Chapter 10

To tell the truth, I didn't give the first shit how much my mule man or his father made off the mules. I'd driven all over Eastern Texas, Western Louisiana, Southwestern Arkansas, and Southeastern Oklahoma shopping for mules and hadn't seen any I really liked until I found my mule man near Springfield Missouri, and he'd never tried to palm a bad one off on me.

We found the old mule man's place in an hour and a half and then spent an hour picking sixteen mules out of the twenty-two he had for sale. There wasn't really much to it. If I'd had more room in the trailer or had another trailer with me I'd have bought them all, they were that good.

The old man helped us load them but there wasn't much to it. They didn't give a bit of trouble - they just walked up the ramp as if there was nothing unusual about it.

"Johnny tolt me ya don't even work 'em ta harness. It makes me glad to sell 'em to ya," he said, after the last one was loaded.

"That's right, I don't even pack much with them - they're only a hobby for me," I said.

"Ya know they're all broke to ride to, don't cha?" he said.

"No, I didn't know it. I've never tried to ride one," I said.

"Well, ya kin if ya wanna. They don't really mind," he said.

"I'm glad you told me. If you'll trust me enough to hold the others, I'll come back for them next week," I said, even though I didn't have a damned idea what I'd do with so many mules.

"Mister, your word is good with me. The mules'll be waitin' on their ride," he said, and then he went off toward his house.

Jackie and Jerrilyn had liked the old man right away and they didn't give me a bit of trouble about going mule crazy. I wouldn't have cared if they had, cause I liked him myself.

We stopped back by my mule man's house on the way back. He wasn't there when we got there, but his wife told us he should be back any minute and asked us if we'd like a glass of iced tea. We took her up on the offer and we'd just sat down at a picnic type table in the yard when he drove up.

He came over and asked us how things had turned out and was surprised when I told him I'd bought all the mules his father had for sale.

"Gonna be some sad sacks 'round here for a while," he said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"They're always trying to talk daddy down on his mules. I know three fellas have been stallin' for two years hopin' he'd get mule poor and lower the price. Now they're shit outta luck. Pardon my French ladies," he said.

"Just tell them they'd better buy the next bunch he raises as soon as they can, cause there's a man in Texas who knows what a good mule is worth. Especially now I know they're broke to ride too," I said.

"I thought you knowed it all along," he said.

"Well, I do now and it's all that counts."

We finished our tea and he consulted a list he had in his pocket, giving me the total for the mules I had in the trailer. I asked him to go ahead and total up the others too and it surprised him a little, but he did it, and I paid for all of them. I thought about the feed they'd eat until I got back and asked him if there'd be any extra charge.

"I know the answer and it's nope. Those mules will be waitin' for ya, well fed, until ya come back for 'em or they die of old age. That's just how daddy is," he said.

If it suited them it tickled me pink. Jackie, Jerrilyn, and I got in the truck and drove back to my CB man's place.

Junior had everything done, he even had the radar detectors installed, and he showed us the best place to hide one quickly in the SSR if we needed to. I paid what he asked and tipped him an extra hundred for each truck.

When I got inside the shop my CB man asked if I'd wanted the spare radios and linears for these two trucks too. I told him I did and reminded him about the spare antennas for both of them too.

He put it all on the counter and Junior carried it out while he totaled up the bill and I counted out hundreds. I reminded him I'd need a complete setup for one more truck soon.

Junior was talking to Jackie and Jerrilyn when I got back outside. He was explaining about a handle and listening for at least six months before they talked.

"Why can't we use our real names?" Jackie asked.

"Well, ya can now if ya really want to. Handles started out when you used to have to send in for a license before ya was supposed to talk on 'em. That's all over with, but havin' a handle is just a tradition now," he said.

"Why should we wait six months before we talk?" Jerrilyn asked.

"So's ya won't sound like you're some dummy who just bought a radio and don't know what ta say on it. No offense.

"And I might as well warn ya now there ain't gonna be no end to the jackass truck drivers who's gonna try to talk to ya just cause you're a woman. It'll be even worse if ya pick out a sexy soundin' handle and worse if they see how pretty ya are. That's just the way it is," he said.

I could see the wisdom in what he was saying wasn't lost on Jackie and Jerrilyn. We said goodbye to Junior and headed home with our little convoy.

We were beat by the time we got home, but I did notice there was another UPS sticker on the door, letting us know we'd missed out on some package or the other. We unloaded the mules and then headed for bed and didn't worry about the package.

We didn't get up bright and early the next morning, not by a long shot. We slept in until ten AM and still complained about the grind we'd had yesterday.

Riding lessons started later than usual today, but things still went well. They were making such good progress I took them for a short ride into the woods. They liked it a lot.

We were back to our normal early rising by Sunday morning and the girls broke some news to me during halftime of the Cowboy's game.

"Thanksgiving is next week and we want to cook thanksgiving dinner during our campout, so we'll need to head out early Wednesday morning. It will give us time to get things arranged and also time to ride back and get anything we forget," Jackie said.

I didn't argue and I was glad for the early warning. I'd have to make sure the mobile Directtv was in good working order before then, lest I miss the annual Cowboy's Thanksgiving Day game.

After Monday morning's riding lesson and ride through the woods we cleaned up and went to town to visit the local hardware store. I'd been informed we needed a cooker capable of deep frying a turkey.

The store had several different models and I also noticed for the first time they offered propane for sale in other than the small throwaway containers.

There were five and ten gallon tanks. You could buy the propane and rent the tank, with a deposit that equaled the price of the tank. You could also buy a tank and then keep trading it out when you bought more propane.

It amounted to paying a deposit and just never reclaiming it. You used the propane and brought the tank back to exchange it for one which had been refilled, and paid for the gas. It made sense to me.

When the UPS truck arrived Monday afternoon there were several packages. The girl's rings arrived, but they weren't all. They also each got a pair of their handmade boots and they also got a large box with a portable oven. It was a complete surprise to me.

"It's so we can cook the dressing over a fire," Jackie said.

"Great, I'm all for anything with something to do with cooking," I said, and they laughed at me.

"Maybe we can figure out a recipe for baked Ranch Style Beans," Jerrilyn said, and then they laughed at me again.

I was a little surprised the packsaddles for the new mules hadn't come in yet.

The next afternoon was the big delivery from UPS. What with twenty-two packsaddle rigs and twenty-two more Royal Grand Champion Cordura Blankets and Hoods and then twenty-two nosebags to feed the new mules. The deliveryman had his work cut out for him.

We had our work cut out too after he'd gone. We were on into the night sorting out and storing the stuff. At least we wouldn't have to worry about packing all those new setups. We already had things arranged to use only the mules we'd had for a while. None of the new ones needed to make the trip.

The next morning we were loaded up and heading out a lot sooner than I'd expected to be. Everything went much faster with Jackie and Jerrilyn to help out. The same was true for the unpacking after we arrived. They took care of the mules and horses while I dealt with the tent. They even had firewood gathered and a fire going in the circle of stones before I was done.