The Challenge(44)
“He seemed okay to me,” Juliet said, looking out the window. She hated lying to her father, but she didn’t want Justin to get in trouble. He was like her big brother now.
“It’s a wonder you all came out of it as well as you did.” Then he looked at her. “Have you had nightmares about it?”
She shook her head. “I dreamed about it a couple of times, but not like real nightmares. The bear was really scary. She stood up on her back legs and roared at Justin. I thought she was going to kill him, but he scared her off, by getting up taller than she was and not acting scared. We were all shaking when she left.”
“Brown bears are nothing to mess with. We forget that these are dangerous animals and this is still wild country in places. Pitt says the camping trip in Yellowstone is pretty tame.”
“It sounds like fun, Dad,” she said, smiling, and he laughed.
“You and Peter better behave, or I’ll chain you to the steering wheel of my truck and take you home.”
“I know, Dad,” she said and rolled her eyes.
“I mean it,” he said more sternly, but they were both in a good mood and had had fun at the barbecue. He was relieved to hear that she thought Justin was okay. Kids usually knew the real story about their friends, so Juliet’s opinion carried weight with him. It never occurred to him that she was lying and thought she was doing Justin a favor.
Chapter 12
Two days after the Pollocks’ barbecue, the moment the Wylies had dreaded and been expecting for a year finally happened. Bob was sleeping with the ragged breathing that had become familiar to Marlene. He had seen the boys for a few minutes earlier in the day. He was too weak and exhausted to speak, but he had smiled at them and touched their hands, and then he had drifted off to sleep. Marlene was sitting beside him, and saw him take his last breath half an hour later. The nurse who was in the room with them felt for a pulse and shook her head gently at Marlene when there was none. Marlene sat with him alone for an hour, and gently kissed his cheek, and then left the room and they called the doctor. He came to examine him and signed the death certificate. The funeral home came to get him two hours later after the boys had seen him, and then they took him away. Noel sobbed in his mother’s arms when they took Bob, and Justin stood still and looked like he’d been hit by a bomb. The three of them sat in the kitchen afterwards and hugged each other. It was over, a year after it had started, and it had been the hardest journey they had ever been on. He had been a wonderful father and husband, and he was finally gone. He hadn’t wanted to leave them, and had put up a valiant fight. But it was one he couldn’t win. They had known that since the beginning, and he had held on for as long as he could.
Marlene called Anne and told her that night. “He’s gone,” was all she said when Anne answered, and she and Pattie went over half an hour later to sit with her and hold her hands. Justin and Noel were in their rooms, and Peter and Matt had come with their mothers. The four boys went for a walk, while their mothers talked in the kitchen.
Bob had made most of the arrangements himself months before, to make it easier for Marlene when it happened. He had always done everything hard for her. It had been his idea to come to Fishtail, to start a life of their own, away from their families, where they could lead life as they wanted. Bob had had a domineering father and an anxious mother, and Marlene’s parents had been meddlers who constantly interfered in their lives. They had loved being on their own after they left Denver and settled in Montana. Bob had chosen where they would live and opened their practice. Marlene had lived and worked in his shadow for eighteen years. It had been comfortable for her and he made her feel safe, but now he was gone. She had no idea what she would do without him. He made all of their decisions for nearly twenty years.
The funeral home already had everything they needed for the service, which would be in the Immanuel Lutheran Church.
Anne thought it was a good thing that the boys would be starting school soon—Noel for his first year of high school and Justin his last. Marlene had notified the church that afternoon, and the funeral would be in three days, with a rosary at the funeral home the night before. All of Fishtail would be there: their friends and clients, and the families of the children’s friends. Everybody in town knew them. Bob had chosen an attorney who was new in town to work in the law practice with Marlene, when Bob couldn’t work anymore. He was methodical and precise and had thought of everything. She had no idea who would do that now. He had told Justin to help her when he was gone, and Justin cried every time his father said it. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his dad.
He was bereft as he sat with his brother and Matt and Peter. Losing his father was worse than being lost on the mountain and faced by an angry bear ready to attack them. He had never been as frightened as he was at the prospect of going on without his father, and he knew that his mother expected him to take his father’s place now, but he had no idea what that meant. He just sat and stared into space, as his friends spoke softly and talked to Noel. Justin felt paralyzed by what had happened, and overwhelmed, but didn’t want to say it.
The two boys left with their mothers, and Noel went to his room to call Tim. Justin locked his door after they left, and rummaged in the bag in his closet where he kept his football cleats and shin guards. He found the small bottle of bourbon he had taken from his parents’ bar, opened it, and took a long drink. He felt better after he did, and lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling, wishing he had died on Granite Peak. Then he wouldn’t have to face what was expected of him now, which he didn’t understand. His father had said that he had to become a man on that day, when he died. Justin had no idea what a man was supposed to do. He felt like a lonely lost boy, and had never been so terrified in his life. He took another long drink from the bottle and put it away. He thought he should probably be with his mother, but he couldn’t get his legs to stand up and carry him down the stairs. He just lay there, crying for the father he had lost, the mother he couldn’t help, and his childhood, which had ended on that day with his father’s last breath.