Page 1 of Sheltered By the Surly Forester

1

JOSH

Walking up the steps to City Hall, I carefully arrange my expression into the vaguely more pleasant mask I try to wear in public.

It's strange: I love my town, but dislike town functions. Still, I need to be seen at these things. Especially since it's one of the rare occasions when so many of my cousins come out.

I thread my way through the gathering crowd and fix myself a coffee from the table set up in the corner, nodding to a few people as they come in. Everyone knows that unless I have something to say, I prefer to keep to myself.

Three rough men walk in, looking even more uncomfortable than me. Another Wolfe pack. My cousins Emerick, Knox, and Thane are true mountain man loners. My Uncle Henry lives…well, about as far out as you can go while still being considered a part of this town. And then his three sons built houses near him, so we don't see any of them here in town very often.

They head straight for the coffee as well and we give each other quick nods, then settle against the wall. After a few sips of the strong brew supplied by Corina's Cafe, Knox gives Thane a not-so-subtle kick. I hear him mutter, "Of course the uppity onesare here. Hope someone is taking enough photos for their media presence or whatever."

Thane and Emerick snort quietly as the four of us glance over at our uncle Conrad's sons. Yeah, they're family…but they've become rich pretty boys. Three of them are in expensive suits, for fuck’s sake. The other two are wearing jeans and button-down shirts, but I guarantee that they cost more than I spend on groceries in a month.

Whatever. Their company hit the billion-dollar mark a few years back, so their lives have changed quite a bit. So long as they remember where they came from, I guess they can play the part of rich playboys all they like.

We all have a part to play in the giant Wolfe empire we've been born into.Ugh.

I look around the room; it feels like more than the Wolfes and the VFFT are here. Maybe a bunch of townspeople simply saw the crowd and followed everyone inside.

Emerick turns to me. "What's this about, anyway?"

I nod to where Dad is stepping to the front of the room. "Finally going to be more transparent about the VFFT."

"Ah." He nods, sipping his coffee with all the enthusiasm of someone waiting for a bus.

The Volunteer Firefighters of the triangle formed by Old Hemlock Valley, Cedarville, and West Stoneburg has been financed by our family since its inception. My grandfather Spencer was always big on anonymity, but he's starting to pass along more responsibilities to his son Carver, my father, and I guess Dad feels differently about that.

Most of the cousins have shown up, at Dad's request. It's weird to see so many branches of our family tree gathered together outside of the biggest holidays. Yet this is a command performance, so to speak, and we're expected to be social.

Not my strong suit.

Everyone falls silent as Dad clears his throat. "Hello. Thank you for coming. I'm Carver Wolfe." He nods to Granddad in the corner. "I'm sure you all know my father Spencer, who has heartlessly bullied me into taking over things like this."

Everyone laughs as Granddad shoots him a good-natured glare.

"The VFFT has technically been run by 'anonymous donors'"…he pauses while we all laugh again…"before the organization even had a name. I'm sure it's no secret that the first iteration of the volunteer fire department was started by my grandfather Adler. But it was my mother Clara who really pushed for it to spread to the neighboring towns."

He pauses again. "Between you and me, there's a story that she had a kitchen fire that scared the heck out of her, and she wanted to make sure that didn't happen to anyone else."

As Carver continues droning on about the history of the organization, my mind wanders. I'm restless. It's been getting much worse over the past few months, and today I can barely hold it together to pay any kind of attention.

As the town's forester, I'm always working on defending against something: fires, invasive moths, overgrown trails. To this end I work with the VFFT several times a year, planning lines of defense in case of forest fires. Could that be why I'm antsy? Because these days I see several of the firefighters snuggling their new girlfriends, and it feels like a hole is opening in the center of my chest.

I'mlonely, dammit. It's been eating at me like tree rot for the past few years. My quiet cousins don't seem to mind being alone, but I do. Now that the thought has been freed from its prison, this deep craving for this dream woman I haven't found yet has become stronger and stronger.

Maybe I'll have to start making excuses to visit the surrounding towns more often, in the hopes of meetingsomeone. Even one date this decade might brighten this grumpy mood before it permanently fuses to my personality.

I'm only half listening as Dad continues, "...to examine the entire department to make sure things are as modern and efficient as possible. We appreciate that this will require some extra time from all the volunteer firefighters and are therefore tripling the honorariums to make up for the inconvenience and loss of work hours. We greatly appreciate all that you do to keep our corner of Wolfe Mountain safe.”

There's a huge round of applause, then some people descend on Carver to ask technical questions as the rest of the crowd drifts back to the refreshment table.

I finish my coffee, then make a slow lap of the room, nodding to as many people as possible. Now everyone will remember I was here without me actually having to engage in conversation, thank God.

On the way out the door I nod to James, the town's lone police officer, as he balances a coffee in one hand and three stacked cookies in the other. We've known each other forever, and he gets that I've never liked crowds.

Driving home to the edge of town, I'm just wondering which of the ten boring things I always have I should make for dinner when my phone rings. It's James.

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