I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He pushed it off and glared at me. I motioned for him to walk with me away from the camp so the others couldn’t hear.

“If you don’t want her to go, just say so. But I think it’s important for Phoebe to see what pioneer life is really like. I don’t think she has any idea what she’s in for with Hiram Pickett, stuck in a sod house on a dirt ranch in the middle a’ nowhere. But seein’ how Molly and Paul live oughta give her a good idea.”

Shrug weighed my words a minute, then nodded. I turned away, intendin’ to walk back to camp. Shrug put his hand on my shoulder to stop me.

I turned, half expectin’ him to hit me, but instead, he reached into his pouch and handed me a single stone. When I took it, he looked down at the ground to show me he was sorry for the way he’d acted.

“No offense taken,” I said. “You’re my best friend, right?”

He nodded.

“And I’m yours, right?”

He made a face, and shook his head no.

I laughed. “Kiss my ass!”

Shrug grinned, and we walked back to camp.

We decided Shrug and the women would continue without us to Copper Lake and fill the barrels as best they could. Then we’d meet up in Kansas, at Blackstrap Crick, which I knew would be dry. Phoebe, Rose and Monique filled a dozen canteens and packed what supplies we’d need for the trip, which I now figured would take three days.

Before leavin’, Phoebe walked over and said somethin’ to Shrug, and he nodded at her. From the look on his face, I’d guess she told him she was gonna miss him. Then she hugged Hannah goodbye, and kissed the top of her head. She climbed on Earl’s horse, and off we went, under a cloudless sky, headin’ for the little sod house outside Maynard, Kansas, where me and Rose delivered Molly Thomas to her mail order husband, Paul Snow, six months earlier.

 


 

 

 

38.

 

There’s no comfortable way to carry two hundred and eighty pounds of lean-to and lady over uneven terrain, even with Major handlin’ his half of the load.

The closest you can get is to stand straight, with your arms hangin’ naturally, so you can hold the pole at your lowest point without bendin’ over. Unfortunately, there were two of us carryin’ the thing, and we were different heights. Bein’ much taller, I had to bend over the whole time and lift the lean-to with my arms bent, which quickly put a strain on my neck, shoulders, forearms and elbows, and a kink in my back. Every step hurt worse than the one before, and we couldn’t find a walkin’ rhythm, due to all the stumblin’ we did.

After a few minutes, Scarlett came to and cried out in pain. Monique grew excited, and called out to her in French. But Scarlett failed to answer, and Monique turned gloomy.

Both Rose and Phoebe spoke French better than Scarlett, and tried to engage Monique in conversation to keep her spirits up. Since Rose was walkin’ twenty feet ahead of us, leadin’ Major, Phoebe did most of the talkin’, which amounted to reassurin’ Monique that Scarlett would be okay, and lettin’ her know we cared deeply for her, and were gonna do all we could to help her. Monique let out a stream of French words in response. When I asked what she said, Rose answered, “Monique is amazed that Phoebe, a proper woman, volunteered for such a hard task. She’s even more amazed that Phoebe cares about Scarlett, a common whore, and said she’d never forget her kindness.”

“Don’t she know you’re a proper woman too?” I called out to Rose.

“According to you, she probably thinks I’m a witch,” Rose said, laughing. Then she said, “It makes sense she’d single Phoebe out for her gratitude. After all, you and I are getting paid for making the journey. As a paying customer, Phoebe has gone far out of her way to be of service.”

“That she has,” I agreed.

I turned to look at Phoebe, but she pretended not to hear the compliments.