by Sue Clifton
“Come on in, Jez. Quick, now, before you let a fly in.” The old lady’s voice was so faint the visitors hardly heard her.
“Hello. We’re looking for Teesh.” Cayce had followed the cat to the screen door, but the wooden door behind it was nearly closed. She knew she had to say something while the main door was partially open.
“Oh, my goodness! You gave me a fright.” The old lady opened the door and stuck her head out. “I didn’t know anyone else was out here except Jezebel.” The lady’s high-pitched voice crackled with age.
“Lester Scott sent us,” Cayce explained before introducing herself and Harri. “My name is Cayce McCallister, and this is my sister, Harri Wellington. We’re on our way to Bar None to spend a couple of weeks helping our friend, the new owner.”
“Oh! Lester sent you this.” Harri held out the box toward the lady, who took it and smelled it without opening it.
“My goodness. That Lester knows how to guarantee entry into my cabin. Well, come on in, and let’s see if he’s a good judge of character. Jez let you past the steps, so you’ve already passed her test.”
Teesh held the door open for her guests, who waited for their host just inside the door. Teesh was a petite lady, very striking for her age, the quintessential western pioneer woman with her long gray hair braided into one thin braid that hung over her shoulder and almost to her waist. Her wrinkled face was outlined with character and joy in living, her laugh lines predominant around eyes and mouth. Her dress—faded blue jeans, old brown cowboy boots with pointed toes, and a gray Yellowstone sweatshirt, somewhat faded with wear—was not atypical for the West. She exuded pleasantness, and her first impression on the sisters was positive.
The inside of the cabin appeared clean but cluttered. At one end of the room, floor-to-ceiling shelves held what might have been every National Geographic and Reader’s Digest ever published.
Realizing she was staring, Cayce attempted to justify her bad manners. “That is quite a collection of magazines. I love National Geographic myself. I also collect antiques, and you have some wonderful pieces.” She didn’t know how to address the old lady. “I’m sorry, but Lester didn’t tell us what your last name is. He just said ‘Teesh.’ ”
“My last name is Johnson, but you can call me Teesh. Everybody does.”
“Is that short for Patricia or Laticia?” Harri asked.
Teesh laughed. “No, but that’s what everyone thinks when I meet them for the first time. I was a teacher and taught on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation when I was a lot younger. The kids started out calling me ‘Teacher,’ but somehow it got shortened to Teesh, with the c-h sounding more like s-h. I liked it, so I just sort of started calling myself that. My real name is Virginia, but nobody has called me that since I was twenty, the year I started teaching.” Teesh headed for the kitchen area and motioned for the sisters to follow.
“I’m very informal. I like to sit at the kitchen table when I have company. How about a glass of sweet sun tea made with spring water?” Without waiting for an answer, Teesh reached into the cabinet and took down three old, brightly colored aluminum glasses from the same era as the rest of her kitchen.
Harri seemed fascinated with Teesh’s appliances, all from the nineteen-forties or earlier, but most of all, Harri loved the old rounded Frigidaire refrigerator with its old-timey aluminum ice trays that demanded a bit of a beating to get the ice cubes to release. She noticed Teesh held the tray with a dishtowel to keep the frosty aluminum from sticking to her fingers.
“This kitchen is like our grandmother’s. It brings back a lot of good memories. Doesn’t it, Cayce?”
“Yes, it does.” A tall antique oak bed, with a primitive table beside it, sat in one corner of the large main room. Cayce knew a room like this, containing a complete house in it, was called a keeping room. A beautiful hand-stitched quilt was spread across the bed.
“What a gorgeous bed and quilt. Log cabin pattern, isn’t it? Did you make it?” Cayce loved the design and wanted to run her fingers across the beautiful stitching. She remembered the pattern from one of her grandmother’s quilts. Cayce turned to Teesh, waiting for the old woman’s response.
“No, I’m not very crafty. My grandmother made it for me when I turned sixteen. My stuff is old, but I like it. I see no reason to change it out. It’s good enough for a ninety-two-year-old.” Teesh opened the box of candy and offered each of the sisters a piece.
“Oh, no. We’ve had the one Lester told us we could have, and that was just to get us back to the shop for more. It is delicious.” Harri eyed the fudge left in the box and had to turn her gaze away to keep from taking Teesh up on the offer.
“We’re fine, Teesh, but you go ahead and have a piece. I know you’re dying for it. It’s the best fudge I’ve ever eaten.” Cayce followed Harri’s lead and looked around the room.
“Well, if you insist. While I devour this, why don’t you girls tell me why you wanted to visit with this old-timer so bad?” Teesh broke one of the candies in half and stuffed it into her mouth. “Mmm! That is good.”
Harri looked at Cayce and gave her the nod to begin.
“Our good friend Joshua Devaux bought Bar None a few months ago and has begun to restore the old buildings. He wants to make it a place where people can bring their families and relive the history of the gold mining era. Joshua loves history.”
“And let me guess. Your Mr. Devaux is having unforeseen difficulty with his restoration project.” Teesh picked up another small piece of fudge and popped the whole thing into her mouth, chewing slowly, savoring it.
“You are so right. I’m sure the stories abound in the old town. They don’t call them ghost towns for nothing.” Harri sipped her tea, keeping her eyes on Teesh, awaiting her response.
“Stories? No, these are not stories. These are facts. I’ve seen and heard enough in Bar None to field several seasons of those reality paranormal shows.” The old lady took a sip of tea. Her eyes smiled, as if amused at the surprised look on Harri’s face, and Cayce knew her own face must have reflected something similar.
“Yes, I have satellite TV and watch all those ghost-hunting shows, but TAPS was my favorite until Grant left. Grant was like the grandson I never had. I was an old maid schoolteacher, or schoolmarm, you know.”
“Joshua is really beginning to have problems.” Cayce chose to ignore Teesh’s description of herself and return to the main topic. “He’s having a hard time finding construction workers to finish the project. They keep getting scared off. Can you tell us about your experiences? Anything you know about the resident spirits that might help us put them to rest, so to speak?”
Cayce folded her hands on the table and was surprised when Teesh stood and left the keeping room. Harri and Cayce looked at each other. Cayce wondered if she had offended the elderly woman. In a few seconds, though, she returned, struggling to carry a very large, heavy book.
“Let me help you with that, Teesh.” Harri jumped up, took the book, and brought it to the table.
“This is just one of dozens of volumes I have—every newspaper ever printed in Bar None. These will tell you everything you want or need to know about the town from 1879 ’til 1937. I had it in the back room where I do most of my reading. The light is better back there.” Teesh pushed the volume across to Harri, who began turning pages.
“My grandfather, Proctor Henry Johnson, established the newspaper, The Bar None Sentry. He came to Bar None in 1875, a young man seeking adventure in the Wild West and hoping for a quick fortune. He panned the streams but didn’t like the hard labor it demanded. Then he worked in the mine for a couple of years—more hard labor.
“Grandpa Proctor was the son of a schoolteacher and a Presbyterian minister, and was quite literate—self-educated—but never liked getting dirty. After he finished his schooling, he apprenticed as a typesetter and a reporter at a newspaper in Springfield, Missouri, the town where he grew up, before getting gold fever and heading west. He managed to save enough of his ear
nings from working gold to open the newspaper, and he kept it running until 1937, although it changed to a much smaller operation, a weekly county paper, in 1915. My father worked with Grandpa Proctor but couldn’t keep the paper going. The Sentry died with the town. My father moved us to Idaho Falls but kept the family cabin. I inherited it and moved back forty years ago and never left again.”
“So if you are ninety-two, you remember some of the first pioneers in Bar None, like Belle and Absalom Duluth?” Cayce’s interest was piqued, and she could see by the way Harri looked up from the volume that her interest heightened, as well.
“Well, I don’t know that I actually remember so much as I know the stories passed down and the ones from my own perusing of these old newspapers. But I do remember Absalom—Uncle Ab to my sister and me. He was Pa Proctor’s best friend. They came to Bar None on the same day in 1875. My grandpa caught a ride with Uncle Ab from the train station in Boise.” Teesh paused and sipped her tea before continuing. She spoke slowly, savoring her memories as she had each bite of Janie’s fudge.
“Absalom was a quiet man who smelled of sweet cigars and liquor. But that didn’t matter to my family. He was especially fond of Irene and me, although Irene was only three years old when Uncle Ab died, and she never remembered him. He always made us wood carvings of animals, or made us wood toys that could move in all sorts of ways. Pa Proctor said Absalom was a mechanical genius, probably why he was so good at mining.”
“What about Belle? Do you remember her?” Harri asked.
“Oh, yes. But mostly I just remember seeing her. She was a floozy, as my mother called her. Mama and the church women didn’t like her, but they prayed for her, mostly for her forgiveness, I reckon.” Teesh leaned in and spoke barely above a whisper. “I think the women mostly prayed their husbands wouldn’t fall prey to Belle and her girls’ spells.” Teesh chuckled, hiding her laugh behind her hand, and then sat up straight to finish her explanation.
“I was not allowed to go past the porch of Cole Springs Hotel. That was the name of the hotel Belle owned, but Belle also owned The Nugget, a saloon and bordello. In her mind, Mother could not separate Belle’s hotel from her other business endeavors, and I could only go onto the hotel porch if Uncle Absalom was sitting out there. Uncle Ab sat on the porch every day, whittling. I didn’t understand why we were forced to stay on the porch until I got older.
“Well, I’m really running off at the mouth. I know Lester warned you that would happen when I get started talking about Bar None.”
“Oh, please, Teesh, promise you’ll always run off at the mouth. Hearing you talk is even better than going through your newspapers, but they are a treasure.” Cayce pulled open the volume in front of her to get a quick glance inside.
“I’m surprised some museum hasn’t bought them off you. What a treasure! Irreplaceable!” Cayce caressed the old book as she closed it.
“Oh, I could have sold the lot a dozen or more times, but I won’t. What do I need with more money? I even have nursing home insurance, but hopefully I won’t ever have to use it. I’ve seen enough of those while visiting my friends and my sister Irene.” Teesh left the kitchen and returned with a picture in her hand. “This is Little Sister, poor dear.” Teesh handed the picture to Harri. Cayce moved closer so she could see the woman.
“My, she is beautiful! Look at that thick white hair.” Harri pointed to Irene’s hair, which was pulled away from her face and loosely held back with an antique pearl-embossed comb.
Cayce nodded and handed the picture back to Teesh. “You look alike,” Cayce added.
“Thank you both. I’d love for you to meet her, but she doesn’t know anyone anymore. Irene is only eighty, but her mind left her a long time ago. She was in an institution for a long time, but I had her moved to the nursing home a few years ago.”
“I am so glad Lester told us to come see you, Teesh. It has been a pleasure visiting with you. Having someone who remembers the town founders is invaluable. Do you mind if we come back to see you and take a look at the newspapers sometime? We need to get to Bar None right now, but I know we’ll have many questions after we get there.” Harri picked up the book as she stood. “Now, where can I put this for you?”
“Just go through the main room. The door beside the bed will take you right out to my spare bedroom and the back porch. It’s been glassed in so it’s more like a sunroom. That’s where the good light is for reading.”
Cayce picked up the tea glasses and put them in the sink while waiting for Harri to return.
“Thank you for the tea, Teesh, and especially for taking us back in time in Bar None. I really hope we can visit you again, and we hope you’ll come visit us while we’re at Bar None.”
“I would love the company. Come spend as much time as you want in my old musty cellar.”
Cayce and Harri waved at Teesh, who stood with her arms full of Jezebel as they pulled out of her driveway. Cayce knew they would be back. She could hardly wait to begin searching through the written history of Bar None.
****
Hawk bumped along on the gravel road, which seemed to have more potholes the closer the sisters got to the old town. Cayce hugged the shoulder, afraid of another near miss on the narrow road. Then the gravel turned to packed dirt.
“We should be close. Maybe just over this next hill.” Harri leaned up in her seat, probably eager to start panning for gold in the stream running beside the road.
“Here we are, Harri.” Cayce pulled onto the shoulder and stopped at the top of the hill so they could gaze down into the valley that held the remains of Bar None. She walked to the front of the truck. “Oh, my gosh! This is much more beautiful than Joshua described it. Would you look at those mountains?”
Harri climbed out of the truck and walked over by Cayce, who added, “I can see why no ghost in his or her right mind would want to leave here.”
Harri leaned closer to Cayce. “Ghost in his or her right mind?” Harri cupped her hands over her eyes. “Your words make me uneasy, but the view is breathtaking!”
The sun reflecting off the scene below made the town look as if gold dust had been sprinkled over it, adding brilliance to the natural hues of the landscape. Several cabins and buildings were nothing but shells of their former selves, but three big buildings in the middle of the town looked as if they had been bypassed by Father Time. The Nugget, Belle’s saloon and brothel, stood in the center, not acknowledging any sign of repugnance for the lives the girls who worked there were forced to live. Antique wicker chairs and lounges, symbols of a more genteel population, adorned its front porch.
“Can’t you just see Belle’s girls, dressed in their finest Victorian outfits, their parasols twirling over their shoulders as they stand on the edge of the porch soliciting clients?” Harri, with her flair for fashion romanticized the era, temporarily forgetting the agony and distress the young Asian prostitutes were forced to endure.
Cayce moved several steps and shielded her eyes with one hand. “Actually, I don’t see the girls, but I think I just caught a glimpse of Belle looking up at us, her lace glove covering her eyes just as I’m doing right now. But she wasn’t decked out in bright-colored silk with a plumed hat and a parasol. She was dressed in black, a veil over her face…a dark puff of air, here one second and gone the next.”
Cayce dropped her hand from her face and turned to Harri. “Well, sister, are you ready to start this adventure? Looks like the residents of Bar None await us.”
She headed for the driver’s side of the old truck while Harri crawled back into the passenger seat.
Chapter Five
Cayce parked at the hotel just in front of a long hitching post. To the right of them was a narrow alleyway, and The Nugget stood next to it. There was no sign of Belle or of any of the construction crew, although several ladders were propped against the building and piles of lumber and material covered the grounds.
“Well, it looks like Joshua might be recruiting workers again.” Cayce pulled
out her cell phone and moved in a circle, holding her phone out checking for a signal. “Nothing. Can you believe that, Harri?” She put her phone back in the truck.
“Of course. We’re between mountain peaks in a secluded valley. Unless Joshua puts in a cell tower or has telephone lines run, there will be no communication with the outside world.” Harri walked to the entrance of the hotel and tried the door. When it clicked, she pushed it open. “After you.” Harri rolled her hand down, bowing, and gestured Cayce in ahead of her.
“Oh, my! This is amazing.” Cayce walked in and did another complete circle, soaking in the elegance of the Victorian establishment. “Joshua will be pleasantly surprised, should he ever get his workers back to finish, that is. Joshua didn’t tell me he already had it furnished, with the exception of our bedrooms. He had an antique dealer from Boise find period pieces for all the bedrooms.” Cayce headed for the stairs, with Harri on her heels.
When they reached the top of the stairs, Cayce stopped abruptly, and Harri plowed into her. Cayce motioned for Harri to be quiet and pointed down the hallway that overlooked the lobby. Ten doors opened onto the balcony, but all were closed.
Cayce and Harri directed their gazes toward the seven rooms to the right at the top of the stairs. A creaking sound came from one of the rooms, the sound of either footsteps or a rocking chair in motion. Cayce led the way as the two tiptoed past every door, stopping to listen at each one. At the next to the last door, Cayce stopped and pointed. She and Harri put their ears close to the door. The noise continued. Cayce began her game of charades with her sister, a game they often played when confronted with the unexplained.
She held up her fingers to signify counting and motioned they would both push with their shoulders on the count of three. As she placed her hand on the doorknob, she held her breath, hoping it would be easy to open and not damaged by their shoving through.