Previous installment: The Wheel: Part 13, Then, It Stood Up
Start at the beginning: The Wheel: Part 1, Jack Colby
Where we left off: Jack and Justin decided to go for a hike and stopped at a gas station on the way. Jack asked the clerk if there were any local Bigfoot legends and got more than he bargained for. There was a local legend, the Seney Sasquatch, and the clerk claimed to have seen it.
Voiceover narration: Andrew Thomas
Art: Jenelle Thomas https://alovelygiraffe.com
Chapel Rock
Chapel Rock trail was their destination, and the drive to get there was gorgeous. Along the way, Justin remarked that the U.P. looked different, and Jack was surprised by how observant this was. The U.P. did look very different. The roads, which were more likely to be tinted red the further north they got, were lined with cedars (both dead and alive), pines, and small rock formations.
It ended up being a perfect day for a hike—it wasn’t as sweltering as the day prior, and the shade of the woods proved to be comfortable. Where the trees grew sparse and grasses stepped in to fill their place, they found blueberry plants but were disappointed to find only a smattering of greenish berries. Peak season was still several weeks out, it seemed.
About halfway into the hike, they came across a waterfall, which absolutely fascinated Justin. He was also in need of a rest, so they spent some time exploring the area and enjoying the droning roar of water spilling onto rock. A search for the perfect walking sticks was embarked upon and deemed successful.
The second leg of the hike took longer than expected, due in no small part to how muddy the trail was, but eventually, their destination came into view: Chapel Rock itself.
“Wow, that’s cool!” Justin exclaimed as he reached the cliff edge.
Chapel Rock stood apart from the surrounding wall of stone as if it were some sort of natural lighthouse, but instead of a light, it was crowned by a solitary white pine. In a miracle of nature, the tree extended a clump of large roots across the fifteen to twenty-foot gap between Chapel Rock and the mainland. Eons of Lake Superior’s fury had worn away at the formation, setting it apart and carving impressive arched passes through the middle of it.
“Dad, do you think I can go across the roots to get over there?”
“Are you kidding?!’ Jack exclaimed, both amused and shocked. “One slip and you’ll fall and probably die on the rocks below. Absolutely not.”
“Awwww man,” Justin complained. Jack just shook his head and laughed to himself.
They followed a small trail leading to the right, ranging along the edge of the cliffs called Pictured Rocks. After exploring this and watching small waves smack against the cliff below them, they returned to the main rock formation and followed the worn wooden steps down to the somewhat flattened area between Chapel Rock and the beach. Justin was in his element, climbing around on the smooth rock and down to the sandy beach.
Time passed easily. Jack wandered around in his own headspace, simply enjoying the sound of waves rolling into shore and watching his son’s adventure. Soon, they took their shoes off and tested the water. Superior was still frigid, but they waded around in it anyway. Jack skipped stones, and Justin tried but eventually gave up and started filling his pockets with all the multi-colored rocks he could find. Jack pointed out that pockets full of rocks wouldn’t be ideal for the hike back, but he did it anyway. Jack simply smiled and reflected on the fact that he had done the same dang thing some decades before.
When they had their fill of rocks and water, they found a worn and bleached tree trunk among the driftwood to sit on, and Jack retrieved sandwiches from his backpack. They pushed sand around with their bare feet while they ate.
“Dad, I miss Mom and Megan,” Justin stated this as plainly as if he were describing the sable blue of the water.
Caught off-guard by this sudden declaration, Jack hung his head and swallowed a lump of emotion along with his current bite of sandwich. “I do too, bud.”
“It’s really cool here, I think they would like it.”
“Yeah, I think they would have,” Jack sighed as he stared out at the horizon, sandwich momentarily forgotten. Then he looked at Justin side-eyed. “Do you think Megan would have gone swimming?”
Justin smiled and laughed softly. “Yeah. She probably would have thought this water was warm.”
Jack snorted at this observation. Justin could get cold in the warmest lake at the height of the summer, but Megan had been a different breed. “I don’t know how she could stay in the water for so long and not get cold,” he said.
They continued to eat in silence, each holding his own thoughts. Jack finished his sandwich first, reached his arm around Justin, and pulled him close. “I love you, bud.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
“Are you glad we came up here?”
“Yeah. It’s really fun.”
“I agree, we needed it. You know, this is what we have to do now.” Jack’s voice began to crack, and small tears welled in his eyes.
“What?”
Jack hesitated. “We need to do our best to enjoy our time together and bring along the memory of your mom and Megan.” He wiped his eyes. “That’s what they would want, right? For us to enjoy each other and make the most of what we still have?”
“I guess so.”
“I know this is a lot for you, and I’m so sorry you have to deal with it. Just always know that I’m here for you, ok?” Jack leaned over and kissed the top of Justin’s head.
“Ok,” Justin agreed. A moment later, he finished his sandwich and put the trash in Jack’s bag.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I go play on the rocks again?”
Jack took a slow, quivering breath, both devastated and thankful that Justin’s journey was so different from his own.
“Go ahead, just be careful, ok? I’m going to sit here for a little bit longer. My legs are tired.” He forced a smile and ruffled Justin’s hair. New tears came, unasked for, and he watched Justin run wildly back to the smooth rock that ran down to the shore. When he was sure that Justin had made it onto them safely, he turned left and studied the bluff that rose up and bent out of sight. A tour boat came around it—probably had launched from Munising—and he watched it rock with the waves as it drew closer.
“Hmm, that would be fun,” he said to no one but himself, and briefly considered if they should try to book a tour before leaving the area, then glanced back to the right to check on Justin.
Oh, Justin’s trying to teach Megan to skip rocks.
As soon as the thought fully formed itself, the illusion shattered. A small girl, blonde and wearing a red top and jean shorts, had wandered away from her family to see what Justin was doing. Even now, having realized the dirty trick that his brain played on him, Jack had a hard time convincing himself it wasn’t his daughter, and, from this distance, she may as well have been. He simply watched the two kids and took it as a cheap, plastic, knock-off, made-in-China last chance to see something he would never see again.
Then, the little girl who was not his daughter reached down to grab a fistful of rocks and tossed them into the water haphazardly. Justin leaned over to her, pointed to his rock, and tossed it in an exaggerated, low angle. The rock (probably nowhere near flat) plopped into an oncoming wave, and the children devolved into laughter. As the girl’s small giggle made it to his ears and mixed with Justin’s, Jack pressed his eyes closed, and tears began to stream down his cheeks.
When he opened his eyes again, the little girl’s father had collected her and was ushering her back to a blanket and their own lunch. Jack gasped desperately and wiped his eyes. He hated to see her go, but simultaneously felt like a horrible specter had departed—a cloud had moved out from in front of the sun.
Sometime later, Justin returned and told him all about it.
The hike out from the shoreline was slow. Justin was tired from the initial three miles and hadn’t gotten any rest beyond the few minutes they had taken to sit down and eat. Thankfully, he didn’t complain too much beyond the occasional question about how much farther they had to go.
Once they made it to the car and off the dirt road that led through the woods, the smooth pavement and drone of the tires were the last log on the fire of their fatigue. Halfway home, Jack found his eyelids drooping and forced them open wide. They still had about another half-hour to go, so he grabbed one of the bags of chips they had bought earlier that day and began methodically chewing them, hoping it would help keep him awake.
Several miles later, Jack felt the need to offset the saltiness of the chips with some sugar. As he rummaged around in the plastic grocery bag for some candy, the words of the gas station clerk came back to him.
Then, it stood up
Suddenly, Jack didn’t want candy anymore, nor did he need the help keeping his eyelids open. His eyes began to dart around to the edges and boundaries of the world around him, searching for dark places and movement within them.
Pull yourself together, Jack, there’s nothing to see.
He rubbed his eyes briefly and glanced over at Justin, who was lounging with his head against the window. Not sure if he was asleep or not, Jack spoke softly.
“Justin, you asleep?”
“No.”
“You sure sound close to it. We’ve got a little way to go if you want to try for a bit.”
A moment passed.
“I don’t want to,” Justin said.
There was something in Justin’s voice that Jack couldn’t put his finger on.
“Why not?”
Justin hesitated again.
“I remembered a bad dream I had last night.”
“Yeah? What happened?”
Whatever it was, Justin wasn’t eager to talk about it. Just when Jack thought he might need to encourage him, Justin broke the silence.
“I was in the woods, and there was a cool spot, kind of like those big rocks and stuff by our cabin.”
Jack glanced out his window and rolled his eyes. “I told you I would look at that tonight.”
Justin continued as if he hadn’t heard. “I was walking to it, and something came pretty close to me. I thought it was you, but I couldn’t really look at it. It started to push me even though I didn’t want to go anymore. Then I was on the rocks, and there was a hole inside, and there were bones in it.”
Jack’s whole body was stiff, his knuckles white on the wheel. He tried to keep his voice level. “Do you remember anything after that?”
“I was just in the woods and couldn’t find you.”
Jack stared at the long, straight road stretching out before him. “Well, that’s a weird dream, I’m sorry, bud,” Jack said this about as stiffly as he felt. In truth, he thought it was more than weird; it seemed pretty damned close to the dream he had had around the same time. If Jack had learned anything over the last few weeks, it was that he didn’t like coincidences of the dream variety—neither waking nor sleeping.
Not. One. Bit.
Justin didn’t say anything more and stared out the window for the rest of the drive.
When they arrived at the cabin, Jack parked the car, but neither of them made any immediate move to get out. He stared off into the woods, which were now laden with an evening light that, while still bright, seemed tired and in need of respite below the trees. Even from this vantage point, the rock formation in the woods, well beyond the cabin, leered back and taunted him.
Just casually crying while cooking dinner as I listen to this chapter.
Great, great dialogue. I love these characters