A God in Ruins - Leon Uris [90]
Rita and the children waited across the bridge as Quinn pumped himself up and turned on the ignition. “Not too fast over the bridge,” he warned himself, “no slip-slides into the creek.” He applied the gas, released the brakes. The iron monster clawed its way over. The bridge did not give so much as a wobble.
Cheers!
Relief. They reloaded the Sno-Cat, and it purred a half mile uphill to Dan’s Shanty, the cabin in the sky.
It was anything but a shanty. The roof covering the living room and two sleeping lofts was a dome made of Plexiglas, and when filtering clouds gave way, one could see great pieces of the universe.
Lest we forget, Semper Fi, the essence of German shepherd, had already made the run to the cabin and greeted them. Man, he had a lot of guarding to do this night.
As Christmas approached, there had been rising apprehension that their long dream of seeing the new century in together at Dan’s Shanty might not happen. Senator Quinn and Rita were heavily in demand around the state. Grandmother Siobhan was confined to a wheelchair from a hip-replacement operation. She was in Denver and slated to be wheeled into a half dozen celebrations.
Snow covered the giant bubble, but as the fireplace and the heat of the cabin rose, it melted and slowly opened up the heavens to them.
Quinn mixed a weak concoction of champagne for the kids and a stiffer one for Rita and himself. At an altitude of twelve and a half thousand feet one did not need too much alcohol to get its message.
While the kids made up sleeping quarters, Quinn engaged in his second most favorite sport, watching his wife move. The years had been delicious to her, and she adored cavorting for him. She glided in concert with herself, with her breasts always a bit loose and her hips swaying like a Mexican village maiden at the water well.
He had watched her thus for twenty years, and for twenty years she had known it. Their mutual redemption from her affair with Carlos had given them an incredible strength.
Rita capped her kitchen duties by brushing past Quinn while bearing groceries and treating him to her devastating toss of the hair.
Life had been attacked as a new gift each morning. Although the need to find his origins never went away, it dulled because of their family success.
The years had given them peace and rewards. Through enormous love and plenty of hard work, their long-held dream had come true.
Dan’s Shanty was up to snuff, warm and filled with the aromas of a high mountain beans and meat meal. Semper Fi lowered his nose under his master’s champagne glass and gave it a quick flip, then backed off as though he were going to be beaten to death. Quinn pounced on him, and they wrestled till overcome by the smells and sounds of sizzling steak.
“Is this great or what!”
After the meal was devoured, it was still a few hours to the new century.
“I know by the gleam in your eye, Duncan…” Mother said on cue.
“I’ve got the springs cooled down to a hundred and four,” Duncan answered.
Well, she really only had to run twenty feet, but it was zero outside and this would be Semper Fi’s big moment.
Attired in string bikinis, the women ran screaming from the cabin to the springs.
“Hero! I’m a hero!”
“I am the bravest!”
“Jesus!”
Quinn served wine in paper cups as Duncan threw the ball for the dog. As each confirmed this was really the grandest thing in the world, they watched in awe and silence to let the comets put on their acts.
“And now!” said Quinn, “we separate the men from the boys and the people from the people.” He leapt from the springs, rolled in the snow, and returned to the steaming water as Semper Fi’s whiskers turned white with frozen moisture. Rita demanded respect from her children, who dragged her out into the snow, and she howled and Duncan howled when Rae tackled him and Rae howled when Rita plopped a load of snow on her back and all the coyotes in Troublesome Mesa howled.
Thank God, Semper Fi was there to protect them.
Duncan would soon be heading