by Sharon Sala
Big Will climbed down off the seat, thrust his hands beneath Boston’s arms and lifted. Despite the gambler’s best intentions, gravity prevailed and his legs dropped, which only increased his pain.
“Oooommmmyyyygggoooddd.”
“What’s wrong with you, man?” Big Will asked, and pushed him toward the open door of the coach.
Tears were streaming down Boston’s face. He visibly shuddered as he reached for the coach to steady himself.
“Come on, man,” Big Will said. “Shorty’s on a tear and ready to go, so you need to get on inside.”
Boston nodded as Big Will gave him another push. He tried to step up, but it felt as if someone had tied one end of a rope to his guts and the other end to his testicles, and tied it too short. He couldn’t get his foot off the ground without feeling as if someone had put his dingus in a vice, so he crawled in instead. He was still on his knees when he glanced up.
Letty was staring down at him in silence.
He whimpered. “Don’t hurt me.”
She leaned down until they were eye to eye.
“Were you speaking to me?”
He whimpered again. “No, ma’am.”
“I didn’t think so,” she said, and began tucking stray bits of her hair back into the bun at the top of her head.
Eulis eyed Letty nervously out of his good eye and then ran his finger along the swelling on his lower lip. He’d shot his wad of rebellion and was now willing to suffer in silence, if only she’d let him live.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered.
She didn’t bother to acknowledge his presence.
Morris chanced angering her further by helping Boston into the seat at the same moment that Shorty started the team.
The horses leaped forward.
The coach lurched.
Later, the injured men would swear it was the look Sister Leticia gave them that kept them pinned in their seats. But at any rate, the journey resumed and four hours later, they arrived at Fort Mays.
It was then Letty and Eulis learned the bad news. The stage didn’t go any farther. It was the end of the line.
Now if they intended to stay on the Amen Trail and play Preacher and Sister, they were going to have to do it on horseback. And, as if that wasn’t enough grief, the past caught up with Eulis.
Eulis’s eye was swollen shut, his lower lip was twice its normal size, and an upper tooth was loose where he’d hit the ground. His clothes were filthy, dust was matted in his hair, and there was a large purple bruise on his chin. When they rolled through the stockade gates and Big Will jumped down and opened the door for the passengers, Eulis found his muscles had seized up so badly he couldn’t move.
“You firss,” he mumbled, and pointed to Letty.
She eyed Boston and Morris, who were making pointed efforts to get their feet out of her way so that she could pass. Nodding politely at their thoughtfulness, she grabbed her purse and made her way to the door. Big Will offered her a hand down, which she gratefully took, and missed seeing the sighs of relief from the three men left inside.
Boston was nearest the door and got out next, wincing visibly as he stepped down. He picked up his bag from the luggage Shorty had unloaded and started across the parade grounds to the Sutler’s store.
Both of Morris’s eyes had turned black, his nose was swollen to twice its size, and he was now forced to breathe through his mouth. Once out of the coach, he picked up his bag and moved to the commander’s office to see if there was a military physician at the fort.
That left Eulis still inside the coach. Big Will leaned forward and looked in.
“You all right, Preacher?”
“No,” Eulis mumbled.
“Can you get up?”
“I don’ know,” Eulis said, and then proceeded to scoot across the seat toward the door, but when he went to lean forward, every muscle in his back protested. “Don’t think I can,” he said.
“I’ll help,” Big Will said, grabbed Eulis’s hand and yanked.
Eulis came up before he had braced himself and went headfirst out the door in the same manner that he’d fallen out earlier. Certain that he was going to hit the dirt, he cried out in anticipation of the pain he would feel.
“Easy there, Preacher,” Big Will said, as he steadied Eulis on his feet and then gave him a sturdy whack on the back. “Nice meetin’ you, Reverend. You have a safe trip west and watch out for Injuns.”
Eulis blanched. He’d been so set on getting out of Lizard Flats without being found out that he hadn’t given that possibility any thought. Only now he and Letty were at the last outpost of civilization. Beyond the western edge of the fort lay a lot of unsettled territory, the occasional wagon train trekking across the Rocky Mountains for California, and a whole lot of unruly Indians in between. This set up a whole new set of problems, which meant he and Sister Leticia needed to have a talk before bedtime tonight. They could always backtrack and head for the southern states, although he thought he remembered hearing some rumblings from travelers regarding the state of their politics. There were rumors of secession and going to war, and if this was so, the last place he wanted to be was in the middle of a fight. He’d had all of that he ever wanted to see in this lifetime.
He looked around, wondering where Sister Leticia had gotten to, then snorted, figuring that wherever the privy was, she’d found her way there. In all his years, he’d never seen a woman have so much trouble over taking a piss.
“Brother Howe!”
He flinched. Letty’s strident tone covered the distance between them as surely as if she’d just whispered in his ear.
He turned and then squinted his good eye against the evening sun. She was waving at him from across the way. Eulis waved back, then picked up his suitcase and limped to her.
“They have an empty barracks. It is dormitory in style, but we will each have a bed.”
Eulis nodded.
Letty frowned. “You don’t look so good.”
It was impossible to roll one’s eyes when there was only one functioning, and it hurt too much to blink, but he managed a small snort.
“You don’t say,” he muttered. “Where’s that barrack? I need to clean up and then we have to talk.”
Letty’s frown deepened. “I think you’d be wanting to practice up some on a sermon.”
“Sister Leticia, it might have escaped your notice, but I cannot breathe easily through my nose, and my lip is too swollen to speak comfortably. I intend to take a bath and sleep until sunrise tomorrow. After that, we need to decide where we’re going next. We haven’t a lot of money and—”
“Are you saying you want to quit preaching?” Letty asked.
Eulis heard panic in her voice, and knew that if he said yes, her only alternative to starving was to go back to sleeping with men for money. He sighed. Being responsible for someone else’s life was a new thing for him. He wasn’t sure if he was up to it, but he wasn’t ready to quit yet.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying we might need to go somewhere besides West, what with the Injuns and all.”
Letty paled. She had her own demons to deal with when it came to Indians. She’d been orphaned because of them, then taken to a sinful way of life because of that. Meeting up with them again was the last thing she wanted to face.
“We could try south,” she suggested.
Eulis shrugged. “I heard tell there might be a war.”
“Over what?” Letty asked.
“There’s some that don’t hold with keeping slaves and others that do.”
Letty frowned. “And they want to fight a war over that? All they have to do is just let them go and hire them back like any worker. Surely we won’t be fighting among ourselves.”
“I don’t know,” Eulis said. “Southerners have their ways just like the Yankees have theirs.”
“Yeah, well we’re neither of those,” Letty said. “We live out west. We mind our own business, and encourage others to do the same.”
“I still don’t think we oughta go south.”
“Maybe so,” Letty said. “We’ll talk about it later. Now come with me. I’ll show you where we’re going to sleep.”
They were walking across the parade ground past the Sutler’s store when a uniformed officer strode out of the doorway directly in their path.
Letty gasped and stepped back as the soldier paused and tipped his hat.
“Pardon me, madam. I didn’t see you there.”
Letty nodded and wished she still had her handkerchief so that she could dab the sweat off her face and neck, but the last time she’d seen it, it had been stuffed up Morris Field’s nose.
“That’s quite all right, uh… Major?”
The officer nodded. “That’s correct. Major Lawrence Canfield at your service.”
Letty extended her hand. “Sister Leticia Murphy, assistant to Reverend Randall Ward Howe.”
Canfield eyed Eulis. “Sir, you appear to be in need of medical attention. I’ve already authorized the post physician to see to another passenger that was on the stage. What happened to you people? Was there an accident?”
Eulis’s mouth was open, but no words were coming out. Letty could tell something was wrong, but didn’t know what. Still, she could tell she needed to intervene.
“In a matter of speaking,” she said, and then took Eulis by the arm. “Once he gets cleaned up, I think he’ll be fine, but we thank you just the same.”
Canfield bowed briefly and then nodded.
“Let me know if there is anything we can do for you while you are at Fort Mays.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” Letty said, and then stepped aside as the major moved on. As soon as he was gone, Letty grabbed Eulis by the elbow. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Get me to the barracks,” Eulis muttered.
Letty shrugged. “Fine then. Follow me.”
Eulis did, but not without looking over his shoulder every other step.
Old Sins And New Hope
The empty barracks building that was set aside for travelers was at the far end of the compound. There were bed linens on a half-dozen of the narrow cots, and a wash basin and ewer on an old sideboard. A cracked mirror was hanging above the basin, and a shaving mug with a shriveled cake of shaving soap stuck to the bottom of the brush beside it. There was a rusty straight razor lying on top of a piece of old linen that probably served as a towel. All in all, it was blood poisoning in waiting, but Eulis didn’t spare it a glance. He was too busy worrying about the Major to give a rat’s ass about shaving or sleeping. As soon as Letty was inside, Eulis shut the door and then peered through a dusty window to see if they’d been followed.
Letty frowned. “Eulis!”
He flinched. “Don’t be yellin’ at me. My head’s hurtin’.”
“I didn’t yell. I just said your name.”
Eulis shifted nervously and then took off his jacket.
“I’m gonna clean up some. You tell me if you see anyone coming.”
Letty’s frown deepened. “What does it matter if—”
Eulis threw up his hands and shouted.
“Damn it all to hell and back, woman, can’t you just, for once, do what you’re told without asking questions?”
Letty bristled. “You don’t yell at me, you old sot.”
“I’m a sot and you’re a whore and we’re gonna both be in trouble if anyone finds out I’m not the preacher I’m pretendin’ to be.”
Letty was pissed. Being reminded of her past didn’t fit in keeping with her new persona.
“You want to say that again, only maybe yell a little louder? I don’t think they heard you at the store.”
Eulis grabbed a bucket in the floor by the sideboard and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Letty asked.
Eulis swung the bucket at her. “Well, Sister Leticia, I’m gonna go get me some water and then I’m gonna pour it in that basin over there. Then I’m gonna strip nekked and wash the goddamned dust off my achin’ body… if that’s all right with you.”
Letty snatched the bucket out of his hand.
“I’ll get the water.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not hiding from anyone and you are.”
Eulis flinched. “How did you know?”
Letty sighed. “I didn’t know for sure until you just admitted it.”
Eulis’s mouth dropped. “You’re sneaky.”
“And you’re lying.”
“It’s none of your business,” Eulis muttered.
“You are my business,” Letty countered. “I’m going to get the water. When I come back, we talk.”
Eulis frowned. “We can’t ’cause I’m gonna take me a bath.”
Letty shrugged. “I’ve seen you naked before.”
“That’s cause I was drunk and you was desperate,” Eulis muttered.
“Now you’re the one who seems to be desperate, so figure out what you’re gonna say, because by the time I get back you’re gonna tell me what’s wrong, and if you’re lying I’ll know, which will pretty much piss me off and we both know that’s not good.”
Letty walked out, leaving Eulis to strip or run, and he strongly feared there was nowhere left to run. By the time she came back, he was sitting on a cot in his underwear and feeling more miserable by the moment. Every muscle and joint was aching from his fall out of the coach, and he feared the clothes he’d been wearing were ruined. It wasn’t his best suit, but he only had one other one, and unless they ran across another dead preacher who no longer needed his clothes, he might be back in buckskins, whether he liked it or not.
Letty poured some of the water in the basin, a bit more in the ewer, and then dug through her bag until she found a piece of lye soap and laid it by the basin.
“You can use some of my soap, but don’t go wasting it,” Letty said.
“I appreciate that,” he said, but when he tried to get up, staggered briefly before dropping back onto the cot.
Letty frowned. “Are you all right?”
“No. I fell out of a moving stagecoach… remember?”
“Don’t be a smart mouth, Eulis Potter.”
“My name is Randall Howe and I’m going to get nekked now.”
This time when he got up he managed to stay upright. He stepped out of his drawers and walked stiff-legged to the basin.
“Want me to help?” Letty asked.
Eulis shrugged. “I don’t mind if you pour that water over my head.”
Letty nodded and picked up the bucket.
“Bend over a mite,” she ordered.
“What about the floor?” Eulis asked.
“Look at it,” Letty muttered. “There’s space enough between these planks to grow ’taters.”
“Yeah, I reckon so,” Eulis said, and bent down.
Letty poured some of the water over his head as he scrubbed at his scalp. When his hair was completely wet, she stopped.
“Wait a minute,” she said, and rubbed the bar of lye soap through his hair.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“It’s my soap.”
“Reckon that’s okay to use in your hair?” Eulis mumbled.
“I don’t see why not,” Letty said. “Be still now. I’m gonna pour the rest of this water on your head, so you go ahead and scrub up that soap. It’ll rinse right out when I pour.”
“Yeah, all right.” Then he added. “I ’preciate this, Sister Leticia.”
Letty stifled a grin. “Sister Leticia would not be caught dead in a room with a naked man. It’s Letty who’s helping scrub down your miserable self and you know it.”
Eulis chuckled a bit. It had been a while since Letty had let herself go, and he realized he missed the old Letty.
Letty emptied the bucket over his head and then gave Eulis a thump on the back to signal she was done.
“It’s empty,” she said. “I’m gonna go fill it up again. When you’re done, I think I’ll take myself a bath,
too.”
Eulis picked up the rag beside the shaving mug, sloshed it through the basin, and began to wash the dust from his face as Letty went out the door.
She met Morris on the step. He took one look at her and clasped his hands over his newly bandaged nose. She ignored the implication that she was dangerous and kept on walking.
Morris eyed her carefully until he was sure they were going in different directions, and then hurried inside, only to come up short when he saw the preacher, naked as the day he’d been born.
“Oh! I apologize for the intrusion,” he said, and started back out the door when Eulis realized he was no longer alone.
“What’s that you say?” he asked, then frowned. “Dang, Morris, you don’t look so good.”
Morris gently fingered the bandage on his nose.
“Neither do you,” he countered.
Eulis sighed and nodded. “I reckon you’re right.”
Morris pointed toward the door. “Sister Leticia…”
“Yeah?” Eulis asked, as he soaped the underside of his chin.
“Well… wasn’t she just in here and—”
Eulis nodded. “Yes, what about it?”
Morris eyed Eulis’s skinny shanks and pot belly, then pointed at his dingus.
“You’re naked.”
“Yeah, well, it’s hard to take a bath without takin’ off your clothes,” Eulis added.
“But Sister Leticia… didn’t she—”
“She went to get some more water so’s she can clean up when I’m done. She’s right partial to her baths.”
Morris thought about it a moment and remembered how she’d been at Forney Calder’s way station.
“Yes, she did insist upon a bath, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, but there was the shit and all. Couldn’t blame her for wantin’ to clean up then, you know.”
Morris nodded then dropped onto the side of a cot. If they weren’t going to be bothered by the situation, he was too tired to care. He glanced down at the dust on his clothes and then eyed the basin of water.
“Do you think I might use some of that soap when you’re done?”
“It’s Sister Leticia’s, but I figure once she’s done she might let you use it, too.”
