Mountain Bachelor Ch. 01

Author's note:

I always imagined life in rural areas to be free from unnecessary complexities and prone to simple but strong sensations, if you find the right person.

Who knows what could happen in a world of once-in-a-lifetime coupling, real isolation, with endless possibilities if those couples let them happen?

Maybe it's my imagination but I believe that it could be better than anything you can live in those big cities, where all of us are conditioned on every single subject and where we consumed everything with haste.

Unfortunately, people in rural areas are conditioned with other obstacles.

This is a story with slow build up.

I hope you enjoy.

-------------------------------------

Rupert was eating his stew thinking that he was going to be 40 two days later. He had been living in the mountain for more than half of his life, since he left his village and started to travel. It didn't take more than a year for him to find this place, build a house and start calling it home.

This was a good spot because it was near a stream which was flowing 10 feet near his porch, more than 20 feet below. The house he built was on top of a rock formation which was adjacent to the stream and he chose that location because this region received heavy rain in autumn and late winter. The house was not very far from the peak of the foothill, and it wasn't surrounded by lots of elevated soil. This way, he was feeling safe about the floods or landslides.

Also, he had two hydroelectric generators so he didn't need to sacrifice the peaceful silence for electricity.

He had his vegetation spots within one mile radius. Some were the fruit trees which were already there and some were the ones he planted. There were many animals living in the forest surrounding the upper area and there were fish in the stream. He almost had anything he wanted, all within his grasp.

Also, there were two villages on the other side of the stream, at about 3 miles distance and a town 10 miles away. He sold his products at those settlements. So, he was content and happy with his life. He had two goats and a cow but they lived in the village, taken care of by a friend of his. He also had a donkey but it ran away a month ago. He hoped that it was alive and healthy, because he was sure that it was going to come back again.

But he was alone. He only had a few friends in the village. He didn't have a problem with being alone and wasn't a romantic person but he wondered how it would be if he had a woman. Someone who could help him with his house or growing stuff. He was used to being alone and it wasn't easy for him to picture himself living with another person. He didn't know what it was like to have another person in his life. But he was getting older. He decided that he also needed company, besides the support at work.

He thought about that in his previous birthday and that day, he decided to do something about it. Do something about it before he was 40. He had two days, so he had to think about this stuff, in order to honor that promise he made to himself.

He considered to go to the villages and talk about his intentions to the few people he knew. They would give him an idea or help him. Or make him drop this idea.

He was a decent guy. He wasn't a big guy, not like someone you would think of when you heard that he lived in the mountain alone. He wasn't even a strong guy. But he was good and practical. People found him strange but they liked him.

He prepared some bags, filled them with some vegetables to sell at the village. He managed to build a sustainable routine in his life. He was selling his products, taking his share of the milk his goats and cow provided, so he had it going.

He started walking upstream. There was a narrow part of the stream which was ground level and had visible stones in it, so he was using that part to pass over the stream without getting all wet. There was another part where the stream disappeared under another rock formation downstream, which he used when the water level in the stream increased too much. But it was more than a mile away from his house.

When he arrived the village, he saw many people dressed as if that was an important day. He visited the small shop, where he sold his stuff.

"Hey Arnold, what's going on here? Why's everyone so pretty today?"

"They can't be pretty, they can only dress better. No one is pretty in this village, maybe me."

"I see. So, you're in one of your good days I guess." he chuckled.

Arnold waved at him like he was saying 'whatever' and opened Rupert's bag to empty the goods.

"You came a few days early but it's better this way. There's a wedding tonight and they bought more than usual. I can even sell these today as well."

"Yes, I was going to come next week but I had a timely issue."

Arnold started laughing "You and timely issue? That must be interesting, what is it?"

"I guess you can't help me with that, I will visit Colman, he is the one who can help me."

"Colman? What the hell? He can't help himself, what is your problem?"

"I decided to get married, Arnold. I'm bored of being alone all the time."

"Nah, you're the happiest man around here, I wouldn't ruin that."

"I need suggestions but not like that. I need suggestions on how to get married. Your suggestion does not fit my mission."

"What are you looking for then? A young one? If you're looking for a pretty one, I already told that. You have to go to the other village for that."

"No, I'm not looking for anything. Maybe it would be good if she helped me with the works. If she was strong enough. Young ones are for Casanovas, I don't have such an interest."

Arnold started to look at the ceiling, apparently thinking and trying to help Rupert on his mission. A couple of times he thought something and dismissed it making some angry gestures.

Finally, he exhaled and said "I suggest you go see Colman, his wife has many sisters, they probably know about the livestock in the village." and coughed when laughing.

Rupert looked at him without saying anything for a period and said "Nice, Arnold. I wouldn't have thought that by myself."

Arnold paid him for the goods "I will sell those today, so you should still come next week."

After he collected his money, he walked to Colman's house. His wife was in front of the house hitting on a carpet with a stick.

"Hey Anna, you started spring cleaning early huh?"

"Not spring cleaning, Colman toppled the ash bin on the carpet, I'm cleaning that. What are you doing here? Isn't it a bit early? I was thinking that you would come next week. I didn't prepare those seeds you asked for yet."

"Yes, I came early. I have a timely issue. That's why I came one week early. Don't worry about the seeds, Arnold told me to come again soon. So, I will come next week again."

"You? Timely issue? What is it?"

"Is Colman inside? I think he can help me with it."

"Colman can't even help your cow, tell me instead."

"Last year I promised myself to try and get married before I was 40. I have two days."

"Why did you hurry, you still have two days." she laughed hysterically.

"I forgot, then I remembered when my birthday was near."

"It's nice to see you so eager on getting married!" she laughed with a higher pitch.

"Is Colman inside?"

"Yes, but you'll regret if you listen to his advices. Not only about this, on any issue."

"I will ask for your help too Anna, you're busy now."

"Good then."

Rupert removed his shoes and entered the house "Colman, are you here?"

"Who is it? I'm upstairs."

"I'm coming, I'm Rupert!"

"Rupert? Why did you come early? Anna didn't prepare your seeds."

"I know, I talked to her, where are you?"

"In here!"

He looked in all rooms finally to find Colman.

"I came early because I had a timely issue. I will come next week too."

"You have a timely issue? What are you talking about?"

"I have to try and get married. I'm going to be 40 two days later. If I don't get married until then, no woman would want me. They would think I'm old. I need to find a woman when I'm still in my thirties."

Colman almost got breathless when laughing.

"Ah Rupert, you and your funny ways of thinking. So, you want me to find you a woman? A woman to marry you?"

"Can you?"

Colman started to think, using his fingers to count something. He probably was counting his wife's sisters and their single relatives.

"Do you want a young one?"

"Arnold asked me that, I said I didn't. I'm not against but..."

"Arnold? Did you ask for his help? On this?"

"No, I told him that I was going to ask you, he made me tell him. He thought and thought, then suggested me to ask you. You know Arnold."

"He can't help a potato. He can't help himself."

Rupert wondered what they were talking about him when his name was mentioned and he wasn't present. Probably that Rupert couldn't help his donkey.

"And he asked me if I was looking for someone pretty."

"What did you say? You can't find pretty here. I know there is one pretty girl in the other village."

"I didn't say I wanted that. I don't care. I need company. If she's strong, she can help me with the works, what do you think?"

"You're right but if I were you, I would look for a pretty and young one. You can't find pretty here. But we can find young one. And young one is better because she can turn out to be pretty in time. Anna can't turn pretty. She already turned ugly."

Rupert panicked and waved his hands to silence Colman whispering loudly "Shush! She will hear you!"

"She's already angry, can't get angrier. She put the ash bin to the wrong place, I accidentally hit it and it fell on the carpet."

"Do you know someone for me to marry?"

"I know but I have to ask Anna. She knows them better. You want them to be strong but you're not against young and pretty, right? But we can't find pretty here, don't forget that I told you already."

"Don't worry. I want a friend in life and a partner in works, nothing more."

"I hope they don't upset you Rupert, you're a good man."

"Thank you, Colman, you're a good man too."

They walked out to talk to Anna.

"Hey woman, I already thought of someone but I want to hear your ideas about Rupert's mission on marriage."

"Rupert, watch where your ass is when you walk at home, don't make your wife clean your clumsy mess!"

Rupert looked at Colman, Colman was looking at the mountains as if he wasn't listening.

"Who did you think of?" Anna asked Colman.

"Greta. What do you think?"

Anna made a face to Colman, widening her eyes and puckering her lips. She made some mimics as if I wasn't there. Colman responded with 'what can I do?' expression, opening his hands on his sides.

"Err, Greta is not from here, she came from far. We don't know how she acts or is. If you want, you can join the wedding tonight, to see her and other single girls, what do you think?"

Colman was laughing with words in it "Ahaha cow heheee market"

Anna gave him a look and he got silent.

"I do whatever you suggest." Rupert said "But it will be hard for me to return home after dark."

"Are you crazy? You will stay with us tonight, don't worry about that. And we drink tonight, we will hardly come home, ehehee...." Colman stopped making sounds when his eyes met Anna's.

"Okay then. Do you have a jacket for me? It would be rude if I attended with that old thing."

"Come, let's look." said Colman when he was entering the house.

They were sitting at a table which was on a slightly raised platform, to see everyone. Colman was talking nonstop about every single person in the area.

Rupert, on the other hand, was keen to finalize his mission. He was looking at women, trying to understand if they were single and if they looked like a life partner or a friend material.

He wasn't conditioned on sexual perceptions; he didn't have tendencies or fantasies. He even wasn't sure if he would understand if he found someone attractive. He never thought about such things before.

He saw one girl, who collected her skirt above her knees to sit comfortably and he understood that legs were fine things. He understood that he liked to look at legs. Her face, on the other hand, didn't create a similar effect on him.

Then, he noticed another girl. She had blonde hair; she was sitting with the others but wasn't participating in their conversation. She looked taller than the others and even if he couldn't be sure, she looked stronger. He couldn't see her legs, the only characteristic he managed to register as a parameter in the process of finding a wife. But this time, her face made him feel the same way. The way when he saw the other girl's legs. He liked this face.

She looked a bit bored or angry, he couldn't decide from that distance. His eyes were fixed on her and he was wanting to look at her a bit more each second he watched her. Then, he saw that she smiled. He couldn't understand what she was smiling about, not at first. Then he looked at where she was looking. A drunken man was trying to drag a woman to the dancing yard and she was resisting, they were arguing. He probably was her husband. Rupert watched them and looked at the blonde girl at the same time.

When the woman finally got angry with the man and slapped him hard, the blonde girl hit the shoulder of the girl sitting next to her, laughing uncontrollably. The other girls didn't understand what she was laughing at but looked at the direction she was pointing to. They didn't understand anything because the woman had already left the yard.

Rupert thought that this was odd. She didn't try to tell them what was going on and they didn't ask her.

Rupert turned to Anna and asked "Is this girl deaf or mute?"

"Which girl?"

"The one with wheat hair, the one that tied her hair above her head, the tall looking girl."

Anna looked at her, then Colman and Anna shared an uneasy look and they turned to Rupert.

"Why did you ask Rupert? Did you like her?" Anna asked.

"She looks strong." Rupert was shy to say that he liked her face. He was wondering if she had beautiful legs as well but this was a secret for himself, possibly until the grave.

"No, she's not deaf or mute. But she doesn't know how to talk."

"How come? Is she slow to learn?"

"We don't know. She talks but she talks in another language. She came here a few months ago. Her father was from this village and went away to work when he was young. Her aunt brought her here when he died. Her mother left them long ago. Was she from Germany, Colman?"

"I don't know, I doubt even her Margaret knows. She went to Germany by plane but someone took her to somewhere by automobile. She said they were in Austria, then Germany again and told me something about Czech country. She's confused about that. We asked her about that, I mean we asked the girl; she didn't answer us so we call her the German Girl. Her mother was German I guess."

"So how do they speak to her?"

"She learned a few words but she's getting annoyed when the others don't understand her so she doesn't talk much. We don't know how much she knows. But I know she swears with long sentences in her own language." Anna chuckled.

Rupert looked at the blonde girl, digesting the new information he got for a minute and said "Is she available? Can I marry her?"

Anna jumped in "That's Greta. The one Colman thought for you. She may be taller than you."

Colman started to talk, as if he was having second thoughts "I suggested her because she's unhappy here. And yes, she's strong. I saw her carry a log herself. But she doesn't like taking orders, I don't know if she will work. You decide. Some girls say that she's stupid but I don't think so, she can be just the opposite. But nobody cares about such things here. Hey! Look at Arnold! ARNIE! You drunken ass!" he laughed loudly "He fell from the chair." Colman was distracted easily; he was like a dog.

"Yes, she looks strong." Rupert said sheepishly, his eyes locked on Greta. He also liked her face. He didn't care about her body. A face to look at, a partner to help for work, what else could he want?

The only problem was conversing with her. That made Rupert uneasy. He couldn't be sure if it was possible to teach her do stuff. He asked "Can I teach her do the works there? Or a few words?"

"If she will be your wife, why not? It only takes time. Don't beat the girl up if she doesn't learn." Anna was serious. She knew men, she knew how men got aggressive when they couldn't manage stuff.

"Anna, I never would do that. I don't get angry or something like that, don't you know me?"

"I know but some women have that talent, they can turn angels to devils, we don't know her. I will check her time to time, if you hurt her, I will ask you!" Colman was sitting behind Anna, waving his hand as if he was saying 'bullshit, don't listen to her'.

She saw me looking at him and turned to Colman, he suddenly lowered his hand and started clapping as if he was listening to the song they were singing.

Anna was an angry woman, Rupert thought. He hoped Greta was a calm girl. "How old is she?"

"I don't know, let's ask her aunt. Does it matter for you? If it does, I won't tell our intention until you learn her age."

"I prefer not very young. Not younger than 20 or 25 let's say. But I won't change my mind if she's 19. I don't know girls much, if you say 18 is no different than 19, I guess..."

Rupert was startled to see Anna was boring into him, waiting for him to finish his mumbling. "Are you done?"

"..." he nodded with an open mouth, afraid to talk anymore. This made him think, was he walking into trouble? He hoped that all women weren't angry like that.

"And women are not cows!" she turned to Colman, slapped the back of his head.

Her face was calm again when she turned to Rupert to continue "When you marry one, you need to care for her needs as well." Rupert didn't understand why Colman was smiling behind Anna. Probably Anna wasn't mentioning that but it was obvious that Colman was thinking about other stuff.

Rupert knew it was expected from him to do things with his wife, it was natural. He even brought his donkey to the village to do stuff one time, when someone asked him to do. He wasn't that naive.

He never thought about that part, he only had come close to having sex once when the guys from the other village took him to town and paid some women at a hotel there. That woman they brought to him wasn't very clean and she was old so he didn't want to do it and never wanted to go there again. So, he was a virgin. He was going to be a 40 year old virgin in two days.

"Greta looks clean." he thought with his speakers on.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked.

Rupert blushed and said "I mean, she looks clean so she would keep the house clean."

Anna had a devil eye looking at Rupert, as if she was reading his mind "Don't worry Rupert, it's only natural. You will manage to make her happy. I'm going to talk to Margaret, ask her age and tell her about our intentions."

Rupert was blushing unstoppably under the smirking stares of Colman and Anna. They didn't want to embarrass the naive man anymore, so, Anna stood up and walked away.

"You made a right choice Rupert, let's see if she accepts." said Colman.

He never thought about that part too. She could say no. A few minutes ago he wouldn't mind. But now she was different from the other girls. He learned her name and things about her. This felt more than just accomplishing a mission, this became about her. He believed that this was going to be the start of something good, different for him. He didn't feel like that when he was looking at the other women.

"Yes, she looks strong, I hope she says yes." never taking his eyes away from her.

Colman was looking at the sweet Rupert with compassion and sympathy.