Chapter 46

Surprise! the Gift From Daniel Sr. and Yes a Meadow Can Look Too Good, and Nobody Warned Me at All

(MONDAY, MORNING, SEVEN DAYS LATER.)

One week later I woke to the sounds of my little folks making demands of their mama’s concerning mostly their comfort, namely a diaper that they wanted to be rid of, and some mommy milk, too. In other words they had begun to wake up, and wanted everyone nearby to understand that all sleepy time was over, for this morning. The funny part is none of us knew which child woke up first raising hell, as by the time help showed up, all of them were putting out some kind of a racket. To add to all of the sounds that was drawing the much wanted attention, I can still remember hearing those loud sounds, for the first time, that morning, nearly a week ago. I was warned to stay near a bathroom after I was given this both stinky and foul tasting liquid to drink. I was served just enough food, that they could actually be called rations that would only fill up a small toddler. “The more you eat, the more you will be sitting on the toilet shitting back out. And believe you me, you and a toilet are about to become real good friends until you are all cleaned out. You will be locked into the ceremony for at least a day without food, bathroom, and very little water during this ceremony.” Mama C. said to me.

I also thought about the many things that we were able to accomplish last week before we went into what I called the ‘Stinky Room’ as it was such an action-packed week, and I was learning to love being a father, as there was always a new face being given to me, though some of those new faces were not all that happy for me to be the one holding them.

I was also remembering the few minutes that I spent with all of my new faces that morning, before I headed out to meet with the State of Oklahoma Department of Transportation concerning the 3 miles of entry road that the State was responsible for. The road that now needed to be resurfaced to match the new concrete road that we were resurfacing, that would lead directly into the Reservation itself. A Mr. Billings met up with us, after he managed to be nearly an hour late after he had looked at the few roads that we had resurfaced, as well as the roads that we were still being resurfaced, and those roads that we were also planning to do.

“So why exactly did you call the ODOT so many times and request this meeting with ODOT?” Mr. Billings asked. “I just knew that you were going to just show up unprepared for this meeting. I called you because your Department is required to match the roadbeds that we have. This is a copy of the agreement that was signed 60 years ago by men who are no longer around to tell you that the agreement is permanently valid. What I will tell you that it is indeed valid. My advice to you is get on the phone with somebody, because if we have resurfaced the road, the cost to the State of Oklahoma is triple the rate of the lowest bid, and we have three bids in hand from the firms that the State of Oklahoma routinely uses for road construction.” I said.

“As concrete was the favored building material back then, concrete was the chosen material that we will continue to use. Now the agreement was that your road has to match ours, and had to be checked every ten years with a report in writing. There has not been such a report submitted to anyone here on this Reservation in over 20 years. What you did do was patch the road every year as needed, using asphalt patching material and also patching our road that lead directly into the Reservation, and every year the ODOT would assess the Reservation a large fee to do this yearly patching. I have removed the management here on the Reservation that both allowed our roads to fall into such bad disrepair, and allowed you to get around keeping the State road in decent shape. The State of Oklahoma only had to match the immediate roadbed leading into the Reservation.” I said.

“I am sure you can see how costly these roads are as we had to have the base materials trucked in, and then we are making our Cement on site. As it is cheaper plus it provides much needed jobs. The men leading our crews are Master Cement Contractors, so the quality of our product is as good as if not better than the finished product of the firms that you normally use, since many of the men in our crews came from those same firms.” I said.

“So you were happy to charge your large yearly fee to patch one half mile of roadway each year. Well now we have resurfaced our road, and I personally don’t care where the funds have to come from to resurface our three miles in concrete, but if Iron Horse doesn’t hear from somebody in the next 7 days, concerning ODOT plans to do the job. He will give our road crew the go-ahead to do the road work, and bill the State of Oklahoma accordingly, as per the contract. And before you ask, the contract is a permanent contract. You have not done any major resurfacing of that road since it was first completed 1919; well it is our turn now.” I said.

“Call somebody in Washington, D.C., as they drew up the contract originally.” I said. I left Iron Horse and Billings talking with each other, as nature was calling me and that was one call that I just had to answer! I just made it to the restroom in time. I immediately went to my room as I knew where it was that I needed to be for the rest of the day. I made it to the room and headed straight to my new office for my next sit down. By the time dinner arrived and I was given one hamburger with bacon and cheese, I was getting madder by the minute as the burger arrived with more of that nasty drink! The next day was the same thing all over again. I had no idea that my dad and my security guys were going through the process also. The women were doing something similar to us menfolks, also. Plus you now add in the fact that I was cut off from having any sex, as I am told that my mind needed to be clear for this all-powerful ceremony.

As for the ceremony itself, I was given a different foul tasting goo to drink, I was told that this goo wouldn’t make me crap anymore, but I was also given a pair of sunglasses and strongly advised not to remove them for any reason whatsoever. After my bathroom situation after drinking that first foul tasting goo that I was given, if I was told to hop around on one foot in the corner or sit with my legs crossed, then that is what I was gonna have to do. I also had some home training and understood what I was to do, when I was told to do so. When my Grandparents came in the room and my Granddaddy was still bitching about them trying to starve him to death, while forcing him to live in a bathroom. “I hope this shit is worth all this bullshit that we have been going through so far.” Granddaddy said.

I really was ready for this to all be over with, as I was suddenly cooler, almost cold, in fact compared to what I was a few minutes ago after drinking that new stinky shit, and I am really just glossing over ingesting these foul drinks, that I was immediately chasing these nasty drinks with some very naturally herbal and very sweet tea. I also came to understand why you needed to keep the sunglasses on, because I could clearly see through the dark glasses as though they were just a pair of simple clear reading glasses. My other senses were heightened as well, so I had to leave my children at some point, because when they would cry it was sometimes a little bit painful, as my hearing as well as my sense of smell was now so sensitive. I soon was joined by all of the men in my family at Daniel’s beautiful home to sleep, as all of us would be up well over 24 hours with no sleep, once we were locked away. When Iron Horse and the rest of the Tribal Elders arrived I could begin to see all of the men that I would be in the ceremony with.

While we were eating a beef jerky type of meat, I was able to meet with the Tribal Elders that I had not met before. And everyone on the Reservation was happy with all of the changes that we were making all over the Reservation. With unemployment all but non-existent now, the new construction going on, and the secondary positions that suddenly came to be. And dormant and unused land to become parts of a large Reservation farm, complete with decent sized herds of cattle, goats, sheep, lambs and chickens. (Or the term for chicken, many people laughed at when they heard it said amongst my people, ‘Yard Pimp’.) With the animals spread around as to not interfere with each other. As a result all of the grass on the Reservation would be allowed to grow tall before being cut, and it was to grow naturally chemical-free. It was harvested to help feed the different herds.

As well as grass on several miles of the Oklahoma expressway grass near the Reservation, ODOT was only too glad to allow us to cut the grass for them for free. They willingly signed the contracts, without thinking that they might have made a few dollars on the transaction until a few days later, when a simple staffer asked one simple question. “Did any of you ask why they wanted to maintain the grass for the state of Oklahoma? As maybe they might be willing to pay the state of Oklahoma for this exclusive privilege?” The staffer asked her boss. Well let’s just say that the question that the staffer asked, and the answer that went with it, did not go over real well. The state of Oklahoma’s outrage got just a little bit worse when they noticed we had the right to begin harvesting grassland all over the state, as well as near the reservation as soon as we were able to do the job in the future. In other words as we got our grass cutting equipment and workforce up to the job, we could cut all the grass we were able to do, basically anywhere that grass grew wild anywhere in the state.

The contract was purposely written vaguely to be interpreted very broadly, while stressing that it was a money saving proposition to the state of Oklahoma. It was the money saving part that got the contract signed, without too much forethought as to what our benefit of being such a good neighbor to the state of Oklahoma was really all about.

After a few well placed phone calls to theFORD Motor Corporation, the General Motors Corporation, the Chrysler Corporation, and the AMC Corporation. (The MasonGroup had just acquired the American Motors Corporation, a.k.a. AMC. lock, stock, and barrel.) about the coming needs for new vehicles on the Reservation. Pam also informed them that we were going to need one small dealership from each of them to be built, to be locally owned, and operated. But initially we would need vehicles of all sizes right now to be bought at cost, as they were being bought at company cost, as three of these companies understood that the MasonGroup were very large stockholders. While AMC was wholly owned between the MasonGroup, the widows and myself equally. These vehicles were for Reservation use while we were trying to find store front space to sell personal vehicles to the public, with the MasonGroup guaranteeing all of the financing for both the public and the_ _Reservation purchases._

Pam also called John Deere, International, Massey-Ferguson, and Allis- Charmers for all of our new agricultural equipment needs, each to be setting up shop in three of the four car dealerships, as FORD was still in the business of selling farming equipment, mainly tractors of all sizes, while Allis-Charmers was 51% owned by the MasonGroup, and also because of its separate construction equipment, in addition to the agricultural business interests, it was to be a standalone business on the Reservation. But as the MasonGroup went back to the 1800’s, all four of the agricultural giants understood these were not going to be huge profit generators, as all four of them were owned to some degree by the MasonGroup, and all of their lines of credit were also tied to the MasonGroup also. But all of them wanted their products doing the work, as the service after the sale and the warranties were where all of the profits lie. And we intended to see that no one firm got all of the business.

Hand tools and power tools were handled the same way, and by partnering with another business they were all able to have space to show their products while using the same sales force to sell everything in the stores. So our business model changed daily until we had a way to bring in all these businesses and put folks to work, but now these folks would continue to have business to make the businesses break even, too. And once word got out to the smaller communities surrounding the Reservation about the new businesses would be closer to them, business would be picking up even more. Thus we sent the word out that we would need a few seasoned police officers to begin patrolling our streets, though we looked to hire our own first, and then open it up nationally. The same for the fire department, with the blunt understanding if you are not colorblind please do not apply, as white folks were not in large supply on the Reservation. It was comical when Iron Horse made it clear the petty prejudices would be dealt with harshly, as everybody here was in the same boat, to do a job, make money, and most likely raise a family.

It was decided that a worker’s personal preferences would have to be taken into consideration, as a man or woman working with the brand of machinery or tools that they themselves chose and that they were also loyal to, to use on a daily basis. The workforce soon proved that they took better care of both tools and, or the machinery much better, than tools that they were not as comfortable with, or so we thought, anyway. And that is how brand loyalties were taken into the final consideration across the board. When the choice of trucks that the men wanted came to light, it became obvious brand loyalties had to be considered, also. Do I even need to mention the tractor conversations that we ended up having? Plus some folks wanted to have their existing equipment rebuilt rather have new equipment, as their love for these tractors and other equipment was just that strong! Thus many a tractor or other piece of farming equipment was rebuilt to do certain jobs, just to calm these people down. They had to rebuild their personal trucks on their own, and many of them did do just that too.

Iron Horse talked to the tribal elders and other respected men and women to get his point across. “With the MasonGroup coming in here and throwing both money and jobs around here like they are, all of you need to know that people of all colors will soon be coming to town to do what they do. That means that people are coming to design new homes, as well as all of the new buildings that are about to start being built. The only people that won’t have a job is somebody too lazy to find one that is being offer to them. Not everybody can swing a hammer, but I bet they can cook. Them that can’t cook can surely deliver either food or supplies as needed. The MasonGroup is willing to partner with anyone willing to work, and more or less hand you a business for any of you and your family to have, as some type of construction will almost never stop. Farming never stops, police and fire never stops, mechanics, and body shop work never stops.” Iron Horse said.

“In other words the more things that we can do for ourselves here on the Reservation, the less we have to bring in via the outside world, namely the United States of America. We all know how we all ended up here. Soon they will be beating a path to our door to bring businesses that we already have, up and have running. We will be in control enough to tell them that we either don’t need them, or don’t want them. Or that they have to dance to our tune, in order to do any business, here on the Reservation. And that is something our ancestors never had when we were ‘encouraged’ to move from the lands our people had lived on long before any white folks, ever showed up. Now I am not saying that we won’t do business with the outside world, concerning of some people that want to set up shop here. Because saying that we are completely unwilling to work with them, well that would also be wrong, and short sighted, too.” Iron Horse said.

“But any business wanting to setup shop around would have to do so as a partnership, with the understanding that the MasonGroup would make both their business and personal life permanently miserable should there be problems with said businesses. So any of the businesses that were indeed granted permission to move into the Reservation community would do so with the understanding beforehand that local people must be a part of the working staff, and not just in a flunky capacity,” Iron Horse said.

“The last item of business that I would like to address before we break up the meeting concerns Graey Fox, I propose, with the permission of young Teddy, to allow Graey Fox to partner with the Food Lion people, because Graey Fox has been running those types of stores. And he has been doing a good job of doing it; by the way, he would be the best person for this job. Also with him partnering with Food Lion it would save us the trouble of building new stores, as building space may soon become somewhat limited real soon. Teddy says that it was never his intention to destroy Graey Fox, just remove him from office, but Graey Fox rubbed Teddy’s women folks the wrong way, and you all saw what happened, after he lost his mind.” Iron Horse said.

“Now they propose that Graey Fox be the one to partner with Food Lion, and because he will have extra room in his stores after Walmart gets their stores built and up and running, that Graey Fox partner with some of our women’s groups to put in a hot food section, in each of his stores. These hot food take-out food sections could become real important, to his bottom line. As long as he understands he that has to take on these partners, and keep them as partners, no questions asked. No sudden rent increases if their business takes off, as we expect them to do, once the construction boom is up and running. Let’s be clear that our whole goal is to be self-sufficient, as we are the biggest Reservation in the United States thanks to the MasonGroup purchasing land between the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. There are several farms and smaller counties that are doing poorly that just happen to surround the Reservation itself. And the MasonGroup is prepared to buy all the available land that is for sale, or may be for sale.” Iron Horse said.

The MasonGroup’s ideas of making the Reservation into a better place to live seemed to get bigger, by the day. The more ideas that come along through the Tribal Elders from the local residents, the more people are willing to believe that real good fortune was in everyone’s future. Now everyone understood that becoming independently wealthy was not likely to happen for many people living around here. Now the standard of living that many people living in the United States called the upper middle class was definitely something that many of these people could easily have a chance of becoming a part of. As long as they all understood the fact that they had to work hard the same way that it happened for people in the U.S. in the early to mid 1900’s.

Let us just say that there was electricity in the air, and no I was not talking about the juice that runs your TV either. But you have to remember the thought of new money, and a much better lifestyle will not only brighten, but will make the outlook for a better future more than wishful thinking.

I would love to tell you what all went on the in the not one, but the two days that we were locked inside the domed and mud-covered structure. It was a framed dome covered with buffalo robes then covered in a thick layer of mud to help hold in the intense heat that was needed for the ceremony. The floor was dug out three feet deep to provide the soil needed to make the mud that covered the structure, with only a very small vent hole to allow the smoke from the fire to escape through the roof.

But as to what all went on inside, well that is a secret that cannot be told, I am sorry to say. It stunk inside that structure, with only hot water to drink to stay hydrated. I was the youngest person there in the best physical shape going in, but because of the extra parts that happened to me in there, I came out functioning worse than any other man that was in there also. Even Daniel Sr. came out moving better than me. Inside he told me things, and I gained knowledge from him. I more or less now know everything that had ever happened to him throughout his entire life, as though I had lived it myself. “Teddy, when you leave the Reservation, please don’t return back here until after I have been laid to rest. Please don’t return for my funeral, as we have met and everything that we needed you to do has now been done. You are in possession of all of my knowledge and memories, so being near me, or talking to me have no real advantage for you, now. You have proven to be your own man, and you have wise counsel around you to help you, plus all of my knowledge, make us Mason’s proud in the future as you have done so far in your journey.” Daniel Sr. Said to me.

After sleeping for over 24 hours, only waking twice to make water each time and to drink a glass of water, I awoke wanting to eat food for every meal I had missed this week. Pam let me know that we were expected at the Rec. Center tonight at 8p.m., now that I was both awake and alert as well. I just rolled my eyes, as I went to take a nap that lasted 2 more hours. Sandy woke me up by kissing me, and then she fed me some titty milk until Pam swatted her lightly on her ass and said “Now you know that you don’t have enough milk for Tre` all by yourself, so you don’t need to be feeding his greedy ass daddy any of your milk,” Pam said while laughing at Sandy. Pam took Sandy’s place and opened her robe. “I have wanted to do this with you since you got me pregnant, Teddy.” Pam said to me. Pam had me nurse both of her breasts until they were both drained. “I love feeding my man as much as my baby girl, and I can’t wait until I can feed you while you are fucking me, baby.” Pam said.

(MONDAY, MID-MORNING, IN THE PRESENT WEEK.)

Carmanza bought me one decent sized cheeseburger, and I looked at her like she had hurt my feelings again. “You will be able to eat your fill tonight, Teddy,” Carmanza said. I was up and showered and also dressed in a white buckskin outfit with the lion’s head ruby red bead work that fit me real well. I was ready to go by 6:00 p.m., at 7:30p.m., we all then boarded the ROLLING THUNDER coaches, bound for the Rec. Center.

Just about everyone on the Reservation was there tonight. We had not been there long when Graey Fox walked up to me. “I want to thank you again for allowing me to make the deal with Food Lion to save me and my family from facing a hardship like we have never known before. I will not give you any reason to regret your decision to allow me to save myself from my own greed. “ Graey Fox said to both Pam and me.

“I just felt a little bit guilty, as part of the reason you were allowed to run wild with no oversight was because of a lack of management oversight at the MasonGroup, mainly because of the former leadership’s ‘don’t give a damn attitude’ for all non-white non-profit operations. But you willingly stole from your own people, and for that reason alone is why I couldn’t work with you in your former position. But somebody had to be in the grocery store business, and since that was your primary business I asked Iron Horse his opinion about allowing you to partner with the Food Lion people. And you now know just how that all worked out.” I said.

I still had no idea why everyone in my group, including all of the children, were also indeed wearing white colored clothes also, while everyone else was dressed in what appeared to be their Sunday go to meeting clothes. I was missing something, and there was like some memory at the back of my mind fighting to get to the front of my mind. It was beginning to get on my nerves that I didn’t seem to know what was going on, and this memory issue was making my head hurt. “Pam, what the hell is going on around here?!” I said through clenched teeth. “Calm yourself Teddy, nothing wrong is happening, and you’re being welcomed into the tribe. So just go with the flow, as Daniel also went through this same thing about a hundred years ago.” Pam said.

I immediately moved to the brand new Daniel Sr. memories in my head at that point. I then saw Daniel’s party in 1889, and I saw that an Indian maiden was also involved at Daniel’s party. About that time we sat down at our very large long tables, with me sitting in the middle of the two large long tables. My personal round table had seven seats and was situated between the other two large long tables to the left or right of my table. This was where my harem and children were seated. That meant that I was very limited as to whom I would be talking to here at the Rec. Center tonight. The seat to my right was still empty, as none of my girls were sitting next to me in the right seat, while Sharon sat on my left side and Pam had sat down in the fourth seat to Sharon’s left side.

As the wait staff began serving the room, I saw that my personal server was also wearing all white. She was the most attractive Native American woman that I had ever seen before. Her dark eyes were riveting, her thick and long blue-black hair hung past the middle of her back. She stood tall, standing just over 6’ 2”, while she was no gym rat you could see that she had an athletic build going on, she was blessed with a B-cup that was trying to grow into a C-cup, and her skin was a dusky brown. The lower half of her body belonged to a woman who had a little bit bigger body than the woman’s body that her top half belonged to. I was staring at the poor woman as though I had never even seen a woman before; the leather skirt outfit that went past her knees that she was wearing clung to the curve of her hips like a second skin.

She had brought enough food for a small army, instead of just Sharon, Pam and I. Iron Horse and my server’s smaller twin sister walked over to our table. “Good evening Teddy, Pam and Sharon, this is my wife Daisy, and I see you have already noticed our daughter, Meadow.” Iron Horse said.

Just then the memory that had been fighting so hard to come to the front of my mind suddenly arrived in grand style! “Aw shit!” I quietly mumbled, though not quietly enough.

“Teddy, calm down!” Pam said in that voice that only a mother has when she is telling her children to behave in advance. Like when she is out in public, and just the thought that one of her children is maybe about to do, or say something that would or could potentially embarrass either the child, her or the Mason family in some way. Pam switched seats with Sharon. “Teddy, you need to relax, she is just a small part of your taking over the ownership of the Reservation.” Pam said.

“If you want to see something that would’ve probably upset all of us, just look over a Graey Fox’s daughter. SHE, IS A REAL BITCH, WITH A CAPITAL B!” Pam said. I could see from across the room that she thought that she was all that, and then some. She was giving the wait staff hell for God only knows what. I had an instant dislike for her already, and I had never spoken to her, and I did not even know her name. I thought that the only reason that she is not sitting over here raising hell was because her dad stole from the entire Reservation, which caused me to replace him with Iron Horse. I didn’t even know that Iron Horse even had any children at all at the time the Tribal Elders recommended him to me. But then I also didn’t know that a woman came with my ownership of this Reservation. Though I can’t wait to find out when exactly Pam found out about this little wedding situation, as I am going to want to know why it is that I am just finding about this entire situation tonight at the event, rather than this afternoon, when I first woke up.

Iron Horse and his wife Daisy and their son Wild Horse filled the three remaining empty seats at our table. “From the look on your face you had no idea that to join the tribe you had to also take a bride, as one hundred years ago a bride meant so much more than a bride means in today’s world. I only have one little girl, I would hate to think that you would or could mistreat her in any way. I also know that you have just become a father to at least one girl yourself. So I ask you to imagine just what you would do to a man stupid enough to mistreat your little girl? As that is what she will always be to you, no matter how old she becomes, no matter if she gets married, or how many children that she brings into this world.” Iron Horse said.

Wild Horse’s eyes kept wandering to the table to the right of my table closest to him. He was looking at either Sharon, Sasha or Fallon, and I wanted him to understand he was wasting his time without causing a scene. Thankfully his mother Daisy saw what was going on. “Wild Horse, all of the women sitting at both of these tables on either side of this table, are already spoken for. And unless you want some of what you say you saw Broken Arrow dealing with this afternoon, I would stop admiring the view. I have been talking to these women for weeks now, and all of them will tell you that their man is a hard act to follow.” Daisy said. Wild Horse blushed after hearing what his mother said to him. Meadow set down a few minutes later after everyone had been served, she was even more beautiful up close than she was when standing a few feet away from me.