Riches and No Fame

 

            The night after the harrowing of Gary and Jim, Ralph and Hector slept rough again, old style, around the fire, which tended to always be burning. In Forest Men’s historical terms, a fire was actually a luxury. They didn’t need it, but they sure liked it.
            Blue, the wolf cub, liked to sleep outside, so she left Cherry with Ramona and slept by the fire too. Wolves crave cold.
            “Hi, Blue,” Ralph said when he woke. He noogied her between the ears and sat up thoughtfully. He was thinking about those two rifles up on the high shelf in the cave with Ramona and Cherry, not to mention the cats. He wanted to be rid of them as quickly as possible. A frown creased his normally unfurrowed brow for only a moment.
            It was a little early for Ramona to be up and about. Fall days were really getting short too.
            “Hector,” said Ralph. “How about we go see Ranger Rick. I want to take him those rifles. Those guys can’t go to the law, or come around looking for them because they were breaking their own laws. By the time I explain the situation, Rick will know to be on the lookout for poachers anyhow.”
            Hector’s eyes opened. He looked a little startled to see where he was, but he remembered and smiled.
            “Those two, Ralph! Like a couple of bad badgers with guns and beer!” grinned Hector, sitting up cross legged like Ralph. “I guess I’ll find out who Ranger Rick is.”
            Ralph got up, all 9 expansive feet of him, and stretched. He put enough fuel on the fire to keep it going for a while. Then he went into the cave to see Ramona and get the rifles.
            “Mona, Hector and I are going to go see Rick. I want to leave these things with him. If he doesn’t want them he can sell them or something. I think we’ll take Blue along, since Cherry is still sleeping.”
            “OK, Baby,” said Ramona from her snuggly nest in the big quilt.
            “Twigg, keep an eye on things for a while, OK?” he said to his son who also woke.
            “I will,” said Twigg agreeably.
            Outside again, after quietly closing the clever green door, Ralph grabbed the bag of beer cans that Gary and Jim had dumped in the forest. He had the rifles in his right hand and the bag in his left.
            “You want to come along, Blue?” he asked the wolf girl, and she agreed that she would like to come along.
            “With luck, Hector, Rick will be making coffee or having his trainee do it, and he might even have something interesting to eat!” said Ralph.
            Secretly, Ralph was hopeful that showing up with Hector wouldn’t make Dexter faint again.
            The path over to the Ranger Station is maybe a couple of blocks in length, not far, but far enough. When they got to the dumpster at the edge of the parking lot, Ralph got rid of the bag of cans. He was pleased to see that Rick’s National Forest truck was parked nearby. He touched the hood. It was warm, so he hadn’t been there a long time.
            Ralph knocked on the office door, opened it, and stuck his head in, while ducking enough to get through.
            “Rick! Are you in here? I need to talk to you!” said Ralph.
            “Good timing, Ralph,” said Rick from the kitchen nook, “I’m just making coffee.”
            “Make a lot, I brought company!” said Ralph.
            Ralph and Hector came in all the way and Rick peeked out of the nook. His eyebrows went up, when he saw Hector and Blue, and he went back into the kitchen.
            Ralph took his big chair and Hector sat on the regular chair, hoping that it would survive his weight. Ralph laid the two rifles on Rick’s desk and they waited for a few minutes. Blue sat by Ralph’s feet very politely.
            “Dexter isn’t here yet,” Rick called from the kitchen area. “I hope he doesn’t miss this!”
            Rick came out with a tray with three cups of steaming coffee a couple of minutes later. He also had a big bakery box of doughnuts, mixed variety flavors. He put the tray down on the desk and took a silent second or two to look at the rifles.
            “OK, Ralph. What’s the story?” said Rick, while passing out cups of coffee and removing the lid from the box of doughnuts. Fortunately, Rick had purchased two dozen doughnuts!
            “Well, in a nutshell, Rick, we discovered two poachers drinking beer and shooting out across the river yesterday. Also, in the same nutshell, Hector here, my cousin by the way, say hi to Rick Hector. Hector here was riding his moose, Hugo, harmlessly through the forest and one of these critters wounded Hugo, who is up in the meadow recovering.
            “Hector and I felt that it was our duty to discourage those two. They have names, but only first names, Gary and Jim, if that helps. We discouraged them so well that they dropped their weapons in their eagerness to escape! They also left beer cans, which are in your dumpster," said Ralph.
            “I’ll just bet you discouraged them,” said Rick, smiling at the picture in his mind.
            “Yeah, I did the old horrible smell thing. Hector showered them with orbs, and then I did the old boulders coming to get you thing. We weren’t visible of course. I bet they think the forest is haunted,” giggled Ralph.
            “So. These are poacher’s rifles, eh?” said Ranger Rick, more seriously.
            “Yeah, we don’t want them,” said Ralph. “I thought maybe you would, or you could sell them or something.” All three of them enjoyed that idea for a moment.
            At that very instant, trainee Dexter popped in the door. He didn’t scream or faint, but he looked pretty surprised.
            “Hey, Dexter, we have company. You’ll have to go get another chair out of the back room,” said Rick, by way of steadying his trainee. “You know Ralph, of course. Hector here is his cousin, and the wolf is a wolf, I guess. Does she have a name, Ralph?”
            “Her name is Blue,” said Ralph. “I should have said.”
            “Good morning, Ralph and Hector and Blue,” said Dexter. “I’ve never gotten to meet a wolf close up! May I pet her?"

            "Of course, she's friendly," said Ralph.
            Then they had to tell Dexter the story of the two poachers and how there came to be two rifles on Rick’s desk.             Dexter also thought the two had gotten what they deserved, but it was too bad they couldn’t really turn them in since they had escaped safely.
            Dexter was actually a very nice young man, just a tad flighty, but he would be OK. He handled the sudden meeting with Hector and Blue in addition to Ralph pretty well.
            Between the four of them, and Blue, they ate all 24 doughnuts and drank two pots of coffee.
            “You know, Ralph, the National Forest owes you a reward. But, I can’t admit you are here to reward,” said Rick. “I would like to personally thank you, and even reward you with something, if there was something that would make sense to you around here.”
            “The doughnuts were pretty good, Rick. I can’t think of anything that I need. I pretty much have everything a guy could want out there in the Home Clearing,” said Ralph. “It was just fun for us.”
            “Would Ramona like anything I have around here?” said Rick hopefully.
            “Well, she really likes lighters. It makes making all those fires a lot easier,” admitted Ralph.
            “Done!” said Rick. “I have a package of new ones. I make fires, and smoke some too.”
            Rick went back into his storage area and came back with the package of new lighters, but also a nice shovel, and a small bow saw.
            “While I was back there I saw this shovel and saw and wondered if you could use them,” said Rick.
            “Maybe so, Rick! Maybe so!” said Ralph. “But don’t you need them?”
            “Oh, I can get more. No problem,” said Rick. “I don’t guess I’ll put those rifles in the lost and found. I’ll check around and see if anybody I know wants one of them, I’ll keep the better one.
            “I hope Hugo recovers from his wound soon, too,” said Rick to Hector. “I didn’t know anyone rode moose!”
            “Mostly they don’t,” said Hector, “But Hugo and I have been friends since he was little, so it works out OK.”
            “Thanks for the doughnuts and coffee,” said Ralph. “We better go see what Ramona is making for breakfast now!” He was patting his tummy thoughtfully.
            “You guys are welcome, come on over any time,” said Rick.
            So, Ralph, carrying the shovel and the saw, and Hector and Blue slipped out of the office door and vanished down the path to the Home Clearing. Ralph was already thinking about experimenting with his new tools, and he was a bit hungry.

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