Chapter 9

The morning came with a very cold breeze. Opal Anne had rolled to be able to hold me and throw a leg over me. I stretched and adjusted my cock as it tried to break out of my britches. I really needed to piss. Opal Anne stirred when I moved, and she slid her hand down my chest and onto the hard lump in my pants.

“Good morning, husband.”

“Good morning, wife.”

“I have to go.”

“Me too.”

I threw the blanket off and Opal Anne immediately wrapped herself around me again.

“God it’s cold! What happened?”

“I think that the Fall has shown up.”

“Well it damn well should have shown up warmer,” she whined.

“Well it didn’t little missy, and I had no idea I’d married a dainty flower.”

“A what?”

“A dainty flower, Opal Anne. You know one of them women that is so genteel that she can’t hardly live without a man to take care of her. I thought I married a woman who would have her man’s back. A woman who was brave and tough ... who would have a gun ready to shoot a sheriff if the need arose.”

The anger that was rising in Opal Anne dropped like a cow pie when she heard me talk about the gun.

“How did you know?”

“Mick told me that you carried a short Colt when I mentioned that I was surprised when you hid behind me when the sheriff confronted us.”

Opal Anne got really quiet and stood up out of our bed and slowly walked off towards some trees. I decided to follow her. I didn’t know if she was worried about me or scared. I approached her just after she had dropped her pants and was holding onto a tree so she could lean back and not wet her pants or boots. I stood next to her and opened my pants to relieve myself.

“Can’t a girl get some privacy?”

“Not my girl, and certainly not now. Were you really gonna shoot the sheriff?”

“Paul O’Dell, I’ll shoot anyone that endangers my family and the people I love. Remember that. Never forget it. I will have your back as long as I live.”

“You weren’t much of a whore, were you?”

“What the hell kind of a question is that?” Opal Anne stood and was pulling her pants up over her bright red bush.

“I was talking with my brothers last night before I came to sleep. Rory and Mick were saying that they’ve stopped trading wives. But I don’t know. Something you said way back stuck with me. You said that you can’t take the whore out of the whore. Well unless I’ve missed way more than I thought, you’ve never gone out looking to get your itch scratched except with me. So, either you can take the whore out of the whore, or you were not much of a whore.”

Opal Anne looked at me like I was a talking horse.

“Paul, I’m thinking that you just said something really profound, but I’m not sure what it was.”

“They asked me when they could come and visit. I told them that they should spend the winter getting to know who they married, like I’m gonna do.”

“You don’t know me?”

“Were you gonna shoot the sheriff?”

“You don’t think I could?”

“I wasn’t aware that you would!”

“Well neither was I until I was standing there, and he and his deputy started raising their rifles towards you. Paul, you are the most important thing in my life. I’m not going to have you taken away. But if you don’t explain that whore remark, I may shoot you myself.”

“My brothers were saying that they weren’t going to trade wives anymore. After Betty Mae and Raylene approached me and asked me to trade with them, I guess I’ll have to see it to believe it. That’s why I said you must not have been much of a whore. It doesn’t seem like there was a whore to take out.”

Opal Anne shook her head and helped me tuck my cock back in my pants after shaking the last drops off for me.

“Come on, husband, we need to hit the road. If it’s this cold down here, we may be having snow on the plain or getting to it. I want to get back to my nice warm hogan.”

I took her in my arms and kissed her. She might not have the heart and mind of a whore, but she sure had the lips and body of one. It was all I could do to let go once I embraced her. She looked at me like she was going to say something really romantic.

“And to start with, you ride in front of me. I know you’ve been watching my ass in the saddle. It’s my turn, Mr. O’Dell.”

That’s my wife!

With everyone packed up again, we continued our trip to our homes. Along the way Betty Mae and Raylene kept prodding Opal Anne about where we were living. She kept telling them it was by the river and way farther up past the debris field. All true.

Whenever she would ride up to the wagon and talk to the women, she always had a knowing smile when she rode back and took her place behind me. A couple of times I stood in the saddle and shook my behind at her, eliciting a loud ‘Whoop’. When we got to our first water stop, she came up behind me and grabbed my ass.

“You gotta stop teasing me like that, Mr. Paul O’Dell.”

“And if I don’t, what you gonna do, Mrs. Paul O’Dell.”

She looked at me kind of funny.

“That’s the first time you called me Mrs. Paul O’Dell. I like the sound of that.”

“Paul!” Mick came riding back to us.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Would you scout up ahead, I think we’ve got a problem.”

“More outriders?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Indians.”

“Indians? Around here?

“I know, but it’s possible. With more white people moving West after the war and the gold and all. We heard stories in town.”

“OK, I’ll go take a look. Keep moving but stay close to the wagon. You too, Opal Anne.”

“Paul, be careful, love.”

“I will, Opal Anne. Mick watch out for her.”

“I will, big brother.”

I took off in the direction Mick had indicated and tried to go as fast as I could without tiring my mount in case I had to run back to the wagon. I took advantage of keeping close to the trees whenever possible trying to not be noticed.

I was out for about a half an hour when I saw movement on the horizon. I was riding along a tree line, trying to blend in, when I saw them. It was Indians. About thirty of them. I didn’t recognize their dress, but then I was no expert. They were wearing a lot of clothes, whatever that meant. I guess they got cold too. For some reason that struck me as a new idea. Indians got cold, like real people.

As I rode along the tree line, I tried to move slowly, but it didn’t help. A few minutes after my seeing them, they saw me. They slowly wheeled around in my direction. I stayed put and watched for signs of aggression, but they just slowly rode towards me. I had a wild thought and turned my horse to face them and began walking towards them.

I was close enough now to see that their faces were free of paint. Of course, I didn’t know if their tribe wore war paint. I tried to not look nervous as we grew closer. Finally, they stopped. I let me horse continue for a few more steps and then reined him back. We stood there and looked at each other for a while, then two of them came closer. I heeled my horse to move forward a few steps and stopped.

Of the two, one was clearly an old man, the other much younger. The younger man dismounted and took the reins for both of their horses. I dismounted as well and looked at the younger man.

“We are looking for five men who attacked and burned a small Shoshone village near here. They raped the women, then killed them and the men and children. We want to find them.”

“I am one of three brothers, the O’Dell clan. We and our wives are traveling back to our home in the mountains. Three days ago, we were attacked by five white men. They were going to take our women and kill us. We killed four of them and punished the leader. He is in the jail in Fountain City. Our wives badly injured him, crushing his nuts, breaking his jaw and scarring his face.”

The young man told this to the chief who was unmoved. The chief spoke to the young man, and he in turn spoke to me.

“What did the five men look like?”

I answered with the best descriptions I could bring to mind.

“These sound like the men. We wish it would have been us who avenged our people. The chief says that we owe you a debt.”

I looked at the young man and nodded to the chief. I was about to remount my horse when something occurred to me.

“I do have a question I would like to ask. I need information about the place I live. It is on a high plain and has many very old hogans and some stone buildings. There is also what looks like a burial place. I think it was home to Utes. But I’m not sure. I found this in the largest hogan.”

When I said that I reached inside my shirt and removed the necklace Opal Anne had found and given me. I held it up for the old chief to see. He said something to the young man.

“May I take this? The old chief does not see well, and he wants to bring it closer.”

“Yes.”

I handed the necklace to the young man and he gave it to the chief. The chief brought it up close to his eyes and looked at several parts of it. He quickly handed it back to the young man and spoke quickly.

“The chief says that this is from the place of old death. He says the legend is that it was a village destroyed by evil spirits and that none of the people will ever go there again. It is forbidden to all tribes of all the people. That means that none of the Shoshone, Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Apache, Navajo, even tribes from the other mountains, the Nez Perce, will not go there. He says it is cursed and you should not go back there.”

“I’m sorry, but it is now my home. I will conquer this old evil and make a home for my family there. Tell me, if I am able to defeat the old evil, will the tribes come back?”