Chasing Fire

Gold Dust Saloon - Part 16

Noralee awoke to the sound of pistols firing and loud, raucous laughter, all while a wildly playing piano belted out Ragtime like the pianists' soul depended on his playing.  She sat up in the bed.  Bear was gone or had he ever been there?  She was fully dressed with her hiking boots still on and it appeared she laid down on the big four poster bed and passed out.  The old bathtub sat dirty and undisturbed.  She realized she had been dreaming about him and the bath.  But it was so real.  She thought questionably to herself.  However, this wasn't the most important thing to her right now.  Number one on her list was where was Bear and number two, where did the people downstairs come from?  She started feeling very afraid in this strange place and seemingly alone.  It took all the courage she had to creep down from the high bed and over to the door.  Furtively cracking it open enough to look down the hallway, but everything seemed the same as the previous evening. 

She could still hear the wild cacophony from below wafting through the hallway, and then she thought she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.  They were heavy ones like a large man's.  This was one thing she knew about most men.  They made more noise when they entered a place than a woman.  However, Bear was the exception to the rule. He was the first man she ever met who was quieter than she was.  She knew this lesson very well because she had the misfortune to accidently go into the wrong bathroom once.  She was tired and not paying attention to the signs.  When someone else entered she thought, "What kind of woman is that!"  It sounded like the woman was going to tear off the door on the neighboring stall as "she" slammed it open.  Noralee realized her error when she got a look at this "woman's" giant work boots!  She got out of there as fast as she could, not because she was scared, more because she was embarrassed.  There was something so personal about the episode and she didn't know why it bothered her, but it did.  It was like an unspoken taboo being broken by her being there.  It left her with the realization that women glide into a room, while men thunder through it.

Quickly closing the door and locking it again, her heart was racing and it felt like it was in her throat behind her ears furiously pulsing.  She could barely breathe or swallow as she heard the footsteps walk down the hallway.  She knew it wasn't Bear.  He moved lithely, lightly like a sneaky, stealthy tiger.  These heavy, thunderous footsteps belonged to someone heavy and gigantic and she thought she heard spurs clicking on the wooded planks.  She closed her eyes and the footsteps stopped suddenly outside her door.  She covered her own mouth and tried not to make a sound as she waited for the footsteps to resume or someone to come crashing through the door.  But nothing happened and as she sat on the floor perched against the door she caught sight of a pair of boots.  Bear was sleeping on the floor beside the bed.  It was a good thing she got out of bed on the left side because otherwise she would have stepped on him.  Crawling across the floor, disturbing the dust in little, quickly disappearing clouds, she started shaking him awake. 

"I am so happy to see you!"  Noralee hugged Bear briefly.  He opened his eyes slowly.  She had roused him from a deep sleep. 

"What is wrong?  Is the bed not comfortable?"  He spoke in almost a soft whisper. "You passed out as soon as you laid down." 

"No, it is fine.  Don't you hear the noises downstairs?  I thought I heard gunshots and music playing.  Just now, it sounds like someone is in the hallway!"  She tried to whisper too, but the excitement was too much to keep her voice down low.

"Oh, that?"  He smiled slightly and pushed the hair back from her face.  "Don't worry about it.  These old places have a history and a current of memories, all the energy from the past is stored here because the place has been forgotten.  It is like buildings get lonely too and need to entertain themselves.  Nothing will happen to us as long as we don't disturb anything." 

"Nope. Nada.  Uhh-uhh."  Noralee crossed her arms and shook her head side to side in disagreement.  "We are going to check downstairs and make sure there is no one there or I will not be able to sleep a wink tonight." 

Good naturedly, Bear raised himself on one arm and searched for his shirt.  "OK.  Let me show you what I mean."  He took her gently by the hand and opened the door and pulled her into the hallway. 

Noralee was still afraid to go outside the room, but at this point in their journey she trusted him completely.  She listened intently in the hallway for the curiously out of place sounds.  She could still hear the music and laughter, but as they drew closer to the head of the stairway, the sounds grew fainter.  Once they crept slowly to the middle of the stairs, and gained a full view of the bar room, the noises ceased all together. 

"Well, I never..."  Noralee shook her head in disbelief.  The saloon was completely deserted as it was when they walked in that evening.  The bar sat lonely and idle of the thirsty, the small stage was absent Can-Can Girls kicking and frolicking in a line, the piano player was missing in front of his piano playing his Ragtime revelry, and the table and chairs held only the dust of ages, instead of bold gamblers risking everything in winner take all poker games. 

"Odd phenomenon, isn't it?"  Bear raised an eyebrow and lead her to the bar.  He perched himself on a stool and lifted Noralee to sit on the bar. 

She could imagine a Saloon girl sitting on the bar singing to patrons.  The summer days are long in Alaska and the winter nights must have been even longer with stretches of seemingly never ending darkness.  People would travel miles to hear a lovely lady sing.  Any form of entertainment would be a welcome reprieve from their work and toil.  Everything about this place spoke to a forgotten time and long gone way of life. 

"Everything about Alaska is odd and surprising, but incredibly wonderful."  Noralee stared up at the chandelier over the bar.  The candle light held captive within its softly gleaming crystals.  She wondered how the owner ever got something like it all the way in the middle of the wilderness.  It was amazing how man had a will that would not be put down or surrendered easily.  If he wanted a delicate, fancy crystal chandelier hauled over rough seas and wild, tumbling wilderness,  he would darn well have one!  The will and the spirit of the people that once inhabited this town was still there.  Even though they were long gone, Noralee could still feel them around her.  Suddenly, the piano in the corner started playing a chirpy, old tune and Noralee almost jumped out of her skin. 

"It is alright!"  Bear held her down and wouldn't let her run away.  Noralee's fight or flight response had kicked in and she was ready to flee. 

"It is a Pianola!  They play by themselves.  There wasn't always someone around who knew how to play the piano.  Miners didn't come from conservatories."

Noralee's eyes were wide, her heart pounding, "It really scared me, Bear!"  The Pianola played for a few minutes in a bright and uneven sound until it dwindle down to soft chimes.  The melody was obliterated by its lack of tuning.  Fine things needs maintenance to work well.  This instrument was well overdue for a tuning.

Bear held his arms wide and smiled exuberantly, "Welcome to the Gold Dust Saloon!"  He pointed to the floor boards.  "This place once overflowed with gold.  There was so much gold passing through  here, the Saloon girls would sprinkle it over the heads of the patrons like they were the sons of Apollo!  The gold dust is still in the cracks between the boards." 

Noralee gasped as she stared hard at the cracks between the planks of time weathered wood and saw the bits of the sparkling, twinkling mineral.  "You are right, Bear!!  Can we take it?" 

"No!  It belongs here."  It was the first time Noralee ever saw Bear become anything close to grave looking.  "We cannot disturb anything here, otherwise we will suffer a curse.  I am not kidding, Noralee.  You cannot take one thing from this place." 

She gulped hard, "I promise, Bear.  I won't take anything."  She held his hand, the sweet memories of the dream coming back to her.  She couldn't help but want to be with him.  Now, she didn't think she could ever leave him.

"Bear, I have an idea that might help both of us, but I think we will have to work hard to make it happen."