Ask No Tomorrows

by Hestand, Rita

  “We’re in luck. I can make some coffee.” He proceeded to take the bucket inside. “Looks like they left a trunk of stuff here too. Go through it and see if there is anything we can use. Cut some of it into bandages with this knife and we’ll bind you up soon.”

  “All right.”

  Finding some twigs, he scrounged up enough for a fire in the old stove inside the partially burnt out cabin. He dug his bag of coffee out of his saddle bags and made a pot in an old burnt up pot he found near the stove. He had a can of peaches in his bag and took them out.

  He saw the huge pile of bandages she made and he told her to go stuff them into the saddle bags.

  “After I doctor you again,” she insisted.

  “I don’t need doctorin’,” he insisted.

  “We’ll see about that; now take your shirt off, Sam,” she instructed.

  “Look, I got things to worry about other than that right now…”

  “Maybe you do, but this comes first. I don’t want you comin’ down sick on me, Sam. It won’t take long,” she promised.

  “Good grief girl, I ain’t gonna get sick on you.” Sam finally shucked the shirt, and Riley dug out the aloe and began running it over him gently. He barely flinched, but she saw goosebumps on his arms and smiled.

  He saw her look and he shrugged. “It’s cold.”

  When she doctored his chest, he couldn’t stop staring at her. She ignored him ‘til she was done, then looked up at him with innocent eyes. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? And you remembered to keep the shirt off for a while.”

  He kept staring at her for so long, she turned pink.

  “It’s healing up good.” She cleared her throat.

  “Let’s check the area for things we might need,” he suggested as he started to put the shirt back on.

  “Okay.”

  Sam frowned.

  Riley was still wandering about outside, when he called her in.

  He handed her the one cup he had found.

  “I never have figured out why coffee smells so good. Smells heavenly, aren’t you having any?” she asked, her eyes straying to his chest.

  “Yep, half of this.” He nodded to the cup.

  “Oh…oh, sure.” She sipped a bit and handed it back.

  Sam turned the cup around and sipped some from the other side then handed it back to her.

  “Sit down, we’ll split a can of peaches,” Sam instructed.

  “Peaches?” Riley squealed. “You’ve found peaches?”

  “No, I didn’t find these. Hattie, my sister, packed them for me before I left. She knew how much I loved them.” Sam smiled and hunted for something to pick them out with. “Don’t have but a couple of cans left of them.”

  “You must have been pretty close to your sister. You talk about her a lot.”

  “I wasn’t but about five when my Ma got kidnapped and my pa was hung. Hattie, she was like a ma to me after that happened. We was real close. That is ‘til I got older. After we moved to the Indian village everyone sorta took me under their wing; I was the only black boy in the camp.”

  “You’re lucky. I didn’t have a sister nor a brother. Ma died when I was pretty young, so dad and I became close I guess you would say. He just didn’t know how to handle a girl.”

  “He learn you ranchin’?” Sam asked.

  “Mostly him…and some of the hands. Back when I was little we had lots of hands on the ranch.”

  “How old are you, Riley?” Sam asked as he hunted for something to dig the peaches out with.

  Not finding anything to eat with, he picked up a twig, sharpened it with his knife and stuck it in one of the peaches and handed it to her. “Have one.”

  “Nineteen…how old are you?” She looked at him.

  “Twenty-five…” he answered.

  “Somehow, I didn’t picture you with brothers or sisters.”

  “Well, I had both, but the rest of them got killed.”

  “Killed…how?” Riley’s eyes widened.

  “They called themselves White Knights, they go about the night killin’ black people. My two brothers tried to run and escape them, but they shot them down, in the back; they hung my pa, kidnapped my ma, and my two other sisters…well, they eventually killed them too.”

  “White Knights, must be what I heard tell of the Klan? Least ways that’s what they called themselves.” Riley’s mouth flew open. “I never understood what that was about, but I did see a hangin’ once. And I don’t care to see another either. But why do they pick on black folks, do you know?”

  “Don’t want them takin’ over the land or the vote for one thing. Don’t like them because of their skin color for another. Anyway, they hung my pa, kidnapped my ma, killed my brothers and raped and killed a couple of other sisters. I was the baby of the family. I was fishin’. When I heard ‘em comin’ I hid out in the woods. Hattie…she waited ‘til they weren’t lookin’ and escaped.”

  “Oh Sam, I’m so sorry…” Riley put her hand on his. “That must have been a hard time for you and your sister.”

  He glanced down at their hands and she removed hers. “It was. It was a long time ago…”

  “Didn’t realize you had family, Sam. Guess I just figured you were alone. Where does your sister live?” Riley asked, taking the peach.

  “She lives with the Shawnee, up north a ways,” Sam said flippantly.

  “Why does she live with them?” Riley asked, her curiosity obviously getting the best of her. “I mean, I never heard tell of black people living with the Indians.”

  “Lots do these days. Only place we can live like equals. People don’t have to live in shame there, and can love who they want. There are many that live with the Cherokee Nation. Belong there, they say. But Hattie is married to a white man, and the Indian camp is the only place they could live together in peace as a couple. The old Shaman of the tribe married them,” Sam told her without thinking. “The only place their marriage would be recognized. Lee, my brother-in-law, had a good friend from the Shawnee and he wrote and asked them if we could come. They invited us with open arms.”

  “I never thought of that. So your sister married a white man.” Riley eyed him.

  “That’s right, but you gotta understand, she’d known him a long time,” Sam insisted. “Yes sir, a long time…”

  “Did she love him?” Riley continued to quiz him.

  “Oh…she shore did. She was crazy in love with him. Sounds strange I guess, but it happened. When she thought he died in the war, she buried him proper like. She cried forever it seemed. But then so did I. Lee was special. He was that kind of man, a caring man, a good man. He took us in when our folks died. He buried my pa. Seen after us. But he went to war. That was a hard time for Hattie, my sister. She shore did love him. Lee didn’t die in the war like everyone thought though, but he did lose an arm…” Sam shook his head. “I took one look at my sister when he came back and knew she was crazy in love with the man. Losing an arm was nothin’ to her, she loved Lee. She loved the man he was. A missing arm meant nothing to her, and Lee he could hold his own, in a fight, with work, and I guess with lovin’ my sister, ‘cause he made her happy. She’s been happy ever since.”

  “And his losing the arm didn’t bother her? I’d like to meet her someday. She must be quite a woman.”

  “Not a bit. You see, Lee was still Lee to us. When we were kids, Pa taught us that white people were mean, no goods. We believed that ‘til we met Lee. Lee acted like there was no difference in color. Kinda like you.” He stopped and thought on that for a moment. “And he took care of us, paid money for someone to see after us. Can you believe that? He paid a white woman to take care of us, didn’t want to come back and see us slavin’ for someone. That’s what he told her. Then he came back to us and made a real family out of us. There just isn’t anyone better than that man, in my books or hers.”

  “He must have been a very nice man…I’d like to meet him someday too. I’ve never met a one-armed man, especially one
that could take care of things.”

  “He was the best. Still is.”

  The wind kicked up and the door shut, darkening the room for a moment. “How long they been married, Sam?” she asked in the darkness.

  “Oh…nigh onto thirteen or fourteen years now.” Sam figured the time up in his head.

  “They got any kids?” Riley asked as she finished the peach and handed him the stick, touching his hand in the process.

  “Yeah, they have four kids, three boys and one girl. Prettiest kids you ever saw,” Sam said, taking the stick and reaching in for a peach for himself. “And of course Hattie had three girls before, only they weren’t hers.”

  “Weren’t hers? Then how’d she get them?”

  “It’s a long story…”

  “Looks like we got plenty of time.”

  “You’d best be figurin’ what you are gonna say to them lawyers, instead of askin’ me so many questions,” Sam said, enjoying the peaches.

  “We got time for that. Tell me about it, Sam. I like to hear it,” Riley said, leaning against the wall and relaxing now.

  The wind blew the door open again. “Lee Nelson was goin’ to war when I first met him. He couldn’t have been over twenty himself; I was five at the time…” he began. “He come upon us the night my father was hung. I don’t rightly know what would have happened to me and Hattie if he hadn’t come along. Because Lee took such good care of us, because he cared, well, we learned from that, to care about people. Along the way, we met up with some kids that had about the same troubles as we once had. So Hattie, she just packed those kids up and took them with us. Said Lee done learned her not to leave anyone behind.”

  “She must be a powerfully good woman.” Riley smiled.

  Sam stared at Riley for a long moment then slowly smiled. “She is…”

  He talked for a long time, until Riley closed her eyes and went to sleep. He went to hide the horse and get his gear. When he came back he found Riley in the corner, snuggled with her knees up and her arms wrapped around them. He covered her with a blanket and went to set the coffee toward the back of the stove. It wasn’t cold, but the wind whipped up so strong it felt like a norther had blown in.

  He glanced down at Nodog, checking his leg and rewrapping it. He realized how good a job Riley had done on the dog. It tickled him that Riley and Nodog got along so well, and for a moment he pondered that. Nodog accepted her; why couldn’t he? But then if he examined that too much he’d have had to acknowledge that he already cared about Riley to some extent.

  He sat opposite Riley and closed his eyes.

  It was dusk when he stirred again.

  Nodog had curled up beside them and kept watch. He particularly liked to lay beside Riley for some reason. He whined as his head came up and sniffed.

  Sam heard a ruckus outside.

  He heard the wind pick up and felt the stillness of the air, and then the door flew open with a bang. This time he went outside and looked about. It wouldn’t do for his horse to be hobbled in a storm; he was a good horse, he’d come back, so he unhobbled him and took the canteen and dream catcher inside.

  Sure enough, a storm was blowing in from the north. The clouds were so dark it looked like night. He heard the roar long before it reached him. He knew what it was, and he knew he had to get them to safety.

  “Damn,” he mumbled to himself as he ran into the house and gathered Riley into his arms and ran outside to the storm cellar. She kicked him several times and tried to free herself, but to no avail. Sam let her down long enough to unhobble his horse and the horse took off. Then, throwing open the door, he let Nodog go ahead and check the cellar out. After Nodog sniffed the area, Sam went inside, pulling the door shut behind him.

  Riley was struggling against him.

  “Why did you bring me here? You know I hate it in here…”

  “Tornado, won’t be long now…hear that?”

  The roar was like a train headed straight for them.

  “I hate these cellars…” Riley yelled. “They always have so many crawly things inside them. Oh God, do we have to stay in here?”

  “It isn’t pleasant, but it’s safer. No matter, Nodog checked it out first. He can sniff a snake at two yards. Besides, it is as safe as anything you could find right now,” Sam insisted. “Before this is over, you’ll be glad of this place. I ain’t too fond of them myself, but I shore don’t want to be caught in that tornado. That’s one mean lookin’ son of a gun.”

  “I’ve never been in a tornado, Sam,” Riley cried out and pulled Sam toward her. Nodog settled down and curled up at their feet.

  “Hey, you’ll be fine here, Riley. No need to fret.” Sam chuckled. “You gotta have some faith.”

  “Faith? Faith in what?”

  “Why shore, in the Lord.”

  “You sure do talk about Him a lot…” Riley whispered. “If I didn’t know better I’d think you was a preacher.”

  “I’m a Christian, Riley, aren’t you?” Sam asked.

  “I wish you wouldn’t ask me that. I don’t rightly know…”

  “God takes care of his own, Riley, and we…are his own.”

  “People die every day…”

  “That’s right, they do. And if they are Christian they go to a better place, Riley. Don’t you know that?”

  “Of course I know it, I just ain’t sure this ain’t the day.”

  “Cain’t be sure of the day for dyin’, but you can have faith…”

  “Sounds like you got enough for both of us…” Riley answered, looking about and not liking what she couldn’t see. “Maybe you should have been a preacher.”

  “I thought on it, once. But reckon I wasn’t headed in the right direction.”

  Riley reached for him before he knew what she was doing when a crashing sound had the door nearly bursting open.

  “Easy there, it’s okay, nothin’s gonna hurt you. I won’t let it,” Sam whispered near her ear.

  Sam steadied himself but let her cling, knowing she wasn’t faking as her whole body was shaking against his now. The crashing noises from above drowned his thudding heart as he pulled her ever closer. An intangible thread stretched between them. She was warm and soft in all the right places and it pleased him that she reached for him for security.

  “What’s in your pocket?” she gasped, pulling away to look.

  “Just the dream catcher. Thought maybe it’s powers would help us a little.”

  “Good thinking; sure wouldn’t hurt, would it?”

  Sam smiled.

  “Please Sam, please hold me…” she cried. “I’m so scared.”

  Sam started to shove her away, but when her hands reached to pull him against her, he held her tight. Her head rested just below his chin; she’d lost her hat long ago so her hair tickled his chin, a soft tickle. She pulled him tighter. “Oh God Sam, are we gonna die?”

  The roar from the storm was nearing overhead.

  The frantic quality of her voice had him suddenly calming.

  “No…not yet…Just shut it out, don’t listen to what’s goin’ on out there. Don’t think on it. You’re gonna feel a real decompression, and it’s gonna pull everything, even your skin, but don’t be scared. Just don’t think on it.” Sam managed to sound calm although holding her sent new awareness through him. “Think on something good, something warm and cozy, like a fire.” He was totally unaccustomed to having a fully grown woman hang onto him so. His body began to respond to hers and his arms went about her for reassurance, resting just below her breast. A thumb absently stroked her there, absently feeling the small swell of her breast before he realized what he was touching. But she grabbed him even closer and clung. “I’m so scared, Sam.”

  “Hush now, I won’t let it hurt you,” he whispered somewhere near her ear. “You gotta trust me on that. I got a feelin’ it ain’t our time yet.”

  But there was more than just arms wrapping around arms. His protective nature sprang forward, and yet the reality of it hit Sam squ
are in the face. Riley was a special person, and he had to protect her, for Riley had done the impossible. She had reached some inner core in him, broken and shattered his well protected heart.

  But when she moved her head to look up at him through the darkness, she seemed to stretch the distance to find him. Her lips touched his chin first, by accident, bumping, lingering, then bumping, and he thought it was his imagination, until he heard her indrawn breath, and Sam was unprepared, for her gasp when he felt the soft breath she sighed and at last their lips met. He didn’t know if he kissed her or she kissed him, but it was as natural as breathing when it happened. A soft coming together, his mind whirled as her lips moved slowly, tentatively over his, as though searching for something. He savored the sweetness of her innocence as they quickly created a dreamy intimacy, shutting out the world and the turmoil of it. If he could put the storm out of her mind, he would, but was that why he enjoyed kissing her so much?

  Sam shucked his inhibitions, this was as good as any a distraction, he decided and maybe a little better than he planned.

  He reached to pull her arms away, but instead his hands rested there, but he did manage to pull away just a tad. He stared through the darkness at her, waiting so his eyes adjusted to the darkness and her. He wanted to tell her there would be no more of that. But it never happened. Instead, gradually his fingers slid slowly to touch her soft cheeks, stoking her into a calm, as though he’d never touched a girl there. Her skin was soft to the touch, as her head bent to cuddle against his fingers. He hadn’t expected her to react like that. For a second she seemed to draw breath, waiting to see if he would let the moment continue. Or scold her for her actions. But the touch of her cheek, and the way her head moved so that she could kiss his fingertips, had him seeking her this time. “Right now, we aren’t no color, girl. We’re just two people, scared out of our minds, and I think we’re about to meet our maker. And we need each other…” Sam said somewhere near her lips, his warm breath caressing her. “We shore do…”

  There were no right words for the moment, no permissions asked. Her breath was sweet and warm against his cheek as she gasped several times, when he bent his head to touch her lips with his own once more. This time he took possession, a sweet, longing possession that surprised them both.