Inner chill

A couple of days ago, there was news in the Seattle P-I about two local women who had been found dead up on a trail to Pinnacle Lake in the North Cascades; no names given, but they were thought to be a mother and daughter out on a hike together. This morning the paper identified them. I saw the headline first, and before I opened the front page to read the piece and see their photo, felt a ripple of cold on my spine. We have been here for over thirty years, and it is always a possibility that the people who are affected, particularly in outdoor activities like kayaking, biking, hiking or climbing, will be someone we know. Horribly it was so in this case. The woman was a fellow preschool parent decades ago, and I had her youngest daughter, who was not the one killed, in a second grade class in the early '90's. Her husband was our son's soccer coach for a couple of seasons. The case is being handled as a murder, with not much of anything to go on for the public. My thought was they ran into some meth producers. There was some mention of drug and people smugglers as possible suspects. It's being reported as a very rare crime in the Northwest woods, but I have to wonder if it's a harbinger. As the "wilderness", where even now it is difficult to find any place unmolested by humans, is stripped away, more than black bears will be on the prowl.
A day spent toiling, mowing, pruning, lugging, and enjoying the paradisical weather. Tomorrow morning I will bake a chocolate cake for my friend's birthday. Tonight, I shall refresh myself.