The Man Who Saw Seconds by Alexander Boldizar

Author:Alexander Boldizar [Boldizar, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CLASH Books

Chapter 11

Preble dropped Kasper off at home—after surviving a winter of minus sixty huddled in the cottage, it was unambiguously their home now—and told Jane he was going back to skin the bear. Kasper broke into a sudden spasm of tears, crying that Preble couldn’t go. He almost never cried like a standard toddler, with full wailing screams, but now he clung to Preble’s neck with all the strength in his little arms, face completely red, crying beyond language with only fragmented sobs of “No, no, no! Daddy stay here. Daddy can’t go! Daddy can’t go!”

Jane shook off some of the bewildered look she still had from being told they’d been attacked by a polar bear but were mostly okay. “I thought you said you had broken ribs.”

“I think they’re just fractured. Or maybe it’s the intercostal cartilage. At any rate, they’re not pushing into my lungs. A doctor would give me aspirin and tell me to rest.” He shifted Kasper to his left arm, trying to avoid wincing in pain at his ribs, and pushed the hair back from his eyes. “Kasper, shhh. You’re fine now. We’re home.”

“So take some aspirin and rest for God’s sake!” She tried to take Kasper from Preble, but he wouldn’t let go.

“No, Daddy, Daddy can’t go!”

“Jane, we have no income. That pelt is worth over a thousand dollars.”

“We have money.”

“Not really. Whatever we had in New York is gone. It burned up just as much as if we’d had it under a mattress when the missile hit the apartment. We try to use a credit card or an ATM just once, and we’re done. We need that cash.”

He kissed them both, and gently unwrapped Kasper’s hands from his neck—Kasper was screaming, insisting that Preble not leave, when he was able to force words out between the emotion that was overwhelming him, incoherent words about bears and bad men and the cold ice and Daddy not having a nose.

“Yes, you punched the bear in the nose.”

“No. Daddy doesn’t have a nose. Daddy’s fearful. Don’t go!”

Despite his bravery, Kasper felt like he’d almost lost his father, and didn’t want to let him go so soon. Preble tried to explain that he had to go, but he’d be back soon, and the bear was dead already, but after twenty minutes he gave up, gently wiped the hair from Kasper’s red eyes again and the snot from his still baby-chubby cheeks, kissed him on the nose, and walked out of the door. Behind him Kasper insisted he wanted to watch Daddy leave and say bye-bye, so Jane went with him and they waved as Preble climbed back into the boat, trying to take deep breaths despite the pain in his chest which was not all caused by his ribs. He waved back until they became tiny, then disappeared behind trees as the river turned right.

He was grateful to see the bear was still there, untouched. It took him four exhausting hours just to take the skin off, his shotgun beside him, loaded in case something else smelled all the blood.

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