Chapter 21

It felt like just before dawn when I woke. I can't say why it felt that way, it just did. It also felt like someone was reaching over my hip and holding my achingly hard dick in their soft but strong hand. Someone was.

Let me tell you it felt good too. The hell of it was I could hear Jaycee's regular breathing and I knew she was asleep. Meka, on the other hand, was not asleep. She was looking into my eyes and I could see she was having to keep Tutsie in a firm grip, or he'd already be running and playing on the bed. When she saw the look on my face Meka giggled and it was enough to wake Jaycee.

She made a little sound at first and then I felt her move. When she realized what she was holding onto she gave it a parting squeeze, removed her hand slowly, and then said, "Sorry."

"Don't be. It was a surprise but feel free to hold on anytime you want to," I said, trying to make a joke of it while I was actually as serious as cancer.

Somehow, as we climbed out of bed I was able to keep from leering at Jaycee. In fact I was proud of my restraint. She had her T-shirt on in short order and I didn't waste any time pulling up the pants I'd had on last night.

"I'll admit that it seemed a little strange for us all to sleep in the same bed. 'This is so sudden' thoughts flashed in my head when Meka gave me the news. I'm glad about it now though, I haven't slept that well or felt this good in the morning in years," she said.

"I'm glad you're well rested," I said, knowing that just the reality of her new situation was going to be more than enough of a trial, and I didn't think They had brought us here just so Jaycee could get clued in.

"What's first on the agenda today?" Jaycee asked.

"Tutsie go out first," Meka said, as if she'd understood Jaycee's question.

So we headed for the front door again. Jaycee, in her indecent T-shirt that I was beginning to love, and me in a pair of jeans with nothing else. Jaycee gave me a little look when I made sure the Marlin was ready to go before I picked it up and let Meka open the door.

"What's that all about, I didn't say anything last night but what's the deal?" she asked.

"The deal is I had to shoot a coyote one morning to keep it from having Tutsie for breakfast," I said.

"Oh."

Of course that wasn't really the deal. The deal was I expected to be back in the good old days when we walked out. I was right. Jaycee's mouth dropped open and she couldn't even get a word out. She was gawking at the giant pines and seemed to be turning her head from side to side, trying to look everywhere at once.

Myself, I spied Jahedo and his band of merry men right away; they were just getting up themselves.

"My God, are those Indians?" Jaycee nearly shouted when she saw them.

"My people," Meka said, giving Jaycee such a look.

"I'm sorry Meka, it was just such a surprise. What is going on, John?" Jaycee asked.

"Welcome to sixteen twenty," I said, and watched her mouth drop open even wider.

"The ones that provided my house and most of my stuff send me back in time now and then to take care of things for them. I guess this is like a house payment, kinda," I said, trying to sound sensible about it.

"No way in hell I'd believe any of that if I wasn't here with you," Jaycee said, still giving me a suspicious look.

"That's one of the reasons I didn't try to explain that part of the job beforehand."

"And so I'm just trapped back in time?" she asked, and I could tell she was getting herself revved up to be mad.

"Not at all. When we wake up, the morning after we're sent back, it will still be the next morning to everyone on earth. This is a little like free time," I said.

Meka had walked over to Jahedo and the others while I was trying to explain to Jaycee. She came back to us just then.

"Tell Jaycee later. We dress now so can eat breakfast," Meka said, and she wasn't asking us to.

Jaycee gave her a look too, and then laughed.

"You little stinker, you knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" Jaycee asked.

"Yes, I come from now," Meka said.

We went back in the house and dressed.

There was no doubt in my mind that They had settled Jaycee down somewhat, because she didn't ask any more questions right away. I was torn between telling them to stop it and wanting to see what was going on without having to give her the whole tale. I let things be for the minute.

Meka came back out of her room in a few minutes in her full dress Indian get up. Just the dress she had on when I got her actually, and her moccasins. Jaycee put on some jeans, a pair of lace up boots and a button up shirt over her T-shirt. I was glad; it would keep me from staring at her titties and the Indians too probably.

"Are we invited to breakfast with Jahedo?" I asked Meka.

"Yes, we eat with them," she said.

I was expecting some kind of gruel or some such but I got a pleasant surprise. We had frybread, three different kinds of meat, and more fruit, berries, and nuts than you could shake a stick at. It was delicious. After we'd eaten Meka did her best to translate between Jahedo and I. It made me wince to think that Jorge would be mad that he'd missed this trip.

"Jahedo say man you write on gone. Went back to his people and then left them. They not leave. Still sneaking here," Meka said, and I was amazed that she did such a good job of it.

"Are they close?" I asked her, and then she asked Jahedo.

"Two days."

"How many?" I asked.

Jahedo must have understood what I wanted to know, because he opened his fist five times and then held up two fingers - then he said a word and Meka told me it meant men. He then held up two fingers and said another word that Meka translated to me as women. The last was one finger and Meka said the word meant young girl, older than her but not a grown woman yet.

Shit. I didn't give a damn about killing all the men, or letting Jahedo and the others have them for slaves or whatever they wanted. I didn't want to kill the women and the girl though and I didn't really want to leave them to Jahedo's tender mercies. At least I didn't want to until I found out more about the women and the girl. I assumed that someone had brought them along whether they wanted to come or not.

Suddenly I could almost feel one of They about to give me some information. I slammed the whole door shut on them again and as it went home I got a quick flash of dismay from the other side that was shut out completely as the door closed fully.

That was exactly the kind of shit I didn't need and I intended to let them know exactly how I felt about it, soon.

"What does Jahedo want to do about them?" I asked Meka.

"He wants them leave or die," Meka said.

"I think we should kill all the men except one and that we should write on him too. I want to keep the women," I told Meka.

Meka didn't seem to think anything was wrong with that at all, but I saw Jaycee giving me an odd look, but it was more speculative than condemning.

"Jahedo no want women. He say too much trouble," she said.

"Is he going to help me with the men?" I asked.

After a few words between them she told me that they would have already killed them all if they hadn't known you'd be back.

"Good. I have many gifts for Jahedo and all his men and women. Will they come into the house with us?" I asked.

She asked Jahedo and even I could tell he agreed. He told her something else though.

"All not here. He send for others," Meka told me.

"Good, I'll show him first and then we can talk about it."

That was pretty much that. Jahedo came to the house with us and someone took off through the woods, to fetch the others I guess. Jahedo was amazed at the size of the house now, especially after we got to the basement. He was stunned over the bows and arrows. So was Jaycee, but she kept her comments to a minimum.

I was afraid it would be hell for days to teach Jahedo to use the compound bow and the arrows. It wasn't. With Meka's help I let him know that he needn't take the bowstring loose nearly as often as he had to with his type.

His senses were jaded by the time we got to the practice range but he did get a surprise when he saw how easy it was to change the arrow's points. I let him switch out the broadheads on some of the arrows that were for him and put on practice points.

On his first try, Jahedo sent the arrow well over the target. He understood at once that this bow was much more powerful than any he'd ever used. His natural talent with the weapon took over after that and he did much better than I'd expected he could after only about forty-five minutes. Even as I moved the target farther and farther away, he was quick to get a grip on the bow's capabilities.

It was nice that he was such a quick study. It meant he could do all the instructing and I could just hang around and answer questions. That slipped from my mind as I saw Jaycee fidgeting slightly.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom?" I asked her, trying to make a joke out of it and probably not doing a good job.

"No, I need a little time to speak to you, actually I need time to beg for one of those bows," she said.

"I didn't know you had any interest in archery, you can have all the bows and arrows you want. I also have a few other things you might like," I said.

"I take it you mean what I had a hand full of this morning," she said, and she didn't sound thrilled.

"Of course not. I didn't have hold of anything of yours did I?"

At least she had the decency to blush at that.

"Why don't you let me show you and you can pick up a few bows and some arrows," I said.