The truck fishtailed across the ice, but Mike didn’t slow
down. "I hope you don't plan on going shopping very often."
He turned the wipers on. They screeched painfully across the
glass. "It's a fair piece to the nearest store. We plan far
in advance for shopping trips, so you'll want to keep a list
for pantry purchases."
They pulled off the main road onto a gravel road. He made
several more turns onto smaller and smaller gravel roads,
until they reached a rutted, one-lane dirt road. Suddenly
the dirt road gave way to a smooth blacktop drive that wound
around snow-covered banks, atop which a red snow fence ran
as far as the eye could see.
"I think I'm going to have to drop breadcrumbs to find my
way in and out of here." Abby couldn't remember ever having
been so far from civilization. "Tell me, do you ever get
snowed in back here?" As far as she could see in every
direction was nothing, absolutely nothing, except hills,
snow fence, trees, snow, and huge mountains.
"Occasionally we've been snowed in for a few days. We've
got snowmobiles and we can get out for supplies with them."
A lump formed in her throat that refused to be swallowed.
"We've also got the Cat and the Deere with plows and
shovels."
Abby had no clue what he was talking about, but as long
as those things could get her out of this desolate
wilderness, she liked them.
"Nobody's lived at the cottage for awhile. I had the boys
go in, knock down the spider webs, and make sure no snakes
or anything was living inside, but they don't always get
everything. You aren't afraid of spiders and such, are you?"
The lump on her head began to ache. Mike's expression was
kind, but odds were she was about to face those things,
afraid or not. "I can't say I care too much for them."
"Well, snakes are hibernating this time of year. But they
can move about when you start disturbing them. I'll have the
boys leave you a hoe just to be safe." The truck slid across
the blacktop road. Mike chuckled. "That was fun."
Abby pushed a hand against the dashboard, her mouth
becoming suddenly dry. "A hoe? What do I need a hoe for?"
"For hacking the snakes' heads off, honey." Mike was
matter-of-fact.
"Hack its head off?" The ache in her head turned to
throbbing and was joined by a rumbling nausea deep in her
stomach. "Couldn't I just call you or one of the men to come
and--" she shuddered-- "hack the thing?"
"Sure, but we're usually out in the field or up at one of
the cattle barns. It could be awhile before one of us could
get it for you. By then it could disappear under the floor
only to pop back out in the middle of the night and snuggle
up with you in bed."
"They're cold-blooded, you know, and they like to find a
warm spot to sleep. So it would be best if you just hack
them when you see them."
Her head swam. Her vision turned gray and began sliding
into black. She had gone from a bad dream to a horrific
nightmare. Abby pinched her thigh, wincing at the pain.
Awake. She was awake. The nightmare was real.