“My extravagance,” Annie stated. “Took me over a year to build it. My husband thought it was totally useless and refused to bathe here. But I made it into my place.”
Doc walked around the room, noticing the carvings made into the wood. They were meticulously done, displaying forest scenes from rough and rugged country. There were snowcapped mountains and dogsleds, small cabins and lonely campfires. He ran his fingers along the edges, amazed at the detail and obsession with the same.
“My tribute to the stories by Jack London,” Annie stated. “Got a lot of wall space left to me, but during the winters, when trading’s down and there’s not much to occupy my attention here, I work on it.”
“Dear lady,” Doc said, meaning what he was saying, “this is truly fabulous.”
“My husband considered this a waste of time, as well.” She stood in the center of the room, her arms around herself, almost looking embarrassed. “Outside of Max and Jubal, less than a handful of people have seen this room.”
“Then I shall indeed consider myself fortunate.” Doc turned to her. “If you’ll show me where the buckets are, I shall endeavor to draw a bath for us.”
“It’ll be easier than you think. I constructed a cistern on the roof to hold water. Over a hundred gallons, all of it warmed by the sun. I use a hand pump up there to keep the cistern filled. That way I don’t have to waste a lot of time heating the water. Winters, of course, I have to lay in a fire to bring it up to a more reasonable temperature.”
She walked to one of the walls and opened up a section, revealing a length of coiled hose inside. After pulling the hose out and laying the end in the tub, she opened a faucet. The tub filled rapidly.
Doc watched the water swirl into the tub with fascination. “A remarkable achievement.”
“I put down roots here,” Annie said, “and I meant for my life to have some pleasantries. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
Doc shook his head. “Indeed not. Cleanliness is next to godliness, I have always heard.”
“Don’t know about godliness,” the woman replied. “Haven’t seen much of that except for a wandering Bible thumper every now and again. Didn’t have much use for them, but some did have nice stories to tell. Wars and killings and such like that. I’ve always enjoyed the story of Moses, but I never could figure out why God cut David so much slack.”
Reaching into the tub, Doc found the water to be quite warm. It was also already nearly a foot deep and showing no signs of slowing.
“Temperature okay?” Annie asked.
“It’s fine.”
“Good, ’cause we don’t want any shrinkage, do we?”
Doc turned to the woman and grinned, even more amused to see the red flush creeping into her features. She broke eye contact with him self-consciously.
“Sorry about that,” she said. “Mebbe joking wasn’t exactly called for.”
“Laughter is the very essence of life,” Doc argued, drawing his hand from the water. In the large room, with the sound of running water in his ears, he was even more aware of her sexuality. Part of him felt torn, knowing he should be back with Ryan and the others, planning on their departure. But he was drawn to the wild, restless woman before him, attracted by the hard exterior she exuded, and by the mixture of the parts that made her up. “We could never have too much of that.”
“Not much left in the world these days.”
“It only makes you enjoy it the more,” Doc replied.
“You have a strange way of looking at things. Not like any man I’ve encountered before.”
“Then I will tell you I am flattered,” Doc told her.
“Your friend Ryan Cawdor,” she said, “men like him I’ve known all my life. He’s rough and hard, used to getting what he wants, wanting not much more than to survive with no thoughts of any too far-off tomorrow, and willing to die to see himself free and able to do the things he wants.”
Doc nodded agreeably. “I think that is an entirely fair summation of him. And I will tell you now that it has been those qualities that have kept our little group alive during some mean circumstances.”