After the death of his son and, struggling with his own grief, Colt hits the road. He finds himself in a small town where the wizard, Atticus, protects the magical creatures that live there. Shortly after arriving, Colt begins to see visions of whit...
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Colt's shoulder smarted. The ointment that Atticus had put on it sped the healing process, but the skin scarred over, leaving white streaks betraying the animal attack. He shouldn't say that the healing process was 'sped'. That would lead one to believe that Colt had spent weeks in bed recovering. In actually, when Colt peeked under the bandages the very next day, the wound was healed over, but it still looked nasty. The scarring spread all the way up to the side of his neck, and for the first time in his life, Colt cursed the warm summer months. There was no way to wear a scarf to hide the garish marks in the heat.
He also learned that jobs in small towns are coveted things, passed on from one generation to the next. Teachers raised kids to become teachers and take their positions when they retired, or they moved on to the city. It was the same story with every job Colt found. No place advertised outright, not like in the city. Shop owners talked to their friends who recommended someone who needed work. Someone like Colt, a new person to the town, didn't stand a chance. He tried at the grocery store and the bakery in town. Then he walked to the gas station with the ice cream store next to it, and when he got nothing out of them, Colt even tried the campsite at the very edge of town.
Just like Chuck had said when Colt asked him for work, everyone was closing up for the winter. They were letting go of their seasonal workers and hunkering down, hoping they'd made enough money through the summer to get through the colder months.
One morning, when Colt was seriously debating going back to the city because at least there was some work, he hitched a ride to a local market. It was about forty minutes away and on the other side of a steep climb. Colt saw the yellow barriers, put up as there wasn't a snowflake in sight, but imagined them lowered and travelers forced to turn back.
The woman named Penn, whom Colt rode with in her beat-up truck, was a little older than himself. Maybe in her forties. She had the most amazing laugh lines at the corner of her eyes.
"The road just gets too icy in the winter and we're driving on the edge of a mountain," she said, noticing him staring at the yellow arms. "You don't want to tumble over the side."
"So you can't go through here at all in the winter?" Colt asked.
"Only when it's really snowy. Trucks drive up and down this road all the time carrying supplies, so eventually they have to let them through. Only thing that sucks is that the town we're going to has a hospital. That's why more seniors live here than in our town."
"What do you do if you need a hospital?"
"There is one, but it's another forty minutes in the opposite direction. That trip takes over an hour if there's lots of snow. Of course, an ambulance can help too, but they're not much faster on the slippery highways."
"Life sounds rough here."
"The winters are tough for those who hole up in their houses and don't talk with the rest of the community, but as long as you make an effort to get to know people around you, everyone supports each other."
That sounded completely different than what Colt was used to in the city. In the city it was everyone for themselves. Life was already hard and everyone's favourite game was called 'my life is harder than yours' where people would try to outdo each other by complaining how hard their lives were. Maybe it was still the honeymoon phase, Colt not knowing anyone well enough for them to open up to him like that, but he hadn't heard people complain in the same way they do in the city.
Colt immediately loved the market as his ride pulled up, finding a place to park along the busy main street. The town's name had been on the sign on his way in. This place was more bustling than the town Colt had been hanging out in. The main street had not only a restaurant, but a bar, a clothing store, a bank, a dentist office and liquor store and a police station. That was only what Colt could see. He was sure that there were plenty of other services hidden deeper in the town. All the buildings had a different charm to them too, the storefronts looking like something restored from the 1900s.
The market was outdoors, a tiny, but bustling thing with not much more than a few stalls. Colt picked up fresh produce that had been 'picked that morning' according to those selling it, and he didn't doubt it. After the fiasco with the restaurant, Colt needed something like this to lift him up. He stopped at each stall, making his way around and chatting with those selling goods. Other than produce and meats, there was an array of crochet items, paintings, essential oils, and wood carvings. He bought leafy green lettuce and a pile of fresh cherries that were dirt cheap.
On his way out of the market, he was stopped by someone speaking to him. This stall was so small that Colt hadn't even realized that it was there. Unlike the others, which had tents over the tables to protect against sun or rain, this stall was a tiny folding table operated by a woman in a wheelchair.
"Would you like to try and truffle?" she asked him. "They're the best you ever had."
Colt smiled and then shrugged. Sure, what did we have to lose?
As the took the chocolate wrapped in a pale blue wrapper, she asked him. "Are you just here for the summer?"
"I'd like to be here through the winter too," Colt said, unwrapped the tiny chocolate and popping it into his mouth. "We'll see about that."
"A lack of work, huh? Well, we stick together here. Folks manage."
Colt bought three of the chocolates. He wasn't sure if it was the best thing he'd ever tasted, but it was still pretty damn sweet.
