Chapter 15

After we had some oatmeal the next morning, I went outside with a new handle for my shovel in mind. It took some walking to find an oak sapling small enough and I never would have on my own. After a half hour I took the time to help Louise understand what I wanted and she walked about a quarter mile to a group of saplings. I found a good one right away.

No, it wasn't that easy, but at least I skinned the bark off the part I wanted to use before I cut it down. I wouldn't be able to let it dry like I should since I wanted to use it right away but I cut another one to use later after it dried. The shovel was ready to go before noon.

We had more of the stew for lunch and it was just as good today, but I didn't tarry. I built a mould that would make six - eight by twelve by four inch - bricks at a time - it looked like a ladder made by somebody that wasn't going to have to climb it.

I used the shovel with its new handle to increase the size of my mixing hole and then Louise and I headed out looking for suitable dirt. I was on my own finding this, because I just couldn't figure a way to explain to Louise that I wanted some soil that contained clay and sand. I dug probably twenty small holes before I came up with some I thought would work.

Luckily it was on the side of a small hill that I could drive the pickup close to. I did that and loaded probably half a yard of my new building material into the bed the hard way. When we got back to the hole I had to unload it the hard way too.

Water was the next problem. Sooner or later I'd be using a lot and I didn't have a good way to get it where I wanted it. I had a big tank in the trailer, but I was sure we were getting low by now and I didn't want to put river water in without doing a hell of a lot of filtering.

The water for brick making didn't need to be filtered, but I wasn't going to use my tank to transport nasty water. I had two five gallon plastic buckets and they were just going to have to do. It would be a pain in the ass dipping water out of the Neches, carrying it three hundred yards and repeating as needed but I couldn't think of another way to do it.

An hour later I had a batch of mud going. I found out early that I needed to put in a little of the soil, then some water, then mix it before adding more. Mud is not that easy to stir. I finally gave up on stirring with the long handled shovel and went back to the entrenching tool for that part. Louise didn't know what I was going to make but it didn't take much hand waving to let her know I needed some more straw. She could gather straw a lot faster than I could mix mud.

Finally I got things like I thought they should be, cleared off a place on mostly level ground, placed the mold, put in straw, and poured in the mud. I used a short length of two by four to level my potential bricks across the top of the mould and then we waited.

I knew I didn't have to leave them in the two by four ladder looking mould until they were done, but I also knew I had to let them dry at least partially before I removed it. There'd be no point in taking it off just so the mud could do what mud usually did, as in sag.

I had enough two by fours for two more molds so I built them while my first batch was firming up. I was done long before I thought my first bricks were ready to stand up on their own, so I made two more batches in the new molds and decided it was time for Louise to feed me.

She'd watched me almost constantly during the day while I was fucking with this project. I'm sure she would have been a little impatient with me if she hadn't already seen that the smoke house had turned out very well. She was giving me a chance to prove myself with the mud pies I guess, but she held her piece. Wouldn't have done her any good to bitch anyway because I wouldn't be able to understand it.

We gave the warmed up stew a good eating for our supper and I decided that it would be tomorrow before I should try removing my moulds. I was muddy and dirty and wanted a bath, but I wasn't sure there was enough water left in the tank for a shower. I was thinking about one anyway when Louise made my day.

She'd cleaned up the dishes and now she came out of the bathroom with our two biggest towels and a bar of soap. I didn't know what she had on her mind but I was pretty sure she thought I was a little nasty to be in the house too. She walked out the door, turning around to make sure I was coming with her. I was.

She led the way off to the west, nearly due west. I didn't know where we were going but it was apparent she did. At first I'd figured she was going to the river, and I'd brought the Marlin to make sure we could deal with any alligators. I was glad I had because we were just passing the place I'd shot the bear.

Since we were headed exactly away from the river I figured Louise must know where there was a stream. I spent most of the trip hoping it was cleaner water than the river, and when we got there my wishes were granted.

I didn't have any idea where the stream she took me to started but it was fairly fast moving and the water looked completely clear. It was only about six feet wide and fairly shallow, but it would be nice enough to bathe in, even if it was a little cold. As soon as we got there Louise shucked her buckskins and so I started off with my clothes.

Louise did damned near everything. She helped me off with my clothes and then stood me in the shallow water. She wet me down with double handfuls of water, lathered me up, and then rinsed me the same way. Even in the warm late afternoon it was pretty damned cold a time or two, but it beat the hell out of being as muddy as I had been.

Of course I was kind enough to return the favor, and why not. Any excuse to get my hands on Louise was a good one and afterwards it was even more fun to dry each other off.

I even got a bonus, since Louise got wet again when she rinsed my clothes in the stream. I had to dry her again after she had them clean enough to suit her. Since I didn't want to put the wet clothes back on I wrapped one of the towels around my waist and we were on our way home in no time.

We made it back to the trailer without incident and just before sunset. We were early to bed that night and I felt I just had to show Louise a good time in the sack since she'd taken such good care of me. She was no slouch about returning the favor with this either and we settle down to sleep about an hour later.

The next morning we started with oatmeal again and then I was out to check on my bricks. They seemed firm enough to me by now and I managed to talk Louise into helping me remove the molds. The bricks were unharmed during and after the maneuver. I left them where they were, mixed another batch, and poured eighteen more. This time I tried to keep most of the mud off me.

I had them dealt with and they were drying within and hour so I moved on to other things. The small creek Louise had showed me would be perfect for filling the trailer's water tank if I could clear a way to get the truck and trailer back there. I figured it just might be possible with the chainsaw and using the truck and winch to drag things out of the way.