Chapter 3

There was no way for us to move the monster’s body out of the road. I know, because I tried. Other than his money, he had nothing that we wanted, so we turned around and headed back to Bob’s Knob. This time we headed for the livery stable.

We talked to the owner, Edward Molsen. He had a wagon and a horse for sale, but both had seen better days. He insisted that the wagon was in good condition, but he did admit that the horse, Ned, might not last much more than a year. Mary was sure that the wagon would do what we needed, but she was not sure about the horse. We did some hard bargaining and got the horse and wagon at a price that we were willing to pay. Molsen threw in the trappings needed to hitch the horse to the wagon.

Molsen insisted that Ned would last at least a year. Well, okay, but I promised to visit him in a very bad mood if Ned did not last at least that long. He acted like he had heard of my reputation, but he stuck to his story. We went to the general store to pick up a supply of oats and a small block of salt before heading for home.

We did not yet have a barn, but we did have a shed that could substitute for the barn until I could get something built. We had a neighbor, Hiram Maxim, whom Mary said was reliable, so we stopped by his house to have him look at Ned. Mary introduced me and told her story about how I had replaced her former husband.

Hiram’s wife came out in time to hear Mary’s story, and the two walked to one side to talk while Hiram looked over Ned. Before long, Hiram began to laugh. He laughed even harder when I told him what we had paid for Ned. “Well, Jack, you have certainly put one over on Molsen. This here horse can’t be more than five years old. The reason he looks so scruffy is because he has not been combed in a month of Sundays.

“You got a real bargain, and I, for one, am glad to see it. Old man Molsen has been dealing livestock at inflated prices for years, and you finally caught him out on one of his ‘slick deals.’ Do not worry, I will not say anything to him about it, but I will laugh to myself every time I think about what you did.”

I laughed, too, at that point. I told Hiram about needing to build a barn for Ned. I asked him if he knew of anybody whom I could hire to help me with that job. “Jack, you picked the right man to ask. My son, Ephraim, is looking for a job to get enough money to marry Sophie Martin. He is a good worker and would be happy for the job if you will pay him a half-penny a day.”

“Wonderful! Where is he, I would like to talk to him about the job. I am sure that he would feel better about the job if he had some say-so in it.”

“That is right considerate of you, Jack. He is in the barn mucking it out. I will go tell him that you want to talk to him. Wait here, if you please.”

I told Hiram that I would wait for Ephraim, so Hiram headed off to the barn to fetch him. Ephraim showed up a couple of minutes later all full of excitement. His father must have told him about the job offer. I was impressed with Ephraim. He was 17 years old and looked to be as strong as I was. He agreed to show up on Monday morning ready to work on building the barn. I was happy to hear that he had some experience in that kind of job, so I told him that he was hired at the rate of half a copper penny per day.

It took four weeks to put up the barn with Ephraim, Ned, and me working on it. Some of the time it was just Ephraim and Ned working on the barn because I had to hunt. I had switched from the atlatl to the crossbow for hunting, and I could be sure of killing game at 75 yards with very nearly every shot. At the moment, I was still using bolts with wooden points, but I expected soon to switch over to iron points.

It turned out that I had been foolish in my dealings with the blacksmith. I had not understood that his initial offer of one iron point for 1¼ copper pennies had been just the opening for bargaining purposes. I apologized for my stupid error and we finally agreed on three iron points for two copper pennies. I ordered 21 iron points, and they should be ready for delivery when Mary and I next went into Bob’s Knob. Dammit, I hope that I never make that kind of stupid mistake again.

Ephraim did an amazingly good job on the barn. In fact, he did about 65% of the work. I learned a lot from him, and I thanked him for his efforts. I also gave him five extra copper pennies as a wedding present. Ephraim was ecstatic! He now figured that he had enough of a stake to be able to marry his betrothed. I was glad to hear that because she was due to deliver her first baby in about six weeks. Of course, Mary and I received an invitation to the wedding which would be the first one held in Bob’s Knob. Bob Smith would be doing the honors.

Naturally, we had traveled to Bob’s Knob for the wedding in our wagon with Ned pulling it. We pulled into the livery stable to park the horse and wagon while we attended the wedding festivities. Other than “Good day,” the first thing Ed Molsen said to me was, “What happened to Ned. That there sure is a fine looking horse that you got to replace him.”

I could not help laughing, and I had a hard time talking around the laugh. “That is Ned. I just cleaned him up a little bit and brushed off all of his loose hair. He sure has turned out to be a fine horse. He is a hard worker and earns his feed every day. I sure do appreciate the deal that you made us on Ned.”

Molsen never said another word. He just walked away in silence.

Things got interesting on our trip home after the wedding. We met two children walking on the road. They looked to be around 10-12 years old, and they were so dirty that they were unrecognizable. Of course, we stopped to talk to them when we were close enough, and Mary did all of the talking.

“Good day to both of you. Where are you headed, and why are you out here all alone? Your folks should know that it is too dangerous for children to be out like this while the Redsticks are on a killing spree.”

The girl said, “Oh, Mrs. Downing, you know who we are. I am Alice Fairhope and this is my brother David.” At that point, she broke down into gales of crying.

At that point, David took up their story. “We were attacked by them double-damned Redsticks this morning while we were getting ready to go to the wedding in Bob’s Knob. Our pa and ma were murdered by them Creeks, and we barely managed to escape. We hid under the manure pile until them Injuns left. Pa was tortured to death, and ma was raped ‘til she died. Oh, dear God, it was horrible! Please, can you tell us what to do. We are too scared to go home right now.”

That was all we had to hear. I said, “You two climb up into the wagon, and you can come home with us. We will get you cleaned up and some food inside you. Then we will figure out what is best for you.” Mary nodded her head in agreement, and the children climbed into the wagon. Oh, God, did they stink from the manure!

At least there was a steady wind in our face so that we did not have to smell the manure stink until we got home. Mary insisted that the two strip naked in the yard and take a thorough bath before she would let them into the house. She found a couple of old blankets for them to wear while they ate a mid-afternoon meal. Meanwhile, I burned their clothes. There was no hope of getting them clean. Mary was already treating them as if they were her children, and the children were going along with it as they came out of their shock.

Our cabin still only had one room, so we were going to share living space, but the children had lived with that situation all of their lives, so they were not disturbed by the situation. Everybody had seen everybody else nude, especially on bath night, so there was no false modesty between the boy and girl.

David finished his food, but was still hungry, as could be expected by a 12-year-old boy, so he turned to ask for more. “Ma...”

Alice jumped in, as could be expected from a 14-year-old girl. “David, hush up! Mrs. Dowling ain’t your ma!” Alice was so emphatic in her tone that everybody noticed.

David never got any further with his request for more food than that one word, but Mary said, “It is okay for both of you to call me ‘ma’ if you want to, but you had better ask Mr. Dowling how he feels about being called ‘pa.’” I guess that you will be living with us for now, at least.

Amazingly, David must have forgotten about wanting more food, because he jumped from the table and ran to me as I walked into the cabin. “Mr. Dowling, Mrs. Dowling said that we could call her ma if we wanted to, but we had to ask you if we could call you pa?”

I was caught flatfooted by that question, so I reacted sort of without thinking about the effects of my answer. “Sure, you can call me pa if you want to. I would be proud to be the pa for both of you.”

The first thing that surprised me was that Alice burst into tears again, but she ran with David to give me a big hug. “Oh, Pa, it feels so good to have somebody what we can say that to!” Hell, I sure was not going to burst their bubble, so I hugged them back. I guess that they both realized that they would not survive the night without an adult to look after them. Well, it looked like we had inherited an instant family. Mary and I gazed into each other’s eyes, and we both smiled. That made it official.

Mary said, “The next thing you two need is some clothes. Jack, dish up some more food for David while Alice and I see what I have that can be adapted for her. You and David can go through your stuff when he finishes eating.” That was how we spent the rest of our afternoon.

Supper was a little late that evening, but both Alice and David had the minimum of clothes to wear. That made both of them feel a whole lot better. Alice helped Mary to fix supper, and that made both of them feel good. Because we were somewhat cramped for space, we made a single bed from blankets on the floor for Alice and David to use. As soon as possible, David and I would make a regular bed for them.

We did not worry about it because, in that era, it was common for children to share a bed no matter what gender they might happen to be. The fact that they all slept naked was not even factored into the equation. If the children wanted to fuck, that was up to them. There was no way for the parents to prevent it in the long run, so nobody fought with the inevitable. If the girls got pregnant, everybody just lived with the situation.

The children quickly learned about sex because they often shared a room with their parents, and the adults were certainly going to fuck whenever the mood struck them. I was not too upset for the children to see Mary and me indulging. I had fucked in public while I was in the Army, so I just did not pay any attention to the spectators. The kids were certainly going to know whenever we made love because Mary was very vocal. I teased her about never doing it in a cemetery for fear that she would wake the dead. Fortunately, Mary thought that was funny.