A snow shower came in that eve and dumped four inches.
But that was normal. And the party raged. But Kit and Jess looked
outside for two particular Native American spirits during a P break
back at the camper later on. They had been checking every night to
see if their "friends" had made the trip up. But to no avail. So they
wrote it off to the spirits being about Truchas and or El Dorado.
But they really hoped they hadn't screwed up. They missed LE and
Swan.
        Late in the morning - after the snowball fight - Jess said that
she wanted to start clearing the trail to their homesite. Well, that
made good sense, Kit sassed, with the snow covering everything.
And they watched Wiley, Orv and some other vets skidding planes
around in the snow, some for just the fun of it, but also to pack the
snow down on the runway. Other crewmembers were getting skis
on other planes.
        Anway, after flapjacks in the B'ar, Jack strolled in just to
check if their neighbors had made it back all right. So Jess
commandeered him, they gathered up axes and saws, loaded
everything in their four-wheeler and drove across Highway 3 and
started cutting into the thick stand of pine. They lumberjacked into
that mountainslope, slipping around in the snow, as if power saws
and falling conifers weren't dangerous enough without that and
hangovers, and started carving out a driveway along the stream,
cutting the stumps down to the ground.
        Well, two guys really wanting to marry Essy came up and
were OK'd to stay, so they helped Es, making sure she was OK
and impressed with their qualities as they tried to outdo each
other; then two more came up for Flee. Jess they had given up
on, telling her what all the guys in camp were saying. She was
Cody's. And she was relieved to hear it. But Essy, now, was just
loving it. She who had not had a guy before Kit had rejected her,
she laughed with the girls. She was having her go. And the guys
loved seeing her enjoyment. Felecia was used to it, of course.
And our ladies chirped away as they all chainsawed the pines
down.
        Jess was feeling the joy of her first home. And it was going
to be with Kit, she was thinking. But she was also feeling twangs
that her singlehoodness could not be all done with. Not that fast.
But it was Kit! And she had loved him throughout those ten years
they had been apart, she was talking to herself. She had lept off
the edge with him. They were in love. She felt it all very hard to
believe as she stopped her sawing on a stump and smiled over at
him chopping with an axe into another tree about ready to go. He
caught her look and smiled back.
        They returned to the village a couple hours before dark and
plopped down exhaustingly on logs by the campfire, joining
everyone else who had put in a good hard day of play or work on
those hangovers. After some Frogs, though, they got their
instruments, because Jessy did, and began to play.
        Later, they had a talk with the Arkansas four about taking
over for them, basically. They told them that there wouldn't be
any new money coming in, it looked. And they even talked about
taking North Air public.
        They rejoined the fireside and Jess gave them one heck of a
new song. All about a first home and first love and promise of
happiness and stuff, about May gone by like quickfire and six
weeks of amazingness. Kit was playing guitar along with her and
tearing up noticably.
        When Jess finished the song, Wiley, sitting close to the guys,
asked, "why the water, there, Cody?"
        "Smoke from the fire, Wi," Kit smiled over to Jess and she
leaned over and kissed him to the "ooohs", "ahhhs" and applause.
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