Lochlainn Thorsson laid his axe aside for a moment as he once again wondered about his future. He knew that he'd been putting off making a decision about his life and that he needed to end this dithering soon. The harvest was almost finished and then he'd have to make some sort of a choice. He knew that he couldn't follow this crew to their next bid as it was an old growth job and he adamantly refused to work those contracts. Thorsson was willing to work as a lumberjack in any of the man-planted tree farms, but the old growth areas had a soul. He could feel it; he could almost hear it speaking to him.
He looked to the surrounding mountains and saw that they were still covered with virgin wood. These forests always made him think of his father and he knew that some day he'd need to search for the man and make his peace with his nature, but today was not that day. Today he had to finish his shift, and then he'd need to figure out which direction that he'd search next.
Maybe he'd head out toward Billings, but then again, the Great Falls area was nice too. And while he knew that he should stop this endless drifting and finally make some use of his degree, he just wasn't sure if he really wanted to do that yet. He was still looking for something... something elusive, something that he'd surely recognize when he saw it.
Lochlainn had spent five years in Missoula getting his degree, although in truth, he'd mostly remained there to play ball with his teammates, actually obtaining his degree had been a bit of a surprise. The fact that he'd graduated second in his class had been an even bigger shock to him. He'd even been offered the opportunity to speak at his class's graduation ceremony, but he'd quickly declined that trap. There was no way that he was going to stand up and speak in front of that many people.
He briefly considered returning to Missoula, because after all, he knew that he'd have no problems in obtaining employment there. He rejected the idea almost immediately though; he'd seen all that his college town contained, and whatever it was that he heard gently whispering to him, it wasn't coming from Missoula.
Then his foreman shouted, "Lucky! Your break is over; get your large ass back to work! We need to get this job done by nightfall."
Thorsson didn't reply; everyone in the crew knew that he never spoke much. Instead, he just picked up his axe and chainsaw and headed back to the job. It didn't bother him to be sent back to work; he wasn't tired anyway. Unlike the rest of his crew, he didn't really need breaks to get through the day, although his employers made him take them along with those who did. The big man knew that he would just continue to ponder his decision as he finished the job.
The day was long, and his crew worked until dusk, which came quite late this time of the year. As the crew worked, his supervisor never even glanced in Lochlainn's direction; there was no point in wasting his time. Every man on the crew knew that even on Lochlainn's slowest day, the huge red-head would produce twice the work of any other member of the team. He'd just methodically work anyone else into the ground.
When the long day finally ended, Lochlainn calmly walked to the rear of the line and waited to collect his pay. He was in no real hurry to get anywhere, unlike the rest of the men on the crew; he had no honey waiting at home. Nor did he have any interest in spending his evenings in one of the crowded and smoky bars. Though he liked to drink as much as the next man, he just wasn't crazy about suffering through the press of all of the people and their incessant jabbering. When the thought of the noisy jukeboxes and all of the drunken behavior from the patrons was added into the equation, he completely lost interest in going anywhere but home. Yes... he decided it was better to just head back to his van and go to bed. He'd spend the rest of the night looking up at the stars; he liked his peace and quiet, even if he had to admit that he was feeling more and more alone as the years went by.
His foreman barked, "Lucky," breaking Lochlainn out of his ruminations. "You are the last one; you do want your pay...right?"
Lochlainn slipped back to reality, aware that he'd been woolgathering again. "Umm, sure boss, and I need to turn in my gear. Today was my last day."
"Are you absolutely sure that I can't talk you out of quitting? You know that you are my best hand."
"Sorry boss, you know that I only work on the tree farms."
"Yeah, but some of this job will involve downing trees damaged by a wildfire. We'll have to clean all of that out before anything can be replanted. I could assign you to that and only that."
"I'm sorry boss. That would just free up the other men to do the old growth cutting, and I can't be a part of that."
"Lucky, I hate to lose you, even if you are some sort of a left-over hippy."
Lochlainn smiled at that; he was used to Erik's gentle teasing. He said nothing back to the man however; he just began stacking his company issued equipment into the back of his boss's truck. Then he stood waiting for Erik to come check that everything was returned and in good working order.
Erik looked at his best hand with amusement before he said, "There aint no way that I'm gonna come back there and check that. You take better care of your equipment than any man I've ever worked with. Besides, you are too honest for your own good; I am positive that everything is there, and it's probably in better condition that when you got it. Come on over here and get your money."
Lochlainn came back to the cab of Erik's truck and signed the pay sheet and collected his pay. As he pocketed the money, Erik reached out to him and the two men grasped biceps in the old warrior way.
"I'll miss you Lochlainn; you know that there will always be a job waiting here for you if you need it."
"Thanks boss."
"No, not boss anymore. Call me Erik, and good luck to you Lochlainn Thorsson. I have a feeling that you and I will meet again some day."
"Maybe." was all the big man said before he got into his battered old Econovan and drove slowly down the mountain. Erik just shook his head in amusement, and then finished his paperwork before heading home to his wife.
~~~~
A couple of weeks later, Lochlainn had landed in Kalispell Montana. He'd gotten a job tending bar in a local's place just off of the main drag that ran through town. He was pretty sure that he'd been hired as much to be a bouncer than he'd been hired as a bartender, for the place was too small to employ both at the same time. He hadn't had the opportunity to throw anyone out of the place yet, but as he was 6'10" and tipped the scales at over 350 lbs, he didn't get much guff from the drunks. There just were not that many people brave or stupid enough to try him.
Mike's Tavern was a rowdy, working-class kind of place, but Mike didn't let the jukebox get too loud and he insisted that all the smokers take their smoking outside to the tables that he had placed there. Lochlainn found that he didn't actually dislike working here, even though bars were usually not his thing. Besides, he told himself, it was probably only a temporary job anyway.
He'd been working here about a week now and he was pretty sure that if he were ever going to have any problems that they would likely happen tonight. Saturday nights were notorious for being rough and tumble in these small-town bars. Thus far though, it hadn't been bad at all. Indeed, business had been extremely slow and Lochlainn was beginning to wonder why.
Kalispell wasn't a big town at only 20,000 people or so, if you didn't count whatever tourists were in town before they headed up to Glacier National Park. There never was much to do in a small town so he wondered where the patrons were this evening and what they might be doing instead of drinking. The deserted bar was a mystery to him.
Currently, there were only two men in the tavern, the same old coots who had been at Mike's every night so far. Neither one of the men ever drank much, usually the two of them just sat back and watched whatever was going on around them, or when it was dead slow like now, they'd just sit at watch ESPN on the television set mounted high on the wall. Lochlainn knew that whatever Jimmy and Earl were spending tonight, it wasn't enough to pay his salary, much less keep the lights burning and the bills paid in full.
After an hour of near silence, Lochlainn finally decided to ask, "So...where is everyone tonight? It was busier than this on Monday.
