Chapter 6

The next morning I got up early, went to a cafe and ordered enough for two people, and ate it. I was making a run to Austin this morning. I swung by Marty's Hats and ordered a straw with a rolled brim and then headed back to the bigger town down south.

Most of the next two days I just spent fucking around and shopping for clothes. I kept them simple but sturdy and I guess I'd a been fine with what I wore last time, but I wanted to make sure anyone who was looking me over when I went through the portal would have something to look at.

I didn't know whether the checking was all done with machinery or some type of computer scanning or if people looked too, but I figured I'd have it covered either way. On the last day, before I was going to pick up my clothes and head back I happened to drive by a leather works and saddlery and it hit me I didn't like the saddles on Chaos worth a shit.

Now I didn't have any notion I could take a saddle with me, but I went in to take a look at 'em anyway. I spied a sweet double rigged roping saddle all done in rough out leather and with a nice dally horn. I even had a chance to talk to the one who made it.

He was a likely fella and he appeared to be about ten years older than me. He also looked like he was in awfully good shape. I started bullshitting with him a little and found out he'd just finished twelve years in the army. He had a pretty serious limp in his right leg, and he finally told me he'd been shot in the knee ten days before he was supposed to leave Iraq.

"It got me started home a little faster than I was scheduled, but all in all I think I'd rather have stayed the ten days more," he said

I bought the saddle and two hand plaited dally length ropes too. I doubted I could get 'em through the portal, but hell, I could use the saddle at home and the ropes too for that matter.

I drove back up to Austin for a little boot scootin' at the Broken Spoke that night, but I left about eleven and came back to San Antone and hit the sheets in the motel.

After breakfast the next morning I drove over to the Mexican woman's shop and picked up my clothes and then drove straight back to Cowboy Jack's. He came to the door and just watched while I unloaded my things and headed into his house.

"What the hell did you buy all that for?"

"I had the clothes made to look like the crap they wear on Chaos," I said.

"Hell, you coulda had it made a lot cheaper while you was there."

"Sure I could, but I wanted to make a good showing through the portal. I'm gonna be all dressed up to look like the locals when I go."

"Hell, it don't matter what you look like when you go through the portal. You're just going to see your Caretaker first," he said, and he was right, sorta.

"Well I'm gonna try taking my new clothes through and my new hat too. I'm even gonna try to take my saddle, and my new earrings," I said.

"Yeh, you told me about your earrings, dammit."

"Just give me a few minutes to get this stuff packed and you'll see what I got in mind," I said.

I changed into a set of my new clothes and put on my new belt. I bundled the rest of the clothes and tied 'em up with a string around them. Then I put on my earrings.

I'd seen several men on Chaos wearing earrings, some big and some small, and no one seemed to pay a bit of attention. My earrings were a little bit on the big side, since they were the cams and axles out of a new compound bow I'd bought just like my first one.

"Well I'll just be damned. I'da never thought about doing that in a million years. Hell, I think it might even work. I'm pretty sure you ain't gonna get to take that saddle cause I tried taking one of mine once and it stayed just this side of the portal. I never tried taking a throw rope though.

"Well, if the saddle don't go and the ropes don't go I think I've got a cure for it next time."

"Well save it for a surprise for me. It'll be something I can try to figure out for the fifteen minutes you'll be gone."

"Fifteen minutes! Hell, I wouldn't even have time to pat Kathy Caretaker on the ass in fifteen minutes."

"That's right, I didn't tell you about that part neither. No matter how long you stay you'll only be gone fifteen minutes our time."

"Hell you say. I musta been gone two months at least last time."

"You mighta been there two months, but you was only gone from here fifteen minutes. Didn't you notice I was still in the same chair with the same clothes on when you got back?" he asked.

"Well yeh, but I figured you spent all your time in that chair anyway and you always wear them same clothes," I said.

"That's all you know. I've got twelve sets of clothes just alike. You mean you ain't even noticed no time passed since you got back?"

"Nope. Hell, I been so busy running around trying to get ready for the next trip I ain't paid any attention to what day it was here, or what month either, as far as that goes.

"Fuckitall. I'm ready to go and I want to get started," I said, and I picked up my saddle, ropes, and clothes, put my hat back on my head and headed out through the door.

I popped up in the white room again, but I noticed right off the bat it looked like it had been decorated a mite since last time I was there. The old leather couch was gone and it looked to me like a sitting room you'd see in one of those architecture magazines.

I forgot about the furnishings when I noticed my saddle and ropes hadn't made the trip, but I wanted to jump and shout over still having my earrings - until Kathy saw 'em that is.

"What have you got hanging from your ears?" she asked, as soon as she came through the door, and she didn't sound pleased.

"Just some fancy earrings. I noticed several men had pierced ears on Chaos and I thought I'd try to fit in. I'll take 'em off if you don't like 'em. When I go through the healing chamber after I get back the holes will even grow back, won't they?"

"I'm sure they will, but whatever possessed you to get them in the first place?"

"Well, I saw some of the men on Chaos had some and I thought I'd try them out and see how you liked them."

"Oh, I like them fine, in your pocket," she said, and reached to take them off.

I stepped back away from her and took them off myself and then put them in a pocket of my spare clothes. I'd gone to a lot of trouble with the axles in those cams. Since the portal wouldn't pass metal the axles wouldn't go through and I knew that part from the start.

My cams weren't metal, they were some kind of space age plastic something or other. The axles were metal though and I'd replaced them with some I made out of a stiff paraffin. I knew I'd be able to cast replacement axles easily if these didn't get damaged before I even got to the other portal.

She looked at me funny, but when I pulled her into my arms she must have forgotten about it.

Just like last time we were naked and making the beast with two backs almost right away. I decided to try Cowboy Jack's method and do my best to fuck her down.

It worked too, sorta. She could take a lickin' and keep on tickin', but I noticed she needed a lot more restoratives than I did. Now, I had no complaints cause she put her all into every ride, but I had a little staying power my ownself and Cowboy Jack had told me Cassandra women were quicker on the trigger than earth women were.