This is the second installment of a four-part series. If you haven’t already be sure to start with Part 1 of The Widow’s Mountain before reading on. You can do that here.
The Widow’s Mountain, Part 2: Hunker Down
As I unloaded the final boxes from the resort’s work truck, I took a moment to look at the snow accumulating in the front lot of the hotel. It had been three days since I started working at the Big Valley Ski and Sky, and so far, we had been moving effortlessly in an attempt to stock the place before a massive blizzard hit.
I was teamed up with my fellow Search and Rescue colleagues, Chad and Jonny, who were trying their best to provide me with an orientation during the prepping-frenzy.
“Immobilization is key with the serious injuries.” I remember Jonny telling me as we picked up our last supplies in town that day, “Get the hurt skier strapped tightly into the toboggan and haul ass down to the shed.”
The shed he referred to was our Search and Rescue cabin tucked near the woods, about a hundred yards up the main slope from the hotel. Inside we had first aid equipment, a wood stove, and a CB radio to contact emergency services in town.
“Don’t worry, dude,” Chad chimed in. “We mostly get beginners twisting their knee, then looking for some free coffee and a lie down. But if any of them are major-hot babes, then I suggest some alone time by the fire with a possible foot rub to ease their pain.”
He laughed and motioned for me to squeeze in the middle seat of the truck, as he used the passenger door mirror to check his near-perfect, sculpted hair.
As Jonny hopped into the driver’s seat, he followed up on Chad’s remarks, “Listening to this dweeb is a sure-fire way of getting slapped by a guest, and probably fired. Watch what he does…and do the exact opposite.”
I hadn’t quite found my way of mingling in with their constant quips, but I enjoyed the distraction they provided as my first experience with a snow storm loomed ahead. We drove away from town and back up the mountain as the road began to turn white from the light snowfall.
Back at the hotel, I sat the last cardboard box down in the lounge. Chad was already behind the bar unloading several bottles of whiskey, while occasionally checking himself in the massive mirror along the wall.
“First things first,” he announced, turning to stack the bottles neatly against the mirror. “Blizzards are usually good for at least one thing…and that thing is drinking.”
“Won’t we be busy trying to fight the storm or something?” I asked genuinely.
“You’re planning to fight a blizzard?” He mocked, smirking at me with one eyebrow raised.
“Well, I don’t know. I just figured we might have to do…something,” I responded and began unloading bottles of wine from the box in front of me, sliding them down the counter towards him.
He stacked the wine and continued explaining, “Listen, we don’t have any animals to look after and we don’t have any guests yet. We’ll likely lose power, phone lines will go down, and I can only play Rummy so many times before I lose my mind. So we do the only sensible thing: we get close to the fireplace, we drink, and we wait.”
Honestly, that didn’t seem like a bad plan. It’d be nice to take a break after all of the early prep-work we had been doing in the days prior. Plus, this would finally give me a chance to catch back up with Sammi, the beautiful staff member who I’d met on my first day, but had only caught glimpses of since.
As if he was reading my mind, Chad added a final tidbit, “And hey…I’ve seen you checking out that blonde bombshell, but keep in mind, her and Naomi are the only female staff up here. That means all is fair in love and war, and I won’t let you stand in the way of any potential storm hook-ups.”
For the first time, I could tell he was mostly serious. Deep down I hoped Sammi wouldn’t really fall for his extraordinary level of sleazy, but then again, I really didn’t know anything about her.
Looking for any excuse to catch a break from Chad’s uninterrupted plans of debauchery, I hurried over to the resort manager, Tom, as he walked out the back door into the courtyard.
“Hey Tom,” I called out, hoping he could use an extra set of hands. “Just about finished up with everything in the lobby, need anything else doing?”
“Bert, just the guy I was looking for,” He spoke, turning his head slightly while walking briskly out past the courtyard. “I need you guys to run a box of supplies out to the widow’s cabin. Naomi is getting the box now and knows the trail that connects over to her property.”
I didn’t realize it at the time, but Chad had followed me out to the courtyard and spoke up from behind, “Wait, really? I didn’t think anyone ever went down there.”
“I don’t think anyone does, but we’ve got a few hours before the storm is supposed to get bad, so I figured we should at least do our good deed for the month.” Tom stopped and ushered us through the courtyard gate before turning and heading back into the hotel, “Plus, we should make sure that lady is still alive…you know, in case we need to report something down to town.”
“Shit, she’d better not be dead. I’m not in the mood for dead bodies today,” Chad mumbled as we waved down Naomi and began our trek through the woods.
Naomi was young, in her early twenties. She was Native American and I had been told her family was rooted in the surrounding area. She was extremely bubbly at times, always smiling and inquiring about someone’s day or what their interests were.
The snow had been falling lightly for the past hour or so, and it was the most peaceful moment I had witnessed since moving to the area. The trail was still visible, although the gradual accumulation of snow would’ve made it difficult for me to navigate on my own. The surrounding Aspen trees provided a slight break from the wind as the temperature began to drop, and the silence from the snow was only interrupted by our occasional conversation.
Naomi was wearing a button-up knit sweater but had left the top few buttons undone. I noticed an arrowhead bound by small strips of leather and attached to a necklace draping just above her breasts. The arrowhead was a unique shade of copper and slightly translucent, about 3 inches in length.
“Your necklace, it’s nice,” I remarked as we continued on our hike.
Naomi glanced down and held it between the fingers on her left hand, “Thanks! My grandmother gave it to me before she passed. It’s supposed to have special powers and ward off evil spirits or something.”
“It must do something special, I’ve never seen a rock look like that.” I confirmed. Curious about her past, I continued, “So, you’re probably the only staff member actually from here then, huh?”
She let go of the necklace and responded, “Well, my people lived on this mountain for a long time, but not anymore.”
“Oh, did the resort have anything to do with that?” I inquired, trying not to make light of the situation.
“Not really, it was long ago,” she replied. “They left as the area began to attract more and more settlers, but apparently it was their own decision to leave.”
“That’s rough,” Chad chimed in. “New neighbors are the worst.”
“Yeah especially when they curse the place!” She laughed.
“Cursed?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah..well supposedly that’s why they left. I was told the settlers came and then all of the sudden the mountain was surrounded by evil,” She explained. “That’s why some still call the mountain Pauwau.”
“Oh yeah, Tom mentioned that name before,” I said. “Means Lonely Bear, right?”
She let out a deep laugh, “Tom said what?! No, no, no…in our Blackfeet language it basically translates to a shaman, but for this place, they say it more like The Witch.”
“Well fuck me,” blurted Chad. “I’m glad you’ve got that magic necklace then!”
Naomi’s laughter slowly stopped as the conversation dwindled, shadowed in mystery.
“Yeah. Yeah I guess you’re right,” she said, clutching the arrowhead again.
We continued along the path for a few more minutes, then arrived at a small cabin at the edge of a steep slope. The cabin was essentially the dead-end of the mountain road, which had been paved up to the resort, but was only loose gravel this far. It seemed much older than I expected. The foundation was comprised of random stones entirely covered in moss. The logged walls were shifted in some areas of the structure, which seemed ready to slide off the mountain at any moment.
There was no vehicle around, and no smoke coming from the chimney, but still we decided to check for signs of life. Chad went straight for the front door.
“Hello?!” He shouted, while knocking several times, “Anybody home? There’s a storm coming, we brought some gifts…”
I followed Naomi around the side of the cabin, where we found a door slightly ajar. Without hesitation, Naomi strolled through and began looking around. I motioned for Chad to join us and followed her inside.
“Hellloooo?” Naomi called out in a low voice.
“Clearly she’s not here, guys,” Chad moaned. “Let’s leave the box and get back to the hotel. I’ve got a bottle of muddy water with my name on it.”
“Alright,” Naomi sighed. “Just check around to make sure, then we’ll head back.”
Naomi found a clear space by the sink to set down the box of supplies. She pulled out a carton of eggs and wrapped deli meat from the box, then placed them in the refrigerator.
“Maybe she’s down in town,” She called out. “The fridge is about empty, she’s probably getting groceries anyways.”
“Either that or she just doesn’t eat regular food,” Chad speculated, shrugging his shoulders.
He walked over to a bookcase in the main living area, while I examined photographs on the wall. They were all black and white, and most seemed to be old family portraits with no smiles, likely early settlers to the area. Given the age and primitiveness of the photos, I gathered this widow must be very elderly now.
In the center of the wall was a photo of the cabin, nearly buried in snow, with two young women sitting on the front two steps. The cabin seemed newly built in the photo, no structural issues or moss on the foundation. Both women were bundled from the cold, but seemed happy and smiling. One woman had light hair, while the other had a darker color and braced herself with a hand-woven, straw broom. In the lower right corner of the photo there seemed to be a date, but all I could make out was a ‘1937’.
With my face nearly an inch from the photo, I was quickly startled by Chad shouting, “Ho-ly shit!”
I stepped back and looked over to his side of the room, where he stood clutching something in his hands.
“Dude, this is one of ours,” he remarked, now holding out the item for me to see. “It’s a personalized multi-tool from the resort. The old school Search and Rescue guys must’ve been issued this.”
He handed it to me. It looked to me like an old Swiss Army Knife, which held two types of sharp folding blades, an assortment of screw driver bits and a corkscrew. Engraved on the side read: Pauwau Ski Resort Search and Rescue.
Naomi walked over to see the knife, then told Chad, “Cool. Now put it back and let’s go.”
“What?” Chad questioned, “This is one of ours. She probably just found it up here, now I’ve re-found it and am taking it back to hotel.”
“No, you are not,” Naomi demanded. “Put it back, damnit!”
“Whatever,” Chad shrugged and turned back to the bookshelf. “You’re right, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chad was the first out of the opened side door as Naomi followed. I pulled the door shut on my way out and turned the corner. While crossing the gravel road towards the trail, the hair on the back of my neck stood up as a ragged voice softly murmured behind me.
We couldn’t make out the words, but all three of us stopped in our tracks and sharply glanced back towards the cabin. On the front stairs stood a short, elderly woman with bright white hair in a heavy coat. She was hunkered over with poor posture, but braced herself with an old broom and slowly swept Chad’s mud tracks from the steps.
She looked up with a half-smile and sniveled, “Storm’s coming, eh?”
She stood still and continued to stare as if she was looking straight through me to the others. Then she swiftly scurried the broom across the steps again, but never looked away.
“Yes…yes ma’am,” I stammered. “There’s a bad storm heading this way. We brought some food and things for you just….just in case.”
She finally broke eye contact and glanced up at the sky.
“Oh yes,” she confirmed in her frail voice, then lowered her gaze back down to us. “Storm’s coming. You should hunker down.”
She stopped sweeping and stared again with a wider grin. Her mouth was open slightly, displaying what few, rotten teeth she had left. The stare lasted a few seconds, but to us it seemed like eternity.
Without hesitation, we turned and began swiftly walking away down the path. None of us said a word as we dashed back to the hotel, but I noticed something that didn’t need words to speak for it. For the entire snow-filled hike, Naomi desperately clutched her necklace, not once letting go.
Proceed to Part 3 here.
Cadbury Pringlebatch is the Operations Manager for The SoBros Network, but knows a little bit about everything. Known for frequenting Nashville YMCA steam rooms, he’s a firm believer that winning football is produced by moving the chains, and became a SoBro after mistaking one of our podcasts for an AA meeting. Follow on Twitter: @SoBroCadbury
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