“It’s not just about Chad anymore.”
“It is.”
“Jack, it’s not.”
“Believe what you want. I’m going back in the house. If you want something to drink or to visit, feel free to follow me inside, but this conversation right here is officially over.” He turned to walk away.
“Jack, stop.”
He paused and turned back towards the man.
“What?”
“I told you a while ago that this day would come when you’d be so overwhelmed, so overcome, you’d have no other choice than to believe in what you cannot see.”
“Who told you that? Those words? Who told you to say, ‘Believe in what I cannot see?’ I only told Kim that in private, between her and me. Why would she repeat that?
Askuwheteau shot him an inquisitive look.
“No one told me that, Jack. I’m telling you the truth.”
Jack took a deep breath and leaned against the house, clutching the cigarette.
Approaching him, Askuwheteau placed his hand on his shoulder.
“You are being given what you need when you need it. You don’t have to believe in it. It’s happening anyway.” The man smiled sadly. “In my dream, Chad was visiting you. He appeared in the form of smoke.”
Jack’s stomach felt suddenly heavy, as if a brick had dropped in the pit of it.
He opened the door and Askuwheteau walked inside. Diesel followed. Jack prepared some coffee, in addition to offering a few of Kim’s rolls on a plate.
Meanwhile, he continued to smoke but too soon, it was time to kill the flame. He extinguished the cigarette in an ashtray, and watched Askuwheteau looking around his kitchen, then at Diesel who was doing his favorite activity—eating.
“He’s givin’ that kibble what for, huh?”
“Yeah. Speaking of food—here, try this.”
Jack placed one of the buttery biscuits Kim had baked the day before onto a small baby blue dessert plate and scooted it across the table to his friend. Askuwheteau picked it up, studied it, then took a bite. And another.
“Very good. Your lover makes them for you?”
Jack nodded. “Yeah, she did. She makes a lot of things for me.” A few moments passed when all that could be heard was the wind howling outside the window. “Askuwheteau, I went to the cabin some time ago. The one where I had found Chad.”
“Yes, to pay your respects again, as you often do. Did you place flowers?”
“No. To check out the inside this time around. I do go and look around the outside from time to time, but not often. It’s never been different. Everything is always the same. I go anyway.” Askuwheteau nodded in understanding, then took a sip of his coffee. “I went inside and found a knife. It hadn’t been there before. Now, it could belong to just about anyone. I know it’s not Chad’s. I’m sure people probably go in there and do things. Maybe they break in, crawl through the windows, sleep there, or take drugs.” He shrugged. “Just like with any other abandoned property. But this… this felt different. It’s like I was led to it.”
He glanced at Diesel who was now slurping his water from the bowl.
“Chad was shot, right? No stab wounds?”
“That’s right. No stab wounds. There was blood on the knife I found. I tested it with a kit. Sent it to a lab. It was confirmed. Human. O+.”
“Sometimes evidence shows up later. Like when a house settles, weather changes, things fall that might have been hidden. Either way, you were meant to see it.”
The man took another sip of his coffee, and Jack did the same. It was stronger than the first batch he’d made that morning.
“Since you’re here, I want to invite you to something. Kim is an actress and a dancer. An entertainer. She’s been on Broadway.”
“Broadway?” Askuwheteau’s eyes grew big. “Wow.”
“Yeah, so she’s working on a play, like a dance recital of some sort, to bring awareness to the violence against Indigenous women here in Alaska. She’s got a bunch of kids already signed up, and they had their first class. She said it went well. I thought that, uh, maybe, when they’re ready to perform it, you’d like to come?”
“Yes. I’ll come, for sure.”
Jack nodded and kept sipping on his coffee. The two men engaged in banter as they ate and the mood lightened up. Jack was grateful for the reprieve.
“Jack, you told me a long time ago you didn’t want to ever get married again. You told me you enjoyed living alone, too.”
“Yeah, I did. What makes you think I changed my mind? You’re saying it like I told you that Kim is moving in here, or we’re engaged. I never said that. All I did was invite you to her dance recital.”
“You didn’t have to say it. I look around this kitchen, a space I’ve been plenty of times in, and see you’re making a space for her. There’s an herb plant on the windowsill.” He pointed to the little basil plant. “Special spice rack there on the counter. That wasn’t there before. A window treatment—white and airy. Not feminine, but not your style.”