A Man for Temperance (Wagon Wheel)

by Gilbert, Morris

  Leona laughed. “Fancy name. Where’d it come from?”

  “Why, it’s out of the Bible.”

  Leona suddenly laughed harshly. “Probably the only thing you got out of the Bible.”

  “What are you talking about? I’m studying to become a preacher.”

  “I’ll bet! Well, how about that drink?”

  “Tell you what, Leona, you go ahead and have one. Fill ’er up, Clint. Let me go over and play a few hands of poker. Then maybe I’ll own the whole saloon and you and me can celebrate.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” Leona said. She downed her drink and Brennan drank with her. He winked at her, turned, and walked across the room. The floor was littered with cigar butts, shavings, and leftover bits of sandwiches. A lemon yellow dog lay by the wall, watching him narrowly.

  “I got some money I need to lose if you fellows would let me sit in with you.”

  Carnes looked up and said, “We don’t need no bums in here.”

  “Be sociable, Alec,” Blackmon said. His soft look was belied by the glitter of his gray eyes. He was dealing the cards, and his hands looked strong but supple. “What’s your name, partner?”

  “Thaddeus Brennan.”

  “Well, sit down, Thaddeus. You just get in?”

  “Yep.”

  “Headed for the post?”

  “No, going the other way, all the way, back to Missouri.”

  “Is that right? Most folks are trying to get to that free land.”

  Brennan grinned at the gambler. “I hate to sit in here because I’m going to lose every dime I got.”

  The other poker players stared at Brennan, and he shrugged his shoulders expressively. “I’m the most unlucky card player in the world. I can’t quit until I’ve lost every penny.”

  Carnes laughed. “Well, let’s get started. I’d like to have some of that easy money.”

  “It’s like taking candy from a baby,” Brennan said. “I’ve only got fifty dollars, but I’ll leave here with none of it, I suppose. Just my rotten luck.”

  “Why do you play,” the smaller man said, “if you know you’re going to lose?”

  “Why, it’s a sickness, partner. I just can’t help it. I don’t sleep good if I’ve got any money. Have to go out and find a game to lose it in.”

  Vince Blackmon found this amusing. He began to deal the cards, and five minutes later Brennan was staring down at the pot. He turned his hand over and said, “Well, I’ll be dipped in gravy! Look at that. I got three of a kind. It beats you fellows.”

  Alec stared at him. “What about all this bad luck you’re complaining about?”

  “Oh, I always win a little at first, but it never lasts. I’ll probably lose the whole thing on the next hand.”

  But on the next hand Brennan, to his apparent surprise, won again, and the cash in front of him was beginning to look like something. He stared at it with awe. “Why, I can’t believe it! I never had no luck like this in all my life. But it can’t last.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Vince said dryly. He looked at Alec Carnes and said, “I think you was right in the first place. We shouldn’t have let this fellow in the game.”

  “Leave him in, Vince. I’ll take him,” Alec glowered. He had been drinking heavily and he had the air of a troublemaker. “Deal the cards.”

  An hour later, Brennan had won most of the money. The cash had come mostly from Alec Carnes, who had gotten angrier by the moment. Brennan had lost occasionally, but always small pots, and had won the big ones. Vince had pulled out, for the most part, making only token bets, and the other shorter man had dropped out entirely. The game had become a contest between Alec Carnes and Thaddeus Brennan.

  “Well, I just can’t believe it, Leona.” The saloon woman had stationed herself beside Brennan and pushed against him from time to time to remind him of her presence. “All my life I’ve lost at cards, and I just wander into this here saloon and I win. Why, it’s a miracle!”

  “You’re doing fine, honey,” Leona said. She ran her hand through his coarse, black hair and said, “You better quit while you’re ahead.”

  “No, I’m not quitting until I lose the whole thing. What do you say, Alec. One more hand. All we got.”

  “Deal the cards, Vince. I’m going to trim this sucker.”

  The cards went around, and the pot went up until finally everything Alec had was in the middle. It was his turn. “I’ll call and raise. I ain’t got the money for it, but I’ll give you an IOU.”

  “My Uncle Seedy told me never to take IOUs from strangers, but I’ll take that ring,” Brennan said, waving toward the diamond on Alec’s left hand.

  Carnes cursed. “It’s worth more than this whole stinkin’ saloon.” He turned to the saloon woman standing beside him, a short overstuffed blonde with tired eyes. “Give me that box I brought you.”

  “You can’t gamble that. You gave it to me.”

  “You heard me. Give me the box. You’ll have it back in about three minutes.”

  The woman glared at Carnes but moved across the room. She was soon back with a large box. “You better not lose these, Alec, they’re mine.”

  “Shut up!”

  “What’s in your box, friend?”

  “How about this?” Carnes pulled the top off the box and, reaching in, held up a lacy nightgown. “Pure as silk,” he said. “All the way from Paris. Got all kinds of fancy underwear along with this gown. Cost me a bundle.”

  “Brennan doesn’t look like a man who needs ladies’ underwear,” Vince said mildly.

  “Well, you’re wrong about that, Vince. This kind of thing always comes in handy, don’t it, Leona?”

  “The way to a woman’s heart,” Leona grinned.

  The bet was made, and at once Carnes turned his hand over. “Full house,” he said. He laughed raucously and reached out to draw in the winnings.

  “Well, what do you know about this,” Brennan said. “Never had this happen to me in my whole life. Look at it.”

  “A straight flush!” Leona breathed. “Don’t see that too often.”

  “You cheated!” Carnes yelled. His hand went to his gun, but before it half cleared the holster, the .45 at Brennan’s side had magically appeared in his hands and was pointed directly between the big man’s eyes. “Now, don’t be that way, Alec!” Brennan said sharply. “Here I’ve had bad luck all my life. You wouldn’t regret me winning a few hands here.”

  Carnes was breathing heavily. Everyone in the room saw that the gun in Brennan’s hand was rock steady. With a curse Carnes got to his feet, driving his chair backward with a crash. He lurched out of the saloon, cursing, and Brennan looked at Vince. “You don’t think Alec’s going to be my friend?”

  “I don’t think so, Brennan.”

  “Well, that’s sad. I purely hate to lose friends.” Brennan gathered the money, crammed it into his pockets, and picked up the box of lingerie. He picked up the drink on the table, downed it, and then said, “Leona, I’ve got to go meet my boss, but I’ll be back later.”

  “I’ll be waiting for you, big man.”

  As soon as Brennan was gone, Leona turned to face Vince. “What do you think of him, Vince?”

  “He could have put Alec’s lights out. I never saw a man unlimber a gun faster. I think Alec better hide while this fellow’s in town.”

  * * *

  TEMPERANCE HAD BEEN WAITING impatiently for Brennan. Rena was watching her carefully. Moving closer, she said, “Don’t ever believe a word a drunk says.”

  Temperance started to answer, but at that instant Brennan came riding in on Judas. He was carrying a big box under one arm, and his eyes were lively as he stepped out of the saddle. He also had a tow sackful of bottles. “Well, Rena, let’s go and get you and Bent some new boots.”

  Temperance glared at Brennan. “Where’s the money I gave you? What’d you spend it on?”

  “Why, here it is. I got the wheel paid for and I got Judas shod. I got me some new underwear, too, but
I ain’t had time to put it on.”

  “What’s in the box, Brennan?” Rose piped up.

  “Why, it’s a present for the preacher lady. Merry Christmas.”

  “It’s not Christmas, and you don’t give me presents.”

  “Well, shucks, you hurt my feelings, Peabody. I thought you’re supposed to be full of graciousness or something like that.”

  “See what it is, Temperance,” Rena said, moving closer.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Well, here. You open it, Rena. What I bought, when the lady sees it, she’ll want it sure enough.”

  Rena eagerly took the box and pulled the top off. She reached down and pulled out a sheer nightgown made of black silk. “Why, you can see right through it,” she said.

  “Oh, that’s the way it is with ladies’ underwear. The thinner it is the more it costs. You want to try it on, Peabody?”

  Temperance flushed crimson. She knew Brennan had done this just to aggravate her. Her voice was unsteady as she said, “You are an awful man!”

  “You don’t like these things? I thought you’d look real nice in this one. It’ll look good on your anatomy.” Brennan laughed at her and said, “Let’s go shopping, Rena. And, boss lady, we’ve got to buy some trade goods. Maybe we’ll do that in the morning.”

  * * *

  BRENNAN HAD DISAPPEARED AND returned early in the morning, smelling of liquor and cheap perfume. Temperance did not speak a word to him. She got up and fixed breakfast, and Brennan said, “I picked out most of the trade goods yesterday. The storekeeper said he’d have it all ready for us.”

  Temperance sat on the wagon seat, refusing to answer him. Rena sat beside her, holding Bess, and Rose and Billy also occupied the seat. Timmy was peacefully asleep in his pallet in the back. Brennan led Babe and the other oxen straight into town and stopped before the trading store. He helped Temperance down, something he had never done before. She glared at him but took his hand and stepped to the ground.

  “Don’t guess you slept in that pretty nightgown, did you?”

  “No, I didn’t and I never will!”

  “Why, Peabody, you ought to appreciate the nice things of life.”

  Temperance ignored this, went inside, and bought a few more things while Brennan loaded the wagon with the trading supplies. Finally he came inside and said, “I reckon we’re ready to go, Peabody.”

  Temperance followed him outside, and as soon as he stepped on the boardwalk, she was aware of three men standing there. She didn’t know them. One was much larger than the others and had an ugly glint in his eye. “Well, this is your woman and kids, is it, Brennan?”

  Brennan had stopped abruptly. “This is my boss,” he said easily. “Miss Peabody, let me introduce you to Alec Carnes. He’s financing our trip. His money bought all this nice stuff and all that pretty underwear. Them pretty things belonged to Alec’s lady friend, but he had an unlucky night.”

  What happened next was so abrupt Temperance could not believe it. Carnes began to curse, and then with a move she had not anticipated, he reached forward and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her close with his other arm and said the most vulgar, obscene thing she had ever heard from a man’s lips.

  She started to struggle, but before she could move, she saw Brennan make one of the fastest moves she had ever seen in a human being. In what seemed one motion, he pulled the heavy revolver from his holster, raised it high, and in one sweeping motion brought the barrel down on Carnes’s head. The sound it made was like hitting a watermelon with a hammer! The big man simply dissolved, falling bonelessly to the board sidewalk. Brennan, still with the gun in his hand, turned to say, “You fellows want a part of this?”

  “Not us,” one said nervously.

  “Well, you better get him to a doctor. I don’t think I kilt him, but you never can tell. Come along, Miss Peabody.”

  Shocked beyond measure, Temperance managed to climb into the wagon. She saw the children trembling, and finally they were all aboard. Brennan walked along beside Babe. He was singing a song she had never heard, and she was surprised at the good quality of his voice.

  Rena was sitting beside her, and neither one of them spoke until they were outside the gates of Fort Boise. Rena turned and said, “Thad done good, didn’t he?”

  “No.”

  “Yes, he did. He bought me and Bent some clothes and some boots. The first time a drunk ever kept his word to us, and he gave you that pretty underwear too.”

  Temperance’s face grew scarlet again. “I’ll never wear a thread of it.”

  “I would if I was big enough,” Rena said. She was quiet for awhile, and then she turned to look at Brennan and said softly, “Maybe Brennan’s not as bad as I thought.”

  “He’s terrible!” Temperance said.

  Rena shook her head. “He ain’t as bad as some I’ve seen.”

  Chapter Ten

  FOR TEMPERANCE EACH DAY had become just like every other, like a series of severe illnesses. She’d had some vague but rather good memories of her trip from the East to Oregon Territory, but the harsh realities of the grinding struggles she faced now were an ever-present reality. Every day brought laborious work, unending fatigue, and bad weather. The constant care of the children added to all of this, and the antagonism of the two older Overmeyer children tested her patience to the limit. She had no idea how many miles they covered each day, but it seemed the trip had no end. The dry complainings of the wheels as the wagon lumbered over the broken earth ceased only when they stopped for the night. Whether they traveled five miles or twenty, it didn’t seem to matter, for the endless waste was always before them.

  The oxen were suffering, too, and Temperance grieved over them. They were hard to keep together overnight and had to be hobbled, a task that required more of Brennan’s time and energy. Always the question of water loomed before them, and thirst was a never-ending torment. The country itself was ugly, at least to her, a land that seemed to have been left over from Creation, broken by yawning fractures and raw gullies. The mountains, some of them far ahead and others fading in the background, seemed to her more like walls of a great prison. The great gorge that bordered the Snake River was cut so deeply that getting to it took every bit of strength and endurance a person could summon up.

  Fatigue had dragged Temperance down, and she was dozing on the seat when suddenly the right front wheel of the wagon dropped off into a deep rut. The abrupt jolt caused the hard seat of the wagon to pound against Temperance almost with the force of a heavy blow. She was holding Gus in her lap, and with a yowl he jumped away from her and disappeared under the canvas.

  “That’s a crazy cat,” Rena remarked. She was sitting beside Temperance on the wagon seat holding Billy, who seemingly could sleep through an earthquake. The jolting pace of the wagon never seemed to trouble him.

  With a grimace, Temperance shifted on the hard seat, trying to find a more comfortable position. Up ahead she saw Brennan sitting astride Babe, rocking with the motion of the ox. Only Thaddeus can ride an ox while he’s drunk! She swallowed her irritation with the man, and nodded at Rena. “I’ve had him since he was a kitten. He was so tiny I had to feed him with an eyedropper.”

  “I had a cat once. Her name was Queenie. She was black all over and had big green eyes. She used to sleep with me at night. But Ma made me get rid of her.”

  “Why did she do that?”

  Rena gave Temperance a look that reflected the hard core of her personality. “Because she was mean.”

  “Your cat was mean?”

  “No, Queenie was sweet. Ma was mean.”

  Temperance had known that both Rena and Bent had an ingrained bitterness against their parents. She was well aware of the effects of bitterness on an individual spirit, but this did not seem to be the time nor the place to reason with Rena. “I’m sorry,” she said finally. She almost suggested that her relatives would let her have a pet, but Rena had already spoken in adamantine tones about her uncle and aunt. Finally
Temperance said, “Gus has been a lot of company to me.”

  Rena said moodily, “Cats are funny. They don’t come and make over you like a dog does.”

  “No, they’re pretty independent, but I love Gus. He’s been my companion.”

  “I guess if you don’t have a man, a cat’s a pretty good thing to have.”

  Instantly Temperance felt her face go warm. She glanced at Rena and saw that the girl was studying her in a curious fashion. The girl was a strange mixture of child and woman, and the remark could have been casual, but Temperance saw the slight glitter in Rena’s eyes and knew it was a gibe aimed at her unmarried state. It was the sort of hardness—even cruelty—that Temperance had seen in Rena, but beneath that harsh surface Temperance sometimes caught a hint of another person who cried out for some of the gentler things of life. She could not think of a proper answer to make.

  Rena stared at Temperance for a long moment, then asked, “Have you tried on any of that fancy underwear that Brennan won at the poker game?”

  “No!”

  “Why not? They’re real soft. I bet they’d be comfortable.”

  “They’re—they’re not for a woman like me.”

  “They’re just underwear is all they are. Why, you always try to make things mean something.”

  “They’re for a different kind of woman.”

  “For a saloon woman, I reckon you mean. That’s who they were meant for, Brennan said.” Rena laughed suddenly. “I don’t see what difference it makes. If I was you, I’d wear ’em.” Rena waited for a response, and when she got none, she shifted Billy in her arms into a more comfortable position, then asked, “You ever had a man?”

  The question seemed to be innocent enough, but still the color deepened on Temperance’s cheeks. She could not think of a way to answer the question, and Rena pressed on. “I bet you ain’t.”

  “It’s not something I want to talk about, Rena.”

  “You’re pretty old not to have a man. How old are you anyhow, Temperance?”

  “I’m thirty-two.”

  “That’s pretty old.”

  Suddenly Temperance had to laugh. “I suppose it is to you. When you’re twelve, everybody over twenty seems ancient.”