That night Lori dreamed again, only this time she was living in western times. She was riding across the ranch, only it looked different somehow. She slowed her horse and looked around. She was in a forest. Slowly she kneed her horse to a walk. She was on her way home. She had just gone for a ride. After about thirty minutes, she rode into the yard. She slid off her horse and walked toward the cabin. Her husband was away and would be back at the end of the week.
Lori opened the door to the cabin. The weather was cool and as darkness set in, it cooled even more. She started a fire in the stove and lit the two lamps; one on the wall and one on the table. She put on a pot of stew to warm and sat in the rocking chair and began to darn socks. Once the stew was warm she ate some and went back to the socks. Sometime later she began to yawn and she blew out the lamps, checked the fire, and went to bed.
The noise waking her up was loud. Finally she realized someone was knocking on the door. She could feel the chill as she hurried to get out of bed and light the lamp on the table.
“I’m coming,” she called as the knocking continued.
Lori opened the door to see Bo whose shoulder was bleeding heavily.
“What happened?”
“Gun fight,” he said as he almost fell through the doorway.
Lori helped him in and had him lay on the bed. She pulled apart some sheets and bandaged his shoulder.
“I need to take the bullet out,” she told him.
She began to build up the fire and put on some water to heat. Digging around for her husband’s whiskey bottle, she found it and gave Bo a good stiff drink.
“Bo,” she said applying pressure to the wound. “You’ve got to be okay. I don’t know what I would do without you. Now lay still.”
She handed him a small knife.
“Here, bite on the handle. You know it’s going to hurt when I do this.”
In only a few minutes the water on the stove was hot enough. She found the things her husband used to remove bullets and poured a little of the hot water over them to sterilize them and set to work. A few minutes later she dropped the bullet into the bowl. Then she dressed the wound quickly before he had lost more blood.
Bo had passed out before she had gotten the bullet out and hadn’t woken up yet. She poured the water she had used outside and got fresh hot water from the stove. Carrying it over to the bed, she began to bathe his forehead with it. She sat there and daylight flooded the room and she blew out the lamp. She only left his side long enough to add wood to the fire and put on some more water. She must have fallen asleep, for the next thing she remembered was Bo’s voice.
“Miss Lori, you need some sleep. You are so tired.”
Lori smiled at him. “I’m fine Bo, how do you feel?”
“I feel better and hungry.”
“Wonderful, I’ll fix us something to eat.” She stood and began to prepare a meal which took her several hours. She would check on Bo some as she cooked. Once it was finished, she filled a plate for Bo and realized he had fallen back to sleep. She touched his forehead. He didn’t feel hot anymore. That was a good sign. A sign he was getting well.
Within the next few days, Bo grew more and more strong. He was well enough to leave the day Lori’s husband was coming home. She tried to get him to stay but he told her they would want to be alone.
Lori came suddenly awake. Another strange dream. She laid there going over the events. She must have been living in the little cabin her father had torn down when she was a child. Bo had been there in a gun fight; she smiled a little at the thought of Bo, who had never carried a gun and she had no earthly idea how to take out a bullet from someone’s shoulder. She laughed at the thought of even trying and closed her eyes once more.
* * * * * * * *
Jessie awoke to noises all around him. What was that? He could hear men talking. What was going on? He opened his eyes. It was daylight. Where was he? This wasn’t home. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked around, and then he remembered. He was not home and there weren’t Indian’s talking. This was the strange place he had ended up in yesterday where everything was so different. He slid into his boots and opened the door to the small room. Some of the men he had met yesterday were sitting talking. They waved at Jessie and said good morning. Jessie waved back. He walked slowly up toward the big house and as he was entering the door he saw Bo coming out.
“Good morning Jessie, did you sleep well?
“All right,” Jessie answered.
“Well, don’t forget. After while, we are going into town. We can take the truck. I talked to Lori last evening about it. I will come find you.”
Jessie nodded and walked into the house where a lot of the fellows he had met the evening before were that had befriended him. He sat at the table and ate hungrily, then walked to the barn and saddled his horse. The horse had been fed and watered and had a stall of his own. His coat shone where he had been brushed. Jessie climbed upon the horse after leading him out of the barn and rode off across the ranch. Everything looked so different and even though Jessie knew he was still on his own land, he didn’t recognize any of it. There had been lots of trees and now there were hardly any at all. The whole lay of the land had changed. He didn’t even know what part of the ranch he was on. Where was his cabin? If this was hundreds of years later, would it still be standing? He thought of Missy and was glad she was not with him for he knew she would be more frightened than he.
He stopped his horse and looked around. Maybe over to the left he had seen before. He kneed the horse and rode slowly to his left. After riding for a few minutes he realized he didn’t know where he was after all. He was on his own land yet he had no clue where he was.
* * * * * * * *
Lori had been up for hours. She didn’t sleep well at all last night after the strange dream she had. She dozed off for an hour or so and woke up again. Finally about five thirty she got up. She had only been up for a few minutes when she became sick at her stomach. Trying to lay down didn’t work either. As she made her way to the kitchen and the smell of breakfast, she ran to the bathroom again. “Maybe I’m getting some kind of virus,” she thought.
By ten o’clock she felt better and thought she would go for a ride. She walked behind the house and spoke to the pool boy cleaning the pool. It was a little early to clean the pool but the weather was already getting hot. She asked him yesterday to clean out the pool so she or some of the ranch hands could swim if they wanted to after work. She could see where the leaves had blown into the pool. She walked on around to the barn where she saddled her favorite horse and walked him out of barn before climbing on his back. She patted his neck once as she got into the saddle. Soon she was riding across the other side of the ranch. The land was beautiful with the grass already getting green. The sun was bright and hot. She wiped her head and rode into the shade of a tree, where she climbed off her horse and walked around the tree thinking about Jessie and wondering how on earth he came to be here. He sure dressed like someone from the old west and she decided she would make time to sit down with Bo and Jessie to try to figure all this out. She got back on her horse as a rush of cool air ran past her. She was taking in the beauty when she heard a horse snort and turning saw the young man she had found yesterday on the ranch.
“Hey Jessie, you could get lost out here if you don’t know the land,” Lori told him.
“Morning Miss Lori. Until yesterday, I knew this land like the back of my hand. All of this was a forest of trees. I don’t know what happened.”
“It’s okay Jessie. I know you feel strange but Bo and I will help you figure out what’s going on.” Lori studied the man as she spoke. He looked a lot better today. He was clean shaven and after Bo had cut his hair last night, he was kind of cute. His hair wasn’t black as she had thought a first. It was brown and now that it was clean, it shone in the sunlight.
“Mind if I ride with you for a spell,” Jessie asked.
“Sure,” Lori answered. “You can tell me about your life
. Are you married?”
“Was, her name was Missy. She died a year ago,” Jessie told her.
“I’m sorry Jessie. What happened?”
“She died in childbirth the day the Indians came.”
“Huh,” Lori looked puzzled. “Indians?”
“I told you yesterday, it was 1888. The Indians were chasing me, and then I was here.”
“I’m sorry. I forgot. Please tell me more,” Lori said as they rode across the ranch neck and neck.
Jessie began to speak as they rode. “I was born in Tennessee and later when I was twelve, we moved to Missouri because my father was, as he called it, a friend of Jessie James. That’s how I got my name. Pa had gone to Missouri and was across the street when Jessie and his gang robbed a bank. Pa told me that Jessie came over and gave him a gold piece. Pa kind of made up stories about Jessie James and why we moved to Missouri.”
Lori was shocked, but she listened closely as he went on to tell her how he met Missy and the two of them moved to Texas. He even told her about the oak tree they planted.
“An oak tree? You planted it in 1886 you said,” Lori asked.
“Yes, why?”
“I need to show you something Jessie, you may want to brace yourself. This could be a shock to you,” Lori told him.
“Okay,” Jessie was puzzled.
“When I was a little girl, there was a little cabin where I’m taking you. But one day when I was playing inside, the roof caved in and I was trapped under a log until Bo and my father found me. After that, Bo tore down the little cabin. I was thinking yesterday about buying a log cabin kit and rebuilding the cabin.”
“Was it a one room cabin,” Jessie asked.
“Yes, no one knew how long it had been there or who built it. Daddy said it was here as long as he could remember. I think someone kept it up through the years, but I don’t think Daddy fixed it up and that’s why the roof caved in.”
They rode slowly across the ranch. Jessie’s mind was moving so fast. Could the cabin have been his and Missy’s home? The one he had built? The same one he had woke up in yesterday morning? But it had been torn down for at least ten years, so Lori said. How was it possible? He shook his head and then he saw something over to the right.
“Lori, look over there,” he pointed to the right of where they were riding.
Lori looked where he pointed. “Oh no, it’s one of my beef cows.”
They stopped and jumped to the ground.
“What happened,” Jessie asked her.
“I don’t know. I found a sick calf yesterday on the other side of the ranch just before I found you. Bo and Adam took it back to the ranch but it died last night some time and now one of my beef cows. Together, that’s a lot of money lost.”
“You sell the cattle,” Jessie asked.
“Yes I do.” Lori was kneeling beside the cow shaking her head.
“It’s dead Jessie.” She stood up and reached for her cell phone in her pocket.
“What’s that,” Jessie jumped back against his horse.
“Sorry, I forgot you don’t know about all this. Come over here.” She waved her arm to him.
Slowly Jessie walked toward her.
“What is it,” Jessie asked again as he looked at the small silver object in her hand. She held it out and pressed it into his hand.
“Look, open it up.” She raised the lid and the phone showed a picture of a man. “It’s my dad,” she told him. “A picture.”
“I know pictures,” Jessie said. “But this is colored.”
“Yes, now look. Don’t be afraid. This is only an object. It can’t hurt you. I’m going to press these numbers and they will appear on the screen here, see.” She pressed the numbers to Bo’s cell. “I’m putting us on speaker, Jessie. That means you and I can hear Bo and he can hear both of us.” She pressed another button and Jessie heard a sound kind of like church bells. “That’s the phone ringing. You will hear Bo’s voice in a minute.”
“Hello,” Bo’s voice came from the thing in Jessie’s hand.
“Bo,” Jessie said looking under the object in his hand then to his left and right and spun around quickly.
“Jessie, is that you? Where are you?”
“It’s me. I’m with Lori on the ranch. We found a dead cow.”
“Bo,” Lori said. “It’s one of our beef cows. Can you send a couple of the boys to come pick it up. Send the calf to the vet. I want to know what’s killing these animals.
“You got it. Are you two coming back soon? I called a friend of mine from town. He’s going to close the part of the museum from the old west so Jessie and I can check it out. You hear, Jessie?”
“I hear you Bo.” Jessie was still looking all around. Bo had to be somewhere here but there was no sign of him and he knew there was no way he was inside this little box. Jessie turned it over still looking at it.
“We are almost where the cabin used to be, Bo. I want to show it to Jessie, then we’re coming back.” Lori said.
“Very good. See you soon.”
“Bye Bo,” Lori closed the silver thing and took it from Jessie, putting it in her pocket.
Jessie was still looking around. “Where is he? Where is Bo?”
“Back at the house.”
“How did he get here and back so quick?”
“That was only his voice Jessie, it wasn’t Bo. See, only the voice comes over these phones.”
“Only his voice?” Jessie got back on his horse. None of this made any sense to him. As Lori led the way for about a half mile more, then he saw it. He stopped his horse when he saw the tree. It was a huge tree but there was no question it was an oak.
“That’s it Jessie,” Lori said. “That’s the tree.”
“Where was the house?”
“Over there,” Lori pointed.
“Yes it was. This is it. This is the tree Missy and I planted. Let me look at it more closely. Missy carved a heart in it at the base. I told her it might kill the tree but she said no because I told her the tree would last as long as our love for each other would. She told me she still loved me and that’s why she knew the tree wouldn’t die if she carved a heart in it.” Jessie climbed off his horse as he spoke and began to look at the base of the tree.
“Wait,” Lori said. “The tree has grown taller so the heart would be up higher, wouldn’t it?”
Jessie began to look more at eye level on the tree and then he saw it. It wasn’t small anymore. The heart had grown with the tree. But it was still there. “Oh God, here it is.”
Lori saw the sad look come across his face. “When you told me about your cabin and the tree, I thought of this place. I thought this was the tree you planted in 1886 but I didn’t know about the heart. I have never really looked at the tree.”
“Missy has been dead a year and the tree was little more than a sapling yesterday and today it is a huge tree but it’s still growing in the same place we planted it.” Jessie got back on his horse, still staring at the tree with a sad look.
Lori reached over, moving her horse close to his, and placed her hand over his.
“I know this is a lot for you to take in but Bo and I will help you. We will figure all this out even if it doesn’t make sense.”
“Thank you Lori, this whole thing is strange to me. I can’t believe the little tree we planted is a huge old tree now.”
“Did you and Missy name the ranch? When it came into our family, it was already called The Lazy Cross,” Lori said as they rode back across the ranch. “No one knew how the ranch got its name.”
“Alright, I will tell you. Yes, Missy and I named the ranch. You see, one day we were going to fetch some water and Missy found a branding iron. It was a cross. We didn’t have a branding iron and we needed one. Only the branding iron was broken. The cross was hanging by one side. I took it to the black smith and he couldn’t straighten it, so I left it. When I went back to get it, he told me he couldn’t straighten it up but he could stable it as it was. I took it hom
e anyway. Missy looked at it and said she thought it looked like a lazy cross so we decided to call the ranch The Lazy Cross because the branding iron was broken on one side.”
“Okay, good, we always thought the name was good and seemed to fit the ranch but no one ever knew how it got its name.”
It didn’t take long for them to arrive back at the ranch. Lori looked at her watch as they left their horses at the barn. It was almost one. She felt better now, like she hadn’t been sick at all. Maybe she had gotten rid of the bug because now she was hungry.
“Hey, are you hungry Jessie? I’m starving. Let’s go see what Cook made for lunch.”
“I am a little hungry,” Jessie said.
“Let’s go into the house. Bo will probably be there. After we eat, Bo will take you into the city.”
“All of this is so strange to me. Thank you for befriending me Lori. You and Bo have been great.”
They were standing just outside the house and they could smell the aromas from inside the house. Lori stopped at the door as Jessie spoke and turned to face him. She knew he was so frightened and she couldn’t begin to think how he felt coming here from somewhere else. She placed her hand on his arm.
“Jessie, Bo and I will help you figure out how you got here and what is going to happen with you. You don’t need to thank me. I will help you anyway I can. You can trust Bo and me.”
“I know I can trust you and Bo. You don’t know how much better it makes me feel.”
“Okay, let’s go get some lunch.” Lori opened the door of the house and held it for Jessie. Together they walked into the house and then into the large dining room. Bo and a lot of the ranch hands were already there. Bo had two empty chairs on either side of him and he patted the top of each as he saw them come into the room.
Portals of Time Page 7
