The Rogue and the Runaway 11

The Rogue and the Runaway

Chapter Eleven

"The Winter"

"Love sees what no eye sees;

love hears what no ear hears;

and whatever rose in the heart of man

love prepares for its object."

(Lavater)

We settled into a good, comfortable married life, Seth, me, and, of course, Gus. Gus became my constant companion around the house and yard, following me while I worked out-of-doors or in the kitchen, sitting patiently, eyeing me closely, while I prepared a meal, hoping something would fall to the floor and he could gulp it down before I scolded him. Evenings, Gus lay on a rug we placed in the living room so he could be with us. We attempted to move his bed back to the living room, but he would have none of it and dragged it back outside our bedroom door.

There were times Seth would look at Gus wistfully, perhaps longing for the pet he desired, but now was surrendered to me. Gus, almost as if he could sense Seth's inner feelings, would rise up, walk over to him, and plop his head in his lap, wagging his tail, and wait to be petted. Yet, every day, if Gus hadn't been invited to accompany Seth hunting or harvesting, he'd lay near the door toward late afternoon waiting for Seth to come home. Gus couldn't really be distracted by much as he waited until his ears would perk up, hearing Seth's pickup or the ATV off in the distance, and then would whine in anticipation of Seth's arrival. I knew Gus was really Seth's dog, only on loan to me because Seth loved me so.

Now that we were married, I figured "what the heck" and licensed my truck in Iowa; took my driver's exam and received my operator's license; bought a pre-paid cellphone so I could contact Seth when I needed to; and had a techie clean up my lap top and change my e-mail address so I could use it. If my family was so damned interested in finding me, let them try, although I doubted they were still looking. Being with Seth, for some reason, erased my fears and I loved it!

Our get-to-gathers with the Hayes' and Cook were quite frequent and Cook and I visited on the phone a couple of times per week. It was nice having her so close. She continued to caution me not to be too overly optimistic my family had abandoned all searches for me.

"You remember, Davie, that Momma of yours one powerfully angry and hateful woman!"

I assured her I'd be careful, but also let her know I did have Seth and Gus to protect me, as well as the entire Burridge Family. Seth's Mom was a sweetheart and although we lived neighbors to them, did little to interfere with our lives.

Trapping season started around the first of the month of November and even though I found the sport (or in our case, part of our livelihood) distasteful, Seth enjoyed it. He usually started trapping later than most of the others who did in the area due to finishing the corn harvest. It meant lower numbers of critters harvested, but the income we received from helping with the beans and corn was considerably more than he made trapping. I think he trapped because he enjoyed it, not so much for the money. Beaver trapping season remained open into the spring, but he stopped all trapping the end of January when the season closed on most of the other species.

Traps had to be checked every twenty-four hours so it was cold, hard work every day of the season. He'd come home tired and cold, generally around noon each day after leaving at daylight. As much as Gus loved staying home with me, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to accompany Seth when invited. A simple statement like, "want to go hunting?" and Gus would be beside himself with excitement, tail wagging and whining at the door!

January was a particularly cold, snowy month and Seth began pulling his traps early and hauling them home for cleaning, oiling, and storage for the next season. It took several trips so he'd pull the traps from each of his trap lines and store them temporarily in someone's garage and return later to pick them up. If no garage was available, he'd hide them in gunny bags in the woods until he could get back to them. He had all of his traps at home in the shed, except those in our own bottom land, stretching along the Wapsi on the hills and ridges just above the waterway.

The weather forecasters were predicting a bad spell of winter weather with strong winds, heavy snow, and cold, portending a difficult time for us, if the storm hit during the next few days. According to the weather folks, the storm was about three days or so away, but when it hit it was going to be a doozy!

"Hell, who knows for certain," Seth griped. "Being a weather forecaster is the only job in the world where you can be wrong two-thirds of the time and still get paid."

Right or wrong, we knew he had to get the last of the traps home. I put an extra thermos of hot coffee in his day pack, some treats for Gus since Seth intended on taking him, kissed him goodbye and cautioned him to be careful. Off they went, Seth on the ATV pulling the black Otter® sled behind and Gus loping alongside, happy as a tick he was outside going hunting – or something.

Mid-morning arrived and I expected Seth and Gus to be home anytime. When they didn't' show up, I thought little of it. At lunch, they were still not home and I began to get worried. I called his cell phone and got his voice mail. I left a message for him to call.

Nothing!

By two o'clock, I was scared shitless and at my wits end. I knew better than try to go looking for him myself, so I called my father-in-law, explained my concerns, and asked him for help. Within a half hour both he and Joe Junior arrived on their ATV's. As we stood on the porch deciding where Seth might be, Gus came running up from the bottoms, headed straight for me and started to bark! He'd look at me, bark, and run a short distance, stop, bark again and run back at me before repeating his performance.

Now I knew something was wrong!

"Get bundled up, Davie," Joe Sr. instructed, "that dog wants us to follow him."

I grabbed my heavy coat, hat, mittens and boots, and once dressed climbed on behind Joe Sr. and hollered, "Gus, go find Seth!" He took off and so did we; me straddling the seat behind my father-in-law and Joe Jr. following close behind. It wasn't long until we found the tracks of Seth's ATV and began following them on an old logging trail through the woods. It wound around through the timber, up and over small rises and ridges, snaked along the sloughs and marshes until, as we were slipping and sliding up a steep and narrow incline with a precipitous drop off one side, I spotted Seth's ATV, toppled over on its side up against a tree, down at the bottom of the ravine when Gus dashed over the edge, ran to the overturned ATV and sat, whining and waiting for me.

My heart was in my throat as I scrambled off of the ATV and half slid and ran down to the overturned vehicle. Seth was underneath it and deathly still. I quickly touched his face and then his neck and felt warm and there was a pulse, so he wasn't dead – yet. Joe Jr. had the wherewithal to quickly call 911, explain what happened and requested help. After he did that, we carefully lifted the ATV off of Seth, taking great care not to move him in the process. We had nothing to cover him with, so I took off my coat and used it. Gus just lay beside him and whined his misery.

"Go back and meet them at the house and show them how to get here!" Joe Sr. ordered and Joe Jr. took off, but not before he gave me his coat to wear. He looked pretty odd racing off through the woods clad only in a flannel shirt.

It seemed like forever before we could hear distant sirens and then they stopped. Seth still hadn't moved and I feared for the worse. Seth was still breathing, but comatose, not responding to my touch or frantic pleas for him to wake up and say something. Then, much to my relief, I heard Joe Jr's. ATV and at least one other one coming in our direction. As they neared, I could see it was him and one other ATV pulling a sled of some sort. Bundled behind JR was a uniformed EMT and another one behind the operator of the other vehicle. Once they stopped, the EMT's grabbed their triage kits from the sled and began attending to Seth. I stayed by his side, despite their objections and cried softly, "Seth, my love, please say something," and kissed him.

Eyes still shut, he smiled and responded, "I would if you'd just be quiet a moment."

That did it! I began to cry, more from relief than anything else. I figured if he was talking, everything would be just fine – eventually!

The rescue squad knew their stuff and although I was reluctant to leave his side, the game warden (the other ATV operator) persuaded me to join my father-in-law and answer some questions. I couldn't answer many of them, but I overheard Seth talking to the EMT's and told the warden to listen in. Perhaps all of our questions would be answered then.

He'd loaded the sled with the last of his cached traps and was heading home. While navigating the narrow logging road coming down from the ridge to the bottom land, the sled started to slip sideways. Seth made a mistake and turned to see what the problem was and when he did, he turned the front wheels just enough when he hit a deep rut, it caused the whole rig to topple over and tumble down the steep slope. Seth ended up underneath the ATV, pinned and unable to reach his cell phone and call for help. Gus was all in a tither, frantic to do something, and when Seth ordered him, "Go find Davie, Gus!" the dog took off for home.

The medics, in their examination of him, preliminarily determined he had broken his right leg below the knee, right forearm, and possibly some ribs. He also suffered a rather nasty bump on the head. After placing air-splints on the fractured limbs and a neck brace to hold his head steady, they strapped him to a body board, wrapped him in warm blankets and secured him to the rescue sled. They walked alongside the slide as the warden pulled it with his ATV. Joe Jr. offered to pick up the traps and, after getting some help, Seth's sled and ATV and bring them back to the house, so Joe Sr, Gus, and I followed the rescue team home.

Waiting at the house was Carl Hayes, lights on his county squad flashing, ready to escort the rescue squad back to Davenport and the hospital. A quick word from him, as they loaded Seth, indicated he'd heard the call and arrived right after the game warden and the EMT's. The warden was patrolling in the area and was only a few miles away when the call came through. He'd have to investigate the accident anyway since the ATV was licensed as a recreational vehicle by the DNR and under his jurisdiction.

Poppa Burridge drove me in my truck to the hospital and once there called Alice and told her where we were and what was happening. She arrived at the hospital while Seth was in surgery. The surgeons reduced the fractures (both simple and not compound) and put them in casts. He'd also cracked a couple of ribs so they bound his chest up as well. Apparently, he struck his head on the ATV and that's why he was unconscious. The doctors were concerned about damage to the skull and brain, so advised me they'd be keeping him a little longer than usual for fractures; just to check him and be certain all was well.

I waited until I was told he was in recovery and able to see me and went in. He was still slightly groggy when I entered, but he opened his eyes when I kissed him, smiled and muttered, "Hell of a way to end the trapping season, hey love?"

The predicted snowstorm ground to a halt somewhere out in South Dakota and Nebraska so the weather prognosticators now claimed it might be three or four days before it moved in our direction, gaining in intensity as it did so. Yet again, I thought, it just might peter out and develop into nothing for us. That was good news for us, since Seth had to remain in the hospital two nights before being released. The hospital staff was so good to him and me; they even provided a rollaway bed for me to sleep in. Gus was being taken care of at home by Poppa Joe and Alice so there was no worry about him. Although I'd bet he'd about go nuts when I brought Seth home.

In order to bring him home, I had the orderlies put him in the back seat of my pickup truck. By propping him up against the driver's side door and stretching his legs across the seat, we were able to accommodate the cast on his leg and his arm. It was rather difficult buckling him in, but we managed. While on the way home, I called Poppa Joe to meet us at the house and help me get Seth to bed. I knew I was too small to do it myself.

Not only was Poppa Joe there, but Seth's brothers Joe Jr. and Doug, along with Debbie Hayes and Cook. The men lifted Seth and carried him to the house and into the bedroom where, he was joyous greeted by Gus! That silly dog wiggled and waggled and yipped little cries of joy at the sight of Seth. Once the men had him propped upright, Gus decided he'd sidle up to the bed side and lay his head on it- within reaching distance of course for Seth to pet him.

I pondered, as I saw Seth sitting in bed, how in the world I was going to get him to the bathroom or about the house. Debbie Hayes, bless her heart, thought of that and brought a collapsible wheel chair for us to use until Seth was fitted with a walking cast. The only adjustments we had to make was to remove the doors from the bedroom and bathroom so the wheel chair could get through. It didn't take the boys long to do that and we were good to go.

Cook hugged both Seth and me, but especially me!

"You know how worrisome I gets about you sometimes," she confessed. "I'd just `bout die were you trapped in the snow somewhere. Lordy, we never had weather this cold down south."

Evidently Cook spent the two days Seth was in the hospital preparing food for us to eat. She had a big pot of homemade beef and vegetables (with homemade noodles) in the fridge, along with a couple of casseroles, apple pie, homemade bread, and about three dozen cookies.

"Wouldn't want my boys goin' hungry," she announced. Well, we wouldn't that's for certain.

After everyone left, Seth had a bit of a snooze and when he woke, he announced he had to piss. I looked around for something to use and found an old water carafe in the pantry. Since we never used it, I figured it would hold piss just as easily as water so I marched into the bed room, reached under the covers for his cock, slid the skin back, and poked it into the carafe. As he emptied his bladder, I shrugged and said, "hope you don't get a hard on and get stuck in the mouth of the carafe. Don't know what we'd tell the rescue squad about that."

I fussed over Seth the rest of the day, not unlike a mother hen and her chicks. I fed him lunch in bed and dinner that evening as well. He seemed most content, but I'd wager it wouldn't be too many days before he was chomping at the bit to up and about. After dinner, he made what he felt was an embarrassing request.

"Davie, I have to shit!"

"No problem," I responded. "I don't have a bedpan so we'll have to maneuver you the bathroom."

I scooted the wheel chair close the bed so I could get Seth on it. With considerable effort and with Gus's help in supervision, whining, tail wagging, and a cold nose insert in every place there was available skin, I got Seth on the chair and wheeled to the bathroom. It wasn't nearly as bad getting him on the toilet.

After he finished, before I cleaned him up, I remarked, "God, man what did they feed you in the hospital?"

Cleaning him up afterwards was not a difficult task. Using toilet paper, wet wipes, and a wash cloth, the job was done in no time.

"Thanks, Davie," Seth said, "you must love a whole lot to do this for me – wipin' my ass and all!"

"I do," and kissed his soft sweet lips.

I fussed over Seth the rest of the evening. There are many things one does because of love so, when it was time for bed, I announced I'd sleep in one of the spare bedrooms. I thought it might make him rest better, although I knew I wouldn't.

Sadly, Seth looked at me with a hang-dog expression on his face. "I might not be able to do all of the things I'd like to do to you, but just having you near me Davie, so I can touch you, feel your warmth against me, and hearing you as you breathe deeply in your sleep is better medicine than any the doctors could give me. I thought I was going to leave you a widower, but I didn't! Don't leave me alone, please!"

I didn't! When he went to sleep, his good arm was wrapped around me and my head rested on his shoulder.

In the morning, we made our way to the bathroom, did the necessaries; I shaved him, and gave him a brisk scrubbing with a wash cloth, soap, and hot water. After he was nice and clean and erect, I felt it only right to take his stiffness in my mouth, engulf as much as I could, and begin a rhythmic bobbing up and down until I saw his balls begin to tighten, his ass cheeks clench, and the head of remarkable phallus swell unloosing his generous morning offering to me.

During breakfast, my cellphone rang; Poppa Joe and Alice wanted to know how Seth spent the night (good) and informed me the predicted storm started to move and would be hitting us sometime after midnight. The storm would bring strong winds and snow with blizzard conditions for a couple of days. The weather people were predicting there may be as much as one inch of snow per hour at the height of the storm. They were going to town to stock up and inquired if we needed anything.

I thought a moment, checked Seth's medication and decided he had plenty, but we did need a bag of dry dog food for Gus, a couple of gallons of milk, eggs, and a loaf of bread. We had plenty of meat and fish in the freezer and we had the casseroles and things Cook made for us so we were in pretty good shape.

Seth was all full of advice for me concerning what we should do to prepare for the storm- not much, except to ride it out. I think he was fearful I'd never been in a blizzard type snow storm before and I might become worried. Frankly, I wasn't; I had Seth with me- what more could I ask?

Poppa Joe and Alice delivered our groceries late that afternoon. He assured me not to worry since he and the boys have big auger snow throwers on their tractors and would get us plowed out as soon as the storm blew over.

The storm hit, as predicted, that night. I woke to the wind howling high above the trees, walked to the kitchen, and watched the snow swirling and whirling about the yard, almost blocking out the illumination from the big yard light. As I watched, Gus decided to see if it was really me standing bare-assed naked in the kitchen and poked his nose up my crack to check. You'd think I'd get used to it by now! I snorted at him and he just wagged his tail and followed me back to the bedroom.

Seth was awake then so I told him what I saw outside and he just sort of laughed.

"It's much worse up on the hill at the folk's house and Joe Jr.'s," he explained. "Down here the trees and the ridges block the wind so it doesn't appear as bad. Up at Mom and Dad's the wind is just howling and piling the snow up in high drifts."

The storm continued for two days until it finally ground to a halt and moved on. We had over eighteen inches of new snow on the ground. About mid-morning, after the wind died, we heard the growling roar of big tractors coming down the lane. I looked out and the snow throwers on my in-law's tractors spewing and lifting snow from our lane and yard.

As we watched from the warmth of our house, I mused aloud, "Almost like you Seth when you decide to fire that big cannon of yours up into my target range." His uninjured hand gave my butt a slap.

Over the next six weeks, his recovery went well. The day the casts were removed I knew he was well on the way to his old self when, that night, while I was laying butt to his crotch, he embedded himself balls deep and slowly, romantically, erotically made love to me. All was well with the world and spring was on the way!

To be continued:

***

Thank you for reading Chapter Eleven- The Rogue and the Runaway –"The Winter"-

"Love sees what no eye sees;

love hears what no ear hears;

and whatever rose in the heart of man

love prepares for its object."

(Lavater)

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Nick Hall

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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