Chapter 22

My next destination was planned to be the Whitfield place, but as I neared it I spied Cooter coming my way from the other direction, headed back from Jefferson. I was sure it was Cooter because his left arm looked like it was in a cast. As I got closer it was apparent I was correct. It was one of those cast that covers the elbow too, and it was crooked there and it put his left hand at the perfect height to hold his reins.

"How was the trip Cooter?"

"Just fine Mr Jefferson. I guess you can tell I found a Doctor I thought I could trust."

"Yep, it was easy to see even from a long way off."

"There were more doctors in Jefferson than I thought, but the last one was the only one that was even half-sober when I went to see him. He talked a little funny, but after I decided to do it, he put some kind of rag over my nose and when I breathed in I passed out. When I woke up this thing he called a cast was on my arm and he told me it'd be good as new in six weeks.

"He told me something else that was right too. He said it would start itching like crazy in a while, but said not to put nothing down in there and try to scratch. I promised him I wouldn't but I've been wanting to awful bad all the way back," Cooter said.

"He was right about the scratching too Cooter. If you try to put something in there to scratch you might scratch too hard and get an infection. You'll likely lose the arm from gangrene if you do. Better just let it itch.

"You got any idea when the wagons will start gettin' here?"

"The first one should get here sometime tomorrow, or the next day at the latest. I passed it about two days ago on the way here. In fact you'll probably get at least two a day from now on until they get done," he said.

"Hell, they might never get done. I think I'll start an even bigger house than the one I'm living in at the old Whitfield place after the Greens finish the one they've started on, or maybe one between the two houses."

"At the Whitfield place?"

"The old Whitfield place. I bought him out a few days ago and they're moving out West. Gertie wouldn't go with them though and now I'm not sure the kitchen is big enough for Maybel and Gertie both. The quarters are too small now too, what with the house girls moving up with Gertie. Now that I'm getting married I'm not sure we have enough bedrooms for all the kids I'll be having."

"Boy howdy, things shore changed fast while I was off on that little trip," he said.

"Faster than you think. Stick took the big wagon out to fetch Jane this morning, but I'm not sure which house she's moving to. It'll either be the Whitfield's old place or in with Frank, but I don't know which."

That last bit of information flustered Cooter, so I told him to check with Frank first before he went off to try finding her. I told him she'd surely be there until the Whitfields left. He took off then and I headed down to see Bob.

He was sitting on a bench just watching the world go by, or the hands fool with ranching. He looked up when I came to a stop and then smiled at me.

"Ya know Bill, if I'd knowed how easy it was being the boss I'd have looked for this kinda job a long time ago," he said, and smiled wide.

"If I'd known how well you could sit on your ass I'd have promoted you sooner," I told him, and we both laughed.

"It ain't my fault. Mike is a damned good foreman and he don't leave much for me to take care of."

"Don't worry. He knows what he needs to pass up the line and when he sends you something it'll be because he doesn't think he can handle it so it'll be a problem for sure.

"I'm going to have to go talk to Frank about hiring more hands. He's slacked off a little lately and I want to make sure he knows he can't do my pocketbook much damage. I just met Cooter coming back from Jefferson and he told me wagons of lumber would start showing up tomorrow or the next day. We're going to need some men to unload them and stack the lumber right."

"Can't the drivers that bring it do that?"

"Sure they could, but there ain't no sense lettin' 'em do it. They had plenty of work driving here from Jefferson and they probably won't like having to unload after that long trip. That'll mean they'll do a half-assed job stacking the lumber when they do take it off. If I hire men of my own for that they'll probably be proud to have the job and they'll just do better. You can fuck around trying to be cheap and end up letting green lumber get twisted to hell from poor stacking?

"I never thought of that, but I can see you're right. You need more hands up there anyway. In fact, Mike thinks we should put a few of the cows that are down here in your pastures. Zeke didn't sell off many cattle last year and we're tending a bumper crop."

"I'll tell Frank to expect some then. Have Mike get with him and they can decide together how to split 'em up. I ain't got time to be divvying up cows and wouldn't be too good at it anyway. The biggest interest I have in cows is at the table. Y'all just remember not to let Maybel and Gertie run out of meat," I said, and then headed for the house.

Frank was the first one I saw when I got back home, and he was grinning. I wondered why.

"You see Cooter when he came back?" I asked.

"Yeh, but not for long. All he wanted to know was where to find Jane. He headed right for my house when he found out. Good, I hope he gets that lined up. Did he tell you about gettin' his arm fixed."

"No, but it wasn't hard to see. I don't know what that was on his arm but I could tell something had been done to it. I hope it works out."

"It will. I've seen those before. It's called a cast, and it keeps him from throwing things back out of whack. It beats hell out of a splint cause he just can't fuck it up unless he tries hard.

"We've got to have some more men though. When those wagons start getting here we'll need to unload them and stack the lumber right so it can finish drying without twistin' up. Try to see if you can find young men that want to learn to handle cows later.

"Mike will probably come up here sometime today to talk to you about sending some cows. Bob and Mike both think they've got too many down there."

"I think so too. I didn't realize it til I rode down there this morning, but they do have a wad of 'em. They'll do better if we spread them out some and there's no point in crowding them down there when we got pasture here that needs something to chew it down a little at least. I'm going to try to keep 'em off about fifty acres though, for hay cuttin'."

"You and Mike work it out like you want to. I'll take account of how you're doing at the table after Gertie and Maybel have the cows fixed for me to look at," I said, and got off Boots and put him in a stall.

My next stop was to visit with the Greens. They were in one of the big barns, the one where the lumber had been stored in the loft. As best I could tell they were building doorjambs and window frames and headers. The kinds of things that could be put together ahead of time before you started the actual construction.

"Howdy Mr Bill," Josh said, as I entered.

"Call me Bill please. How are things coming along?"

"Just fine so far. Any news on the lumber?"

"Yep. Cooter came back this morning and he said the first wagon or two should show up tomorrow."

"I guess we'll have an hour or two for the unloading out of the day then."

"Not if I can help it. I'm sending Frank out hunting laborers today. If he can't find any I'll send some men up from the Whitfield place to take care of the unloading," I said.

"You and Zeke friends? I didn't know that."

"I guess we're as friendly as you can get in a couple of days, but that's not why the men might be coming from there. I bought Zeke out. He's bound and determined to move west and he wanted to sell. I damned sure wanted to buy and we made each other happy," I said.