by Paty Jager
It looked like a trip to the store was needed before she could do much of anything. Back in the school house, Alamayda tipped the box pulpit and slid the shotgun and shells into the box. She set it back upright, put on her hat, and picked up her reticule. She didn’t look forward to dealing with the store clerk alone, but it had to be done. Isaac was probably sleeping after working all night.
Walking to the store, she peered down the street. A handful of miners came out of the boarding house. It was close to eight o’clock. They would be men from the nightshift, but why were they out and about? They should be sleeping.
She fisted her hand tight around the strings of her reticule and hurried into the store, hoping none of the men noticed her.
Closing the door firmly behind her, she turned and discovered Mr. Jones watching her with a gleam in his eye she didn’t like.
“Good morning, Ma’am,” he said, walking toward her.
She scurried around the end of a table displaying men’s boots, socks, and unmentionables. “Good morning. I’d like to purchase a chamber pail, bucket, a women’s union suit, two pair of wool socks, and a pair of boots.” She’d decided to start slowly accumulating items she’d need while scouting for the mine. These items weren’t necessities considering it was June, but she’d hoped he’d over look that.
“That’s a strange order. And we don’t have any women’s union suits.” He smiled and eyed her up and down. “Don’t know why you’d want to wear men’s clothing. It don’t look near as good as that dress does on you.”
She ignored his answers which were scandalous.
“Please gather the other items while I find the clothing items I wish.” She spun away from him, heading toward the men’s union suits. She picked one up. It was too short. The next one was long enough but much too wide. A needle and thread could take care of that and would give her extra cloth to put pockets on the garment to hold whatever money she had left after purchasing her supplies.
She wandered to the wool socks and picked out two pair. Next would be the boots. She wanted sturdy boots. Women’s boots were made for flattering the female foot, not for working. She set the union suit and socks on a shelf by the boots and studied the few pairs that were available. They had to all be sturdy for they were sold to miners. Alamayda plucked a boot from the shelf and turned to ask the clerk if he had one in a smaller size.
She bumped into the man he was so close.
“What are you doing?” she asked, pushing her back against the shelving holding the boots.
“Just helping you find what you need.” Mr. Jones inched closer.
Alamayda dropped the boot, startling the clerk. When he leaned back, she put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her derringer.
“Back up. All the way to the counter,” she ordered. When he was halfway to the counter, she picked up the boot and threw it at him. “I would like a size smaller than this one.”
His eyes narrowed when the boot smacked him in the chest. He picked it up from the floor and disappeared into the back.
Alamayda’s hand shook as her mind realized she’d just pulled a gun on a man, and that she was lucky he’d backed off. Her jitters were getting under control when the door opened. Fearful to be caught in the middle of two randy men, she spun to the door with her derringer posed.
Mrs. Tisdale’s eyes widened behind her spectacles. “Oh my!” she exclaimed, her hand patting her chest.
“I’m sorry.” Alamayda shoved the weapon into her pocket and walked toward the woman. “Truly, I’m sorry.” She stopped a few feet from Mrs. Tisdale.
The older woman had regained her composure. “What made you feel the need to point a gun at someone walking through the door?”
Just then, the clerk walked out of the back with a pair of boots. “Ma’am, I could help you try these…” he spotted Mrs. Tisdale and his jaw snapped shut.
Alamayda inclined her head toward the clerk. “That is the reason.” She pointed at the counter. “Set the boots on the counter. I’ll try them on myself.” Picking up the boots, she said, “Why don’t you help Mrs. Tisdale while I see if I like these or not.”
Mrs. Tisdale frowned at Mr. Jones. “Here is my list. I’ll be right here until you get my things rounded up and Miss Wagner has finished her business in the store.”
Alamayda looked up from unlacing her boots. “Thank you,” she mouthed to the older woman.
Pulling off her boots, she pulled on a pair of the wool socks and tugged the boots she’d asked for over her feet. The boots went nearly to her knees. She stood and walked up and down the spaces between the tables of goods. Her feet didn’t slosh around too much and the length was good. She tied the laces of her boots together and walked up to stand beside Mrs. Tisdale at the counter.
“I heard you found a place to stay,” Mrs. Tisdale said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t take you in.”
“How is your grandson feeling?” Alamayda asked.
“He broke fever last night and woke hungry this morning.” The woman’s smile told Alamayda how much the boy meant to her.
“I’m glad he’s feeling better. I understand. The school is working well. I’ll only be here a few more days.” Alamayda noticed the bucket and chamber pot on the end of the counter. She placed the union suit and extra pair of socks in the bucket, placing the chamber pail on top of the clothing.
Mr. Jones came from the back room with Mrs. Tisdale’s items.
“Could you add up my merchandise along with the boots, please?” Alamayda asked.
The man added the price of the boots to his tally. “That will be six dollars and ninety cents.”
Alamayda opened her reticule. “I’d like a bar of soap and penny candy to make it an even seven dollars, please.”
The man put the soap in the bucket and wrapped up the candy, handing it to Alamayda as she placed seven dollars on the counter.
She pulled one stick of candy out of the package and handed the rest to Mrs. Tisdale. “This is for your family.” Alamayda stuck her candy in her mouth, grasped the bucket and left the store, feeling lighter and freer. She’d not only warded off the clerk’s advances, she only had herself to take care of and it felt freeing to help or give to others because she wanted to, not because it was expected of her.
She swung the bucket as she wandered to the school house.
“Miss Wagner! Miss Wagner!” a female voice called behind her.
Alamayda turned and found a plump woman standing on the boarding house porch waving a towel.
She turned and walked toward the boarding house. This must be Miss Bucholtz who Isaac had told her about. Alamayda smiled and walked up to the boarding house. “Hello?”
“I’m Bertha Bucholtz.” The woman held out a hand.
Alamayda stepped up onto the porch and shook hands. “Alamayda Wagner.”
“I saw you were headed back to the school. I didn’t know if Mr. Corum had extended my invitation to tea.” Bertha blushed.
“He did tell me. I wasn’t sure the best time to come and thought this was too early.” Alamayda switched her bucket into the hand holding her reticule.
“Come in. Now is the perfect time. I have the morning meal cleaned up and the noon meal started.” Bertha entered the boarding house with Alamayda close on her heels.
“Set your things by the door.” Bertha moved to a door in the back of the large room with two long tables. “I’ll get the tea. Have a seat up here near the kitchen.”
Alamayda wandered between the two tables and sat on the end nearest the door Bertha had disappeared through.
A moment later, Bertha returned carrying a tray laden with a teapot, two cups and saucers, and a small plate with cookies. She placed the tray on the table and sat on the bench across from Alamayda. “This is nice. I’m so busy, that my only quiet time is when the married women are busy with their families.” She poured tea in the two cups and placed one in front of Alamayda along with the plate of cookies.
Alamayda’s stomach grumbled.
>
“Tsk, you are not eating. All those are for you. A woman’s stomach should never growl. We need stamina to work.” Bertha moved the plate of cookies closer to Alamayda before sipping her tea.
“Thank you. I agree, we women do work hard,” Alamayda took what looked like a sugar cookie and bit into it. The confection melted in her mouth. She’d learned to cook at an early age but never thought much about making it more than filling. She sipped her tea and said, “This cookie is delicious!”
“Thank you. Baking and cooking are the things that I love to do.” Bertha picked up a cookie. “Where are you from?”
Alamayda had never sat at a table sipping tea, eating cookies, and chatting before in her life. She’d never had the free time to socialize. Coming west to find the mine was giving her experiences she’d not known she’d missed until now. She chatted freely with Bertha but didn’t give away why she was there other than to see her father’s burial place and gather his things.
“Are there men sleeping upstairs?” she asked, gauging whether or not she could look around her father’s bunk.
“Yes. There are usually men upstairs at any time during the day and night.” Bertha took a sip. “Why are you asking?”
“I just thought it would be nice to see where Father slept so I could tell my sisters and brother how he lived.” Alamayda could tell from her conversation with Bertha she believed in the togetherness of family.
Bertha held the teacup to her lips but didn’t drink. She peered across the cup at Alamayda. “There is a time in the evening when the ones who sleep during the day are down here eating before they head to their shift and the others haven’t gone off shift yet. You could sneak up and look then. But you’d have to be quick. If you were found up there…” Worry dulled Bertha’s eyes and slackened her lips.
“I would be fast. I promise. Which bed was his?” Alamayda asked, her heart thudding in her chest like a galloping horse.
“It was the third one from the stairs, on the left, bottom bunk.” Bertha went on to tell her to come to the kitchen at four-thirty to wait until she signaled for Alamayda to go up the back stairs.
“Thank you for the delicious cookies and your help,” Alamayda said, heading for the door and picking up her bucket.
“See you at four-thirty,” Bertha said, carrying the tray into the kitchen.
Alamayda set off at a brisk pace toward the school house. She had housekeeping to do before she returned to the boarding house.
***
Isaac woke feeling like he’d been trampled by a herd of work horses. It had been a while since he’d stayed awake as long as he had yesterday and coming off a bad night’s sleep. His eyes were still heavy with sleep, but Milton had come in twice to tell him to get moving if he wanted a meal before he stood another night shift.
Dressing, his stomach rumbled. He’d eaten breakfast but had decided to sleep all day and not wake for dinner. Supper would keep him going until morning. That and a couple of Miss Bucholz’s biscuits.
Walking to town, his mind wandered back to the subject that had kept him awake all night during his shift. Allie Wagner. She was a contradiction of so many things. So tough and older than her years one minute and innocent and youthful the next time he encountered her. She shifted from one to the other without realizing she’d never had a true childhood and trying to carry too many burdens. He hoped she did find a map to a gold mine and she found enough riches to make her life easier from here on out.
Isaac was about to walk up the steps of the boarding house when he caught sight of the woman in his thoughts ducking down the side of the boarding house. What could she be up to now?
He hurried to the spot where he’d seen her and spotted her talking to Bertha through the kitchen door. Allie stood outside the door her foot tapping. What was she waiting for?
She faced the kitchen door, nodded her head, and started up the back stairs to the upper level of the boarding house.
“She’s going to look for the map.” He headed down the side of the building and up the stairs. If she ran into a miner who didn’t happen to go down to supper, there was no telling what could happen.
Chapter Eleven
Alamayda opened the door to the men’s sleeping quarters with care, peeking in and making sure no one still lingered. When she was certain everyone had gone down to eat, she slipped in the door and headed across the room toward the stairs leading up from the dining area. She counted the beds and found the one Bertha said was her father’s. Remembering what Isaac had said about two men sharing a bunk, she knew if her father left her a clue it would have to be where no one else would think to look.
She dropped to her knees between the bunks and tapped the floor boards with her knuckles, listening and feeling to see if one might be loose. That method came up with nothing. She lowered to her belly and peered under the bed. It was dark, but she noted these bunks weren’t made of rope. There were boards holding up the mattresses. Rolling to her back, she slid farther under the bunk and pushed up on the boards to see if there was anything between the boards and the frame. She’d checked the boards from the head to the middle of the bed when something tugged on her feet. Another pull and her body started sliding out from under the bed. She kicked with her legs but kept her mouth firmly shut so as not to bring more miners up the stairs.
“Stop. It’s Isaac.”
Alamayda stopped kicking and said, “Let go. I’m not done looking.”
“Well, hurry. You shouldn’t be up here at all.”
She pushed up the boards on the far side, nothing. She started at the foot of the bed on the side nearest her. A corner of a piece of paper came into view. She shoved up on two boards at once as her heart raced. I found it! She couldn’t hold the boards up and grab the paper at the same time.
“Isaac, get down here,” she said in a loud whisper.
“What?” his face appeared under the bunk.
“Grab the paper on the frame where these boards were sitting.” She nodded toward the space she’d made by pushing the boards up.
He felt with his hand and came up with the paper. He disappeared out from under the bed and she replaced the boards.
A tug on her feet pulled her out from under the bed. He grasped her hands, pulling her to her feet. “Here.” He shoved the paper in her hands and led her to the back stairs she’d come up. “Get out of here before someone comes up to get ready for work.”
Isaac couldn’t move Allie fast enough to get her out of the miner’s bunks. He’d helped her to get her gone before someone came up the stairs. At the door, he grasped her hand and shoved the door open, leading her down the stairs and around the back of the store so no one would know she came from the boarding house.
“Whoa, what’s the hurry?” Allie asked, tugging her hand from his and stopping when they were alongside the store and out of view of anyone in town.
“One of the miners could have come upstairs any minute. It doesn’t take long for some of them to eat.” Isaac stared at the woman. Her pink cheeks highlighted the sparkle in her eyes. She’d liked the adventure.
“Bertha said she’d keep them busy. You dragged me away before I could tell her I was out.” Her happiness darkened and she frowned at him.
“You go get locked in the school. I’ll tell her you’re out.” Isaac turned to head back to the boarding house.
“After you tell her and eat, come by the school. I have something to discuss with you.” Her pink cheeks darkened in an embarrassed blush.
“I won’t have much time. I’m late getting to eat and I’ll have to take my shift in an hour.” He’d never been late for work since taking on the job of a mine guard for Michael Morgan, but since getting a letter from this woman, he’d become an unreliable employee.
“I’ll know more of what I want to say after I read what I found.” Allie headed toward the school then turned. “See you soon,” she offered and strode toward the school, her back covered in dust.
Isaac grinned and loped over to
the boarding house. He opened the kitchen door. Bertha spun around but frowned when she saw Isaac. He smiled. “Miss Wagner isn’t upstairs anymore,” he said and closed the door. He walked to the front of the boarding house and entered. He was thankful Miss Bucholz had kept the men in their places with large pieces of cake.
He took an open seat and started dishing up from the large bowls and platters still on the table. The rest hadn’t left him much, but it was enough. He was the last person eating when Miss Bucholz came in to clear the tables.
“How did you know we had a guest?” Miss Bucholz asked.
“I saw her and asked what she was doing. She told me, and I made sure she got away without being seen. She insisted I tell you she’d gone.” He poured another cup of coffee from the large pot in the middle of the table. The beverage was lukewarm, but he needed the brew to prepare for whatever it was Allie planned to ask him.
The cook smiled and continued packing dishes into the kitchen. Isaac finished his cake and coffee and headed to the school.
***
Alamayda stared at the map. The only thing that made sense was the X that said Wagner Mine over it. Other marks on the map were humps with the word, mountains, written over them, an eye shape that had the word lake written across it, and a square with the word Haskell. She sat down on her makeshift bed and stared at the paper. She turned it over hoping she’d missed written directions, but there weren’t any.
A knock on the door reminded her Isaac was dropping by.
“Coming.” She left the map sitting on the bed and hurried across the room to let him in.
Lifting the board, she heard more than one set of feet. It wasn’t Isaac. She ran back across the room and shoved the map in her skirt pocket and picked up the shotgun.
“Who’s there?” she asked, not going near the door.
“Just a couple of us miners wanted to welcome you to Morgan’s Crossing,” said a deep voice.
“There’s no need to welcome me, I’m not staying. Go on to work.” She crept up to the door to listen.
Someone banged. “That ain’t no way to treat people who’ve come to be sociable.”
