I am looking forward to my reading from my book Thursday evening with other authors at Why There Are Words, at 3333 Caledonia, in Sausalito. If you live in the Bay Area would love to see you there at 7:00.

Coming up next: More on these later.

A reading at Book Passage March 18,                                                                                   Marin Fringe Festival–performing 3 monologues I wrote, various dates in April.

Blessings,

Carol

I guess I’ve been delinquent in keeping up my blog–not a good way to start out the new year. Well, here’s the news from my end.

I will have a reading from MOTHER LODE this Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7:00, along with some other authors at 333 Caledonia in Sausalito. This is sponsored by Peg Purcell, and the prestigious series she sponsors called Why There Are Words. I’m quite excited about this. There’s always a full house, and Peg brings in some excellent authors. I’m honored to have been chosen. If you’re in the Bay Area, please try to come.

I have two people who are looking for a film maker for MOTHER LODE. They feel the material is so graphic and has to be a film! If any of you reading this know of someone who might be interested in this project, please let me know.

If you’re a writer, please leave a comment, and let’s get acquainted.

Blessings,

Carol                                                                                                               ”Believe, define and create what you desire.”

Sunset, Oceanside, CA

As I say good-bye to 2011, I give thanks for the rewards of my creative endeavors. MOTHER LODE, my first novel was published. A play of mine was produced, and I read my poetry on a Bay Area Radio station. I am very grateful for the response to all my creative endeavors.

As I look forward to 2012, I hope to have another year of artistic creations. I will share with you that I have begun a new novel, (Don’t hold your breath.) I’m sure those of you who enjoyed MOTHER LODE will appreciate another story with Sheriff Earl Foster. I will tell you more as I move along inside the year of 1913.

In the meantime, I wish you all a year full of adventures, happy surprises, good health, happiness and prosperity. Be kind to yourselves, and read.

Love,

Carol

My friend and I are in Southern California for the week–just as cold as Northern California! But we’re right on the beach watching incredible sunsets, and listening to the surf roar in. We’ve watched lots of skilled surfers too–amazing the dance some of them can do on the waves. It’s fun to watch them.

Stuart encouraged me to offer to do a reading of MOTHER LODE here at the resort. They ‘loved’ the idea, and I had a chance to promote it at a wine and cheese Happy Hour here last night, as well as posters around the place. This should be kind of fun–Friday evening at 7:00.

For you writers out there, I’ve found I sell more books at non-book functions than at book organizations or fairs. I sold six at a party last week. Next I may try retirement homes in the Bay Area. Would love to hear your ideas.

Yesterday we went to Balboa Park to see the I-Max movie of Under the Sea. Tomorrow we’ll be at an Art Museum, Saturday we’ll see a live production of Annie. Sunday we start home.

Read, write. even though you may never plan to publish, and remember books make great holiday gifts!

Happy Holidays,

Carol

Did you know about the Michigan cougar? They’re no longer native to Michigan, but animals as well as people migrate, so read below.

HANCOCK, Mich. (AP) — A cougar that officials believe migrated from the western U.S. has been caught on camera for a third time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday the wildcat was photographed by a trail camera Nov. 13 just north of Hancock. They say it’s probably the same animal that was photographed twice in September. (Hmm, that’s when I was there.) The first time was in Ontonagon County and the second was in adjacent Houghton County, about 15 miles south of Hancock. The cougar was wearing a radio collar. Western states are the only ones that have collared cougars for research, so officials assume the Michigan cat came from there. The last known wild cougar in Michigan was killed in 1906, but there have been several verified sightings in the U.P. in recent years.

Are you getting ready for Christmas? Don”t forget to put books on your list . If you have any children on your list, books make wonderful, lasting gifts for the kids.

I’m off for warmer climes next week–a week in S. California at Oceanside, right on the beach.  (No, it isn’t that warm in the Bay Area, but we have had a lot of sunny days. I will be taking my laptop, so we can stay in touch.

Happy Holidays to all,

Carol

I enjoy mysteries of any kind and novels in which I learn about another culture, another time, in a pace that keeps me involved, and a skill in writing that doesn’t insult my intelligence.

MOTHER LODE is such a book. It’s a mystery. It’s an historical novel. A lot of research went into it–”on location”, as they say, as well as in books. In MOTHER LODE you learn what it was like living in a mining community in the cold north of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the late 1800s. You learn the way they spoke, food (see my blog on pasties,) the mores of the day, living conditions of the poor vs the wealthy, and the press. You’ll read about the mixture of cultures from many different countries–how they got along or didn’t, what happens when there’s no such thing as Child Protective Services. All this education within the excitement of reading a good mystery–one that many readers have said they couldn’t put down. So why wait? Get it for yourself and for others now, in time for Christmas.

And Happy Holidays to you! I hope you are gifted with some good reads.

Carol

At a BAY AREA INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION (BAIPA) this Saturday the speaker, Patricia V. Davis,  gave us several sites which would be useful in learning more about Social Media. I offer a couple to you here:

dani@blogtour.com and www.janefriedman.com. She also said Morris Rosenthal’s book, Print on Demand Publishingis a must if that’s what you’re planning to do.

‘Til next time,

Carol

MOTHER LODE is now available in the Bay Area at Book Passage in Corte Madera and at Rebound Books in San Rafael. The cost is the same ($14.95) no matter where you buy it, but Rebound is more generous in what they consider the author’s share. The same is true if you’re ordering it on-line. I get twice as much from CreateSpace as from Amazon, although the customer pays the same. If you ask a store, where it’s not stocked to order it, I get only 34 cents royalty! So I hope you bear this in mind when purchasing. This is not an outstanding way to make money, but hey, it’s fun and a great adventure. Different from writing and directing plays, that’s for sure.

Speaking of PLAYS I’ve just submitted one to Alter Theatre for consideration and another to the Marin Fringe Festival. Wish me luck.

If you don’t already know (from a previous blog,) the first two chapters of Mother Lode are on my blog! Just scroll down. Not sure you want to buy it? Read these pages and then decide. (Hint: You’ll probably want the whole book.)

Another recent blog included the fact that Mother Lode is available on Kindle now. If you don’t have a Kindle, did you know you could get a free Kindle Ap just for asking? Then you can order all the Kindle books you want, including many free ones.

On line order info: http://www.createspace.com3555336

I don’t send every blog out unless you sign up as a follower. Be sure to click that box if you’re interested.

By the way, I updated “About Carol” and “About Mother Lode”.  So there’s lots more there now.

‘Til next time keep reading,

Carol

Whatever your preference, just keep reading.

MOTHER LODE can be purchased in hard copy at https://createspace.com/3555336 (preferred) or at Amazon .com  $14.95,

and at Kindle for $5.95.

‘Til next time,

Carol

New Novel: MOTHER LODE

I promised you last week I’d give you Chapter Two of MOTHER LODE. And in case you missed Chapter One  last month, I’ve put them both here, together. Please tell your friends and pass the word. Enjoy!

(I apologize for the formatting. The book is laid out beautifully.)

MOTHER LODE

By Carol Sheldon

Dedication

MOTHER LODE is dedicated to Crys Rourke, whose untiring willingness to proof and edit
my manuscript at each of its incarnations kept me inspired and moving forward.

Acknowledgements

Others who gave me invaluable help in this ten year journey are Vicki Weiland, without
whose enthusiasm, encouragement, plugs and pitches, I might never have brought
this book to print.  I thank Joy Stewart
and Marilyn Bentley, whose keen eyes found many typos. And Stuart Chappell and
Steve Olian, who in addition to giving me their unfailing support, taught me
enough about Poker to write that turn-of-events chapter. My brother, David
Sheldon’s tough love made me rethink some of my story choices. The organization
which gave me priceless help and guidance is he Bay Area Independent Publishing
Association.

PART I

1900

Chapter 1

 The blizzard was obliterating the road. With the
snow already a foot deep, and no town lights in sight, it was almost impossible
for Jorie to steer a steady course with the buggy. He brushed his lashes for
the hundredth time.

The sun had disappeared over the
horizon of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, leaving the sky dark, but not yet black.
With no lantern, Jorie knew he’d be lost in this white oblivion if he didn’t
see some sign of civilization soon. One wrong move and the gelding could slip
into a ditch and break a leg. Aiming for a mid-point between the trees on
either side of the road was the best he could do.

I need to get to
the sheriff’s. I need to get there soon, or I’ll never get there at all.

Like silent, moving pictures in a kinetoscope, the
snow made its presence devoid of sound. Autumn leaves, still blushing red,
commingled with the falling snow.

Recent memory bubbled up. Take my arm, Mother,
and you won’t slip. A gust
of wind, spinning the snow into a vortex around him brought him back sharply.
He must keep his wits about him if he was to get out of this alive; he dare not spend a moment on what lay
behind. Not now.

But for the plaintive cry of a wolf, the night fell
into a terrible silence. The lap robe did little to comfort him, as spasms of
cold ricocheted through his body.

Where was he, how far from Hancock? Had he passed
the big turn in the road yet? The otherworldliness of the situation left him
without feeling for time or place.

Finally, downdrafts of smoke from the towering stack
of the Keweenaw Mining Company reached his nostrils. He was nearing town! Tears
of relief turned icy before they’d run their course. Acrid odors of blasting
powder filtered downwind from the smelting plant. Soon the exhaust of the
Portage Copper Mining Company joined that of the Keweenaw, its fiery red glow throwing sparks from her lofty
chimney. At last he’d reached Hancock!

Alone he crossed the silent streets of town. As the
sight of gas streetlamps beckoned him, he felt the loosening of his muscles;
his hands relaxed their grip on the reins. Then his stomach balled into an even
tighter knot: In only minutes, he’d have to inform the sheriff.  About his mother.

Peering through the tumbling snow at rows of ghostly
houses, he wasn’t sure which house belonged to the sheriff. He couldn’t tell
one from another.

He drew up to one that might be the Fosters’, tied
up the gelding and opened the gate. Trudging through the ever-rising snow took
every last bit of energy. Was this even the right house? White against white.
But as he got closer he could see it had two gables, and a porch across the
front. It looked like the right place. At least there was a light on in the
window.

He was so stiff with cold when he reached the door,
he could barely grasp the knocker.

Cora Foster peered out into the blizzard. “Who is
it?”

“J—Jorie.”

The rounded woman stood back staring at the white
apparition before her, blowing wisps of faded brown hair from her face.  At last she found her voice. “Jorie Radcliff!
What are you doing out in such a misery?”

“I need to see—”

“Come in, come in.” She stood back in amazement.
“Just look at you, like a ghost from the other side! Lordy, I hardly know you.”

She brought him in and closed the door. Unmindful of
the snow he was bringing in, Jorie followed her dumbly into the parlor, where
Mrs. Foster seated him by the fire and draped an afghan over his knees.

She poked at the coals, and added more wood. “Who’d
have thought, such a storm, and it not even November?” she said, although
October snowfalls in these parts were not unusual.

Waves of heat bathed him in warmth. Pain replaced
numbness as he began to thaw, and a terrible quaking shook his whole body.

Jorie pushed his painful thoughts aside, focused on
the sounds: the rasp of metal against metal, the fall of cinders, and the thud
of new wood placed on the grate. Cora Foster was making up the fire. He had
been in this home many times; he would be all right now.

From the kitchen, he heard, “Who is it, Cora?”

“It’s the Radcliff boy, Earl.”

Jorie heard the sheriff’s chair pushed back from the
kitchen table. Mr. Foster came into the parlor, a large blue napkin tucked
under his chin and extending over his broad chest. Earl Foster was a
barrel-chested man, not tall, but making up for it in strength. With a mustache
that complimented a full head of brown hair, Sheriff Foster was noticeable if
not handsome. He was proud of his mustache and spent considerable time keeping
it properly pruned. Not an ostentatious one, like the judge his poker buddy
had, which curled at the ends and extended beyond the parameters of his face.
Earl Foster’s was modest, befitting his station, which the sheriff believed
gave him more visibility. With visibility came authority, he believed. Or at
least the feeling that it did, which in itself was worth something.

“What brings you here, lad?” Earl Foster pulled off
his bib, wiped it roughly across his mouth.

Whether it was his chattering teeth or the emotional
shock, Jorie could barely speak.

“In the forest . . .” He couldn’t finish.

“What about the forest?”

It seemed that Mr. Foster was
looming over him like Goliath. Jorie stared at the man’s trousers and noticed
that a button on his fly was missing.

“It started sn-owing.”

“Yes?”

“Let the lad catch his breath, Earl. He’s half
froze. I’ll fix something to warm him up.”

Mrs. Foster disappeared into the kitchen, beckoning
her husband to follow.

As he sat alone, scenes in the snow played around
the edges of Jorie’s mind, but he couldn’t keep them in focus. He descended
into a kind of mental numbness, only to be startled back to the present, as
Mrs. Foster placed a tray on his lap. When he finished the fish chowder, the
chill began to wear off. He put his spoon down and let his lids fall.

Mrs. Foster collected the bowl, and Mr. Foster
returned to the room and sat down.

“Start at the beginning and tell me what happened.”

Jorie opened
his eyes. Mr. Foster’s eyebrows caught and held his attention. He’d known they
were bushy, but he’d never noticed before that the left one had several hairs
an inch long curling up toward his brow.

“What happened in the forest?”

Jorie forced his thoughts to go where they least
wanted to be. “It started out a sunny day. I took my m-mother . . .”

“Your mother?
Where is she?”

Jorie wet his lips. “I took her for a ride in the
buggy, and a walk in the woods.”

“In this storm? What the hell did you do that for?”
The sheriff was on his feet again.

“It was sunny. It wasn’t snowing when we started
out!” Jorie buried his head in his hands.

Earl Foster let out a long breath.

“It was sunny, and then it started. . . ”

The sheriff was pacing. And he was scratching a sore
spot on his arm. If only he’d stay put, Jorie figured he could get his thoughts
corralled.

“It started snowing hard. It turned into a blizzard,
and we got lost. She, she kept slipping in the snow.” His voice dropped to a
whisper. “Then she fell—”

Earl Foster leaned closer. “How’s that? I didn’t
hear you.”

“She fell— her ankle.  She couldn’t walk.”

It was difficult to keep focused. He was listening
to the pendulum and the cinders falling. Anything, to avoid remembering. But he
had to remember. He had to tell Mr. Foster.

“She told me to find the trail and come back for
her.” There was a catch in his breath. “I tried to make her comfortable.”

“Go on.”

Jorie swallowed a few times. Earl Foster was looking
very agitated, blotting a little blood from the sore he’d been scratching.

“I, I left her.” He clamped his mouth shut hard to
stop the quivering of his lips. Finally, he continued. “And tried to find my
way out. By the time I got back to the road, I was losing the light. I was
afraid I’d never find her. I didn’t even have a lantern.”

“You didn’t have one in the buggy?”

“No, sir.” Jorie hung his head.

“Why not?”

“I, I didn’t expect to be out after dark.”

“What did you do then?”

“When?”

“When you found the road, but had no lamp!” The
sheriff was losing patience.

“Oh.” Squinting painfully Jorie tried to remember.
“I started down the road, trying to find a house. I ran into a fellow in a
wagon. I asked him if he’d help me. He had a lantern, and the two of us
backtracked down the trail.”

“The trail you’d just come off of.”

“Yes, sir. But the snow had already covered my
footprints. We searched for about an hour. It was getting dark.” Jorie’s voice
broke. “The man said he had to be getting home, and I’d better follow him out
of the woods.”

“So you left her there.” The sheriff took a deep
breath. “And she’s still there.”

Jorie was shaking.
Tears were running down his face and he couldn’t stop them. “I couldn’t
help her. I told her I’d come back for her. I didn’t see how I could help her
by staying. I had to find someone—l ” He swallowed. “Can you do something, Mr.
Foster?”

“We’ll get to that.”
The sheriff paced again before sitting down. “Let me get this straight.
You took your mother for a scenic walk in the forest with a blizzard on the
way?”

“It was beautiful when we started out.”

“What time was that?”

“Around noon.”

“I thought you were working at the newspaper.”

“I set type, midnight to eight.”

“You didn’t hear any forecast about the storm?”

”No, sir.”

“What was the man’s name— the man with the lantern?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where’d he live?”

“He didn’t say. We just tried to find my m-mother.”

“Why didn’t you carry her out with you? She can’t
weigh more than a hundred ten pounds.”

“We were lost. I had to find the trail first. Then I
was going to—”

“Come back and get her, yes.”

Jorie nodded.

“Had it started to snow when you went for your
walk?”

“No, sir.” Why did the sheriff keep asking the same
questions?

Earl poked around on his desk for his writing
tablet, fussed with the nib of his pen. Finally he said, “October 22, 1900.” He
looked up. “Is that right, Jorie?”

“I don’t know. I think so, sir.”

He wrote down the date. “Catherine—what was her
middle name? Some goddess or other.”

“Isis. She uses her maiden name now.”

“MacGaurin.”

“Yes, sir.”

Earl Foster wrote her full name on the paper.
“Catherine Isis MacGaurin Radcliff. Do you know her age? Thirty-five, is it?”

“Thirty-six.” Dimly Jorie wondered how Mr. Foster
knew so much about his mother.

“And how old are you, Jorie?”

“I just turned eighteen.”

“When was that?”

“Two weeks ago.”

The sheriff picked some fuzz off the nib
of his pen.  “Didn’t I hear you moved out
of the house awhile back, after a rough patch with your mother?”

“Yes,
for about a month.”

“When you had that scuffle with her in your sister’s
room?”

God, had she told
him about that?
He wiped the perspiration with his sleeve. “Yes, sir.”

“Why did you move back?”

“My sister— Eliza, needed me. She’s only four.”

Jorie watched the sheriff snap a rubber band on his
wrist. “What did you do last night?”

“We played Flinch.”

“Who did?”

“My mother and I, after Eliza went to bed.”

“Did you have any arguments?”

“No, sir.”

“After the game, what happened?”

“My mother turned in.”

“An149

d you?”

“I took a walk down by the lake.”

“What for?”

“I just wanted to think.”

“What about?”

Jorie turned toward the window, listening to the
scraping of the frozen birch tree branch as it clawed the window pane.

“I can’t remember.”

“Where’s your sister now?”

“Oh, my God!”

He hadn’t thought about Eliza since he’d left home
with his mother.

“She’s with the neighbors. I’m supposed to pick her
up at suppertime.”

“Why wasn’t she included on this outing?”

“She was playing with her friend. Mother said to
leave her there ‘til we got home.”

Jorie’s eye caught the grandfather clock. The
movement and sound of Mr. Foster’s chair, he noticed, was almost but not quite
synchronized with the pendulum. If he could just get them together, or stay
with the pendulum.

“Can you do something, Mr. Foster? Send some men to
find her?”

“In this blizzard? It would take hours to get up
there, and even with lanterns, finding her in the dark when you’re not even
sure where you left her—” The sheriff paused. “I’m sorry, son. We’ll send a search
party out in the morning.”

There was something ominously final about that
statement.  There was no way she could
survive the night, with temperatures plummeting below freezing.

Pictures started playing in Jorie’s head in jerky
slow motion, like the ones in the penny arcade. He and his mother were walking
through the woods and the snow was coming down in huge unstoppable flakes. It
rose to their knees, then up to their necks. They tried to swim through it, but
soon it was burying them both in its cold, merciless resolve. They lay
clutching each other beneath it, looking up through the small air space their
breath had reclaimed from the snow.

No, no! It wasn’t like that, he knew it wasn’t.

At the same time his body was acting up. A
tightening feeling in his throat spiraled down to his belly, turned around and
spiraled back up, bringing the contents with it.

He dashed for the front door.

Minutes later he stumbled back into the room and
collapsed on the floor in a crumpled heap of sobbing flesh. Long tortured wails
broke their dam and poured forth in wave after wave of unarticulated grief.

He felt something laid over him, maybe the afghan.
The only sound that reached his ears was the steady tock of the pendulum. He
deliberately focused on its comforting predictability.

Finally, he heard the sheriff say something about
his sister.

“What are you going to do about Eliza?”

He sat up and blew his nose. “I have to get her.”

“Will she be in school tomorrow?”

He shook his head. “She’s only four.” He pulled
himself together and got off the floor.

“You’d better make arrangements for her then. Be
here by ten. Let’s hope the road crew has rolled the road by then. You’ll show
us where to look.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jorie’s stomach lurched. He knew it was perfectly
reasonable for the sheriff to ask him to help in the search, but he hadn’t
anticipated it.

The thought of coming upon his mother’s stiff body
brought up more waves of nausea.

Chapter 2

Earl Foster drank his third cup of coffee while he
waited for the men he’d rounded up to search for Catherine’s body. Kurt Wheeler
was coming with his sleigh, and two others would join them. He hadn’t slept
well last night, couldn’t get over what had happened to his old friend. He’d
known Catherine since schooldays up in Red Jacket, when the Scottish lass had
captured his heart.

Then in Hancock he’d become poker buddies with her
husband, Thomas, the engineer for the Portage mine. Catherine had married a
widower more than twice her age with two grown sons and a younger one who’d
only lived with them a few years. He wasn’t sure why, but when the boy was
about twelve, he’d been sent away.

Earl remembered how awkward it had been at first to
go to the big house on the hill and encounter the girl he’d longed to make his
own. As the years passed he became more comfortable with Catherine; when there
was an opportunity to talk, it was usually about Jorie. He had watched the boy
grow up in that house. On poker nights he remembered the kid asking him riddles
until his pa shooed him away.

And the lad had worked for him a couple summers
back, gardening. Nice boy. Bright, too.

The last time he’d seen Catherine she was as
attractive as ever. Who’d have thought she’d end up this way, dead at
thirty-six?

He couldn’t help wondering if it was really an accident.
No, it couldn’t possibly have been otherwise. Still, there were nagging
thoughts. There had been serious trouble between the boy and his mother.
Catherine had come to him about that, even shown him a bruise on her arm.

“Do you want me to bring him in, Catherine?”

“No. But I want it put down, for the record,” she’d
said.

And he’d been called to the house once to witness a
locked door Jorie had busted down, before he bolted. She’d asked him to wait
for Jorie to return, because she was afraid.

“Promise to protect me, Earl,” she’d beseeched.
“With Thomas gone, I feel so vulnerable.”

Whether it was his sense of duty or her imploring
green eyes which still mesmerized him, he didn’t know. “I’ll do what I can.”

“He’s turned so violent,” she said.

But this was the same boy who’d nursed an injured
wolf back to health when he was twelve. The same young man whose essays and
poetry had occasionally graced the pages of The Copper Country Evening News.

He slipped a rubber band over his hand. He did some
of his best thinking when he snapped it against his wrist.

Jorie and the men arrived more or less on time, and
started off in the sleigh. There’d been about a thirteen inch fall, all told.
The road workers with their huge rollers and teams of draft horses had not yet
compacted the snow on the road leading north. The men in the sleigh found it
slow going.

No one else was about, and only the plodding sound
of the horses’ hooves and their occasional snorts broke the stillness. At least
it had stopped snowing; in fact, the sun was out today.

Jorie thought the whole landscape had taken on an
ethereal look, as unreal as the previous day’s events. Streams had been
silenced overnight. Circling wind eddies had made whimsical sculptures of snow
banks. Branches heavy with pristine snow caught the sunlight, transforming them
into dazzling crystalline figures.

He’d awakened this morning with Eliza jumping on his
bed.  “Isn’t it grand, Jorie,
staying all night at Henna’s?”

It had taken him a moment to realize where he was
and why. Then as yesterday invaded with the full force of another tempest an
unvoiced groan descended from his mind to his bowels. He’d brought Eliza to the
house of their former housekeeper and nanny the night before. There was nowhere
else he would leave her.

He’d had to tell Helena what had happened.

“Oh, Jorie, no! Herself couldn’t survive the night
in such—” After a pause she asked, “Sweet muther of Christ, is she. . . dead,
then?” She clutched her apron with her chapped and chubby hands.

He felt the tears sting his eyes. He could only look
away.

“Faith, how could the likes of this have happened?”
She crossed herself, then saw the look on his face. “Oh, forgive me, lad, I
should’na said nothing ‘bout it.”

“Can you keep Eliza for awhile?”

“It’s blessed, I’d be. Daniel and me will take good
care of her.”

Jorie was brought back by the sheriff’s question.

“Which road was it you turned off on?”

“Tamarack.”

He glanced at the other men. No one was talking
much. Only Kurt spoke, and mostly to his horses, encouraging them to forge
through the snow.

“Getyup, Bess. Getyup, Tess. There you go now. It’s
not a Sunday outing we’re after. Could you make it a bit faster, so’s we could
get there before the sun sets?”

They turned down Tamarack Road, and Earl Foster was
quick to ask, “Where to now, Jorie?”

“We turned in at the old lumbering road.”

“Which one?”

“About forty rods on.”

There were no wagon tracks to show the way, no sign
of human life in the eerie white silence. The only thing he could hear was the
pounding of his own heart.

The lumbering road could not be seen, but they
turned in where the trees had been felled.

“Where did you stop the buggy, son?” the sheriff
wanted to know.

Jorie shook his head. “I don’t know for sure. It
doesn’t look like we were ever here.”

“Don’t look like nobody was ever here,” Kurt agreed.

The occasional absence of trees suggested various
trails, leading off in different directions.

“Are you sure this is the right lumbering road?”
Earl asked.

“No. But I think it is.”

“Did you pass any others before the one you turned
off on?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, let’s get started.”

Earl jumped out of the sleigh, and the others
followed.

“Mr. Foster, from wherever I was, I know we started
off to the left from the road.”

“All right, then,” said Earl, “let’s all start off
this way. You said the trail split?”

“A number of times.”

The four of them worked their way through the snow.
Only Kurt and Earl had brought snowshoes, although the brush was so overgrown,
they found them cumbersome to use.

“You didn’t leave any breadcrumbs, Hansel?” Kurt
asked.

Jorie looked away. “No, sir.”  |

They came to a split where there were two trails.

“You and Kurt go that way. We’ll carry on here.”

Jorie followed Earl down the trace. The reprimand of
two squirrels disturbed the stillness. Other denizens of the forest peered
above their warrens of safety, as the intruders tromped through their habitat.

How different it all looked today. Bright sunshine
made the woods appear welcoming, friendly. Chunks of snow fell from the branches
of hemlock, as the wind stirred the trees.

Somehow, just maybe she’d managed to survive. It was
too soon to give up hope. Perhaps she’d found some sort of shelter, or some
kindly soul had found her. He looked for recent footprints, sniffed for chimney
smoke. Once, in the distance, he heard the sound of branches breaking
underfoot.

“Mother!” he called out.

Earl turned to look at him, but said nothing. The
second time Jorie called out the sheriff put a hand on his sleeve. “It’s a doe,
son. Just a deer.”

Nothing looked familiar to Jorie, not the hill they
climbed or the split of paths. They turned back, regrouped with the others, and
set off in different directions.

“Give a whistle if you find . . . anything,” Earl
called after them.

They didn’t, and finally gave up on their search for
the day, as the spare sun waned. The sheriff decided he’d need more men for the
search.

On the way home, Earl said, “You sure you don’t know
the man’s name that helped you? What’d he look like?”

“He was big. Cornish accent.”

Cornish. With all the transplanted miners from
Cornwall, Earl thought, that narrows it down like saying a man you met in
France was French.

They rode in silence the rest of the way, until Earl
dropped Jorie off. “You’ll have to help us until we find your ma. Be here at
nine tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cora didn’t allow any form of alcoholic
beverage to cross her threshold, and Earl seldom desired it, but after a
miserable day searching for the body of his old friend, he decided he was
entitled to some refreshment. Besides, he couldn’t sit still.

He headed across Franklin and down to Tezcuco
Street. This pulsing hub of Hancock sloped steeply down to the long and narrow
pollywog-shaped Portage Lake, leading to the shipping and railway companies
spawned by the mining business. The larger bulk of the lake lay to the east
before it joined Lake Superior. Here, between Hancock and her sister city
Houghton, it ran as narrow as a river. Ships plying the Great Lakes would bring
in supplies and leave with copper and iron ore along shipping routes from
Detroit, Chicago or Duluth.

Along Tezcuco Street a myriad of saloons staked
their claims amidst the finest hotel, the busiest Chinese laundries, public
bathhouses, banks and barbershops. On this and nearby streets there were
saloons for the Irish, the German, the Cousin Jacks from Cornwall, the
Croatians and almost every nationality in the world.

He passed lampposts bearing the ordinances he’d
posted, prohibiting disorderly persons, drunkards, fortune tellers, vagrants,
prostitutes. Puppet shows, wire-rope dancing or other idle acts and feats were
also forbidden. Already weather-worn by the storm, they needed replacing. The
sheriff considered most of these laws a load of bollix, but he didn’t write
them— only tried to enforce them. It wasn’t easy keeping the lid on a mining
town. Too many folks in these parts thought they were north of the law, and
said as much.

As usual, the blast of the six o’clock quitting
whistles at the Keweenaw and Portage Mines signaled the saloon keepers to
ready-up for the onslaught of thirsty customers. The pubs were the second shift
for the miners and they took it as seriously as the first.

Those who frequented these watering holes had three
passions—booze, bawds and brawls—in that order. And here you could learn what
had happened up top that day. Long after other establishments had
buttoned up for the night, gas street lamps lured the working men into the open
arms of the saloons. Not that they needed any encouragement.

The Bear Claw was such an establishment. Like many others in most
ways, its distinguishing mark was the great bar hand-crafted in Italy a long
time ago, and sent all the way to America. The Italian saloons coveted it, but
Stout, the owner wouldn’t think of selling it. “My Italian sweetheart,” he
called it.

Miners swarmed in, stamping the snow off their
boots, and blowing on their hands. The smells of tobacco mingled with the
hard-won sweat from the fiery pits below. The patrons didn’t mind. Years of
working in the foul-smelling depths, where, like moles, they were accustomed to
darkness—the overlay of fog in the saloon, made yellow by the gas lamps and
smoke, did nothing to dampen their spirits.

The news that evening caused the din in The Bear
Claw to rise to an even greater pitch than usual. Everybody in there had
something to say.

Stout, the saloon keeper, had made sure to get all
the scoop he could while the miners were still below grass. His congregation,
as he called them, would expect as much.

“What happened to her, Stout?” Red Topper asked.

“Her son took her out to the woods on a joy
ride,” Flem Crocker said.

Hardy cut in. “He’s either plum loony, or he was
puttin’ his ma away. Ain’t that right, Stout?”

“You talk to the sheriff?” Gums asked.

“Nope. Heard all about it from Kurt.” Stout
spoke with authority as he transferred the dirty glasses from the tub of soapy
water to the rinse basin. “He took the kid and a posse out there to find the
body this morning.”

Stout could afford to be generous with his
information and his drafts. The Bear Claw would make a lot of money tonight.

“They find her?”

“Nope.”

A hush fell as the door opened and the wind ushered
in the sheriff. Heads turned.

Earl mounted a stool.  A babble of questions greeted him as Stout
placed a whiskey before him.

“Mrs. Radcliff, she’s dead?” Red Topper wanted to
know.

“Don’t see how she could be alive.” Earl was sorry
he’d come.

“Her son took her out there with a storm comin’ in?”

Gums O’Mallory moistened his lips. “And just left
her there to freeze to death?”

“What’s that look like to you, Sheriff?” Flem
Crocker asked.

Earl waved off the questions, and took his drink to
a table in the back. And just in time, too, he thought. He wasn’t in any mood
for the brawling Groden brothers and their lumberjack rabble-rousers. Riding
into town, busting up bars and tearing up the place, their cleated boots had
left several faces in Copperdom permanently pocked, and more than one young
lady a soiled dove. “Butt-cuts of original sin,” Earl called them.

Fortunately, they stayed near the front at the bar.
But the sheriff had a grandstand seat and could hear the rumble from where he
sat.

The Grodens, always sporting for a fight or some way
to stir up trouble, stated as fact that Jorie Radcliff had as much as murdered
his mother.

“Hey, now, wait a minute. That Radcliff boy is a
good kid—”

They quickly stilled the voices of those who
defended Jorie or weren’t so sure.

In a way it was odd, Earl thought, that there was
such a to-do about Catherine Radcliff’s death. Plenty of barroom fights, some
leading to death, broke out among men who only saw the light of day at night,
and the night all day long.

Mine accidents, from explosions and collapses to men
falling down mile-deep shafts, had all taken their toll in this community. A
woman didn’t know when she sent her husband off with his lunch pail if she’d
ever see him again. Murder was not that unusual either, in this brawling mining
town, where a couple of pints of forty-rod at his favorite saloon was more
important than a man’s religion. But the thought of a man taking the life of
the one who’d given him life was beyond their understanding.

Earl was finishing his drink and about to leave when
a young man approached him, pulled up a chair and sat down.

“Walter Radcliff.”

Earl appraised the man. “Catherine Radcliff’s
step-son?”

“Ball in the pocket.”

Earl looked for a resemblance between the young man
and his father, but couldn’t detect any. Must look like his mother. His facial
features were unattractive, though he possessed a fine physique. Most miners
did, he mused, until the work broke them.

“What can I do for you?”

“I knew there was trouble between Jorie and his ma,
so what happened out there in the blizzard—” he tipped his chair back— “Well,
there’s no great surprise there, is there?”

“You
got your mind all made up?”

Walter
laughed. “You think it was an accident,
do you, Sheriff?”

“I’m
gathering information about the family,” Earl said. “Would you mind stopping by
my office tomorrow evening?”

Walter
shook his head. “I’m heading back to Red Jacket in the morning.” He surveyed
the surroundings. “Strikes me this is as good an office as any.”

Radcliff
signaled Stout to bring another round to the table and leaned forward. “Watcha
wanna know, Sheriff?”

Earl
didn’t like the man’s attitude and he didn’t like the venue for this interview,
but he remembered something about a bird in hand.

“How
old were you when your pa married Miss MacGaurin?”

“’Bout
six, I reckon.”

“How
did you and your step-ma get on?”

“There
was no love between us. I won’t pretend there was.”

“Why
is that?”

Earl
heard the young man’s feet shuffle on the other side of the table.

“She
was crazy about her own kid. Didn’t want to be bothered with somebody else’s
brat.”

“You
must have stored up some resentment about that.”

Walter
shot his wad of chewing tobacco several feet into the spittoon, looked up with
a smile, expecting praise. “Yeah, but I wasn’t out in the woods playing ‘Hide
or Die’, was I?”

He
took the drink from Stout’s hand before it was on the table, and poured it down
his throat. “My half brother deliberately left his ma out there in the storm.
Some would call that murder, sheriff.”

Earl
didn’t like his cockiness. “What leads you to that conclusion?”

“I
saw ‘em go—the two of ‘em heading into that storm. Only him came back.”

“And
what grandstand seat did you have to watch these comings and goings?”

“I
was over to Peabody’s. Could see it all from his front window.”

“Anything
else?”

“Ain’t
that enough?”

“What
are you doing in Hancock? Heard you worked up in Red Jacket.”

“Came
down to get the horses. Somebody’s gotta take care of them. Jorie ‘pears to
have taken off.”

“Are
you or your brothers married?”

“Why
do you want to know?”

“We’ll
be looking for a home for Eliza.”

“Who?”

“The
deceased’s little daughter.”

“Oh.”

“Her
custody is uncertain at this point. The aunt would prefer not—”

“That
girl is no kin to me or my brothers.”

“Pardon
me, but I believe she is your half-sister.”

“I
don’t even know her. And my older brothers barely knew who the deceased was. They was all grown by the
time I got stuck with a new ma.” He chewed on this awhile. “Why can’t Jorie
take her? Oh, yeah, he’s prob’ly going to hang.”

Earl
shook his head. “Not in this state. Michigan was the first in the union to do
away with capital punishment.”

“More’s
the pity.” Walter rose. “Well, you think on what I said, Sheriff.” He tipped
his cap and took his leave.

Earl
watched the young man swagger out. Walter’s ‘proof’ wasn’t worth a fart in the
wind.

He
would check on Walter’s story, but the only thing it would prove is whether he
was the consummate liar Earl conjectured he was.

As he tossed in bed that night, Earl wondered about
the man who Jorie said had helped him. He would put something in the paper
asking this man to come forth. Seemed a damn shame that Jorie knew neither the
name of the man with the lantern nor his whereabouts. And how inconvenient that
the falling snow showed no footprints to prove or disprove Jorie’s story.

The next day on their way out of town, Earl
had the search party stop at Orville Peabody’s place on the main road north.
Orville lived by himself in an old logger’s cabin on the road leading north out
of town. Confined to a wheelchair at twenty years old after an accident in the
mine, he managed to keep house by himself except for a half-breed who came in
once a week to help.

Earl
rapped on the door, knocked the snow off his boots and let himself in. Orville
looked up from the porridge he was eating.

Earl
smiled. Sorry to intrude, sir, and so early.”

The
wounded veterans of the underground were afforded respect by the community at
large, if not by the owners of the mine.

“I
like visitors—any time of the day.
Watcha got on yer mind, old man? Are you hungry?”

Earl
shook his head.  “Orville, have you seen
anything of Walter Radcliff lately? Has he been by?”

“Yup.”

“When
was that?”

“He
brought over some newspapers, all about his stepmother’s death. He seemed quite
pleased about it.”

“Did
you see him the day of the storm?”

“Naw,
not ‘til the next afternoon. I saw Jorie Radcliff that day, though. Riding
north with his ma.”

“What
was the weather like then?”

“Still
sunny. Didn’t see him come back, though. In the blizzard I couldn’t see that
bush by the window.”

Volunteers
came every day to help with the search, even the coroner, Lester Meisel.

After
the fourth day, Earl said to Jorie, “Are you sure it was in Michigan you
left her?”

But
on the fifth, the coroner, with a team of dogs, found the body of Catherine
Radcliff lying on her face. Animals had discovered her, torn open her pristine grave
of snow.  Folding her carefully in a
blanket, Lester whistled to the others that the search was over.

When
Earl joined him, he shook his head. “We must have walked right by her the first
day.”

Lester
Meisel looked up from the document he’d just signed. “Mrs. Radcliff had a
broken ankle, sustained in her fall, I suspect. Apparently, she went willingly
with her son.”

“What
do you make of her lying on her face?”

“Reckon
she crawled some from where he left her, trying to save herself.” He looked up.
“Sad thing, indeed. She died like a wolf cub in the storm, with her back to the
wind.” He pushed the rug on his pate closer to his left ear.

Lester
had a way with words, Earl thought. Some said he should have been a poet.

The
coroner capped the ink bottle and blotted the paper. “Here’s the certificate.”

Earl
read it. “Cause of death: Exposure to cold.”

“Did
you find any bruises or signs of force?”

“Didn’t
see any.” He paused. “It won’t be possible to have a viewing of the body, Earl.
Animals—”

“That’s
enough.” Earl didn’t want to pursue that line. He said only, “Will you be
wanting an inquest, Lester?”

“I
think we can dispense with that, Sheriff.”

Earl
Foster dreaded going to the service. He knew he’d be barraged by questions
before and after.

He
deliberately arrived late. When he entered the Radcliff home he could hear
those assembled singing a hymn in the parlor. He winced when he saw that the
manner in which it was set up provided no way to slip in inconspicuously. The
doorway to the back parlor was at the front of the room where the minister
stood.

Earl
bowed slightly to the reverend and stood to the side, feeling all eyes upon
him. Several more people arrived after he did, and the quartet had to pick up
their music stands and move to the next room.

No
coffin. A photo of Catherine taken on her wedding day graced a small table with
flowers.

Standing
at the side of the room gave him a certain advantage. He could see who was
there, and recognized most of them. There were his poker buddies­—the Five Aces, they’d called themselves,
when Thomas Radcliffe was one of them. Now they were four, but the name stayed
the same.” Four aces?” the judge had said.
“Well, that sounds all too banal.”

He was here now—George McKinney, and so was
Buck Boyce, the prosecuting attorney. But he didn’t see Doc Johnson, the other Ace. They had met in this house for so
many years to play cards, along with Radcliff. He spotted Toby Wilson, the
Radcliffs’ lawyer. The few he didn’t know he supposed were relatives from out
of town, or busybodies.

Where
was Jorie? Even when he stretched his neck he could see no sign of him.

The
pastor, whose job it was to comfort the living and bury the dead, droned on
about the rewards in heaven, and then turned his attention to the virtues of
the deceased.

“I
can only describe the deceased in laudatory terms. There are many here who can
testify to the goodness of Mrs. Radcliff. A more upright and charitable soul
would be hard to find.”

Earl
remembered hearing those exact words spoken at other services—all vague
generalities. He didn’t believe Catherine had attended the Congregational
Church in years, doubted this young minister even knew her.

The
back parlor, though dusted and aired for special occasions, appeared eternally
funereal to Earl. He looked around at the mourners. Any tears? He heard the
stifled sobs of a woman in the second row—the housekeeper, he thought. But
where was Jorie?

When
the service ended, he spotted the smoke haloes coming from the judge’s cigar in
the next room. George McKinney was one of those folks whom nature had endowed
with a perennial red face, always appearing to have just spent a day in the
sun. Spared from the labors that aged younger men in the mines, at sixty-eight
the judge still possessed a commanding presence and a fine physique. McKinney
was well aware of the effect he had on others, and thoroughly enjoyed his
standing in the community.

As
Earl approached he heard the prosecuting attorney ask the judge, “Going to run
for another term, George?”

The
judge appeared to be studying his cigar. “Well, you’ll be glad to know, I’ve
been thinking of retiring, Buck.”

“You
can’t do that, George — you’re an institution!”

“And
one that’s due for a rest. I guess that opens the gate for you.” McKinney
turned to wink at Earl.

Buck
Boyce pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow as though he hadn’t thought of this
before.

“Possibly.
Possibly, George.”

Possibly,
indeed! Buck Boyce had been gnawing on that gate for years.

At
only forty-seven the prosecuting attorney had already gained in girth what he
couldn’t attain in stature. But for his featureless face which gave him the
undefined look of youth, he appeared to be a much older man. Earl thought him a
fop, pulling out his gold watch and chain at any provocation.

Earl
spoke to George. “Have you seen Jorie?”

The
judge could see over everyone’s head. His eyes swept the room. “No, no,

I
haven’t.”

Earl
wished George would dump his ashes before they dropped to the floor. McKinney
was always doing that. There was a crack about how you could always tell where
the judge had been— he left a trail of cigar crumbs behind.

As
he walked away, George reminded him, “Five Aces tomorrow night.”

Earl
scanned the remaining first floor rooms, then bounded up the stairs and called.
When he got no response he came back, waved off questions and went out on the
veranda to look for Jorie.

It
was possible he’d gone up in the hills, to his old haunts, but Earl had another
thought.

The
two-seater privy was built behind the house where the land rose sharply forming
the base of the steep hill behind the house.

He
knocked. “You in there, Jorie?”

The
shuffle of feet was his answer.

“Mind
if I join you?”

He
heard the occupant fumble with the latch.

With
a deep sigh, Earl lowered himself onto the second hole. “I’ve been waiting to
do this all day.”

Jorie
was silent, elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. A dozen flies, still
clinging to life, crawled around them.

Earl
swatted at a horse fly landing on his thigh. “Someday they’ll invent something
to cover up the stink in these places.”

When
he got no response, he said the obvious. “Didn’t see you inside.”

“No,
sir.”

“Any
special reason for that?”

“Have
to mourn in my own way, not in front of a lot of long nosers, with their own
ideas about why she died.”

Earl
nodded. “I have to think about that too, Jorie.”

“Yeah.”
The young man lifted his tear stained face.

“Anything
more you want to tell me, lad?”

“No,
sir.”

“Where
will you be staying?”

“We’ll
be at the O’Laertys. Helena offered to take care of Eliza for awhile.”

“Then
I’ll expect to find you there, if I need you.”

“Yes,
sir.”

He
gave the sheriff the address.

Earl
couldn’t get it out of his mind that Jorie must have had some terrible falling
out with his mother. Still, he didn’t have to resort to murder; he could have
just left town. If it was murder, it didn’t appear to be a crime of passion. It
was well thought out, pre-meditated.

And that would be the worse for Jorie.

That’s all for now. I’d love to hear your comments, and reviews on
Amazon. Remember MOTHER LODE can be purchased at https://www.createspace.com/3555336 (preferred) or at Amazon.com.

‘Til next time,

Carol