Hawkins had made arrangements ahead to have space available at a privately-owned campground outside Soda Creek, British Columbia for the show's vehicles, as the drive necessitated a stop halfway from the Canadian border to the first show stop across the territorial line into the Yukon. This would be their only overnight rest before the show arrived, as from here on, they would simply stop individually to change drivers, sleeping in their vehicles until they reached Line Creek, where they would set up for the resident families and transient workers engaged there in building a highway through to the coast.
Hawkins was driving when they arrived, and after stopping for a back-slapping welcome from the campground's manager, a one-legged retired lumberjack named "Stump" Moran, he personally guided the vehicles into place for the night as they arrived. Sleeping arrangements were something her new employer had failed to really explain to Sarah, but she wasn't actually concerned, for Mr. Hawkins was obviously a harmless enough old eccentric, all wound up in his animals, busying himself like a leathery white-haired elf as he scurried from trailer to trailer and bedded everyone down for the night. Sarah offered her help, but Hawkins insisted that she remain in the camper. "Plenty of weak minds and strong backs for this kind of work," he had explained. When she suggested mat this might indeed be a perfect time for getting to know some of the others, Gloria particularly, as she was the only other woman along, Hawkins rebuffed her icily. It was strangely out of character for him, and Sarah was somewhat hurt when he "suggested" quite firmly that she find something to keep her occupied inside the trailer.
Sarah was surprised at this sudden chill, but she took it calmly enough; after all, this had been a long tiring day and anyone, even nice old Henry Hawkins, was entitled to be a bit frayed around the edges. She was there in the pickup camper alone when he returned over an hour later. Only by finding a distant American radio station on the camper's receiver had she managed to stave off the worrying restlessness of boredom, but she was quite relaxed and contented now when he came back, and the warm smile on the middle-aged man's face put her even more at ease.
"Sorry to have to leave you so long like this, Miss Olsen… oh, excuse me, Mrs. Olsen, I forget you're still really married," apologized the middle-aged graying man quite sheepishly. Sarah found herself embarrassed by his shyness, his self-effacing manner.
"Oh, don't give it another thought. I was quite happy, really. It's nice to be able to relax and enjoy the quiet of this beautiful countryside. And you ought to call me Sarah, then there wouldn't be any problem remembering that silly ol' Miss or Mrs.," said Sarah smiling in relief at being back in his good graces again. Hawkins smiled at her suggestion and nodded, then opened the camper's refrigerator and pulled out a cold beer.
"Want one?" he asked. "Nothing better'n beer to cut the dirt from a hard day's driving."
Sarah shook her head. "I know it sounds silly in this day and age, but I don't drink. Guess it was 'cause my pappa… stepfather, actually… drank so much and I grew up seeing the ugly side of liquor. Never really cared for it since I can remember."
The wrinkle-faced, sun-toughened old man grinned. "Yep, you're probably wise. Liquor never did anybody any real good, even the weak stuff like beer and wine. Still though, I guess I'm too old to change my evil ways now." Sarah's lips eased into a smile at the thought of nice ol' Mr. Hawkins being evil. Christ, after some of the people she had known – or the one she'd married – he was like a man of the cloth. "You don't mind if I have this beer, do ya'?" he asked.
"Of course not! I didn't mean for you to think I was some kind of do-gooder or something," she explained hurriedly, not wanting to risk offending her new boss. "I haven't got anything against drinking. I just don't like it for myself, that's all. Don't go getting any notions that I'm that kind of person!"
Hawkins slowly turned his head from side to side, his eyes never leaving her for a second. "That's good, Sarah. 'Cause life gets a little bit tarnished sometimes traveling around the country like this. You don't have to become hardened to it, though, just be able to bend enough when the times comes, and you'll do nicely… really nicely."
Sarah felt an unexpected chill run through her veins… that quickening that tells you something isn't quite the way it should be. But that was outrageous, everything was better than it had been for her in years! She quickly shrugged it off and made herself another cup of coffee and sat down opposite Hawkins at the fold-down dining table opposite the galley-style kitchen. He reached up and turned on the gas mantle of the built-in lamp that hung on the wall beside them and held a paper match to the mantle until it burst into flame and settled into a white-hot glow that illuminated the cabin like an electric light bulb.
They sat there in silence for an uncomfortably long time, Sarah curious and restless from the excitement of this new life unfolding for her so quickly, Hawkins quiet and pensive, his mind somewhere else as he gazed out the curtained window through the trees to the opposite clearing where his crew was busily making preparations for settling down for the night. There were voices carrying through the fifty yards or so that separated them from the others, mixed with the muffled sounds of stirring animals caged in their trailers as the trainer and Sammy moved from cage to cage, dispensing the night's ration of food and water, plus an occasional dose of vitamins or veterinary prescription to one or the other mildly ailing beasts.
"Uh, I guess you're sort of used to all this traveling by now… I mean, you've been to all these places before so many times probably," she said, feebly making some kind of conversation.
Hawkins looked as if he had been very far away. "What? Oh, yes, you're absolutely right. But I never get tired of it all. This is the kind of life I was born for, and I don't ever aim to change. I guess I'll die one day up here on the road somewhere. Won't be nobody around to mourn over me 'cept Lobo."
"Lobo? That means wolf, doesn't it?"
"Not only means it, he is a wolf."
"You've got a wolf? I didn't see him with the other animals." Hawkins shook his head. "No, I don't keep him down in California. He stays up here with 'Stump' during the winter, and I just take him with me when I come through. He's out by those trees there. Take a look, I think you can probably still see him."
Sarah peered out the fogged-over window, first wiping a spot clear with her fist. "Oh, you weren't teasing! There he is… and he's not tied or anything!"
"Tied! Lobo? He wouldn't stand for it. 'Sides I've raised him ever since he was a pup. One of our trucks accidentally killed his mother and I took him in. Had to feed him just like a natural baby for months. He and I are pretty good pals now, like I was his real pappa or something."
Sarah started to giggle at the thought of Mr. Hawkins fathering a timber wolf, but the look of misty-eyed seriousness on the old man's face cut her short. By God, he was serious, all right! That mean-looking animal out there running around loose was like a son to him! Well, anybody his age was due a few eccentricities, she supposed. If that was all she had to contend with, it wouldn't be hard at all. "When do I start work, Mr. Hawkins? I mean, when do I really start to do something? It's nice and all just sitting around, but I get sort of bored. You know what I mean?" she asked, her soft blue eyes twinkling.
A slowly spreading grin worked its way through the sun-parched wrinkles around Hawkins' face. "Don't worry, honey. We'll have plenty for you to do soon enough. Hey, you sure you don't want a drink? I know one special I bet you'd like."
"Well, maybe just one. But I can't drink anything real strong. You'll have to make it kinda' weak for me or I'll get sick."
Henry Hawkins guffawed, reminding Sarah of some grizzled miner she'd once seen in an old Bogart movie, but she couldn't remember the name. "You break me up, girl! You're kinda' refreshing, like a breath of spring air around this bunch of drunks and dee-gen-erates. Don't worry, I'll fix you a special…"