Gus

by C. J. Petit

  He stepped down, and he and Hank walked into the house. His house. It would have been his and Libby’s house. Different circumstances.

  “Hank, what I’m planning on doing is selling off both ranches’ herds over the next few months.”

  “You gonna get out of the ranching business, Gus?”

  “Not at all. I want the herds cleaned off. We buy a new herd of, say, six hundred prime Herefords. In two years, we’d be back to where we are now but with a much better breed. They carry more beef per critter.”

  “I like that idea, Gus. We’d only be able to move around two hundred at a time. But we could do it.”

  “Okay. Pass that idea around the boys, and see what they think. I’ve still got to come up with a new brand and a name for the ranch, too.”

  “I’ll do that. Do you still want me to hire two more hands?”

  “Uh-huh. We’re going to need them to make the move. There will be plenty of work setting this place up after it’s cleared of the cattle to make it ready for the new breed. Then we’ll be moving them in and branding the whole bunch. It’ll be a busy time, Hank. And when you get a chance, have the boys take down the fence between the two ranches. It’s one ranch now. It’ll be official when I get a new name.”

  “Can do, Gus.”

  Hank waved and left the house. Gus decided to do some exploring. He started in the office. He wanted to see what was inside the desk first. He pulled open the top drawer and found a ledger. It was almost full. He’d have to buy a new one. Joe Miles may have been a lunatic and murderer, but he was a good record keeper. Every expense was meticulously documented. He set it back in the drawer for later review. He checked the other drawers and found files of receipts and sales in the top drawer. In the bottom drawer, he found some notebooks and a second ledger. This should be interesting.

  One of the notebooks was sort of a diary. A logbook, to be more accurate. The last two months were full of interesting notations. Joe had set up the theft of the Star A cattle after all. He’d had three men rustle the cattle. There were notes of the other incidents as well, even his use of Libby as bait. Why would anyone keep a record of stuff like this? It was like he was handing a noose to the hangman. He opened the second ledger and found a second set of books for expenses that Joe didn’t want to be seen. He put all the books away.

  He went to the library. He noted that all the Winchesters and the shotgun had been returned. Those were good men out there. He was walking and admiring the books and saw one set that was really out of place. They were a set of volumes on ancient philosophers. The books were simply too close together. He pulled out one, and the entre façade of book covers fell forward. Inside was a metal safe. There was no lock. He opened it and saw a lot of cash, some documents, and a bag. He pulled it all out and carried it to the desk. He sat down and pushed the cash aside. He emptied the bag’s contents onto the desk. There were several large gems, two emeralds, four rubies, two diamonds, and one pearl. He put them back in the bag. Then he examined the documents. Now this was interesting. Joe Miles owned two saloons. One was in Kinnick, and the other was the OK Saloon in Chadwick. That might be interesting. Maybe he’d just give them both to Sara.

  He counted the cash. It amounted to $2,857. He already had more than $700 in his saddlebag bank. May as well leave it there for emergencies. He piled it all back in the safe and put the fake books in front. He thought it was poor security and that he would have to do better.

  He left the office and found a nice dining room and a well-stocked and well-maintained kitchen. Libby’s work. There was a large washroom with a tub as well. He went upstairs to the bedrooms. He found Joe’s bedroom first. It was impressive. A large bed, another desk and chair, a couch, and two chests. There was even a built-in closet. Gus walked to the closet. He found a few suits and some Stetsons. The hats all fit as well as the vests. The jackets were too tight and short. The pants were too roomy at the waist and too short as well.

  He’d check the drawers later. There were four bedrooms on the floor. He found the bathroom. It was larger than the one downstairs. He was wondering how water got up here, but he found a pipe and valve. It must connect to the water tower that was a hundred feet behind the house. The next bedroom was furnished well, but unused. He went into Mary’s room and was surprised to see that it was clean. He wondered if the undertakers did that as part of their job.

  He took a breath and walked into Libby’s room. It smelled like Libby. It was tasteful and not overly furnished. He began looking through drawers. Women’s things. He went to the dressing table. Not a lot there, either. Just some lilac water and a hairbrush. He pulled out a drawer and found a notebook and pencil. He took out the book. It was a diary.

  Gus hesitated, but began reading. He just perused the first half, reading the loneliness and the constant attempts to control Mary. He also found references to hands that had made advances and how she had to fend them off. But then he was surprised to find that she hadn’t fended them all off. He was stunned when she said she had allowed Ernie Blanchard into her bed. Gus almost stopped, but it was addictive. He had to know. He knew she was lonely, but why had she lied to him? For six months, she would meet with Ernie in her bedroom or in his foreman’s quarters. Then she found him with Mary. She refused him the next time he came to her. That was only a few months ago. He almost tossed the diary aside but read on. He found where he made an appearance. She wrote that she found Gus interesting. Then her outlook changed. She began to distrust Joe and his motives. She saw that Ernie and Joe were alike. She vowed to try and stop them. Then it ended before any more mentions of Gus. He set it down. Did she even love him at all? Maybe all he could ever be to Libby was interesting. If she had told him the truth about being with Ernie, it wouldn’t have bothered him at all. But did she hide the fact because she was ashamed? But why bring it up just to lie?

  Gus stood and returned downstairs. His image of Libby was shaken. She had been a good person, but she was lonely. She wasn’t planning on doing anything, and she did like him. She liked him a lot, but it may not have been love. He decided that he’d redecorate her bedroom. Libby would become a memory. Not a heartache.

  He needed to get to work again. He saw that the boys were already pulling down the fence. Good. He rode Belle back to the Star A house and stopped at the barn. He opened the door and was greeted by the two puppies.

  “Well, I’m going to have to give you both names.” He picked up the female. These dogs didn’t look like a Prince or Rex or any other normal dog name. They deserved human names. The female was easy.

  “You are definitely a Marge,” he told her. He set Marge down and picked up the male.

  “Now you’re going to be a problem.” Gus had come to the honest realization that his own name was ideal for such a funny-looking dog. “How about Fred? No, too many Freds around who would take offense. I got it. You will be Ralph.”

  The newly christened Ralph was wagging his tail as Gus set him down. Belle looked down at the pair of puppies as they ran between her legs, chasing each other’s tails.

  Gus unsaddled Belle and let her go to her stall, avoiding small dogs in the process.

  “Ralph, Marge, come on!”

  He didn’t think they knew their names, but they followed him to the house. He had to pick them up to get them into the kitchen, where he fed them some leftover beef from the cold room. He put a pan of water on the floor, and they both lapped at the discovery.

  Gus only had to clean up one puppy mess that afternoon, as he would let them out periodically. They had discovered the chicken coop and yapped mercilessly at the trapped birds. He took some boards and started working on a home for the puppies. He’d let them in the house, but they needed someplace of their own with access to the outdoors.

  He built a small house for them on the back porch. Then he created a ramp, like he had for the chickens, with small gripping boards every few inches. After he set it on the porch, he put the puppies on the ground and then walked onto the por
ch. He held out a piece of jerky, and they figured out that the ramp was their best chance at getting the snack quickly. Soon they were happily running up and down the ramp, with only an occasional ear-stepping incident.

  It was late, and tomorrow he’d leave early to bring Emma Powers and Ethyl to the house.

  He made a hodgepodge dinner that he shared with Ralph and Marge. He was going to go to the big house and get a book, but he was drained. He climbed into bed and went to sleep. The two puppies curled up nearby.

  The next morning, he was up early and had breakfast. Eggs again. He gave some to Ralph and Marge before heading to the barn. He let the puppies go where they wanted. They headed for the chicken coop.

  He hitched the team to the wagon and rolled out of the ranch at seven thirty, and arrived at Mrs. Powers’s farm at almost exactly nine o’clock. He stepped up and knocked on the door.

  “Come on in, Gus,” he heard Emma shout.

  He walked in and found surprisingly little to be moved.

  “We’re ready to go,” she said.

  Ethyl was smiling in anticipation.

  “Okay. What are you taking with you?”

  “Just those two bags out front.”

  “That’s all?”

  “We don’t have much. All of the plates and things were secondhand when we bought them fifteen years ago.”

  “There are plenty of those things at the ranch house. Whatever you need, you let me know.”

  “All right.”

  “What about the chickens?”

  “I put out enough feed for a week and left the coops open. If the farm isn’t sold, I’ll come back.”

  “All right, let’s load up and get going.”

  Gus could see the excitement on both their faces. It made him feel good to make someone happy.

  He picked up their light bags, and they walked out to the wagon. Gus put the two bags in back and helped Emma onto the seat. Ethyl was already there.

  Gus drove with a Powers female on either side. They arrived in Kinnick ten minutes later.

  “We need to make a stop first, ladies,” he said as he rolled to a stop in front of Hanratty’s.

  Ethyl slid down to let Gus get out. She was starting to get back on board when Gus stopped her.

  “Hold on, Ethyl. Let’s go, Emma. You need to do some shopping here.”

  Ethyl followed him to the other side, where he helped Emma down.

  “What do we need?” she asked.

  “A bunch of things. Come on in.”

  They walked in, and Gus greeted John Hanratty.

  “Morning, Mrs. Powers. Ethyl.”

  “John, Mrs. Powers is going to be working for me from now on. She’ll be taking care of the Star A ranch house. So, anything she needs, charge it to the new ranch. I’ll give you the name when I come up with one.”

  “Will do, Gus.”

  He turned to Emma.

  “Emma, you and Ethyl go down to the clothing section and buy yourselves a bunch of new dresses and other things. Don’t forget riding boots and riding outfits, either. Don’t forget anything. And, Ethyl, you make sure you get some ribbons for your hair. You’ll also need all those toiletry items like soaps and toothbrushes and toothpowder, hairbrushes and everything else. Don’t you dare cut yourself or Ethyl short. That would displease your new boss. It would be a bad way to start. Now, you should have at least four dresses each and the riding clothes. I need to go and buy some things myself while I have the wagon.”

  “But . . .” was all Emma could get out before Gus put up a finger. “Don’t but me, Emma. Go.”

  Ethyl needed no encouragement. She was already trotting down the aisle. Emma followed. Gus walked over to the food side and bought a big ham and two slabs of bacon. He took them up front and then selected some potatoes and onions and another bag of apples. He added all sorts of tins of beans, onions, and tomatoes as well as some of peaches and milk. He picked up some jars of pickles and other vegetables and a vat of butter. He set them all down.

  John Hanratty asked with a smile, “No eggs today, Gus?”

  Gus replied, “No. Do you want to buy some?”

  John laughed and began adding.

  After John had totaled the order so far, Gus bagged them up and carried them out to the wagon.

  ____

  He returned to see how the ladies were doing. They each had armloads of clothes.

  “Why don’t you bring those up front and put them on the counter? You still need other things.”

  Even Emma couldn’t stop grinning as they did what he said. They went to the leather area to find boots. Gus followed and said to Emma, “Don’t forget shoes, either. I see something else, too.”

  He walked over to the hats, found two smaller Stetsons, took them both before walking back and plopped them on their heads. “That’ll work.”

  They both giggled. Gus just smiled. “I’ll load up all of that toiletry stuff.”

  He went down the aisle, adding scented soaps, toothbrushes and powder, some scented talcum powder, two hairbrush-and-mirror sets, and a handful of ribbons in case Ethyl forgot. He put them all on the counter. John was adding and adding.

  Emma and Ethyl walked up front and put their boots and shoes on the counter, then added their hats to the pile.

  “Did you remember socks?”

  “Oh!” came from Emma as she scurried off.

  “John, if you could put out word that the Powers farm is up for sale, she’d surely appreciate it.”

  “I will. You might want to see Fred Jackson at the bank. He handles all the real estate sales.”

  “We’ll do that shortly.”

  Emma came trotting up and put six pairs of socks on the counter.

  John added the last bit. “That’ll be one hundred thirty-seven dollars and eleven cents, Gus.”

  Gus paid the bill and took his change.

  John began packing the rest of the order into a crate he had in back. When he was done, Gus lifted it and was reminded of the gunshot wound.

  But he carried the bulky crate to the wagon and set it inside the wagon bed.

  “Emma, why don’t we head over to the bank? John was telling me that Fred Jackson handles all real estate sales.”

  “All right.”

  Gus took both ladies’ arms, crossed the street and entered the bank. He asked to see Fred Jackson.

  Fred was intrigued. A farm so close to town should be a fast sale. He thought that the owner of the neighboring farm might be interested. Emma signed a sales contract, and they left.

  “That was fast,” she said.

  “I think you’ll be surprised how quickly it will sell and for how much. Prime farmland this close to a town might go for more than you think.”

  They climbed on the wagon and drove down the street.

  “One more stop, ladies,” he said as the wagon stopped in front of the livery.

  Ethyl slid down and let Gus out. Gus helped Emma down again and walked into the livery.

  “Abe?” he shouted.

  “Howdy, Gus. Mrs. Powers. What can I do for you, Gus?” Abe didn’t wink, but he wanted to.

  “Abe, I need to get two horses. One for Ethyl and one for Emma. What do you have?”

  “Well, let’s go see.”

  They walked out to the corral. The small tan mare with a blonde mane and tail had been recently brushed and was almost glowing in the morning sun.

  “See any you like, Ethyl?”

  “I get to pick out my own horse?”

  “You bet. Any strike your eye?”

  “That gold one is beautiful!”

  “Abe, Ethyl would like the golden mare. Emma?”

  “They’re all so nice. I especially like that sorrel.”

  “There you have it, Abe. The mare for Ethyl and the sorrel gelding for Emma.”

  Abe started laughing as he led the two horses out of the corral.

  Emma turned to Gus. “Why’s he laughing?”

  “Because I picked those two out for
you yesterday. I wanted to make sure you both had exactly what you wanted.”

  Abe had already begun to load the saddles and tack into the wagon. Gus helped him finish the job.

  The two horses were tied to the back of the wagon as the ladies climbed on board. Abe waved as they headed out to the ranch.

  “This is all too much, Gus.”

  “No, it’s fine. What are you going to name your horses, anyway?”

  “I’ll call mine Princess,” said Ethyl quickly.