Chapter Seventy

"I got the job!" Mathew proclaimed as he stepped into the trailer. "Really," Kily said excitedly as she finished brushing Sky’s hair. "Yep, I’ll be logging up in the Butte Mountains, and.." he paused teasing them. Kily waited anxiously for him to finish, and.. what?" she finally said when she couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. Mathew laughed, "and, it’s a year round job, which means that we can start looking for where we want to set up the trailer and make our new home." Kily laughed and applauded.

For the next three days Mathew drove them through the mountain range looking for just the right spot to create as their new home. On the third day they pulled into a small logging town and stopped at the local grocery store so Kily could buy food to make sandwiches. Mathew talked with a retired logger while Kily shopped and when she came back out to the pick up Mathew told her he had just been told about a possible place they might check out to set up their new home sight. Kily opened the pick up tailgate and used it as a table while she made sandwiches and listened to Mathew describe the land they would go see.

"There is an irrigation ditch that runs through this mountain range and at one spot about ten miles down the road from here the irrigation ditch goes underground and the water falls all the way to the bottom of the mountain before the force of it carries it about half way up the other side of that next mountain," Mathew said as he pointed towards a mountain ridge that could just be made out through the fir trees that surrounded the little town. "The irrigation ditch is run by a local company and as I’m told they need someone to maintain a huge metal grate on that irrigation ditch where it goes underground and keep the debri cleaned off of it. I’m thinking we could see if they will let us set up our trailer close to that spot and we could care take it for them and keep the maintenance up on it for them." Kily thought that was an excellent idea. When they finished eating Kily put the food away and Mathew drove them to look at the land.

Dillon and Sky watched as Mathew pulled the pick up off the pavement and maneuvered his way through the trees and brush. "Is this where we are going to live?" Dillon asked as he watched the pick up move deeper into the trees. "Well, we will see," Kily told him and smiled at his excitement. The pick up jostled them back and forth as Mathew guided it down the old logging road. In some places the ruts were so bad that Mathew had to drive up on the side of the road just to get around them. After about two miles they pulled into an opening in the trees and stopped in a small meadow, "This is it!" Mathew proclaimed. He shut the pick up off and Kily watched Butch and Tuffy jump from the bed of the pick up to begin exploring the new sights and smells. Dillon and Sky exited the pick up and hit the ground running. Their laughter and giggles as they chased each other through the meadow echoed through the mountains.

"Come on," Mathew said as he smiled at Kily, "Let’s go see what the old logger was talking about with that grate." Kily followed Mathew to the edge of the meadow and they came across the irrigation ditch. The ditch was about eight feet wide and four feet deep with water quietly flowing through it. "Looks peaceful enough," Kily said as she watched the lazy movement of the water floating along the dirt banks of the ditch. She followed Mathew as he walked along the banks and took in the aroma of the tall fir and pine trees that scented the cool mountain air. They reached the end of the irrigation ditch and Kily saw that the lazily flowing water had turned into a roaring mass of water that foamed up against a huge metal grate that lay over a dark cavernous whole in the man made bank. The noise was so loud from the water rushing into the dark whole Kily had to yell for Mathew to hear her. "What is it we have to do with this?" she yelled at him. Mathew put his hand to his ear and leaned toward her. Kily leaned in to him and yelled her question again. Mathew indicated that he understood her question and Kily watched him speak, "We have to keep this grate cleaned off from any tree limbs or brush that gets stuck up against it," she saw his mouth say. Kily nodded that she understood and they watched the raging water a few moments before moving away. When they were far enough away that they could hear each other, Mathew explained that every now and then brush, tree limbs, and sometimes animals that got trapped in the ditch farther up would float down and get stuck up against the grate, if they didn’t keep the grate cleaned off the debri could build up on the grate and plug up the opening where the water entered the dark hole and then it would overflow the banks creating a very expensive mess to clean up, not to mention that it would interrupt the flow of water to everything that needed it on the other side of the mountain range. They talked as they made their way back to the pick up, and Kily determined that if they were going to live here she would have to keep a close eye on the kids and he dogs. The water seemed calm enough away from that grate, but Kily knew it would mean a death sentence for anything unlucky enough to get caught up against the grate at the end of the ditch.

For two hours they stayed in the meadow walking the land and exploring the area. Finally Kily and Mathew decided it would make a good home for them and the added advantage was that it was only about fifteen minutes away from where he would catch the logging crummy to go to work. They loaded up the kids and dogs and drove down the mountain to go to the company that ran the irrigation district. They put in their application to care take the land and the huge grate, and within an hour they were told they had been approved to live on the land.

"Hmmm a little to the left, I think," Kily said and giggled. Mathew turned the wheel of the pick up and backed up a few feet. "How about now?" Kily took a few steps to her right and turned in a complete circle before facing the pick up again, "I think that should do it," she said with satisfaction. Mathew shut the pick up off and climbed out of the truck. "Damn Kily, I never seen a woman so particular about how she wanted a trailer parked," Mathew told her with a little irritation. Kily smiled at him, "well, since we live in a brand new travel trailer now, I don’t have any furniture to rearrange so, I get the option of what direction I want my home to face," she said with more giggles. "And just why is it important to have your home facing a specific way?" Mathew asked her with surprise. Kily giggled again, "I like to have the sun shine in the window in the morning, also I like to have the best possible view," she said smiling up at him. Mathew let out a sigh. Kily looked at him with a mischievous grin, "Just think Mathew, if we get tired of this veiw all we have to do is turn the trailer a different direction and wha la brand new scenery." Mathew stared at her in disbelief then laughed heartily, "Kily girl I don’t think there is another woman in this world quite like you." Kily laughed.

Mathew began his new job and Kily spent three days packing up their house in town. She loved their new place in the Butte Mountains and she and Mathew felt there was no reason to keep paying rent on the house. Kily sorted through items and labeled boxes "storage" and "yard sale". Items that she thought they may need sometime went into the boxes marked storage, and everything else went into the yard sale section. When she had completed the sorting she moved all the items she thought they might need to a local storage space, then returned to the house and sold everything else in a yard sale. With the house now empty she cleaned it one last time, returned the keys to the landlord and made her way up the mountain to their new home.

Kily sat in the lawn chair outside the trailer and watched Dillon showing Sky racoon tracks in the red dirt. She smiled as she saw him explain the differences in the tracks as they moved across the meadow and she laughed out loud when she saw Sky’s serious little face wrinkle up as she tried to fully understand what he was trying to show her. Tuffy lay at her feet with his head propped on her foot for a pillow. She watched him for a moment and smiled, he had a habit of always having to touch her even in his sleep. It seemed no matter what was going on he would either have his head on her foot, his paw on her foot, or he would sit close enough that some part of his body touched hers. He was growing into a handsome young dog and Kily loved the attentive look in his eye as he continuously tried to understand the words she said to him. She thought for a moment about the words Mathew had said before they left the high mountains of the other logging job he had and she felt a twinge of anger at them still. He had apologized to her for those words, but Kily believed that when people spoke words it was because they really felt those things somewhere deep down inside them, even if they apologized for them later, still in her belief, words like that didn’t just suddenly materialize. She reached down and stroked Tuffy’s soft fur and spoke softly to him. Somehow just the presence of this magical little dog always seemed to bring comfort to her and even though Mathew had apologized for saying he didn’t want her to love something or someone else, Kily was still very careful about the affection or attention she gave to Tuffy in Mathew’s presence. Kily sighed, she wondered why it felt to her like she was always trying to live her life through the needs of other people. She remembered how it was before she let herself go and finally accept Mathew’s attentions. Life was wonderful then, she made her own decisions and had the freedom to think, feel, and do things that she wanted to do without guilt and without worrying about what argument she would have to participate in afterward. Kily sighed once more and turned her gaze to watch Dillon patiently instruct Sky about tracking animals, why would Mathew feel jealous of them she wondered. She felt the sadness that sometimes welled up in her and willed it to go away. She loved being a wife and a mother, she loved cooking and cleaning and creating a comfortable home for her family and she wondered why there always seemed to be a trade off to accomplish that. The words Mathew had spoke to her had changed something in her. Even though she still did all the things she loved for her family she now added extra emphasis on making sure Mathew felt more loved and taken care of than anyone else around him. She thought she had always been doing that anyway, but now there seemed to be a subtle stress to making sure that she accomplished it even when she was so tired she thought she couldn’t do another thing. Kily glanced up at the sky and saw that the afternoon was almost gone, Mathew would be home from work soon and Kily got up to make his favorite dinner.