Hot Spring

Hot Spring: Chapter 1

The late afternoon sun seeped in through the side of the heavily curtained bedroom window, illuminating the latest box on the bed with a streak of glowing light. Jessica held up a tattered diploma, squinting at the faded lettering. Presented to Jessica Trenholm, for effort in Mathematics. Signed by her grade 5 teacher, Andrew Woods, or Andy, as most of the townspeople had liked to call him. Outgoing, community-oriented Andy had been popular in the town, and everyone had thought he was a gem of a find in their little town, where good teachers were hard to come by. Low pay and a remote area were not factors most teachers looked for when seeking employment. The schools usually ended up with first-time teachers or those who'd had problems keeping their jobs elsewhere: Jessica had seen her share of alcoholics, and teachers who had anger-management issues in her time in school in her hometown. Everything seemed wonderful when Andy had taken over teaching a few courses at Elmwood Elementary – until some of the boys started talking. Andy had been asking some of the more popular boys to come to his house on weekends, where he'd offered them alcohol and cigarettes. Jessica remembered feeling resentful, left out, since he never asked any of the girls to his house. He had eventually been run out of town by angry parents, threatening to involve the police if he continued. Who knew where Andy was now. Hopefully not teaching in some other town...

Sighing, Jessica tossed the diploma into the garbage bag nearby, which was growing substantially since she'd started her spring cleaning. She'd procrastinated until after 1 p.m., having three cups of coffee before she finally decided to sort through the boxes of old papers, books and photos that had been lying around for years, piled in musty boxes in storage closets in her various apartments. Ever since Josh had left 2 months ago, she'd been meaning to go through all the clutter and get rid of most of it, especially since some of it was his. They'd lived together for two years in a previous apartment, and he had books and vinyl albums that had gotten mixed up with her stuff when they'd moved into this new place six months ago. The apartment she now found herself alone in.

She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and scooped up what was left in the box – old family photo albums – and put them in the plastic storage bin with the other things she was keeping. The next box held some of Josh's things. She stared at it, willing herself to open it. Later, she thought, getting up from the bed and making her way to the door through the boxes that were strewn haphazardly throughout the room.

Before she could get to the door, she tripped over an old lamp and toppled one of the boxes she hadn't finished with, papers spilling onto the floor.

"Dammit!"

Jake, her chocolate lab, whined from where he lay in the doorway between the hall and bedroom.

"It's okay, boy," she said. He usually would have come bounding in to see if she was okay, but she'd tried to keep him out of the bedroom, rooting her the boxes and causing a mess.

She grabbed a handful of papers that had scattered everywhere and tossed them into the box, but something fluttered to the floor, sunlight glinting off the colors of the photo on one side. Curious, Jessica knelt down beside the box and managed to retrieve the paper from where it lay, half-hidden under the bed.

It wasn't a paper, it was a postcard.

The side facing up was written in her aunt's fancy handwriting: July 3, 2002. Don't give up your daydreams.

Just the date, and that one line. Her Aunt Marley had always liked to sound mysterious and all-knowing, and Jessica had always been intrigued by her. She flipped the postcard over and studied the photo. It was a hot spring from YellowstoneNational Park, where her aunt had visited all those years ago. The colors were riveting: bright blue in the center, and browns and yellow on the outer edges. It looked like an eye, Jessica thought with a chill. A giant eye, staring at her. Yellowstone would be a fascinating place to visit, but Jessica wouldn't call it a daydream. She thought of the man who'd fallen into one of the hot springs a few years ago, his entire body dissolved by the acidity. Maybe he'd thought it would be warm and relaxing. What a surprise that must have been. Her hand hesitated as she held the postcard above the trash bag, then she put it in the top drawer of her dresser instead. It was an interesting souvenir from her aunt. A good time, a time when Aunt Marley could still walk around and be independent. Now she was in a wheelchair with a nurse that practically lived with her. It was a shame, the diabetes that had ravaged her life. And she was only 42.

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The next morning, she was going through the box of Josh's things when her cell phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hey, Aunt Marley, how are you? That's so weird, I was just thinking of you lately! I found this old...what? The cabin...oh yes, I remember. Sure, I'd love to spend some time there! That sounds awesome! Great, I'll call you back when I have the details. Okay, bye. Love you too. Bye."

She hung up, her heart soaring and a smile on her face. Her aunt had offered her a get-away at a cabin she owned in Vermont. It was near a lake, and quite remote, complete with electricity, running water, cable TV...not quite roughing it in the woods, but a nice break from the city. As much as she'd hated her tiny hometown in the middle of nowhere, Jessica sometimes missed the tranquility of a small town, away from the noise and ceaseless activity of the city.

She thought of inviting her friend Sue, since she was now boyfriend-less. "I'm not in love with you anymore," Josh had stated simply, when she'd found him packing his things one evening after work. "You're a great friend, but there's no passion anymore." Later she found out he'd been seeing a woman from work, a woman he now lived with. That had hurt, like a punch to the gut, leaving a deep wound. And now a vacation seemed like the best remedy. She'd forgotten to ask about Mike, though.

He usually lived almost year-round in her aunt's cabin. What had become of him? He'd probably returned to Vancouver, she thought, where he'd lived before her aunt had found him on one of those dating sites.

The family had met him once, when Aunt Marley had had a barbeque at the cabin. He was in his sixties, probably, sporting a neatly trimmed white beard, a full head of white hair, and a surprisingly muscular build for his age. He was tanned from trips to Florida in the winter, and seemed financially independent – although his source of income was unclear. His sense of humor and ease at striking up a conversation with just about anyone put to rest any qualms the family might have had about Aunt Marley striking up a relationship with a man she'd met online. Was the relationship romantic? Platonic? They didn't really know, but now that a few years had passed and her aunt lived in her home with only a nurse and a dog to keep her company, no one really thought much about him anymore, although he supposedly stayed often in the cabin in the summers. Fishing with some buddies, his aunt had told them. The only time this irked some of the family was when they'd proposed taking their own kids for a vacation at the cabin. The problem was, no one knew when he might be there. Even her aunt, who got angry and defensive when they asked too many questions, seemed in the dark about his exact comings and goings. "It's my cabin and he can stay there whenever he wants," she'd declared.

Now it seemed, the cabin was free, and Jessica was going to take advantage this fortunate event.