Chapter 3

The six pm arrival of the northbound at Waypoint meant that the travelers would have to spend at least one night in town before proceeding to the ranch. Malik had business to conduct before leaving town, in any case, so he offered Gabriela and Wren the choice of Mrs. Kuiper’s or the Old Courthouse Inn for their two-night stay in Waypoint. The ladies elected to stay at the boarding home and to eat breakfast and supper there, but to have lunch at the Inn. Wren was pleased to learn the that the room she and her sister, Thrush, had once stayed in was available. She wanted to sleep with the open window so she could hear the rio, as Gabriela had once described. Gabriela would stay with Malik in his bunkhouse room.

Mrs. Kuiper was her usual jovially acerbic self with Malik, but she immediately took to Wren. She began discussing recipes, baking, and cleaning techniques with the younger woman, who was the cook and housekeeper at the Doña Anna hacienda. Wren’s cousin, Sage Tsosie, was the cook for the Doña Anna ranch hands.

Not surprisingly, Wren also marveled at the flush commodes Mrs. Kuiper had had installed for use by female boarders and staff.

While in town, Malik had two significant meetings.

The first was with Wilford Bream, the Franklin County prosecutor, who had come down by train for the day. The two lawyers had occasionally worked together on projects, most recently, the spate of partnerships and incorporations of various community cooperative land and mining businesses generated by the home-grown “mineral rush” on the Dry Valleys.

Bream, some two years prior, had also represented Malik in a now locally-famous state court case against Jackson County. Essentially a suit for false arrest and imprisonment, among other improper uses of power, it had cost Jackson County nearly three thousand dollars at a time when the county board of judges, owing money on the construction of a new courthouse and already reeling from the effects of another corruption scandal, could ill afford it.

One unexpected benefit of the county’s need for cash was that Malik, under the guise of a straw-man farm supply company, had been able to purchase the vacated former courthouse and several commercial lots at very favorable prices. That, in turn, had allowed Malik to convert the empty courthouse into the Old Courthouse Inn, a high-end lodging and dining facility. The lot purchases, which had been transacted under his own name, had also provided the impetus for Jacob Baylor -- his brother, Andy’s, father-in-law -- to expand his grocery and mercantile business. Beyond that, it also expedited the relocation of Hannah Isely’s Waypoint Bakery to the main crossroads of the town’s business district, directly adjacent to Baylor’s store. That move, in turn, fostered the growing business and personal partnerships between Hannah and Jacob.

It was all silver lining that the original Jackson County cloud was unable to contain.

Malik and Bream both were acutely aware of the growth of commercial interests and burgeoning population that mining was already bringing to the region. Bream, in turn, admired Malik’s use of the railroad to move his business car to different towns, as a means to capture a lion’s share of the legal business that such growth would bring. For his part, Malik had, for some time, harbored the notion of a partnership with both Bream and Malik’s friend, Raul Castillo. Castillo, however, had accepted a position as the general counsel for the K&ASR and had moved to Wichita, Kansas.

Even so, Bream and Malik were able to come to terms.

As they were enjoying cigars with their coffee, having just finished lunch in a private dining room at the Old Courthouse Inn, Bream said, “I’m really looking forward to this, Emil. Lord knows I’m not unhappy with being Franklin County’s lawyer, but the election campaign process is a big drain on my energy and leads me to kiss so many asses that I’ve kind of lost my taste for it.”

Malik laughed aloud at Bream’s unintended double entendre, nearly spilling the coffee from the cup he was holding at the time. He finally was able to respond, “That brings to mind a picture I fear I’ll never get out of my head, Wil.”

“I suppose that did not come out quite the way I intended,” Bream said, chuckling. After a sip of his own coffee and another puff on the Guardia Real he was smoking, he said, “I am sorry Castillo won’t be part of this. He’s one smart lawyer. And while he comes on stuffy, he has the driest wit of anyone I’ve ever met. But more power to him in that new job. He needed the change in scenery, after his divorce.”

“You don’t regret that he got that job instead of you?”

“What? Oh, no.” Bream shook his head dismissively. “ When that Mister Chen interviewed me, I told him I wouldn’t be interested. I don’t want to leave this area.”

Bream took a sip of coffee, then explained, “When Grace and I first arrived here from Minnesota, we thought it was some of the ugliest country that we’d ever seen. I mean, it’s so green back in Minnesota; forests and farm fields, and then there are lakes everywhere. Out here, sure there’s green, but it’s spindly and more of a gray-green. And everything seems to get tan or yellow as the summer wears on. There is some deep green, but it comes in clumps, like the cottonwoods along Shepherds Creek.”

“Even so, it kind of grew on both of us. For one thing, the horizon is pushed way back and the sky seems endless. Now, when we go back to Saint Paul, everything feels closed in and kind a’ crowded. We’ve come to love the ‘wide-open spaces’ with the ridges and mountains and plateaus on the horizons.”

Another draw and release of cigar smoke and he said, “Even Kansas would have felt too ... well, not exactly flat, nor is it really featureless, as even low, rolling wheat fields are a feature. Maybe it’s just not rugged enough for us, anymore.

“There’s a feeling I get out here. I don’t know, maybe it’s like standing at the edge of something big and wonderful, yet challenging and maybe a little intimidating.” He shrugged with a wry smile. “Ah, maybe it’s just me.”

Malik was smiling and nodding a little. He said, “I think I know what you mean. Sometimes, when you grow up in a place, it doesn’t seem special. Other places seem special. But I think we grew up seeing it through our father’s eyes. To him, everything was special.

“I’ve been to California, and the Pacific coast is wild, rugged, and beautiful. And there is nothing that compares to the redwoods. But somehow, the ocean feels like more of a wasteland than the desert ever has. And the East ... granted there are some lovely places, but all those people would drive me right ‘round the bend. Out here, a fence is always a surprise. Back there, finding open land without a fence is the challenge. For me, I think it’s a feeling of freedom.”

Bream agreed. “Now that you say it, I think that feeling of freedom is a major component.”

“But I agree. It would have been nice to have Raul on board,” Malik said. “I really came to like him. At least I still get to see him when I go to board meetings.”

“How’s he doing?”

“Like a duck to water. He may not have that hail-fellow-well-met personality that Fred Urban was known for, but Raul’s probably twice the lawyer. He’s already tightened up our contracts with a clause that further limits our liability and he’s found another exemption we can use to avoid running afoul of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Plus, he likes Wichita, well enough. He’s able to afford a nicer apartment that overlooks a park and actually has a flush toilet and a hot water bath. He’s talking about building a house.”

Bream said, “That reminds me. This David Lewin who moved here, he’s a bookkeeper-accountant, right?”

“Yes, he is. He graduated from a four-year program at Oyster Bay College. It’s a privately-endowed school in New York. He said that half his classes were in the law school and the other half were in the business school.”

Bream asked, “Do you do the bookkeeping for some of your clients?”

“Yes, of course, like most small town lawyers -- Hey! I think I see where you’re going with this,” Malik exclaimed.

Bream was nodding enthusiastically. “Exactly. If he were working with us, he’d have plenty of business and we’d be able to stick to lawyer work. And we’d have someone who could help evaluate the fiscal ramifications of contracts and so we could sell more and better advice. Besides, I hate bookkeeping, especially for others. And you can’t charge the same fee for that as for legal consultation and services.”

Malik said, “It’s been a little easier for me since Gabriela started helping in the office. She takes over all the bookkeeping jobs when she’s down here.”

Bream hesitated, looking uncertain. “Oh. I don’t want her put out of a job.”

“No, not at all. She’s due to deliver in a couple months and wants to cut back on the office work. Not the work so much as the office, itself, especially as she plans to stay out at Ranch Home until the baby comes. Then, afterwards, she wants to devote time to ... him or her.”

“That’s right, December’s just around the corner. So, what are you hoping for, boy or girl?”

“Are you kidding? A girl. It would be my luck to have to raise a son just like me. My heart couldn’t take it. Do you know that they used to have to watch me so I wouldn’t crawl after rattlesnakes? Seems I was attracted to the buzzing buttons on the tail.”