What with classes, weekend gigs, and skiing or boarding in the canyons, the winter skipped by pleasantly. Slim drove down about every third weekend to snuggle and take her out to eat. Sometimes they went to a movie and held hands. She and Gin went to Jackson on the holidays breaks and stayed in the yurt, skiing or boarding every day. Slim had found a small house in town, a next-to-impossible feat, and made the yurt his weekend place, keeping it clean and stocked with firewood.
Gris wasn't thrilled by the limits on his freedom: she had to walk him on a leash and the back yard of the house where they lived was small. But she took him out of the city to let him run, and he did, madly, tongue flapping, unwinding his pent-up energy.
Mary found that she liked walking in the city, especially on the old residential streets of the Avenues district, where the close-spaced houses, like the Seven Dwarves, had distinct and differing faces: here Grumpy, there Sleepy, there Bashful. New owners had tarted up the fancy Victorians with odd modern hues and she didn't like those much, preferring the ones that were just a touch run-down, looking their proper age.
The worst part was that her classes at the U. were slow and boring. She was on the fence between literature and linguistics and some natural science like biology. The former classes were taught by grad students oozing with attitude and the latter all had sections of a hundred or more, taught by profs who seemed stuck in their own deep ruts, going through the motions. From what Krista and Ginger said about Westminster, the private college seemed a nicer place to be.
Ginger spent a few days each week at her Mom's, taking care of her Dad so her mother could have a break, go shopping, and meet friends. Mary went with her and was surprised by how patient and kind Gin could be. Her father had cranky spells, when he tipped his food on the floor and cursed, spewing obscene garble.
"He's angry at what he's lost," Ginger said, tearing up. "I would be, too."
Soon, the gutters were gushing with snowmelt and the streams in the canyons rose and frothed white, as the snowpack retreated. Mary got her job offer from the Forest Service, Recreation Guard GS-4. Betsey stuck in a note that with her fire experience last year she could apply for the Helitack crew if she wanted. She thought about that and decided against. The last fire season had taken her away from Slim and Gris and the band for weeks at a time. She could make enough OT working local fires to have a good stash of money for the school year. When she talked to Betsey on the phone, she found out that there was a slot for a backcountry ranger for the Pinedale District, the south end of the Wind River Range. She could stay at the Dutch Joe Guard Station, where there was a volunteer couple to cover the campgrounds and roaded areas, but would mostly be living out of her pack.
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Sowing on the Mountain
Misteri / ThrillerA Consolata Mary Browne mystery, the second in a series. (To get the most out of it, first read The Feral Strut, which establishes the main characters and background.) After her near-fatal encounter with a grizzly bear, Mary goes to college in Sa...
