Chapter Twenty Three

Hep woke up to the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. He opened his eyes, and saw Thor in the kitchen making breakfast. Thor was wearing an apron with a coffee cup pattern, and fuzzy orange slippers. He noticed Hep was awake.

“Good morning Hep!” Thor said, enthusiastic as always. “I hope you slept well.”

“Yeah, thanks. It was the best sleep I’ve had in weeks,” Hep said. It was the truth, too.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Thor said. “Well, I’m sure you can find the bathroom on your own. Go ahead and get cleaned up. Breakfast will be ready in half an hour or so.”

“Awesome. Thanks, Thor,” Hep said.

There was only one closed room in the cabin, so Hep assumed that was where the bathroom was. He was correct. Inside was just enough room for a clawfoot tub, a small sink, and the commode. Hep decided there wasn’t likely to be another opportunity for a proper bath for some time, so he started filling the tub. He saw that Thor had left out towels and wash cloths for them. There was also a pink bottle of Mr. Bubble bubblebath soap on a small shelf above the tub. Hep grinned, and poured a good dollop into the tub as it ran.

After nearly a month of either skipping self-grooming altogether, or using the austere facilities on Poseidon’s boat and at the monastery, combined with terrible sleeping conditions, taking a bubblebath in a cabin was as close to heaven as he could imagine. He felt muscles he hadn’t realized were knotted relax, and sank deeper in to the tub.

Twenty minutes later, he climbed out of the bath a new man. He toweled himself off, brushed his teeth, dressed, and went to see if Thor needed any help getting breakfast ready.

Scroat was still sleeping, despite Thor banging around in the kitchen.

“Hey, do you need a hand with anything?” Hep asked Thor.

“No, thanks. It’s totally under control and going to be ready in a minute. Why don’t you wake Scroat up?”

Hep woke Scroat up, and pointed him to the bathroom. Then he went back over to the kitchen.

“There’s gotta be something I can do,” Hep said.

“Well, I guess the goats need some fresh water. You want to go out back and take care of that for me?”

“Sure,” Hep said. He put his boots on and went outside. Behind the cabin was a pen which held two goats. He found a hose, turned on the water, and went over to the pen to fill their water trough. The goats watched him suspiciously for a moment, then ignored him completely.

He went back inside, and found breakfast ready and waiting. There was ham, sausage, bacon, potatoes, eggs, toast, pancakes and plenty of coffee.

“You’re really too good to us,” Hep said to Thor.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is what I have for breakfast every day. Of course, I’ll be sharing with you today, so I suppose I’m going to need a big lunch,” Thor said.

About ten minutes later, Scroat joined them. “Man, I feel fantastic,” he said.

“So you slept well then? I told you I was saving that beer for a special occasion. There’s no sense in drinking it when you already feel fantastic. It’s best to keep it for when you’re low and tired.”

“Well, thanks. Man, this looks fucking amazing,” Scroat said as he eyed breakfast. He took himself a heaping plate of everything, and sat down to eat.

When they were done with breakfast, and sitting drinking coffee, Thor asked, “So what’s your plan for today? Are you planning to stay here again tonight? Because, you know, you’re welcome for as long as you need.”

“Thanks Thor. I guess we haven’t figured out our plan yet, but I was thinking we’d ride up to Two Harbors and see what we can learn there,” Hep said. “I guess we’ll have to play the rest by ear.”

“Well, like I said, if you need a place to stay, you’re welcome here any time,” Thor said.

“I appreciate that,” Hep said. He finished his coffee and said, “Well, what do you think, Scroat? Should we get rolling?”

“Yeah, I guess so. The sooner we get this shit done with, the sooner we can head home.”

Scroat put his boots on, and they went outside. Thor followed them to their bikes. He pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Hep.

“Here’s Freyja’s phone number. I don’t know if she knows where Inktomi is, but she might have an idea of where you can start looking. Or she’ll at least give you some coffee,” Thor said.

“Awesome. I’ll give her a call if I get a chance,” Hep said. He stuffed the slip of paper in to his pocket, then climbed onto his bike. “I’ll give you a call if we need a place to stay tonight. Thanks again, Thor.”

Hep shook Thor’s hand, and fired up his bike.

“See you later,” Scroat said. He started his bike as well, and the two of them rode away from Thor’s cabin towards the nearest highway. It would be about two and a half hours to get to Two Harbors, and it was already ten thirty in the morning.

The ride to Two Harbors was mostly through dense woods on either side of the road, with an occasional farm thrown in, until they got to Duluth. From there, the road followed the coast of Lake Superior. The sky was grey and cloudy, and they noticed it was quite a bit cooler than it had been in Brainerd. Their first order of business in Two Harbors was to find a place to have some lunch.

They found a hole in the wall cafe that didn’t look too bad. Their menu was entirely uninspired, but they did have a lot of cheese-based dishes.

“What the hell are deep-fried cheese curds?” Scroat said as they looked over the menu.

“Well, probably exactly what it says right there. Cheese curds. Fried,” Hep said.

“Well, what the fuck is a cheese curd?” Scroat said.

“I dunno, let’s order them and find out,” Hep said.

The waitress came over and took their order. They’d decided on two bacon cheeseburgers, and an order of cheese curds.

“Anything to drink?” the waitress asked.

“Coffee,” Hep and Scroat said at the same time.

A few minutes later, to their great surprise, they learned that deep fried cheese curds were their new favorite food. The gooey, golden brown pieces of salty heaven were so good they asked for another order when the waitress came with their cheeseburgers.

When they finally finished lunch, their second order of business was to go and find a generous supply of drinking water. Fried, salty fat in large quantities will make a biker god powerfully thirsty. Luckily, there was a gas station with a convenience store nearby. They each bought a couple gallons of water to bring with them.

“Maybe the second order wasn’t such a good idea,” Hep said.

“The second order was a fucking brilliant idea. I say we drink up, and go back tomorrow to get some more,” Scroat said.

“You are a crazy, crazy man. And that sounds like a damn good idea,” Hep said.

With lunch and post-lunch recovery drinking water secured, it was time to try and find Inktomi. Hep and Scroat spent the next couple of hours cruising up and down each road they found in Two Harbors, looking for the wreckage of a burned house, or some other clue to let them know Inktomi had been there. And on each street, they found nothing. Not so much as a stray piece of charcoal.

Eventually, Hep decided it might be best to just call Freyja and see if she knew where Inktomi was at. They found a payphone, and Hep dialed the number Thor had given him.

The phone rang a few times, and a woman answered.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Freyja? This is Hep, Thor gave me your number.”

“Hep? I’m sorry, I don’t recall a Hep.”

“Hephaistos, God of Fire and such?”

“Oh, Hephaistos, hello! I remember you now. Thor thinks the world of you.”

“Well, Thor’s a good guy,” Hep said. “I don’t mean to be too abrupt, but I’m here in Two Harbors, and I’m looking for Inktomi. Do you know where he lives?”

“Inktomi? Wow. I haven’t seen him for two years, probably. Last I heard he’d gone further South because he was tired of the winter weather this far North.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know how to get ahold of him, would you?”

“No, we were hardly friends. We would say hello to one another if we happened to be at the post office at the same time, but otherwise we didn’t even talk on a regular basis.”

“Oh,” Hep said. Although he wasn’t surprised, he was somewhat disappointed. It would have been nice to just find Inktomi and be done with it.

“Oh, but you must come over for coffee,” Freyja said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had any visitors that weren’t family.”

“Well that sounds wonderful. I have my roommate, Scroat, with me. Do you mind if he comes along as well?”

“Oh, yes, Scroat. Do you think he can behave himself in a civilized manner long enough for coffee?” Freyja said.

“Well, no, to be honest, but he’s kind of fun to have around all the same,” Hep said.

Scroat looked at him, having overheard the last bit of conversation. “What the fuck are you telling her about me?” he stage whispered to Hep. Hep shook his head, and mouthed “Not now.”

“Well, he is of course welcome as well. Let me give you my address. Will you need directions?”

“No,” Hep said. “I think we’ll be able to figure out how to get there.”

He got her address, and said “We’ll see you soon.”

“What was that?” Scroat asked.

“I guess we’re going to have coffee with Freyja,” Hep said.