Sagebrush Serenade

by Jeanie P Johnson

  Marcel shook her head, feeling her lips aching from the forcefulness of his kiss. She disentangled herself from Raven’s grasping arms and went to the wagon, climbing up to the bench and taking the traces from Trapper Dan’s hands.

  “Thank you for all your help,” she smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

  “‘Twas ma pleasure,” Trapper Dan mumbled. “Yer staying the night, ain’tcha?”

  “No. I don’t want my brother interfering with my choices. Besides, it would be too hard to leave if I tried staying here. I need to get a head start anyway. There is still plenty of daylight left. I’ll rest on my own, farther up the trail.”

  Marcel turned the wagon and headed out toward the well-worn path following the river. She wouldn’t look back, as much as she wanted to. She didn’t want to see the pained look on Raven’s face. She most likely would never see him again, she thought with a pang in her heart, and then the tears started sliding down her face.

  As Marcel’s body shook, her determination grew. She would show them all, she kept telling herself over and over again, trying to convince herself that all would work out well, in the end. Eventually, she had no more tears to cry, not over the betrayal of her brother or the loss of Raven. She would have to be brave and face it on her own.

  She found a place along the river, just before sunset, to pull the wagon up for the night and built herself a fire. Only she was too upset to eat, so she just sat there and stared at the wavering flames, reliving every moment she had spent with Raven for the last several weeks. She remembered how frightened she had felt when she first saw him in St. Louis, yet he had kept her from falling. She wondered if she could ever give her heart to another, the way she was willing to give it to Raven? However, the whole time they were together, she never told him she loved him. It would be too hard to admit that to him or herself, she thought, knowing they were going to have to part.

  Now they had parted, so it was best to just put it all behind her, she thought. The night-sky was twinkling down upon her like it had many a night when they camped. It was like nothing had changed, except for the fact, she knew everything had changed. Raven had changed her. He had introduced her to the glories of having a man worship her body, loving her in a way she hadn’t expected. Only even from the beginning, she knew it couldn’t last. She pulled herself up and went to the wagon, sitting down and playing the melody Raven had first heard her play. He had said it was his favorite. It had always been her favorite, and now it was doubly so.

  As she played, the tears she thought she had finished crying started in again. She made no attempt to stop them. She wondered how many more tears she would cry before her journey was over? Marcel turned her head and gasped, as she was aware there was a person at the end of her wagon, looking in. The face was in shadow and she stopped playing and lifted the lamp to shine it upon their features.

  “Don’t stop playing your sagebrush serenade,” she heard the voice saying.

  “Raven!” Marcel cried, tripping over objects in the wagon as she scrambled to the end of the wagon where she threw her arms around Raven’s neck. “What are you doing here?”

  “I couldn’t let you leave on your own,” he mumbled. “Trapper Dan and I took a vote. It was unanimous. We both decided to come with you the rest of the way to Oregon, just to make sure you get there in one piece.”

  “You took a vote?” she exclaimed. She realized that Raven had gone to a lot of trouble to say the words in proper English, and she was beaming with pleasure and surprise.

  “We shore did,” Trapper Dan added, as he appeared beside Raven. “Couldn’t have ya traipsing out on the trail all alone. Besides, we both started ta miss ya the moment ya rode away.”

  “You two are the best friends a person could have!” Marcel cried as she tried to climb out of the wagon, only to have Raven lifting her in his arms and setting her on the ground.

  “Couldn’t go on with life, if I couldn’t hear ya playing that piana… I mean piano,” he smiled, as he looked down into her eyes.

  “Only we won’t stay in Oregon,” Trapper Dan explained. “We’re just escourtin’ ya thar, and helping’ ya build a shelter afore the bad weather sets in. Then I gotta return ta do ma trappin’ over the winter. As for Raven, well, that’s up ta him. But no matter what, we’ll come back in the spring an help ya build yer big house ta put yer furniture and piana in,” he promised. “We talked it all out, and come to that conclusion.”

  “I don’t know how I can ever repay you,” Marcel said, hugging Trapper Dan.

  “Ye’ll think of something,” Trapper Dan smiled.

  “I think I’ll take my repayment now,” Raven whispered, and he took Marcel up into his arms, carrying her over to the river.

  There he proceeded to slowly undress Marcel, kissing her skin as it revealed itself. When she was standing before him where he could see her body glimmering in the distant firelight, he disrobed himself. Then lifted her up in his arms again and wadded out into the water.

  The river water was warmer than Marcel expected, as Raven lowered her where she could get a footing. Then his lips were kissing her face, working his way over her damp body, licking the droplets as he went. Eventually, he brought Marcel to the bank, laying her in the shallow water, as he continued to enjoy the taste and touch of her skin under his lips.

  “Don’t do a thing,” Raven whispered. “This is going to be the beginning of me worshiping you every night until you reach your destination,” he informed her.

  She thought how his English had improved, but she still loved the accent in his voice, and how the words rumbled off of his tongue, but most of all, she loved how his tongue was lapping at her skin, and his lips were sucking the water away, as he proceeded to show his admiration for her.

  Marcel was carried into that world that Raven had a way of transporting her to as her body responded to his caresses and love-making. She had thought she would never see him again, so the feel of him near her now was twice as exciting and rewarding than ever before.

  “I’m so glad you followed me,” Marcel whispered. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  “Well, now, you are going to discover what you will be doing with me,” Raven chuckled as he pulled her to him, making them one as he began to move slowly, letting the water lap around them.

  As their mutual desires grew stronger, Marcel clung to Raven with a whole new hope ahead of her. He would be with her and help her build a shelter. If only she could persuade him to remain with her over the winter… She decided to just take her good fortune a day at a time. He had promised this every night he was with her. She wondered if he would make good on his promise? However, at the moment she was becoming lost in the feel of him bringing her to that wonderful glory he was capable of doing, and all else fell from her thoughts. Just the closeness was all she craved at the moment.

  By morning, Marcel was feeling contented again. Her world looked brighter, even if the trail ahead may be hard. She knew she had her two best friends to help her along. The trail they followed began to turn from the river, as the river wound so drastically it was impossible for the trail to follow along its banks. Once again, the company began to pass her. “Looks like your friends changed their minds,” Josiah called to her as he passed.

  Marcel looked over and saw him sitting on the bench of the wagon with his arm around Mary. She did not begrudge him wanting to marry the pretty woman, even if she was older than him, but she felt betrayed by him all the same.

  “I suppose I am lucky, no thanks to you,” she said and turned her head.

  Another company passed them as well and while Marcel felt frustrated that it took so long for the large wagon to rumble in the direction of Oregon, she was happy it would give her more time to be with Raven.

  Slowly the surroundings became dry and arid. The air turned so dry that the wood in the wagon began to rattle as it loosened up in its metal sleeves which held it together. Marcel could see wagons ahead. They were not trave
ling or pulled in a circle, which surprised Marcel. People looked like they were busy with some project. When they got closer, she saw what the problem was. It looked like the rings had fallen off of the wagon wheels.

  “What is the problem?” Marcel asked one of the men working on his wagon. She noticed fires with wagon wheel hoops placed in them.

  “The air got so dry the wagon wheels started shrinking and the rings started falling off. It is all we can do to keep the wagons from falling apart themselves!”

  “What are you going to do?” Marcel asked.

  “In other circumstances, we would heat the rings up and shrink them down, but that takes a hot fire. We don’t have any way to get the fire that hot, so we have decided to add wood to the wheels, heat up the rings, and put them all back on. That means taking off each wheel at a time to work on it. That is going to slow us down some. How is your wagon holding up?”

  “It is rattling but the wheels are so large and the rings are so thick, I think the wheels will hold together.”

  “Do ya need any help?” Trapper Dan asked.

  “We could use all the help we can get,” the man answered. “Aren’t you Josiah’s sister?” the man asked Marcel. “You were the one who kept falling back because of your heavy load.”

  “That is right,” Marcel replied.

  “Josiah’s wagon is up ahead. He probably needs help.”

  “Trapper Dan can stay here and help you, while Raven and I ride ahead to see if Josiah needs any help,” Marcel told him, giving her horse a nudge as Raven followed.

  When they reached Josiah’s wagon, he was busy shaving shims off of a piece of wood to tack to the wheel he had taken from the wagon. The wagon rested on a wooden barrel where the wheel had been removed.

  “Enjoying the rough life?” Marcel asked him when he looked up.

  “Never thought something like this was going to happen,” he grumbled. “They never mentioned anything like this happening to the wagons that followed this trail before.”

  “Maybe the weather wasn’t as dry back then,” Marcel suggested.

  “You need some help? Raven and I can shave wood while you tack it on the wheels if you like.”

  “I didn’t think you were willing to talk to me again,” Josiah muttered.

  “Well, you are my brother, what can I say. I would expect you to do the same for me.”

  He gave her a sideways glance.

  “Only I don’t know if I would if it meant slowing me down,” he said truthfully.

  “Guess you’re in luck. My wagon goes slow anyway,” she laughed, and she and Raven swung down from their horses.

  “I see you are making good use of my trousers,” Josiah said, looking at his sister dressed in his clothes.

  “I couldn’t do much with a skirt hampering me all the time,” she responded and started shaving wood from the strip he handed her.

  The work was tedious and slow. It took the rest of the day to get the wheels back in shape enough to put back on. When they finished with Josiah’s wagon, the three of them went to see if anyone else needed help, in order to speed up the work.

  By nightfall, all the wagons had replaced their wheels. The women had supper ready for the men and they all took a well-earned rest. When supper was over, the group of musicians began warming up their instruments. Marcel opened the side of her wagon and sat at the piano.

  “I’ve missed your piano playing,” Josiah said. “If we make it to Oregon in one piece, we should build our houses close enough to visit from time to time.”

  “Depends on what plots we are able to secure,” Marcel told him, and then began to play with the rest of the band.

  She watched as couples danced together. They all looked happy in spite of their hardships. It was the first time she actually felt a part of the company, even though she was not traveling with it any longer.

  By morning, the group was ready to leave again. They passed the other company who had gone on ahead on Sunday since Captain Camden’s group chose to stop and worship on Sunday and the other company didn’t. That company was also replacing their wheel hoops, but they were just finishing up.

  Marcel and her wagon, once again started losing ground as both groups pulled ahead of them. She was used to it by now, though, and waved at the rest as they passed.

  “Guess we’ll camp at Deer Creek,” Trapper Dan informed Marcel. “We should get to it by nightfall,” he told her and Raven.

  Marcel was getting a lot better at cooking along the way and was starting to feel proud of herself for all she was achieving. She looked over at Trapper Dan and Raven as they ate, thinking how contended she felt at the moment. She was glad they had stopped and helped Josiah. It seemed to iron out some of the rough spots in their relationship. Only if it hadn’t been for Trapper Dan and Raven, she would be all alone at that moment.

  “Have I told you two how much I love you?” Marcel said in a soft voice.

  “Ya know we love ya too,” Trapper Dan smiled. “Raven probably loves ya stronger than me,” he winked.

  Marcel looked over at Raven.

  “I’ve loved Marcel from the first moment I heard her playing her piano and laid eyes on her. Even if her back was to me,” Raven admitted. “I just can’t get her to commit to becoming my woman.”

  “You know I could never live in an Indian village. Where would I put all my furniture?” she laughed, trying to cover up her true feelings.

  “I guess that will always be what stands between us,” he mumbled, and then got up and walked away to rinse his dish in the creek.

  Marcel watched him as he knelt at the creek. She felt bad because she knew he belonged in the wild, like a wild animal that needed to hunt and do all those things that Indians did. It would be unfair of her to ever pull him away from that sort of life. Yet she also knew that was not the kind of life she was willing to live. Even the love she felt for Raven could not change that fact. She was going through a lot, just to bring her furniture to Oregon. It had become a part of her purpose for living. She was not going to throw it all away now, she told herself.

  That evening, Raven laid beside her but he made no attempt to make love to her. Instead, he just held her in his arms. Marcel started to fear that Raven was starting to pull away from that strong love that had passed between them without any words expressing it. Perhaps he was trying to face the truth that their closeness could not last forever. That once her shelter was built he would leave with Trapper Dan. She wondered if they would actually return in the spring to help build her big house? She wouldn’t blame Raven if he reneged the same way her brother had. She was a stubborn woman, and both Josiah and Raven knew that.

  As their journey continued, they started crossing successions of hills and gravel plains, thickly covered with wild sage a foot high. The sage was as much of an impediment to the wagon as solid boulders would have been. They had to work their way around and through the thick growth. There was little grass to sustain the mules since the two companies ahead had eaten most of it. Eventually, they reach Red Bluffs, where the North Platte had wound back towards them and they crossed the last fork in the river.

  Red Bluffs was a confused mass of dark red hills.

  “Trappers an Indians meet hare ta do tradin’ when we’re commin’ an goin’ from any direction,” Trapper Dan informed her.

  He stopped the wagon and assessed the river. The crossing was about eighty yards across and the river was moving rapidly.

  “Lucky the wagon sits up so high off the ground,” he said. “That ways we don’t hafta take everthin’ out an waterproof the bed of the wagon. It’d be mighty hard ta move thet piana of yers.”

  Marcel and Raven urged their horses through the rapidly moving water. Once they got to the other side of the river, Trapper Dan followed with the wagon.

  “That’s the last of the Platte river crossin’s we’ll be a seein’,” Trapper Dan laughed. “We should stop and fill our water barrels. We’ll be heading southward now. Even though thar’ll be
a lot of springs along the way, ya ken only drink the water from the springs up high, cuz the water’s brackish an tastes like alkali, sulphur, an Iron rust. It turns the clay black, ya know.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  he closer they get to Sweetwater River, the more barren the land became. The ground was covered with white alkali and it billowed up in a white cloud of dust as the mules and wagon tramped through it. They all become covered in a white film as the dust settled on the mules, wagons and everything else in sight.

  Marcel looked around, pulling her bandana up over her nose to block out the white dust. Trapper Dan and Raven did the same. They all appeared like ghosts floating up out of the valley of whiteness.

  The temperature soared and the reflection of the white dust intensified the heat. The powder clung to their skin, making it feel drawn out and dry. It caused their lips to crack and blisters to form on their faces. Marcel could feel her eyes watering and it streaked through the white chalk on her face. She saw her companions had streaks on their faces as well. Despite the bandanas, breathing the alkali put them all in a dream-like state, where it was hard to tell reality from illusion.

  Twenty miles out of Red Bluffs, they came to Willow Springs. While there was water at Willow Springs, there was no river to bathe in, so they had to be content with just washing all the alkali off of their bodies using a damp cloth.

  Raven washed Marcel’s face and smiled down at her. “I thought you were under all that dust somewhere,” he teased, and then kissed her cracked lips. “As soon as we get to Sweetwater River, we can take a real bath,” he promises.

  Trapper Dan started to brush down the mules and Marcel and Raven helped. Then Trapper Dan took a broom to the canvas of the wagon and started pounding the alkali dust off, which only fell on their heads so they had to wash their faces again.

  By the time they were through, they were all too uncomfortable and tired to eat, so Marcel just handed everyone biscuits, to ward off their hunger, and they all climbed into their separate cots. That night, Raven did not hold Marcel, but she knew it was because of all the alkali dust and blisters on their skin that made it even uncomfortable to move.