Chapter 7
Bee
Owen looked one more gust away from hurling.
Poor dude was not doing well.
Maybe I should go over and give him a little pat on the head so he didn’t pass out. Some people just weren’t cut out for heights. Every time I looked in his direction, his pallor grew a tinge more green. He was bundled up in all the layers he brought, but the exposed skin of his forehead was pale and speckled with sweat. He gripped the pole like it was the only thing keeping us from crashing into the side of the mountain.
I wasn’t thrilled about this turn of events myself. This wasn’t a part of the NYNB plan, and the second I could get myself back to the top of the mountain, I would. Benny Jr. didn’t scare me. Being constantly overlooked meant that people gossiped aplenty in the cat café, never noticing as I filled up their cups or straightened the menus to their left.
I wasn’t saying I would blackmail Benny, but I wouldn’t let him bully me either. I hadn’t broken a single law.
Except for probably trespassing.
Semantics.
Actually, I wasn’t clear on the laws, but I would bet money that Benny Jr. wasn’t either, and what he was up to was probably worse. I wasn’t stopping until I got back up that mountain, come hell or high water. I appreciated that Owen had a job to do, but so did I.
A massive wind blew the tram, whistling through the cracks as we rocked with gusto.
Owen made a soft, pained sound, but his face was emotionless when I looked at him again.
He was awfully pitiful. I couldn’t feel bad for him when I was on a life-changing mission. I didn’t even have any hand puppets to distract him with.
“That was a doozy,” I said.
He blinked at me, swallowing audibly.
“Look, the good news is, we’re almost to the halfway mark,” I said. “I’ve gone up and down the tram many times in my life. I have almost every peak and valley memorized. Once we go over the central tower, that’s halfway. It’s all downhill from there.”
“I’m fine,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Sure you are, big guy. You know what’s funny?”
He closed his eyes and mumbled something unintelligible but obviously disgruntled.
“All downhill from here. It can mean things are easier from here on out because now you can coast. But it can also mean things are only going to get worse. Let’s hope it’s the former,” I said helpfully, but his eyes squeezed tighter.
“An autoantonym or a contronym,” he said.
“Say what now?”
“That’s what that’s called. When one word or expression can have opposing meanings. A contronym,” he explained slowly as though choosing his words carefully.
“Cool. I had no idea that was a thing.” Could a person be a contronym? Because the more wild I acted, the more eccentric I dressed, the less I seemed to be noticed. I didn’t want to ponder this right now. Instead, I studied Owen carefully, an idea forming to help distract him.
“What’s another example?” I asked him.
He shuffled on his feet, but when he shot me a quick look, he had to have seen my sincerity.
Again, he chose his words slowly. “I think a common example is probably ‘bound.’ It means to be restrained but also to go forward.”
“That’s just a failure in the English language.”
“Oh or, uh, overlook,” he added with a little more pep.
“Because you can overlook something right in front of you?—”
“Or ‘overlook’ to watch over. Exactly.”
I wondered if he’d intentionally chosen that last example because of who I was or … it didn’t matter. I’d distracted him. Go me.
“Well, you taught me something new today. I appreciate that.” He held my gaze for a beat, and for a fraction of a second, I thought I might get to see his smile again. I pretended to look out the surrounding windows with almost no visibility. “Almost to halfway. Looks like it’s all downhill from here.”
He huffed out a shuddered half-laugh.
As if on cue, the tram rumbled as it went over the center support tower that marked the midway point. The ground was at the closest point for the trip, with a pretty ridge to the left. If it wasn’t nighttime and whiteout snow conditions, the emergency cabin, aka the Hookup Hut, would be visible where it was tucked not a half mile away into the trees. It was meant for hunters or hikers in an extreme emergency but was mostly known as a sexy-time spot for tram employees/ski instructors who kept it well stocked with booze and food (and probably condoms). Not that I had personal experience, but I was aware of these things.
“And as soon as we get over this bump, we are …” I started.
The Can came to a slow creaking crawl, then stopped so abruptly we both slipped sideways.
“Huh,” I said.
“What was that?” Owen asked, eyes wide and bouncing around the space.
“It appears we have stopped.”
“That’s not normal. Is that normal?”
“That is not typical .” I stood, went to the window, and tried to crane my neck to see the top of the tram where it dangled from the cable thingy. Not that I could see anything. Not that I knew what to look for, even if I could.
Silver lining: Being stuck at this point on the tower meant we were locked more firmly in place, so the swaying lessened. The bad news was we definitely weren’t supposed to be stuck here. I’d heard stories of this happening before. Probably more than any sort of federal regulation would allow. But that was Benny Jr. and his shoddy business practices for ya.
This was not the plan. This was getting further from the plan. Why did the universe smite me? Why, universe, why? All I wanted was to prove I wasn’t the dorky little wallflower this town made me out to be, and it wouldn’t even let me do that.
My anger instantly spilled up and out of me, needing a place to land like lightning from the sky onto the nearest tall pine.
I spun to Owen. “This is your fault!” It wasn’t really.
He still gripped the pole, but his head flinched back. “My fault?”
“Yes,” I snapped, working myself into a truly Bee Perkins tither—a bee in my bonnet, if you would—all my frustrations and worries came spewing out toward him. “This wouldn’t have happened if not for you! I wanted to stay up there, and you took me against the wall.” His face blanched, and I realized what I’d said. “I mean, you took me against my will ! I did not mean to say that other thing. Ignore that.” I frowned. That took me too close to embarrassment, so I yelled louder. “If we die of exposure, I’m suing you!”
His dazed expression cleared, making way for his own anger. “Yeah, go for it. If we die from exposure, I’m telling everyone that you were cutting your hair and possibly planning to be a professional flasher!” he roared back.
I snorted a laugh. Was that what he construed from my trench coat? What a funny guy. He wasn’t that far off.
“Like anybody would believe you. They wouldn’t even know who you were talking about.”
“You were breaking and entering!” He said it like I was the one missing the point.
“I broke nothing and was already entered. It’s not my fault that literally nobody ever sees me!” I threw my arms out to the side. “Azi was meant to close up and check to make sure everyone was down, wasn’t he? He looked right at me and didn’t even see me. How is that my fault? So, for once in the history of my sad life of always being overlooked, I played it to my advantage. So sue me.” More came pouring out than I meant, and a wave of itchy embarrassment followed. I wanted to do something ridiculous to distract him from my truths, but there was nowhere to hide, and again, still no hand puppets. “Don’t actually sue me,” I said softer, losing steam. “That would suck.”
I didn’t appreciate the pitying look that passed over Owen’s features. He let out a rush of breath before pushing up his winter hat to scratch at his scalp. “Let’s just take a breath and calm down. Okay?”
I dropped my chin to glare at him.
“We don’t even know the situation yet. Maybe it isn’t that bad. Maybe we’ll get moving here in a moment,” Owen said.
Poor, sweet, naive man.
“Yo, big guy?” The radio crackled through the thick material of his jacket.
Owen fumbled in his layers to grab the walkie-talkie. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“The tram stopped,” Azi said.
“Yes, we noticed that too.” Owen met my gaze as we shared a look of no, duh .
“I was afraid of this happening. This isn’t the first time the line has frozen. Benny Jr. was an idiot to send you up to begin with.”
All color drained from Owen’s face.
“Are either of you injured?” Azi asked.
Owen scanned me from head to toe as I shook my head. “No. We’re both okay,” he said.
“Just freezing,” I grumbled.
“That’s the good news. The bad news is, we can’t send anybody up right now,” Azi explained. “Whiteout conditions, my man. So long as you guys are okay with waiting it out, we can’t risk anybody else going out in this.”
I opened my mouth to argue that we were so not fine, but seeming to understand that Azi was about to get a verbal onslaught, Owen held up a gloved hand, finger up to preemptively stop me. I mimed biting it.
The side of his mouth twitched.
“Right,” he said to Azi.
“Sorry, man. It’s a crappy way to ring in the new year. But just hunker down, and as soon as it’s safe, we will send someone—” There was a brief silence after somebody shouted something to him in the background. “If not me, somebody.” Everybody was already celebrating the new year and wouldn’t be able to operate machinery—snowmobile or otherwise—for quite some time.
“Yep. Gotcha,” Owen said shortly.
“If things get too dicey up there, there’s the Hook—the emergency cabin less than a quarter mile away. If you can get down the tower, then you can wait it out there. It has a wood-burning oven, plenty of supplies, and food reserves we just restocked. But if it were me, I’d just hang out until this storm passes over. No sense in leaving the heat of the tram.”
“Yeah,” Owen said.
“Hunker down. We’ll de-ice the line as soon as possible. I’ll make sure someone is here if you need anything,” Azi said.
They wrapped up, and Owen put the radio away with a long sigh. “Well, I guess that’s that.”
“Eff that noise,” I said. With a growl of determination, I grabbed my food-laden bag, slung it over my shoulder, and then went to the doors.