Death Falls: Jane Doe

"You've already been looking?"

"Yeah. It has a large master bedroom across the back and a small bedroom next to it for Rick, then the bathroom with shower and dinky tub, then kitchen/dining areas and living room across the front with the couch that makes into a full double bed. Also the table and seats make into a three quarter bed, if we ever need it. You could haul it with the Buick and take it hunting in the fall. How about that?"

"It has to be too heavy to haul with the Buick."

"Nope. I took the Buick in to an RV outfitters and he said you would have to beef up the springs a bit and add a towing package of lights and brake hookups, but it would do the job."

"How long is the trailer?"

"Twenty eight feet."

"Where is it?"

"Rosedale. I spotted it in the Buy and Sell. It's a private deal. They've bought a motorhome and just want to get rid of this thing. I talked them into a good deal."

"How do you know they are still holding it?"

"I bought it... I put some money down on it. I put up a thousand. You owe them twenty five hundred."

"Oh Trudy! You're a menace. How'd you know I could afford it? I might have come back from Ontario broke."

"I know your finances better than you do. You won't have any cash problems. Who do you think pays your bills half the time when you're away or just too busy."

"How much were they asking?"

"Six thousand but I told them how we have been saving for a trailer even though every cent now has got to go to things for the baby. They felt so sorry they let me have it for thirty five." She pats her belly, "This kid's paying off already."

"Trudy! You're awful! Well, I guess I better go out and see what you got us. Give me the address and I'll check it out today."

"What about the stake out?"

"Give me the info on that and I'll try to catch both. I guess I better get cracking."

Soon Mike is sitting out on Prest Road with binoculars and a high power lens on his camera. In about half an hour he spots the culprit and watches him walk to a shed. He has a gut feeling and readies the camera but when the guy comes out he's riding on a power mower. Mike curses and watches him mow the lawn. Suddenly he spots a cement sun dial that will be right in the guy's path in about two more rounds. He smiles.

Patiently he watches and when the guy gets to the sundial he veers around it. Mike shakes his head. He is almost ready to give up for today when the guy comes around again and gets off the mower by the sundial. Mike starts the camera clicking. He watches the guy try to move the object by tilting and rolling it then he lifts it and moves it over. "Bingo! Gotcha! Bad back, eh? Ha ha ha ha ha. So much for that WCB claim."

He packs up the camera equipment and heads out to Rosedale. He looks the trailer over and is impressed. It's fairly modern and light, well built and nicely balanced. He pays the fellow the last installment and arranges to have him drop it at the park in Harrison Mills. He calls Les Klassen, the park manager and arranges for a site. He leads the way with his Mustang and the seller of the trailer follows him to Sunny Meadows at Harrison Mills. Between the two of them they get it set up and Mike offers to buy him supper in the snack bar.

The guy grins and says he better not. His wife would never let him live it down if he dined in a nudist park. Since they are parked next to Olga and Lars Johansen and Olga has been over in the buff watching them work on the trailer, he already thinks he better get out of there. Les comes over, as they are finishing up so Mike goes back with him to settle up for the site and utilities. He makes one last check through the trailer and then he heads for home. He heads west on the Lougheed to Mission, then south into Abbotsford. Over supper he tells the family what Trudy got him into and they are all delighted. Marlene is not overjoyed that Trudy made the decision without consulting with them first, but she accepts Mike's evaluation of the value of the trailer. She says she will have a word with Trudy tomorrow at the picnic.

Later that evening after Mike has called Trudy and brought her up to date on the stake out and trailer, he tells her she will be in for some serious static from Marlene tomorrow over going ahead with the trailer without consulting them first.

"Ha! I can handle that."

"I'm glad it's not me she's lighting into. See you in the morning, my love.

"I'll be there. Good night, darling"

"Good night. I love you."

"You better." She giggles as she hangs up.

Mike chuckles and does the same. Next he calls CPX and informs Jerry on his answering machine that he is back and available right after the weekend. He goes through the day's mail and sorts out what requires immediate responses, bills to be paid for the business and his home and flyers. Within an hour he is finished and goes up to sit with Marlene and watch the news. The weather forecast looks good for tomorrow and the weekend.

"Are the kids all in bed?"

"Rick is still out but he should be in soon. I told him not to stay out passed eleven."

"It's nearly half past." They hear him coming in the side door and up into the kitchen. He comes to the living room door and says, "Good night. I'm heading up to bed."

Marlene says, "Hold it! What time is it?"

"Twenty five past eleven."

"I thought you were to be home by eleven."

"I was. Julie and I have been sitting on the front steps talking."

"Where is she?"

"Gone home."

"She's walking?"

"Sure. It's a nice night. I told her not to come but she said she likes to walk."

"Oh well, it's only a few blocks. Still, she should be more careful. It can be dangerous for a girl to walk alone at night, even in town."

"She's not alone. Her sister and her boyfriend are with her."

"You better get up to bed. We'll be going to the falls tomorrow and we'd like to get an early start. Good night, son."

"Good night Mom, Dad."

Mike says, "Good night."

After he goes up Marlene says, "I don't know if I like him hanging out with Julie and her sister's crowd. I thought that thing with Julie was over."

"So did I. I'll check it out with him... or maybe I should check with her mother. I'll look into it."

"Don't bother checking with Sadie. You have a thing for red heads and I don't need anyone giving you excuses to go and see her. You check with your son."

"Uh, yes dear." Mike gets a far away look in his eye.

"And you can stop undressing her in your mind, too!"

"Uh, What? Me? Dear! Would I do a thing like that?"

She nods and they both laugh.

Mike pokes his head in Richard's door on his way to bed and says, "Still awake, sport?"

"Hmm, yeah. I've been thinking."

"What weighty troubles of the world are keeping you awake tonight?"

"It's Julie. I don't think she should be hanging around with her sister's crowd this summer. I've been trying to think of ways to get her interested in other people, ...like us. Do you suppose she could go with us to the falls tomorrow?"

"I think it's a bit late to ask her mother. I thought you broke it off with her."

"We're not having sex anymore, but I still like her and don't want her to get into trouble."

"Hmmm. I see. Maybe she can go with us this weekend. Would that work, do you think?"

"It would help. She wouldn't be hanging out with them Friday night. Will you ask her mother?"

Mike grins, "I'll ask her personally. Good night, son." Mike hums a dirty ditty called the North Atlantic Squadron on his way to the bedroom.

He enters, "Rick says he's only concerned with Julie getting mixed up with the wrong crowd. He doesn't think much of her sister's friends, either. I suggested we might take her with us this weekend. He seemed to like the idea."

"Are you sure he's still not... you know."

"He says they aren't and I believe him."

"Hmmm, well if the trailer is as big as you say it is, I guess all the girls could sleep in the living room, even if they have to sleep on the floor. It is carpeted, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is and there is a divider curtain that can be pulled across for privacy up there." He goes to grab a shower and brush his teeth.

Marlene snuggles up to him and says quietly, "Was Trudy glad to see you this morning?"

"She kept me in bed till noon."

"Oh Mike! You shouldn't be so rough on her. She only has a few days to go. Maybe a week or two, but no more than that."

"I'm careful. She's the one that gets rough."

"Mmmmm, are you going to get rough with me tonight?"

"The roughest!"

"I can hardly wait."

And she doesn't have to wait for very long.

Next morning they are up early and getting things around for the picnic. Everyone is sitting down to breakfast when Julie comes knocking on the door. She asks to see Richard and he goes to talk with her. In a few minutes he's back and asks, "Can Julie go with us today? Her mother said it was alright."

Mike looks at Marlene and she nods with a shrug. Mike says, "I guess she can. Tell her to come on in and have some breakfast with us."

Julie joins them and before too long, Trudy and Crystal arrive. Mike kisses Trudy and pats her belly. "You going to make me a father again today?"

"Not today but before long."

Marlene asks, "Are you all packed for the hospital?" Trudy nods. "Have you felt the baby drop yet?" She shakes her head. "If you feel it drop or have any contractions, let us know immediately; even if you're at home. Mike will rush right down there to be with you and I'll probably come, too, if I can get away."

Shelly pipes up, "You can't have the baby yet. My birthday is on the twenty-first and you got to hang on till then. Then I'll be nine, the same as Julie."

Julie says, "Not for long. My birthday isn't too far off. It's in September." Everybody starts off with a round of 'my birthday is' until Mike says they had better start loading into the station wagon. Mike flips up the extra row of seats in the back and they all pile in. The picnic baskets and gear gets spread among them.

When they are all ready to go Mike finds he has Trudy by his elbow and Marlene just beyond her. Crystal is behind his head with Shelly and Jan. Way down in the rear is Richard and Julie.

He backs out and calls, "Is everyone here? If you're not, speak up." Everyone is silent until a giggle is heard and then another. Soon they are all laughing and he takes off for Mission. Out of Mission he goes east past Hatzic Lake and soon they come to Sylvester Road. They swing north at the service station and stop at the Rustic Rooster.

"Who's for ice cream?" With a chorus of 'me's in his ears he solicits the help of the girls directly behind him to take orders from the rest and follow him inside. When everyone has an ice cream cone he starts the car and they head on up Sylvester Road. Keeping right at the Y they pass the gravel pit and continue north. Sylvester Road winds it's way along the side of the valley until they come out by a school; then cross a bridge.

A climb up a short steep winding hill and they roam along through woods with the occasional home hidden in the trees. Soon they pass Allen Lake and Hartley Road but still they go north. By now the ice cream is gone and one little voice cries out to go for a pee.

Mike says, "It won't be long now. Hang on."

"I don't know if I can." It's Trudy beside him.

They go through an S turn and over a bridge. "The turn is just up ahead." He jams on the brakes and backs up to the bridge, then pulls off on a side road and parks. "Run under the bridge. I'll keep an eye open for traffic. Hurry." He lets her out his side and she runs, squats before she gets to the bridge and nature takes its course.

She rushes back and says, "It's a good thing no one was coming. I couldn't have stopped if I'd wanted to." They all laugh as she scrambles back into the car.

Mike pulls away and over the bridge. At the next corner to the right, Ridgeview Drive, he turns right and drives about a mile to the end of it. Through gates he pulls and up into a parking lot with a washroom nearby. He grins and says, "Here's the washroom, Trudy." She swats him as he gets out.

Everyone piles out and Mike says, "Alright, Richard, if you are sticking with Julie I want you to keep an eye on Jan. Shelly, you keep Crystal with you. Now the idea is to stay behind the fences, no horseplay and have a good time. We'll be setting up for a picnic down here in the gorge by the river. Remember, those falls are dangerous so no going beyond the fences."

Marlene laughs, "I'm going climbing with them. I'll keep an eye on them." They strike off up the trails by the roaring waterfalls.

Trudy yells, "Wow! Are they ever loud! Can't you turn them down?" Mike laughs and asks her to bring some lighter gear. He hauls picnic baskets and lawn chairs down the drive and into the canyon at the base of the falls. As they get farther away from them and some forest between them and the cascading water, it becomes quieter and Mike picks a grassy spot near some pools in the river to set up the chairs and lay out the blankets.

Trudy says, "Is it ever beautiful here. There are only two cars in the parking lot besides ours. Doesn't anybody know about this place?"

"It's not well known. It's a regional park called Cascade Falls but it's not widely advertised. It has been the scene of many tragic accidental drownings, so until they can get the finances to fix it up with safety barriers, they don't encourage large crowds to gather here. I've seen some rather large crowds here on weekends, though. Kids have a tendency to try to swim in the swift waters. It's dangerous."

Mike hears the noise of a car passing above on the gravel and he says, "There goes one of the other two cars that were up there in the parking lot."

Trudy relaxes in a creaking lawn chair and Mike eyes it apprehensively. He pulls out some drinks and takes them to the edge of the cold clear waters. He drops them in and places a stone or two so they can't float away. As he rejoins Trudy he hears whooping and hollering from up above. Before long Marlene arrives with a group of panting children. She laughs. "Those exercises I do have stood me in good stead today. They couldn't beat me back to the car and they couldn't beat me back here either." Mike hears the other car pull out and leave on the road above.

He says to Trudy, "Sounds like we have the whole place to ourselves now; unless some local people are up above the falls. And there might be. I thought I heard a dog barking up there after they left. I certainly hope they didn't abandon it."

"It's awful to think that people sometimes do that."

"I agree, but there are lots of awful things that go on in this world."

"Yeah, like murders and robberies and drugs. It's awful what a few bad people can do."

"I wasn't thinking of the bad people. I was thinking of your neighbors and mine."

"What do they do that's so awful?"

"I guess I shouldn't talk about it. I'm a man and I'm not supposed to be involved or have an opinion."

"Whatever are you talking about?"

Marlene says, "Don't get him started. I believe like he does but he doesn't know enough to shut up. He's talking about abortions."

Trudy looks down and says, "I think they're wrong too, and I had one." She looks very sad. "After Crystal was born and was about a year old I got pregnant again and Marcel didn't want another child. He made me get it and I hated him for it. I was healthy and we had the money. It was just inconvenient for him. Sometimes I cry at night for that other child that never had a chance. I don't know how any woman can do that and live with the guilt."

Mike says, "My only comment is history will bear me out. In the not too distant future they will look back on the turn of the century as a time of horror equal to, no, surpassing the horrors of Nazi Germany and the Second World War. The death camps will pale in comparison to what humankind is doing to themselves with the liberalized abortion policies of today. The pendulum will swing back and the cycle will turn around. History students will not believe the magnitude of what we have allowed to happen. I shudder when I think of all the lives lost in the name of progress and modern thinking."

Marlene's comment, "I told you so."

"They take an innocent life so blithely today. Very little thought is given to the unborn. If they were forced by legislation, backed by the church, to perform a Christian burial for every fetus aborted, it would cast a new light on what they are doing. It's too easy! They go out with the garbage! I see..."

"Enough, already. Michael, you are preaching to the converted. We agree with you. What did you do with the pop?"

"Uh, it's uh, it's in the creek. I'll get it. Who wants pop?"

Julie says to Shelly, "Gee, your Dad is really upset by that, isn't he?"

"He goes on about it once a month. I think he's trying to tell us girls something." They chatter on as Mike gets the pop.

Trudy says to Marlene, "I'm surprised there aren't more people around. This is a big holiday down in the States. It's Independence Day."

"I'm surprised, too. I expected this place to be crawling with tourists today when I noticed it was the fourth. Guess they all found somewhere else to go."

"I'm going for a walk by the river. Want to come along?"

"I better. I'd hate to see you step on a rock and fall down. Let's walk downstream in the level spaces."

They take off as Mike gets back with the pop, so he starts popping cans for the kids. He takes Trudy's lawn chair and he wiggles in it to make sure it is safe, then sits back to relax. The kids go poking along the creek and he calls for them to not go too far. Lunch will soon be on.

As they all filter back Marlene opens a basket and starts unloading potato salad and fried chicken. Pickled beets, green onions, radishes, crusty bread, celery, salt and pepper, they all come out of the baskets and are piled on the blankets. Trudy opens hers and has a green shredded broccoli salad, rice pilaf, a garlic ring and crusty rolls. She hauls out strawberries in a jar and an angel food cake with a can of whipped cream; the makings for strawberry shortcake.

Everyone grabs paper plates and plastic cutlery. Soon they are all eating and chattering away. Shelly sits to one side and patiently lures a squirrel with bit of food closer and closer. Soon everyone is watching her.

After the picnic lunch Mike stretches and decides to go for a walk along the creek up towards the falls. Marlene trails along with him and catches his hand. They help each other over some rocks and come near the falls. Marlene shouts and points ahead. Mike shakes his head to indicate he can't hear her but she runs by him and scrambles over the rocks towards a pool near the base of the falls. He tries to catch up with her and then he sees what she is pointing at. It looks like someone in the pool and they don't seem to be swimming.

Marlene stops and Mike passes her running into the water to his knees to catch up the person's hand and check for a pulse. The hand is cold like ice and no pulse is evident. He can see it's a middle-aged woman, perhaps in her fifties or older, judging by her gray hair and her clothes are partially stripped from her. Mike drops the hand and steps back out of the creek. Marlene puts her head by his and shouts, "You can't leave her there."

"Have to, for the police. I'll call them back at the blanket. Can't hear anything here." He points back the way they have come. Marlene looks at the body again and shudders, then follows him back towards their blankets.

When they get more than half way back she says, "Oh Mike, stop and hold me. I feel so cold." Her teeth are chattering and Mike puts his arms around her. He holds her close and rubs her shoulders. In a few minutes she says, "Let's go on." She is still shivering but she hurries to keep up with him.