Chapter 37

Malik was in his office the following Monday, September tenth, when the speaking tube bell rang and he pulled out the plug and said, “Yes?”

“Mister Wilber Shea called by telephone to ask if he could have some time to speak with you,” came Fang Bai’s voice.

“Ask him if he’ll meet me for lunch at the Inn at noon, please.”

“Very well, Mister Malik. I will confirm and advise you.”

Malik and Peng had informed the partners of their new relationship at a special meeting, earlier that morning. After the initial surprise and awkwardness, it had gone well enough. The partners were educated, practical men and all were familiar with the concept of a concubine, though none of them knew of the special relationship it could represent in Han culture.

As that discussion wound down, Malik added, “Beyond the nature of our new, official relationship, we also have, for private and personal reasons, an understanding between Yan and myself, and because of that, you may witness me being what might seem unreasonably strict or stern in my dealings with her. I will not allow such interaction to intrude on our business dealings, but, as you know us personally, you may encounter us in private moments in situations of less apparent equanimity.”

“What do you mean, Emil? Could you be more specific?” Jonathan Nicholson asked.

“Ah ... you might hear me give her peremptory orders without the trappings of affection or even courtesy. I might sound abrupt and demanding.”

“Miss Peng, can you elaborate? Would such treatment be acceptable to you?” Wilford Bream asked.

Peng, who had been seated at the conference table during the discussion of this topic, looked at Nicholson, Bream, and David Lewin, each in turn, all the while displaying a warm smile. Then she turned back to Bream and said, “I have given myself to him. He is my Master. It is how I wish things. You are welcome to inquire of my sister, should you want verification of my freely-made pledge.”

This seemed to again leave Malik’s partners without moorings, and they glanced uncomfortably at one another and at Malik. He finally said, “Yes, it is exactly as it sounds. Yan has vowed herself to me for whatever purpose I wish and without reciprocation. Initially, I resisted her entreaties, but it was important to her, and I finally gave in to her pleas. For the most part, I won’t appear any worse than the thoughtless, demanding husbands we see on the street every day, but it will appear as unusual behavior for me,” Malik shrugged, “as well it will be. But it is an expression of my love for her, so appearances be damned.”

Bream began, “I don’t know, Emil--”

But Lewin cut him off. “Don’t be hasty, Wil. This type of relationship is rare, but not unheard of. I knew of two couples in New York who enjoyed this type of arrangement. One of them even went so far as to include physical restraint and punishment, or so I understood from a reliable source.”

“Punishment?” Bream said.

“She would whip him with a riding crop. In the privacy of their home, of course.”

“Whipped him?” Bream gulped.

“That was the rumor. But it was more than just a rumor. They were not shy about displaying their roles, at least among their friends and acquaintances. He would wear a dog’s collar and she would have him on a leash, during social functions in private residences.”

“Surely you jest, David.”

“Not at all. I saw them thus, once, at a New Year’s Eve party. No one even remarked on it, save for Sara and myself. Sara even offered to buy me a collar, and I offered to drown her in the punch bowl.”

“He’s right, though, Wil,” Nicholson added. “One of the state legislators had such an affiliation with his chief clerk, a younger man. It was not as blatant as what David describes and only now, with his account, am I able to comprehend what I was seeing, though we all suspected a sexual liaison between them.”

“Surely, Wil,” Lewin said, “there are things between you and Grace that you would consider unusual, even if it be the nature of pet names for one another. I think relationships run a wide gamut and even thrive because of it. Consider us, here. Do you imagine most business partnerships are so friendly and relaxed? We’ve each seen many which are not, perhaps most which are not. No, I say, if Emil and Miss Peng are satisfied and happy in their relationship, then I will be glad to offer my best wishes and continued friendship.”

“Well, of course,” Bream said, blustering a bit. “I didn’t mean to withdraw my friendship. I was just caught off guard by the uh, by the unusual qualities. You’ll have to remember, I’m just a small-town boy from the north woods of Minn-ee-soh-tah,” he finished, exaggerating the Scandinavian accent common among residents of that state and which sometimes crept into his own speech.

Bream turned to Malik and Peng. “Emil, Miss Peng, I apologize for my equivocating. It was not worthy of me nor deserved by you. You have my warmest personal regards and congratulations, and I’m sure Grace will feel the same way. She may even box my ears when I give her the full account of my boorish reaction.”

Malik said, “No apology is needed, Wil. I never doubted your friendship. And I extend that to you, David, and you, Jonathan. I felt not the least hesitation in telling you, and we bask in the warmth of your good will. Thank you, from both of us.” Peng sat silently, but with a beatific smile on her face.

Shea said, “Yeah, I was in your brother’s office this morning and he told me all about it. Congratulations, to both of you. May you have many happy years together. Miss Peng, I am delighted for you. Emil, you live a charmed life.”

Malik was chuckling. “Thank you, Wilber, that’s very kind of you. And this may prove to be to your benefit, as well.

“Unfortunately, I’ll have to move out of my room at Missus Kuiper’s. She has a strict rule about unmarried couples and, no matter which way you cut it, by Yan’s own definition, we are not married. My room happens to be the largest one, there in the bunkhouse, plus, since it’s on the end, there are windows on three walls. You might wish to bid on it with Missus Kuiper.”

“Hold on, Emil. She’s throwing you out? I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“Oh, no, she’s not throwing me out. I won’t put her into that kind of position. I’m going to tell her that I will be moving to the apartment that Mitchel Anderson has vacated, in the basement of the Inn. The truth of the matter will eventually come out, but I will not make it an issue that Missus Kuiper will have to face.”

“You won’t move in with Miss Peng?”

“No. Her sister expects to become engaged to Fang Bai and they’ll occupy the house after they’re married. For the time being, Yan and I will live in that apartment. It’s really quite spacious. Mitchel Anderson had been occupying it, but he’s moved to a house he’s renting up on Sunset. The apartment’s nicely appointed and comes with all the conveniences of a hotel. But I’m going to meet with Dmitry Kozlov about building a home in Sundown Ridge.”

“You may want to hire an architect.”

“I have, in effect, but I’ll talk to the Kozlovs before going further.

“So, shall we order, and then you can tell me what’s on your mind.”

A short while later, Shea was contemplating a portion of thin-sliced of meat on his fork. “Veal scaloppini, huh? This is delicious. Why don’t they have this in Wichita?”

“They probably do. But you’d likely have to go to an Italian restaurant to find it.”

“This is Italian? I thought they only served that spaghetti noodle stuff.”

“Gabriela and I ate at several Italian restaurants when we were on our wedding trip. There was a very wide array of appetizing dishes. This lemon-caper scaloppini was her favorite.” Unseen, Peng squeezed Malik’s knee.

“I know you’re going to try to sell me something, Wilber, so let’s get to it.”

“More, I’d like to buy something, or at least half of something. But first, tell me, how many times have you traversed Isabella Canyon in the last two years?”

“Boy, I don’t know, let me think.” After a moment, Malik said, “Maybe eight or twelve times, somewhere in there.”

“I’d say it would be closer to fourteen or sixteen, according to Andy. Would it surprise you to know that you, and people who are on missions on which you’ve sent them, have been almost the exclusive users of the Isabella Canyon over the last few years, outside of a few outlaws, that is.”

“How do you know this?”

“I set Tommy Palmer and Nate Vargas on a canvas of the town. I told them I would pay them a nickel for each instance of someone, other than you and your brother, who had traveled through Isabella Canyon over the past two years. It cost me only eighty cents to find out about the two expeditions you led into the Dry Valleys. And that’s it. They couldn’t turn up another person who’d travelled that trail. Oh, I know there were others, but they were also accompanying you on one of your excursions.

“Tommy and Nate did turn up some younger people who might picnic in the lower canyon of a Sunday afternoon, but they went there more for privacy, if you take my meaning, than for aesthetics.”

“Okay, what’s your point?”

“That the state has required you to maintain a trail right-of-way that exclusively benefits only yourself. What with the wagon road over Baylor Pass being improved, just a few miles south, and the railroad crossing that same pass, the Isabella Canyon trail has fallen even further out of favor, even with you.”

“So, what are you after?”

“A dam. For irrigation, for flood control, for recreation, for drinking water, and for generating electricity.”

Malik’s eyes drifted into soft focus toward the far wall of the private dining room. He was silent for a full minute, during which Shea tucked into his lunch.

Toward the end of that minute, Malik began gently nodding his head. Finally, he focused again on Shea. He said, “What’s your proposal?” and he took a bite of the meatloaf on his plate.

“Land Resources will build the dam and we’ll split any profit from production with the Dry Valleys Co-op.”

“What about the costs in building the dam?”

“Land Resources will cover that, including two electric generating turbines, of which the railroad will have primary claim over the power generated by one of them. The other will be for use by the Co-op as it sees fit.”

“Why would the railroad need all that electricity?”

“It doesn’t, not now, in any case. Likely we’d throw in with the Co-op to dispose of excess capacity.”

“Where would they build this dam?”

“About two miles in, at the spot that’s called the Lower Narrows. The engineers liked the rock, there, and they see a means to build a trail to the top of the canyon, there, across the face of the dam and onto a ledge up on the canyon wall, if that becomes necessary. However, it would not be as accessible as the Baylor Pass trail.”

“Yeah, I know where you mean. What kind of dam?”

“Probably masonry, maybe concrete, maybe a combination of the two.”

“How far would the water back up?”

“To about a quarter mile above the junction of Toonilini Creek and the Isabella.”

“Oh. That’ll make a nice-sized lake.”

“So, how high would the dam be?”

“About ninety feet.”

“Whoa,” Malik exclaimed, “that’s some serious hydraulic pressure. Can they build it safe?”

“Pete Pottinger had an idea about a dam that arched back against the water, rather than straight across. He’s gone to Saint Louis to discuss the idea with the engineers at Langfelder and Ducey.”

“What did Andy say about the set up and the split?”

“He liked the idea. He said you would, too.”

“Where will the additional irrigation water go?”

“Land Resources holds title to the open land north of Waypoint, all the way to the Leander Hills. It was part of the Kuiper ranch. We’ll run the water along the base of Sundown Ridge all the way to the top of Halfway Wash. Depending on the soil, we might plant cotton, or maybe vegetables, or maybe soybeans, or hay. But there’s better than forty thousand acres, with the railroad right-of-way and the Wagon Road cutting right through the middle of it.”

Malik said, “The Malik ranch holds about a section-and-a-half south of Waypoint, along the river. We were thinking of putting in some diversion dams, but this would be a lot simpler. And there are the Sonora freeholders south of the river. I’ve no doubt they’d be happy for an irrigation ditch.”

“Then you need to hire a surveyor and dig the ditches you want.”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to Andy.”

Both men studiously ignored Peng. She seemed very happy.

On Wednesday, Malik had a case before the state court in Shepherds Crossing. On Thursday, he was before the McCabe County Court in Cleveland. He took his business coach to each town. Peng accompanied him, acting as his clerk during the day and sharing his bed at night. The bunks in his business coach were somewhat wider than in his former car. Still, he planned on having both bottom bunks widened by a few inches.

Lee Jin went along, too.

He rode out to the ranch on Friday afternoon, along with Andy, Peng Yan, and Lee Jin. They returned to Waypoint on Monday.

Later, on Monday, Malik, accompanied by Andy, Wilber and Beth Shea, Peng Yan, and Lee Jin, rode in his passenger coach to Dorado Springs. The Sheas had planned a brief stay at the Hacienda and Spa.

“Why do they call it Dorado Springs?” Beth Shea asked. “Dorado means ‘gold,’ doesn’t it? Was gold discovered there?”

“More precisely, it means ‘golden,’ but, no, there was no gold discovered.” Malik said. “The Spanish explorers named it for the mineral deposits around the hot spring. There is some sulfur, among other mineral salts, and it tints the crusty formations yellow.”

“We’ve never been to a hot spring. Exactly how hot is it, if people bathe in it?”

“It comes out of the ground at about one hundred eleven degrees, at its hottest. If there’s been an unusual amount of rain or snowmelt, it can be cooler for a few days. But those phenomena are not to be depended upon, and one hundred eleven degree water is too hot to bathe in, so they mix in some of the cold water from the sweet spring. The warmest bathing pools are no warmer that one hundred four degrees, and then there are step-down pools at one hundred degrees and ninety degrees.”

“And people wear regular bathing costumes?”

“They do in the main pools. But there are also private bathing pools that can be rented by day visitors or reserved by hotel guests.” Malik grinned. “I’m not sure what people wear in those.”

“I’m sure, Mister Malik,” Beth Shea smiled right back at him. Then, still uncertain, she said, “But otherwise, they wear just ordinary bathing garments?”

“Right out of the Montgomery Ward’s Catalog,” Andy said, “or, at least that’s where folks hereabouts get them. That’s where Christina got hers.”

“Oh, we’ve been known to just wear some older clothes, cutting trouser legs short, for instance,” Malik said, “but not since the Spa opened. There still are a couple pools higher up on the hillside that the locals use, and I’m sure the dress there would be more, ah, eclectic.”

“He means,” Andy said, with his own grin, “that some folks prefer to skinny dip, up in the hills.”

“I did a fair amount of skinny-dippin’, back when,” Shea said. “Me an’ my pals thought nothin’ of it, ‘til we got a little older.”

“It was the same with us,” Andy said. “Even some girls swam with us, until we got to about age seven or eight.”

“Mister Malik,” Beth Shea began.

“Please, Missus Shea, call me Emil. After all, I’m your husband’s business partner, in effect, not his boss.”

“I’m sorry, uh, Emil. It’s just a lifetime habit that’s hard to break. But you must call me Beth. That would go for everyone here.”

“Then you must call me Andy, Beth. I’ve always liked that name. There’s something feminine yet, oh, I don’t know, maybe practical or comfortable, to it.”

“Why, thank you, Andy.”

“Beth,” Malik said, “I’m afraid I interrupted your question, a moment ago.”

“What? Oh, yes. Though I suppose even it is in keeping with my habit of never addressing a white person without a Mister or Mistress before their name. What I wanted to ask was, there won’t be any trouble with Wilber and I using the baths because we’re colored, do you think?”

Malik shook his head. “Certainly not on the part of the Spa management or staff, or any local authorities. I can’t speak to the manners of other bathers, but the Hacienda Spa has neither policies nor practices that would deny access and use to anyone of any race. The Sonora, with their own history of being treated meanly, would not cooperate with the Hacienda plan unless such rules were in place. Not that the decision came easily for them, because all peoples seem to be inherently biased toward self-aggrandizement. But the Sonora hashed it out and realized that they didn’t want to treat others the way the white man has treated them.”

“See, Beth,” Shea said, patting her hand, “I told you there’d be no problem.”

“Oh, I know, dear, I just needed to hear it again before I could relax with the idea.” She looked at Malik and explained, “Our leisure trips have been confined to staying at colored hotels and eating at colored restaurants. Until we arrived in Waypoint, I’d never eaten in a restaurant for white people. Mister Chen, bless his soul, has had company functions in restaurants’ private dining rooms that we’ve attended, but never out in the open, as we’ve enjoyed at the Old Courthouse Inn, or Molly’s, or even at Missus Kuiper’s. And it makes me wonder why it’s so different, at Waypoint?”

Malik said, “I think it’s mostly due to the influence of the railroad and our Ma and Pa and the Kuipers, who were among the first white settlers. Waypoint is a railroad town, quite literally, as Wilber can tell you, and you know Chen Ming-teh’s feelings about how people are treated. And our folks, mostly Pa, since Ma died years earlier, well, they too, had seen the sour face of intolerance. Along with Francine and Adolph Kuiper, they were most insistent with their neighbors and the local businesses that such malice should be minimized. Still, you’ll run across it, easily enough.” He grinned, again. “You just happen to have fallen in with a nest of nice folks.”

“Indeed we have,” she said. “I’m just so happy that Wilber brought me out here. I was a little worried about life on the frontier, but it’s turning out to be our best time yet.”

Andy disembarked at Kylie Junction. He would catch a ride on the crew car or caboose of the next Long Valley Mine Spur train, thence to visit both the Dry Valleys Cooperative silver mine and the stamp mill and the repaired smelter, all of which fell under his purview as the general manager of the Co-op.

The rest of the group, save Lee Jin, was greeted at the Dorado Springs depot by Morton Quincy, Stands-to-Cougar, and Sheriff Nathan Ulney. Lee Jin, largely unnoticed, as was his wont, had left the car on its opposite side, and had once more assumed his role as the unobtrusive, usually unnoticed, overwatch.