gift9

Chapter Nine

“Did you get the license number of the truck that ran over me?” John wanted to know.

Sarah giggled and shook her head, “That wasn’t a truck - you fell over the side of a ravine. You were lucky there was so much snow and so many bushes - you might have hurt yourself.”

John just looked at her, finally joining her laughter, but holding his sides because his ribs were still very tender. “Jeeze, stop that! I can’t laugh.”

“You’re doing a pretty good job of it,” she teased him. Truthfully, she was so relieved the morning after their chopper ride to Brightfish Bay Trauma to find John fairly coherent, and now - a day after that - to find him sitting up, laughing over his abortive trip to catch the bear, that she wanted to just dance around the room.

“It’s all fake bravado, smoke and mirrors,” he assured her.

“Okay, whatever you say,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I understand they’re letting you go home tomorrow - how are you going to get there?”

Totally serious, he told her, “Ice skate.”

Sarah nodded solemnly, “Towed by a bear?”

“Probably. Seriously, I think the Forest Service guys are going to give us both a chopper ride back over the mountains - unless you’d rather drive.” It took almost 6 hours to drive - on a good day. With snow choking the roads, it could take several days - if you didn’t freeze to death in a blizzard that was likely to blow up before you got there.

“Yes, that’d be great!” Sarah hadn’t been looking forward to catching a ride back to Mystery, so the chopper ride was welcome news. She wanted to get home, sleep in her own bed, bathe in her own bathroom and get back to work. She also wanted to see what was going to happen with John given their passionate interlude in the cavern and his declaration - of sorts - in the hospital.

The next day they were comfortably tucked in the back of the big rescue helicopter flying over the mountains toward Mystery. John peered down through the window, looking at the snow covered ridges, wondering where the elusive bear was hiding. They'd never seen more than its tracks on their little jaunt. Had the bear, perhaps, been hiding right nearby the whole time? Had it been laughing an ursine belly laugh at their clumsiness? Probably. He sighed and lay back down for the rest of the flight.

Sarah, sitting next to him, didn't bother to look outside. She'd had enough of this particular group of ridges to last her for the next year. Besides, she'd rather look at Johnny. She smiled at his slight questioning look. "Just looking," she answered the unspoken question.

John smiled, pleased to be the object of her glance. He reached out for her hand and she slid her fingers into his grip. "I'm so glad that wasn't a dream back there."

"So am I," she said truthfully. God, she'd wanted him for so long - it seemed like all her life. "I've had a crush on you since you first came to Mystery."

"Really?" John thought back, recalling the plump young girl with the beautiful blue eyes and glistening blonde hair. She had, now that he remembered, always been tagging along with the group of boys he was friends with. They had all dreamed of skating in the Saturday game, and Sarah was one of the girls who wanted to prove girls could play hockey just as well as any boy could. Only Sarah had stuck with her dream the longest and only dropping away from it when puberty and the realities of her ability on skates forced her to quit. John remembered that he still saw her, sitting in the bleachers day after day, watching them all practice. Now, he realized, she wasn't watching them all - she was watching him. "That was for me? All that time you spent in the bleachers was because you were watching me?"

She nodded, her face pinkening in embarrassment to admit the length of time she'd found him to be someone worth her hero worship. "Yeah, until that brunette came along and stole your heart - I had to stop then." She meant Donna. Once Donna appeared on the scene mid-way through the eleventh grade, John saw no female but the slender, brown-haired beauty from Anchorage. It was disgusting to see him dancing attendance on her, so disgusting, so disheartening that Sarah had stopped watching the hockey team practice altogether. She had turned to her books for solace and gone on to nursing school, hoping to meet someone who would love her like she had loved John Biebe all those years.

John squeezed her hand and pulled her a bit closer. "I'm sorry - I didn't know. I was too dense, I guess." He'd also been too in lust with Donna. She had ruled him - body and mind - for years. Until she broke him by leaving with their children. He shut his eyes, shaking his head at his stupidity. Warm, soft lips on his woke him from his self-recriminations and he kissed Sarah back, reveling in her sweetness. "Sarah, I never thought I could feel this way again," he said when the kiss ended.

She sat with her hand still clasped in his, smiling at him. "Yeah? What way is that, Biebe?"

He turned her hand over, playing with her fingers, tickling her palm. "In lust," he said at last, looking up from his study of her hand to find a look of disappointment in her blue eyes. "Sarah - maybe a lot more than that, I'm not sure yet. Will you give me a little time to figure myself out?" The disappointed look fled and a slow smile set off an expression in her face that he'd never seen her wear before. "Sarah?" he asked in a soft, questioning voice.

"Johnny," she managed, then she could only nod, overcome that he wasn't just going to brush her off this time, that they were, at last, grown ups, and she could look forward - possibly! - to a grown up woman's reward for her years of adolescent longing. "Yes," she told him, "I'll give you all the time you need, John. If you promise me one thing, that is."

"What?" he asked, clearly puzzled. Did she want him to promise that he wouldn't see anyone else? Not that he cared to see anyone else - not that there even was anyone else in the first place. He didn't think there was another woman in the whole state of Alaska who interested him besides pretty Sarah Hines, whom he had known most of his life.

"Promise me you won't go after that fucking bear again until you're healed up."

Surprised, John gave a loud shout of laughter that quickly had him clasping his hands around his midsection to keep from jarring his ribcage.

The copilot looked back at them, startled, then just shook his head. The sheriff and the cute blonde nurse were necking - some guys had all the luck. "Almost to Mystery," he announced a bit later. He wondered how the couple would manage having sex with the sheriff stove up like that. Maybe the blonde would figure out something kinky - he shook off the image and once again, he envied the sheriff.

"Mystery, dead ahead," the pilot said a few minutes later.

The chopper set down in the parking lot of the clinic and Doc Savage was there along with Tree and Galen Winetka to greet his returning patient and his nurse. "About time you got home," Tree greeted John and Sarah. "I got the bear!"

Galen interrupted, looking disgusted, "You mean 'we' got the bear - shit, Tree, hogging all the credit."

Tree laughed and pummeled Galen, who pummeled him right back. "This little fella here, he helped me," he finally admitted. They were inside by then and Doc was checking John over to be sure he was well enough to be allowed to go home.

"I shot the fucking thing," Galen said indignantly.

Tree shrugged, "It's true, he did shoot it. But I killed it - he only made it mad."

John, watching the byplay between the two, knew there was probably a long, hilarious story behind their bantering. "Guys," he said into a rare silence, "just tell me - was the damn thing rabid or not?"

"Too soon to tell," Doc put in, listening to John's chest with his stethescope. "Should have a report from the state lab pretty quick though - maybe you won't have to have the rest of those rabies shots."

"That'd be a relief," John admitted.

"You want the bear skin?" Tree asked, watching how Sarah never took her eyes off Johnny. Something was different in how his friend looked at her now. Something momentous had happened up in the mountains - something other than John falling down a ravine and getting hurt. Tree realized that John looked happier, more relaxed than he had in months - back to before Donna left. In that instant, everything added up and Tree knew what had taken place. "I'll be damned," he muttered softly.

John glanced up from watching Sarah take his pulse. "What?"

Tree just shook his head, grinning. "Nothing important - to me, anyway." He clapped a long arm across Galen's shoulders, turned them both around and headed for the exit. "We'll see you guys later," he called over his shoulder. To Galen, who demanded to know why he had dragged him outside, Tree said, "Something's happened with those two - couldn't you see it?"

"Yeah, Sarah rescued him from freezing to death after he fell - oh!" Galen suddenly picked up on what Tree was getting at. "You mean - Johnny and Sarah Hines??" He whooped with delighted laughter, which was okay because they were outside in the parking lot by then. "Shit," he told Tree, "this'll kill Skank."

"How so?" Tree wanted to know.

"Well, short of Sarah bashing him with her snow shovel again, can you think of another way she could shut Skank up better than to land John Biebe - the man half the women in a 500 mile radius of Mystery have been dying to comfort ever since Donna left him?"

It was true, Tree realized. Skank had taken to claiming that Sarah only conked him as a kind of love tap, although she'd claimed that Skank's brains were addled by the first conking she'd given him. Skank Marden just couldn't deal with the fact that Sarah didn't care if he lived or died, much less wanted to go to bed with him again. They grinned at one another happily.

"And we can't say a word to anybody about this," Galen told him.

Tree's face fell. "Why not?" he wanted to know, clearly irked. He loved nothing more than to be the bearer of news that would irritate Skank Marden. He found Skank annoying in the extreme - a little man with a big mouth.

"Because we can't jeopardize whatever this is between Johnny and Sarah - so we've got to keep shut about it until they do something themselves to make it known that there's a budding romance."

"I hate it when you're right," the tall French Canadian muttered.

"Oh, let's go get some lunch, drown our sorrows with a beer," Galen urged him.

"Okay," Tree agreed. He drove. As he parked outside the tavern, he nudged Galen with an elbow, chortling, "Sarah and Johnny - can you believe it!"

"Yeah," Galen said after he thought about it, "Yeah, I can. Johnny's a lucky guy."

Tree could only nod, finally adding, "Yeah, he is."

This is a work of fiction, loosely based on the character "John Biebe" as portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film "Mystery, Alaska" I do not own the copyright on that character, but only on the premise of this story. This story is for readers over the age of 18 only, and contains explicit sexual situations and adult language. The writer is not responsible for any "discomfort" caused to the reader by this language and these situations. ©2002 by WILDBEARIES "The Gift"

Chapter Nine “Did you get the license number of the truck that ran over me?” John wanted to know. Sarah giggled and shook her head, “That wasn’t a truck - you fell over the side of a ravine. You were lucky there was so much snow and so many bushes - you might have hurt yourself.” John just looked at her, finally joining her laughter, but holding his sides because his ribs were still very tender. “Jeeze, stop that! I can’t laugh.” “You’re doing a pretty good job of it,” she teased him. Truthfully, she was so relieved the morning after their chopper ride to Brightfish Bay Trauma to find John fairly coherent, and now - a day after that - to find him sitting up, laughing over his abortive trip to catch the bear, that she wanted to just dance around the room. “It’s all fake bravado, smoke and mirrors,” he assured her. “Okay, whatever you say,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I understand they’re letting you go home tomorrow - how are you going to get there?” Totally serious, he told her, “Ice skate.” Sarah nodded solemnly, “Towed by a bear?” “Probably. Seriously, I think the Forest Service guys are going to give us both a chopper ride back over the mountains - unless you’d rather drive.” It took almost 6 hours to drive - on a good day. With snow choking the roads, it could take several days - if you didn’t freeze to death in a blizzard that was likely to blow up before you got there. “Yes, that’d be great!” Sarah hadn’t been looking forward to catching a ride back to Mystery, so the chopper ride was welcome news. She wanted to get home, sleep in her own bed, bathe in her own bathroom and get back to work. She also wanted to see what was going to happen with John given their passionate interlude in the cavern and his declaration - of sorts - in the hospital. The next day they were comfortably tucked in the back of the big rescue helicopter flying over the mountains toward Mystery. John peered down through the window, looking at the snow covered ridges, wondering where the elusive bear was hiding. They'd never seen more than its tracks on their little jaunt. Had the bear, perhaps, been hiding right nearby the whole time? Had it been laughing an ursine belly laugh at their clumsiness? Probably. He sighed and lay back down for the rest of the flight. Sarah, sitting next to him, didn't bother to look outside. She'd had enough of this particular group of ridges to last her for the next year. Besides, she'd rather look at Johnny. She smiled at his slight questioning look. "Just looking," she answered the unspoken question. John smiled, pleased to be the object of her glance. He reached out for her hand and she slid her fingers into his grip. "I'm so glad that wasn't a dream back there." "So am I," she said truthfully. God, she'd wanted him for so long - it seemed like all her life. "I've had a crush on you since you first came to Mystery." "Really?" John thought back, recalling the plump young girl with the beautiful blue eyes and glistening blonde hair. She had, now that he remembered, always been tagging along with the group of boys he was friends with. They had all dreamed of skating in the Saturday game, and Sarah was one of the girls who wanted to prove girls could play hockey just as well as any boy could. Only Sarah had stuck with her dream the longest and only dropping away from it when puberty and the realities of her ability on skates forced her to quit. John remembered that he still saw her, sitting in the bleachers day after day, watching them all practice. Now, he realized, she wasn't watching them all - she was watching him. "That was for me? All that time you spent in the bleachers was because you were watching me?" She nodded, her face pinkening in embarrassment to admit the length of time she'd found him to be someone worth her hero worship. "Yeah, until that brunette came along and stole your heart - I had to stop then." She meant Donna. Once Donna appeared on the scene mid-way through the eleventh grade, John saw no female but the slender, brown-haired beauty from Anchorage. It was disgusting to see him dancing attendance on her, so disgusting, so disheartening that Sarah had stopped watching the hockey team practice altogether. She had turned to her books for solace and gone on to nursing school, hoping to meet someone who would love her like she had loved John Biebe all those years. John squeezed her hand and pulled her a bit closer. "I'm sorry - I didn't know. I was too dense, I guess." He'd also been too in lust with Donna. She had ruled him - body and mind - for years. Until she broke him by leaving with their children. He shut his eyes, shaking his head at his stupidity. Warm, soft lips on his woke him from his self-recriminations and he kissed Sarah back, reveling in her sweetness. "Sarah, I never thought I could feel this way again," he said when the kiss ended. She sat with her hand still clasped in his, smiling at him. "Yeah? What way is that, Biebe?" He turned her hand over, playing with her fingers, tickling her palm. "In lust," he said at last, looking up from his study of her hand to find a look of disappointment in her blue eyes. "Sarah - maybe a lot more than that, I'm not sure yet. Will you give me a little time to figure myself out?" The disappointed look fled and a slow smile set off an expression in her face that he'd never seen her wear before. "Sarah?" he asked in a soft, questioning voice. "Johnny," she managed, then she could only nod, overcome that he wasn't just going to brush her off this time, that they were, at last, grown ups, and she could look forward - possibly! - to a grown up woman's reward for her years of adolescent longing. "Yes," she told him, "I'll give you all the time you need, John. If you promise me one thing, that is." "What?" he asked, clearly puzzled. Did she want him to promise that he wouldn't see anyone else? Not that he cared to see anyone else - not that there even was anyone else in the first place. He didn't think there was another woman in the whole state of Alaska who interested him besides pretty Sarah Hines, whom he had known most of his life. "Promise me you won't go after that fucking bear again until you're healed up." Surprised, John gave a loud shout of laughter that quickly had him clasping his hands around his midsection to keep from jarring his ribcage. The copilot looked back at them, startled, then just shook his head. The sheriff and the cute blonde nurse were necking - some guys had all the luck. "Almost to Mystery," he announced a bit later. He wondered how the couple would manage having sex with the sheriff stove up like that. Maybe the blonde would figure out something kinky - he shook off the image and once again, he envied the sheriff. "Mystery, dead ahead," the pilot said a few minutes later. The chopper set down in the parking lot of the clinic and Doc Savage was there along with Tree and Galen Winetka to greet his returning patient and his nurse. "About time you got home," Tree greeted John and Sarah. "I got the bear!" Galen interrupted, looking disgusted, "You mean 'we' got the bear - shit, Tree, hogging all the credit." Tree laughed and pummeled Galen, who pummeled him right back. "This little fella here, he helped me," he finally admitted. They were inside by then and Doc was checking John over to be sure he was well enough to be allowed to go home. "I shot the fucking thing," Galen said indignantly. Tree shrugged, "It's true, he did shoot it. But I killed it - he only made it mad." John, watching the byplay between the two, knew there was probably a long, hilarious story behind their bantering. "Guys," he said into a rare silence, "just tell me - was the damn thing rabid or not?" "Too soon to tell," Doc put in, listening to John's chest with his stethescope. "Should have a report from the state lab pretty quick though - maybe you won't have to have the rest of those rabies shots." "That'd be a relief," John admitted. "You want the bear skin?" Tree asked, watching how Sarah never took her eyes off Johnny. Something was different in how his friend looked at her now. Something momentous had happened up in the mountains - something other than John falling down a ravine and getting hurt. Tree realized that John looked happier, more relaxed than he had in months - back to before Donna left. In that instant, everything added up and Tree knew what had taken place. "I'll be damned," he muttered softly. John glanced up from watching Sarah take his pulse. "What?" Tree just shook his head, grinning. "Nothing important - to me, anyway." He clapped a long arm across Galen's shoulders, turned them both around and headed for the exit. "We'll see you guys later," he called over his shoulder. To Galen, who demanded to know why he had dragged him outside, Tree said, "Something's happened with those two - couldn't you see it?" "Yeah, Sarah rescued him from freezing to death after he fell - oh!" Galen suddenly picked up on what Tree was getting at. "You mean - Johnny and Sarah Hines??" He whooped with delighted laughter, which was okay because they were outside in the parking lot by then. "Shit," he told Tree, "this'll kill Skank." "How so?" Tree wanted to know. "Well, short of Sarah bashing him with her snow shovel again, can you think of another way she could shut Skank up better than to land John Biebe - the man half the women in a 500 mile radius of Mystery have been dying to comfort ever since Donna left him?" It was true, Tree realized. Skank had taken to claiming that Sarah only conked him as a kind of love tap, although she'd claimed that Skank's brains were addled by the first conking she'd given him. Skank Marden just couldn't deal with the fact that Sarah didn't care if he lived or died, much less wanted to go to bed with him again. They grinned at one another happily. "And we can't say a word to anybody about this," Galen told him. Tree's face fell. "Why not?" he wanted to know, clearly irked. He loved nothing more than to be the bearer of news that would irritate Skank Marden. He found Skank annoying in the extreme - a little man with a big mouth. "Because we can't jeopardize whatever this is between Johnny and Sarah - so we've got to keep shut about it until they do something themselves to make it known that there's a budding romance." "I hate it when you're right," the tall French Canadian muttered. "Oh, let's go get some lunch, drown our sorrows with a beer," Galen urged him. "Okay," Tree agreed. He drove. As he parked outside the tavern, he nudged Galen with an elbow, chortling, "Sarah and Johnny - can you believe it!" "Yeah," Galen said after he thought about it, "Yeah, I can. Johnny's a lucky guy." Tree could only nod, finally adding, "Yeah, he is."
Click the bear's picture for Chapter Ten Bernard, creation of Marti Koeppe Visit him at Wildbearies
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Graphics and layout by Wildbearies Story by Marti Koeppe ©2002 This story may not be reprinted or included in any anthologies without my written permission.