Lisa's Way

by Robert Collins

  Allie smiled. “You looking for some help, Miss Herbert?”

  “Call me Lisa. I could be. Why do you ask?”

  Allie finished off her pie. “Well, Wayne and the others came up here from the south. They wanted to join the Rangers, but there ain’t no openings. They’ve been trying to figure out what to do. Wayne and Dave, they got kids, so does Kathy, and you need work to keep them fed.”

  “Things seem pretty good around here. I’m surprised that your friends couldn’t find some work.”

  “Not when you’ve spent most of your life learning to fight, so you can join the Rangers. Him and Dave, they had their hearts set on being a Ranger. I guess most of them do, really. Well, anyway, when I heard that you came through the portal, I thought I’d talk to you. I thought maybe that’s what we could do.”

  Lisa smiled. This search didn’t take long, she thought. Hang on there. You’d better find out if this is deliverance, or the bottom of the barrel.

  “Allie, how honest is your friend Wayne?”

  “He’s a good man.”

  “I mean, if he couldn’t do something, would he admit it?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like anything. Is he the best at everything? Can he do anything and everything?”

  “No. I have seen him and Dave practice, and they’re pretty good, I guess. His sister Kathy is deadly with her bow. If there’s anyone that’s the best at something, it’d be her.”

  “But he doesn’t tell people he’s the best.”

  “Nope.”

  “Do you know if he tried out for the Rangers? If one of them told him if he was good enough to join up?”

  “Yeah, they all tried out. I think the guy said Wayne and Dave could join if they had a spot. Donna, she knew Wayne’s big brother, she’d have a bit more trouble. She’s strong, but she ain’t that fast, and Rangers gotta run as well as they ride.”

  Lisa raised her hand. “Okay, Allie. Is there anyone else in your group that’s got some special skills? Not fighting, but something else?”

  “Yeah. Dave’s wife Ellen. I guess she was gonna be town teacher.”

  “Why didn’t she?”

  Allie grinned. “She and Dave... well, he got her dress off before he was supposed to. A teacher gotta be an example, and I guess she wasn’t a good one.”

  “Weren’t they going to get married? I mean, before...”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Well, you know, guys and girls aren’t supposed to... you know... before marriage.”

  “Oh. But if they’re going to get married, does that matter?”

  “I guess to some folks it does.”

  “I guess so. How about you, Allie? What are you good at?”

  “Surviving.” Her voice and face lowered. “Getting stuff.”

  “Like finding things?”

  “Sort of.”

  What could she mean? Isn’t...? Oh, I get it. “Finding other people’s things, is that it?”

  “Maybe.” Allie’s mood lifted slightly.

  “Okay, we’ll leave it at that.”

  Lisa took a moment to consider the situation, then said, “Allie, I’d like to talk to Wayne. Tell him what I told you. Could he come here tonight?”

  “Sure. Just him?”

  “Just him, me, and my friend. Then, if I like him as much as you must like him, I’ll come and talk to all of your friends. Deal?”

  Allie shook her hand. “Deal. You say when, Lisa Herbert, and he’ll be here.”

  ***

  Lisa saw Wayne Shuman enter the inn before he saw her and Little Wolf seated at a table in a quiet spot. His looks weren’t how Lisa knew him, although Allie had told her what he looked like. He was somewhat taller than the average man, as she’d said, with close-cropped dark hair and dark eyes. He looked a little husky, had strong arms and legs, and was probably a few years older than Lisa.

  What she did notice was something less tangible. He surveyed the room carefully trying to find her. When he saw her he didn’t wave, but simply approached. His walk was full of purpose, yet sure enough to avoid collisions with others. When he introduced himself, his voice was calm and assured. He didn’t sit down until Lisa asked him to.

  He reminds me of my father, she mused.

  “Allie told me as much as she could remember about what you’ve done and where you’ve been,” Shuman said. “You’ve done your share of traveling, Miss Herbert.”

  “Please, call me Lisa.”

  “Alright. Call me Wayne. So, Lisa, what did you want to talk to me about?”

  “I want you to know a little of what I’m planning. I’d like your opinion, both on what I have in mind, and how you think your friends could or could not help me. I won’t make any promises to you, but you don’t have to make any to me, either.”

  “Sounds fair.”

  “Good. First, how are your friends fixed up for food, shelter?”

  “We’re okay. Some of us have been helping out around town. Labor work, mostly. We can hang on until summer.”

  “Then what?”

  “All the ranches to the east herd their cattle when summer starts. They take on extra hands to drive the cattle to all the towns for slaughter. We did that last summer. If we have to, we can do it again.

  “To tell you the truth, Donna and I have talked about asking the Rangers if we could go through the portal. We thought maybe there’d be a place for us on another world. I guess you’ll tell me if we’re right, huh?”

  “Yeah.” You’re the second man to say that to me, she thought. I wonder how surprised you’d be if I told you who the other man was?

  “Wayne, did Allie tell you what I told her about our time on Big Springs?”

  “I think so. Was that the world with the two towns fighting, and the robbers?”

  “Yes. I promised the leader of the town dealing with those two problems that I’d come back and try to deal with them.”

  “Well, outlaws aren’t that tough to deal with.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. You do what the Rangers did.”

  “What did they do?”

  “First, they’d send out word that a couple wagons of food were going from one town to the next in a few days. The wagons would go out on time. Then, when the outlaws stopped the wagons to raid them, the wagons wouldn’t be full of food, but full of more Rangers. There’d be still more riding maybe a mile back.” He smiled. “That’s how you stop outlaws.”

  “Makes sense,” Lisa conceded. She had to admit that she hadn’t thought of a plan for defeating bandits. That one, if sprung with complete surprise, could catch one whole group. There was just one problem. “What if there’s more than one outlaw gang operating in an area?” she asked.

  “Well, the Rangers used that ambush to catch the big groups. Once they were gone, the Rangers would just hunt down what was left. And they’d make certain there were plenty of them with any party on the road.”

  “That would take many warriors,” Little Wolf said, “and a long time.”

  “Hunting them down took the longest time.”

  “I bet,” Lisa said. “Wayne, how many people are traveling with you?”

  “Well, there’s me, Dave, Donna, Kathy, Allie, my wife, Dave’s wife... four other men, plus my kids and Dave’s little girl... thirteen all told.”

  “Take away the wives and kids. How many are left?”

  “Eight. Although my wife can fight, and Dave’s can defend herself.”

  Lisa paused to calculate the numbers. She turned to Little Wolf. “Plus us, that could be enough to defend a wagon or two.”

  “Yes. Not enough to take on a town.”

  “Take on a town?” Wayne asked. He looked at Lisa. “What are you planning?”

  “The real problem on Big Springs isn’t the outlaws,” she said. “It’s the two towns fighting. They aren’t just fighting with each other. They’ve also raided trade wagons. I was told that the raids were a way for one town
to get back at their rival. Make it hard for one to get supplies, or steal supplies going from one and send it to the other. Implied was that these attacks were going against wagons heading to other towns. The one town in the middle, Richmond, couldn’t send out wagons because there were just too many attacks to guard against.

  “Now, given enough fighters, you could protect the wagons going to other towns. You might even be able to deal with the outlaws who aren’t working for the two rival towns. But you can’t really make travel and trade safe unless you stop that feud.”

  Wayne thought about what she’d said for a moment, then his face fell. “Then, we can’t help you.”

  “No, I think you can. We just need more than your friends.”

  “Can’t you find more?”

  “There are many men on my world,” Little Wolf answered. “Few have the heart for such things.”

  “What he means,” Lisa said, “is that any fighters there wouldn’t join us because it’s the right thing to do. They’d want to know what they were getting in exchange for their help.”

  Wayne shrugged. “What could you offer? There’s no money anymore.”

  “Actually, they do have some sort of money on White Rocks. That’s his world. They call their money ’trade tokens.’ Of course, those tokens are useless elsewhere. In fact, there’s only two or three towns on White Rocks that actually use them.

  “Tell me, how did the Rangers recruit help? What did they offer?”

  “Glory,” Wayne said firmly. “Colonel Patrick formed the Rangers. They say he could talk a dead man into carrying a crossbow. He’d tell you that you’d be doing God’s work by bringing peace. You’d be remembered for generations if he let you stand with him. He said being a Ranger stood for something noble, long ago, and that it’d stand for that again. Hearing him, that’d get you to join him, or so they say.”

  “How are Rangers paid now?”

  “They and any family live at the Ranger building in a town. The Captain figures up how much food everyone needs, and gets just that from the locals. People in town get law and order in exchange. No working for food, or clothes, or a roof. A Ranger just has to do his duty.”

  “I see.” Lisa remembered a paper McCall gave her, the one he said to show anyone if she needed help. That’s got real power behind it. She made a note to herself to look out for any abuse of that privilege.

  “That’s a good system, Wayne. I don’t think I’m that great a speaker. I don’t think any town will make that kind of deal with people who aren’t from their world. We’ll have to think of something else.”

  “What about the goods in the wagons?” Little Wolf asked.

  “Oh, yeah, right!”

  “What?” Wayne asked.

  Lisa smiled. “On my world, Fairfield, we didn’t have to deal with many outlaws or robbers. Of course, we encased our portal in a building with no doors or windows, so maybe we cheated. Anyway, our towns trade goods, we have been for a long time. On Fairfield, people took on the job of moving goods from town to town. Trading is their job. It’s my father’s job.

  “Traders get to keep a quarter of the goods they carry with them. That’s how they’re paid. They can keep those goods for themselves, or barter them for something else. I guess we could offer is the same thing, a portion of the goods we trade for help in getting them around.”

  Wayne nodded. “That might attract those who wouldn’t help simply because it’s right.”

  “And it works. The more you do it, the better you get at doing it. That means being better at making deals. It means being better able to get goods safely from place to place. It means being able to judge people’s needs, and finding the best way to address those needs.”

  “It’s a way of bringing peace so that everyone benefits. I like it. The question is, can we do it?”

  “I think so. We’ll need to get some wagons and goods first.”

  Wayne raised his right hand. “One moment. You’ve persuaded me. But I don’t do anything without my friends.”

  “Okay.” Where is he going with this?

  “I think you should talk to them. Persuade them. If they agree,...”

  “Me? I told you, I’m not a great speaker. If you believe in this, you should be the one to talk to them. You know them, I don’t.”

  “They won’t think you’re right just because I think you’re right. They’re my friends, not my followers.”

  “He speaks true,” Little Wolf added.

  “How do you know?” Lisa glared at him.

  “I do not know them. I do know that if his friends are to follow your lead, they must trust you. I know that no one will gain my trust without speaking to me, without telling me why I should give them my trust.” He put a hand on her arm. “I know you are as good as your word. Show them that.”

  “I feel besieged.” Lisa glanced from one man to the other. “Oh, all right.” She looked at Wayne. “Give me some time to think about what I’ll say.”

  Wayne nodded, then smiled. “Join us for dinner tomorrow night. You can get to know my friends a little better. Then, afterwards, you can speak to them. Is that okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “I will tell Donna some of what we’ve talked about, since she and I have been talking about the portal. But I won’t tell anyone else.”

  “They won’t mind being surprised?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, then. Send someone by when you’re ready, and we’ll be there.”

  “Good.” He offered his hand, and Lisa shook it. He did the same to Little Wolf. He stood, and without another word he left the inn.

  “I like him,” Little Wolf said as he and Lisa stood to go to their rooms.

  She pointed at him. “Y’know, you don’t have to help shove me in front of a crowd.”

  “You can speak to others.”

  “I’d rather not.”

  “You should have thought of that back on White Rocks. Or back on your own world.”

  ***

  As she and Little Wolf walked to the Shuman encampment, Lisa reflected on what she was about to do. Speaking before this group of friends was similar to what she’d done at Pueblo. There she didn’t get to meet any of the farmers first. That had made her nervous, but it turned out to be an advantage. Not knowing the leaders meant she could address the whole. Somehow it had been easier to appeal to the crowd.

  She suspected that the feeling came from her modest experience with her father’s duties as Mayor of Mountain View. She found out quickly how much balance was needed when he spoke to a group but was also addressing certain individuals in the group. Once such a personal appeal degenerated into an argument. What was worse, the argument was beyond the rest of the audience. It didn’t hurt him in the long run, but it had shaken him. Only once or twice did he ever try anything like that again.

  Now, she thought, here I am, trying to do the exact same thing.

  Lisa knew what she wanted to say. She considered the notion of shading her words to direct the points she wanted to make towards certain people. Three of the five women in the group had children. She believed that if she got them on her side, they’d lead their husbands along.

  Next, she recalled that Wayne had said they were looking for a something good to do with their lives. That sounded all too familiar. She asked herself how she might sell herself. She came up with a simple idea: If we do this, we can find our place.

  They arrived at the camp, just to the north of town. Several horses were tied up around four large tents. There were no tables or chairs, but there was a large pot and a stack of plates. The encampment was framed by a handful of tall trees.

  Wayne introduced Lisa and Little Wolf to his friends. After saying a few words about herself, Lisa asked if they wanted her to speak while they ate, or wait until after dinner. Waiting won unanimously, much to her relief. Plates and utensils were passed around, a line formed, and the food was ladled out.

  The friends mainly talked amongst themselves about the da
y’s work. Every so often someone would direct a comment to Lisa. It was small talk, and she tried her best to reply. She didn’t mind that. She knew she was an outsider. They didn’t know her well enough to include her in their circle. Besides, they probably didn’t want her saying too much about the reason why she was there. She also wanted to be left out so she observe them and refine what she planned to say.

  Almost immediately Lisa knew she wasn’t going to like Wayne’s wife. Sherrie was shorter than average, like her, but she had light brown hair and, worse, had a pretty face and a very full chest. Sherrie was clearly the center of the dance, the life of the party. She reminded Lisa of her sister Leslie, except that she seemed to love Wayne, whom Lisa liked, and that she really cared about her children.

  Lisa felt differently about the other wife in the group. Dave Lawson’s wife Ellen was a hand’s breath taller than she. Ellen had blonde hair and blue eyes. She was more than pretty; she was attractive. Everything about her was beautiful, from her head to her feet. She even had a pretty smile and a pretty laugh.

  Lisa looked on her more favorably than Sherrie. While Sherrie was chatty, Ellen was quiet. Sherrie was the center of attention; Ellen kept in the background. Ellen wasn’t as open about her love for her husband as Sherrie was. Ellen also made an effort to engage with Lisa, and Lisa found herself engaged. She wasn’t simply a beauty, but she also had a mind.

  Ellen’s husband spent most of his time with the other fighters in the group. Dave was a bit of a goof. The few times during dinner that he spoke to Wayne, Wayne ended up being the butt of a joke. Wayne usually had a good comeback, everyone laughed, and Dave carried on. Dave had some of Wayne’s presence, but probably wouldn’t be a leader outside of his group of friends.

  Donna Chase was the oldest of the group. Part of her attention was directed to Wayne, his wife, his sister, and Ellen. Part was directed to Dave and the others. She was an imposing force, half a head taller than Lisa and with a deep, powerful voice. She could joke like Dave, but spoke intelligently to Wayne and Ellen. Wayne deferred to her a few times during dinner. Lisa remembered Wayne had said that Donna had traveled much of this world. She thought that might also be helpful to her effort.

  Few of the rest stood out to Lisa. The other men were a year or two older than she. One, called Ray, seemed to delight in taking contrary positions. Another, she thought his name was Matt, was what her father called “black.” She knew that people of color existed, but had seen few since leaving Fairfield. This man got along with everyone fine, and that was good enough for her.