Trego, p.1
Trego, page 1
Trego
by
J. D. Oliver
Trego
Copyright © 2011 by J. D. Oliver
ISBN-13 978-1-926918-34-1
First Edition
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Oliver, J. D., 1939-
Trego [electronic resource] / written by J. D. Oliver – 1st ed.
Electronic monograph issued in PDF format.
ISBN 978-1-926918-34-1
I. Title.
PS3615.L4816T7 2011 813'.6 C2011-900971-4
Cover photo: © Donnie Sexton
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Extreme care has been taken to ensure that all information presented in this book is accurate and up to date at the time of publishing. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Additionally, neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express written permission of the publisher.
Publisher: CCB Publishing
British Columbia, Canada
www.ccbpublishing.com
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Afterword
Chapter One
The snow had been falling for the last couple of hours and the shadows were getting long. My horse was lazing along like we had all the time in the world, which I guess we did, since I had no particular destination in mind.
There was about six inches on the ground. It didn’t bother my horse ‘Jim’. But Jake my dog wasn’t too happy with it. He had a heavy coat though, since he was part Newfoundland and Wolf, so I knew he wasn’t cold. He was just in a bad mood.
“Alright Jake, we’ll find a place to camp for the night.” He looked up at me and grinned. He liked his creature comforts. Jim shook the snow off of both of us. I had a couple of pansies on my hands.
They weren’t really, they had been through all of my travails with me. We had been drifting all summer and now it was late October. So I wasn’t too upset with this snow, it was sort of overdue. Especially since we were in the foothills of the Rockies.
I had been noticing some smoke up ahead for the last two hours. Which was unusual; since I had seen very few other humans since I had nailed the doors and windows shut on our home place. And one of those was Dad’s face as I closed the homemade casket.
After I had buried him; I turned all of the livestock loose to fend for themselves. They would be alright; there was plenty of forage and I had fastened the barn doors open so they could get in out of weather in the winter time.
Dad and I had built this place from scratch. I was only ten years old when we had left the so-called civilization. That had been twenty years ago. We had seen very few people come by our place since then. So being alone didn’t bother me none. But heck, it seems like the ones I did see on my few outings to civilization weren’t all that friendly.
We topped out on a tree covered slope above a little village down below. I made sure we stayed out of sight under a big Douglas Fir. That was a pretty neat sight. I had seen something like it on an old Christmas card that my Dad kept in the family Bible. In fact I took that Bible out of my saddle bags and looked at that card; it was almost a dead ringer for that village.
I turned the card over, it was from some woman from my Dad’s past. I didn’t know who she was, Dad didn’t talk too much about the past. I put the Bible back in my saddle bags. Then I checked the loads on both of my pistols. Then on my .50 caliber Sharps that was in the scabbard under my left leg. One just never knew, did one?
Jake looked up at me and then down at the village. “Just hold your horses old son, we don’t want to go barging in where we’re not wanted, do we?”
He whined and then looked back down at the small town. It was a pretty sight, which surprised me a little bit. I never liked civilization; it brought back bad memories, like I said, at times people just weren’t all that friendly.
There was a road that wound through the valley, it went right beside the village. Now this little burg lay at the foot of a small hill about a half of a mile long, most of the town was on the flat, with a lot of houses on the hill behind it. The buildings were in sort of a horseshoe shape with a square in the middle.
There were all kinds of animals; wild as well as domestic in that square. As well as a multitude of kids. Also close to the road; but still in the square was a Conestoga wagon, with a woman cooking over an open fire. Also another kind of a wagon, looked to be some kind of drummer. They had an outside fire going also.
There were the usual establishments, General Store, Hardware Store, Blacksmith Shop, even a Butcher Shop. I was pleasantly surprised, cause there was also a Saloon. Why I was surprised I didn’t know. Most towns had them, maybe because I was hankering after a beer. Another building said Library….
That’s one thing Dad was big about; learning. He had brought just about every kind of book ever printed with us when we left civilization. I guess I had read every one of them. Heck, I even brought a couple with me. Jake whined again.
I looked down at him, well if he thought it was okay, it must be. “What do you think Jim; should we mosey on down there?” Jim turned his head and looked back at me, he gave a soft nicker. “Alright boys, we’ll go on down.”
So I turned and went down the back side of the slope; so as to reach that road where no one could see us. I didn’t want them to know from which direction we came.
It was still snowing, coming just a bit harder.
It weren’t much of a road, rutted up a might. Didn’t surprise me none. Even if I was surprised, Dad taught me to never show it. People probably couldn’t tell it if I was, with all of this fur on my face.
I pulled my hat down a little bit more and started to whistle an Irish ditty that Dad had taught me. They seen and heard me coming, those ones who were cooking outside, that is. They stood there with a stupefied look on their faces. I guess they didn’t see many strangers come a whistling down the road.
I came up within about twenty feet of the first wagon, I pulled rein and said “Howdy”. The woman stood there with her mouth open staring at me. I said, “You thirsty? You must be, you had better shut your mouth or you’re going to drown, all of that snow you’re swallowing.”
She snapped her mouth shut. The man that was setting on a stump, stood up. “Who the hell are you?” He said, not mean like, but just shocked, you might say.
“Well Sir, I don’t rightly know what this here ‘hell’ has to do with who I am, but I guess you might say that I am just a drifter.” I had just finished pontificating on that point when the flap to the wagon was pushed aside and two kids stood there, “Dad, is everything alright?” The young girl said. The boy that was beside her, just stared at me.
“Yes, Honey, everything is alright, if you’re coming outside put your wrap on.” Then he turned back to me, “I’m sorry, that was rude. It’s just that we haven’t seen any stranger’s for a spell.”
“If I may ask a rude question,” I said, “what are you all doing living in your wagon with winter coming on?”
The woman found her voice, “Henry is too proud to ask for help.” She said, with just a hint of chagrin, not too much, just a little.
“Well now, I can understand how that could be. But I don’t quite understand what the point is of that statement?” I said.
“We don’t have that much money, just enough for food, plus the keep of our horses over at the livery.” She said.
“Money? Shucks, I’ve heard of money. Never thought it was all that important. Would you like some?” I asked, then I said, “paper, silver or gold, which would you like?” I unbuttoned my coat and reached into my vest pocket and pulled out two double eagles and tossed them to the man. “Is that enough, or do you need more?”
He caught them in midair. He said, “You don’t have to give me money, we can get along.” He started to toss them back at me, when his wife caught his arm and took them away from him. She said, “Thank you, this will be more than enough, don’t worry we’ll pay you back.”
“No need, money isn’t that all important to me, do you know where I can rent a room? Rent is the proper word isn’t it?”
She said, “Yes, what other word would fit?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I just wasn’t sure if that was the word, I haven’t been around people too much.”
“They say there is a room for rent over at the saloon, if you don’t mind the noise.” The man said. “With this money you gave us, we can board with a widow women over on the hill.”
“Fine, I’m glad. This here Livery you mentioned, where might it be?” I asked.
“Just this side of the Blacksmith shop.” Henry said. “I’ll show you, I need to get our horses to pull our wagon over by the widow’s house.” He buttoned his coat all the way up and took a step toward me. Jake growled at him. He stepped back. “That is one fierce looking dog you have there.” He said.
“Jake simmer down, the man’s alright.” Jake stopped growling and grinned at him. Jim followed along behind Henry. As we went by the other wagon, the men there nodded at us. I nodded back. I got a close look at their wagon, it was covered with sheet metal, with gun loops on all sides. The men looked like hard cases. Jake growled low in his throat. He really didn’t like them.
Henry stopped at the Blacksmith to pay, he said, “They don’t have a livery hand, he died, the Blacksmith owns it.” I stepped down and dropped the reins, then followed Henry in. Henry introduced me, “This here man is the Drifter, anyway that’s what he call’s himself.” Then he looked at me and said, “This is Harry, that’s his nick name, not his condition, even though he is sort of hairy.” We shook hands. I gave as good as I got.
We went over to the livery, Jim followed along, as did Jake. Henry got his team, saying, “I’ll have them back within the hour, if that’s okay?” He led them out as I unsaddled Jim. There were a lot of empty stalls, I took my pick. I hung my tack in the stall, no one would bother them, with Jim guarding them, he would kick their heads off.
I looked around, there was living quarters in one end of the livery. Looked like they were empty. Harry was standing there.
“Say Harry, is anyone living in that end?” I asked him.
“No, are you interested?”
“Sure I need a place to stay. I would lot rather sleep with the horses than above a noisy saloon.”
“Tell you what, if you will run this livery, you can not only stay here, I’ll split the profit with you.”
“You got a deal Harry. I’m more used to animals than humans anyway. And I need a place to winter. Say what’s the name of this town and your real name?”
“Coolidge, the town, Klaas Bleecker, my name. ”
“What does everyone do to make a living?” I asked.
“Well, there is the Wise River mine, it’s just starting to pay off, some Gold, mostly Silver. But otherwise, there are some ranches and a few homesteaders are moving in, Henry was a homesteader. We’re pretty much off the beaten track. You’re one of first drifter’s we’ve had this way.”
“You say Henry was a homesteader, what happened?”
“He had some water and mineral rights on his place, they wanted it.”
“They? Who are they?”
“The Combine that runs the mine, I don’t know for sure who they all are, but what they want they just take. You mind your own business you’ll be alright. There’s supply’s in the living quarters, it’s fully stocked, when the old man died, I just left everything like it was.”
“This saloon, do they serve food? I don’t feel like cooking tonight.”
“Sure, somewhat. There is a small café, the widow woman run’s it, in a side room of her house. That’s the same place Henry is going to board his family.”
“Yeah, I might check it out on the morrow, but tonight I sort of feel like something different.” He looked at me, “Well be careful, some hard cases hang out there.”
I fed all the stock, forking hay from the overhead mow. I found the oat bin and gave Jim a bait. I took what clothes I had and put them in my room. I found a hand pump beside the sink in the small kitchen. I primed it from a pitcher of water that was setting there. I washed my face and combed by hair and beard. I rubbed a clean rag over my buckskins. I guess I should of brought more clothes with me. I took out my twin .44’s and shucked the shells and then cleaned both guns. I reloaded them with fresh shells. I spun them and stuffed them back in my holsters. The last thing I did, was build a fire in the Pot Belly Stove and then banked it, so the place would be warm when I got back.
Jake was setting there watching me, I said, “Hey old buddy, how would you like some store bought food?” He nodded. It was still snowing, I made sure my pistols were under my coat, hidden safely away.
We walked slowly toward the saloon. Taking our time and checking things out. We were in what was called the Beaverhead. I knew that Wise River was to the north. This town was starting into it’s boom phase, I knew when the ore played out, so would most of this town. Might be a few hangers on, due to the ranch’s around about. But it would be quite a ride while it lasted.
A few of the town’s dogs came running, barking. But as soon as they got close to Jake, they turned tail and ran. “Well Jake old boy, you must have bad breath, they sure didn’t like you.” He shook his head and ignored me.
This was the first storm of the season, they hadn’t closed the main doors that were behind the swinging doors. I bet they would pretty soon, as cold as it was getting. I pushed through the swinging doors letting them swing back, Jake ducked a little bit and came under them.
There was a piano playing over at one side, a woman was singing a rowdy ballad. A few of the locals were trying to sing it with her. I don’t know who sounded better, them or her. No one noticed us till we were about to the bar.
The bartender was looking at Jake, he started to say something, I held my hand up, he shut his mouth as soon as he looked into my eyes. He was an older man, perhaps at least fifty. His eyes belied the stern expression on his face, they were smiling.
“What will it be stranger?”
“Well, Jake and me are hungry, so we’ll have two plates of what ever you have.” I said with a smile.
“Pot Roast and Navy Beans, like we have every night, what’ll you have to drink?”
“I’ll take a pint and so will Jake.” I said.
“Your dog drinks beer?”
“Sure, doesn’t’ yours?”
“I suppose if I did have one, he would. I suppose he wants his in a bowl?”
“Yep, he sure does.” He turned around and drew me a beer from the spicket. Then did the same using a bowl for Jake. He sled both across the bar. I put Jake’s on the floor. He took one lap and then looked up, wanting his food. Jake was a sensible drinker, he always ate when he drank.
The bartender came back with two plates. I put Jakes on the floor. I hadn’t noticed but the piano had stopped, every one was staring at us. I looked around, then turned my back and went to eating.
I heard steps coming toward us, “Hey, you Bum, no animals are allowed in here.”
I didn’t turn around. “Hey, you old son-of-bitch, I’m talking to you.” I felt his hand on my arm as he swung me around, I simply followed through and came around and punched him in the throat. He staggered back choking for air. I stepped toward him and kicked him in the crotch. As he bent over I kneed him in the face. He was out cold when he hit the floor.
I looked up, every one was staring at me. “He called me old, I don’t like being called old.” Then I turned back to the bar and went to eating my beans and beef. Jake hadn’t even looked up.
The piano started back up, along with the clamor. The bartender said, “Do you know who that is?” Indicating the prone figure on the barroom floor.
“Nope, how could I, I’m a stranger, remember.” I said, as I looked around the room. Two big miners got up from their table and came and picked the fellow up, they looked at me, “If we were you, we’d head for the hills, his Dad ain’t going to like this.”
“How about you two, do you like it?” I said, as I swept my coat tails back to expose my .44’s.
“To tell you the truth, yep, we sort of do. It’s long overdue, it’s time he got what was coming to him. But like we said, his old man ain’t going to.” The oldest one said, then the youngest said, “We just work for the mine, we don’t like some of the things they do, but they pay us.” They each took an end and went out the back door.
No one bothered us anymore. But they weren’t friendly either. After we finished our meal. Jake sat down in front of the bar with his back to it, watching the goings on. I leaned back against the bar with a second beer in my hand doing the same.
There was a poker game going on, six players, with six chairs. Looked like they didn’t need a seventh, besides I had all of the money I needed. There were the regular saloon girls, hustling the drinks. One of them spotted me, all by my lonesome, she came over, “Buy me drink, please?” She whispered to me. I looked at her, she couldn’t of been over sixteen years old. “Please, this is my first night, I’m afraid they will fire me. And I need the money.”
