Page 85 of Homecoming

Digby looks at Kat as they both search for any place that the man might have come from.

“This is my land. Do you hear me? My land. You’re not having it!” His tone grows more defiant. It’s been a while since he engaged in a conversation with anyone and the words choke in the back of his dried-up throat.

As the man hoists himself up, Kat shoulders the gun and, holding it tightly, she checks the barrel. “Just one cartridge in the second chamber.”

“Hey…” Digby questions, “what do you mean,this is your land? This land doesn’t belong to anyone—and if anythin’, it’s wolf land.”

“This is my land. I own it. Your people gave it to me. It was part of the pact. This part of the mountain is mine.” He fishes inside his tatty clothes and there, strapped to his chest, is a gold tube on a leather buckled belt. From inside it, he unfurls what looks like an almost pristine piece of aged brown paper. “This says so. It says it belongs to me.”

Digby snatches the impressive document with a gold wax seal in the top corner and studies it. “This doesn’t say jack shit. Well, nothin’ I can fuckin’ read, that’s for sure. This could say any damn thing.” Digby stares at a jumbled mix of words he doesn’t recognize. Only the first two words in their bold gold color at the top of the document have any semblance of meaning and Digby now directs the paper at Kat. “What the hell do you think that says?”

“I suppose…” she studiously looks at the words, “it might say land deed or… maybe title deed? I don’t really know, not for sure.”

“Well, how do we know for sure it’s not a fake?”

“Seriously?” Kat stares at him and frowns. “Oh c’mon, does he really look like he can fake documents? For God’s sake, he lives here on a mountain—for like… forever, by the looks of him. You really think he goes around faking documents?”

“I guess not, but…”

“I do. I do live here. This is mine and my shelter is back there.” He directs them through a hardly seen path into the denser part of the forest.

“Alright, then show us,” Digby snarls. “If you live here, go ahead and show us, but you get up slowly and if you go anywhere near her, I promise I will tear you apart.”

Digby watches as the long silver-haired stranger staggers unaided to his feet. He smells of tobacco, stale urine, and years of forest dirt. It’s an ancient rotting smell that aggravates Digby’s nostrils and makes him feel sick. He covers his nose with his hand and groans. “Fuck man, youreallystink. Do you ever think to take a bath?”

“A bath?”

“Yeah, bathe—in water—to clean yourself. No, obviously not a thing for you,” he sighs. The three of them trample the much steeper part of the mountain, scrabbling through small bushes and trees. Not too far from the path, they come across a hidden wooden hut buried in the undergrowth around what looks like the mouth of a cave tunneled into the side of the mountain. The wooden shack is made from mismatched planks of wood and branches. It’s small but sturdy and the patches of corrugated tin that line the roof are camouflaged with green moss, splatted bird droppings, and embedded feathers. It helps the abode blend with the surroundings. There’s a smell of embers and smoke that lingers in the air, the scent of which tastes like pine cones and tree sap. A small pit of fire surrounded by large rocks has a cast iron cooking pan hanging over it, which is bubbling and boiling with the pungent scent of unknown meat stew. Other pots and cooking utensils are stacked in a pile, along with a diverse range of vintage and new camping equipment.

“Do you live up here all alone?” Digby questions the man. He’s old but ferociously strong and his deeply tanned skin is layered with grimy dirt, just like his clothes.

“Most of my born living years… yes.”

“So, where did you come from?” Kat hitches a brow and tightens her grip on the rifle as she notices a good-sized box on the ground next to several tin trunks, which she can see are filled with not only shotgun cartridges but a glinting mixture of silver bullets.

The man is nervously cagey as he stares at the pair—Kat pointing his gun in his direction. “I know what you are,” his eyes widen.

“Yeah, you said that already,” Digby growls. “And what are you gonna do about it?” He stands menacingly closer but as he confronts the man, the stinking smell again overwhelms him, and he immediately has to step back. “What in the hell are you? Cuz with all that stink surrounding you, I can’t tell.”

Kat continues to focus her green eyes on him. “You’re a ranger, aren’t you? You’re just like Noah—your mother was a wolf, but your father was a man and you can’t shift.”

“You know of rangers? Do they still exist? Are the others still out here?”

“Yeah, I know a ranger. He lives—lived—on the other side of the valley, on the mountain you can see beyond it.”

“Is he still fulfilling his vocation—still protecting his land?”

“He was, but for now, he’s staying with us at the commune. You do know you don’t own this land, you’re only here to protect it.”

“I know what I have to do. But it is not true to say I don’t own it because this paper says it is my land. This… this here, it is my land. I have papers to prove it.”

“Yeah, yeah, this bullshit piece of paper I have in my hand.” Digby growls as the man gesture to the document and he reluctantly hands it back. “I know, we saw it already.”

“No wait… Give it to me first.” Kat reaches out and Digby hands it across to her. She continues to study the unfathomable writing covering the parchment paper. “It looks like it’s written in a foreign writing and if it’s genuine, then I certainly don’t know what language it is.”

“Well, don’t ask me, cuz I have no idea. You’re the reading and writin’ nerd.” Digby smiles as Kat hands him the gun. “But this gun… Oh, yeah baby, I know all about them. I’m kind of expert on guns, and this… this is a beautiful classic. She is so sweet and sexy… Oh I gotta get me one of these babies.”

Digby and the man stare intently at each other, waiting as Kat takes her phone from the waterproof pocket strapped around her arm and takes several photographs of the parchment document.

---