Chapter 15

Day 71 - Saturday, July 10, 1847

The tavern we stayed in last night was very nice. The beds were comfortable and everything was clean. We had a wonderful seafood dinner before we retired to our room.

When I awoke this morning, I was just feeling lazy, so I asked everyone if they'd like to stay over a day. I didn't hear any objections, so we decided we'd just make today a lazy day.

We finally got dressed and went down for breakfast. It was every bit as good as dinner had been last night. When we were eating last night, I had noticed a little boy, maybe a little younger than M & M, cleaning up after people had eaten. He was there again this morning and the landlord wasn't treating him well at all.

He kept yelling at the boy and on at least two occasions I saw him hit him with a stick as he went into the back room with a load of dishes. This had bothered me, but I could see that Sam was about ready to go ballistic.

When the boy came over to clean the table next to ours, I called him over. "Your father isn't very good to you, is he, son?" I asked.

"He's not my father, sir. I'm indentured and I don't have anything to complain about. He's not that bad."

"You don't mind being yelled at or hit with a stick?"

"He's a lot better than my last owner was, sir."

"Hey! What are you doing over there?" the landlord yelled.

"I asked him to talk to me for a minute," I said. "Please mind your own business."

The landlord grumbled, but went into the back room.

"How long have you been indentured, son?" I asked.

"As long as I can remember, sir. My mom and dad died when I was little."

"How old are you now?"

"I think I'm eight years old, sir. I don't know for sure."

"How much did the landlord here pay for you?"

"It was a lot of money, sir. I think it may have been as much as ten dollars."

I looked at Sam and Cassie and raised my eyebrows in question. Both of them nodded, so I asked the boy, "How would you like it if we bought your indenture? You'd live with us and be a part of our family. We don't yell at kids or hit them with sticks."

The boy looked like he was stunned, then he asked, "What kind of work would I have to do?"

"Son, all you'd have to do is the same as all of us do. You wouldn't have a job."

"I think I'd like that, sir."

"Landlord!" I yelled.

The landlord came back in so I said, "I'd like to buy this boy's indenture. What will you take for it?"

Th landlord's eyes lighted up when I asked this, but he said, "He's not for sale."

"Of course, he's not for sale," Sam said. "You don't sell people. I'm sure his indenture is for sale though."

"Ma'am. I'm sure I would sell his indenture if the price was right. However, I paid $100 for him. I wouldn't take a penny less."

"Let me see his indenture papers," I said.

"Well... Now, his indenture papers don't say the correct amount I paid for him."

"What do his indenture papers say you paid?" I asked.

"Well... They say I only paid ten dollars for him."

"Why would that be?"

"Well... The guy I bought him off of didn't want his wife to know how much he got for him."

"Well, sir, we have a problem here. The articles of indenture are official papers. I'm not sure what the punishment is for lying on an official document, but I sure wouldn't want to be the one to find out. Either we work out a deal on this boy's indenture or I'm going to have to find a constable and let him know about the misuse of official documents." I knew this was bullshit, but he didn't.

His eyes got wide and he said, "Well... Maybe we could split the difference. I'll take fifty for him and be damned to him."

"No. I don't believe so. I'll tell you what I will do. We've run up a bill here of about three dollars for ourselves and our horses. I'll give you two gold eagles and you sign his indenture over to me and call it even on the tavern bill. I will want a breakfast for the boy thrown in though."

I could see the landlord thinking. He'd still be making a profit on the indenture. I could see he was thinking about trying to get me up higher, but finally common sense won out. "Okay. Let me get the papers and see the color of your money."

He went off and I told the boy to put his cleaning rag down and get himself some breakfast. He was smiling as he went off to do my bidding.

When the boy came back with a plate piled high with food, I asked, "What is your name, son?"

"My name is Tommy and I think my last name is Tolliver. That's what they told me it said on my indenture paper anyway."

"Okay, Tommy, my name is Ed and this is my wife Sam and my wife Cassie. The interchangeable parts there are Mindy and Mandy."

Tommy looked at Sam and at Cassie as he stuffed food into his mouth. "Your wives are very pretty," he said, then dropped his eyes and stared at the table.

"It's okay to say women are pretty, Tommy. They like that."

He looked up and smiled, so I said, "I don't think we should stay here another night after all. Maybe we can find another tavern somewhere close."

"There's another ordinary (tavern) just down the road, sir."

"Tommy, you don't have to call me sir."

"We call him papa," Mindy said.

"Yeah, but you're his daughters," Tommy said.

"No, Mandy and I were living in a field when they took us in. They're our mamas and papa now though."

"Tommy..." Sam said, then waited for him to look at her. When he raised his eyes, she said, "If you'd like to think of Cassie and me as your mamas and think of Ed as your papa, we'd like that. If it would bother you to think of us like that, then at least think of us as your big brother and big sisters."

"It wouldn't bother me. It's just that I don't remember ever having any family. I've always been owned by someone and made to work."

Before anyone else could say anything else, the landlord came out with the indenture papers. He signed his name as we watched and very meticulously wrote in that the purchase price of the indenture was twenty dollars. I made him write in, "Less tavern bill." I handed him two gold eagles and watched as his eyes lighted up. I'm sure he had been expecting paper money.

We took our time drinking coffee and watching Tommy eat. M & M got restless, so Sam told them they could go to our room and start packing things. They scurried away with big grins on their faces.

When Tommy finished eating, Sam said, "Tommy, you need to run and get your things. We're going to be leaving before long."

"I don't have anything but what I'm wearing. We can leave any time you're ready," he said.

"We'll get you some new clothes the first big town we come to," Sam said. "For now, you can wear what you've got on and we'll wash them out tonight."

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

Tommy went upstairs with us and we helped the girls finish packing. With six of us to carry, it only took one trip to get everything out to the stable. Hawk whinnied when he heard us come in, so I went to the stall where the hostler had him and let him out. He immediately started nuzzling my neck and he almost knocked me over in his enthusiasm.

The hostler was nowhere to be found, so we just saddled up and loaded up and got on our way. I asked Tommy who he'd like to ride with and Mindy spoke up before he had a chance to answer. "I'd like for him to ride with me if it's okay," she said.

No one had any objections, so I helped him up behind Mindy. As we were riding away from the tavern, Sam said, "Ed, let's shake the dust of this place off our boots. Let's go on down the road a ways."

"Is something bothering you, hon?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure exactly what it is. There's just something about that tavern keeper that I don't trust."

"He made me feel spooky too," Cassie said. "He was thrilled to be getting the gold coins, but he was angry about you forcing him to sell the indenture. After you gave him the gold coins, he kept watching you like he was wondering if you had more."

"Okay, you've convinced me. He's going to expect us to either go to another tavern close by, or to go on down the road until we get to the next town. Let's just go down the road for a few miles, then go off in the deep woods somewhere and camp."

We crossed a large creek about five miles out and when I looked over at Sam, she nodded. We turned right and followed the south side of the creek for over a mile before we found a nice place to camp.

We set up the tents and Tommy and I gathered firewood. We built up a fire and Sam and Cassie fixed us some lunch. After we ate, we just laid around talking for a while.

"Where do you live?" Tommy asked.

"Right now, we don't live anywhere," Sam told him. "In a year or so, we're going to go to Oregon and start a ranch."

"I've heard people in the tavern talking about Oregon, but I don't know where it is," Tommy said.

"Papa says it's far away," Mindy told him. "He says it takes half a year to get there."

"That is a long way," Tommy said.

"How long did you work at the tavern?" Cassie asked.

"Uh... I don't know. It was a long time though. I was there through two winters."

"Enough talk," Sam said after a while. "It's time for a bath for everyone."

M & M both started giggling, but got up and started getting undressed. Sam winked at me and motioned for me to get up. She then came over to me and pulled my tunic over my head, leaving me bare to the waist.

Sam stepped back and waited for me to do something. Okay, I'm a little slow, but I finally realized she wanted me to undress her too. I helped her remove her tunic and Cassie stepped up beside Sam, so I helped her too. Neither woman was wearing a bra, so their breasts were exposed in all of their glory.

Sam untied my pants and let them fall, then Cassie got down on her knees and pulled down my boxers. I stepped out of them and my moccasins as well. The women just grinned and stood there looking at my huge (for me) erection.

I helped them both off with their pants and panties, then we looked around at the kids. M & M were as naked as we were, but Tommy was standing there, fully clothed. His eyes were as big as saucers and they kept flicking back and forth between M & M and my wives.

Finally, Sam said, "You need to take your clothes off for a bath, Tommy."

"Uh... Okay," he said, but he didn't make any move to do so.

"Are you going to do it yourself, or would you like for us to help you?" Cassie asked.

"Uh... I can do it," he said, and then started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Haven't you ever seen a woman naked before?" Sam asked.

"No, ma'am."

"You'll be seeing it a lot around us. We go naked quite a bit. I hope you don't mind."

"No, ma'am. I don't mind. All of you are beautiful."

The "all of you are beautiful" remark elicited a big grin from M & M.

Tommy got undressed and I think all of us were amazed that an eight year old had an erection. I mean it wasn't anything to write home about, but what he had was definitely erect.

We all got into the water and Sam and Cassie behaved themselves. They had been getting a lot freer with M & M around and had been doing a lot of grabassing. This time, we all just quietly washed ourselves. When we got out, Cassie and Sam washed Tommy's clothes and hung them on bushes to dry.

We all laid out on the grass and let the sun dry us for over an hour while Tommy's clothes were drying. It wasn't until Tommy's clothes were dry that Sam started dressing and indicated that we all should.

We had bought a dozen tomatoes as we passed a market in one of the many villages we went through. Sam and Cassie stewed these tomatoes, then made a pot of rice and mixed the stewed tomatoes in with the rice. They cut up bits of roasted meat and added this to the pot as well. Dinner was a big success and Tommy ate until I thought he was going to burst.