Commitment

By Daniel Palermo

When I started this story, all was right with my world. Then in early January, something called COVID-19 came to become a bane to humankind. While I wrote each word, the cloud of COVID was all around. Residents in the retirement village were dying at a rapid pace. My wife and I were quarantined for most of 2020, eating meals in our small apartment with little or no contact with humanity.

I continued writing, and it became a way to escape the madness. Then when I would listen to the news on the TV, they would up the numbers of the persons who had died from the disease I had to go back into my story to update the number of dead I had reported in an early chapter. I started writing when the death toll was under fifty thousand, and when I completed the story, I had to change the number to exceed five hundred thousand souls.

As I wrote each day, I was acutely aware of how lucky my wife and I were being in a secure location, not directly affected every waking moment as many people were. I quietly said a prayer each time I finished writing each day. My thoughts always went out to the families who dealt with such sorrow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639030750

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Commitment

Daniel Palermo

Copyright © 2021 by Daniel Palermo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

This work is dedicated to:

My Creator, who has given me life, longevity, and health to complete my story.

Anna Elisa, my wife of sixty-six years, for her love, patience, and support as I pecked for hours on end at my computer and she never complained.

My daughters, Laura and Lisa, whose love and technical and emotional support were essential to my completing this story.

Chapter 1

The fish were biting, and the young man and his new love were reeling in one after another. The young lady was a better fisher than he because she had more patience. He smiled at her success and was eager to finish fishing and get to the cooking because he was hungry. They had caught four fish—two Brookies about two-and-a-half pounds each, a rainbow trout also about the same weight, and a catfish, which they threw back. They were at Barnes Reservoir, located in Poudre Canyon, a glacier-formed valley through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Larimer County, Colorado.

The young couple had driven roughly 110 miles from Westminster in their 1998 Ford F150 truck with a 1991 Shadow Cruiser Camper hitched to the back of the truck. The young man had gotten a good deal from a farmer’s wife who did not want the camper on her property after the death of her husband. The couple spent weeks cleaning and refurbishing the inside to their satisfaction. This was their first time using the camper for a week of fishing and hiking in the Colorado mountains. They had found a perfect spot to park the camper. It was close to the reservoir, and a mountain trail was only a short distance away. They set up their chairs and started a fire as it was damp and cold at six o’clock in the morning when they arrived after the long trip. After a cup of coffee and some donuts they brought with them, they proceeded to go fishing.

Now that fishing was a success, they hiked back to their campsite. The young man had gutted the fish at the water’s edge and threw the head and guts into the water, careful not to leave any remains to lure a wild animal into the area. He placed a frying pan with the fish in it on the grill that he had put over the fire, added some seasoning, sat back, and felt a great sense of satisfaction. All was going well.

His companion of a year or so was a tall attractive young lady whom I had met at the wedding this past year. She had a delightful personality and a quick wit. I liked her at first sight and felt her personality complemented the personality of the young man. At that moment, as he sat back to relax, she came over with a cold beer for him and one for herself. She sat next to him, patted his hand, and muttered something only he was to hear.

Their dog, Macy, a seven-year-old Dutch Shepherd weighing about sixty-five pounds, was sniffing around these unfamiliar surroundings. She was usually a quiet dog, but she seemed to be a bit nervous. The young lady called her over, petted her, rubbed her head, and she lay down beside her. The young man looked over at them, shook his head, smiled to himself, and thought, That’s her dog, all right. No denying that. They sat for a while not talking, enjoying the silence and the smell of their fish cooking. Finally, the fish were cooked, a salad and some veggies were placed on their outdoor table, and they proceeded to eat the meal with gusto.

The afternoon passed without incident, they were tired, and both nodded off into a deep satisfying sleep. They were awakened by the growling of Macy, who sensed something and was very restless. The young lady settled her down and started preparing for dinner. She had bought two large steaks, and her young man was to grill them over the fire. The preparations were all done, and the steaks were cooking on the grill. It was near six o’clock and getting dark as the sun was going down behind the trees. They put jackets on as it was getting chilly.

Now that the steaks were done and the smell of the cooking meat wafted into the air, Macy was sniffing around looking for a piece of this meat and was rewarded with several chunks cut from the biggest piece. She settled down and began to eat, as did the young couple. They started eating and washed it down with a bottle of red wine. When the meal was over, they cleaned up, took the grill off the fire, and added more wood so the heat would take away the chill that had settled in.

The fire was dying out, and there was the howling of wolves in the distance, so the young man added more wood to the fire, and it became a blazing tower of heat and flames. Macy was pacing back and forth, growling and in a general state of agitation. The young lady put her leash on as she might have tried to leave the safety of the campsite and fire. The howling continued, getting louder and closer. Finally, a young wolf appeared, pacing back and forth, snarling and showing her fangs. Macy barked and was straining at her leash as the young man threw some stones at the marauding wolf. A few red-hot flaming pieces of wood did the trick, and the young wolf scampered away.

As soon as the young wolf left, it was replaced by a large grey wolf. It appeared to be a female as she was large around her middle section. She had a beautiful silver-grey coat with snow white under belly. Her eyes were dark black, like lumps of coal, and they stared straight at the young man. She was a magnificent animal. She had a scar on her nose just above her snout. It was easy to tell that a few pieces of rock and firewood would not deter her. She was hungry, and she meant to be satisfied.

The young man sensed the hair bristle on the back of his neck as he carefully took off his jacket and slowly wrapped it around his left arm. He motioned to his lady to step back behind the fire with Macy, who was barking wildly. A few tugs on her leash silenced her for the time being. With his right hand, the young man took out his eight-inch hunting knife given to him by his grandfather, who had carried it in the 1950 Korean War. He stared back at the wolf, not moving, breathing slowly so as not to upset the beast.

Oddly, at this critical time in his life, he thought of his grandfather. They had a good relationship and had discussed many things. They were separated by some fifty-plus years but, in their talks, were able to see the other’s viewpoint, never telling the other they were wrong. They discussed things like what is the measure of a man, commitment, duty, honor, and country. What is your relationship with your Maker if you believe in a Maker? The grandfather was from a different generation that had many rules for living a good life and that this enlightened generation does not feel obligated to live that way. But he felt the discussions were good for each other. Suddenly, a slight twitch by the wolf brought the young man out of his thoughts as he realized the fateful moment was about to happen.

In the blink of an eye, the wolf was racing toward him. The wolf’s eyes were wide open, her black pupils staring at her prey. Her mouth opened, exposing her white fangs, dripping with saliva. She bit into the young man’s left arm. He felt the pressure of the bite as it punctured through his jacket into his arm. The pain was sharp, and he felt the warmth of his blood as it started to fill the jacket.

Instinctively, he plunged the hunting knife into the underbelly of the wolf and twisted it. The fur was immediately changed from snow white to a crimson red. He wanted to remove it and drive it home again, but the force of the wolf’s attack drove him back stumbling and falling into the raging fire. Burning wood scattered all over the ground, and red-hot embers flew into the air resembling a thousand fireflies.

He landed hard and felt hot coals on the back of his neck and head. The weight of the wolf prevented him from withdrawing the knife and driving it home again. He felt the fight for his life