Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery by Flora Ferrari

Maple: “Mountain Man” is what they call him around these parts. “Doctor Delivery” is what he used to answer to. At least that’s what the U.S. Marshals that came looking for him said. But nobody really knows for sure because nobody knows him. He never speaks to a soul. Just comes down once a week to buy food and supplies and then heads back up the windy mountain pass not to been seen again for another week…more if there’s a big snowfall. People tell me to watch out, but I can’t keep my eyes off him. They say he’s not safe, yet I wonder how it would feel to fall asleep cuddled up next to that barrel chest next to a warm fire. I’m told I should stay away. But when I see him I only want to get closer. I wonder what he’s doing way out there in the boonies all by himself. And I wonder what it’s going to take to get him to notice me one of these days. And if he’s tired of being all alone.

Forrest: They told me it’s not my fault. That’s not how I see things. I went from being on top of the world to the bottom. To get away from it all I had to head way up here where no-one will find me. Where I won’t have to speak to a soul. Where I can just forget about everything. But why can’t I forget about her? That young woman at the register at the shop in town. I could stock up on canned goods and supplies and not need to go down there for a good three months, but I can’t. She’s like a magnet pulling my steel pickup truck down the hill so I can see her. And after years of delivering other people’s babies, she’s got me wondering what it would be like to deliver one of my own. I’m going to do whatever it takes to plant my seed and make her mine forever.