Chapter 9

It was a sad five days later when we rode into camp and, although some of the troops had healed a little, there was a job ahead for some of us that no one relished. We rode in and by prior agreement everyone stayed mounted while Red Hand, Two Horses, Red Hawk, and I went to tell the boy's parents.

Red Hand had the boy's buckskins; it was our way of presenting the loved ones with a flag. It was a proud but heart sick Red Hand that handed the folded clothes to Margaret Jones, "I"m sorry to tell you but your son Morgan has died protecting the Band."

Margaret burst into tears and Two Horses signalled for the other three Jones brothers to come forward. Simpson was about to speak but I knew if he did I would never get out what I needed to say so I held my hand up to stop him. With her three living sons surrounding her I told her of her son's sacrifice and it helped me to see that Simpson was as proud of his son as I was. In my time it was not rare for a parent to bury a child, but it was not as common as it was in this time. That didn't make it any easier. There would always be a hole in our lives because of Morgan. At the same time if not for him there might have been other holes in our lives.

We spent a few days at the old camp, but because of our numbers and where we were, game was starting to get scarce. A decision was made to move to another campsite; we loaded up and left on what Two Horses said would be about a two week journey.

We had been on the trail two days when one of our patrols was flagged down. It was our old friend Milt Thorp. He had taken the gold we had paid for the saddles and tack and bought us a large amount of supplies. It was near the end of the day and we were near a small creek so we stopped and waited for Milt's men to catch up.

That night we camped with Milt and his men. He was able to catch us up on some of the news. Winfield Scott's troops should have invaded Mexico by now but little had been heard about the war with Mexico. Among Milt's drivers were some of the first of the Irish immigrants fleeing the Potato Famine. Seth O'Donnell and his wife and two sons and daughters had gotten work hauling freight to St. Louis. There Milt had stopped some of the town bullies from killing the youngest boy.

The man that had hired Mr. O'Donnell and his family to haul the freight had cheated them out of their pay. Milt told them of our Band and the rest was history as they say. Milt's only regret was that he had gotten very attached to the O'Donnell ladies cooking. We spent the evening talking about our plans and Milt's. He was ready to go to Oregon with us so we began to make plans.

Milt was going to return to St. Louis and get all the supplies that we could afford. We had already gathered over two hundred wild cattle and one hundred horses; our horse herd was already huge and required two squads to be off herding and guarding it at any one time.

Milt would also get all of the cattle, mules, and oxen that he could get. He also expected to have other settlers want to come with him. We reminded him that he would need to tell them about the make up of our group and that racial prejudice was not tolerated. Tommy made sure that he also knew that any and all orphans were welcome. We all laughed; the Pied Piper strikes again.

After the supper conversation had died out my ladies and I took a stroll ending up by the creek where we sat, talked, and kissed until well past midnight. Beth started yawning so we got up and headed for our bed.

It was around three in the morning when it happened. I sat straight up in bed and listened, and nothing, I got out of bed; something was wrong. One of the pickets was nearby but he had neither heard nor seen anything out of place. Way off to the south of us I could see lightning in a cloud top very far away, but I could not shake the feeling that something had happened. I just didn't know what it was. The rest of the night was spent tossing and turning. After over an hour I got up and stirred the fire back to life and put some water on for tea.

I was sitting on rock deep in thought when Beth put her hand on my shoulder, "What's the matter my husband?"

"I don't know. Something is wrong. No that's not it; something happened a little bit ago and I don't know how I know that but I just do."

"Is it a bad thing?" Beth asked as she wrapped her arms around me.

"I don't know sweetie," I shook my head, "I just don't know."

That's the way we were thirty minutes later, me worried and Beth trying to comfort me when Broken Knife and Red Hawk walked up. "You too?" I asked.

Red Hawk nodded his head, "About an hour ago." Broken Knife nodded his head in agreement.

"What was it?" I wondered if they were as confused about it as I was.

Broken Knife shook his head, "The last time I had that feeling was the night you came."

My head snapped up to meet my friends, "You don't think?" I left the rest unsaid as I got up and went to get Jack. I started to saddle Jack and get him ready to go.

"Tom stay here, there is no need for you to go," Broken Knife said to me. I started to protest but Broken Knife stopped me, "Two Bears should be close to the place where you were when you travelled here. He would have felt the same thing we did, he'll check it out."

I knew he was right but it didn't stop the feeling that something major had happened and I didn't know if it was good or bad.

I was too keyed up to eat breakfast that morning and that, added to the fact Red Hawk had decided that we would camp here another night or two, had me as nervous as a whore in church. It was one of the longest days of my life.

By bedtime my wives had had more than enough. I was sitting drinking a cup of tea when they ordered me into bed. Once they had me naked they proceeded to fuck my brains out. All five women were intent that they not only be serviced but that each wanted me to cum in them. I didn't think I could do that five times but I was wrong. It did take all night though and when the first rays of the morning sun started filtering through clouds I was just going to sleep.

Camp was very quiet that morning so I was allowed to sleep, but sleep turned out to be worse than being awake. Asleep I dreamed, dreamed of my mother, my mother that was calling out to me. After what seemed like hours of dreams I sat bolt up right and called back to her and suddenly I knew what had happened.

I threw on my clothes as fast as I could. At the time only Fran and Jana were in camp and a worried Fran sent Jana to find the rest. I was getting ready to saddle Jack when the call of "riders coming" rang out. I was nervous as I could be, "What is going on, Tom?" Beth begged.

I ran to her and scooped her up in my arms, "It's my mother, she's here." Beth's face was a mask of confusion, "Come on, let's go meet her." I grabbed my wives hands and we started running towards the other side of camp. We could see the riders now. They were loping toward us.

My face must have told it all, "Tom who is that with them? Do you know her?" Red Hawk asked.

I turned to him, "It's my mother." I turned back to watch as my mom's auburn hair flew out behind her.

"Tom, she looks so young!" Fran exclaimed.

I smiled, "I was kinda an accident, my father is ten years older than my Mom; he was almost arrested because my Mom was underage. She got pregnant at fourteen so you see she's only thirty two." I turned from talking to Fran; my Mom was close enough now that our eyes met. As soon as she saw me she screamed and spurred her horse into a dead run. As she got closer I could see the tears, she slid her horse to stop and launched herself at me. We hit so hard we both knocked some of the wind out of each other and almost fell to the ground.

"Oh Mom! I thought I would never see you again." She held me as though one of us would be jerked away any second. After maybe five minutes she stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes and held me at arms length.

"Let me look at you. Two Bears said you had been shot, he also said..." Mom then looked at the five women behind me.

"Mom, I'd like for you to meet my wives. This is Beth she'll be making you a grandmother in the spring." They hugged and kissed each other on the cheek, "This is Fran and her sister Jana." They hugged and kissed, by now the tears were really starting to flow, "and this is Little Bird, but we call her Sam, and the one that looks like she's about to pounce is Pricilla."

"Please call me Prissy, everyone else does."

Mom laughed but hugged and kissed her, "I know, Mom, but it doesn't mean the same thing during this time."

"Oh Tom they are all so lovely. Two Bears? Mom turned to find him.

"He's probably gone to find his two wives," I replied.

"Oh well. Anyway, he told me about everything. Oh Tom this must be like a dream come true for you." I watched as a cloud came over my mother's face, "Your father was so angry when he found out you were gone. And when it came time for summer school to start and no one could get a hold of you he went crazy, he even hit me. I called the police and he was arrested for domestic violence which made him even more furious with me. I knew something had happened to you when you didn't call. I tried to have your phone traced but it didn't show up on any cell towers. So last week, after the DPS and every Sheriff's office in Texas gave up looking for you, I started looking. I finally found a man that had seen you leading your horse off the highway toward this overhang. It was like I could feel you there but you weren't there. I started crying I was so afraid I would never see you again." Mom wrapped her arms around me and sobbed, my wives all stepped forward and put their hands on her, giving some of their love to her trying to comfort her. "I fell asleep crying for you, I woke up during this really bad storm. I looked out into the storm one minute; my pickup was there pulled off the side of the road before I went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning it was gone and I felt really sick. I had just finished throwing up when Two Bears rode up. At first I was so frightened then he looked at me and in almost perfect English said 'Would you be Tom's mother?' It took so long to get here but he told me all about you and all the things you have done. Oh Tom! I'm so proud of you." Mom kissed me on the cheek.

"Are you hungry Mrs. Dunlap?" Beth asked, "We just about had lunch ready when you rode up."

"Call me Millie, and yes, I'm starved, all we had on the way here was some jerky. Two Bears seemed to be in a big hurry to get me here."

We walked back over to where most of our group was already eating and walked through the line. Since Milt's arrival there had been an increase in the variety of the dishes served in the chow lines. Normal supper was usually the three b's: beans, buffalo, and biscuits in one form or another. With the goodies that Milt brought added in, all kinds of preserved vegetables had shown up, not to mention potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes. Fried, baked, mashed or boiled, they were nice for something different.

Mom sat down with my wives and dug into her plate with gusto and not much was said while we were eating. But after Mom finished off her last bite of cobbler and set her plate aside she turned to me, "Your Dad left me. He was convinced that you and I schemed to keep you from going to school and fulfilling his plan."

"It's all right Mom, his plan was going to fail anyway but it had no real chance once I got sent back here." I sighed, "I like it here Mom, I have five wonderful women that love me, I'm going to be a Dad, and I'm never going to make my son go and do something or be something he's not."

Mom smiled and put her hand on my face, "You'll be a good father." Beth walked over and took our plates and as she was walking away Mom asked, "What is it about your wives that makes me feel so good?"

I smiled, "Come on let's go for a walk and I'll tell you." We got up and I took my Mom's hand in mine. "The girls are all like you in some way. Each of them has a something about them that is just like you. Fran has your humour, Prissy your elegance, Sam your courage, Jana your love of life," I paused for a second to collect my thoughts.

"And Beth, what does she have?" my mother asked.

A big smile came to my face, "Beth always knows when I'm bothered by something and is always right there with a cup of tea, a kind word, or to just listen to me as I unload." I stopped and wrapped my arms around my Mother, "Oh Mom, I'm so glad you're here, with you here it makes all this perfect." We were walking back to Beth's wagon when I heard the whistles for officers call, "Mom, I have to go."

"Go! We can take care of your Mom easy enough," Beth said.

I kissed my wives and my Mom and went to see what was going on.

As our Band had grown so had the leadership council; five of the groups that had leaders that were a lot less than what the group really needed. I was so used to power struggles and empire building that it was a complete surprise to me to see some of these men step down and defer to others and let the right person step up and lead. In some of these groups the former leader just wanted to step down and allow someone else have the headache, in others it was a case of needing people with a different attitude and skill set. In the end it seemed the right person gravitated to the right job and the governing council, sometimes called the Elders, was a group of seven men and two women.

Red Hawk was elected the leader with Two Horses the second in command. A young warrior named Stands Tall was in charge of the horses, Jase Trammel was in charge of the cattle, and Marie, one of Broken Knife's wives was in charge of the supplies. Elizabeth, the wife of Red Hand, was put in charge of getting our meals together, Moses Brown was in charge of the wagons and the draft animals, Broken Knife and I were in charge of our military. Each person had their own group of people that reported to them so it was representative government at its very basic form. One of the first things to come out of the ruling council had a very large effect on only the Comanche.

Stands Tall had suggested in our first meetings that the Comanche anglicise their names by using the last half of their names and their surname. Thus Marie Van der Wahl who had married Broken Knife became Marie Knife, Elizabeth Damron had married Red Hand so she would become Elizabeth Hand. The first thing that this forced was it necessitated having family trees drawn up. When Stands Tall saw the sheets of paper with all the names written on it he realised another thing that was missing. In our second meeting he asked if he, and any others that wanted, could be taught to read and write. From there it grew that Comanche was a spoken language but not written. Lucy thought it important that the language be preserved so on to the list of things we would need were added schools supplies. Lucy would have Milt try to get journals that Lucy and others could make into readers and grammars for both English and the Shoshoni language that the Comanche spoke.

I had just walked up to the shade tree where today's council was to be held when I noticed that Milt was there but Red Hawk wasn't. "Where's Red Hawk?" I asked.

Stands Tall pointed behind me and when I turned around I had to smile. Red Hawk had evidently stopped by my camp and now had my mother on his arm escorting to our meeting.

Red Hawk was smiling to beat the band, "Friends, I would like to introduce Millie Dunlap, Tom's mother. She has joined us and I thought she would like to see how we govern ourselves."

Mother sat down next to me while, for over an hour, Milt explained how it would be beneficial for us to move north and eastward so that we would be in a position where we could start for Oregon in late February or early March. The Pawnee now saw the Santa Fe and the Oregon Trails as a way for them to better themselves. At the end of the season last year they were demanding payment for safe passage. Milt felt that if our group moved into the area just west of St. Jo we would put pressure on the Pawnee to move further north. We listened to Milt for over an hour as he made his case; for myself I saw just one problem. What were the locals going to think when five hundred plus moved in and most of them Comanche? I listened to Milt and the others as they discussed the pluses and minuses of the move. I hadn't said anything yet; mostly I'd just been listening and organizing my thoughts.

Finally Red Hawk looked at me, "Well Tom, what do you think?"

I sighed, took a deep breath and started, "We need to brand every head of livestock we have. There will be enough animosity towards us that we will have to be on the ball every minute of every day. We have a lot of our people who are in mixed race marriages and then there are those, like me, that are not only in a mixed race marriage but a plural one as well. We are not going to blend into the background, in fact we are going to stand out like a diamond in a goat's ass. No amount of good that we can do will be able to overcome the bigots and small minded people. This means we will need to be a good ways away from the general population. Also if we do go there you all need to realise that it is going to be colder. Other than the people and the weather I don't see a problem."