Bears of Burden: HUTCH

by Candace Ayers

  The foreman fired Dick on the spot. The company didn’t buy axes for the lumberjacks. They had to have their own. If a man didn’t have an axe, he didn’t have a job.

  Dick walked down the dusty dirt road headed towards Hatchet without hope.

  Hatchet was Dodge City in the wilderness. Seven hundred people lived there in chaos. The citizens of Hatchet hadn't elected a sheriff or mayor yet. Most didn't stay in Hatchet for any longer than it took to buy a mule, a pan for finding gold and a few provisions.

  CHAPTER 2

  Etienne didn’t think about Dick. He shrugged. Bad luck happened to everyone. If it was your turn to be under a falling tree, that was the way it was. Sympathy didn’t change anything.

  Etienne took up a lot of space. He stretched up to six feet five inches tall and out far enough to discourage bar fights. Anybody with a grudge or a temper looked at Etienne and walked away.

  After work, he caught a ride into Hatchet and found Dusty’s Saloon. He wore the same clothes he worked in; rough shirt, heavy pants and lumberjack boots. He took a seat at one of the tables scattered around Dusty’s and watched the stage.

  The curtain rose and a line of dancers flowed in. The girls lifted their skirts high and kicked their legs. They whooped and hollered and the men whooped and hollered.

  Etienne watched for a minute and noticed his vision had narrowed to the fourth girl from the left at the exclusion of everyone else. His soul concentrated as well. He made a decision. When Etienne made a decision, it took dynamite to change it.

  Etienne had a reputation. He wasn’t mean, but he got what he wanted. The fourth girl from the left had everything Etienne thought he would ever need. She had intelligent eyes and a pleasant smile. He noticed the curve of her legs, the slope of her breasts and her thin waist.

  He stood up, walked slowly but with purpose across the room and up on the stage. The girls stopped dancing to watch him. Everybody in the saloon watched him. He didn’t notice. Without a word, he threw the fourth girl from the left over his shoulder and walked off the stage.

  He didn’t know it, but the girl noticed him thirty seconds before he saw her. She liked his great, rough face. It looked like it had been cut out of a heavy log with only the biggest tools. His broad shoulders and heavy arms made her heart tingle. They looked sturdy and safe to her. Ten seconds after she saw him, she decided she was going to marry him and give him babies.

  When he walked onto the stage, she stepped forward while the other girls retreated. She placed herself in front of him and smiled.

  She happily found herself on his shoulder with her skirt falling down her back. He patted her rump and grunted. She waved at her friends in the dancing troupe and said, “I am being carried off by a big mans with many muscles. Au revoir, mes ami, au revoir.”

  Veronique Despain was twenty-four, with lustrous hair the color of a sunset and blue eyes. She had a voluptuous, curvy figure. She had to. Dance troupes don’t hire skinny girls to dance in front of burly, frontier men.

  Etienne climbed the stairs and found an empty room. He dropped Veronique on the floor on her feet and reached for the buttons on her costume. He stopped when her soft hands landed on his. She didn’t try to keep his hands still. She simply touched him, and he stopped moving. She said, “Just a short moment, my huge friend. You can have me, but I want some information before you do. What is your names?”

  Etienne’s voice carried wonder and surprise. Nobody’d ever stopped him from taking what he wanted before. This little girl did it just by touching him. He said, “Etienne Beauregard.”

  “That is a fine name.” She let go of his hands and ran her hands up and down his arms and across his chest. “You are very big. I like that. The big mans gets to me every time. I am Veronique Despain.”

  She made him look into her eyes. She studied his with intensity. She said, “Yes. I see it. We have the future, my man of many muscles. You and me.” She found a stool in the corner of the room and stood on it in front of Etienne.

  She grabbed his hands and planted them on her breasts. She held both of them against her with one hand and stroked his cheek with the other. “You must listen to me. Your life isn’t yours any more. It’s ours. Trust me. You won't mind. Not even a little bit. I will give you much more than I take.”

  Etienne’s eyes narrowed. Veronique saw it and pulled the hand that had been caressing his cheek back to rest on his hand. She held both of his hands on her breasts. Neither moved. She said, “Look at me, my fine strong man. Look into my eyes.”

  Etienne didn’t have a choice. He stared at her eyes with intense concentration.

  She moved his hands, and her breasts underneath, around her chest. She squeezed his hands, and he squeezed her lovely mounds in turn. She said, “Feel me. Feel my breasts. They are yours and yours alone. No other mans will touch me. Ever. Just you. Do you understand that which I say?”

  She left his hands on their own and held his cheeks with both of hers. “Answer me, my dear. I am telling you the future. We are together forever, you and I, but you have to say ‘yes’.”

  He didn’t talk. She saw comprehension in his eyes, but his mouth didn’t move. She pushed his hands away from her body and held them in the air. “Don’t do the movements for a minute.” She shook a finger at his hands. "Stay." She paused to make sure his hands obeyed. "Good boys."

  She quickly undid the top of her costume and let it drop to her waist. Etienne studied her bare breasts as if they were a map to true happiness. She let him look for a long time then brought his hands back to her, now bare, breasts. He molded his hands onto her body.

  He moved his hands gently, allowing his rough palms to slide across her soft mounds. She felt his calluses catch and pull at her tender skin. She smiled. “That is good. Do that more.”

  After a few minutes, Etienne looked like a man who’s been struck between the eyes with a heavy board.

  Veronique brought his head up to look at her eyes. “Can you hear me, my big, burly fellow? Look at my eyes, again.” She waited until they were both in the same universe. “I will give myself to you now, but you must agree to have me as your woman all of your lives. I am to be your only woman. Do you understand?”

  He nodded.

  “I will ask you again tomorrow when you aren’t insane with the need for my lovings. If you say ‘yes’ again, we are together forever.” She pushed his hands away again and slipped out of her skirt and frilly panties. She said, “Take your clothes off too. I won’t be the only one naked.”

  Etienne ripped off his shirt and threw it across the room. His hands seemed to move so quickly that he’d taken off his pants, shoes and socks before his shirt hit the floor.

  He moved to lift her up, but she stopped him again with a touch. “Wait. I must tell you somethings. I am not the fragile woman. You don’t need the soft touches to please me. Also, I like the mans who grunts and howls as he takes me. You can do that too.” She kissed him very quickly. “Stand there, still as the statue. I must pay the attentions to your manhood.”

  She dropped off the stool and fell to her knees. She stroked his half-hard erection. “What a cock. How big and hard. Will it fit inside of me, I wonder? We shall have to make the attempt.”

  She inhaled the head of his cock and sucked. She held onto the shaft with both hands and pumped him up and down. After a minute, she held his walnut-sized balls with one hand and pumped his shaft with the other.

  She lifted her head and licked her lips. Her hands kept doing their job. “Que Magnifique. What a man.”

  She stood up and held her arms out on either side. “I turn myself over to you. Do to me what you want. I am not the doll made of china. I will not break.”

  Etienne picked her up effortlessly with his hands under her arms. He turned and rammed her into the wall and followed up by slamming his body into hers. She said, “Oof. That was strong. I may be broken somewhere.” She smiled. “But I liked it. I really did.”

  Etienne spread her legs with his
and pushed himself against her hips. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clasped her hands in back of his neck.

  She pulled him in for a kiss. He pushed against her and the back of her head bumped against the wall.

  Etienne supported her with his hips blocked against hers. He broke the kiss and leaned back. Veronique said, “What will you do to me now?”

  Etienne ran his coarse hands over her chest and breasts then her shoulders and neck. He didn't stop for many minutes. The harsh skin on his palms rubbed her delicate skin like sandpaper. He didn’t stop. Veronique looked at him in wonder as her skin became hot and red. She said, “That is new. I know nothing of this thing you do. I like it.” She grabbed his hands and put them directly on her breasts again. “Do my lovely pillows. I want to see what you do to me. What it makes inside me.”

  Etienne made his hands more forceful. Her breasts glowed a deep red. He paused from time to time to pinch and twist the delicate flowers on the tips of her breasts. She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes. She held his wrists with her hands and encouraged him.

  Abruptly, her breathing slowed down and her eyelids opened halfway. She groaned. “That is so wonderful. Never have I felt this before.”

  She began to gulp and work at breathing. It seemed to her that the air in the little room had become thick with the essence of aroused bodies. She inhaled deeply, smelling his intense male odor and her elegant female smell riding along on top of it. She felt her body melt into his at that moment.

  She moved her hips around and let them drop down. She found his cock and nestled it into her entrance. Her sleepy eyes met his. Her voice was little more than a whisper, “Go slowly, mon amor. You don’t want to hurt me, do you?" She waited until he shook his head. “Bon. I can make you very happy with the loving and the cooking, but I won’t be hurt.”

  She sunk down a few inches, groaning and whimpering. She closed her eyes. “This does hurt, but I need to feel it hurt me.” She opened her eyes enough to see him. “Do you understand? You are taking me, but I also am taking you. The hurt tells me that you are mine. I have to hurt to win you. It is what the woman does for her man.” She sunk down all the way, whining and moaning over every inch of his penetration.

  He filled her completely. She opened her eyes again just a little bit. “We do not do any further for a moment. I must get used to your size. You are the very big man. It is nice for me, but it will take a bit of time to grow accustomed to you.” She smiled. “Is it the right word in the English? ‘Accustomed’?”

  Etienne said, “Yes. Perfect.” She smiled again. “You haven’t made the talk before now. You have the deep, manly voice I enjoy.” She sighed from all the way down. She kept sighing and moving her hips around. She lowered herself down even further. After a few minutes, she smiled. Her face relaxed into happy acceptance. “Bon, I have made the adjustment. More.”

  Etienne whirled around and put her on the bed on her back. He kept his penetration of her body. She smiled and pulled her knees higher on his back. “Mount me, my stallion. Do not be the gentleman. I want you to be rough in your taking of me.”

  Etienne pounded into Veronique. Her belly and breasts shook with the force of his blows. She smiled as he did it.

  They held the same rhythm and penetration for a long time. Suddenly, Veronique’s mouth fell open and her eyes retreated up into her head. She arched her back and trembled like land suffering an earthquake. Her arms flailed against the bed, and she cried out in time with the contractions of her orgasm.

  Etienne lifted his face to the ceiling and howled in triumph. Veronique recovered enough to grin at his compliment.

  Male voices howled in response on either side of them. Veronique laughed, "We have made the hit with the others doing the same thing."

  Etienne started his climb to orgasm. He paused enough to groan, “Baby?” before he increased the depth and tempo of his movements.

  Veronique touched his cheek. “My sweet. I want your babies. Make your seed inside me. Maybe we’ll have the luck.”

  She felt him stiffen and lengthen then stop. His pulsing, pumping cock delivered ten bursts of semen inside her. She curled her body toward him as he did it. She groaned long and low and closed her eyes.

  He fell down on her, letting all of his weight press her into the mattress. He mumbled, “Too heavy?”

  She brought him closer with her legs around his rump and her arms around his chest. “No, mi amor. It is the weight I deserve. I earned it. I have given you myself and this is my reward.”

  The next morning, they made love again. Veronique paused on her way to the bathroom. Etienne sat on the bed and watched her. She said, "Now, it is the morning. You are happy with your cummings in my body and relaxed. The passion doesn't push you so much at this moment. Last night, I said I would ask again. We will be together as one person for the rest of our lives, leaving out any other who would intrude? What is your answers, big fellow? Are you man enough to keep me happy?”

  Etienne got up quickly, with surprising grace, and held her in his arms. He kissed her with commitment. When the kiss ended, she said, "My, you have almost made me aroused like the first time. But you have to say the word. Are we the couples? Are we going to have babies and raise them as one person?"

  His voice was heavy and clear. Veronique knew men. He said, "Yes", and she knew he'd keep his word.

  CHAPTER 3

  They dressed and walked up the street in the little mining town. Dick Harden passed them. He saw Etienne. His expression would have killed lesser men. He spat at Etienne's boots and grumbled something obscene. Etienne paid no attention.

  Veronique said, "Why does that man give you the dislike, mon amor? He has hate in his heart toward you."

  "We worked in the same camp. His axe broke, and he got fired. I had a spare and wouldn't give it to him. It's not my problem."

  Veronique held his arm and made him stop walking. "That is wrong. When someone else wants an important thing, and you can help; you have to help. God will punish you if you don't." She saw that her argument didn't penetrate beyond the surface of his eyes. "Let me ask you the question. What if it had been around the other way, your axe did the breaking and he had the other axe instead. How would you feel?"

  "Same as he does. It's still not my problem."

  "Listen to me. This is important. Do you credit me? Do you think I have the wisdom? Answer me."

  Etienne took a deep breath. "Yes. I credit you with wisdom."

  "Bon. The world makes things even. If you hurt someone this afternoon, the world makes someone else hurt you tomorrow morning. It goes the other way, backwards, too. If you help someone, someone else helps you. You must give to get. Do you understand?"

  Etienne gave that some thought. "Yes, I understand."

  "You are big and powerful, but that will not always be. Help that man. You will need his help sometimes again."

  Etienne nodded.

  Veronique waited. "Now, my handsome fellow. Now."

  Etienne grinned. "You think I'm handsome?"

  "Yes. Brutish, like the cave mans, but handsome. Why do you stand before me still? Catch up to that mans and help him."

  Etienne ran down the street. Buildings along the way didn't actually shake as he loped past, but they could have. He spotted Dick walking quickly and angrily along the sidewalk. Etienne caught up with him. Dick turned, still angry. "What do you want?"

  "I've got to help you. My woman told me I should have done it yesterday. She's right. Let's get you an axe and get your job back."

  Dick couldn't move. He was so used to life giving him a kick that he couldn't process something nice. Etienne put his arm around his shoulders. "Let's get this done." Etienne steered Dick into a hardware store. They bought an axe and some decent work clothes.

  We don't always see the changes in our life when they happen. They seem too insignificant to notice. Etienne didn't notice his character change at that moment. He looked Dick in the eyes and saw gratitude
and something else. Etienne said, "When was the last time you had some grub?"

  "Two days ago. I haven't been paid yet."

  "You can't go without eating. You'll fall over."

  Etienne bought him a meal and gave him enough money to eat for the rest of the week. Dick tried to keep the tears out of his eyes and failed. "Thanks. You rescued me."

  Etienne said, with sincerity, "I'm glad I could help." He ran out of the cafe and found Veronique looking in a store window at some very silly hats. Etienne said, "I made it right. I bought him an axe and some clothes and a meal. I know where the foreman lives. I'll talk to him this afternoon."

  "Very good. It feels better. The giving of the good instead of the bad. It makes you happy, does it not."

  Etienne's face lit up in surprise. "It does." He grinned. "Damn all. That's a surprise."

  Something occurred to Veronique. "He didn't have the meals since when?"

  "Two days. I bought him some grub and gave him some money. He'll be able to eat until he gets paid."

  "Bon." She kissed him on the cheek. "You are the good mans as well as the big one. Bon."

  CHAPTER 4

  Ten years later, Etienne and Veronique, now his wife, moved to the bigger city of Victoria. Etienne worked as a town marshal. Veronique tended to their three children, two girls and a boy.

  It was dinner time. Veronique put food on dishes and set the dishes on a tray. She called, "Angelique, Jean Paul, come for the tray to give to Mrs. Peters."

  A beautiful girl, age eight, and a handsome boy, age seven, ran into the kitchen. Veronique handed Angelique the tray and covered it with a towel. Jean said, "Why do we take food to Mrs. Peters every day, mama?"

  Etienne answered, "Because she doesn't eat if we don't. She loses track of time and forgets."

  Jean continued, "But why do we do it?"

  Veronique said, "We have the communications problem on this. She won't eat unless we take it to her. Comprendre, mon amor?"