Why Not Murder

29. Winter Birth

29. Winter Birth

Days came and went. The Fall was utterly beautiful, mostly sunny, dry and warm. Maya liked to think about things and decide what it was that she thought about them. Things like ownership, time, memory, space and the soul among others. The very act of thinking fascinated her. Watching the passage of her own thoughts arising from an incomprehensible nowhere and fading under the influence of new ideas coming forth, gave her senses something to experience that wasn't out there in the physical world. Her thinking about these ideas was part of her growing self-understanding. Actions, however insignificant, becoming memory, planning and the possible results of planning being the future headed into: memory, doing, planning, the way our minds order experience so that we understand. There may be other ways but as is the common habit, what we don't experience, we assume does not exist. But time may not be always going in one direction, Maya thought, maybe it's like alternating electric current. The mind arranges events into a sequence but maybe when things were actually occurring, they did not occur in that order. Time and space were not separate but aspects of the same thing. Space seemed easier to understand. It was what was there when you took everything existing out of it, but how could space be understood without the something occupying it? Ideas such as these got Maya to thinking about how dogma is created, religious, scientific, social or otherwise. Intriguing thoughts that made the routine of life more interesting. Maya had no information about what had happened to Dog. Frustration called up a longing for her child and husband as well. She didn't know what to do about the results of her investigation into the deaths of Warren/Wyler and Heather.

Winter came early and harshly. Never had Maya seen such cold and snow. She worked every day shoveling to keep her cabin from being buried. Fortunately she was prepared. She had plenty of warm clothing, lots of food and firewood stashed. Day and Night were good company. The road had become impassable, so completely covered with snow that it was hidden. At the beginning of winter, the road was cleared regularly but after one week that stopped because snow was falling faster than it could be removed. The Laymuir residence was closed until thaw. Maya had been there the last day when the gardeners were locking the place down that they were all temporarily leaving. The Mr and Mrs were staying at a condo he had in town so they could be close to the medical centre. Cook, Harriet and Hilda were renting and the Mr was covering the cost of that.

Maya felt it was like being in a time loop curled around on itself that would eventually bring her back into the flow of the arrow of time. Every day she did the same things. She was happy for this time out of time. She kept a narrow path that led down to the lake. The water was frozen as far out as she could see, possibly it was completely frozen over this year. Other years it only froze near the shore. She didn't venture out onto the ice, just in case. No problem with the dogs, as always they were close to her and did as she desired. When the sun shone, the light was dangerously bright, reflecting on the pristine snow. She kept her eyes shaded with her warm hats and they went out only at dawn and dusk on those days.

One morning, soon after the road had disappeared, Maya and the dogs woke to find that a space had been dug out from under the cabin. Maya had shoveled the snow away from the cabin roof and walls, but snow had slipped underneath and filled the space between the ground and the floor. Maya had the wood piled on the porch surrounding all the sides of the cabin and also inside. Someone had made a den under the cabin. She and the dogs did not go inside it. The dogs sniffed excitedly around the den entrance, did not bark and wagged their tails happily. There was a partial footprint nearby, revealing enormous primate toes.

The sun got lower and lower in the horizon until it did not come up for several days. This meant it was Christmas time. There were no clouds and the atmosphere was dry and clear. The sky was pale blue, purple and pinkish at the horizon and deep blue overhead. At night the stars seemed larger and closer than usual. With all the days seeming so much like each other, Maya lost track of time and date. Slowly the sun reappeared above the horizon and climbed higher in the sky and the coldest days came. Even with the fire, they could see their breath inside. Two ravens appeared at her door and Maya let them inside. The dogs were surprised at first but since it was Maya's decision, they were fine with it. The ravens were polite and only ate and drank what Maya gave them. Otherwise they stayed perched, pressed together, on the rafters, stretching their wings frequently but not flying about.