by Greg Dragon
The young man came out onto the porch. “Why do I have to go? Jer can handle himself.” But he was already strapping on his belt. It was a futile argument that he never won.
“Don’t go givin’ me no lip. Move. Jeremiah’s ready to go already and yer gonna make him late.”
Jasper jumped off the edge of the porch to avoid his oldest brother arm as it made a beeline for Jasper’s head, then he trotted to the barn as Jeremiah began to protest behind him. “Aw, com’on, Jed. I don’t need no nanny goat. I can look after myself.”
Jed grunted and went back to his whittling, effectively ending any potential conversation before it began. Jeremiah grumbled atop Nelly until Jasper returned with Dynamite a few minutes later.
“Come on. Let’s go,” Jasper said as he nodded toward the path through the hills.
Jeremiah glared at him for a full thirty seconds before he spat on the ground, aiming in Jed’s direction. The older Gaines brother pretended not to notice, even though his eyes narrowed and his face darkened. With a growl, Jeremiah spun Nelly around and spurred her into a trot. She felt his irritation and snorted as she kicked up dust in her wake. Jasper sighed and followed at a slower pace. This was a regular occurrence and he knew Jeremiah would eventually slow down and wait for him. No matter what his brother said, he liked having Jasper along for the ride whenever he went into town. Jasper kept him out of serious trouble... usually.
As he expected, Jeremiah was waiting where the hills split apart to go their separate ways. He spat again and a fat glob of brown juice pooled on the hard dirt.
Jasper’s nose curled and he fought against his gag reflex. He glanced at his older brother. “You should wash up before we get to town if you don’t want Ms. Cora to dump a bucket on you.”
Jeremiah glared at him again. “That only happened once. She never dare do it again. I’d whoop her and she knows it.”
Jasper laughed. “She did it twice, Jeremiah. And I have no doubt she would do it again if she thought it was necessary. That girl is afraid of no one, especially not you.”
Jeremiah snorted. “Whatever. That little whore needs someone to teach her a lesson. She’d do right to listen to us menfolk.”
The younger man shook his head. His brother was all bark and no bite. “Why would she do that? She has you boys wrapped around her finger. And she’s not a whore, she’s just a dancing girl. She gets you all riled up, then sends you off to one of the real whores. You’re just mad because she won’t take you to her bed.”
The older Gaines brother growled. “She will. Just you wait. One of these days, she will.”
They rode in silence to the river. “Stop here.” Jeremiah jumped off Nelly and draped her reins over a tree branch near the water before he stripped down to nothing.
Jasper pressed his lips tightly together to stifle the know-it-all smirk that would surely get him a good beating. He tethered Dynamite near Nelly so they could both drink and wandered down the river a short distance to give his brother some privacy. Not that Jeremiah had a modicum of humility anyway. He would strip down in the middle of town and bath in a horse trough if he thought the sheriff wouldn’t arrest him for it.
As Jasper sank down onto a log to get lost in his own thoughts, Jeremiah splashed about in the cold water. It hadn’t rained for awhile, so the river was low. The mud he kicked up made it brown and ugly and didn’t help him getting clean much, but he didn’t notice. He always felt like a kid whenever he bathed in the river. It was the only place he would bathe, and he didn’t do it often enough. But it was fun when he did.
A flicker of light caught his eye and he dove toward it. The fish slipped through his fingers by barely an inch. “Lucky bastard,” he grumbled as he stood up and surveyed the water again. It took him several tries, but he caught the fish and soon after that, he snagged another one.
“Jasper, get over here.”
The young man looked up in time to see his brother emerge from the river, stark naked, dripping wet, and carrying two large fish. He grinned and grabbed some of the fallen twigs that littered the ground around the trees.
“I thought you wanted to get to town,” he said as he piled the wood up and got a fire started.
“Eh.” Jeremiah shrugged and looked to the sky. “Sun’s still high yet. We got time. Don’t wanna get there too early or the good whores is still sleepin’.”
Jasper snorted and rolled his eyes. He took the fish from his brother and skewered them on two longer sticks. Then he propped them over the fire using several stones. Jeremiah lay back on the ground to air dry, heedless of the dirt that was now covering his backside. Jasper rolled his eyes and pulled a small book from Dynamite’s saddle bag.
He settled himself on the other side of the fire. He opened the book very carefully. It was called Frankenstein, written by a young woman named Mary Shelley. The shopkeeper’s wife, Emma Jones, had let him borrow it. She had lots of books, books she had brought with her from back east. Rumor had it she was a librarian before moving out west. Why someone would give up that life to come out west and toil in the hot sun and dirt all day, Jasper would never understand.
Jasper found the page where he left off and began reading. It was a good book. They always were. He had to be careful with them, though. Jeremiah mocked him for reading, but he never did anything cruel to him. Jed, on the other hand, would snatch the books from his hands and throw them in the fire hard enough to send the coals flying. Mrs. Jones had been very upset when that had happened to one of hers. Jasper thought she would never lend him another book again, but she forgave him and now he took great care with the books. Jed never saw one and Jeremiah never said anything about it to Jed.
Jasper glanced at his brother. Jeremiah was rough and uncouth, a bull in a china shop as the saying goes, but he wasn’t Jed. There was a stupid innocence to Jeremiah. He did what he was told and didn’t think much about right and wrong. He just went with the way life flowed. Unlike Jed. Jed went out of his way to hurt people. Sure, on the face of things he pretended to have morals. No shooting women or children, no shooting the animals. But that didn’t mean he didn’t find other ways to do damage, to hurt people as much as he could. Even those he claimed to care about weren’t immune to his vileness. Ma and Pa were afraid of him toward the end. She died before Pa, which was a stroke of luck for her. Pa didn’t make it to a natural end. Jasper was there the day Jed decided to “put the ol’ man outta his misery.” He had tried to stop his oldest brother, but he was too weak. All he did was earn himself a broken arm, a black eye, and several bruised ribs.
Jasper inhaled to chase the memories away before he turned the fish over and stoked the fire. Jeremiah groaned and sat up. He saw the book sitting beside Jasper and grunted, but didn’t say anything. They both stared out over the river for a few minutes until Jasper pulled the fish from the coals. He handed one to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah ripped a steaming piece off and popped it in his mouth, heedless of the pain. “Ya know, I’m not as dumb as you think I am.”
Jasper glanced sideways at him. He ate a piece of fish before responding. “What do you mean?”
He nodded at the book. “You and Jed act all high and mighty around me, like I’m a moron. I may not be as learned as you, or as good at plottin’ as Jed, but I’m not an idjit either. I know these lands, I know how to navigate them. If it weren’t for me, you fellas woulda starved after Pa croaked.”
Jasper gritted his teeth. Jeremiah had been in town when Jed shot Pa. He didn’t know the truth. The old man was buried six feet in the ground long before he even got home. “I know. You’re the best hunter of us.”
Jeremiah grunted. “That ain’t all. I can read an’ do math an’ all that borin’ stuff, too.”
Jasper looked at his brother and raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never seen you with a book.”
The scruffy man shrugged a shoulder. “Well, naw, not since Ma’s gone. But when we was younger I used to read all the time. She taught me. Said she wanted me to be one of them
liars in New York City. Said she wanted me to go places, be somebody. But then she got sick. You was just a little baby then. She couldn’t help out no more an’ Pa said I couldn’t leave. So I stuck around, helped out. Jed wasn’t no good. He was always gettin’ into trouble. Him an’ that gang of his. You remember them?”
Jasper nodded. “Bobby Blake and Jimmy Two Fingers. I hated them.”
“Yep, me, too. Everyone thinks I’m the trouble maker, but I only have fun. I don’t mean to hurt nobody. Jed, he likes to hurt people. You know he an’ the sheriff were best friends when we was kids growin’ up?”
Jasper half shrugged, half nodded. “I remember Connor and Cora coming to the house a couple times when I was really young, but I didn’t know they were that close.”
Jeremiah tossed the nearly empty skeleton into the river. He watched as the other fish swarmed around, picking the bones clean. “Mmhmm. Afore the McClanes died, they were real close with Ma and Pa. Used to come to the house all the time. Cora was a spitfire even then.” He grinned at a memory from long ago until his face fell. “Then her folks died in that fire. She was at a friend’s house. Somehow Connor got out alive. They say he was burned pretty bad. They moved to town with their aunt, Elizabeth. You couldn’ta been more’n five then. She was a real piece of work, that one. A real stickler for rules and all. After awhile, she wouldn’t let him come over anymore. Said we was a bad influence. We wasn’t. Jed was. But that didn’t make no matter.”
He picked a piece of bone from his teeth. “You remember Lydia Prince?”
Jasper thought for a minute. “I think so. She and her parents died in that attack on the stage coach, right?”
“Yep. Musta been more’n ten years ago now. Did you know she was engaged to McClane at the time?”
Jasper’s jaw dropped. “No, I didn’t know that.”
“Yep. Nearly broke him. He thinks Jed did it.”
“Did he?”
Jeremiah shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe. Maybe not. I wasn’t there, but I don’t know where he was at the time. Don’t matter none, though. Can’t change it. Connor was too upstandin’ to go after Jed without proof, but it killed what little friendship they had left.”
He stood and unzipped his pants. The story continued as the fire sizzled. “He did get revenge on Jed’s gang, though. Bobby bit it out in desert. No one saw it, but everyone knows who did it. He was left out there to get ate by the buzzards. It was a revenge killin’, no doubt about it, but he deserved it. And Jimmy Two Fingers hanged a few years later for the rape and murder of a town girl, all legal like. Jed, though... the sheriff couldn’t pin nothing on him. Never could in all these years. He’s too smart.”
Jeremiah reached for Nelly’s reins and climbed into the saddle. Jasper followed suit. “Why are you telling me all this?”
Jeremiah shrugged. “Dunno. Just felt like the time. You’s a smart boy. I never made nothin’ a myself, not like Ma wanted me to. Maybe you can. Maybe you can get outta this hell hole an’ make a life someplace nice. Someplace like New York City or Phillydelfya. Be a liar or a newspaper man or something.”
Jasper laughed. “I think you mean lawyer.”
Jeremiah grinned a big, brown grin. “Nope. I mean a liar. They always telling lies, Ma said. That’s how they make they money. Lying. You gotta read them books so you know which lies to tell.”
Jasper’s laugh came out as a snort. “Well, if Ma said so, then it must be true.” He thought for a moment. “Nah, I think I’d rather be a professor at a college or something, though. No lying involved there.”
Jeremiah nodded. “That’d be good, too.” He appraised Jasper as the horses plodded along the path to town. “You know, little brother, I may be mean to ya, but it ain’t to be mean. It’s to make you tough. Someday, yer gonna be out there on your own. I won’t be around no more. An’ you’ll need to take care of yerself.”
Jasper opened his mouth, but closed it again when he couldn’t think of a thing to say to Jeremiah’s strange behavior. His older brother ignored him and continued on anyway. “When you was born, I was nine, Jed was eleven. Even then, Ma didn’t trust him. She pulled me aside the night you was born. You was laying there on the bed, all swaddled up and sleepin’. ‘You protect him, Jeremiah,’ Ma says to me. She looked me in the eyes and gripped my arm so tight it hurt. She was a’skeered, I could see that well enough. ‘You keep your little brother safe.’ I knew she wasn’t talkin’ about protecting ya from wolves and stuff. She was talkin’ about him, about Jed.”
Jeremiah pulled his horse to a stop and looked Jasper in the eyes. His face was dead serious. “I’m doing my best, little brother. No matter what it takes, I’ll protect you from him. I promise.”
Chapter 11
“Mad, Abby, bring the vegetables, please.” Ma Crawford nodded toward the kitchen.
Her oldest daughters, Madeleine and Abigail rose from the game of checkers they played on the floor in the corner and walked to the side of the room that served as a kitchen.
“Did you see Amos the other day?” Madeleine gushed as they picked up two wooden bowls full of vegetables from the work table under the window.
Abigail rolled her eyes. Ever since their former schoolmate had been deputized barely a year ago, Madeleine had had her sights set on him. It didn’t matter that the man was obviously in love with one of the saloon girls.
“What about Cora?” Abby pressed her lips together to hide her smile as Maddy set off into a rant. She just loved teasing her younger sister.
“I don’t know what he sees in her. She’s a saloon girl, after all.” Madeleine put all the venom she could muster into the words “saloon girl”, as if it was the worst profession anyone could possibly choose. To her, it was. “Amos is a good man. He needs a good woman. He needs someone who will take care of the house and keep her knickers on around other men.”
Abby laughed. “You mean like you?”
“Yes,” Maddy spat. “Of course like me. Can you get better than a teacher? I’m smart, I want lots of children, I am good at keeping house.”
“I beg to differ on that last part.” Ma smiled as she took the bowl from Madeleine. “Every time I ask you to sweep, it’s like I’m asking you to chop off your hand.”
Maddy scoffed. “I just don’t like sweeping is all.”
Ma winked at Abby as they set the bowls on the table. “Sweeping is a large part of living out here, my dear. Between you kids and your pa, if I didn’t sweep twice a day, we would be living in a foot of dust.”
“Anyway,” Maddy said in an attempt to turn the conversation back to where she wanted it to go. “He needs a good woman.”
“Bow your heads.” Pa ignored Maddy’s glare as the rest of the family bowed their heads and clasped hands.
There were six of them around the small table. Ma, Pa, Abigail, Madeleine, Wyatt, and Hannah. Ma and Pa had moved out west when Abby was two and Maddy was a newborn. Over nearly two decades, they built a nice little homestead away from the corruption and craziness of the east coast. They were half a day’s ride from Lonesome Ridge. Madeleine worked as a teacher at the school. It was too far to travel every day, so she rented a room in town. On Saturdays, she borrowed a horse from the stable and rode out to the homestead to spend the weekend with her family.
“Did you see Eva yesterday?” Hannah, the youngest of the four at barely seventeen, asked her older brother.
Wyatt stuffed a carrot in his mouth. “Yup. Mrs. Zane is making her dress, she said.”
Hannah sighed and stared off into space. “I can’t wait to be a bridesmaid. It’s going to be great.”
“Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Isn’t that how the saying goes, Abby?” Maddy’s wicked grin had her older sister blushing.
“I’ve only been a bridesmaid twice, and I’m not in any hurry to get married, thank you.”
“Abby was thinking about going into teaching,” Ma Crawford cut in as she passed the bowl of steamed green beans around the table.
Abigai
l rolled her eyes. “No, Ma. You want me to go into teaching.”
Ma Crawford gave the exasperated sigh she had mastered years ago. “You have to do something, Abby. You can’t stay around here all your life.”
“Why not?” Pa gave Abby a small smile as they spoke over each other. She was his best helper and everyone knew it. Without her around, he would have struggled to manage all the chores.
“Don’t encourage her, Abraham. She needs to start a family of her own before it’s too late.”
“Ma, do we have to have this conversation every time we eat?”
“Fine, fine. We’ll talk about something else.” Ma lapsed into silence with a scowl on her face, clearly uninterested in talking about anything else.
Silence fell over them for several minutes, broken only by the clanking of forks and cups.
“Mr. Bell says he saw a dead buffalo the other day.” Wyatt poked at the beans his mother had forced him to take, but didn’t eat any of them. “He says it was ripped apart, probably by lions.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “There are no lions in the west, Wyatt.”
“How do you know? Maybe one escaped from that traveling circus that came through here a couple years ago.”
“I doubt it.”
His argument was cut off by a sharp scream from outside. Everyone froze until Pa cried out. “The cattle!”
He rose from the table so fast that his chair toppled over behind him. He snatched the rifle from beside the door and raced out into the dark. Abby was right behind him, grabbing her own rifle. She stopped at the door. “Get into the bedroom, Ma. Just in case.” Then she was gone.
