[Canadian West 05] - Beyond the Gathering Storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

Wynn looked directly into Elizabeth’s eyes. When she didn’t speak, he continued, “Time will help. But the experience will change him. In some way. If it is shrugged off, thinking ‘that’s their problem,’ one becomes callous. Indifferent. If you let it stay with you, festering like an inner canker when there is nothing you can do about it, it brings cynicism. If you do what you can, accept it as part of life, but let God keep you open to others—then you grow from the experience.”
    Elizabeth nodded. She had always wanted her children to grow. To mature. To get beyond the selfishness of childhood and be able to reach out to others in a world full of sorrow and tragedy. But sometimes that growth came through such pain. Her mother’s heart wished there were some other way.

    “How do you think the folks are doing?” Christine asked as soon as they were a comfortable distance from the small house. Henry moved on a few steps, listening to the crunch beneath his heavy boots before answering. Like Christine, he would miss the sound of the snow underfoot if it were to be taken from him.
    “Look all right to me,” he answered lightly. “You?” When she was slow in responding, he turned to look at his sister. “Okay,” she said at length. “I think Mom looks a little tired.”
    “She always gets too involved in things. That’s Mom. No wonder she’s tired.”
    Teeko ran ahead, barking joyously at being outside. He turned once and looked back to make sure they were still following.
    “Dad said anything about his leg?”
    Henry shrugged. “You know he doesn’t talk about it.” Wynn never made mention of his injured leg.
    “It still makes me angry when I think of it,” Christine burst out. “He likes to shrug it off as being part of the job—but it isn’t. At least, it shouldn’t be. Just because he’s a Mountie doesn’t mean he should have to lose a leg to maintain law and order.”
    “What should he have done?”
    “He saw the guy had a knife—and he knew he would use it.”
    “Are you saying he should have shot the fellow?”
    It was Christine’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know. I’ve never been able to sort it out. But it doesn’t seem right that he couldn’t protect himself. That crazed idiot would have cut him up into little pieces if he’d been able—”
    “He was drunk.”
    “Drunk or sober—what’s the difference? Dad still lost his leg.”
    “Well ... not totally. He’s always saying how thankful he is that he still has it.”
    Henry thought back to the awful day of the incident. They’d been sure they were going to lose their father. When that fear was finally put to rest, they were sure he would at least lose the leg. But that didn’t happen either. He’d been pulled from the North where he loved to work and had been given an office job instead, but he could still walk, although with a limp. They had all thanked God for that many times.
    “Does he really hate being caged behind a desk instead of being out in the air and sun?” Christine wondered aloud.
    Henry laughed. “Last time he talked to me he didn’t sound at all envious. Said he was getting a bit old to enjoy nights huddled in blankets in a bank of snow, or trekking forty miles behind a dog team to check on some trapper’s line.”
    “I think it’s a bluff,” said Christine.
    Just then Teeko managed to flush a partridge. He set off at a run, barking at the bird winging its way above his head.
    “Silly old dog would chase anything,” laughed Henry. “Never knows when he’s licked.”
    Christine smiled but made no comment.
    “So ... this here Boyd guy,” ventured Henry, “you been out with him?”
    Christine swung around to face him. “You mean—on a date?”
    “Yeah.”
    She shook her head vigorously. “Not me. He scares me.”
    “Scares you? In what way?”
    Christine quickly said, “Well ... not scares me. But ... I don’t know. He ... he sort of has a dark side. I haven’t figured it out