Christmas Lodge Page #2

Every trouble just slips away. You

know. I never... I never feel more alive.

It's not just that though, is

it? This place touches your soul.

One time when I was a

little girl, my grandfather,

he brought me to this beautiful

overlook on the trail up to the falls,

and you could just like,

see for miles. And he said,

"Mary, listen to me very

carefully. If you're ever troubled

and you need to see God,

this is where you find him.

His handy-work is visible on every...

every peak, every valley, every stream,

every meadow, more than

anywhere else in the world."

He said every minute spent out here is

a reminder... what a miracle life is.

What a miracle life is.

He said that he could feel God

and my grandmother smiling

on him, every time we hiked.

Can you feel them now?

I've been talking to them

since we left the lodge.

Well that explains why

I've been talking to myself.

So, can they fix what's troubling you?

No... but they're working on it.

My legs are itching to get hiking,

you ready? Come on.

I guess. But can we like,

slow it down a little?

All right'

It's not a race!

Come on. Hup two!

I think I wore the wrong shoes.

You'll be fine.

What's a dog doing down there?

Help! Help me!

There's your answer.

Hello?

Hi. What's your name?

Charlene.

Hey Charlene. Are, are you hurt?

Yes! It's my ankle, I twisted it.

Okay honey, just... just

sit tight, all right?

Okay!

Are we' are we gonna go for help?

No, it's too late. There's you know,

there's bears and mountain lions out here.

I'm pretty sure that I

can get her out of here.

Pretty sure or certain?

No, I can do it.

Don't we need like

a... rope or something?

No. I can't hike down

here but I can scramble.

No, look... I'll, I'll go.

No, hey Kent you know what?

It's, it's not the right time

to learn how to scramble. Okay? Hey Charlene,

just hold on I'm coming down to get you!

And Natty?

Yeah! Of course.

Look, if anything goes

wrong, just go back the way

we came and grab help, okay?

I don't feel good about this, Mary.

Kent, I wouldn't do it if I thought

it was too dangerous. All right?

- Be careful.

- Okay.

Watch it.

Yeah, okay.

Hang on Charlene! Okay!

Got it.

Hi! I'm Mary. I'm Mary Tobin.

So how did you get down here?

Well, Natty chased a

rabbit and got stuck.

I came down to get him.

Ifs okay Natty I needed a bath anyways.

Natty!

Where are your parents?

I live with my dad over the ridge.

He'd kill me if he knew

I was out here all alone.

Yeah' he must be, he must be

worried sick about you, huh?

He went into town to get some nails and

stuff, he's probably not even back yet.

He's probably not even back yet.

You're not gonna tell on me, right?

No, you know, that's uh...

that's up for you to tell him but,

you just remember that the truth is

always a good place to begin, okay?

- Okay.

- Here, let me have a look at your ankle.

Okay, okay. That's okay. All

right, you can't walk out of here.

Do you think you've got enough strength

to climb onto me and I'll bring you up?

Yeah.

And Natty's gonna follow us,

all right? One, two, three!

- There you go. You're doing awesome!

- Okay.

- You're doing so good.

- Okay.

I want you just to hang on to me.

Okay, now three, two, one,

and just jump on. There you go.

All right, Kent we're coming up!

- All right, you good?

- Yes.

Okay, here we go.

Natty come on!

Okay. You okay?

Yeah, how 'bout you?

Gettin' dirtier by the inch!

Okay, you're doing good.

Nice and slow there Mar.

Just hang on.

All right, we're almost

there. All right, there we go.

You okay?

All right' three, two, one.

There you go. Okay.

You're doing good. Okay, one

more here. There you go, one more.

Three, two!

There. One more time. Three, two...! So!

Give her to me, I got you, I got you!

Charlene, this is my boyfriend Kent.

Natty?

We need to get her to a doctor.

No, I think that uh... I think

we should get her home. Yeah?

Well where's that?

Just up over the ridge. You... do you

feel up to giving her a piggy-back?

- Yeah, sure uh...

- Okay.

Okay. Okay, hang on a second.

Okay, climb up.

All right, you ready everybody?

There you go, there you go.

You good?

Yeah! You guys okay?

- Yeah.

- All right'

Hang on.

- You okay?

- Yeah.

Natty come here!

Natty!

All right'

Hang on.

Watch your head here.

All right'

Let's duck down.

Okay.

Oh wow, would you... would

you look at that?

What?

That's Christmas Lodge.

What, that old wreck?

Hey! That's not an old

wreck, that's my house!

Sorry.

You live at Christmas Lodge?

Yup.

Lucky you!

What do you know about it?

When I was little, this was

like our home away from home.

Wait a second, is your dad Jack Rand?

Well, yeah!

I haven't seen him since

I was half your age.

I can't wait to check out the lodge!

Is that your dad?

Yup. You promise you won't tell on me?

No, I promise to let you tell.

Charlene? You hurt?

My ankle, I twisted it.

Hi, who are you?

Sorry. Uh, this is my friend

Kent and I'm Mary Tobin.

We found Charlene and we thought

that we'd bring her back here.

I was getting the mail.

You were getting the mail?

So you twisted your ankle

somewhere between here and the road'?

Well...

You didn't go hiking alone

in the park again, did you?

Charlene?

We will talk later.

You said Mary Tobin?

That name sounds awfully familiar.

You're not Mike and Betty

Tobin's daughter, are you?

One and the same!

Good Lord! I haven't seen you

since, what, we were this high?

How's your family doing?

Oh, you know, they're

great! Mostly... yeah.

Please, come inside! I'll

make you something to eat.

We can, we can catch up.

Food, yes! Now we're talking.

Please, um... come inside.

Come on Natty!

I'm hungry.

Well, welcome back to Christmas Lodge.

It's probably not exactly

how you remember it, is it?

Not exactly, but I can

picture it the way it was

when I was a kid.

How was it?

Magical.

Magical! This place...

Please, you guys just make yourselves

at home while I tend to Charlene.

- Daddy, it really hurts.

- I know, sweetheart.

I just gotta get it elevated

until I can get some ice on it.

Oww, Daddy.

This place has a rare charm.

It takes a special eye to see it.

Yeah, you can say that again.

Cut it out!

Just joking.

- Jackson F. Huntington, right?

- Yeah, how did you know that?

I'm a historic preservationist.

I mean, I work in the city but

lire read up on all his lodges.

The way that the

exposed beams are fixed,

it has Huntington written all over it.

What does that mean?

It's like the lodge is a living

thing, you know, the structures,

they use gravity to support itself.

I bet not a single nail up there, right?

I am impressed! Yup, Huntington

drew up the plans in uh...

my great grandfather

built it in the 1920's.

How long did you and your

uh, family come up here for?

Up until I was probably 5 or 6.

My grandpa and my grandma,

they used to bring the whole

family up here for Christmas.

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