Slow John

by C. J. Petit

  “I will.” he replied and kissed his beloved mamai on the forehead and turned to find Kate.

  Kate had been asked many of the same questions that John had been asked, and gave the same answer. She was looking for John at the same time he was stepping down from the porch looking for her. She smiled at her sisters once more before saying she had to go to talk to John and waving as she left the group.

  As she departed, Maggie said to Eliza, “That’s our old Kate again, not the one on the wagon train. How did that happen, do you think?”

  Eliza watched her sister as she reached for John and replied, “I’m pretty sure that Slow John Flynn had something to do with it.”

  Maggie was watching as well and when she saw them together, she had no doubt that Eliza was right.

  Mary watched Slow John and Kate and knew she had been right all along, but mistaken about the location.

  Kate bounced up to John, who took her hand as they walked back to their horses.

  “Is everything all right now, Kate?”

  “Everything is wonderful, John.”

  “I’m very happy for you, Kate. I told my family we’d meet in the main room after we put away the animals, is that alright?”

  “That’s what I said as well. Can I help unsaddling the horses?”

  “Of course, you can. Dennis, Patrick and my father all want to help, too. I think they all have eyes on some of the horses. I was planning on giving Arrow to my father and keeping the big black. You keep Bow and that Winchester, which I still have to show you how to use, by the way. I’ll give one horse to Dennis and another to Patrick and you’ll have three more to distribute. The mules will be a welcome addition to both families, maybe more than the horses.”

  John reached up and took the black’s reins as Kate took Bow’s and they began leading the strings of horses and mules toward the barn. The three remaining Flynn men and the sole male Walsh all walked hurriedly toward the barn to assist and find out what Kate and John’s plans were for the animals.

  As the women went into the kitchen to prepare lunch, Eliza mentioned that she hadn’t see Jack anywhere.

  Maggie said, “That’s right, Eliza. Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him since we first spotted Kate and John.”

  “I thought I saw him leaving right after Mama Flynn said that it was Slow John coming.”

  Maggie laughed and said, “That makes sense. Patrick said that Slow John could get Jack shaking just by looking at him. He said that John would be able to get him to treat Eliza better, too.”

  “But why would he leave so soon? Slow John didn’t know anything that was going on yet, and Jack would be able to talk to him first, if he stayed around. I guess I don’t know Jack as well as you two do.” said Martha.

  “I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. Imagine the stories they must have. How did Slow John find our Kate? Then, they must have spent a lot of time alone together, too. That’s almost like a legendary tale of a knight in shining armor rescuing a fair damsel.” Eliza added with a laugh.

  Maggie said, “In this case, the knight didn’t wear shining armor, he wore the blue of a Union cavalry officer.”

  _____

  As they began to strip the animals, John started explaining how they would deal with all the horses and mules.

  “Papa, Kate and I have no use for all these animals. We each have our own horse, so I’d like you to have Arrow, right there. He was my horse when I left the army and has incredible stamina. Dennis and Patrick, you can choose after Mr. Walsh finds a horse he likes. After that, Kate takes over with the last three horses. Now, one of the mules, the one we call Moe, has been with me since I left Omaha sixteen days ago, but he’d probably enjoy farm work more than lugging things across the state. Eeny, Meeny, and Miney can be used around the farm, too.”

  Dennis laughed and said, “Really, Slow John? Eeny, Meeny, Miney and Moe?”

  “You try to come up with better names for four stupid mules. It’s not as simple as you might think. Now, about the guns. Through different methods on the way here, in addition to the horses and mules, Kate and I accumulated quite an arsenal of weapons. There are four Henry rifles, so you each get one. I’ll give you each a pistol and gunbelt later, as well, when I distribute some ammunition.”

  It was only then that Patrick noticed that Jack was missing.

  “Say, where’s Jack?” he asked loudly, scanning the barn for their youngest brother.

  Without hesitation, John replied, “He’s run away, and if he’s smart, he’ll never show his face around here again.”

  Everyone except Kate was stunned, and John didn’t wait for any questions.

  “For now, just understand that he has a lot to answer for when I find him, and I will. We’ll explain later.”

  They were all overwhelmed by John’s calm, definitive statement about Jack, and wondered what he had done to deserve it. Each man came up with the same conclusion: it had to do with Kate. To a man, they wanted to get the animals put away, so they could hear the stories.

  _____

  Jack had gone north for two miles before circling back to the west and then south again toward North Platte. He had no idea where he would go, but he knew he had to get away. He knew Slow John would come after him and wouldn’t want to talk about what had happened.

  As he rode, he kept wondering how this had happened. It was one thing for Slow John to arrive or even for Kate to reappear, but for them both to return together? That was impossible! After he had used the word, Jack realized that it was just that – impossible. He began to think that this had all been arranged; a show put on for his benefit. He had never gotten a good look at either of those two riders. The more Jack thought about it, the more he began to believe he had been tricked into running.

  The logic behind his belief overlooked the presence of all the horses and mules, among other things. If someone were going to trick him into running, why would they have provided so many animals for no reason whatsoever?

  But, Jack was desperate, and he needed to believe that someone had wanted him out of the way, and his only question now was who?

  Jack began to think, going down his list of family that would benefit by his departure. He didn’t have any enemies outside of the family, so it had to be a family member who had set this up. He started at the top and tossed that idea aside immediately. His parents wouldn’t have done it.

  Jack thought about Dennis and Martha, especially his older brother. Dennis had talked to him more than once about his treatment of Eliza, so it might be Dennis. But then, when he thought about Patrick, he knew he had the most likely culprit. Patrick not only had talked to him as Dennis had, but he was married to Maggie, and Maggie had told him twice to stop bothering her. She probably complained to Patrick and then, he had hatched this plan, maybe with Dennis’s or Maggie’s help. Hell, it would have had to take all of them! His own mother had started the charade by shouting that the man in the uniform was Slow John, and he recalled that only two days earlier he had made Eliza cry when he had said that the only way Kate would return would be if Slow John escorted her in his army uniform. Oh, yes, they were all in on it.

  Jack nodded as he rode. Yes! This was it! Patrick had arranged this whole charade just to make him run away. All he needed was to get someone to dress in an army uniform and ride in with some woman and then, they’d all pretend that they saw Slow John and Kate, knowing he’d have to run away.

  Jack began a slow burn, and decided he wouldn’t make some mad dash to someplace he didn’t want to go. He’d beat them at their little game. How he could do that hadn’t come to him yet, but he was determined to make them pay for their foolish attempt.

  _____

  The families had to drag chairs from every other room to give everyone someplace to sit, except for Slow John who stood near the fireplace. He had removed his saber because it was getting annoying, and now was ready to begin his stories.

  Before he started, he asked Kate to come over and stand with
him, because this was as much about Kate, if not more so, than it was about him. As she took her position next to him, they smiled at each other and then John began.

  “I’m not going to bother talking about anything that happened before I left Bellevue on the 13th of April. I’ll talk about that later after we get past the events of the past two and a half weeks. I’m sure the biggest question you all have is how Kate and I both arrived together. I’ll let Kate explain how she wound up near Plum Creek first.”

  Kate looked at the assembled families, then glanced at John for support. John took her hand and Kate knew she could do this.

  “I’m going to tell everyone what happened the night I went missing.”

  And she did exactly that. She left out no details of that night and her subsequent stay with the Willoughbys and then the terrifying six weeks with the Murphys. When she told about her rescue by Slow John, they shared a brief look, before she looked back at the stunned families and continued.

  When she reached the escape from Plum Creek, she let John take over the showdown with the Murphy boys, even telling how he had run down and shot Kevin Murphy with no attempt to gloss over the action.

  Then, he told about the confrontation with the four men east of Cayote, which provided the horses and rifles. He left out the money, so he and Kate still had the flexibility. She didn’t say anything about it either because there was no point in bringing it up any more than talking about John’s personal bank about his waist.

  When they had finished, the families sat in silence as they all digested what they had heard. The men all understood why Slow John had said what he did in the barn about Jack, and they all agreed with his position.

  But the biggest reaction came from Eliza, who looked at Kate and said quietly, “I’m carrying his baby. My husband is a monster.”

  Kate quickly hurried to her young sister and put her hand on her swollen belly and said, “Your baby is going to be perfect, Eliza, just like you.”

  Eliza sniffed and smiled at Kate. “It’s so good to have you back the way you were, Kate.”

  As Kate passed in front of her, Martha’s hand suddenly went to her mouth and she said, “Ida!”

  John and Kate had no idea what she had just said, but everyone else did.

  “Ida Mitchell!” added Maggie. “Now it makes sense.”

  Maggie turned to Kate and said, “Kate, do you remember Ida and James Mitchell? They had a little boy?”

  Kate nodded, almost afraid to hear what she knew was coming.

  Maggie continued, “Just a few months after you went missing, Ida Mitchell was found dead at the bottom of a ravine. Her head had been caved in, and everyone assumed that she had fallen, but her husband swore she had been assaulted and murdered. He pointed out that her dress had been buttoned all the way to the top and Ida never buttoned the top one. He claimed that someone raped her, killed her, and then dressed her again. Everyone thought he was just a grieving husband, but now we know. It was Jack.”

  Kate was stunned, but then felt guilty for being grateful that she hadn’t been killed. Learning of Ida Michell’s death brought back those six weeks of hell and how many times she had wished that she had died that night in the river, and she found herself shivering.

  Kate needed to get past all these bad memories. She looked down to her right, reached over and took John’s hand, and as his long fingers closed over hers, she felt the warmth and strength and let the sad thoughts wash away.

  John now had another reason to find Jack. But until Eliza had said what she did, John hadn’t realized that Eliza had married Jack, and that had taken him aback. Then when he looked at Dennis sitting with Martha and a little boy on her knee, and Patrick sitting with Maggie and their little girl, he was struck with how much had changed and how little he knew. It would take some time to catch up. But he, like Kate, who was still clutching his hand, wanted to get past the bad news.

  “Well,” John said, “that’s the story about how we arrived here. We can explain more, and you can tell us what we’ve missed. I can see I’ve missed a lot just by seeing tiny people over there, so something surely must have happened.”

  Everyone laughed releasing the tension that had been building since Kate’s revelation and then the connection to Ida Mitchell.

  Kate knew it was a good time to try what she’d been practicing.

  She glanced up at John, smiled, then turned to the still happy faces and said, "Tá mo chroí agat.”

  John felt his stomach plunge. He knew none of his brothers could speak Gaelic, but his parents had taught him and surely knew what Kate had just said, but he was unsure of the Walshes. It only took him a few seconds to read the confusion in the eyes of the Walshes to understand they couldn’t understand what she had just said, but he worried about his parents’ reaction.

  Mary Flynn smiled at Kate and replied, “Thank you, Kate. That’s very sweet.”

  Kate looked back at John beaming. She had been practicing the Gaelic since that night, hoping to get a chance to use it in front of everyone. John just smiled at Kate, just because she was Kate.

  Everyone began milling and talking to Kate and John and filling in a lot of holes that had been created over the years, and Kate’s Gaelic announcement, telling them she was glad to be home was forgotten.

  _____

  Jack arrived in North Platte and had come up with his own plan for how to pay Patrick back for his devious plot. The more he had thought about what they had done, the more ridiculous it had sounded. Patrick must think he was an idiot.

  Jack knew, as all the members of the two families did, who the anti-Irish crowd were. Jack was taking a risk that they might just be happy to release their hatred out on him, but he thought if he approached one of the less nasty ones, he might be able to get something done.

  He trotted the mule to the saloon, which he had only entered twice, and the second time had been less than pleasant as it had been full of fellow Irishmen on a drinking binge just after payday. After they discovered he was Irish, they began insisting on buying him drinks until he was so inebriated, that when he headed home, he found that he wound up sleeping in his parents’ bedroom on the floor. When his mother had fallen over his somnolent self in the morning, his father had been more than just a little displeased. Jack swore he wouldn’t go back to the saloon again.

  Well, that promise meant nothing anymore. None of them deserved any sympathy after what they had all obviously conspired to do to him.

  He stepped down from the mule and walked into the saloon. It shouldn’t be too busy at this time of day, and it wasn’t. He quickly scanned the room to make sure that Handy Lewis or Lou Harrison weren’t there, and he counted himself lucky when he spotted Pete Smith sitting at a table with Swede Jorgensen. He quickly pulled the money out of his pocket and was gratified to find he had over eighty dollars. It was the most cash he had ever had, and he felt like he belonged now.

  He sauntered up to their table and Pete Smith’s head swiveled his way, but didn’t show a particularly hostile face, so Jack continued.

  “What do you want, Flynn?” asked Pete.

  “I’ve got some information that you boys might like.” Jack replied.

  “Now what information could you have that we’d care about at all?”

  “I know where the Walshes and my parents keep their hidden money. They must have over five hundred dollars each.”

  Now, that information most assuredly did interest both Pete and Swede, but they didn’t want to show their hands yet.

  “Why would you want to tell us about it?” asked Swede.

  “I have my reasons. I figure if we go in there and get all the money, they’d have to leave.”

  Pete leaned back in his chair and slipped his Stetson back on his head before asking, “What if it means that we’d have to go rough on your kin?”

  “I don’t care.” Jack replied before licking his lips and saying, “I just want to be left alone with my sister-in-law for a while.”

&n
bsp; Swede laughed. “So, your hankerin’ for a little somethin’ different, hey? Maybe we can help, but we gotta talk to Handy and Lou. They’ll be by later, so why don’t you pull up a chair and order a round. You’re payin’.”

  Jack felt like he had been accepted and pulled up a chair and ordered a round for all three.

  _____

  John had asked Kate’s permission to change into his normal clothes and it had been granted with a smile. He and his brothers had moved all the saddlebags, panniers and bags into the house, and Kate and John had separated them, so Kate could get her clothes, the guns and ammunition could be distributed, and the food added to the pantry.

  All the time they were taking care of settling in, John and Kate were constantly asking and answering questions. The most common unasked question of John and Kate was whether or not there was any romance involved between them. Another unasked question, for which John was very grateful, was that no one had asked his mother what Kate had said in Gaelic. It seemed that his mother’s response closed the book and that was that.

  _____

  Handy Lewis and Lou Harrison had been given a heads up about Jack’s presence in the bar when the bartender sent a note, so they weren’t surprised when they entered the batwing doors and saw Jack at the table with Swede and Pete. Handy was more curious about what Jack wanted than he was angered by the presence of the Irishman. Lou always got his lead from Handy, so he just played along.

  Handy strode up to the table with purpose, yanked out a chair and slowly lowered his butt into the chair while staring at Jack. Lou just grabbed a chair from a neighboring table and sat across from Handy.

  “So, Flynn, Pete and Swede here don’t seem to be mad at you, so what do you want?”

  “I just told them that I knew where the money is hidden in my house and the Walsh house.”

  “Now, why would you do that? You all broke up because your mama wouldn’t let you suckle anymore?” he sneered.

  All of them laughed, even Jack. He knew what Handy was trying to do, and he wasn’t falling for it.

  Finally, he replied, “Nah. Nothing like that. I’ll tell you the straight of it. My bastard older brother was mad at me for making eyes at his wife, so he wanted to get rid of me. So, he sets up this big show pretending to have my dead oldest brother, Slow John, suddenly show up. Slow John was a real mean bastard before he went off to war and got himself killed and they figured if they could convince me that he was back that I’d run off. Well, I’m not running anywhere, I just want to get even with them. They were all in on the plot, too, and that’s why I want to go back and get that money, but I can’t do it alone.”