Bay of Souls Read Online Free Page A

and in their direction, then returned to her drinking. Finally, they came to a point beyond the tree line and looked at one another.
    The target of choice would be the big buck. If they were after meat, the does, even the youngest, were legal game. The buck was splashing his way to the edge of deep water. In a moment all four of the deer tensed in place, ears up. A doe bent her foreleg, ready to spring. There was no more time. Everyone raised his weapon. Michael, without a scope, found himself sighting the shoulder of the buck. It was a beautiful animal. Magical in the fading light. Things change, he thought. Everything changes. His finger was on the trigger. When the other men fired, he did not. He had no clear idea why. Maybe the experience of having a man in his sights that day.
    The buck raised his head and took a step forward. His forelegs buckled, and he shifted his hindquarters so that somehow his hind legs might take up the weight being surrendered by his weakening body. Michael watched the creature's dying. It was always hard to watch their legs give way. You could feel it in your own. The pain and vertigo.
    "If he falls in that stream," Norman said, "he'll float halfway to Sioux City."
    But the animal staggered briefly toward the bank and toppled sidewise into the shallows. The does vanished without a sound.
    "Did you take a shot?" Norman asked Michael. Michael shook his head.
    Examining the kill, they found two shotgun wounds close to the animal's heart.
    "Guess we both got him," Norman said.
    "He's yours," said Alvin Mahoney. "You shot first."
    Norman laughed. "No, man. We'll have the butcher divide him. Three ways."
    Michael helped drag the dead deer by its antlers out of the water.
    "Anybody want to mount that rack?" Norman asked. "I don't think my wife would live with it," Michael told him.
    "I wouldn't care to myself," Norman said. "Anyway, it's not trophy size."
    They were only a short distance from the canoe, but it was dark by the time they had hauled the deer aboard. Paddling upriver, they came to the place where Michael had dropped his flashlight overboard. The beam was still soldiering on, illuminating the bottom of the stream.
    They secured the buck to the hood of the Jeep and set out for the state highway. This time they did not stop at the Hunter's Supper Club but drove all the way to Ehrlich's to get the deer tagged. When they had finished the forms for Fish and Game, they went into the restaurant and sat down to dinner. Mahoney was the designated driver and abstained from drink. He would, Michael thought, make up for it at home. He and Norman had Scotch, but it was not nearly as good as the Willoughby's. Then they ordered a pitcher of beer.
    The menu featured wurst, schnitzel, potato pancakes, noodles and dumplings. There were deer heads and antlers with brass plaques on the dark wood walls and scrolled mottos in gothic script. A polka was on the jukebox and the place was filled with hunters. At Ehrlich's many of the hunters had family members along. There were women and children, even babies. Happy couples danced. The entire place rejoiced in an atmosphere of good-hearted revelry.
    "Boy, is this place ever different from the Hunter's," Michael said. "It's not just the food."
    "Know why?" Norman asked.
    "Different people," said Michael.
    "Different folks," Norman said. "This is Prevost County. They're Germans here. They're peace-loving. Orderly. You gotta love 'em."
    "Do you?"
    "Sure. Whereas the Hunter's is in the fucking swamp. Harrison County. Irish, Scotch-Irish, French Canadian. They're poor and surly. They're over at the Hunter's getting nasty drunk and selling one another wolf tickets. While here,
hier ist fröhlich.
"
    He spread his arms and with a cold, false smile enacted a parody of gemütlichkeit.
    "Maybe we belong over there," Alvin Mahoney said.
    Michael and Norman looked at each other and laughed.
    Norman raised his beer glass. "Here's looking at you, Alvin," he said.
    Alvin laughed.