Chapter 58

Crow Ridge Tulsa, Indian Territory July 5, 1885

“Eli, I’m going to miss you. I know you need to go see your grandparents and I wish I could go too, but Grandmother said we’re not old enough to travel alone together. Please be careful.”

Kit and Eli were sitting in the barn, taking a few minutes alone to say their goodbyes before he left.

“Kit, you know what it’s like when you’re with your grandpa. You and Ruby see him every day and make sure he has everything he needs...

“Not counting Momma’s grandmother and parents, I’ve only got my Grandpa and Grandma Connor as blood kin left and I’ve only seen them once before. Dad tells me I need to go now, and I feel like I need to so I can tell them I love them. Dad says they may not live many more years and if I don’t go now, it may be too late.”

“I know, Eli ... I was just being selfish. I love you so much I hurt being here without you when you’re away. I just feel so empty and alone without you nearby.”

“I miss you when I’m gone from home too, Kit. One day we’ll be able to get married, then we’ll be with each other all the time with our own place.”

“I keep telling myself that too, Eli. I like thinking of us being married and having a son so we can name him after you and Dad.”

“Eli Crow, the Third. I kinda like that,” Eli told her as she snuggled close.

“Eli, I was thinking more like calling him Tré as a nickname, spelled T-r-é with that little thing on top of the ‘e’. Grandmother showed it to me in a book and told me it would be a perfect nickname for our son. She said it was Italian for three and I knew right then that I wanted him to have that special name.”

“Kit, when our son is born, we’ll call him Tré. Now, what will our first daughter be named? I heard you and Ruby making up names.”

“Stormy Rose!” She told him proudly as she pressed her hot young body against his and kissed his cheek.

“WHOA! What a name! Just from her name, I know she’ll be just like her Momma. I wish we were already married, I’d take you back in that stall and start on our family right now!”

“Eli, I don’t want you wearing your gun on the train. You can wear your knife on your belt, and carry your gun in your traveling bag. You better ask Marshal Hopkins when you get there if it’s alright for you to wear your gun while in Boones Crossing. Tell him that I wanted you to be armed and to be aware of where you are, who is around you, and even who is looking at you,” Eli told his son as they waited for the train.

Little Eli had said his goodbyes at home, even to the other Bucks. His dad wanted to have the last few minutes alone with him before he left for a week’s stay in Boones Crossing.

“I’ll be extra careful, Dad. I won’t have my brothers watching my back ... I’ve already though of that.”

“Son, I’ve made a lot of enemies in the past eleven years as a U.S. Marshal and some even before that. There are some men who will stop at nothing to get back at me for doing my job and bringing them to stand before Judge Parker. I don’t want you to get caught up in any revenge that is meant for me. Just use what we’ve taught you and don’t trust anyone. Eli, I mean – ANYONE!”

“I promise I’ll be extra careful, Dad. My brothers tell me all the time that I’m just like you, always looking at everybody to see what they’re doing and trying to figure out what they’re thinking.”

“You just keep it up then. I know you’re a lot like me, Eli and I’m proud of that. But I’ve never let one of my Bucks go off alone before and I can’t help but worry.”

“I’ll be alright, Dad. Kit and I have lots of plans for the future. I’m not going to let that little red-headed, hot-blooded girl of mine down either!”

“Eli Crow, you get more and more like your old man every day!”

They were still laughing when the northbound freight rolled into Tulsa.

Eli walked his son to the steps of the Pullman where Little Eli stopped, turning to face his dad before stepping up to the rear platform of the second Pullman car. There were two Pullman coaches on the long freight with a diner car between them.

They stood looking at each other eye to eye, then shook hands before he turned to walk through the rear door, just as the whistle blew. He walked through the passenger car to where he could sit on the depot side ... he looked out at his dad standing there. He felt tears well up in his eyes, then they waved at each other. Both of them were still waving and smiling as the train slowly pulled out with the whistle screaming, steam hissing, and spraying out around the big iron wheels of the locomotive.

They slowly gained speed heading up the ridge after crossing the Arkansas. Little Eli sat next to the window looking out over Crow Ridge at all the cattle pens and oil storage tanks. He could see huge herds of cattle grazing, no matter which way he looked. He smiled to himself as he looked the place over. This was his home. This is where they’d buried his mother. This is where he lived, played, worked, and spent his life with his brothers and sisters.

His heart swelled with pride at the things his dad had accomplished. His pride grew even stronger as he thought of his dad. The man was like no man he’d ever seen before nor heard tell of. He let his mind drift, thinking of the time when he and his brothers would be old enough to have a place like this of their own. Have a family and raise kids, cows, and horses. He smiled to himself at that thought. He could already see his and Kit’s home, their barns, and corrals laid out before him in his mind. He thought of what it would be like to have a son named Tré and a daughter named Stormy Rose, both riding alongside him and Kit as they rode over their big ranch.

He could see the windmills spinning, the cattle grazing on the slopes of the valley they would one day call home ... their own home – their own place. He smiled and put his hand up to feel the smooth, warm gold of his medicine chain his dad had given him. He loved to feel of it, it made him feel safe knowing how much his dad believed in the one he wore.

They were crossing the creek to the east of Crow Ridge ... and another smile came to his face as he remembered the time he and his brothers had ridden the little railroad hand-car with Jon David and his sisters. A laugh escaped his lips as he sat alone in his thoughts. He looked around to see if anyone nearby may have heard him laughing while sitting alone.

Just as he turned to look toward the front of the Pullman, he saw two young men rush through the door, as if in a hurry. He wondered if they really were in a hurry, and why? They had a long trip yet to Kansas, unless they were only going to Vinita.

There was something about them – something that nagged at him. He couldn’t imagine what he was missing, but there was something about them and the way they had hurriedly left the Pullman that he couldn’t grasp hold of – nor let go.

There was a porter near the door when he looked that way again and Eli waved to get his attention.

“Yes Sir, Little Boss. What can I do for you?” The elderly black man asked with a big friendly smile as he stepped up close to where Eli sat.

“I was wondering if my traveling bag would be alright if I left it here and went to the diner car?”

“Yas’suh, Little Boss. Say, ain’t y’all one of Marshal Crow’s boys? Seems like I done seen you before.”

“Yes, I’m his son. Do you know my dad?”

“Not so much as to call him by name, but I reckon I’d know that man no matter where I saw him. You look just like yo’ daddy, I reckon y’all know that, huh?”

“Thanks, I know I do favor him a lot...

“What about my bag, will you be here or will I need to carry it with me if I go have a bite to eat?”

“If you got valuables in there, I suppose y’all ought take it with you. If y’all just got a few changes of them rawhide britches and shirts, I reckon it’d be alright here.

“You make that choice, cause I may get called up in the other car and have to leave your bag. Most folks sort of watch out for other folks bags on the train, but then some folks would steal your socks off your feet while you slept, if they could.”

“What’s your name? Mine is Eli Crow, Junior.”

“Most folks on the train just call me Hey Porter, but my mammy called me Sammy all my growing up years.”

“Sammy, I’ll be riding this train all the way up to Parsons, Kansas. Then I’ll catch another train over to Boones Crossing, Kansas. I hope we get to visit again on my trip.”

“Yas’suh, Little Marshal, me too. I’ll be y’all’s porter all the way up to Parsons. If y’all need anything, just holler Hey Porter and I’ll come on over soon as I can.”

Eli picked up his bag and walked through the front door of the Pullman, stepping across the connecting platforms to enter the diner car. By the time he’d taken three long, slow strides into the diner, he had looked at each and every person there. He didn’t see the two young men he’d seen leaving the Pullman car earlier and wondered where they’d gone in such a hurry.

Near the middle of the diner car, he spotted a small table near a window and moved over to put his bag on the floor and sit down. Instinctively, he looked at all the people seated in the diner car once more. Most were with others, either a man and woman, or a family, or two men, as they sat, ate and talked.

“Yas’suh, Little Marshal. What can I get y’all?”

Eli turned back to see another black porter standing next to his table.

“Do you know my dad, too?”

“Naw’suh, not to call his name personal, that is. But I reckon by now, ol’ Sammy’s done told all the folks on this train that we got one of Marshal Crow’s sons ridin’ with us. Everyone knows yo’ daddy in these parts. We may not know him to call his name, but we all know who he is. Yo daddy is one hell of a bad man ... What I meant by that was, he’s much of a man and everyone knows what he stands for. I reckon y’all look just like him too.”

“You can call me, Eli. My dad is Marshal Crow and I’m Eli Junior.”

“Yas’suh Little Marshal. Now what can I get y’all to eat?”

“I saw a man eating what looked like beef on thin sliced bread when I came in. I’ll have some of that.”

“Yas’suh, that’s a roast beef sammich, y’all gonna like that. That’s some good eatin’. What y’all want to drink? We got coffee, hot tea, and water that young folks can drink.”

“Bring me coffee with my roast beef, and thanks. Say, what is your name?”

“They call me Brownie. Cause my last name is Brown.”

“Thanks Brownie. How long will it take us to get to Parsons?”

“Bout one more hour to Vinita, then two more hours over to Parsons. Sammy said y’all was goin’ on to Boones Crossing, too. That’s gonna take you another two more hours from Parsons I reckon.”

“Thanks again, Brownie. That’s what I wanted to know. I’m going to see my grandparents up there.”

On the front platform of the first Pullman, two young men were leaning against the front of the car, next to the hand rail.

“Why in the hell did you grab me and run from that rear passenger car all the way through the diner to stand out here? Shit man, we bought tickets to ride in that fancy luxury car!” One of them griped at his companion.

“You didn’t see who came in a sat down back there?” The other said.

“Hell no. Who was it? The President or some lawman or what?”

“No, it was one of Marshal Crow’s sons. The one who jumped me and my brothers that time. It was that same stinkin ass marshal’s kid that hit Buck with a shovel handle while he wasn’t looking and tore his ear off. He told us that day his name was Eli Crow Junior!”