“Well, lead on. I think it’s very bad manners to enter a man’s house before him.” she said softly.

• Reia

“Grandfather had built it,” he said. “Well, him and a crew lifted in with the materials. He slipped out of their casual embrace and took her hand. Kicking the snow off his boots at the stub of the first step, Dagen heard the familiar hollow thud now softened by the snow. Little bits had drifted on the steps and he sidestepped that as he moved up the steps with her. The decking was broad but now littered with small drifts that covered things that had been left there. The wind made chimes out of the traps that hung from a hook not far from the door. Two windows then a patio like set of window/doors were along the wall that formed the deck. “His name was Burle.” He turned toward her as he turned the knob to the thick wooden door. “I had a Bribble at one time .. cross between a tribble and a rabbit. I named it Burle. Grandfather would have been mortified.”

The entry was night and day. When they entered the roomy foyer and closed the door gone was the cold wind and air and replaced with the calm of the cabin. The foyer had hooks on the wall to the left, seating along the right with a long wooden bench, and facing them a half dozen ‘lockers’ in wood with a kind of footlocker underneath. A door led out into a corridor that had other ‘pantry’ like doors and a kitchen space before it opened up farther down. “Home away from home,” as dad would call it. He sat and brought up a foot to take off his boots. “I just called it ‘fun’.” While he was doing these things he kept his eyes mostly on Reia. As much as this was a cabin of his past he irrationally felt that he wanted her to like it too.
Dagen

Reia walked with Dagen being careful to sidestep everything on the porch that my have had unknown hazards hidden beneath the snow. She laughed at the thought of the furry creature he’d been discussing not quite being able to picture it in her mind. Perhaps she would look it up after they were done with this little adventure.

Sitting down next to him, she stretched her legs and then her feet after she took off her boots.

“Yes actually, it does sound like a lot of fun.”

• Reia