Chapter 24

Canada, Twenty-Eight Years Ago

“It’s rabbit, Chepi. Eat it. Wake up the boy and make sure he gets some, too. It’s all we have to keep us alive.”

She jostled her son. “Daddy got us a rabbit to eat.”

“Yay!” The little boy clapped his hands.

Chepi held out a piece of the flesh to her son.

The boy recoiled and screwed up his face. “It’s raw, Mommy. Icky. I don’t want it.”

“Remember when we went fishing with Uncle Sokamon and Grandpa Segenan, and Grandpa caught that great big salmon?”

“Yup.”

“Remember when Uncle carved up the fish and gave us little pieces of it raw? It was good wasn’t it? This rabbit is yummy like the raw salmon. Show me how brave you are and eat some.”

With expressionless eyes fixed directly on his mother’s face, he stuck out a small hand, palm up. Chepi pressed a piece of the meat into his glove. He took a bite and chewed. The boy’s eyes widened. “Good, Mommy. Best meat I ever ate. More…”

Northern California, Present Time

The pot of split pea soup had come to a boil when Maggie’s phone rang. Stirring the pot with one hand, she picked up her cell with the other and depressed the talk button. If she’d read the display, she would not have answered.

“I thought we were great together,” Mingan said. “Now you don’t even want talk to me? I’ve left you at least a half dozen messages.”

Maggie turned the fire down under the peas. “I’m right in the middle of something, Mingan. Can this wait?”

“Let me talk to you for one minute. That’s all I ask.”

“Wait a second.” Maggie turned off the heat under the soup and pulled a chair to the kitchen table. “I’m listening.”

“I don’t know why you don’t want to have anything to do with me now, and I…”

“…look, Mingan, you’re a good guy. You’re handsome, you’re great with my nieces, and you can be a lot of fun. But, I don’t see this thing working out between us.”

“Is it because of what happened the other day at Mama’s? I was really rattled, and I know I overreacted…look, I really care about you and I thought you felt the same way about me.”

“Frankly, the way you acted at Mama’s was really weird, but that’s not the only reason why. It’s because…”

“…because I respected you enough to not want to fuck you on our first date?” Mingan’s voice was dark, angry.

“Fine talk for a nice Christian boy, a church deacon. You sure know how to impress a lady.”

Mingan’s voice softened. “I want another chance. Let’s give it one more try, shall we?”

“Thank you. That’s nice, but it’s not…”

“…it’s because I’m a Christian, right?”

“It’s not that you are a Christian that concerns me. Jake’s a Christian. I have many friends and family who are devout Christians. My father was a Christian. It is the kind of fanatic that you are. Don’t get me wrong. I respect your choice to believe, but your brand of Christianity is over-the-top for me. I’m an atheist. I’m not going to change, and you’ll never accept that about me. You’ll continue trying to recruit me, so sooner or later all this religious stuff would end us anyway. I’d rather it be now before we get in deeper.”

The only sound was his breathing.

“Mingan, are you there? Do you hear what I’m saying?”

“I’m here.”

“I gave it a go with you. We had some fun times together, but this whole hardcore fundamentalist thing is too much for me. Let’s be friends and call it good.”

“Bitch.”

“What did you say?”

“You led me on. You let me believe you wanted something with me, and now you are using my religion as an excuse to kick me to the curb. You know how many women in this town would cut off one of their tits to have one night with me?”

Maggie held the phone away from her ear, and looked at it as though a lump of rat feces stuck to the earpiece. She put the phone back to her ear and in a slow, controlled voice said, “I’m done. Don’t ever call me again. Don’t ever show up at my house. Don’t acknowledge me on the street. Don’t even nod your head in my general direction if we accidentally run into one another at the mini-mart, you unstable, self-righteous prick.”

Maggie clicked off her cell and threw it against the wall. It broke into two neat pieces. “Dammit all to hell. I’m not looking for someone to marry, but I’d so much enjoy a normal relationship with a normal man. Is that too much to expect?”

She drew a bubble bath, lit her sage-lemon candle and opened a bottle of pinot noir. She put on a Lughnasa CD and stepped into the bath. The cat settled in on the bathroom rug next to the tub. “Samantha, that arrogant jerk doesn’t even like Celtic music. We had nothing in common. Nothing. I’m glad we’re rid of him, aren’t you?”

That night, Maggie slept the sleep of angels. For the first time in a long while, no ravens or monsters haunted her dreams.

*

Maggie stepped up to National Bank’s service counter. “I need to close my account,” she said to the teller.

“Oh my. Is there a problem with our customer service? Mr. Metchitehew is in if you’d like to talk to him. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to clear up any problem you may be experiencing.”

“No, thank you. I do not want to talk to Mr. Metchitehew. My decision has nothing to do with your level of service. You’ve all been great.” Maggie gave the teller a look to relay the message that she didn’t care to discuss the matter further.

As she turned to leave the bank, Mingan peeked around the corner of his office at her. For the first time, instead of seeing him as good looking and sexy, he was creepy. She resisted the urge to tell him once again what she thought of him. Maggie walked a block down the street and opened an account with Umpqua Bank, whose motto is “Welcome to the World’s Greatest Bank.”