Chapter 6

The summer was a good one for crops. Marty was kept busy with his small acreage of corn and wheat and large garden. He spent a lot of time harvesting garden produce and canning or drying it for the winter. He almost didn’t have time to get his crops harvested before his neighbors began coming to him with their grain to be ground in his new mill. He was stockpiling a lot of flour and cornmeal just from that since he usually took a percentage of the grain as pay for milling it.

His crops had a much greater yield than did the crops of the farmers around him because of the modern seed he used. He made sure to keep most of his grain for seed which he was going to plant himself and sell for a premium price the next planting season.

Just before Thanksgiving Jim and Dottie made a trip to town with Marty. They were going to sell a load of produce then the Carter’s were going to spend Thanksgiving with Callie and her husband. When they got to town people seemed to treat them strangely. Their greetings were more reserved than the Carter’s were used to although the ones given Marty seemed more normal.

At the store, instead of Callie waiting on them, the owner did so. He, too, was hesitant. After the greeting he said, “I sure am sorry about your daughter. She was good help. I sure had no idea she was, uh, I mean what she did sure did take me by surprise. ‘Twerent no wonder Jake did what he did though. Folks just don’t take to things like that.”

Dottie said, “What do you mean Samuel? Where is Callie?”

“Oh, I am sorry ma’am. I supposed you knowed. Ole Jake got back from his last delivery early and (he blushed and stammered some then continued), uh, well, he cotched rancher Morgan’s boy in her bed keeping her company like. ‘Course, he out with his hog leg and let ‘em have it like any sane man would then he just up and left after the sheriff cleared him. I guess he couldn’t take the embarrassment from something like that. But I sure am sorry you raised a girl like that ma’am.”

Dottie turned into Jim and began crying while he held her. It was all he could do not to cry also. Dottie cried out, “But that wasn’t any reason to just up and kill her or the poor boy. How could that happen?”

Samuel looked shocked and said, “Well what else was he to do? Most folks thought he was a right good man to overlook the fact she was a widow and marry her even if she had been used. There was no way to overlook something like that!”

Between her tears Dottie exclaimed, “A WIDOW? Callie wasn’t a widow. What ever gave you an idea like that?”

“Uh, well Jake told us all she claimed to be a widow but he loved her anyways and was gonna marry her in spite of it. None of us knowed she was just a tramp ... oh, I mean we all thought she was a good woman until he caught them.”

Dottie just cried harder and Marty moved in. He said, “Jim why don’t you take Dottie out and take care of her. If it’s ok with you I’ll deal with Samuel here for our produce. When you feel better you can come back to buy whatever you need. Do you want me to stay here in town and help you or should I go home when I’m done here?”

“Why don’t you just go on home after you take care of your business Marty? We’ll probably stay here in town a day or two and take care of things before we come home. We’ll visit her grave if nothing else. I’ll stop by your place when we get back. Thank you.”

Marty quickly sold the items he brought to town and purchased his supplies. He was riding out of town within two hours of entering it. As he rode, he thought about Callie and wondered where things went wrong for her. He felt somewhat guilty about her leaving the farm and ultimately getting killed. He knew it really wasn’t his fault but he still felt she might be alive still if he had handled her differently. She just wasn’t what he was looking for in a woman, not that he was looking then and he certainly wasn’t looking right now. He supposed she was just too modern in her outlook but even back in their original home cheating wasn’t looked on favorably.

Marty stopped at the Peterson’s small place on his way home. When he rode into their yard Harold was on the roof of the barn patching holes. He almost fell twice trying to get off the roof. When he finally made it to the ground safely and walked up to shake Marty’s hand, Marty could smell alcohol on his breath. After he told them about Callie, he asked if they would keep an eye on the Carter place while they were in town taking care of her belongings and closing up the house she lived in.

Harold loudly said, “Why shore we’ll watch out for them. It sure is a shame that fine young woman ended like that. Well, I best be gettin’ back ta work. It feels like rain and I want to get these roofs done afore it comes.”

Marty decided he couldn’t just let him climb back onto the roof in his condition if he could help it. He said, “Uh Harold. Do you think that’s such a good idea right now? I think you’ve had a few drinks today and I sure wouldn’t be climbing around on a roof if I had a few. It’s too easy to fall.”

Harold seemed to instantly become hostile and he turned toward Marty as he said, “Well I really do not give a hoot what YOU would or would not do. I have work to do here and it is no body’s business whether I have had a drink or two before I do it. I will thank you to keep your nose out of my business.” He turned back to the ladder and unsteadily climbed back onto the roof. Marty shook his head and mounted his horse to ride back to his home.

As Marty turned to leave Rebecca grabbed the reins. Marty looked down at her and she gave him a quick smile. She then said, “Thank you Marty. I tried to tell him he shouldn’t be on the roof in his condition but that just made him angry. You have a safe trip home and come back soon.”

The next three days went by as they normally did. Marty worked from shortly after dawn until almost dusk either improving his homestead or milling grain. As he worked, he thought about all the modern conveniences and labor-saving devices he wished they had. He found it hard to believe this earth hadn’t progressed any more than it had. From what he could determine in many ways their technology was at early 1800 levels rather than the late 1800’s they were living in. Finally, one day he gave up working on a project in disgust and decided to spend some time trying to build more efficient machinery for his farm. He had taken several classes in blacksmithing and even some engineering classes in college and thought he could make some simple machines if he could get the metal he needed.