
dinner, Mr. Black proceeded to take all of the chutes out of their
packs and lay them out on the floor. I knew what was coming after
dinner. I packed and re-packed the chutes until I could hardly keep
my eyes open. Mr. Black must have picked up on it because he
announced that it was time for bed when I finished packing the
chutes one last time.

We got an early start on our morning
exercises and headed back up to the top of the peak. Once again we
watched the two packs fall, but the chute opened this time, then we
jumped. When we reached the bottom Mr. Black had me pack his chute
and watched me pack my own once again. His attitude before a jump
was one of seriousness, but after a jump he was almost like a
little boy that had gotten exactly what he had asked for at
Christmas time. We hiked to the top of the peak three times before
it was getting too late to do it again.

This behavior of morning exercises and then
jumping into the late afternoon continued for several days. I
managed to keep a bit of variety in our diets even though we were
eating the same thing over and over.

After we had gotten into a routine, Mr. Black
changed it on me. I had gotten out of bed early and was making a
quick breakfast for us when he came out of his room. He went
straight to the living room and moved a rug away from the edge of
the couch. Under it was a trap door leading to who knows what. He
opened the door and disappeared into the open hole. I heard him
rummaging through things and before long up came some ropes and
other equipment. Then Mr. Black lifted himself back up into the
living room, replaced the door and the rug and started to arrange
and check the ropes.

I announced breakfast was ready and set our
plates on the table. He stopped what he was doing to join me. We
ate in silence. I knew the equipment was for rock climbing and
figured I must be good enough at BASE-jumping to move on. When we
finished breakfast Mr. Black put on his chute and grabbed some of
the gear still lying on the living room floor. I grabbed my chute
and the rest of the gear and followed him out the door.

Soon we were at the face of the cliff that we
had been jumping off for close to a week now. He explained the
fundamentals of rock climbing and I didn’t interrupt him. BASE
jumping and skydiving had been fairly new to me, but rock climbing
had been a passion of mine. I hadn’t been rock climbing for close
to a year now but I hadn’t forgotten a single thing. He finished by
asking if I understood everything and I nodded, ready to get to the
top of the cliff and jump back down.

Mr. Black and I both put on our harnesses and
started up the side of the cliff. It was a challenge to find
footholds and hand holds because the cliff was almost smooth. It
had been climbed before because there were places to attach our
ropes as we moved higher. We made good time for the size of the
cliff. In less than two hours we reached the top. Because we had
put on our chutes earlier that day I assumed we would be jumping
again, but Mr. Black changed some of the rigging around and we
repelled back down the cliff. We repeated this three more times and
didn’t get to jump until the last climb. I guess it was more of a
treat to go jumping now.

We fell into a new routine of either hiking
the mountain or climbing the cliff’s face and only jumped about
once a day. I continued to cook for us, but had run out of menu
options. I had put everything together with everything else at one
time or another and I was getting tired of the same ol’ stuff. I
had made bread from scratch and even a pie or two, but what I
really missed was meat.

Mr. Black and I had fell into the habit of
talking when it was necessary but a few days after I had eaten
about all I could eat of dried potatoes and canned meat I said, “Do
you think you could go catch us a squirrel or something for
tomorrow?”

“
I was wondering how long it would take
you,” he replied.

“
What do you mean?” I asked.

“
I’ve been suffering waiting for you to
ask for fresh meat,” he answered.

“
Well, if you wanted it too, why didn’t
you just go get us some?” I asked a bit peeved.

“
Because I’m not the one who’s going to
get it,” he said. “Get your backpack ready for a week or so away.
He went to his room and shut the door. I heard him talking in there
and figured he must be using the satellite phone. His voice faded
after about two minutes but he didn’t reappear. I did the nightly
cleanup and headed to my room to pack for a week. I packed clean,
dry clothes and made sure the knife he had given me was in my pack
and a few other essentials. I would ask him in the morning what he
thought I should bring with us.

The next morning I didn’t get a chance to ask
if I brought enough of the right stuff. He had me out of bed around
3:30 or 4:00 AM, I’m not exactly sure. It was still dark and
remained dark for close to two hours after we headed out of the
cabin.

We hiked for most of the day. Never once did
we stop to eat. Every once in a while I took my canteen of water
and took a sip, but that was the only refreshment I got. Close to
dusk we stopped and Mr. Black said, “This is one of the best times
to hunt. What do you want to try for?”

“
I don’t know,” I said. “What do you
think I should try for?”

“
You’ve got to learn to make your own
decisions,” was his reply.

“
Fine,” I said. “I just don’t know what
kind of animals I would find out here.”

“
Lots of things. Deer, rabbit, elk, and
maybe an occasional bear,” he said.

“
I don’t think I want to hunt bear
right now,” I said. “Maybe a deer or rabbit I guess.”

“
With rabbits it’s best to set traps.
With deer it’s best to shoot them. We don’t have any traps or any
guns so this will be done by hand,” he said.

“
Can I make a trap?” I
asked.

He smiled and said, “It usually takes people
a day or two of sitting out here before they ask that question.
Yes, you can make a trap. I will get you started, but you’re going
to make it yourself.”

We gathered up enough twigs and natural twine
that I could make two or three traps. At least that’s what Mr.
Black said. Then we sat down and he began to tell me how to put it
together. After he got me started he went in search of firewood. He
wasn’t gone long and I hadn’t gotten anything to stay together so
he said he would teach me to build a fire. It was just like I had
joined the Boy Scouts.

We got the fire started and I was wondering
what we were going to do for dinner that night. Mr. Black pulled a
few tid bits out of his pack but didn’t offer me any. I knew that
meant I should have packed my own. Figures. I was going to starve
unless I learned how to catch something. I worked on the trap for
the rest of the evening before I laid out my bedroll and fell
asleep.

Mr. Black started on traps of his own the
next morning while I was still trying to figure mine out. I took
the opportunity to glance his direction once in a while to get
pointers. I tried to be sneaky about it so he wouldn’t think I
wasn’t doing it on my own. In between stolen glances I tried to put
my trap together. Mr. Black had three traps of his own done before
I had gotten anything to stay together. He went off to set his
traps and I managed to get one put together.

After it was together I went in search of a
place to set it. I thought I might get lucky while I was trying to
make the other two traps. I found a spot that looked good. I
actually saw what looked like rabbit droppings nearby. Being pretty
proud of myself I went back to camp to work on my other traps.

“
Where have you been?” Mr. Black asked
when I got back.

“
I got a trap made so I thought I’d set
it up,” I replied.

“
Good thinking. It might take you a
while to make another,” he replied. “I’ll be back later.” Then he
walked off into the trees.

Mr. Black didn’t come back to camp until late
in the evening. I had finished another trap right after dark and
had begun on another one while I waited for him to return. I had
also lit the fire.

Mr. Black came to the fire’s side and began
to skin a rabbit. My mouth watered as I watched him. I knew I
wasn’t going to get any of it though. I continued to fashion my
trap while the aroma of cooked rabbit hovered over my head. One
thing I had never had to do was go without food for any length of
time. This was going to be hard if I didn’t have anything in my
trap in the morning.

I did complete the other trap before I went
to sleep that night. I was tempted to wait up until I thought Mr.
Black was asleep and then go pick through his leftovers burning on
the fire, but thought better of it.

At the break of dawn I jumped up and gathered
together my other two traps. I ran to check on the one I had set
the day before. It was sitting there just like I had put it. I
walked around and found a couple places to put the other two traps.
Then I went in search of Mr. Black’s traps. Maybe if I found them,
I could get some ideas on how he set them up and if there was a
rabbit in one of them, maybe I could snatch it before he knew about
it.

I searched for a good part of the day and
didn’t find anything. I was headed back toward camp when I spotted
some raspberry bushes. I walked up to them and started to pick
through them. I got into the bushes and almost stepped on one of
Mr. Black’s traps. He had baited it with raspberries. Cheater, I
thought.

I picked a whole bunch of raspberries and
ended up eating most of them but I did carry some back to my first
trap. I thought this would probably be the best one because of the
droppings I had noticed before. Then I headed back to camp.

Mr. Black had already eaten. I could smell
something had been cooked recently. I looked for him and found him
not too far from camp burying something.

“
What are you doing?” I
asked.

“
I’m burying the food I didn’t eat and
won’t eat,” he said.

“
Why?” I asked, thinking he was
probably afraid that I might eat some of it.

“
You don’t want unwelcome guests. I’ll
be relocating tomorrow too,” he said.

Well, at least he had a good reason.

Mr. Black and I sat around for a little while
and then he started to talk to me about hunting and staying down
wind, that kind of thing. He told me what rabbits like to eat, what
deer like to eat and what kinds of places they like to hang out at.
He told me I should familiarize myself with my surroundings to see
if there were the proper types of food available and even water.
Later into the evening right before dark, he went to check his
traps and I thought I might do the same.