COLD MEAT

She had set her head on the pillow with a still gaze on the small opening of the wooden blinds. The sun light reflected on her eyes made the honey and green parts of her hazel eyes stand out. She could see the light and particles of white snowflakes furiously fall. Impactful was the view of nature's serene beauty. There was not a disturbing noise as the city she was used to. The wind was the howl of a woof and she felt the strength of it through such peace. Soon enough her spirit was free and so it ran into gratitude. Her spirit had just been saved from death. The peace of being there made everything worth it even if there was no electricity, internet, or phone service.  

Just as she relaxed her mind, she heard strong knocks on the door. She had been waiting all along for her partner but without any way to tell time the knocks still took her by surprise. She grabbed onto the golden door knob turned it left and opened the door carefully just in case the snow got naughty and decided to come in as well. She could feel the cold breeze through her knitted gray sweater. The volume of the howling wind became more impactful but not as much as her excitement to finally see her partner. Alexy had travelled almost 200 miles to make it to her. She stood by as she observed him dust off the snow and take off his jacket. Finally, once done both embraced themselves into a hug filled with an of exchange warmth and gladness. Both as a team worked together to bring in some wine and groceries. “Let's head upstairs, and you can change” she said to him.  

Upstairs had collected all the warmth possible. The open window brought in the natural light. They both jumped onto bed and held each other in the silence, staring each other eye to eye. The deep stare between each other created a feeling inside her of joy, pain and grief. Not too long ago she had escaped death from a car accident as well as he. She had been driving and her car had steered left to a wall on a tunnel, and he had run almost the same course except he had hit a tree. The deep stare was a symbol of being present and at the same time a mirror of two miraculous moments. The solitude in the cabin was a perfect feeling of comfort. Deep breaths taken and so much to exhale. Again, she felt that feeling of gratitude and hope he held that same feeling too. 

 The sun would set soon and food needed to be prepared. The only downfall to no electricity was managing to make a fire through snow and wind. It was possible with effort and collaboration. They walked down the stairs. She looked for the lighter and lighter fluid and he walked out to the balcony to find the bag of coal. Right on the balcony they fortunately had one of those old school rusty barbecue grill, they could manage to make a meal there. The flames began to form while the smoke disappeared into the gray sky. They ran inside to season some steak and corn to grill. They placed the steak on the grill with the corn, closing the grill. They stood there looking through the gray sky, viewing the mountain on the other side covered completely with snow. As they gazed to their surprise what seemed to be a black bear cub was tumbling through the snow. Its protective fur filled with millions of compacted snowflakes, melting slowly by its warmth. “Aren't they supposed to be hibernating?” she exclaimed. Both stunned by this became thrilled by the mear fact they were an actual baby cub out there, and possibly had a protective mother looking for it. The trill grew from the impossible reality and also the slight danger they ran especially with the smell of cooking meat. The cub came closer and closer, finally it was under the balcony as they both looked down. 

Now it was evident, this baby was hungry and had sniffed itself some food. Alexy placed his left hand on the grill handle opening it while grabbing the tongs with his right. “What are you going to do Alexy!” she exclaimed again. “I'm going to toss it to it!” she replied. She didn’t know if the cub would want more and what if his mother was around maybe they would want more. Yet it made sense to do this more so because the cub maybe would climb up. Alexy picked up one of the steaks still rare from the looks of the red blood sizzling on it. Positioning himself as if ready to throw a boomerang, the steak went flying landing on the snow that should do it to cool the meat off. It was as if this baby had found lost treasure. It bowed its head down, placing its manus on the steak. It must have been too hot for it licked its manus slowly just like a cat would use its tongue to clean its fur. They both giggled quietly, while observing the next move. It turned out this cub had strong survival skills, not only did he find his next meal but managed to place his manus in snow realizing the cooling effect for his hand and also his meal. Tossing the steak back and forth on the snow and when it had cooled down enough is head bowed down again this time successfully taking a bite. It savored it with its tongue licking around his mouth. They both being spectators to this could only stare. After the first bite it seemed that the cub was ready for another bite, he bit the steak and to their surprised it began to tumble gracefully back into where it came from before. Soon, you could only see the little black brown fur become whiter in the distance as it disappeared.  

“That was awesome’’ she said quietly under her breath as she was filled with emotion. “Well we lost one steak today” said Alexy to her. Both laughing hysterically, as they grabbed a plate to place the two grilled corns and the survival meat. For sure this meal felt like a privilege, as if it was the last supper.