Wilderness

"Just like a hot tub!" Shaun told us.

"Yeah right, dad!" Erika grunted with the thought of ice cold water ahead.

Us four girls took our baths first while the men watched out for us. When we were getting dressed again, I noticed Neva and Ursa had on similar necklaces. I didn't think much of it until I saw Chapa and Etu did too.

I wanted to say something about it to Erika but sort of blew it off not thinking much about it. When we got back to the cabin, our guest packed up their belongings and got ready to leave. Dad talked to Chapa and gave them some elk meat and canned goods.

When they were ready to leave Neva and Ursa kissed our dads goodbye and then to my surprise Erika and I as well. The men shook hands with that forearm thing, and then they left never looking back. I thought I'd never see them again and felt kind of sad about it.

We went back in the cabin, and it was around noon I guess and found an old map on the table with an "X" on it. It was up by the Canadian border and really didn't make any sense to me, so I showed it to dad.

"Hey, this looks like where Chapa and Etu's tribe live more or less. They move around quite a bit."

"Why's it here?" Erika asked, "Is this your map?"

"Nope, they must have left it for some reason. Did anything happen while we were gone?"

"They gave us these gifts," Erika said pulling the necklace out of her coat.

"Let me see," Dad said and studied it for a while.

I showed him mine, and his eyes finally got big like he knew what it meant.

"There the same?" I said.

"No, the carved symbols are different."

Erika came over, and we compared them. It was true they were different.

"What's it mean?"

I think Shaun already had an idea because he was smiling waiting for dad to answer.

"It means your mom is going to be mad. She missed your wedding."

"WHAT?" Erika and I said at almost the same time.

"When the men gave the necklaces to their wives, they were wanting them to approve you becoming a second wife," Dad explained as Shaun grinned.

"I don't like being second anything!" Erika blurted out.

"It's not like that," Dad told her, "You're more like sisters only married to the same man."

"So, what's the map mean?" I asked.

"That's where the tribe will be, come fall. If you want to join the tribe, you show them the necklace, and they will accept you as one of their own."

"Wow!" Erika said looking at her bear claw, "I'm really married?"

"Not legally, Dad laughed, "The natives don't follow white man's law for the most part."

"That's a relief," Erika replied, "I'm too young to get married."

"I think it's sweet of them to want me." I told everyone, "What does a wife do up there?"

"Cook, sew, take care of the men, and have babies."

"No thanks!" said Erika.

"Well nobody is going to come looking for you if you don't show up," Dad told her.

"Your mom sure is going to be surprised you got married," Shaun kidded her.

"Yeah, mine too!" I added, and dad just grinned at me.

I didn't say anything, but I sort of liked the idea. No college or high-pressure job to deal with. Nature and a simple life sort of appealed to me. I guess the wilderness was really taking hold of me. A few weeks ago I would have laughed at the thought of living up here. I tucked the necklace back inside of my top and Erika took hers off and saved it in her backpack.

The last few days we spent exploring and seeing everything we could. Our dads took us on long hikes and the nights were filled with wild stew and hot sex. It didn't matter to Erika and me who we slept with at night. We swapped dads as we pleased because there were no rules in the wilderness.

As we took off in the float plane for home, I could feel the bear claw pendant jiggling between my boobs. It was almost like it was telling me to come back in the fall. I wasn't sure what I was going to do now that I was married.