A Snowy Night in Michigan Part 1 of 4
I'm sharing a "shortish" story I have been working with and currently have an editor checking out for me. I've had a few friends read this and feel I am at the point I'm willing to share with the community. This is the first piece of the story and I do plan on sharing the rest. This section is the initial setup of the story, "A Snowy Night in Michigan". Please send me emails or provide feedback as I'd like to know what people think.
Now on to the Story..........................................
It’s been over 190 years and it is time that I write my story and how the beasts of legend have walked among us for all these years. My life ended one snowy winter in what is now the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was part of a fur trading group that had come across the Canadian border to try and catch some beavers in their winter habitat.
The day was November 2, 1816, and we had been in the land for 3 months already. There were 6 of us at the start of the excursion and we had 2 Indian guides. The party started out well enough we had bountiful supplies on our pack mules and equipped for at least six months.
We journeyed into the wilderness and found a perfect area to setup camp and we began to build a small cabin. It was a beautiful piece of land as there was a river to the east and plenty of trees and wildlife. There was plenty of deer and even some small bear around that we could use for food and other things. The bear fat worked for cooking and one of our guides even knew how to make candles from the fat.
So it came that by the 2nd that we had a small cabin built and it wasn’t anything special. The cabin had one main room in which we placed some hand built table and a few chairs. We where able to fashion a fire place so the bitter cold that came as seasons changed did not freeze us out. There where very small windows that where mainly there as gun ports in case we came under attack. We had no glass so they where covered with heavy pieces of bear fur to help insulate the room. The roof was angled just enough so that rain would run down the roof and every so often we did have to patch a hole now and again. Overall though I’d have to say it was a comfy place we even had cots laid out for sleeping, again we had to thank our guides for showing us how to build these comfortable cots.
We had built one other building for drying the skins and keeping them safe. We had placed a few poles in the ground around the drying hut to help protect it from animals and a few around the main building for our protection. The drying hut was smaller then our quarters but in there we had strong poles and rope so that we could hang furs from them. We also had built small shelves so that when the furs where dry we could lay them flat and add more pelts to the lines as needed.
There was one major problem that never thought about when we where setting up our camp and what we needed to protect ourselves from. We where protecting our camp from wild animals such as bears, when we should have watched for others. So it happened that fateful day that heavy snow came into the area. The snow was blinding our vision as it appeared to come at us parallel to the ground thanks to the heavy winds. This storm was the worst we’d seen so there was no choice but for all 8 of us to hunker down in the main cabin with the fire to stay warm and ride the storm out.
The storm raged all day and you could have knocked each of us out with a small loon feather when to our shock and surprise when at just after sunset that there was knocking at our door. I was nearest the door and upon looking out one of our gun slots was shocked to see 2 figures in the snow. In hindsight I should have questioned how they got here but seeing a man and a woman I opened the door and ushered them into the safety of our cabin.
Sigh, I think back now and should have seen the signs, but how was I to know such creatures where real. They where both pale with little color to their skin and the woman looked near death. We immediately did our best to make them comfortable offering them coffee, food, and seats near the fire.
Now on to the Story..........................................
It’s been over 190 years and it is time that I write my story and how the beasts of legend have walked among us for all these years. My life ended one snowy winter in what is now the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was part of a fur trading group that had come across the Canadian border to try and catch some beavers in their winter habitat.
The day was November 2, 1816, and we had been in the land for 3 months already. There were 6 of us at the start of the excursion and we had 2 Indian guides. The party started out well enough we had bountiful supplies on our pack mules and equipped for at least six months.
We journeyed into the wilderness and found a perfect area to setup camp and we began to build a small cabin. It was a beautiful piece of land as there was a river to the east and plenty of trees and wildlife. There was plenty of deer and even some small bear around that we could use for food and other things. The bear fat worked for cooking and one of our guides even knew how to make candles from the fat.
So it came that by the 2nd that we had a small cabin built and it wasn’t anything special. The cabin had one main room in which we placed some hand built table and a few chairs. We where able to fashion a fire place so the bitter cold that came as seasons changed did not freeze us out. There where very small windows that where mainly there as gun ports in case we came under attack. We had no glass so they where covered with heavy pieces of bear fur to help insulate the room. The roof was angled just enough so that rain would run down the roof and every so often we did have to patch a hole now and again. Overall though I’d have to say it was a comfy place we even had cots laid out for sleeping, again we had to thank our guides for showing us how to build these comfortable cots.
We had built one other building for drying the skins and keeping them safe. We had placed a few poles in the ground around the drying hut to help protect it from animals and a few around the main building for our protection. The drying hut was smaller then our quarters but in there we had strong poles and rope so that we could hang furs from them. We also had built small shelves so that when the furs where dry we could lay them flat and add more pelts to the lines as needed.
There was one major problem that never thought about when we where setting up our camp and what we needed to protect ourselves from. We where protecting our camp from wild animals such as bears, when we should have watched for others. So it happened that fateful day that heavy snow came into the area. The snow was blinding our vision as it appeared to come at us parallel to the ground thanks to the heavy winds. This storm was the worst we’d seen so there was no choice but for all 8 of us to hunker down in the main cabin with the fire to stay warm and ride the storm out.
The storm raged all day and you could have knocked each of us out with a small loon feather when to our shock and surprise when at just after sunset that there was knocking at our door. I was nearest the door and upon looking out one of our gun slots was shocked to see 2 figures in the snow. In hindsight I should have questioned how they got here but seeing a man and a woman I opened the door and ushered them into the safety of our cabin.
Sigh, I think back now and should have seen the signs, but how was I to know such creatures where real. They where both pale with little color to their skin and the woman looked near death. We immediately did our best to make them comfortable offering them coffee, food, and seats near the fire.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Knightmist on -
Thanks, I will have the next piece out early next week. I have the story written just giving a few days between posting the parts.
Monkey said:Can't wait for more! Very good story!
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Permalink Reply by Carmilla DeLioncourt on -
yeah! like monkey i want to hear what happens next!!
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