Chapter 1

Saturday, May 1^st, 2023

Marcia looked at the scenery around her brother’s truck as he turned into the driveway of the farm house. Directly to the south of the farm was the Matanuska River, a river they had followed almost since they passed the glacier that fed it, seventy or so miles to the northeast.

She could see a mountain beyond it, the river that seemed to be all by itself. Looking at the map she had been tracking their progress on, it said the mountain was called Pioneer Peak. Like the river, it was rather majestic, standing almost all alone.

They hadn’t entered Palmer yet, but she supposed they would go to town later.

She glanced at her four-year-old nephew sitting in between her brother, Chet, and herself. He was staring out the windows, totally captivated by what he saw. Marcia assumed that he would be drawing what he saw later in the day. He did that often. He didn’t speak much, but his ‘words’ were in art. Somehow he would convey how he felt through what he put down on paper. He had a well worn set of colored pencils from using them constantly.

About a year ago, Mage, her sister-in-law, walked into her three-year-old son’s room one day to find him decorating his walls with all ninety-six colors in his box of Crayolas. But it wasn’t in the scribble that she would have expected from a child his age. He was drawing grass, trees, mountains, clouds, and a massive brown bear. The picture looked familiar, and without saying anything, she walked out and into the living room. Sitting on the coffee table, was a magazine opened to a photo from Denali National Park, exactly like the one he was drawing.

She picked up the magazine, tapped her husband, Chet’s shoulder, and motioned for him to follow her. Their ten-year-old daughter Allie saw them head to her brother’s room and followed.

What they saw, comparing the picture to Sammy’s artwork was stunning. They were exactly the same; only the one Sammy was making was mural size! He’d moved his chair over to the wall, and was standing on it as he put details on the top of the giant mountain. Mage glanced at the photo, then froze. The details were there too. Even to the shape of the cloud that almost constantly hovered around the summits.

She pointed out each detail to her husband and daughter as Sammy put each of them in. There was no frustration that their child was drawing on his wall. It was a beautiful mural! And he was doing it all from memory.

When his grandparents, aunts and uncles saw the picture, they couldn’t believe it.

Judge Matthews and his wife, Sylvia, were also shown. They were the biological grandparents of Allie, and they had taken on Sammy as an extra set of grandparents as well. In truth, they had unofficially become another couple in the family.

Judge Matthews’ mouth dropped open when he saw the mural. “He did this from memory, you say?” he asked Mage.

“Chet, Allie, and I were standing in the doorway, holding the magazine while he did it. I watched him put in every detail from the photo.”

But it hadn’t stopped there. He got off his chair, and saw his family and smiled at them. He studied each one for a moment, then he drew the family, including himself, not far from the bear, holding hands, and extremely happy. In truth, the family was probably too close to the bear for reality, but he couldn't be faulted for that. Each of them looked as real as the rest of the picture.

Somehow, he managed to convey the love he felt for his family in that little addition of them into the mural, and Mage knew that she was just as happy as the version of her in the picture.

Now, as Marcia looked at the little boy, she knew that he was memorizing each detail as he saw it, and would be churning out pictures of what he saw, before the day was over.

-=#=-

A man, somewhere between forty and sixty years old, walked out of the house when he heard the vehicles pull up. Behind the truck, which was pulling a trailer, was an EcoSport with Mage in the driver’s seat. Beside her in the passenger seat sat her and Chet’s daughter, Allie.

Allie was the reason Chet and Mage now owned the farm. It had been owned by Allie’s biological mother, and transferred to Allie’s grandparents when she was killed in a car accident.

Allie’s grandfather, Bill Matthews, was a judge in Fairbanks, and his wife, Sylvia, was the bailiff in his court. Bill was the only judge who presided over adoption cases in the city, and had been very impressed by Chet and Mage when they adopted Sammy. They talked to the young couple about adopting their granddaughter as well, to which the young couple gladly agreed.

As an extra set of grandparents to the two young Chatham children, the judge and his wife suddenly had a growing family that welcomed them with open arms. They were happy to spend time with them as well.

Behind the EcoSport, another vehicle pulled up. It was a green ‘73 Mustang, absolutely piled high with boxes in the passenger seat and the back seat. It was riding somewhat low because of the weight, and the decision had been to put only light things in the trunk.

As soon as Darryl, the owner and driver of the Mustang, got out of the car, Marcia, his girlfriend, almost flew into his arms, placing a huge kiss on his lips.

After they separated, he smiled at her. “I love the hi, but we did just see each other a hundred miles back.”

“Yes,” Marcia said smiling back. “And I’ve been without you for two and a quarter hours.”

“And what do you do all night?” he asked.

“Dream about you,” she told him.

The man walked up to Chet and shook his hand, then turned to Darryl and Marcia. They were sharing another kiss, and he shook his head, chuckling.

“Hey kids!” Chet hollered. “Get a room!” He paused for a moment, then said, “On second thought, don’t.”

“I was gonna say…” Mage said as she walked up beside her husband.

“Yeah, I know,” Chet said in a fake chagrined manner. He turned back to the farmhouse man and indicated his sister. “Bruce, this is my sister Marcia, and Mage’s brother, Darryl.”

Turning to the younger couple, he told them, “Guys, this is Bruce Huff. He’s the manager of the farm.”

The two shook hands with the man, then Chet leaned close to Bruce, and in a stage whisper said, “Don’t tell them that I told you this… They don’t want anyone to know. Marcia and Darryl are promised to each other. They’ve been dating each other for four years now.”

“Really!?” Bruce said, sounding honestly surprised. “I would never have been able to tell if you hadn’t confided in me.” He gave Chet a wink, then they turned to give everyone the grand tour of the farm.

They went into the barn and found that there were several horses inside.

“Wow!” Marcia exclaimed. “I’d love to learn to ride!”

Suddenly, there was a squeal, and a hurricane rushed by Marcia to a chestnut horse a couple of stalls down. The hurricane climbed the gate and threw her arms around the horse, who nuzzled the little girl.

“I’ve missed you, Elmo!” Allie exclaimed as she hugged the horse’s neck tightly.

“I’m assuming that’s Allie’s horse,” Darryl said as his niece tried to explain that she didn’t have any treats for Elmo, but promised that she’d bring him some as soon as she could.”

“Good assumption, lover boy,” Bruce said.

Darryl glanced at him, and realized that Bruce was only teasing him. There wasn’t any maliciousness on his face at all. It was hard to miss the fact that Darryl and Marcia hadn’t let go of each other’s hands since they met up after the trip.

“I have to ask. Why’d you ride in separate cars?” Bruce queried.

“Sammy can be a handful on a long trip,” Marcia told him. “I rode with Chet and Sammy to keep Sammy amused.”

“That makes sense, I suppose,” Bruce said nodding.

He pointed out a few more things, then took them out to the gardens. There were several patches with vegetables starting to grow. They hadn’t reached the giant sizes that they would achieve later on, but space had been given for that eventuality.

Looking over the gardens, Darryl summed it up. “There’s a lot of work here for the summer.”

At the northeastern edge of the farm was a spread of fireweed that seemed to go on forever. “The farm goes on that way for another mile,” Bruce explained. “I was thinking of opening that parcel up for growing the hay that the horses eat, or at least some of it. But then, Lisa left. I didn’t have any wish to do that afterwards.”

Chet nodded. When they visited here the first time two years ago, Lisa was still present, but about a month after the visit, she packed up and left one day when Bruce was working. The explanation for her disappearance was hard to take. She and a farm worker had fallen for each other, and they packed up that day and left.

Bruce came in from his work, expecting to see his wife, but instead, found an empty house, empty closets, and an empty life.

There was a note on the bed, explaining why Lisa left, and it hurt the man deeply. He had always thought that they had a wonderful relationship, but it was shown to be false.

On their next trip down, which was in the fall of that year, Mage saw that Bruce looked almost ten years older. He was two years younger than her mom, who was 55, but he looked like he was in his sixties now.

He had tried to find Lisa, but no one could tell him anything. Her family was gone, and his hadn’t heard anything from her.

He worked as manager for a couple more years, but he was tired. Mage noticed that he looked much thinner than he had when they saw him in the fall of last year.

The group headed back to the house, and they walked inside. It was a spacious home, that had been built decades ago while the state was being parceled out in homesteads.

In 1962, nearly 1300 acres had been awarded to the homesteader, and the massive house was built in the ‘70s. There were three bedrooms downstairs and three upstairs. The kitchen was very large, as was the living area.

The full scope of the size was now apparent, as much had been removed to make way for the furniture that Chet and Mage would bring with them.

Bruce explained that he had an RV outside that he'd be using for the remainder of his time there while he showed everybody the ropes.

Chet and Mage, of course, took the master bedroom. Darryl got one of the downstairs rooms, while the other three took over the upstairs.

The remaining room downstairs would be used as a guest room, as it was quite often that one of the three sets of grandparents would want to visit.

When Sammy saw the walls in his room he was thrilled with the fresh white paint waiting to be colored, and before anything was unpacked, he pulled out a pencil and started preparations for what he would color. Marcia was in his room helping him unpack and tried getting his attention.

“Where do you want this, Sammy?”

There was no response from the little boy as he was sketching out Pioneer Peak.

Marcia knelt down beside him and asked, “Can you help me set up your room?”

“Wanna draw,” he said.

“I know, honey, but we need to put your things away.”

There was no response, until Marcia told him, “You can draw after dinner.”

He looked at her and asked, “You promise?”

“As long as we can get things finished before dinner, sure.”

He put down his pencil on the floor and hurried over to grab clothes from the box sitting beside his dresser.

It was the same one he'd had in his room in North Pole, and Marcia was careful to set up the room in the same layout he'd had there. Darryl helped her to move the furniture to the locations necessary then went to work on his own room.

-=#=-

Downstairs, Mage and Chet finished getting their furniture into place, and then Chet grinned, and told his wife what he planned. She smiled and said she’d get dinner ready while he did it.

She put their clothes away first, however, giving him time to get a lot done. She surveyed their room and saw that all that was left was a few decorations and some personal items. That could wait until after dinner, so she went into the kitchen and started in on something light. A few minutes later, a very tired Marcia came in.

“Hi,” Mage said. “How’d Sammy do?”

“Well,” the seventeen-year-old said. “He saw the clean white walls and immediately wanted to draw. I got him to help by promising he could draw after dinner. I hope that’s okay.”

Mage smiled. “That’s fine as long as his room’s set up.”

Marcia grinned at her. “I figured things would be easier if I gave him a goal, so that’s exactly what I said.”

“How’s your room?”

“I was too tired even to look at it. I came straight down after Sammy and I finished.”

“I see. Is Sammy drawing?”

Marcia giggled a bit. “He started picking up his pencil and I reminded him ‘after dinner.’ He came downstairs with me, but he had to ‘go potty.’”

While she was talking, Chet entered the kitchen and gave Mage a surreptitious thumbs up and a wink, behind Marcia’s back. Mage pulled a couple of trays of pizzas out of the oven and put a couple more in, and called out, “Dinner!”

Darryl came in and stared at the pizzas, which his brother-in-law was slicing. “Where’s mine?” he asked, straight-faced.

-=#=-

After she’d eaten, Marcia wearily climbed the stairs. She was happy to have helped her nephew, but now she had to deal with her own room. She sighed as she opened the door, then stepped in and looked around in wonder. Everything was done! She had a walk-in closet which she opened, and saw all her clothes removed from their boxes and hung. There were shelves where her shoes were tidily put away, and in her private bathroom, things were put away.

There was a note on her beautifully-made bed and she sat down and picked it up.

“Thanks for helping Sammy, Sis. We really appreciate all you do for the kids. I couldn’t ask for a better sister.

Darryl and I set up your room. I hope everything’s where you want it. If not, let us know and we’ll fix it.

Chet

PS. I didn’t mess with your private things. Darryl put them away.”

Marcia was overwhelmed at the thoughtfulness of her brother and boyfriend. She kicked off her shoes, lay down on her bed and tears of gratitude started to flow. A few minutes later, she was asleep.