Upping the Ante – Chapter Twelve – emersli1

Reading Time:
7 Minutes

Eddie and Chris had dropped Buck at the airport at 7:30 in the morning for his 10:00 AM flight.

Jake was waiting to drive him home when he got in.  “I’ve got my shovels, but it doesn’t look like you brought a body back with you.  Everything get sorted then?”

Buck shook his head ruefully.  “You wouldn’t believe the past four days, man.  I’ve been busier than a dog with three tails, but I think we’ve come to a good place.  My sister is going into the hospital for a while.  Not for the whole ‘black eye/concussion’ thing.  Mental health stuff.”

“The guy that hit her, her boyfriend?  He’s a former coworker of mine.  He had an accident a few years back and they think that’s why his brain is deteriorating.   He actually came after me with a gun.”  Buck was sober, thinking about Chimney and the sad situation he was now in.  

He didn’t want his last memory of the man to be watching him cry in Eddie’s house.  But he didn’t think he could see the man again either.  So he was holding on to the hazy memory of Chim, offering himself to a bomber … begging to be allowed to treat the injured.  That was the man the way Buck wanted to remember him.  It was going to have to be enough.

Jake looked over at him in disbelief.  “Seriously?  I mean, who even sees that as an answer to their problems.  What did he think he was gonna say to your sister?  ‘Hey honey, love the new shoes.  Oh, by the way, I shot your brother last night.  Want me to grab Thai on my way home?’”

Buck laughed softly.  “Yeah, you missed the part about the mental deterioration.  Shards of rebar left behind in his brain have caused catastrophic damage.  The docs don’t give him long.  And I wish I could feel sorrier about that.  But he hurt my sister, and no one should have to live with their brain unraveling anyway.”

“Hey man, cut yourself some slack.  You have the right to be ambivalent about the guy.  I can’t even imagine someone coming after me with a weapon.”  Jake turned on the street with their duplex.  “I see by the walking boot that your doc decided it was go time.  You gonna be ok to get into some school type situations this week?  We’ve got some summer science camps lined up for you and Marsh to visit to ease you in, since school doesn’t start for another six weeks up here.”

“You bet!  I’m excited to get into that part of the job.  I love kids.”  Especially one adorable eight-year-old genius.

“Great.  We’re also on call this week, so if we get any dead animals our team is up.  You good with that?”  Jake wanted to make sure they didn’t need to swap with another team while Buck was in the boot.

“Nah, it’s all good. The boot is just for stability.  I’m not even needing to take Tylenol today.  I’ll be fine.”  Buck looked determinedly at his partner.

“No problem then.”  Parking his truck in their driveway, Jake turned off the engine and hopped out.  Buck did likewise, grabbing his bag from the backseat and heading towards his side of the building.

“Thanks for the pickup.  And for covering me, earlier.  I really appreciate it.”  Buck was ready to get home and prepare for the week to come.  

“You’re very welcome.  I’m glad your sister is safe, and the problem is resolved, though I’m sorry for your loss.  I’ll see you at the lab at 7:30 tomorrow.  Wear something you don’t mind getting dirty.  Don’t dress up too much.  Kids are grubby little mudballs at the best of times.”  Jake spoke with the long experience of being the oldest child.

“No kidding.  Chris is a great kid, but if there’s a piece of dirt in his vicinity, it’s going to wind up ground into his clothes.  I used to think ‘PigPen’ from Peanuts was a joke.  I have since learned better.  I’ll be ready.”  Buck waved to his workmate, and headed in.

Tomorrow began a new week, with new experiences and new challenges.

He couldn’t wait.

Buck was in Heaven.

He was surrounded by bright, curious kids who were interested in what he had to show them.  He was only missing one particular kid, but he hoped Chris was having fun back in LA.  He was between camps right now, enjoying a few quiet days.

Buck, meanwhile, was the one going to camp.

As a child, Buck had had the opportunity to visit many, many camps of various descriptions … mostly because his parents would happily pay money not to have to deal with him.  Some of those camps had been amazing.  Others not so much.

The camps Buck had visited this week seemed great.  He smiled to see Marsh getting mobbed by his group of campers, eager to see the ‘Animal Engineers’ presentation.  His fellow intern had prepared a program with pictures, videos, and information on everything from beavers to bowerbirds.

Buck himself had developed a presentation on the resurgence of Yellowstone once wolves were reintroduced.  His program wasn’t quite as snazzy as proclaimed techno-wizard Marsh’s was … but he made up for it with enthusiasm and personal stories of his time working in the area.

He had rehearsed over this week’s videocall with Christopher and gotten his seal of approval.  And the campers this week had seemed to agree.

Right now, he was fielding questions from a bunch of excited kids.

“Mr. Evan, does a keystone species have to be a predator?”

“Mr. Evan, what would happen if the wolves went away again?

“My dad says Yellowstone is going to explode and kill us all.  Is that true?”

“Mr. Evan, could we put dinosaurs in Yellowstone if we brought them back… like in Jurassic Park?”

Buck loved the enthusiasm and imagination of kids this age, though he thought nine was a little young for doomsday scenarios, so he was keeping an eye on that kid.

The day passed quickly, and by three o’clock when the camp closed for the day Buck was pleasantly tired and ready for an early dinner and some reading or TV.  Nothing could wear you out like a bunch of kids.  But Buck had had a blast this week.

He was heading back into Yreka when his work phone went off.

“Buckley.”

“Hey Evan, it’s Jake.  We just got a call of a dead deer.  If I send you the GPS coordinates, do you think you could meet me there?  You have your truck, right?”

“Yeah, sure.  I may not be the techno-wizard of the team, but I can definitely follow GPS.  And yeah, I’m in my truck.  I’ve got my field kit in the back, so I should be good.”

“Great.  I’ll see you there.”

Jake hung up, and a few seconds later Buck’s phone beeped with the coordinates.  He pulled off to the side of the road long enough to program the coordinates in, then set off.  

This was only his third dead animal call, but he was sure if he beat Jake, he knew what to do to get started.

Thirty minutes later he’d had to leave his truck in a small parking lot and start hiking.  His field kit was heavy, but not anything like a set of irons and apparatus, so Buck didn’t have any trouble as he moved through the underbrush, hunting for the reported animal.

Off to the right he saw fly activity, so he moved slightly in that direction, eventually coming to a small depression with a deer carcass lying in it.  Setting his field kit down, Buck unzipped it and began the procedures he’d been taught.

First, visually survey the carcass.  Is there an apparent cause of death?  Predation was always a possibility in this area, but Buck didn’t see any signs of bear or puma attack. And nothing else around here could take down a full-grown deer.

Next, check the mouth for indications of poison.  It was illegal, but some farmers and ranchers in the area left poison out for creatures they considered ‘nuisances’.  Gums looked good.  No foam around the mouth.  Buck felt down along the creature’s abdomen, not feeling any distension that would signal a poison reaction.

Hearing the sounds of his partner approaching, Buck looked over his shoulder to see Jake coming around the bend, carrying his own field kit.

“Anything yet?”

“Nope.  No signs of predation or poison.  I’m getting ready to check the limbs.”  Suiting action to words, Buck ran his hands over the legs, searching for any breaks.  He checked the feet for possible abscesses.

“Negative on that.”

Jake sighed unzipping his own kit.  “Field dissection it is then.”

Buck grabbed his own tools out of his kit and moved to the head of the animal.  As he did, he couldn’t help but notice unexpected fly activity.  You expected to see it around the head and rear.  Not the shoulder or chest.

Shooing the insects away, Buck studied the area.  Suddenly realizing what he was looking at, allowing for the damage done by scavengers.  Feeling around the wound whose blood had attracted the critters, Buck recognized the dimensions from another time and place.

He sat back on his heels and looked at Jake.

“This deer has been shot.”