At the Jim Bridger by Ron Carlson
"At the Jim Bridger" by Ron Carlson explores the complexities of human relationships and the impact of past experiences on present circumstances. The narrative follows Donner, a married man who has just returned from a fishing trip with a woman who is not his wife. As they arrive at the Jim Bridger Lodge for a New Year's Eve celebration, Donner encounters Rusty, a man he previously saved from freezing in the mountains during a snowstorm. This meeting triggers a mix of emotions in Donner, who reflects on his past decisions, including a fateful choice made in the wilderness that connects him to both Rusty and his estranged son. The story delves into themes of guilt, desire, and the nuances of masculinity, particularly as Donner grapples with feelings of shame and arousal during his life-saving encounter with Rusty. As the evening progresses, the interactions among the characters highlight the tensions between past and present, and the unresolved issues that linger beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary lives. The setting of the lodge serves as a backdrop for a reflective moment as Donner contemplates his relationships and choices.
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At the Jim Bridger by Ron Carlson
First published: 2000
Type of plot: Domestic realism, frame story
Time of work: The 1990's
Locale: The Cascade wilderness and a resort lodge
Principal Characters:
Donner , a man on a fishing tripHis mistress , who accompanies him on the tripRusty Patrick , a man Donner once saved from freezing
The Story
In "At the Jim Bridger," Donner has just come out of the mountains after a week fishing with a woman identified only as "not his wife." They are looking forward to eating a huge steak and a baked potato at the Jim Bridger Lodge's end-of-season New Year's Eve party. As the couple pulls into the parking lot of the lodge, Donner sees a familiar truck with a dog he recognizes in the back. He tells the woman that it is the dog from the story he has told her about saving a man from freezing; when they enter the lodge, he sees Rusty, the man from the story. Although he is not sure why, Donner feels differently about the woman from the way he did before they went on the fishing trip; he feels "ruined and hollow."
In September of the previous year, on his annual fishing trip, Donner was trapped by a snowstorm in the Cascades and made a bad decision. It is now his favorite story. Seven months earlier, he told it to the woman who was not his wife, "and it was the story that kindled all of the rest." The bad decision Donner made was to break camp in the afternoon during a steady snowfall instead of staying where he was and waiting for the storm to stop. That particular year, he felt a special pressure, for his fourteen-year-old son had run away. Donner soon knew that he had made a mistake because the snow was so heavy he could not see the trail. He stopped and built a large fire and took off all his clothes and hung them to dry. At this point, a dog burst into the ring of light made by the fire and a man followed it, saying, "Well, here's Adam. Is Eve in the tent?"
The man, Rusty Patrick, a thirty-three-year-old truck driver, told Donner about falling in love with a woman dispatcher, Darlene, where he worked. However, Rusty's boss became interested in Darlene and talked against Rusty until he split them up. Rusty said that with a broken heart, he bought a gun and came up to the mountains.
During the night, Rusty began to develop hypothermia. Donner cut off Rusty's damp underwear, slipped into his sleeping bag with him, and tried to revive him by massaging him and covering him with his own body heat. As Donner talked to Rusty, he began to talk to his son, telling him to come on home. He put Rusty's hands in the warmth between their legs and found himself sexually aroused. In the morning, the snow stopped, it began to warm up, and the two men walked out of the wilderness.
At the Jim Bridger Lodge, after Donner and the woman finish their meal, Rusty sees them and hugs Donner. The woman tells Rusty she has heard the wonderful story, but Donner has not told her about the sexual arousal he felt when he and Rusty spent the night naked in the sleeping bag. Rusty asks about Donner's son and is happy to find out that the boy returned. While Rusty and the woman dance during the New Year's Eve party, Donner goes outside with Rusty's dog and watches a huge bull moose standing on the other side of a pond.