Journey had run out to the road to see if she could see the girl. She inspected the ground but there were too many tracks, and she would never see any new ones. “Tammy! Tammy come back. You’ll only get lost out here.” Journey had put her hands around her mouth trying to amplify her voice, but let them drop when she heard no answer.
“What now? It’s going to be dark soon, and we’ll never find her.”
“We’re not going to look either. At least not tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll do a search, but we’re not taking the chance of one of us getting hurt.” Gina stood looking at the back of the wagon. “Why did we leave her in the wagon in the first place? We should have moved her out where we could see her.”
“Because she got so riled up when she could see us. Something tells me she was not as unhinged as we thought she was. It took coherent thought process to chew through this rope and leave without alerting any of us.” Lucy slumped on the bench, “I feel sorry for her because she tried to help herself by going to the pharmacy in Missoula. She obviously knew what was happening or going to happen to her without her medicine.”
“I don’t know enough one way or the other, but I would like to suggest we stand guard tonight in pairs. No one goes anywhere alone, not even to the bathroom.”
“But Willy, how can we do that? You’re our only man. Who’s going to go with you?” Olivia giggled.
“Well, I don’t need the same privacy that you ladies do, so I guess I can just go behind a tree.”
The night passed slowly with none of the adults being able to sleep. Olivia woke the next morning to find all five of the adults sitting in front of a smoldering fire.
“Did you already look for Tammy?”
Journey nodded, “With the first light. We didn’t find even a sign of her.”
Willy built up the fire, and Journey set the pot on the grill. She stirred the mixture until it was warmed through and handed out a cup to each of them. There were enough leftovers to have for their dinner if she could prevent it from spoiling. “Any chance we could set this in the creek to keep it cool? I’d sure hate to save it for dinner and have it spoil before then.”
Willy and Olivia took the pot with its lid down to the creek. She had found something in Willy she liked which had diverted some of her attention from Gina.
“What are we going to do today? I feel useless just sitting here. Maybe we should organize the wagon?”
“Again?” Journey and Lucy said together.
“I guess we could clean up the mess that Tammy made,” Sierra offered, “or I could try fishing if you guys want. I’m the one who feels useless. The three of you have been together for so long, I think you forget to share the chores.”
Lucy shook her head, “Willy said that the creek probably doesn’t have any fish, because he thinks it’s a new waterway.”
“Oh,” Sierra said and sat back down, “I guess it’s the wagon then.”
“What more is there to do? How many ways can we put the same stuff in there? Gina, why don’t you check on the horses? Keep your eyes open for that damn goat too. He took off as soon as Willy turned him loose this morning.”
Gina stood up and stretching, “I’ll do that. I don’t know what else we can do to find Tammy, so I guess it’s out of our hands. She’ll either come back on her own or not. Stay together.”
As soon as Gina turned to walk away, Journey hollered, “You’re not going alone, and unarmed are you?”
“I’m only going right there,” She pointed to where she could see one of the horses grazing through the trees. She saw the look of reprimand that Journey was giving her, “Oh for pity sake…Okay!” She went and picked up her 357 and the holster. She slid them both down inside the waistband of her pants and pulled her shirt over them. “Is that better?” She asked and stomped off. Gina knew Journey was right and she should have remembered on her own, but her mind was on Tammy. After listening to Journey talk about brain disease, she felt even worse for the girl. No one knew why some people got it while others didn’t. Journey thought that heredity might have something to do with it, but her memories weren’t clear, so they had no idea. Gina stood on the edge of the clearing and looked at the horses. She saw Willy’s old gelding and Sailor holding court in front of the two bays and one of the Appy’s from Minnaker’s. They were standing heads together, tails switching. She saw the other two mares and Gus standing under the branches of a pine tree, but not Sherry’s mare. What the heck is her name? Gina thought someone had told her, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember.
“Journey said I should go with you,” Sierra said as she stepped through some brush.
“It isn’t necessary, but come on. Right now I can’t see the little chestnut mare. The one we’ve been pulling the cart with.”
They stood and searched the tree line for the missing horse. The two mares under the trees had their gaze fixed on something. Their ears were alert and turned forward.
“Could Tammy have taken her?”
“That, we would have heard. There is no way the rest would have let the mare go and not raised a ruckus. Let’s work our way around and see what has those two are doing.”
As they got closer, Gina heard one of the mares nicker softly. She took her time and worked her way past the other mares without upsetting them. Sierra stayed close behind her. As soon as they moved around the back end of the two horses, Gina stopped.
“Oh my God,” Sierra breathed out. They stood transfixed as a newborn foal tried to get to its feet. He got one leg out but hadn’t mastered getting them both out in front, and he fell. The mare oblivious to his antics put her front feet out and with a groan got her feet under her and stood up, the afterbirth dropping away as she rose. The mare turned and looked at the foal as if she had no idea where it had come from, but she put her nose out and touched the baby, and as if someone had turned a light switch on she nickered at him and licked his head. She then proceeded to smell him all over and encouraged him with her nose to get to his feet. He figured out how to get both front feet going the same direction and pushed off with his back end. With his feet spread wide apart he wobbled until he gained his balance. When he nodded his head pleased with himself, he overbalanced and down he went.
As much as Gina wanted to help him, she knew it was wrong. He needed to figure it out for himself. “Let’s go sit over there,” Gina told Sierra, and the two women went and sat under the branches of a pine tree. The mare had recognized they were there and pinned her ears flat warning them and the other two mares away. Gus just ignored her and went to sniff the new guy. When the mare snapped her teeth at him, he snapped his back and then continued to check out the foal. The new mother finally gave up on chasing Gus away and went back to cleaning her foal, ignoring Gus’s intrusion.
The setting for the birth was perfect and their arrival time was perfect. The sun shone down through the tree branches illuminating the glade. Gina had thought he was going to be a bay until the sun began to dry his hair and he turned lighter in color. When he turned, she saw the darker line down his spine to his tail and that his legs were dark up to and over his knees.
“He’s going to be a buckskin like Sham, but may be darker in color than him. Look how strong he is,” Gina hissed when he finally found out how his legs worked and he moved down the mare's side searching. It didn’t take long before they could hear him making loud sucking noises. Gina touched Sierra's arm, “I want to get her some of the cob we have left. After that, she deserves a reward.”
“Can’t I wait here?” Sierra asked, her eyes pinned to the new foal.
“Nope. You know the rules, and no matter how silly we think they are, we have to abide by them for our safety.”
They hurried away. Before they even got back to camp, as soon as Gina saw Journey, she cried, “It’s a boy! We have a colt.”
Lucy and Journey jerked their heads up, hearing Gina. They stared at her as if they had no idea what she was talking about.
“The mare. Sherry’s mare had
a buckskin colt. Just now!”
“And we almost got to see the whole thing,” Sierra told them. “We need some feed for her.”
Gina got the feed and knew that someone had to stay in camp. They couldn’t take any chances having their stuff stolen no matter how small the chances were. She handed the pan to Sierra, “Take one of the girls down and show her. Don’t go up to the mare, let her come to you. Just shake this, and when she hears the grain, she’ll come.”
Journey let Lucy go first, and she and Gina watched them go. By the time they had all seen the new baby and brought the mare closer to camp, with the little guy skipping along beside his momma, the sun was getting ready to set. The day had been spent taking turns going to see the baby. On Gina’s second trip down, she had put her hands on the baby feeling him all over. He’d stood as if he knew she wasn’t going to hurt him. The mare was not quite as sure and finally pushed Gina away with her muzzle. Gina had spent some time giving her some love and the mare didn’t resist when Gina pulled her along by her mane back closer to camp. Before it was too dark to see, Olivia had given the mare another handful of grain.
Around the table that evening Willy had something to say and cleared his throat, and waited until he had everyone’s attention. “You do realize this puts a damper on our plans if the men don’t return by tomorrow night.”
“How so? We weren’t…oh. We have to walk because we don’t have enough horses?”
Willy shook his head, “Nope. We have enough horses to ride, especially when two people have to stay here.”
“No one has to stay. Why shouldn’t we all go?” Gina didn’t quite get it until she looked around. “Oh. Well crap, I never thought about leaving our stuff behind. There’s no way we can expect that baby to walk too far either.”
Journey nodded, “She’s right. We can’t all go, so two of us have to stay.” She looked at Lucy, “As much as I hate to say it, it has to be you and Olivia.”
Lucy tightened up her face muscles, “Why? Why does it have to be Olivia and me? I understand her but why me? Because of my leg?”
Gina leaned toward Lucy, “Exactly. Not because you have a prosthetic, but because you can’t ride bareback.”
Gina’s words took the fire right out of Lucy. They had tried her without a saddle at the farm, and she did fine as long as she didn’t have to grip with her legs as in going up or down hills. “Sorry, Lucy. If we had saddles, you would be the first person I would want watching my back, and that’s exactly why it has to be you who stays. You’ll keep Olivia safe and protect our things if the need should arise.”
Lucy leaned close, “What about your saddle? You have one.”
“Please don’t make a fuss about it, but I’m going to give it to Willy to ride. That old nag of his is a razor back, and no way is he going to ride far on him especially bareback.”
Lucy nodded, “Okay. But you guys better be careful.”
Oliva leaned in close to Lucy so that her lips were almost touching Lucy’s ear and whispered something to her. Lucy’s face lit up, and she smiled. “That’s right. I almost forgot.”
“No secrets remember.” Gina frowned at Lucy, “Are you going to let us in on it?”
Lucy looked at Olivia and grinned, “Nope! It’s between Olivia and me.”
Gina yawned, “Who had the watch? Seeing as none of us but Olivia got any sleep last night, let's keep it to two-hour shifts. Sierra, how about you and me, Lucy and Willy and Journey and Olivia?”
They all nodded, and Lucy volunteered for her and Willy to take the first watch. Every two hours they changed until the sun began to peek over the hill east of them.
Journey made one of the dehydrated meals for breakfast and put on another pot of beans. They shared the meal by passing the mylar pouch around. There were only a few bites a piece, but it took the edge off of their hunger.
“What do you say, Miss Olivia? How about you and I go hunt us up another rabbit? We saw an awful lot of sign for there to be only the one.”
Eager to spend time with Willy, Olivia grabbed the .22 and waited while he got up. They headed in the same direction they had found the first one.
“I’ll go and check on the horses,” Sierra told them. At a nod from Gina, she walked away. The mare and her foal were in sight, so Sierra wouldn’t be out of theirs at any time.
“Well, I think this is the first time the three of us have been alone since the night on the hill. How are you feeling Lucy? No problems that we should know about?”
“Other than my pants no longer buttoning, I’m good. No morning sickness or tiredness. At least not any more than the rest of you. I’m just worried. What if they did run into Silas or some other gang?”
“They’re smart. We probably shouldn’t be going after them either, but I say we are better safe than sorry. Maybe they just got hung up with John, but I’d rather take the chance of pissing them off by going than not go and have something bad happen.”
“I’m with you sister.” I wish I were going, but I know that you’re right. How bad would we feel if we lost all of this? What about turning the chickens loose today? Do you think they would go back in the cage to roost?”
“Oh hell no! You know what I went through to get them, they can stay locked up until we get wherever we’re going to end up. You might want to pick some grass or dig some grubs for them. Just make sure they get some of the cob every day and water. Don’t be feeding all of the cob to that darned horse either.”
Lucy had the grace to blush. She and Olivia had been sneaking handfuls to the mare all morning and thought that no one knew. “Sorry, I forgot it was chicken feed too.”
Journey raised her hand too, “She doesn’t get all the blame. He’s just so darn cute and between the mare and that stupid mule, bribing them is the only way we get to see him.”
Lucy nodded, “So, what am I supposed to do if you guys don’t return? Have you thought of that possibility?” She looked between Journey and Gina and saw that it hadn’t crossed their minds. “That’s what I thought. Do you expect us to wait here forever for you or what?”
“Somehow, I promise you that if we have problems, someone will come back. We wouldn’t ever leave you up here alone. What we can do, is move the wagons and the cart further into the trees and pile brush on them to keep them out of sight as much as possible. We should have already done that.”
“Maybe we should make the whole camp further under the trees so if someone does come this way you can at least hide. Like Gina said, we should have already been working on that. We can’t do much about the horses, but unless you know they’re there, you can’t see them. If someone was to camp here, it might be a problem, but we can’t worry about them right now.”
They all jumped when they heard the pop of the .22 and were surprised when the first was followed by three more. “Four rabbits?” Lucy asked.
“I better get a fire going.” Journey said and got to her feet.
“No way there are four rabbits.”Gina grabbed her 30/30 and headed off toward the creek. There, she saw where Olivia and Willy had crossed it by the tracks on the bank and tried to leap the distance and failed. One boot filled with water but she kept running. Gina stopped when she heard Olivia, “They’re not going to believe this are they?”
“Sure they are when we come waltzing into camp carrying it.”
Gina, not wanting to spook them and get shot herself, “Carrying what?”
She had been right; Willy had the .22 in his hand before he recognized her voice. He relaxed and laid it beside him as he continued cutting open the belly of a small deer. Olivia was holding the back legs apart so it would make it easier on him. All Gina could see was Willy’s hand covered in blood moving in a sawing motion.
“What are you using for a knife?”
He held his hand in the air, and she saw light reflect off the blade. “A pocket knife? You’re trying to butcher using only a pocket knife?”
“Not just any old pocket knife. This is a Buck, and it belong
ed to my pappy. It’s sharper than any knife I’ve seen back at camp.”
“It might be of the ones you’ve seen, but Lucy has a K-Bar that’s sharp. It’s not exactly a skinning knife, but it might be good for cutting that up.”
“If you could come and give us a hand here, we can pack her back to camp to do the rest.”
The deer was small, it’s hooves no bigger than silver dollars, and maybe it stood three feet at its shoulder, but Gina couldn’t be sure. She went over and knelt down beside him, “What can I do?”
“You and Olivia each grab a hind leg and pick up on it.”
They lifted until Willy told them to halt. He made another cut, “Okay. This time lift her as far up as you can. It should all fall right on out.”
When Olivia had reached as far up as she could, Gina stopped lifting. Willy reached in between the deer's legs and did something. With his hands, he scooped the innards into a hot, smelly pile. He reached over to Olivia’s leg and took it from her, with a nod at Gina they lifted the deer free of the steaming pile of guts.”
“Are you sure you want to take her back to camp? Maybe we should hang her out here and skin her. Now that we know deer are around, who’s to say there aren’t other animals.”
“Well, I’ll be. That’s right Miss Gina. Olivia, run back to camp and get us a rope and one of those orange buckets. Oh, and grab a shovel too.”
“A shovel?”
“Tell Journey to get the folding shovel out of my bag. She’ll know what you mean.”
As soon as Olivia left, Willy cut in behind the tendons on the deer's back legs, and Gina found a stick she thought would work, but when she laid it beside Willy, he shook his head. “That won’t hold her up. Too dry.”
Gina searched around looking for something she could break off that wasn’t too small or too dry. Apparently, the deer must weigh more than she thought. “There's some vine maple here, but I can’t break it off.”
Beyond the New Horizon (Book 3): Living on the Edge Page 27