Midday Clouds - The Charlie Swan Story

Chapter 34 (New Moon 23)

Bells was clearly troubled by the absence of Jake over the following week. She got me to call up Harry to see if the Blacks were still even in town, and he assured me that Billy had been at the council meeting on Wednesday. I tried to tell her to relax, that Jake would surely call her when he was feeling ready, but she persisted. She even called me at work, the same day we got more reports of missing hikers.

"Chief Swan," I answered, as I always do when picking up the work phone.

"Dad, it's Bella."

"What's wrong?'" I asked, given that the majority of times I've gotten a call from or about Bella while at work, she was likely in the hospital.

"I'm worried about Jacob," she admitted.

"Why?"

"I think... I think something weird is going on down at the reservation. Jacob told me about some strange stuff happening with the other boys his age. Now he's acting the same way and I'm scared."

"What kind of stuff?" I asked.

"First he was scared, and then he was avoiding me, and now... I'm afraid he's part of that bizarre gang down there, Sam's gang. Sam Uley's gang."

"Sam Uley?" I repeated. I knew Sam Uley. But I didn't know anything about a gang.

"Yes."

"I think you've got it wrong, Bells. Sam Uley is a great kid. Well, he's a man now. A good son. You should hear Billy talk about him. He's really doing wonders with the youth on the reservation. He's the one who—" I broke off mid-sentence, realizing that I probably should steer clear of mentioning the night that Bells got lost in the woods. That was not a time that I wanted to remind her of.

"Dad, it's not like that. Jacob was scared of him."

"Did you talk to Billy about this?"

"Billy's not concerned."

"Well, Bella, then I'm sure it's okay. Jacob's a kid; he was probably just messing around. I'm sure he's fine. He can't spend every waking minute with you, after all." I felt for her, but I figured that if Jake wanted some distance then Bells could spend a bit more time with her other friends, like Jessica Stanley, or the Newton boy.

"This isn't about me," she said.

"I don't think you need to worry about this. Let Billy take care of Jacob."

"Charlie..." it always pained me when Bella called me anything but "Dad," but I guess after a childhood apart it was par for the course.

"Bells, I got a lot on my plate right now. Two tourists have gone missing off a trail outside crescent lake." I'd just gotten the report about an hour prior, and we were scrambling to put a team together to address it. "This wolf problem is getting out of hand."

"Are you sure that's what happened to them?" she asked.

"Afraid so, honey. There was—" I hesitated, but figured it would be best if knowing the seriousness of the situation would keep Bella out of the woods. "There were tracks again, and... some blood this time."

"Oh!" was all she said in response. Steve came in through the door in that moment, brandishing what looked to be the latest report from the rangers.

"Look, I really have to go. Don't worry about Jake, Bella. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Fine," she said curtly. And before I could say "I love you" she said "bye," and hung up the phone.

This kind of ending to a phone call was, actually, in the Raising Teenagers book, so I didn't take it too personally.

"What have we got?" I asked Steve as I placed the phone down.

"Some kids say they saw something by the river. Could be nothing, but they described them as 'huge furry shapes' so it might be our pack."

"Alright, you get a cruiser out there and keep the public away from the woods in that area, I'll let Smith know and we'll be there right on your heels."

"Sounds good," Steve said before sprinting back out the door as quickly as he'd come. It was the third reported sighting we'd gotten just that day, but the prior two had led to nothing. Whatever these things were, wolves, bears, or something else entirely, they were damn fast.

I knocked on the lounge-turned-Smith's headquarters' door before pushing it open. The man was sitting at the lunchtable, which he'd converted into a workstation.

"Yes?" was all he asked, not even looking up from his fancy laptop computer.

"We got another sighting. This one's by the river. Steve went to cordon it off, was wondering if you wanted to come take a look."

"I'm a little busy here," he said, finally looking over in my direction. "If you find anything interesting, you know how to reach me." I tried to get a look at his screen, wondering what it was that was more important than a ravenous pack of wolves that he had, apparently, been sent here to deal with, but he noticed and shut the laptop.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"Yeah that's all."

When I met back up with Steve with one of the troopers in tow, we found nothing more than a few tracks that looked like regular-sized bear prints.

"Are we sure those big prints weren't bear?" Steve asked for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"We've got pictures back at the station if you wanna keep one in your pocket. Yes, they weren't bear."

"Wolves just don't get that big," he said, for what also seemed like the thousandth time.

"Yeah, well, neither do bears. Neither does anything."

"Well shit. Sorry for hauling ya'll out here. Though it is kind of nice to know that there are still regular-sized animals around," said Steve.

"You got that right," I agreed. At least not everything had gone to the dogs around here. 

---

There's a new chapter lined up for every Friday at noon! Help support the man, the myth, the legend Charlie Swan by voting for all parts, sharing Midday Clouds with your friends, and tuning in for the latest chapters.