chapter Twelve
Reno and Beyond
Cody followed the same routine in Reno he had used in Ogden. At the stable, the owner looked at the picture, and said, “You know, I had a boy that mucked out the stalls for me two or three months back. He slept in one of the stalls. My wife brought him food, and I paid him a little. He disappeared one day, so I guess he might have moved on. I’m not sure it’s the same boy though; you know how they all look pretty much alike.
“Nice boy. Polite too. Truth be told, I was sorry to see him leave,” the man said. “The wife worried about him, being so young and alone.”
Dear Annabel,
I’m alone and lonely… and missing you.
A little glimmer of hope here in Reno. The owner of the livery had a boy cleaning stalls for him a few months ago. He wasn’t sure, but he said the boy looked a lot like Jeremy.
Tomorrow, we leave for Sacramento. I’m praying for a little luck there. Or at least, something that will give us some cause for hope.
Until the next stop, you have my love,
Cody
* * *
At the general store, Silas Farmer said, “Miz Simms, I have two letters here for you. One just came in today, the other one got here a few days ago.”
“Oh, I was hoping for a letter, and I got two. Thank you, Mr. Farmer.
“Here’s a list of the things I need. I’m going to find a quiet spot to read these and I’ll be back for them after a bit,” she said.
She walked over to the church, went inside and sat on the back row to read her letters.
As she read, her eyes misted up. She read and reread each of the letters several times.
“Annabel, I didn’t see you come in,” said Letty Owens, the wife of the preacher.
“I’m fine. I just came in for the peace and quiet. I got two letters from Cody today, and wanted to read them before I went home.”
“Is he all right?” Letty asked.
“He’s fine. He hasn’t found Jeremy yet, but he talked with some people that may have seen him. When he wrote this, he was about to get on the train for Sacramento.”
“Am I detecting a little more than just friendship here?” Letty asked.
“I’ve loved him since I was fourteen, Letty. He only had eyes for my sister though. She broke everything off with him when he told her he was going into the Army. She didn’t even go to the train station when he left. I was there, waving my pathetic little flag.
“He stayed in the Army ten years. When Jeremy left, I wrote him a letter at his grandmother’s address. He got it some six months later and wrote back. That’s when I told him I needed help and asked him to come here. I cheated a little bit and didn’t tell him why until he got here.”
“So the spark is still there?” Letty asked.
“Brighter than ever,” Annabel said with a smile.
“I’ll remember you in my prayers,” Letty said, and patted her on the back.
“Thank you. If it’s all right, I’ll sit here a few more minutes before heading home.”
“Stay as long as you like,” Letty said. “That’s why we’re here.”
After reading the letters at least twice more, Annabel left the church and went back to the store. She had a smile on her face, as she walked in to collect her order. When she started to settle up, Silas shook his head. “It’s all taken care of, Miss Simms. That Mr. Thompson left a deposit and said I was to take your purchases from it.”
Once again, Annabel was on the verge of tears. “I can’t believe that man,” she said, not realizing she had said it aloud.
“He did seem like a nice fellow,” Silas said.
“He is, Mr. Farmer, He is.” she replied, as she left the store.
* * *
Sacramento…
Aside from the cities in the east, Sacramento was the largest city Cody had seen. The streets were bustling with traffic. Good luck finding anyone here. It was obvious the routine he used in the previous places would not work here.
It was late afternoon when he arrived. His first order of business was to find a stable where he could board Thunder. He asked the man that took his money about hotels, and was told about the newly completed Western Hotel on K St. He decided to walk rather than take one of the horse drawn cars. As he walked, he passed the Sacramento Daily Bee office on Q Street. The Daily Bee was one of the two daily newspapers in town. On a hunch, he went inside. The smell of ink and the rumble of the presses assaulted the ears and noses of anyone in the vicinity.
He saw a balding man sitting at one of the desks, a tablet in front of him. “Sir, I wonder if I might ask you a question?”
“Yes, what is it,” the man asked impatiently.
Determined to be polite, Cody said, “I’m Cody Thompson, sir. My son left home, and I’m trying to find him, and take him home. We are concerned something might happen to him in such a large city as this.”
His reporter’s curiosity piqued, the man said, “I’m Jim Gillespie. Where did he come from?”
“We live on a ranch outside Helena, Montana,” Cody said. “He’s almost fifteen now.”
“That’s pretty young for someone to travel so far. What makes you think he’s here?” Gillespie asked.
“He mailed letters from Ogden, Reno and here,” Cody said.
“And you’ve followed him all the way here? Where do you think he’s going?” Gillespie asked.
“Yessir, I have. His mother left us, and he’s been staying with his aunt His mother died in San Francisco.. I think he’s trying to get to where she died. Of course I don’t know that, but it’s all I’ve got. Can you help me?”
“How do you think he got here?” asked Gillespie.
“Well, I think he was sneaking rides on trains, because the places he mailed the letters from were the train stops,” Cody said.
“This has the makings of a nice human interest story. Why do you think I can help?” asked Gillespie.
“Well, with you working on a big newspaper like this, I thought maybe you could point me to some places where newcomers might stop to get their bearings and push on to wherever they are headed. Besides, Jeremy, that’s his name, Jeremy Simms, would need to find a place to do chores so he could eat.”
“I do know a few places like that,” Gillespie said. “Most of the people coming in are dead broke and are headed for the gold fields. A few of the churches here have farms and raise money for the church. They help itinerants out in return for their working on their farm.
“It’s a bit late today, but if you meet me here tomorrow morning, I’ll take you to the ones I know about,” Gillespie said. “In return, I’ll want to use your story.”
“Sir, I can’t thank you enough,” Cody said. He grabbed Gillespie’s hand and shook it. “Thank you.
In the hotel, that evening, Cody wrote a letter to Annabel.
“My Dear Annabel,
I arrived in Sacramento late this afternoon. On the way to the hotel, I decided to stop at the newspaper office and try to get some idea of where to search. I met a nice man that is going to show me some church sponsored places that help destitute travelers. If I don’t have any luck here, then I will move on to San Francisco.
Sacramento is a large place, but San Francisco is much larger. It will be like looking for a needle in a haystack in San Francisco, but I will try if it comes to that.
I am missing you more each day. Being away so long, with no end in sight is almost more than this old Cavalryman can take.
I will put this in the mail before I meet Mr. Gillespie in the morning.
With love,
Cody.
chapter Thirteen
Is That Your Son
After finishing the letter, he walked out of the hotel and down the street. He found a saloon, and went inside. He got a beer from the bartender and asked, “Is that poker game over there private, or can anyone sit in?”
“If they have an open chair, they might let you sit in,” the bartender said.
<
br /> Cody watched a few hands, and decided he would do all right in the game. He was about to ask if he could sit in when the dealer asked, “How about you, Mister, you looking to donate some of your money?”
Cody smiled, and said, “I have a few dollars I might be willing to part with.”
“Pull up a chair. My name is Paul, this is Tom, Trace, Bill, and that sorrowful case there beside you is Timothy, the dealer said. Our game is five card stud, and the ante is five dollars. Dust or hard?” he asked.
Familiar with the term now, Cody said, “I haven’t found any dust yet. I’ve got a few hard earned dollars. I have to get an early start, so I can’t stay too long.”
He managed to lose the first three hands, folding on a winner once. After that, he lost most of the small pots, but managed to win far more than his share of the larger ones. He was saved from having to beg out, when two of the men stood. One said, “That’s it for me.”
The other said, “I’m tapped out. Cash me out too.”
Cody said, “I guess this would be a good time for me to leave too. My bed’s calling. I’ve been on the train for the last few days and I’m plum worn out.”
Paul had won the last two hands. “I’m mighty sorry to see you leave. I think Lady Luck was just beginning to smile on me again.”
When Cody got back to his room, and counted his winnings, he had over $500. “Maybe that’s an omen,” he said to the empty room.
After showing the picture to the people in the first three missions Gillespie had taken him, Cody was beginning to doubt his chances of finding Jeremy in Sacramento. “This one is the last one I know of,” he told Cody.
At the fourth facility, he pulled the photo out and showed it to the director. “Come with me,” he said. He led the way to a field where several people were picking plums. He looked at the picture again, and pointed to one of the pickers. “Is that is the boy you’re looking for?” It was Jeremy. He looked much older than the picture, but it was him.
“This is kind of delicate,” Cody said. “He is my son, but I’ve never seen him before. His mother left him with her sister in Ohio, while I was in the war. She later died in San Francisco. I never knew he even existed. Her sister’s family moved to Montana, and took him with them. When he ran away, his aunt wrote me a letter to my grandmother’s in Ohio. I only got it about three months ago. I’ve been trying to find him since.
“Can you introduce him to me someplace in private? I’ll tell him I’m his father, but I would like to be introduced first,” Cody said.
“I can do that,” the farm director said.
Ten minutes later…
“Jeremy, this is Cody Thompson. He would like to talk to you for a minute.”
“What about?” asked the boy.
“I’m not the law or anything like that. You’re not in any trouble,” Cody said.
“I’ll leave you two alone for a few minutes,” the director said.
“Cody, I’ll wait outside too,” said Jim Gillespie.
“Who are you, Mister?” Jeremy asked.
“My name is Cody Thompson. I’m your father.”
“I don’t have a father,” he said.
“Everyone has a father. Your mother’s name was Bethany Simms. I grew up loving your mother. We grew up together, and were going to be married. When the war started, your mother begged me not to go, but I had to. She would not see me or talk to me after I told her. I stayed in the Army for ten years and just got out three months ago.
“When I returned to Dayton, hoping to convince her to marry me, she was gone, so was the entire Simms family. My family was too, for that matter. My grandmother had a letter for me she had received six months before. It was from your Aunt Annabel. I hadn’t seen her or heard from her since before I went into the Army. She told me she needed my help and asked me to come to Montana. She wouldn’t tell me why, except to say she needed my help and it was urgent.
“At first, I didn’t see any reason to go all of the way across the country to see the sister of Bethany, but I decided to go anyway.
“When I got there, and asked her what was so urgent, she told me it was about my son. So help me God, Jeremy, that was the first I knew about you. All those years in the Army and I never knew I had a son. When she told me you had run away, it sounded so much like your mother, I couldn’t turn her down. I had to help her find you. She gave me this picture of you.”
He fished in his shirt pocket and pulled out the daguerreotype and showed it to Jeremy. Jeremy said “I was twelve when Grandpa had this made.”
“Jeremy, I want you to come back with me to Montana. Annabel is worried about you,” Cody said.
“I don’t want to go back. I’m not finished yet,” Jeremy said.
“Finished what,” Cody asked.
“I’m going to where my mother died. I want to see where she’s buried,” he said.
“Annabel and I thought it was something like that. I’ll take you there, Jeremy. I’d like to go there myself.”
“You would?” Jeremy looked at Cody in disbelief. “You will take me there?”
“I’ll go there with you,” Cody said.
“You’re not funning me, are you, Mister?” Jeremy asked.
“I’m not funning you Jeremy. I will never lie to you. Will you go back with me?”
chapter Fourteen
The End of the Journey
“After we go where my mother is, I will. All I ever wanted to do is go to where she is. I want to know why she went off and left me,” Jeremy said.
“That’s something we’ll never know, but you can know this; I will never leave you. That’s my promise to you,” Cody said.
“When can we leave?’ asked Jeremy.
“Well, I promised Mr. Gillespie, he’s the man that told me about this place, I would tell him all about this in exchange for his help. He’s going to write a story for his newspaper about it. I keep my promises, Jeremy. All of my promises.
“We can leave after we talk to him. Is that okay with you?”
“It’s okay with me. I just want to be where Mama was,” Jeremy said.
“Let’s go then,” Cody said.
Cody told the director, “I’d like to donate something for all of the help you’ve given my son.”
“That’s not necessary,” said the director, “but it is appreciated. We need all of the help we can get.”
“Jim, if you’re ready, we’ll answer all of your questions for your story,” Cody said to Jim Gillespie.
“Fair enough,” Gillespie said.
After two hours with Gillespie, Cody said to Jeremy, “Now, I want to go to the Western Union and send Annabel a telegram and let her know you’re safe, so she can quit worrying.”
At the Western Union, Cody composed a telegram that said: Found him stop going to see mother.stop home soon. Cody, Jeremy. He showed it to Jeremy and asked, “You think this will do the job?”
Jeremy grinned, and said, “It should work.”
“Let’s walk over to the stable,” Cody said. “I want to check on my horse.”
“You came on a horse?” Jeremy asked incredulously.
“No, that would have been too far and taken too long. We rode the train,” Cody said.
“That must have cost a lot,” Jeremy said.
“It was worth every penny. Now, as near as I can tell, it’s about a hundred miles to San Francisco. That would be four days by horse. Let’s take the train, and save time.”
“I’d like that. Mister, what do I call you?”
“I would like it if you would call me Papa,” Cody said, as he choked back his emotions.
“Okay… Papa,” Jeremy said. “I never called anyone Papa before,” he said.
“That’s all changed now. I’ve never called anyone son, either.”
At the stable, Cody said, “Jeremy, this is Thunder. He’s a good horse. I bought him in Helena.”
Jeremy stroked Thunder. “We’ll be back in the morning for our horse,” he told the
stable keeper.”
At the hotel, Cody exchanged his room for one with two beds. “Jeremy, you need some clothes. Let’s go out and pick up a few things for you.”
They found a store close by, and Cody purchased several changes of clothes for his son. “Is there a place nearby that has women’s clothing?” he asked the clerk.
The clerk gave him directions to a shop that specialized in clothing for ladies. “I want to get some things for a fine lady,” he told the clerk.
“Certainly, sir, what size is the lady?”
“I don’t rightly know, but she is about the same size as the lady over there,” and pointed to a beautifully dressed woman.
“Yes sir. I can work with that,” said the woman helping him. “Now, what would the lady like?”
“We’re going to put ourselves at your mercy. She has long black hair, and blue eyes. Just pick out three or four of everything you think she would need. My son and I are going to have a bite to eat and we’ll be back.”
“Are those for Aunt Annabel?” asked Jeremy.
“No, I thought I’d wear them,” Cody said, with a laugh. Of course they are for Annabel.”
“You’d look silly in them anyway,” Jeremy said.
The next stop was a jewelry store, where Cody purchased an engagement ring. “What is that for?” Jeremy asked.
“She doesn’t know it yet, but if she’ll have me, I’m going to ask Annabel to be my wife,” Cody said. “I want you to promise not to tell her when we get home. I want to pick the right time.”
Jeremy grinned. “I can keep a secret real good,” he said,
After eating, they picked up the clothing purchases, and went back to the hotel.
The newly built hotel boasted hot water in the bathrooms. Cody showed Jeremy how to work it so he could take a hot bath before changing into his new clothes. “I never saw anything like this before,” Jeremy said.
“Your life is full of new experiences, isn’t it, son,” asked Cody.
“Yes sir, it is, and I’m liking it,” Jeremy replied,
They left Sacramento before eight the next morning and were at the San Francisco County sheriff’s office before one o’clock. After some hemming and hawing, a clerk in the office told them Bethany was buried in the pauper’s cemetery in Trinidad. Cody hired a carriage, and with Thunder tied to the rear, they rode out to the cemetery. After a search of over an hour they found the grave; a faded wooden cross marked the final resting place of Bethany Simms.
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