Chapter 4

It was still dark when Marty was awakened by yelling and clanging coming from the Carter’s parking area. He quickly put on his boots, grabbed his weapons and took off toward their camp. He saw someone running away carrying an arm load of something with someone chasing them. He changed his direction of travel and made a running tackle, bringing the miscreant down. The man came up fighting and started to pull a pistol. Marty had his in his hand and slammed it down on the wrist causing him to drop his pistol. It was still dark enough he couldn’t see the man well at all. He could tell he was slight of stature with long shaggy hair and dirty, ragged clothes. That was all.

Marty raised his pistol and pointed it at the man’s chest and said, “OK, that’s enough fella. Just raise your hands and stand still. I suggest you tell me why you were rummaging around in my friend’s belongings while we wait for them to catch up with you.”

The Carter’s came running up as Marty said that. Jim pushed the man and said, “What’s the idea stealing our stuff?” He stood, leaning forward, ready to pounce. The anger evident on his face.

The man said, “I wasn’t stealing nothin’. I only took some of what’s mine.”

Jim stepped back and said, “Tim?”

About then more people showed up, a couple with lanterns, and they could see it was a very dirty and disheveled Tim standing in front of them looking sullen.”

Jim said, “Why did you think you had to sneak in and take things in the middle of the night? Couldn’t you have just came to us in the daylight? We’re going to head to our new place this morning. The clerk at the land office wouldn’t let us file for your place. You’ll have to go there and do it in person.”

“I told you I don’t want nothing to do with farming. I’m going to hang here in town until that asshole will let me go back home. You can have this shithole. Now can I take my stuff and go?”

Dottie moaned and Jim sighed before he said, “I can’t force you to do anything. You’re a man grown by the standards of this reality. What do you plan to do about money and a place to live if you stay here in town?”

“Don’t have to do anything. I’ll have my pay from asshole. I can live on that until I can get back home.”

“Have you forgotten a couple of things son? IF you work you get to keep what you earn legally in this time plus twice what you were earning back home. Tell me, how much did you earn back home Tim? You refused to work during the school year and you only had part time work with neighbors during the summer. Can you live on a dollar a day plus what you might earn here?”

“Hey, that’s not right. I made almost $3000 last summer. I can live great on two times that here. Hell, I’ll be the richest man in town!”

“Son, Jones didn’t say you would be paid twice what you made back home. He said you would be paid an amount equal to twice the buying power of what you earned working back home. I don’t know what exactly, that is but in 1950 dollars you only made about 450 a year. We’re 80 years farther in the past from there so you can figure you only make MAYBE $150-200 a year in current buying power here if you work. Most adult males here are lucky to make one or two dollars a day for work from sun up to sun down.”

Tim glared at his father then bent and began picking up his belongings. Jim didn’t check to be sure he only had his personal things. He was, after all, his son. He watched him sadly as he turned and stomped off. As he left, Tim said, “I’ll see what Jonesey will pay me. I’ll get by somehow and I won’t be farming. That’s for sure.”