Chapter 4: Misty Water-Color Dreamscapes

I stir, then awaken to Aegen softly whining & pawing at the door.

“Needin’ to go out, boy?” He continues lying on the floor sideways (almost rolling over to his back) going after the weather stripping as though something is on the other side. “Gimme a sec to get ma boots on.”

He stands up & backs off as I approach the door, anxiously & eagerly bouncing like he’s got a nervous tic or an itch that needs scratching. I check the gauge. Sixty-three below & still falling. Heedless, I open the door & Aegen goes bounding through.

“Not too far, Aegen! You don’t wanna spend the rest of the night out in this pea soup.”

Pea soup? What am I doin’ out here in the fog? And how does a fog maintain its consistency at sixty-three below? It shouldn’t be anythin’ but a cloud of ice crystals, yet here it is just as damp as can be. And warm. I feel warm? At this point I realize I’m out here in nothing but the thermal underwear in which I usually sleep.

I try to spot Aegen through the dark mists, but he’s too far gone. I listen…, but hear nothing beyond the howl of the wind disturbing the trees. Somethin’s wrong. I’m not supposed to be out here. Everyone knows that! And Alyx ‘specially warned us just last night! Yet, I feel drawn.

“Aegen! Where are ya, boy? Come here!” I can see my breath as I call out. It’s cold outside. I know that.

But it’s not.

Without a thought I move out into the warm, damp dark, oblivious to the door closing behind me & all light disappearing.

Nothing but the fog in my face & all around. I keep walking, with no idea how long or far or where I am, though I don’t feel lost. Completely oblivious to any danger or threat, all I sense is surging curiosity. It draws me ever more deeply into the forest.

I catch a glimpse of something up ahead. “Aegen! Is that you?”

Of course it’s not. It’s a light shining through a cabin window…, now also through a door as it opens & a man walks out.

It’s Ichthyan…, I think, even as I find myself not quite believing it, not believing my own eyes. Gettin’ an early start on his ice fishin’. They do tend to bite better about this time.

Since when? I argue with myself. Never mind, just go with it. Yep, there’s his gear, auger, tackle, shelter, sled, & a few more than three pints for good measure. No wonder I like him!

I watch as he completes his preparations, turns out the lights, closes the door, & heads down the trail to the bay, dragging the sled through the snow behind him.

He never once notices me, though I watch him do all this plainly. Even as he makes it off into the distance I am able to observe, though the fog is heavy & dense…,

…& warm! Though he obviously doesn’t understand this, bein’ bundled up the way he is.

I see him out on the ice. One hundred feet. Two. A tenth of a mile. Quarter. Half. The fog is thick. Yet I see. It’s almost as though something in the mist wants me to watch.

The auger is in his hand. You’re not gonna need it, I think to myself with a slight smirk. I can already see the hole waiting for him. Now he sees it. He stops & stares at it for awhile, then abandons the auger to the ice. He prepares his line & drops it in, slowly letting it out over the course of several minutes. He doesn’t set up his shelter or even his chair. He prepares no fire, releases no pint from the relative warmth of its insulated confines. He simply stands there holding the line.

Only at this point do I notice that he has left no trail, neither footprints nor sled tracks. There is no dint upon the snow, presently at least two days old.

Aegen nuzzles my hand, all the while staring out across the ice, keeping vigil with me.

“You back, boy? That’s a good boy. Yep, I don’t know what Ichie’s doin’ either, goin’ out so early in this soup. Almost looks as though he might be questin’ in spite of himself.”

I have no idea how long we watch him out there. An hour? Maybe two? Something like a shadow passes over my eyes & I have to rub them in order to see clearly again. This happens several times over the course of our guard.

In the distance I would swear I hear Alyx’s voice, not like before, but slow & mournful:

“Ah, me friend, I hardly knew ye,

Now it seems I know ya less,

With this very passin’ hour,

It ‘ppears ye do but evanesce.

He catches nothing, not so much as a nip on his line. Then, all but imperceptibly at first, we watch as the line slips through his fingers. He does not let it go. It simply slips right through them as he fades into the mist.

At which point a light that had not been on inside the cabin switches off. And for the first time in this misty darkness, I feel a chill.

*****

I wake with a start. O good grief! I scold myself. Of course, I didn’t remember to reset my alarm for the fog & the late work start. Seven a.m.! Might as well get up. Not likely to get more sleep now.

What was that dream last night? It seemed so real, impossibly real. I try to dredge it up but I can’t. It’s like it’s right there at the edge of my memory, but I cannot drag it into the light.

“Aegen! How’d you get in here?” I look out the window & see the fog is just beginning to thin. “Ya musta followed me home through that muck & snuck in without me even noticin’,” I tease as I ruffle the fur behind his neck & back. “Just as well. That crud’s not fit for man, woman nor beast.”

I give him a good firm scruffing with both sets of fingers along the sides of his head & ask, “You want some breakfast? Why don’t I fix us some grits?”

Aegen looks a little disappointed at my suggestion & whines just a bit. “Sorry, boy, it’s all we got until that supply runner gets back.”

I turn to the kitchenette, pull out a pan & the bucket of meal, dash a little snow melt on it—not too much, we both prefer it on the dry side—set it on the burner & begin stirring with the stick I keep on the counter. It’s not long before I’m deep in thought.

Didn’t Akshita & I walk home from the tavern before the fog hit? We had to! We’re not supposed to be out in it. That’s just common sense in these parts. So how could Aegen have followed me home without me noticin’? Am I that blind when I’m with Ak? Ah, face it man, she is right cute! And she’s nice to ya! Not ta mention your heart does kinda start to race & skip a bit when she’s around.

But the last part I always walk alone, seein’ as she’s already home & all. How could I not have noticed Aegen then?

Daydreamin’, I suppose! I suggest to myself with a little nod & huff of a grin. Yeah, you got it bad!

I scrape the grits onto the two plates I’ve retrieved from the cupboard. With one in each hand, I turn toward the table. Aegen is up against the door, both front paws leaning hard upon the handle. With the latch released & a slight pull with paw & muzzle, his passage to freedom opens before him. He turns up his nose at the plate I’m offering & dashes through the doorway.

“Suit yourself!” I call after him, dumping his plate onto mine before closing the door.

Sitting at the table, using my fingers to pick up bits of pablum to stick in my mouth, I’m soon deep in thought again. So that’s how he does it! Guess I forgot to lock the door last night. Not that it’s much of a lock. He could probably pick that, too! I laugh to myself.

But that dream last night. So real. What was it?

My eyes settle upon my boots beside the door. There’s snow still stuck to them, as though they’d just come inside.

What the…?

*****

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