Hard to Chew
Chapter 14

Copyright© 2003 by Sydney

With a stranger laying beside her fire Mary was unsure of how to manage her bodily functions. The cliff side she'd used since arriving was right out in plain sight. And no matter how much sweat the sun worked up on her, she couldn't have a proper bath either. Peering intently at her patient's face, she chewed speculatively at her lower lip. The man appeared to be asleep, but still she fretted at the problem as holding her water became increasingly difficult.

Mother was the one who gave her an answer. "Take a few of those moth eaten blankets your husband is so proud of and build a shelter. Just three sides and a couple over the top for shade. Your patient will get well more quickly that way too."

"Hm... , " Mary's mind began to conjure up images of a blanket shrouded barrier that would give her a bit of privacy.

Looking over the planks of weather worn wood laying roughly stacked beside the shack, Mary found pieces to suit her needs. Much to her delight, the pile included several sturdy poles about three inches across and maybe ten feet long. Whatever purpose they may have served before, she figured they would do handsomely for the task at hand. She pulled the poles free of the wood pile and drug them to a likely spot for making the shelter Mother had described. She wanted it close enough to the fire for warmth at night. Keeping the back side of the shelter to the cliff side latrine was also a necessity. Hands on hips, Mary listened for Mother to tell her how to put the shelter together, but apparently she had no further advice to give. Mother remained silent. Well, surely she could figure out on her own how to erect a simple lean-to.

Once again Mary pulled together a mental picture of the finished shelter. She ducked into the shack, grabbed a loosely coiled braided rope from a wooden box of odds and ends Patrick had stored beneath the dry sink and began an earnest attempt at binding the long, round poles together for a framework. She soon found that tying bows in ribbons and sashes was of no help in lashing the poles together. "Oh my Heavens," she chided herself. "I'm not an idiot. I should be able to figure this out." Frustrated, but determined, she kept trying.


Mary's activity awakened Lou from his fitful dozing. He lay in the sun without any comment watching her work determinedly for several minutes on some kind of building project. Once again it was easy to see the woman hadn't lived very long on this ranch out in the wilderness. He chuckled under his breath. She showed little ability for this task she'd taken on, whatever it was. Lou couldn't even figure exactly what the woman was attempting to do. She appeared to be trying to put together some kind of framework, but it looked to Lou like she'd no idea how to go about it. Any woman raised on the frontier could have lashed a few poles together without near the fuss this one was making.

Lou scolded himself for chuckling. A firm resolve to conquer the problem despite her ignorance was plain on her face. As he silently watched, she fumbled with two poles for a few minutes, her mouth all screwed up as she concentrated on getting them to stay together. She wasn't completely without sense. One of the poles had a fork at one end. With that end up and the other jabbed into the rock hard ground, she was trying to get the second pole to lean into the first and have the both of them keep themselves upright long enough for her to scamper to the other end of the collection of poles and raise a third pole at that end. All she was managing to do was get frustrated. Her inability to do the impossible caused her face to scrunch up tighter and tighter as she attempted the hopeless task time after time. She just kept trying. But not without growing impatience at herself, which just made the whole sight all the more amusing.

After several minutes, Lou could not hold his peace any longer... "Little lady, looks to me like you aren't having a whole lot of luck there."

Startled, Mary lifted her head from her work. She brushed an auburn lock out of her eyes with her forearm. Not surprisingly, a sharp note slipped along the edge of her voice. "Do you think you could help a bit with this?"

"Just what do you have in mind to build, Mam?"

"I'm trying to build a shelter. You need shade. I need privacy." The shadow of a pout crossed her pretty features. "And I can't even tie a knot. Can't even get these darn poles to stand up long enough to get that far."

Lou pulled himself up on his blanket bed, ignoring the sharp jab of pain from his ribs. From where he sat he directed Mary. "Alright. Let's see here. Gotta get the horses back in front of the wagon."

First he had her lay two of the poles along the ground and cross the ends. "What you want is to lash those poles together. Kind of like the way you dressed my wound. That piece there is my arm and that other is my chest and neck. There, that's it. Across and around, just like that."


In short order Mary had the two uprights and the cross piece lashed together. She had no idea, however, how to get them to stand up so she could hang the blankets from them. The framework of a wall was tied securely together. She just didn't know what to do now that she had all the poles lashed together. "How will I ever get it to stand up straight."

"First take one of those other poles and cut it into pegs. You'll need four 'bout half a foot long each." While Mary hacked at the poles to fashion the needed pegs, Lou watched. She felt terribly awkward with the hatchet, but she managed the job. "Now you're gonna drive those pegs into the ground. If you don't have a hammer, the butt end of the hatchet will do just fine. You want them spaced out so you have one on each side of the cross pole as well as at both ends. Kind of like a big old letter H. Got that?"

Mary had no idea why she was pounding pieces of wood into the ground, but the stranger seemed to know what he was about. He was certainly confident about his instructions. All the chopping and pounding brought up a sweat, creating half moons of rose beneath her breasts on the light pink duster. She stopped a moment and dipped herself a drink from the water bucket she'd placed close to the man's side.

"You're doing right nice, Mam," Lou encouraged her.

"What are the pegs for?"

"Well, see. Take that rope laying there and cut yourself four hanks about six or seven feet long. You're gonna tie three to the top of each upright and stretch 'em out tight to the pegs. Between the uprights, the cross pieces and the anchors, everything will stand up right nice. Then all you have to do is stretch your blanket across one side and we'll have us that shade we need. And any side I'm not on is privacy for you."

"How will I ever get it to stand up straight?"

"I'll get up and hold her straight 'til you get her anchored with the ropes."

"You're too weak and sick to be standing," Mary protested. "My Heavens, only two hours ago you fell off your feet."

"I'll manage." Lou struggled to his feet. "Lets get it done, then." To Mary's wonder, the man did actually manage to hold onto one end of the structure while she lashed off the other. Still disapproving of his efforts despite his condition, Mary none the less helped him stumble to the other end. Unfortunately, they needed the shelter. There was no doubt, however, that it took the last of his strength. By the time Mary had both ends of the lean-to tied off, the stranger's legs were visibly shaking. With a childish grin on his face, he apologized for Mary's having to help him back to his blankets. "Never felt so gawd awful weak in my life. I need to get out of the sun. Won't heal proper 'til I do."

"That's the truth of it. Now you just stay put there. I can handle this from here." Before returning to finishing her task, Mary dipped him another drink. She held the dipper for him and made sure he drank slowly. He was sweating far worse than she was. That was a good sign. With water being restored to his parched body, however, she noticed the blisters on his skin were filling. Since the blisters were for the most part cracked and open, the moisture working its way through his system and into his skin leaked from his face. Mary winced at the sight. She was certain it must hurt like the devil. He definitely needed out of the sun as quickly as possible. Mary worked quickly, glancing over her shoulder often to check on her patient.

 
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