Walk Away West

by J. F. Collen

  As her friend listed the ‘improvements’ to the town, Nellie could not help but wonder if this unbridled commerce was truly progress.

  The town retains a frontier look, in spite of the plethora of shops, hotels, and taverns, Cornelia noticed. The stores displayed fine goods in their windows, but the architecture seemed straight out of a photograph of the Wild West. She listened to her friend with one ear as they walked along, the other ear monitoring her little girls skipping and jumping. After four solid days and three nights of floating along the canal, the children’s relief at leaving the cramped packet expressed itself in running races. Nellie smiled at their antics.

  Clara frowned. “I do apologize for the logjam of traffic. Since the Sabbath prevents the freight boats from locking through, yesterday all other boats were given priority over packets, which has caused a bit of a delay. I am sorry to report your boat could be tied up locking for hours.”

  Nellie looked surprised. The Wright family happily availed themselves of every opportunity to go ashore while the packet boat waited in line for its turn in every lock. She said, “The interval affords the real pleasure of a fine, leisurely walk. An extended stroll through your growing town provides quite the luxury for us. Yet my paramount pleasure resides in the fact that our visit shall not conclude when our boat descends to the lowest level. Rather, we shall prolong our companionship whilst you join us on the packet for your overnight trip to Towanda.”

  With happy smiles, the two women watched in delight as the little girls frolicked and laughed their way across the ‘widest bridge in the world’, enjoying the feel of a non-rocking surface. The bridge, a touted feature of the town, hosted two taverns, a hotel, and some shops, in addition to carrying Lockport’s Main Street over the canal.

  Nellie looked behind them in search of Obadiah. He followed a few paces behind, deep in conversation with Clara’s husband. Thank you, Obadiah, for sparing me from a tête-á-tête with Elmer Petulant Otis, my former suitor. Nellie could hear Obadiah asking questions about the 19th century engineering wonder, the unique flight of five double locks performing its mighty task right below them. She looked over the bridge’s railing and watched the water rush in on one side of the double lock and empty on the other.

  “I rather like this bird’s-eye view,” she said to Clara. They stared down at the ingenious lock system. The canal here divided in two. Five levels of locks were placed side-by-side, one set for elevating eastbound traffic and the other for lowering boats heading west. Both sides had long lines of vessels, waiting to be transported the sixty-foot height differential.

  The workings of the locks blurred and faded from her consciousness. Her happiness at seeing her old friend made her giddy and unable to concentrate on anything else but the joy of the reunion.

  “I fretted our time together would be truncated by your desire to remain onboard as your packet traveled this engineering marvel, whilst I may not board until the ship has locked through,” said Clara.

  “Fret not, my dear companion, all the engineering wonders of the world could not wrench me from your company. We Wrights remained onboard through the full panoply of the other seventy-eight locks along the way, experiencing firsthand the modern feats of engineering they embodied. Our frequent locking somewhat diminishes the Lockport steps’ novelty and marvel. Moreover, we likewise rode the aqueducts carrying the canals over the rivers, astonished at the design ingenuity. You might say we experienced every canal pleasure and treasure.”

  “Mercy, riding seems contrary to your ever-locomotive nature, Cornelia. Have you never walked along the towpath?” asked Clara.

  Nellie laughed. “Of course. We took advantage of every daytime change of horses, and any equipment delays. We simply chose to float onboard through all the engineering wonders.

  “Now, not another moment’s delay. We must engage in a ‘mung-meeting’. I must impart the news of your mother and my family,” said Nellie, linking her arm with Clara and bending her head toward her friend.

  “How I have missed your delightful wordsmith-ing. It does my heart good to hear and remember this bit of my childhood. ‘Mung-meeting’! Canalese for gossip—you have become a regular canawler,” said Clara.

  “If my word choice so delights you, my actual news of your loved ones shall transport you to the moon with happiness,” Nellie replied. They walked deep in conversation for many delightful moments, discussing all of their mutual acquaintances.

  But neither Nellie’s many tête-à-têtes with Clara, nor Obadiah’s diversion tactics prevented the inevitable awkward encounter with Elmer.

  Elmer found his opportunity while the rest of the family gazed in wonder at the mechanics of the lock system, housed in a building in the middle of the lock stairs. He cornered her behind a tall gearbox and leaned a little too close to Nellie.

  Elmer whispered, “May I say you look resplendent in that gown, Cornelia Rose, as lovely as the day I spurned you for another.”

  Nellie wrinkled her nose at his acrid, sweaty scent, and his close proximity, and blushed crimson with fury. Why, you deceitful little weasel! “No. In fact, you may not say. History most accurately confirms, as we both are fully cognizant, I rejected you,” Cornelia said.

  At the sight of Otis’s crumpled face, she immediately regretted her words. “Mercy,” Nellie tried to make amends, touching him lightly on the arm. “I did not mean to hurt....”

  Elmer stiffened and pulled his arm away. “Mrs. Otis and I are quite happy, thank you very much for asking.”

  Nellie realized she must ignore her pride and overlook Otis’ attempt to re-write history. “I ascertained my dear companion Clara was content and pleased the moment I saw you both standing at the dock. Truly, you make a worthy couple.”

  “Yessiree,” Otis said. “I am quite the catch. They say you missed the boat when you failed to reel me in, Cornelia Rose.”

  Nellie grit her teeth. As if his conceit were not irritating enough, he insists on mixing his metaphors.... Her new resolve to overlook her anger crumbled.

  She was spared formulating a reply, however, when Obadiah strode forward and clapped Elmer on the back. Thank you Lord for the interruption. She smiled at her husband with big, loving eyes. Once again, my knight in shining armor has come to my rescue.

  “Otis, you’ve had a hand in engineering quite the little beauty of a canal,” Obadiah said with a jocund expression on his face. Nellie stifled a giggle. Elmer puffs his chest as though he were personally responsible for excogitating and digging the entire canal!

  “Yessiree,” said Elmer, clamping Obadiah back, and then standing awkwardly on his tiptoes to keep his arm around Obadiah’s shoulders. “Hewn out of stone, she’s not only a wonder of the world and a thing of beauty, but she is worth her weight in gold. Ever since she opened, farmers in central Georgia are complaining that wheat from this western part of the great Empire State is selling in Savannah cheaper than their own Georgian wheat!”

  Obadiah grinned and stepped back, permitting Otis to drop his arm.

  Elmer slapped his thigh.

  Why he seems to be reviving the feeling in his arm and his limb. Nellie giggled to herself.

  “Yessir,” Elmer said again, with another slap, as if to prove he was only doing it to emphasize the importance of his proclamations. “This here canal is what made New York City the biggest port city in the nation. As well it should, what with the en-tire construction funded solely by the great state of New York, without any U. S. Treasury money at all. The Federals are crying in their beers now. It’s got them folks in Boston and Philly all fired up, but they still don’t know what hit ‘em. They’re going to have to acknowledge the corn and watch their own ports play second fiddle.”

  “Or build their own canals.” said Obadiah with a laugh.

  “Well, this here canal is the Gateway to the West! Furthermore, and it’s almost against my interest to admit this, the original brains behind the famed flight of five double lock systems was Nathan Roberts, a man ber
eft of a formal West Point engineering education. So, logic would imply any new canal, built by a trained engineer, could provide us pretty stiff competition.

  “Yessiree. But no one’s built anything like this yet. To my way of thinking, it’s Roberts’ fresh perspective, what provided the breakthrough. Roberts was a teacher by trade. The second in command, Amasa Drake, learned on the job as well. On a lark in 1817, Roberts joined the original survey team. After scouting out the route, he submitted the winning lock design that solved the problem of ascending the Niagara escarpment. He was self-taught and genius-like and sought little aid from even published works on the subject of engineering.”

  “If that don’t beat the Dutch!” said Obadiah.

  Elmer slapped his leg again and agreed. “Yessir, Cornelia, your pappy must be so proud, what with him a self-taught engineer too, and Irish to boot, like the lot of workers whose sweat and tears actually dug those ditches.”

  Nellie, surprised at the laudatory compliment to her father, felt unbidden tears come to her eyes.

  Elmer didn’t notice. But Clara did. She gave Nellie a hug as her husband continued. “So go on now, and copy it, I say. Old Thomas Evershed from England is still head engineer on the enlargement project, and he’ll personally guarantee the entirety of the canal channel will soon be bigger and better than ever. But let the old Erie give them other states a leg up on their own canals. My canal is responsible for Ohio, Illinois....” Elmer held up a stubby hand and ticked the names off on his fingers, “...Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan’s economic ties to the East. She also conveys a considerable number of folks like you out West, and connects you with a market once you get there,” Elmer paused.

  Is it too much to hope he has exhausted this subject?

  “Might I offer you the finest anti-fogmatic money can buy around these parts?” he asked, with a slight flourish.

  “No, no, Elmer,” said Clara, joining the conversation, with each of Nellie’s daughters holding one of her hands. “Mr. Wright cannot imbibe that raw whiskey. We must offer him some of our finer spirits.”

  “Pshaw, he won’t let it put a brick in his hat,” scoffed Elmer. “Unless you don’t set by this here type of refreshment.”

  Obadiah shook his head ‘no’ and Nellie turned the girls away.

  “All right then, no offense taken,” said Elmer, taking a swig from the bottle. “Come over this-a-way. There’s a fine view of the lock tenders putting our machinery through its paces. I’m sure you won’t want to miss that.” He threw his arm around Obadiah’s shoulders and, on tiptoes again, dragged him off, leaving Nellie and Clara free to explore the town with the two little girls.

  “I must say....” Nellie giggled to Clara. “Your midwifery remedies have done wonders. I remember when your strapping husband was a wimpy, whiny boy.”

  Clara looked a bit irked, but smiled and said, “Well at least you didn’t call him a ‘weakling dandiprat’ again.”

  Nellie’s face turned an alarming shade of magenta. “Mercy, Clara, that was a long time ago, before he turned his attentions to you. I humbly apologize, I meant only to compliment you. I meant no slight, nor criticism.”

  Clara laughed. “I well remember, when Otis pursued your hand, how often you despaired ‘that sickly ruffleshirt’ was your suitor.” Nellie opened her mouth to protest. Clara held up her hand to stop her. “But I could see his mettle beneath the ruffles. Furthermore, I knew I held the magic elixir.”

  “The elixir, not just of herbs and tinctures for wellness, but the magic of love,” agreed Nellie. She put her arm around Clara. They smiled and continued their walk.

  “For the first time on our canal trip, I do hope locking through takes a long time!” Nellie exclaimed. But instead, it felt like time accelerated as she enjoyed her friend’s company. In just the tick of a clock, the packet had locked through the steps and they returned to board the boat.

  Clara ducked into the gate cabinet next to the building that housed the lock mechanism and jumped aboard their packet carrying a small overnight bag.

  Nellie breathed a sigh of relief. Duty prevented Elmer from joining their journey. She blithely waved goodbye as he left to report to the superintendent at the locks. Only Clara would ride with them to visit her friends a few towns up the canal in the last city before their terminus in Buffalo at Lake Erie.

  “Fresh pike and baked jacket potatoes for dinner,” Obadiah advised. “And do I smell a molasses and four egg cake for dessert?”

  Nellie felt like joining her daughters, jumping up and down in happiness.

  The evening flew by. The two women talked and laughed. The feeling of gemütlickheit, her mother’s German for ‘wellbeing’ and ‘coziness’ overtook her. For the first time since they had left home, she felt content.

  Happy to have a kindred spirit, Nellie confided, “Eau de Cologne and feather fans have been my salvation in these close quarters. Even at the end of October the atmosphere in the lounge, with all these bodies pressed so tightly together, can be stifling.”

  Soon, the now familiar scene of converting the day lounge into sleeping quarters unfolded before her eyes, as she sat, lazily talking to her friend over biscuits and tea.

  The staff shooed her to readiness. Obadiah said his goodnights to each of the ladies. The red curtain dropped between the men’s and women’s quarters.

  “Even on the fourth night, I still find it quite disconcerting to disrobe under these circumstances,” Nellie whispered to Clara as she stowed her two little girls on the shelf above her and strung and tacked the colorful scarf she used as a bed railing into place. “In fact, before you joined us, I slept fully clothed.”

  “Including your corset?” Clara whispered back. “How dreadfully uncomfortable.”

  “Obadiah confirmed—the slightest sound is heard by the men on the other side of this divide. He found the noises rather disconcerting too, as if his ears became his eyes, and he could see laces loosened, stockings rolled down over shapely legs, heavy dresses pulled overhead revealing....”

  Clara giggled quietly into Nellie’s ear. “Our fairer sex shall never control the thoughts and imaginations of these beastly men. Best not to speculate what their ears do with the information so voyeuristically gleaned!”

  “I am in complete accord.” said Nellie and gave her own giggle.

  “Shhh!” hissed several voices from the surrounding berths. Nellie put her knee on the middle berth and pulled herself up to the lip of the shelf above it to reach the top bunk. She kissed her girls on their soft cheeks as she tucked their blanket up to their sleeping faces. She ducked down to the shelf below and Clara tumbled into that middle shelf behind her.

  “I realize this shelf has the width of a coffin, but I thought perhaps these tight quarters would give us a few more moments to whisper together,” said Nellie.

  “I was wondering how we might arrange additional private conversation,” whispered Clara back. “The demands upon our time are far greater than when we were mere buds on the stem.”

  Nellie and Clara lay with their arms around each other, nose to nose, exchanging confidences. They enjoyed silent laughter, and a few tears.

  A loud snort, and sonorous snoring from the men’s section behind the crimson curtain interrupted their tears, engendered by Nellie’s sad story of her brother Matthias’ misfortune in love.

  Both misty-eyed women giggled.

  “In my experience, the loudest snores emanate from the people quietest during the day.” Giggled Clara. They held each other close as the boat continued its steady progress, lulled to sleep by the comforting nighttime sounds of water lapping, rain tapping, and an occasional horse whinny.

  Suddenly, Nellie’s sleep was disrupted. But what has transpired? I did not hear anything alarming. Oh, Mercy, our movement has ceased!

  “Why have we pulled toward the berm? What could be amiss?” Nellie asked Clara.

  “Shh, listen,” said Clara. They could hear talking and commotion.

  The sol
itary night I disrobe for sleep, Nellie grumbled to herself. She jumped down and scrambled to pull her dress on over her nightgown. Nellie stuck her head out of the opening in the women’s section just in time to see Obadiah hurry by.

  “Stay here, you are not properly dressed. I will ascertain the emergency and report back immediately.” He threw the words over his shoulder as he went by.

  Clara stepped around Nellie. “I shall investigate,” she said. “My husband is not here to chastise me about the inappropriateness of my appearance.”

  Clara was back in less time than it took Nellie to go back to her row of shelves and check on her children.

  “‘Tis a mercy I reconnoitered, so you could receive the news immediately,” said Clara. “Your husband remains on deck, toying with the notion of joining the ‘hurry up’ boat. There is speculation that a bank of the canal collapsed. All hands must be on deck to mend a breached wall.”

  Nellie shook her head to see if that would help her make sense of this information.

  Clara laughed. “My apologies. We are merely pulled over to the berm to allow the hurry up boat to sail through.”

  “The constant overtaking and passing other vessels has been a noticeable singularity of our voyage. Throughout the entirety of our journey we have been given right of way, in addition to being allowed to travel on the Sabbath, unlike the freight and line boats,” said Nellie. “Why are we ceding precedence of travel now?”

  “‘Tis a hurry up boat, coming down the canal towards us,” said Clara, looking at her as if Nellie had lost some of her hearing.