The Delivery

by James Edwin Branch

  “No, ma’am, it don’t,” he replied.

  “No ma’am, it doesn’t,” she answered. “You shouldn’t use the word don’t there.”

  He shook his head and smiled at her.

  “Are you planning on teaching me to speak proper English as we travel?” he asked, and grinned at her.

  Seeing the grin, she laughed and said, “I’m sorry, I was trained to be a school teacher, and old habits die hard.”

  They both laughed as they continued walking. There was a sense of calm between them now. Though they were from completely different backgrounds, both of them seemed to bond easily. He posed no threat to her person, and his easygoing demeanor lent itself to a calming influence upon her.

  She could tell from the beginning that he meant her no harm. They were just two people as different as night and day, stuck in a situation neither had any control over.

  Chapter 4

  Prairie Chicken!

  They had walked along the rails for about three hours when Millicent began to limp slightly. The ladies boots she was wearing were fine for riding on the train, but not much good for a hike in the wilderness. They were fine leather ladies boots that laced up over her ankles. It was the heel on them that was giving her the trouble. Blisters were beginning to form on her feet, and he knew from observing her that if they didn’t solve her problem soon, she would be unable to travel.

  As they moved along, her situation seemed to be growing more critical. Finally, he decided they had better stop and let her rest. At that point, even she knew she was unable to walk any further without permanently damaging her feet.

  He chose a nice spot only a few yards from the rails that had several large boulders close together. A small stream to the east would provide them with fresh water.

  The boulders allowed Miss Millicent a fairly comfortable place to sit while he attempted to find them something to eat.

  He made a small pit and after searching for a couple of special stones, he struck them together several times until he managed to create a spark and ignite some kindling. Once it was burning, he began to blow on it. A small flame appeared before he threw on some wood he’d found nearby. They quickly had a roaring fire.

  “We can rest here for a spell while I try to find us some food and get you something you can wear on your feet. I’m certain those robbers are long gone now so I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them seeing this fire.”

  She seemed puzzled, but his actions had already proven to her that he was far more at home in their surroundings than she was. She sat comfortably on one of the rocks and watched him as he got busy.

  He pulled a long straight limb from a nearby tree and whittled at the end of it with a pocketknife he’d carried in his pocket until the limb had a nice sharp point. Once he’d fashioned the spear, he told her to wait there and he’d be back soon.

  “You stay here and wait for me, and I’ll get us something to eat.” He turned towards the brush and walked off confidently.

  She wasn’t as confident, but at the moment, he was all she had, so she waited. She sat there for more than an hour before he returned. She got nervous a few times wondering if he was really going to come back for her. Given that she couldn’t walk and the fire was so soothing on her aching feet, she just sat and waited patiently.

  When he returned, he had two large rabbits in his possession and immediately he began carefully skinning and cleaning them. After skinning the animals, he laid the hides out carefully near the fire.

  He roasted the rabbits he’d cleaned over the fire as she watched. Each rabbit was on a separate stick.

  “You know, I don’t even know your name,” she finally commented.

  “It’s Uriah,” he told her as he checked the meat searing over the fire.

  “That’s a wonderful name,” she replied, “What’s your last name?”

  “I never had one of those,” he replied, “Didn’t seem much point when I was little. I belonged to the man who owned the plantation, and no one expected that someday I’d be a free man.”

  “I guess you’ll have to choose one then,” Millicent replied.

  “I wasn’t aware that a man could do that if he didn’t already have one.”

  “Since you’re free now, you should be able to do anything you want,” she reasoned.

  He smiled and nodded before replying, “It seems like that, but it isn’t how the world works.”

  He smiled at her; in his mind, she appeared to have a sheltered way of seeing things.

  The remark caught her off guard. She wasn’t sure what he meant, and she wanted to continue the conversation, but the smell of the rabbit cooking along with the heat of the fire took over.

  “That sure does smell good,” she said as the smell of the rabbit cooking filled their small camp. He didn’t respond verbally, he just nodded and once again turned to check on the condition of the meat as it cooked over the open fire.

  Both of them were grateful just to be alive at that moment. The conflicts and political state of the world would just have to wait.

  Uriah smiled as he sat across from her and watched as the rabbit on the fire began to change to a golden brown. It wasn’t long after that before he removed one of the rabbits and tore off some meat for her. It was hot and his face contorted as he touched it the first time, pulling until a large piece of meat came off in his fingers.

  “Tastes pretty good,” he said as he took a bite and passed it along.

  “We used to call this prairie chicken,” he said as he pointed to the golden stripe that ran down the side of his trousers. “I was a buffalo soldier for quite a spell.”

  Millicent smiled and tried her best to appear ladylike as she pulled the meat off in pieces and ate it in tiny bites.

  “Thank you for the rabbit, kind sir, I was really getting hungry.”

  Uriah nodded and continued to eat. He marveled that she still seemed concerned about her manners even though they were in such dire straits.

  The second rabbit was on the spit and cooking. They had more than they needed, but Uriah was concerned they might not find food so easily the next day.

  He asked her for a piece of her petticoat after a while. She appeared a little apprehensive at first, but he explained that he needed the material to wrap up their extra meat.

  Once she understood why he wanted it, she quickly complied. She turned away from him, reached under her traveling dress, and tore a length of material from her petticoat.

  She was an eastern woman, and although she’d spent some time in the outdoors, a situation like the one they were in was totally out of her realm.

  He wrapped up the meat and then put some more wood on the fire. As soon as the fire was burning brightly, he told her that she should try to get some sleep. It was late afternoon by then, and the signs of the coming dusk were in the sky. They’d traveled several miles and used up the better part of the day.

  “You might as well rest. We won’t be able to travel until these hides cure a little. Your feet are way too sore to walk any further in those boots.”

  She nodded; she knew he was right, if she continued, she would have worn blisters on both of her feet.

  Millicent propped herself up on one of the rocks, and although she wasn’t terribly comfortable, she managed to drop off to sleep. He still had the small roll that he’d boarded the train with tied over his shoulder.

  He unwrapped the roll, took his thin blanket, and covered her gently with it. She nodded and managed a grateful grin.

  Uriah watched over her and stoked the fire most of the night. He was tired, but at best only closed his eyes for a few moments at a time. There were wild animals, big cats and bears in these parts. Although they probably wouldn’t invade the area around the fire, he still felt the need to keep watch.

  The following morning as dawn was breaking, Millicent hobbled down to the stream and washed up as best as she could. When she returned to the fire, she was still limping slightly from the boots she’d been we
aring. Her bare feet were slowing her progress as she neared the fire. The ground was littered with small stones and twigs from the trees.

  He watched her as she slowly came closer.

  Uriah told her to sit down and after checking the rabbit hides, he managed to form two moccasins from the hides and laced them to her feet and ankles using the laces from her boots. They were primitive and appeared more like sandals than shoes.

  She sat patiently while he fixed the hides to her feet.

  He was careful to be gentle with her and tried hard not to be threatening in any way. The sandals were warm and felt soft and comfortable, not stiff like the boots she’d walked in yesterday.

  “Deer hide would have been better, but you can’t always find a doe or a buck when you want one. Not to mention one of those might have been hard to kill since I only had that homemade spear.”

  She was already amazed that he’d managed the two rabbits, so his dismay over not being able to get a deer during his hunt fell on already grateful ears.

  When he finished lacing up the moccasins, he asked her to try them. He seemed pleased with how well his project had turned out.

  Millicent stood and walked around the fire a few times and then smiled at Uriah.

  “They feel pretty good,” she assured him, “and so much more comfortable than my boots.”

  “Those have soft bottoms, so you’ll have to be careful where you step, but you wouldn’t be able to walk much further in those fancy boots of yours anyway.”

  She nodded, and then sat back down and pulled the bottom lace off her dress. It was too long without the heels of her boots to elevate her and would have drug along the ground as they walked.

  She took what was left of her bootlaces that Uriah hadn’t used and tied the boots so she could throw them over her shoulder. It was obvious she didn’t intend to leave the boots behind.

  “They might not have boots like this where I’m going,” she said as she finished tying them.

  “You sound confident, Miss Millicent. Seems like you’re pretty sure we’re going to get to a safe place.”

  She laughed as she stood and wiggled her toes in her new moccasins.

  “I surely am, sir. I feel certain that you can get us to a town.”

  The moccasins spurred a confidence in her, and before she even hit the trail, she knew that the day ahead would be brighter.

  As they traveled, she asked him about his experiences.

  To her, he seemed quite skilled in the wilderness, and she was curious about it. Uriah told her stories of his days as a buffalo soldier after the war. He was proud of his service, and his chest seemed to be a little more pronounced while he told her his story.

  His descriptions of the Dakotas, the plains of Montana, and Wyoming made her eyes twinkle with wonderment.

  They walked for hours looking and listening for signs of another human being off in the distance. There was no sign at all until late in the day. When they came to the top of a ridge, Uriah spotted a cabin off in the distance. There was no way they could reach it by nightfall, so they had to make camp once more. The sighting of the cabin made Millicent’s heart leap for joy, but it was also a cause for concern for Uriah.

  Millicent began to move several stones so they could make a fire pit when Uriah stopped her.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Millicent, but I don’t think we should have a fire tonight.”

  “Why not?”

  “We got no idea who’s in that cabin or what kind of folks they are. If we build a fire, it will only serve to bring them down on us. It would be better if we reach them tomorrow and see if we can trust them before we go much farther and let our presence be known.”

  She didn’t know exactly why, but his plea made sense. They were in the middle of nowhere. If Uriah thought there was a reason for concern, she believed she should trust his judgment.

  As darkness approached, they managed as much comfort as they could. She knew he’d kept watch the night before, and she told him to rest and she would take the first watch. He protested, but she made it clear that angering a woman wasn’t in his best interest.

  He curled up and fell off to sleep. The hard ground didn’t seem to bother him, and he was asleep for four hours before she woke him. While he slept, she covered him with his blanket that he’d so freely offered her the previous night.

  When it was no longer possible for her to keep her eyes open, she shook him gently.

  “I’m so sorry to have to wake you, Uriah, but I don’t believe I can keep my eyes open another minute.”

  He sat up and looked up at the moon.

  “How long have I been asleep?”

  “Several hours, I think,” she answered.

  He nodded and motioned for her to get some rest. She didn’t argue with him this time, but instead found a spot on the ground and quickly dropped off to sleep.

  He sat on a rock and pulled some of the rabbit meat from the cloth, and chewed on it as he watched her sleep. He was wondering what made a grand lady like this decide to marry a man she didn’t even know.

  He didn’t have any romantic designs on her; it was more a curiosity with him. The more he learned about her, the less foreign she seemed. The misconceptions he had about her in the beginning were becoming more and more evident.

  As daybreak came, Uriah got his bearings and once again spotted the cabin off in the distance. He could see the chimney on top but there wasn’t any smoke rising from it.

  It was cool enough outside that he figured if it were inhabited, there would have been a fire. The temperature was beginning to take its toll on his traveling companion. She wasn’t as well adapted to the weather as he was, and the prior night’s temperature seemed to have chilled her to the bone. He knew he had to get her moving as quickly as possible if he wanted to keep her from becoming a victim of the chill. Exposure was always a risk with a tenderfoot in the wilderness.

  “I don’t see any signs of life out there, but we should be careful anyway,” he said as he pointed towards the cabin.

  She nodded, and within a few minutes, they walked off though the brush towards the distant cabin.

  It was nearly noon before they could make out most of the cabin as it came into view.

  “We’re getting fairly close now,” he cautioned, “You should wait here while I go see if it’s safe for us there.”

  “Oh, no you don’t!” she exclaimed. “If you’re going over there, so am I. You’re not leaving me out here alone again.”

  It seemed pointless to argue with her, so he finally agreed, but he made sure that she knew to be quiet. This deep in the woods can be a dangerous place. A lone woman traveling with a black man would be an easy target for riff raff and armed strangers.

  They had nothing for protection except the pocketknife that Uriah had in his pocket as they approached the cabin. He’d used his makeshift spear as a spit when they cooked the rabbits the previous day.

  The brush was overgrown around the cabin, and there were no signs of life. As they crept closer to the cabin, they spotted two gravestones off to the left side of the structure. They were crude and fashioned from large stones. There were names chiseled in each stone to show who was buried there.

  The first stone read:

  Winifred Kingman

  Wife

  1831-1867

  The second stone read:

  Charles Kingman Jr.

  Son

  1853 –1873

  They looked around the area and found no signs that the cabin had been inhabited for some time. When they entered, they found it dusty, full of cobwebs, and with traces of animals that had passed through it occasionally.

  Once they were inside, Uriah left her once again and went off to forage for food. She seemed quite content this time and was sure that he’d return.

  As he left, he noticed her starting to sweep out the cabin with an old broom she’d found in one corner. As she swept, she sneezed a couple of times. It made him smile as he walked off into the brus
h. Her eagerness to clean up the cabin and make it as comfortable as she could further convinced him that she was an exceptional woman and made him question her resolve to travel so far to meet a stranger.

  It seemed to him that she was not only pretty, but had a confident air about her. He wondered why she was traveling when he expected that she could find a husband right where she started. He didn’t understand that her beauty in that situation was almost a hindrance, not a help.

  He was gone for a couple of hours and returned with some wild berries and an assortment of edible items from the woods nearby.

  When he returned, he noticed that there was smoke coming from the chimney. As he entered, he looked at the fire, and she quickly countered his look of amazement.

  “Did you think you were the only one who could start a fire?”

  He gave her a little grin and answered quickly.

  “No, ma’am, I’m sure you’re quite able to take care of a home.”

  She’d swept out the cabin as best she could and had lit the fire. In the room was an old table that was barely standing. On top of the table was a primitive looking book. She’d been reading it while he was gone, and Uriah was curious about its contents, but he wasn’t willing to ask her. If he asked her what was in the book, she might have discovered that he couldn’t read.

  Although he liked her, he wasn’t sure how she’d react to him if she found out he had no formal education. As a slave, it was a strong back and calloused hands his master had been interested in, not his keen mind.

  “Not much serviceable game to be had out there, ma’am.”

  She smiled and looked over what he’d brought.

  “I’m sure we can at least fill our bellies with what you’ve managed to find. These are some fine looking wild greens and there were some vegetables growing in an old abandoned garden out back. It hasn’t been tended in years, but there was a little bit of everything back there.”

  Uriah smiled and watched as she went about preparing a stew. He’d never spent much time around a lady like her. He was expecting her to be completely different. All of his life, he’d been told these people were haughty and controlling. This woman seemed to be kind and without judgment. Uriah watched as she continued working, and she would occasionally glance over at him as if she wanted something.