The days seemed to pass quickly beginning the next morning as they rented a small bass boat and went out onto the placid lake to do some fishing. She did not care for fishing but she knew that Stan loved it. They spent three fishless hours on the lake but Stan seemed to have enjoyed himself as he was more than willing to go on a long walk up the Nature trail with her in the afternoon. She thrived in the awing majesty of the wooded area and the serene quiet of the walk. Stan also seemed to be pleased with the beauty around him.
They returned to the cabin for a warm meal that Carla cooked and Stan ate with a ravenous, healthy hunger. She showed her delight when he offered to help with the clean up. 'Yep,' she thought to herself, 'things are definitely looking up!' Matters improved even more when he reached for her in the bed and they made quiet but contenting love for the first time in many months. Her plans were working wonderfully.
The next day seemed to be a flawless copy of the first until they sat down to dinner and they heard the wind begin to howl like a banshee. It seemed to have come from out of nowhere and soon, the lashing rain and booming thunder followed as a mountain storm awakened in the night sky and dumped its wrath upon the tiny lake and even smaller cabin. The power failed so they lit the kerosene lamps and moved closer to the fire burning brightly in the fireplace.
There on a Indian rug in front of the hearth, they left quiet love behind and took each other to heights to equal the rage of the mad storm outside. Just at the end, everything suddenly went quiet. The rain stopped, the thunder ceased and the wind went eerily silent. They both stopped in surprise and listened to the sound of nothing!
Without knowing why, Stan was overwhelmed with an intense sense of fear. He never said a word but quickly rolled his naked wife up in the rug, grabbed his jeans, lifted her and made an unexplainably quick dash for the door. She lay silent in his arms, terrified by the unmasked fear on his face. He flung himself through the front door and leaped like an Olympic jumper from the front porch.
