Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. >The Cabin by Apache Chapter 1 My boss had been an absolute bastard all day. It was so bad that I thought of just getting up and walking out. But that wouldn't fly, because I like to eat everyday. The quiting bell rang and I was out of there and drove home. I pulled in and parked in my assigned space at my apartment complex. I went in and picked up my mail on the way up. Ads, fliers, bills and other assorted junk mail, with one long envelop from Hays and Hays, Attorneys at law. Fuck, what had I done, now? I put all of the mail on the kitchen table and started fixing myself a meal. Tonight it was Country Fried Chicken, with Mashed Potatoes, and Green beans. I even had some Cole slaw to go with it. I put the tray in the microwave and set it for fifteen minutes. When the bell rang I put my meal on the table and started to eat. WOW, that grease tasted almost like chicken! Next, I took the mail into the living room and got started on paying the bills. Then I read the letter from the Attorney. It requested that I be in his office at 10:30 AM on the fifteenth. That was tomorrow. I called my work and got someone to put a note on my bosses desk, to inform him that I had to see an Attorney the next day. He would be pissed, but that was better that being put in jail for something. I sure didn't sleep well that night. The next morning, I did my thing in the bath and dressed in my best suit. Hell, it was only three years old. I took a bus to the Attorneys Office and went up the the floor he was on. I went in and introduced myself to the receptionist. She took me to a conference room and told me that she would be in in just a few minutes. She? In a few minutes, a woman came in with a thick briefcase. She sat across from me and said, -I'm Anna Hall, and I'm the attorney handling the estate of the late J.W. Porter -. I must have looked puzzled because she then said, -I doubt that you ever met him, but you saved his granddaughter at the beach two years ago. He remembered you in his will -. I remembered the fear that hit me when the three or four year old went through the guard rail and into the water. The next thing I remember about it was giving mouth to mouth respiration to the girl up at the waters edge. Then the Medics took over. I was questioned by the cops and I told my story. They thought that someone might have pushed her. I took them up and showed them the broken guard rail. Case closed! Ms Hall said, -We have a lot of paper work to get finished, so lets get started -. I signed paper after paper. It took almost an hour. When we were done with the paper work, she said, -There is one hundred thousand dollars in this case, the case and money are yours. I will get all of this other paper work filed, so you can access all of your other things -. I was now the sole owner of the apartment complex where I lived and several thousand acres of land in Montana. It was supposed to have a good fishing lake on it and a cabin. As soon as I got a chance, I would go see that property and sell it if I could not use it. Over the next few weeks, I played at being rich, but it got real old real soon. I started to wonder about the Montana land, and decided to go take a look at it. I packed some clothes and headed out to Montana. I arrived three days later. I asked a guy how to get to the cabin and he told me. I followed his instructions and pulled into a road that was very bad. Ruts, potholes and washouts every inch of the way. I came over the top of small hill and had to stop. The view before me was right out of a painting. I could see the front of a cabin just sticking out of the pine trees on the left of the clearing. I got out of the Jeep to take a better look. I took a deep breath. So this is what clean air smells like. It almost made me dizzy! I drove on down to the cabin and got out. I tried the door, locked. I'd have to go back to town and get a locksmith to open the door. I started for the car and saw a key hanging from the top of a porch post. I got it down and tried it in the door. It opened. I went in and looked around, living room, kitchen and dining room combination took up over half of the area. The wall to the left had three doors. Two bedrooms and a bath between. The wall to the right was dominated by a huge stone fireplace. The kitchen area was full of modern kitchen equipment. It even had pots, pans and dishes in the cupboards, but not a scrap of food was to be found. I looked into the bedrooms. The beds were made and turned down, as if expecting someone to go to bed. There was a full roll of toilet paper in the bath! The bath was very big. It had a huge tub with a shower, a big double sink, a normal toilet. It felt a little cool in the cabin, so I went to the fireplace to see if I could build a fire. I found that it was a natural gas fireplace. I fiddled with it until I got it lit. I tried to turn on the lights. Nothing! But then I heard an engine start. The lights came on. I followed the sound out he back door. I heard an engine running inside a small shed. I took a look. Inside was a natural gas fired engine running a 50 KW generator. A switch panel was on the wall. I looked in and saw that all of the breakers were on. Nothing had been tripped. I went back inside to find that water was pouring out the kitchen sink spout. I turned it off. I still heard water running. Into the bath. Both the sink and tub were turned on. I shut them off. Back out in the main room. I spotted an eighty gallon water heater in the corner of the kitchen. I got it lit. I would soon have hot water, then I could take a shower. I tried all of the lights and they all worked. So far, so good! The fireplace had warmed the place up so I went to turn it off. I found that it had shut down to just a pilot lite. Then I spotted a thermostat. It was set to seventy two degrees. I left it alone. I sat in the easy chair and thought about this place. For the first time in my adult life as if I were home. I didn't call my apartment home, it was my apartment, this place just felt like home. I was home!