THE CABIN©

by Richard A. Falb

It was one of those mysteries that grow up in a remote woods area. An unsolved mystery, as far as the people in this area are concerned. It is the kind that people make all kinds of stories about. None of which would ever really come close to the real story, but it will never be told. No person in their right mind would believe it.

Building this cabin, in this remote area, had been his dream for years. A dream that began when he was a very young man. It began with a canoe trip into the Wilderness area with a group of friends. He fell in love with the beauty and solitude of the area. Since that time, he had a dream of a cabin in the woods by a lake. It had been put on hold to build a successful career in business and gain the where-with-all so he could realize that dream. Now it had become a desire to get as far away from others as he could be.

Rather early in his marriage, John Gordon's wife left him for another. It had been a rather acrimonial parting. Luckily, they had no children. On the surface, he seemed to have taken that blow relatively philosophically. Down inside he had seethed for quite some time. He had never seriously considered remarrying. That experience had left him embittered.

He invested wisely over the years. Recently he had become embroiled in a bitter battle with some people within the company he had helped found. When his company offered him a buyout at fifty, he took it. He wanted to get away from this corporate jungle. He felt he could trust no one. Especially some very close friends, who had actually tried to maneuver him out of control of the company. He had made them pay dearly for that. It left a very bitter taste in his mouth.

He bought this property deep in the woods, far from any neighbors. Over several years, he built the cabin of his dreams. He wanted to shut out the rest of the world as much as he could. It was now finished, stocked and furnished. It could only be reached by miles and miles of very rough roads, or by floatplane.

It was in the spring, when he sold his house in the city and moved into the cabin. At last he felt he was free from what he termed those backbiting jackals. He was just fifty-three. He had kept himself in very good physical condition. He had always been a hunter and fisherman. He had built up the necessary knowledge and a plethora of good equipment. He was no stranger to the forests and the lakes.

Fishing and hunting were good. He honed his skills so he could provide for himself off the land as much as possible. He was finding he really enjoyed this life in the woods. He had gathered a lot of information on food that could be found in the woods and the lakes. He also learned how to best prepare and cook them.

He began to explore more and more of the woods around the cabin. At first, he tried to keep in sight of the lake, while exploring. He knew he had only himself to count on. He was not taking any stupid chances. It was, after all, a little traveled wilderness area.

During the first month, he was able to become more and more familiar with the woods surrounding the cabin. He marked trails, so he would always know in which direction the cabin lay. He knew if he got lost in the woods, he might not be found until weeks or months later. By then it would be too late. His only contact with the outside was an occasional trip into the nearest town or a visit by floatplane, which brought him occasional supplies. In winter he would have to count almost entirely on a plane equipped with skis. By his utility vehicle, even in good weather, it took him a full day to get to town. He was considering getting a snowmobile in fall.

On one of these exploring trips, he came upon a small clearing in the woods. He was startled to see a young woman, sitting on a low branch watching him. He did not know that anyone lived anywhere near him. Then he noticed her clothing was very strange. Her outfit was all green. It was a type of outfit he had never seen before. She wore trousers that were tight fitting on her legs. Her shoes looked almost like slippers. They were pointed and turned up in front. Her jacket was also green. The whole outfit was in a material he couldn't identify. On her head, she wore a type of pointed cap, in green.

Then he was startled to notice her ears looked somewhat pointed. She looked like a picture he saw a long time ago in a book about ancient legends. She looked, he realized, like the sketch of an elf he had seen in that book. He began to wonder if the solitude of the forest was getting to him. Was he really seeing this creature.

He was startled, by getting a message loud and clear, although her lips did not move.

"You don't believe in me do you?"

"No I don't," he replied. "You look like a sketch I saw of an elf, but elves do not exist, or so we are told."

She smiled at him, "I do not understand your language, only your thoughts," she sent the message to him. "Why don't you believe in me? You see me with your eyes. Come touch my hand and you will see I do exist."

"I'm not sure I can trust my eyes," he replied to her. He walked slowly and hesitantly toward her, then held out his hand. He still wasn't prepared to believe what he was seeing. She reached out and touched his fingers. They were the fingers of a person, and yet. He really did not believe his eyes. He knew in his mind there was no such thing as an elf.

"I mean you no harm," She sent the message to him with a smile. "You moved into our area. I wanted to know who you were. We are not used to having humans living in our area. They occasionally come but they do not stay."

"Who are you?" he asked, then smiled, realizing he was using a vocal language she did not understand.

"Your thought came through very clear. I am a Woodland Elf. We live nearby. You cannot see us unless, like me, we want you to see us," the Elven maiden communicated. Then she smiled at him, "You see we really do exist. We have found it best we keep to areas where there are few, if any humans. We make sure we keep out of sight. I am disobeying the rules."

"Can you speak?" he asked her, this time remembering to frame his question in his thought.

"Yes, I can speak," she told him, "but you would not understand my spoken language anymore than I understand your spoken language. Thoughts, however, are a universal language."

"But I have never communicated by thoughts before." He framed the thought in his mind, still not understanding how they were able to do it.

"That is because you never really tried before. You never had to and you had no one with whom to try. We have been doing this for a long, long time." Her thought came back to him. She had answered with a smile. It was a very friendly smile he noted.

He had now gotten over the shock of meeting her and seeing her very strange clothing. He noticed she was very pretty and was relatively tall. She was almost as tall as he was. She smiled at him as she dropped from her perch on the branch.

She landed very lightly, straightened her trousers, then looked at him, "You finally noticed that I am a woman."

He smiled back at her, "I finally realized you are a very pretty woman," his thought returned to her. He was finding he was reacting differently to her than he usually had reacted to women.

She smiled her thanks for the compliment.

"Come," she communicated as she held out her hand, "I will show you the woods. I cannot get lost and I mean you no harm. I will make sure you get back to your cabin."

He hesitated for only a minute, then he held out his hand and took hers. He didn't know why, but he trusted her. He hadn't trusted a woman for years. She moved, lithely, quietly and surely. He followed, realizing she could easily outdistance him, if she wanted. She could probably lose him where nobody would find him. He couldn't understand why that wasn't worrying him. Why he didn't worry that she might want to get rid of him. Get him lost where he wouldn't be found until it was too late.

She took him through the woods telling him many things about the woods he was not aware of, and would probably have never seen. It was obvious, she was at home in these woods. She really was a woodland creature. Some legends said, that is what Elves were. His mind still would not believe that he was seeing an Elf. They spent several hours walking in the woods, then she brought him out into the clearing by his cabin.

He had no idea where she had taken him or how she arrived back here. He knew she had knowledge of the woods that even the best woodsman didn't have.

"Would you like to see my cabin?" he questioned in his thoughts. He found he was now getting used to communicating with his thoughts, not vocally. For some reason he didn't doubt or question this new found ability.

"Yes," she replied to him. "I want see how you live in something like this," indicating his cabin. "That is part of the reason I appeared to you. I have watched you as you explored the woods. I decided I could trust you."

It was strange hearing her say that she decided she could trust him. She was the one who was in her element here in the forest. He brought her inside. He found himself trying to explain what everything was and what use it had for him. She seemed to understand practically everything. She sat on the chairs, looked curiously at his utensils and felt how soft his bed was. She did it so naturally, he found he couldn't put the spin on what she was doing like what he might with another woman. He offered her something to eat, but she politely declined.

"For this time," she communicated with a pleasant smile. As they went outside, and it was obvious she was about to leave, he found himself asking,

"Will I see you again?"

"If you wish," she answered. "In five days, we can meet at the place where you first saw me." She smiled at him, then turned and moved quickly off into the forest.

Once she was gone, he pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He was wide-awake, he found. He really couldn't believe what he had just seen and experienced. There were no woodland people like elves. He always believed this. Now he had seen one himself. Or had he. At least he thought he had. He was totally confused. He was a highly intelligent man, so he should reject the thought of there being Elves. But he couldn't, he was finding. He had not acted towards her like he would have acted toward any other woman. She was not like any other woman.

During the days until he was to meet her again, he tried to carry on as he normally would. In the back of his mind, however, was always the vision of this Elven maiden, and a wonder if this could really be true. Could it be, being out here alone, his imagination had worked over time? He would see in a few days. He wasn't sure how he really felt about seeing this Elven maiden again. But he found he wanted to see her again. He was beginning to want to believe that there were Elves.

It dawned bright and sunny, the day he was supposed to meet the Elven maiden again. He had not slept very well the night before. He was tense and excited. He hurried along the path toward the clearing. He reached it, only to find it empty. He found himself deeply disappointed. Maybe he was too early.

Then a thought impinged upon his mind, "I am here, turn to your right." He turned and saw her smiling at him standing next to a tall tree. He had been looking for her to be in her regular place.

"You were teasing me," he accused her, but he smiled when he said that. She smiled pleasantly back at him. Her smile portrayed nothing but that she was apparently pleased to see him.

Then he asked, "Could you teach me your language so we could talk?"

After a moments pause, her thought came back,

"My language is very complicated, for it is very old. It would be easier for you to teach me your language."

"It would take us a long time if we can only meet for a short time every five days or so," he communicated to her. He was surprised how quickly he said that. She looked at him intently, as if considering her next thought.

"I have decided we could meet every other day, each morning, if you would like," her thought came back. "You can start the lessons today."

He found he was happy that she had agreed to do that. He found he wanted to keep meeting her. He was happy it would be more often and for a full morning. The next hours he began to vocalize the words for many things around them. He brought her back to the cabin and he began to write things down and verbalize them. She proved a very apt student.

Over the weeks, they continued these lessons. They seemed to be making very good headway. As the weeks went on, he realized he was falling in love with this Elven maiden. This was impossible. The thought crossed his mind that he really should stop seeing her. He had no idea where this could possibly go. She could not become like him. He didn't think he could become like her. He found he did not want to stop seeing her.

He dared not touch her except to take her by the hand occasionally. He only did this to lead her to something he wanted to name and teach her how it worked. He dared not take her in his arms, like he found himself wanting to do. He also dared not communicate how he was beginning to feel toward her. He was afraid she would just disappear.

When he went into town to get additional provisions, and when the floatplane came, he dared not tell anyone about her. They would think the solitude was causing him to crack up. Maybe he was. Maybe he was imagining all this. He knew he was not. She was as real as anyone he met in town when he occasionally went in for supplies. No, he was not cracking up. This pretty Elven maiden was real. She was stealing his heart.

He found himself happy to just have her close, to talk to her, to walk through the woods with her. They were beginning to be able to communicate in his language. Then she finally started to try to teach him her language. It was slow going but soon he began to learn how to speak a little in her language. This went on all summer.

She began to spend more and more time with him and do more and more things with him. However, she never took him into the woods to show him where she lived. He considered asking her about that, but always hesitated. He decided he must wait until she made the offer. She never indicated any desire to move in with him, although she was spending all of the day with him now. She even occasionally allowed him to put his arm around her and she put her arm around him. Still he did not dare to put both his arms around her and kiss her. He found he wanted to do that very badly. He did not dare. She might disappear. He found he dreaded the thought of that.

One day she brought him a cap like hers. They both laughed at the sight of him when he put it on. He put it away with some clothes he had in a drawer under his bed. He didn't want to lose it. If someone else happened to come upon his cabin, he didn't want to try to explain its presence.

Late that fall, when the floatplane came, the pilot found no one in the cabin. He thought John was out in the woods and had forgotten the plane was coming that day. The pilot did report this when he returned to town. He then forgot about it.

When John did not show up for his periodic trip into town for supplies, that fact was reported to the sheriff. The sheriff noted that, but as John had opted to stay way out there by himself, he figured John knew what he was doing.

When nothing was heard from John for another two weeks, the sheriff and others, began to get worried. They decided to send a party in to see if everything was okay. They found the cabin empty. When they began to look more closely, it looked like no one had been there for several weeks. That set off an alarm in their minds. They began to search the area. They could find no evidence of John Gordon. He seemed to have disappeared without any trace.

After a week of searching, they finally had to give up. The weather had become stormy and heavy snow fell. One of the searchers, looking for clues as to where John might have gone, found the green hat. He put it on the table, and left it there when they quit searching for the night.

A day or so later that searcher remembered what he had found and was telling some of the others about the strange hat. When they looked for it, the hat was gone. No one else saw it, nor could they find any trace of it. John Gordon became a missing person's statistic in the sheriff's files. There was no evidence of robbery. No one had seen a stranger or strangers in the area. They could find no evidence of foul play. In fact, they could find no evidence of anything. John Gordon had just dropped off the face of the earth.

The next spring, a friend came to get John's personal belongings from the cabin. He left all the furniture and utensils. He thought, maybe sometime he might come up to the cabin. John, in a light-hearted moment had said he was going to will the cabin to this friend. The friend had found he had really done this. John had no known relatives and actually very few friends.

While he was packing up, he happened to look out the window. At the edge of the clearing, he thought he saw a man and woman dressed in strange green clothing, standing looking at the cabin. He hurried out to try to talk to them. If they were from around here, they might have some ideas as to what happened to John. By the time he got out of the cabin, they were gone. He had no idea where they went. He was not about to try to see if he could find them in the woods.

At first he had thought of asking in the town if anyone knew of a couple that dressed in strange green clothing. He decided not to say anything to anyone else about seeing this couple. They would probably think he had been seeing things. He reluctantly closed up the cabin and returned to the city.

One day, a few summers later, the friend decided to drive up to the cabin to see how it was faring. He had kind of forgotten about it. When he reached the cabin, he found it looked well kept, but it was just as he had left it. Then he saw a strange green cap on one of the pegs by the door. Later, for some reason he didn't remember, he looked under the bed. Underneath there was two pair of green slipper like shoes. He thought, of the two people he had seen, after John had disappeared. For some reason, he was afraid to take that thought any further. The friend closed up the cabin, headed back for town and then for the city. He still could not bring himself to tell anyone else of what he thought he had seen. He decided to not plan on using the cabin himself. He would visit it a couple times a year to let the people in the town know it was not abandoned. He had a strange feeling, perhaps that couple in green, were occasionally using it. He decided he would leave it for them. He found, however, he no longer had any desire to meet them. He did not think they had any desire to meet him. That is if they really did exist.

THE END