22 Opened Box

“I ALWAYS WONDERED what that looked like,” Pa said. Blackfeather was still sitting on my shoulder. The sun was just coming up. “Sometimes Mary Beth and Ashley didn’t even realize I’d been gone until I was back. Your spirit bird is a lot friendlier than mine was. If that redtail hawk had lit on my shoulder, I’da shit my pants.”

I glanced at the raven on my shoulder. You don’t realize how big a raven’s beak is until you see it six inches from your eye. I reached in my saddle pouch and pulled out a piece of jerky. The bird took it from my fingers and then flew off. I breathed again.

“Does he always come to you like that?”

“No. Once he flew into my room and sat on my bare shoulder. I had marks from his talons for a week. Pa, I just never know when he’s coming for me or what he’ll do. It was like I just knew he wanted some jerky and was waiting for it. But I don’t go off traveling every time I hear him, either. I’ve come to believe that he calls both Kyle and me with different calls.”

“Ravens have a number of different calls. I suppose it’s possible.”

“Pa ... I’m not like, crazy am I? It’s all so real when I’m there. Then I get back here and life just goes on the way life always does. But I remember everything so clearly and I ... Pa, I think I’m falling in love.”

“You ain’t crazy, Ramie. There’s a reason for you being here and a reason for you being there.”

“But I love Aubrey. How can I go and fall in love with Katie? And Jason?”

“Hmm. That must be interesting. But don’t let it worry you, honey. I fell in love with Laramie Wyoming Bell to the depth of my soul but it never once affected how deeply in love I was with your mother and Ashley. Remember, you are also dealing with the mind and heart of another person. In that time, it is not only you that is falling in love.”

By the time we got the cattle all driven back down the range, we’d lost two more calves. I was exhausted and ready for school to start so I could get some rest. We barely got the cattle down before the first day of school. We had two full weeks of school before Labor Day this year. And that whole time, Aubrey wasn’t able to come out to the ranch. Kyle and I both went into town to take her out on Saturday night. We fell easily into our patterns, just kind of flowing from one to the other, so that Aubrey got attention from both of us.

She spent Labor Day weekend with us at the ranch and we had our year-end picnic up at the gravestones.

“Your family stories mean a lot to you, don’t they?” Aubrey asked as we cuddled together late that night. Pa had recited the names of our ancestors as we touched each stone that afternoon.

“More and more. Honey, we are tied to this land with bonds of family that go back generations. Every year, it seems like the bonds grow tighter.”

“Is that what the map on your wall is all about?” she asked. It would have been hard to hide all that from her.

“Sort of. It’s like charting the journey to Centennial. Learning where we all came from.”

“I know where my family came from. Great-grandpa swam across the Rio and joined the U.S. Army the day after Pearl Harbor. While he was in the army, he studied for citizenship and came out a free member of this society. He fell in love with a cute gringa and moved north so they wouldn’t be tempted to go back to Mexico.”

“And now your parents own a restaurant in Laramie,” I sighed. “Aubrey, you don’t much like horses. And you are a city girl. Do you think ... Would you ever be happy living on a horse ranch?”

“Ramie,” she giggled, “we’re only seventeen.” Shit! That sounded like I was proposing to her!

“I didn’t mean...”

“Shh. I know. That doesn’t mean we aren’t all thinking about it. Ramie, I’ve been making love to Kyle for a year-and-a-half now. And with you for a year. It’s getting so that it’s hard to imagine any other kind of life. I might not be tied to the land like you and Kyle are, but dearest Ramie, I am tied to you.”

Longtime residents will sometimes tell newcomers, “Laramie was founded by some pioneers who came over the mountain and got down here by the river seeking shelter from the wind. They planned to move on as soon as the wind died down. They are still down there by the river.”

Of course, we all know that the railroad got here on May 10, 1868 and that night there was a town. The U.P. had a government grant of a big tract of land and divided it into lots. The lots went on sale in April and the day the train got here there were already whorehouses waiting for it. A lot of the town was just tents but there was a fair number of wooden buildings. Some just for sleeping, but most for commerce.

Commerce included JB Mercantile where Jonathon sold boots, gloves, trousers, shirts, hats, and sundries. It also included several tents and hastily erected buildings that had a bar with liquor in front and a row of cots in the back with available, if not willing, ladies lying on them waiting. Commerce meant relieving the railroad workers of as much of their pay as possible in as little time as possible. Commerce could also mean relieving the Union Pacific of as much money as possible. A saw mill and treatment factory was set up and logs came down from the mountains to be cut and treated for railroad ties. A gravel pit opened for the ballast. A blacksmith kept the horses shod.

And if commerce couldn’t supply your needs, then a simple gunshot would. Laramie was lawless and had no government. Half the population were criminals.

Of course, we’re a lot more civilized today, but the wind is still here, and when winter comes whipping through, sometimes it brings commerce of any sort to a standstill. Laramie is at an elevation of 7,100 feet. Centennial is 8,100 feet. Six miles up the road, Snowy Range Pass is 11,000 feet and the road is closed five months of the year.

This winter was brutal.

About the first of November, snow started flying. We had nearly two feet by my birthday. We’d already missed three days of school when the weather up our direction was a white-out. Our teachers were all considerate of the situation and we could get our assignments online. Mr. Hammersmith even posted his geology lectures as podcasts so we didn’t miss any of his classes. Damned technology!

Friday after school, Aubrey piled into the Explorer with us and came home for the weekend. Even our dating had been limited by the weather, and we were looking forward to a fun weekend. Sunday was my birthday.

“ ... Happy birthday to you,” the family sang before I blew out all eighteen candles on my cake. We had ice cream and I started getting presents. Phile and Caitlin presented me with a replica LK branding iron. We don’t actually brand horses with a hot iron, but it was really cool.

“You wouldn’t believe how many places we had to call,” Phile said. “They thought we wanted something to brand steaks on the grill with!” We all got a kick out of that. Aubrey gave me a new belt for my jeans and, when I looked closely, I saw that it had a Colt belt buckle.

“Kurt has all those belt buckles in the store and it was between this and the Remington buckle, but Kurt said he thought you’d prefer the Colt for some reason. I guess between the two, it’s the prettier one.” She held up both hands in a kind of girlie way and looked like the only reason to have a belt buckle was because of how pretty it was. I kissed her.

“Children,” Mom Ash reprimanded us as she shoved another box at me. Inside this package was a pair of short Lasso cowboy boots. They were hand-tooled and had crystals embedded in them.

“Mom Ash! These are beautiful! Where am I ever going to wear them?”

“Oh I figured you’d probably want to go to prom or something this year, and need nice shoes.” We all started laughing and I thought, ‘hell, why not?’ Kyle handed me his package. I opened it up and found a new pair of chaps and spurs. I’d been complaining that I’d really outgrown my chaps but I sure never expected a new pair for my birthday. Those damned things are expensive. They were the same color as my new boots and even had some crystals down the side. He’d obviously coordinated his gift with his mother.

Aubrey stood up and held the chaps up to me. She held the spurs in her hand and then looked at Kyle. I saw the devil in her eyes as she caught a corner of her lower lip in her teeth.

“Kinky,” she whispered. Oh god! Come to think of it, maybe I’ll wear them to bed tonight!

Mom Mar and Pa held out a good-sized package to me. It was heavy.

“Eighteen is a pretty important birthday,” Pa said. “Seems you need something special to remember it by.”

I was a little nervous opening the package. When I finally got the plain corrugated cardboard box open, I saw something I never expected to see outside of Kurt’s gun shop. There was a sleek black holster holding an 1851 Colt Navy .36 caliber. I just dropped it and rushed to Mom Mar and Pa.