The Cabin at the End of Herrick Road. Derek Wachter
Christina into her phone. Christina was standing in her kitchen with the kitchen sink water running, looking out the window that was above her sink into the traffic on the interstate. Her kitchen dishes, glasses, Tupperware, and silverware were completely packed into clean brown cardboard boxes resting comfortably on the kitchen countertops.
“Chris, you will be alone in the forest, in a cabin, with a man who is going to need your help with a lot, with no other resources around you. Not even a neighbor. Can you even pick up his body weight by yourself if you had to? How are you going to get any electricity out there?” asked her mom.
“We bought solar panels that we are going to attach to the roof of the cabin. It’s new technology, Mom. We won’t have to have electricity hooked up to the cabin. In fact, you and Dad should look into it for your place in Packwood. It would reduce your electricity bill too.”
“Your father isn’t going to go for something like that. Besides, we are surrounded by trees. We don’t see much of the sun around here. So what are you going to do for food then?”
“We’re going to grow a garden on the land by the cabin. And Port Angeles is only thirty miles away. They have stores. We aren’t going to be without food, Mom.”
“Well, what are you going to do for money? You have to have some sort of income coming in to live on.”
“I’m going to work privately and advertise in Port Angeles for accounting work with individuals and local small businesses. Someone out there must be looking for a certified and licensed public accountant. Even around that area.”
“Oh, Chris. I don’t know. I don’t like any of this,” said Christina’s mom. “Your dad and I have lived in Packwood for the last twenty years now. I know how hard it is to live in the woods. And Blanton’s Market is literally only a ten-minute drive away from us. How am I going to come visit you?”
“I’ll come visit you, Mom. Don’t worry about that. I’m going to be okay. Matt is going to be okay. We both want to do this.”
“It’s October too, Chris. Couldn’t you wait until spring where you aren’t dealing with the snow and cold in the mountains, or heavy rains? It’s up in the Olympics, Chris.”
“I know, Mom, we’ll be fine. The cabin has a nice wood fireplace, and there is a woodshed behind the cabin that is filled with chopped wood for us from the owners who were there last.”
“Is the woodshed covered?”
“Yes, Mom. The woodshed has a slanted roof, so it won’t even collapse under the snow in the winter. The snow will just slide off the side of it.”
“Well, will you have your cell phone?”
“Of course, and I’ll have it charged all the time too.”
“Well, you call me then, okay. When you get there.”
“Of course, I will.”
“All right, well, have a safe trip. I love you, honey. God, I still don’t like this idea.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
Christina hung up her phone and stuck it in the back pocket of her jeans. She was worried because she wasn’t really positive that her cell phone worked up in the Elwha Valley where she and Matt were moving to. Matt had spent nearly a full month in the hospital recovering from his surgery to stop the internal bleeding. After that, he was discharged to a skilled nursing facility where he spent extra two months doing rather well in working on rehab and developing whatever body strength he could get back from post-surgery and from his paralysis. It was during this time one evening when Christina was visiting Matt in his nursing home room. She had brought in another real estate guide for the Port Angeles area for her and Matt to look through again, but this time they had found a nice mountain cabin located in a small town called Elwha, southwest of Port Angeles. A small realtor company called Olympic Mountains Realtor had advertised a cabin in the deeper woods as being “rustic and off the grid.” A cabin really designed for hunters, but large enough for her and Matt to try living in. It was a one-level cabin with a kitchen and old kitchen appliances, a bedroom, a bathroom, a decent-sized living room with a nice wood fireplace. Matt and Christina decided that this was the cabin they wanted. It was deep in the woods of the Elwha Valley, near the Elwha River. Christina had called the realtor of the agency to check on its availability. It was still available when she called, so Christina checked Matt out from the rehab facility for the day and they drove up to Elwha and took a look at the place. They were astounded at how serene the cabin was and how quiet it was. A perfect day. The sun was out and shining brightly onto a field of tall grass, and without even going to have a look inside the cabin other than what they saw from pictures in the magazine, Matt and Christina trusted in fate and made an offer for the cabin that was accepted a few days later by the sellers. They were grandchildren to the older couple that used to live there, who seemed all too happy to sell the cabin to them and get out from under it. Matt had joked that they should have offered even lower than what they did, but nevertheless, they got their cabin that they wanted. Shortly after the offer was accepted, Christina called a local solar panel company in Olympia that drove their equipment out to the cabin and set up solar panel grids on the roof of the cabin, as well as hooked up the solar panels to an inverter in the cabin that would help to distribute the electricity throughout the rooms in the cabin. It was an expensive hook-up, but Christina felt it was well worth it. She was surprised at how well things were coming together, and it made Christina think maybe this was the right decision for her to make after all. Christina had turned in her notice to her job shortly after Matt had been discharged from the hospital and admitted to the rehab facility, giving the Klemmes ample time to find her replacement. When her last day with the company finally came, both the Klemmes held a nice going-away party for Christina, and the older Mr. Klemme gave her a hug goodbye, as well as welcoming her back any time she wanted a job at the agency. Matt had to give up his job shortly after he had learned he was paralyzed from the waist down. Shortly after that, he went on state disability, which would help to pay for the bills, along with what Christina would earn while working for individuals and small businesses and, maybe if she was just a little lucky, maybe a small business or two would pick her up to run the accounting and finances in the Port Angeles area.
It seemed that moving day had snuck up on them fast. The house was completely packed up and in the process of being moved up to the cabin by the moving agency. One large truck held all their furniture and property, along with three men who would help to unload the truck and pack all their things into the cabin. Christina walked into the living room that was now bare and void of their furniture, their bookshelf, TV, and recliner—all packed into the moving truck that was halfway to Elwha, Washington, now. Matt came around the corner of the kitchen and wheeled himself in his wheelchair into the living room. Christina was standing by the living room window, looking out toward the highway traffic on the interstate, while Matt wheeled his chair up to her.
“What are you looking at, babe?” asked Matt.
“The traffic and interstate. Hard to believe when I look out a window I won’t see traffic like this anymore,” replied Christina.
“What does it look like out there? I can’t see,” said Matt, straining to look up from his seated position.
“Heavy and congested. As always,” replied Christina. “You ready to go, honey?”
“Yes, I’ll meet you out at the car.”
Matt wheeled himself out through the front door and down the cement ramp that they had installed for him. Christina started toward the front door and turned around, taking one last look inside the condo home, before turning around and walking out the front door, shutting it behind her. Matt was patiently waiting by the passenger side door, looking at the condo from the outside. Christina walked over to him and helped him up. Matt maneuvered his legs in a way that would help Christina help him easier into the passenger seat of the car. Once he was inside the car, Christina folded up his wheelchair and stored it in the back seat. Matt’s car was totaled in the accident that landed him in the hospital and the condition he’s in now, so now they were down to only one car for the two of them.