Tags:
Historical,
Family,
Wisconsin,
lumberjack,
boy,
Survive,
14,
northwoods,
white pine,
river rat,
caroline akervik,
sawmill accident,
white pine forest
a load that a crew was piling high with logs. Another teamster
worked a pair of logging horses to cross-haul logs up the skid
poles and onto the load using a single chain. They were working on
a third row of logs and the bottom two rows of logs had already
been secured with the chain wrappers. Fabien Roget worked as the
top loader, using his peavey to adjust the logs as they came
up.
It all happened right before my eyes. First
thing, the sled they were loading sorta eased a little sideways. I
saw Sammy shift a little and then Bob snorted. I watched Fabien
raise his arms up, as if balancing himself. Next, I heard the
scraping of the runners slipping on the iced trail, a trail that
had no straw on it.
Mr. Walker shouted as the sled began a
sideways slide down the slope. “Haw!” he yelled at his team. “Haw,
boys! Haw!”
“Holy smokes!” I watched in horror as it
appeared that whole log-filled load was about to spill right over.
A couple of fellas jumped out of the way. The other team of horses
jumped around.
“Haw! Get on boys!”
Urged on by Mr. Walker, Bob and Sammy fought
the shifting weight of the sled.
In the commotion, I’d lost sight of Roget.
But now, I saw him. Somehow, he’d gotten down off the load and
around in front of that slowly slipping sled. He stood there where
that whole load could come right down on him. With his peavey, he
hooked a log from that third row, tugged it down, and thrust one
end down onto the frozen ground. Then, he tugged a few more down,
bracing the load. With the weight lightened and those logs bracing
against the sideways slide, the sled stopped. It was canted
sideways and Bob and Sammy were off the trail hip deep in snow and
jittery, but all right. Mr. Walker spoke softly, calming them
down.
“Merde !” Exploded into the silence.
“ Merde! ” Roget continued on in French, gesturing with his
hands at the ground, shouting at everyone and no one in
particular.“ Paille ,” he said. “Where is the straw?”
“There’s no straw on this hill,” Walker
observed.
Cy chose that moment to toss his head, and
bells tinkled merrily through the woods. Roget, Walker, and all of
the other men on that crew looked right over at me.
That’s when it hit me and my heart sank into
the giant gaping hole that opened in my stomach. This was one of
the small logging trails that I hadn’t gotten around to putting
straw on the night before, and I hadn’t remembered to warn Mr.
Walker that morning.
Chapter Seven
~ Punishment ~
The Push sent for me after supper. He was
waiting for me at Dob O’Dwyer’s office. Roget and Mr. Lynch were
there, too. I had never been so scared in my life. Was I gonna get
fired? Was Mr. Lynch gonna wup me for putting his team in danger?
Or was Roget gonna kill me and get the whole business done
with?
Mr. Daly spoke first, “Sevy, there could have
been a serious accident today.”
I nodded.
“Men and horses could have been hurt or
killed because you weren’t responsible. You understand that,
boy?”
I nodded again, swallowing the enormous lump
in my throat. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. I
noticed I was looking down at the floor. I made myself look up
again ‘cause my Pa always said to look a man in the eye, even when
you’ve done wrong.
“I... I’m real sorry, Mr. Lynch. I meant to
tell Mr. Walker that I didn’t get straw on those last couple
trails. I was so tired.”
Moving like greased lightning, Roget grabbed
me by the front of my shirt. “You think that being sorry is
enough?” He let go of me and I fell back. He waved his hands about,
real worked up. “You think now that everything is all right? I told
you before, Joe, this is no place for a school boy.”
“Let’s be clear, Fabien, no one got hurt,”
the Push stated.
Roget spat on the floor in disgust. “The
Northwoods is no place for a boy.” Shaking his head, he went over
to the mantle and leaned up against it, staring down into
David LaRochelle
Walter Wangerin Jr.
James Axler
Yann Martel
Ian Irvine
Cory Putman Oakes
Ted Krever
Marcus Johnson
T.A. Foster
Lee Goldberg