Uncle Emil didn't easily give up on his dreams for the future. The way he put it, "So long as a body's got something to look forward to, life's worth living. Don't give me credit for that idea. I think I read it on the back of a box of Sugar Pops. You know, life's a lot like a box of Sugar Pops…."
"More likely I'd buy some acreage, hopefully forty or so, along the Brule River downstream from Northern Light Lake up the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais. Trout in the river and fine fishing in the lake. Again it's way off the beaten path. Far enough so I wouldn't have electricity. I'd need a well and an outhouse. Heat with wood."
"Guess that's what I like about both places. I'm not looking for neighbors at this point in my life. And the ones I'd meet would have to be something like me. Or totally whacked out instead of just half crazy. So long as none of them got their kicks from hunting old geezers I'd be okay."
"Don't exactly know why those kind of places appeal to me but they do. And then there's the place I'd have to build. Now that's something to get excited about."
"I've run all kinds of cabins through my mind. Picked up some ideas by simply driving around and boating the lakes. Wouldn't be big. Maybe just one room. Seven, eight hundred square feet tops. Easy to heat. Lots of windows to catch the breezes when it's hot out. Some sun during the winter months."
"Or maybe only live there during the warmer months. May through October. Then go somewhere warm. Maybe where the fish are as big as dogs. I could even pick up a couple of acres down in New Mexico if I wanted trout. Or Florida for the bass. And never, ever pick up anything other than a fly rod again. Please excuse me, I'm startin' to sound like Lenny wanting to live off the fat of the land in 'Of Mice and Men'."
"On the flip side there's the bugs. Skeeters, deer flies, black flies, horse flies, ticks. They're out and about in May and June. Oh well, there was even a snake in Eden. Nothing's perfect. Maybe a home on the big lake, Superior. Cold breezes off the lake keep the bugs down. Could be that's the solution, two homes. Or maybe three."
"Gotta tell you though, I go back and forth on the whole thing. It's not easy striking out on a new life. I'm no spring chicken anymore but that's not the issue. Might even make it easier. Except maybe the physical part. Don't know if I can do all the work myself anymore. But if that's the way she has to be…."
Here Uncle Emil drifted off into silence again. What was I supposed to say to all that? But it sounded like a good time to me. "I'd help you build a house Uncle Emil. We could do it together during my summer vacation."
Emil turned to me, took a drag off of his Lucky, then turned back to the two lanes of asphalt and a sign on the side that said The Pas. What did I expect? At least he didn't say no.
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