SkinwalkersWoman by Fran Lee

had to go outside to use the
bathroom. In the dark.”
    Oh God…
    He closed his large hand over the handle of the lantern and
took it from her. “Come on. It’s safe. I promise you won’t get bitten, eaten or
pounced on. Unless it’s by me…”
    She barely caught his comment. The sudden insanity of it all
struck her and she burst into hysterical laughter. His face was suddenly close
to hers as he bent down and brushed his lips across her forehead. “Don’t be
afraid of me.”
    “I’m not afraid of you.” Her lips trembled with those words.
“I just…never did anything this crazy before in my entire life. I’m afraid of myself .”
     
    Zeke gently pulled her close to his body and kissed the soft
hair at her damp temple. “That makes two of us, woman. I’ve never done this
before either.”
    Her soft intake of breath made him smile against her hair.
He wanted desperately to make love to her again, but this wasn’t the time.
Instead he led her out onto the porch, down the wide steps and around to the
small wooden outhouse that stood about eighty feet down a gradual slope from
the cabin. He hung the lantern on a peg on the wall across from the toilet
paper, then closed the door as she stepped inside.
    The muffled sound of her horrified voice came to him as she
whispered, “Oh my God.”
    For the first time in his life, he saw his home the way she
must see it. And for the first time in his life, he wished it was better than
it was. For him, it had always seemed to be just fine. But seeing it through
her eyes? He frowned at the primitive look of it.
     
    The first shock of seeing the smoothly sanded wooden toilet
seat perched atop a plank bench of rough wood that suspended over an open pit
almost made her decide to go out and find a bush to pee behind…but the scent of
pine and sage filled her nostrils rather than the smell of what she had
expected. She glanced down into the dark hole under the seat before unbuckling
her belt. He must have piled crushed boughs in the open hole to lessen the
offensive odors usually found in outhouses. The fear of having a rattlesnake
slither out of the hole eased as she glanced at the rugged walls and realized
that this was as good as she could expect, being nearly eighty miles from sewer
lines and phone poles.
    It was clean, at least. And the toilet paper was a nice
touch. She had expected a Sears and Roebuck catalog. A soft breeze moved
between the slats of the outhouse, slats that she realized were actually thin
cut saplings fitted just close enough together for privacy but also to allow
light and air to get in. Her own bathroom fan…she wanted to giggle
hysterically. And the floor of the hut was like the floor in the cabin, smooth
boards.
    The horror of being forced to use the outhouse changed to
humor as she realized how utterly unrealistic her expectations had been.
Suddenly, the idea of filling that old claw-foot tub out in front of the cabin
from the well pump and taking a bath didn’t seem quite as scary as it had when
he’d first mentioned it. In fact, the idea of seeing her host strip off his
jeans and boots and shirt to climb into the tub with her made her shiver with
anticipation.
    Wow. I must be going insane.
    Finishing her business quickly, she took the lantern from
its hook and pushed open the door, glancing around a bit nervously as she
stepped out into the cool night air. She had expected to see him waiting
outside for her, but the circle of light from the lantern showed nothing but
sage and rocks and the blank rear wall of the cabin about fifty paces away.
“Um…are you still out here, Zeke?” She wanted to laugh out loud at her fear of
walking alone back to the cabin.
    After hesitating for a long moment, she scurried back toward
the solid log walls of the cabin, ashamed of her silliness. She did her best to
ignore the rustling of small nocturnal creatures lurking in the shadows of the
starkly outlined brush as she made her way along the narrow path that