Chapter 34

After lunch, Jackie and Kim joined me as I drove into town. When we got there, we stopped in first to see Kent. “Oh man, welcome back Pete!” He gave me a hug, and so did Karen. He then started talking about the plans for the convention. I looked at Jackie, and she looked at the ceiling.

“OK, let me guess, you talked her into a conspiracy of silence.”

“You got it, I wanted to tell you the news. Columbus Day weekend, it’s a go. We got a good rate, on the condition that we hold it there every year for the next five years. And we got you booked for the theater for one night. But man, that’s 2,500 seats. How are we gonna fill that?”

“Simple. You set aside 500 seats, and see if Mountain Home has a gaming group. It’s a kind of remote base, I bet they have one. Here, one second.” I got out my phone and called Fred. He told me he did not know, but he gave me the number for the club at Edwards. I thanked him, and invited him to come down soon so we could catch up. I then called the club, and they soon gave me the number for the one at Mountain Home Air Force Base.

“There you go Kent, give them a call. Offer them 500 free seats, and a discount on admission to the convention. I bet they can even arrange a bus to take people out here as a recreation activity. You might even want to consider holding here what we did on Okinawa. A simple weekend conventions at your shop. Put a tent in the parking lot, tables, give them a place to get away from base on a three or four day weekend. Good promotion, and you will probably get carloads of Airmen out here for it in addition to the locals.”

He nodded and said it sounded like a great idea. I signed more adventures, and he said that mine sold out almost as fast as he got them in. “And man, this Spillikan’s, that’s a riot! I know you wrote some of it, but which ones did you make?” I laughed and opened a copy, and pointed out most of the ones I made.

“Oh, and I’m Master Spillikan. All these notes and the introduction? I wrote all of that. We wanted something more fun and whimsical than what TSR did.”

“Well, you sure did that my friend. Everybody loves it, especially how cheeky those comments are. I have had more than one player try to do something that he had described.” We all laughed, and I said I would be here for the convention, and I would see what else I could arrange between now and then.

We hit the dive shop next, and he said that the holes were not bad, if a little smaller than he thought they would be. But they could still be useful, especially for refresher training, or testing equipment. I also said that when it was all up and running, he could consider setting up with a hookah and letting novices try their hand at diving. Of course, we then we had to explain to Kim and Jackie what that was, and he nodded. “I do have a one man one in the back, some miners use them for dredging. But yeah, that might be fun, and get more people interested.”

We were thinking of going to Dead Steer, when I got a call on my phone. “Pete, you need to get up here right away.” I asked Dave if there was a problem, and he said it was nothing bad, but I needed to be there soon. “And don’t come to the house, park in the parking area up the highway and come over to where the highway crosses the ‘neuff.”

We quickly headed out, and I saw a small crowd up by the bridge over the river. We parked the truck and headed over, and saw everybody there but Darla. Dave said she was watching the babies, and I was introduced to Mr. Grant. “Pete, Al Grant here owns Idaho Sand. He came over a bit ago and said he wanted to finalize the transfer of the upper pasture we wanted to buy. But he has another proposal.”

We shook hands, and he asked me about my plans for the old Black farm. I told him the idea, and that we had bought it the month before and were already making the changes. He told me he had been watching them, and liked the idea I had for making a Riverwalk.

“And that’s why I’m here. You know, we own both sides of the river over there, right?” He pointed downstream, to where the delta marsh area was and stretching all the way to the American Canyon reservoir. “On the other side is an old pit we abandoned about ten years ago, but that land is all ours. Dave here also said you want to buy our riverfront land upstream, all the way to I-86.”

“Well, buy or lease. Mostly, we want to be able to put in a walking and riding trail, from the freeway all the way to here. We already got the old Lowery place, we are going to use that for parking, same thing. So the locals have a nice stretch of river to walk along, or ride their horses.”

“Well, I’m gonna say I like that idea. I was told last week about the crazy Indian that wants to buy our river, no offense Dave. I could understand that old potato farm area, but the river made no sense to me. So I came to talk to Dave and see what he was up to. Then he told me this was mostly your idea, and about improving the bottom land and making like a free public park out of it.”

“Well, pretty much. Kim here and I used to play down in the old pit area when we were kids. You know my dad and I left when mom died. And when I had the money, I went to JR himself to fight to buy back the old homestead. Let’s just say his company bought it for the water rights and had no real use for the land itself. I made a fair proposal, and somebody without going through proper channels shot it down without a hearing. In short, I went straight to JR and made my case. And to be frank, he was pissed off that the company that has his name never gave me a fair hearing. That in the five years they had owned it they had never actually used the land itself. And refused to sell it back to the original owners even when we said we did not want the water rights back, just the 5 acres at the bottom they could not use even for farming because of the bluff.”

“Yea, that’s about like JR. Practical as hell, knowing land was not being used and just hoarded would have pissed him off.”

“Well, I got it back, then he sold me the eastern extension, it was the same thing. Sitting fallow, not being used, no direct water rights. But since we do cattle, water is not as important so we grabbed it. Then over the holiday we heard about the Black Farm, and got it also. So Uncle Dave can move his entire herd here, and my dream of a campground. We locals really have little access to the river, short of that park downtown. I want this to be a bit more natural, and away from town. Improve the river area, a walking and horse trail, a fishing area. But not for the tourists as much as for ourselves. We have already decided that the old Lowery will be free parking, up here it will be paid parking. Not for money, but to limit how many park up here as our space is limited.”

He nodded and asked how far I wanted to take this idea. “Well, I know I can’t really go any farther south than the freeway. That’s all JR’s land on the other side. And he has a processing plant and other things along both sides of the river past there. But if we can get your land, or a lease on it between the old Black Farm and the freeway, that gives over a mile and a half to work with.”

“But you don’t live here anymore, have not for years. Why are you doing this?”

I looked right into his eyes. “Al, this is my home. Yes, I live in LA now, but not forever. Pardon me for a minute ladies, but I am not like that song from a few years ago. I fucking hate LA! Let me tell you a quick story Al, maybe that will help you understand. Yes, I grew up just over there where the Big House sits now. I’m sure you remember the old farmstead. Well, growing up it was not uncommon for Kim and me, or just me alone to grab my pole and walk down right over there and do some fishing. Or up to the edge of the lake at the end of that draw. My dad went to LA first, bought and fixed the house up, and then he gave me a call. He told me I would love it in LA, and that a mile or so from where we lived was the LA River.”

Dad chuckled as I said that. “Yeah, I thought he might like to know we would still be near a river.”

“Yeah, har-dee-fucking-har-har dad, asshole! Al, the LA River is not a river anymore. They dug this big ditch about a hundred yards wide and thirty yards deep. They lined the entire thing with concrete, and the only thing that runs down it is street runoff. It’s fucking disgusting! There is a small stretch near where we live that is actually kind of wild growth, but the rest is all like that, all the way to the ocean. That was the joke, we lived near a river named for the city, and you could not use it. It’s polluted, unsafe to go into, and looks and smells like an open sewer. I don’t want that ever happening here! I want to improve it. But not like a sterile park, but so people can walk along the river, appreciate what it is, and not completely fuck it up like they did down there!”

At that point, I realized I was starting to cry! Jackie and Kim both came up and took one of my hands. “Sorry, but this is something that means a lot to me. Living in LA has made me love Idaho all the more. I want to make a park, yes. A private one, but open to everybody. No idiots from the Government deciding that the example of LA should be repeated here, and try to fence in the river and wildlife. As you see on the other side, clearing the thick jungle, but leaving most of it in place. We are going to lay out some trails down there, then let the brush grow back. This river is part of my life, and I want others to see it how I do.”

“Shit, son. Then why in the hell are you living in LA if you hate it so much?”

“Right now, because I have two businesses there. I’m a computer guy, it’s really all I know that I can make a living at. And Pocatello here is not exactly a hotbed of the IT industry. My goal is that by the end of the century, I am coming home. That’s why I had that house built. The smaller one between here and the Big House? That’s mine. I come up as often as I can, and I’m going to retire there. I want to be able to let my own kids play down there, in the same area Kim and I played. A mostly wild river, but a little better and safer. Able to walk or ride for miles along the banks, and appreciate just being there. I fucking hate LA with a passion, but I can’t make a living up here. Kim, what did I tell you when you asked to put the rink behind my house?”

She looked at all and smiled. “Oh, that’s simple. I could not do it, you had plans for that land. You are going to build a small computer store, so you can still play with them after you retire. And if it is a nice day you could hang up a ‘Gone Fishing’ or ‘Gone Skiing’ sign and just go.”

I smiled and nodded, and kissed her cheek. “Al, that is my dream. That when I have milked as much money out of LA as I can in the next ten years, I can turn my back on that place forever and never look back other than to visit those friends and loved ones I have made down there. When I left here, I was 16. I thought LA was exciting, even if dad was full of shit for making me think I could go fishing whenever I wanted.” Everybody chuckled at that. “You and I both know that my family once owned all of this area up here. I do not care about that, I got the original homestead back, that’s enough. I added enough to let Dave move all of his stock here, once again on land the family owns. And yes, Dave is also an owner. The Culver and Littlebuck families together are doing this. And also the Settler family.”

“Peter, there is no Settler family. You don’t know? When we got married, Jeff decided to take my name. I’m still Kim Littlebuck, Grace is Grace Littlebuck, Jeff is Jeff Littlebuck. He has two older brothers to keep the family name going, he prayed over this before we got married, and he said that God had told him to not let my family name die.”

I hugged her tight and said I had no idea. “That was while you were in Japan, long before any of this came about. I think it was providence that he did so, but we can talk about that later.”

Kim then told Al about the Corporation, and how any land the family owns can never be sold off. “Ever. His family is the primary owner, my family the secondary. Only descendants of Pete’s father or myself can ever be owners of the corporation. And it’s locked down, we can only sell to the Bannock Shoshone tribe, or the state. The tribe for a park or farming, the state only as a park. Never again will the land leave our families. If it does, the tribe gets first shot. And they are also tied down the same way, as is the state. Even if we somehow grow to the size of Boise and this is all city, this area will remain a large park.”

Al watched all this in silence. “Well, I see now I was right, it was a crazy idea by a crazy Indian.” But he was grinning as he said that, and I could tell he meant it nicely. “Pete, you are not local originally, are you?”

“Well, part of my maternal line actually comes from a tribe farther east. They married into her dad’s family. But yes, I am a ‘Crazy Indian’ also, and the one behind this loony idea. But I was born here, and the Black’s are also ancestors of mine.”

“Nope, not loony at all. In fact, I can see how much this means to you. I want to see those papers, and have my lawyers go over them also. Not that I doubt you, I honestly believe you. You are so passionate, this is no act. I just want to make sure it is as tight as you say it is legally. And when we sell you the upper field up here, you are also buying all of our riverfront land. All of it, from the freeway to the reservoir. The only exemption is going to be the ford over there.” He pointed to the small ford about fifty yards downstream. “We will stipulate we will maintain that as well as the access road to it. We will be responsible for all upkeep and improvements, so long as we use it. We need that to get from one side to the other. But the rest, will all be yours. Build your park, all the way to the lake.”

This really stunned me. “All of it?” I gasped.

“All of it. We sure as hell don’t use it, can’t use it. But you want to use it, for a good reason. That entire delta area, from bluff to bluff. And the entire area all the way to the freeway. Dave, that offer you submitted? I accept it. Just add $1, for that land. And while the campground will need to buy its own rock and gravel, we pull out some red gravel from a quarry a bit north. As much of that as you want for trails, it’s yours. Free, so long as it is only for use in the park and trail and not for any commercial uses. And don’t worry about the fence, we will do that ourselves. I just ask one thing.”

“Sure Al, what is that?”

“Dedicate the part from the freeway to the Black farm to the Grant family. We are not as old in this area as your families are, but we have been here for about eighty years. Not farmers, we were always rock and quarry people if we were not miners. Name that after us, so my family name survives in this area, and I’m happy.”

“What about the area up there?” I said, pointing north.

“Name it whatever you like. I’m sure you will find an appropriate name.”

We all shook on the deal, and we all exchanged hugs. Al told Dave he would have his people talk to him, and start the work on the trail and fences right away. “Oh, and so you know I was only kidding about the Indian remarks, my father’s mother was Chickasaw, from Alabama. I’m a lot less than you all are, but trust me that I never meant disrespect by it. My wife will probably call me a ‘crazy Indian’ when I told her what I agreed to here today.” We all laughed and said we understood the joke.

We all headed back home and told Aunt Darla the news. She also started crying and said she was amazed at how this was all coming together. Dave then smiled at me. “Pete, you may not know this, but this gives you another three old quarry pits. All are flooded and connected to the river to one degree or another. The one just north of the highway is huge. Over a hundred yards north to south, over fifty yards wide in most areas. And it’s deep! Like eighty feet I think in some places. It’s pretty nasty now, it used to connect to the river through a small channel, and it’s all silted in. I will have them work right away at clearing that out, and have somebody clean out the culvert under the highway. I bet that by fall that will be clear water again. We can convert the stretch to the west as parking, and I bet your dive buddies would love that.”

I nodded. I knew the pond, it was as he said, huge and nasty. But with fresh water going in it again it would quickly clear up. “Dave, would we get in trouble if we put a pump in there? Run a pipe from the river to the north side of that thing, so it gets flushed out constantly?”

He smiled. “Nope, it already exists. I will get started on the paperwork. We say it will be for vector control and mosquito abatement. The water will come from the river, and go right back to the river. In fact, one second, let me get the topo map from the office.”

Thankfully, I knew from the Marines how to read a topographical map. “Yep, what I thought. I think that culvert and ditch they had dug back then was for overflow, not inlet. See how it is higher than the other side of the highway? That’s why that is so stagnant, it only gets rainwater and no water from the river. What are you thinking?”

“Make a small waterfall on the south side of the highway. I would like to get some decent water flow, make it like a little white water area, just 75 yards or so it looks though. Sand and rock bottom, a drop of what, ten feet or so from the outlet? Make it look as natural as we can, we call it ‘Grant Falls’.”

“Well, I can see what I am going to be working on until I retire!” We all laughed, but he said he would get to work on it.

“And tell Al what we want to do, we will need permission to dig across his roadway anyways for the pipe. I bet he would even donate the pipe and rock, knowing that we will be recognizing the quarry for that feature. Grant Falls, it will run from Lake Grant to the river. It’s only fitting, since his family made it in the first place.”

Aunt Darla started serving up a stew she had been cooking all day, and asked what my plans were. I mentioned that I had already promised to take Jackie skating, and Kim grinned. “Mom, can you and dad watch Grace?”

Darla shook her head no, and Dee jumped right in. “I’ll watch her Kim. She can stay the night with us up at our place, I know George would like that. You and Jeff go along, you two need a night out I think, it’s been a while.”

Well, Deleta was not quite what I expected. We all got there, and it should not have surprised me that most on the floor were in Junior High or High School. We still had a fun time and ran into a few old friends who were there also. But we were all noticeably older than most of the skaters. During the second skate I was not surprised when Kim came up behind me and took my hand, and she told Jackie to skate with her husband. I smiled and kissed Kim softly, and she smiled at me.

“Just like old times Pete, just like old times. It’s amazing, it seems like each time you come up, you make a bunch of changes and make everything better than before. Your land holdings keep getting bigger, and we all benefit from them.”

“Our land Kim, my sister in love, our land. Yes, I am still the biggest owner of the company because I put in the most money, but that land belongs to all of us. And I really am doing it for love. Love of the land, love of the families, love of the area. My business in LA, that is all for profit. To be honest, in a way, I am trying to milk LA for as much money as I can. And am basically sending it all up here. My dream from years ago of getting back the family farm has grown into a way to help all of us that live up here. But it’s still the same, really. You have no idea how mad I get when I see how badly they have messed up their state. Some idiots will try talking to me about how evil the mining or logging companies are and scream when they hear we want to do something up here. Kim, they are patronizing! Talking about how we do not know any better, and they feel like they have to correct us. Fuck, they fucked up their state so bad, the last thing I want is them coming up here and turning this into their example of how things should be run.”

“Yeah, we still get those like that up here. The Fort Hall tribe last year signed a lease with Boise-Cascade to run a logging operation out of the north part of the Fort Hall Reservation. We had protesters from down there drive up here and hold protests, screaming they were destroying the land and killing the natural balance. Oh, you should have seen it when one of the representatives went out and tried to talk to them. Their ‘spokesman’ got in his face and tried to tell him he was an idiot, and did not know what the ‘evil corporation’ was going to do to them.”

“Oh god, do you mean the Tribal representative?”

Kim nodded, and said “Yep, Harlan Littlebuck. He’s like a distant third or fourth cousin of dad. He let the guy go on for a couple of minutes, and he quietly asked if the tree hugger knew better than he did how they should be running their land, and he said yes. Old Harlan then laid into him with both barrels. Telling him flat-out this was Tribal Land, and he had no right to come up there and tell him how they should run what little land they had left. Oh Pete, I saw an unedited clip of that, they could never show it on the air. Harlan was pissed! He went on a tirade on ‘Idiot Whites’ trying to push their views on Indians for over a century. And how dare they come up here, and try to tell us how to run our affairs. He asked the now quiet protester where he was from, and he said San Francisco. Harlan then went on a tirade again, saying how like most of California, San Francisco was a disgusting city not fit to live in, and he waved his hand around and pointed to what the area looked like. ‘So you know better, you think? Better than we do? We have lived here for thousands of years, and will be here for thousands more. Go away, White Man! We don’t need you coming up here and trying to tell us we are stupid Indians and can not take care of our own affairs.’ It went on for a bit longer, but by then a lot of them were already leaving. It was epic, but so vulgar and foul I was not surprised that almost none of the news crews ran the story.”

I laughed, Harlan Littlebuck was a legend in the area. The Fort Hall Shoshone hired him as their spokesman half as a joke, and half being dead serious. He was passionate about protecting the tribe and their lands, but also had a real stick up his ass about ‘White People’ trying to push the tribe around. Like the Bannock Shoshone, he also helped push for the bingo halls, which were now being turned into casinos. Most of the locals loved him, because he treated everybody local equally. But he was the kind that would have taken great offense when some outsider tried to force their views on him.

“Oh, and the best part was, he got in his truck, and actually started to play a tape from that comedy record we used to listen to as kids. You know, that National Lampoon one? Something blues.”

I laughed. “‘Well-Intentioned Blues’, and yeah, that sounds like Harlan. He’s the right age to have been listening to National Lampoon back when it came out. I bet a lot of them got shamed when he played the second verse.” Kim laughed, and we sang it together.

I wish I was an Indian, A grown-up Sioux Papoose. So when I get drunk on a beer and a half, I have a good excuse! I’d be a noble savage, Wouldn’t ever wear no shoes. An’ I wouldn’t have to sing the Middle-Class-Liberal Well-Intentioned Blues, Intentioned Blues! Intentioned Blues!

“Yeah, that’s the problem with idiots like that. They are city folks, and come up and demand we think and act as they do. And since we are Indians and they have our best interest at heart, we should all bow down and do what they say. And some seemed confused and torn, at the idea of trying to tell an Indian how they should run their own land. I bet they don’t even know that most of those hills were barren scabland and worth nothing until the Payette Lumber Company went up there and planted trees on it fifty years ago. It’s not like they are cutting out some old-growth forest. The lumber company provided all of the seedling trees, and the CCC provided the labor back during the Depression. And some of those trees have already died, they are not even clear-cutting, just thinning it out then replanting again.”

“Yeah, those morons scream whenever you want to cut a tree. Clear out the bottom land like I did, they would have thrown lawsuits against me I was destroying habitat for some endanger earthworm to stop me, saying I was destroying the ‘natural balance’. I have improved it! Restoring water flow to the ponds, so fish can return and use it for the young ones. Eliminating the dead trees and brush so people can enjoy it again. Removing the deadwood and thinning will let new trees grow, and reduce the risk of fire.”

“Pete, how do they handle fires down there? I know we hear about big ones every year, we have been getting the smoke of them up here since we were kids.”

“Well, not many are really forest fires, mostly super-huge range fires. But they want to do like they did a couple of years ago in Yellowstone. Let it burn, it’s nature, baby!” I said the last with scorn.

“Are they nuts? We lost a third of Yellowstone because they just let it burn!” She looked like she was both pissed, and wanted to cry.

“Yes, they are fucking nuts. They refuse to allow logging, they refuse to allow real land management, then when it goes wrong they scream that it is natural and we should let nature take its course. Let it all burn if need be, that is how nature does it after all.”

“Idiots! And they actually do that down there also?”

“Well, a lot of the land is still recovering because for over a century they did clear-cut and did not replant. But you wait and see, someday it is going to bite them in the ass. Someday, that state is going to start going up in smoke, and they will have absolutely no idea why. Oh, they will find somebody to blame, anybody other than themselves. They will never see the writing on the wall, that their own lack of forest management is the actual cause of their forests all starting to burn everything down around them. The decades of deadwood, tree falls, and insane undergrowth is the actual cause of why they will not be stopped.”

The last song was ending, and I smiled at Kim. “By that time, I hope to be well away from them. That is just an example of why I have to leave that state though. They really are insane. And those people that said to let Yellowstone burn? Those are the same kinds that run the forests in California today.”

We hugged briefly, and Kim skated off to join Jeff and Jackie took my hand again. We traded off two more times during the session, and during the last skate Jackie turned around and faced me, my hands on her hips and her hands around my neck as we looked into each other’s eyes as we enjoyed the last slow song.

We stopped at the 7-11 on the way home, and Jackie and Kim went inside to get some drinks. We went to the park downtown and sat on a bench near the river. Jackie and I with a Coors, Kim and Jeff with orange juice.

“Jeff, I honestly had no idea you adopted Kim’s family name. I can’t believe nobody ever told me that before.”

“Well, it’s not a big deal really. I have four brothers, and Kim is the last of her family with the name. I prayed over it, and I felt in my heart that I should not let her family name die out with her. If we had done what most do, there would have been no more Littlebucks in the area other than Harlan’s family. There are a lot of Settler’s around, they do not need me to carry on that name. Let’s just say that I was told in my prayers to not let the Littlebuck go extinct.”

I gave him a hug, and thanked him for that. “It’s not traditional, but I think it’s fitting. And I thought you always knew, but I can see you did not. I think it was also a sign, in that you always insisted it was the ‘Littlebuck Family’, not even realizing that I had adopted their name, not the other way around. Kim is still a Littlebuck, Grace is a Littlebuck. And, well darling?”

Kim looked at me and smiled. “Pete, Jackie, keep this to yourselves, but you are the first we are telling. I’m expecting again, we think I will be due in September.” We both hugged and kissed her, and I hugged Jeff.

“Now of course another daughter would be just as welcome as a son, but I hope this time it is a boy, so the Littlebuck line can grow again in the future. We were going to tell everybody next month, but we both wanted you to know now. So no matter what, the Littlebuck line still survives.”

We finished our drinks, and got back into Scout for the drive home. We told them we were going skiing the next day. But after that, I was planning on staying around the ranch. Then we laughed when Jackie said that she wanted to show me the new Casino, which was almost done.

After showers we made love until we were both too tired to continue. Jackie clutched me to her tight with both her arms and thighs as I came in her for the second time, and whispered that she loved feeling my love spurting into her as we caught our breath.

The next morning after breakfast I did some work on the BBS, and by the time I was done it was after 10, so we decided to go skiing another time. I kissed Jackie and said I wanted to head down and look over the area a bit more. Jackie said she was going to go see Dee, and get some lessons on how to use a BBS. I went to the Big House, and Kim smiled and said she would join me. So hand in hand, we walked down the highway towards the bridge. And it was like we were 10 all over again.