Colorado – Rebekah Lyn Books

Go West~Chapter 30

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Thirty

Ellie

Wham, bang, crash! Ellie awoke with a start. Someone was making a ruckus in the house. She slid out of bed, dressed, and stepped carefully down the stairs avoiding the creaky boards discovered from morning trysts with Aldon. From the kitchen, she heard a rough, country voice.” Git the booze if you know what’s good for you.”

“Si, si, but should we not hide from the clan? They followed us from town and will soon arrive.” It was Enrico’s voice. She heard the basement door open and the sound of feet pounding down the stairs.

Ellie knew she must get Aldon. She opened the front door and slipped out into the misty night. Before she could reach the barn, she heard another commotion and ran behind the chicken coop to hide. A soft, no escaped her lips when she peeked out and saw men covered in white-sheets with peaked masks over their faces getting out of a motor car. They lit large torches, which flared in the darkness as if they were the fires of hades. She knew they couldn’t see her from where they were so she ran toward the barn and climbed up the ladder to the loft.

“Aldon!” she hissed standing over his cot. “Wake up!”

“Ellie,” he said as if he were dreaming. He turned on his side facing her and pulled her into the cot beside him. He put his arms around her and snuggled back into sleep.

“Aldon, get up. We’ve got visitors,” Ellie pushed against his chest and he abruptly let go of her. She fell onto the floor and lay there a moment getting her breath back. When she got up, she pulled on his arm. “Come on, there’s something happening out there. We’ve got to go check on it.”

He sprang up causing her to fall again. It was all beginning to seem like a movie horse opera.

“Get that shotgun over there,” he said. As she handed him the weapon that leaned into the corner, he grabbed two shotgun shells from a drawer in the desk and loaded both barrels.

“Stay here,” he said.

“Wait, let me tell you.” She tried for a deep breath but felt so rushed she couldn’t quite manage it. “Enrico’s in the basement going after some liquor. Two more men are waiting for him in the kitchen. I think they’re drunk. The KKK just arrived – four of them in an open flivver. They’re in the barnyard, wearing robes and hoods, and they have lit torches. We’ll have to be careful they don’t burn down the house.”

“Okay, you’ve done a good job, now you stay right here where you’ll be safe and let me handle it.”

“I’m going,” she said. “Just tell me what to do.”

“We don’t have time to argue about it.” He said descending the ladder.

“I’ll show myself and divert their attention and you can get a drop on them.” She scrambled after him, brushed past, and ran out the door before he could forbid it. She screamed to get the marauders’ attention, and they turned and stared.

“Get her,” one of them yelled.

“Put those torches in the air and hold them high. Okay, now, know this. I’m going to shoot the first man that moves.” Aldon stepped out of the shadows pointing the gun. “Ellie come over here by me.”

“It’s a mite late to go visiting, isn’t it?” Aldon said. “Keep your hands in the air and go stand over there in front of the corral.”

“We hear you’re harboring some folk that don’t belong here.” One of the men said.

“Where did you hear that?” Aldon walked toward the men, whose robes crawled with ominous shadows in the light of their torches.

“From that there Eyetalian you got hanging around here. We don’t cotton to any kind of people ‘cept pure white Americans.” The man with the big belly spoke.

“Who are you after?” asked Aldon.

“For now we want that colored woman. Her husband was a murderer. What better reason could we have for taking her away?” Another man spoke.

“Oh, you mean our friend Kate? Why don’t you just head on back down to where you came from and leave us alone. You don’t have any business here.” Aldon cradled the gun under his arm.

“You see, you don’t understand. We are here to protect you and your family from foreigners and strangers coming in and taking over.” A third man spoke.

“How do you know who’s American and who isn’t?” Aldon motioned for one of the men to raise hands that had been slowly descending.

“First off, they got to be white.” The clansman’s hands rose again.

“Not just them, but their folks too.” They seemed to talk in turn, one and then the other. “They got to have American names, American ways, fight for the country.”

“Did you fight for the country?” Aldon asked while Ellie gave a sigh of impatience.

“We’re all respectable businessmen and upstanding citizens, somebody had to stay here and run the country. Our Grand Dragon is the preacher of the biggest church in Artesia. He is a real American. We got half the politicians in Denver on our side. We’re doing what any red-blooded Americans ought to be doing.”

“We hear you’ve got a half-breed kid here, too,” said a different voice. “We could take her off your hands.”

Everybody jumped when the screen door banged shut and Kate came striding out in a long robe with the biggest broom Ellie had ever seen in her hands. She took a swing at the man closest to her and he went down. She went after a second, and he ran, tripping over his sheet.

“Get out of here and leave us alone.” She turned on the third one who stared at her dumbfounded. She hit the fourth man with the broom. In three seconds the automobile was loaded and had put-putted away. Instead of watching it go, Kate looked around for someone else to hit and headed for Aldon, not quite recognizing him in the dark. He took the broom.

“Whoa there, it’s me. You’ve taken care of them. You can relax now.”

Once Enrico and his two cohorts saw that the KKK had moved on, they came skulking out the back door. One of the men was tall and skinny. The other was broad and hairy. By now, Signor Solano had also descended from his aerie.

“What are these men doing here?” Signor Solano asked moving close to Enrico.

“Allow me to introduce my friends,” said Enrico bowing to the company in a drunken move to take control of the situation.

“What are they doing here?” Signor Solano asked again while supporting his grandson against his own increasing strength.

“I know them,” said Aldon. “They’re squatters.”

Go West~Chapter 25

Go West

Chapter Twenty five

Ellie

After a morning of shopping, Ellie, Lia and Enrico followed a haughty waiter to a table in the hotel dining room. They ordered chicken cordon bleu, which was delivered to their table accompanied by fresh, tender green beans and scalloped potatoes. After a baked Alaska for dessert, Lia persuaded Ellie to go with her to a shoe store she’d seen on the way there. They left Enrico with enough money to pay the bill and arranged to meet him later at the hotel.

Lia wanted to look at every shoe in the downtown area. Although they found the perfect footwear to match their ensembles, Ellie wanted nothing more than to go back to the hotel. If she had wanted to spend her time in stores, she might as well have stayed in Chicago.

When Ellie eventually got back to her room, she lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep. An hour later, something awakened her, and she jumped up to look out the window. There she saw the top of a long, black automobile at the curb. Aldon got out and stood looking up. He must have come earlier to find out where their rooms were located. She waved and he motioned for her to come down. Although her granddad had taught her to wait for a gentleman to knock on the door, she shelved the rule, threw on her new, green, tea-dress, grabbed her light, cream jacket with the embroidery on it, and ran down the stairs.

In the lobby, she looked around for Aldon and saw him though one of the glass panes in the revolving door. There was a woman in one of the other enclosures. He let her get out, then maneuvered his glass box so Ellie could get into it with him. They had to stand close and synchronize the movement of their feet, but before Ellie had time to get in step Aldon had somehow wafted her out onto the sidewalk. He took her hand and they ran for the car.

As they pulled away, Ellie realized she hadn’t told Lia where she was going. She knew her employer would pout, but she’d like some time free from Lia’s possessiveness. She looked straight ahead as the car slid around a corner leaving the hotel and its guests behind.

Ellie had noticed that once the sun went down, the heat of the day passed quickly. She rolled up the windows on her side, and Aldon rolled his up too.

“Cold? Come sit close to me. My brothers always said I give off as much heat as a pot-bellied stove.

As she moved closer, she recalled how standoffish she had felt when they first met. He laid his hand open in the seat between them and she put hers into it. He was warm, indeed. He actually radiated love and comfort.

“Let the lower lights be burning,” Aldon began a chorus in his light tenor, and the joy in Ellie’s heart reached a new level. “Send a gleam across the wave.” They had sung that one in church several times now, and she loved it. “Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save.”

They were on the open road approaching the foothills of the Rocky Mountains when the stars came out and began to twinkle as the sun receded behind the mountains. She knew she should feel guilty for running away from Lia and Enrico, but it was tiresome trying to please someone else all the time. Now, it pleased her to be with Aldon instead of just thinking about him all the time.

As the road began to rise, he let go of her hand to maneuver the curves. On their left, Ellie saw a rustic roadhouse. They parked and when they got out of the car, the air was sharp and fragrant with the aroma of hickory smoke coming from a brick chimney.

“Here’s the Oklahoma Inn. It’s run by one of my war buddies. I think you’ll like him. It’s the only commercial place where you can get real barbecue and it’s so good I’d eat it every day if I could.”

The door opened to a blast of noise and heat. A cowboy band played, “California Here I Come.” The room felt cozy with the odor of bathed bodies, Evening in Paris perfume, and hair pomade. Underneath, she smelled the pine that had been carpentered into walls and booths. Her mouth watered when she smelled the meat grilling under a vent. A tall man in a sauce-stained apron set down a pair of tongs and came to wait on them. Aldon jumped up to shake his hand, then the two men slapped each other on the back, a semi-violent rite that seemed strange to Ellie. She saw, though, that the two of them were simply hiding their liking for each other under a manly presence.

“This here’s my buddy, “Oklahoma,” Aldon said.

“How do you do?” Ellie stuck out her hand to shake the huge paw shoved toward her.

“How-do, ma’am. Welcome to, “Oklahoma Inn. I’m Oklahoma.”

“Oklahoma is his nickname, it was because that’s where he’s from. He was a code-talker during the war.” Aldon told Ellie. The big man grinned when he saw the puzzled look in Ellie’s eyes.

“I’m half Choctaw, half white. I lived with the Indians then with my white folks off and on. I learned both languages. When my Choctaw brother went to war, I went too. All we did was tell secrets in our own language. The Huns were flummoxed. My buddy here,” he slapped Aldon on the back, recommended I come to Denver for a job and I got on here. Eventually saved up enough to buy the place. He motioned for Ellie to sit down and then sat next to her squashing her up against the wall.

Ellie had believed that Indians were stoical and close-mouthed, but Oklahoma nodded and smiled and went on talking at Aldon. “That Aldon, he’s a fine man. We weren’t in the same division, but when we found out how much we both liked horses we got to be real good friends.”

When they finished the meal, Aldon stood and held out his arms inviting Ellie to dance. Hoping the evening would never end, she tried to concentrate as he led her in the two-step to the tune of, “Putting on the Ritz.”

DiVoran’s Promise Posters, Paintings from Go West as well as other art can be purchased as note cards and framable art

Creative Arts

Go West~Chapter 24

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Twenty Four -Shopping in Denver

Ellie

Ellie couldn’t help a sigh of relief at being surrounded by tall buildings and noisy traffic. She loved the mountains and the clear fresh air in the valley, but she supposed most people felt more at home in the kind of place where they grew up.

Denver, she had heard, was the capitol of Colorado and growing fast. She could hardly believe that when it came time to choose a capitol, one of the small towns in the Wet Mountain Valley had lost the designation by only one vote. Just think, if it had won, it would be the city, now and maybe Denver would be the almost abandoned ghost town. At the hotel, bellboys carried the luggage to the separate third-story bedrooms assigned to the three of them.

Ellie’s room had a large double bed with art-deco designs in the duvet and pillows. A window looked out over the busy Denver street. She went into the tiled bathroom and washed her face with a generously sized, pristine-white wash-cloth.

A knock came at the door, and when Ellie opened it, Lia swept into the room, walked straight to the window, and stood looking down at the traffic.

“Are you ready to go shopping, now? Enrico is waiting.” Lia had changed into a light summer dress. The skirt floated out as she turned back to Ellie. “He is excited to get his measure for the new suit. He wants a black fedora, two ties, shirts, and I believe I will buy him a set of diamond cuff-links. What do you think of that? I did not want to wear any of my old hats. They would not fit now that my hair is cut. We will select a new one first thing and they will let me wear it. We will tell them to throw the old one away. Straw, I think.

“Am I all right like this?” Ellie asked. She was wearing the same blue serge suit she’d traveled in.” Looking at Lia’s voile made her feel hot and uncomfortable by comparison.

“Oh, poof, you are, of course, fine. For it will be a new dress, perhaps of the chiffon for you. That suit will go into a box and be sent back here. You must have also a light summer jacket for evenings. We will buy dresses for Molly’s birthday party and for the Independence Day Dance. No one in the valley has ever seen any such as we will be in our finery. Come now.” She led the way to the elevator and they went down to meet Enrico in the lobby.

“Please go ahead,” Ellie said as they walked along the crowded street. “I’ll catch up with you at the store. I assume you’ll be in men’s outfitters or ladies apparel?” She nodded first at Enrico who stood in his soiled white suit with his hair falling over the collar of the jacket. “They may have a barber shop.”

“Oh yes,” said Lia. “He will have a hair-cut.”

“Yes, signora,” he bowed, then turned and stalked off. Ellie noted that Lia and her step-grandson were not getting along as well as they had at first. Enrico’s appearance was not her business, but he wasn’t as attractive now as she had at first thought. He could never approach Aldon in manliness.

Ellie went into the bank on the corner to cash the check her grandmother had sent for the wigs and postiches she had made from Lia’s hair. The hair that had grown all her life was a gold-mine for Ellie. She would thank her again for the gift of it. Grandmother was thrilled with the strength and thickness of the wigs and with Ellie’s workmanship, too. She had surprised Ellie with a large amount of money, and Ellie knew the profit for the store would be good, as well. She could well afford the two dresses, new summer coat, a Stetson, a pair of boots, a long-sleeved tailored shirt, and trousers that would stand up to riding.

After cashing the check, she waited for the light to change and crossed the street to the May Company. In the elevator, she watched the numbers climb. When it stopped with a ding the operator slid the door open and Ellie emerged into the ladies department. When she heard Lia’s voice shouting, she knew exactly which direction to go. She saw three clerks in long-sleeved black dresses rushing back and forth with piles of chiffon and taffeta over their arms before she saw Lia. One of the clerks nodded in the direction of the voice which was coming from a dressing room.

“Go to the men’s department,” Lia commanded when Ellie stuck her head through the curtains.“See to Enrico. He is such a child! The suit will have to be measured perfect because it will come in the mail barely in time for the parties and there will be no time to send it back so they can alter it.”

Ellie went downstairs where Enrico postured while a tailor attempted to wrap a measuring tape around his waist. She decided to wait a few moments before she approached the two men, each intent on a goal.

“Yes sir,” sighed the clerk, at last, bowing in mock humility.

For the rest of her time in the men’s department, Ellie nodded or shook her head over the clothes and accessories offered to Enrico. He tried on a black suit and the hat he wanted. He and Ellie then went to find Lia who, when she heard them talking, stuck her head between the curtains and commanded, “Enrico, you sit over there in the slipper chair and Ellie you come in here with me. I have selected a few things for you to try.”

When Ellie saw the pale green-gold frock with gold embroidery on the wide belt, she threw off her skirt and blouse and tried it on over her chemise. It flowed over her slender body as if cut and fashioned just for her.

“You will wear this one to Molly’s birthday,” said, Lia. “And here is mine,” she picked up a rose colored with layers of gathered silk falling to mid-ankle in tiers. Ellie admired how it balanced Lia’s small hips with her larger top.

They bought casual clothes, too and when they stepped into the lunch room each of them wore something new.

DiVoran’s Promise Posters, Paintings from Go West as well as other art can be purchased as note cards and framable art

Creative Arts

Go West Chapter 7~Ellie

Go West

By DiVoran Lites

Chapter Seven

Ellie

“How do, Miss Morgan.” Mr. Leitzinger stood at attention near the driver’s side of a new Ford Touring Car. “Ready for church?”

She nodded looking him over and noting the way his Stetson enhanced the western theme of his jacket and boots. The jacket was as handsomely tailored as any tuxedo she’d seen and his boots had been carefully polished. He must have a place for clothes in the house, she thought. Surely he doesn’t keep them in the loft.

“Mr. Leitzinger, I’ve decided you may call me Ellie,” She looked into blue eyes shaded by thick, perfectly shaped, brows.

“Good. Call me Aldon. Please come around and meet Signor Solano.” Aldon steered her to the white-haired gentleman in the passenger seat. The man wore a perfectly cut, pinstriped suit and held a black fedora on his lap. Ellie placed her hand on the windowsill and the older man lifted it to his lips. A diamond cufflink peeked out from under the sleeve of his suit, caught a sunbeam, and winked

“Good Morning, Signorina. You are welcome to Spruce Creek Ranch. Please make yourself at home with us. Today, you are our guest to church.”

“Thank you, sir, she said carefully slipping the hand he had kissed into the pocket of her spring jacket.

“Now will you come over here, please?” Aldon, again at the driver’s side pulled the seat forward so she could get into the back with Molly who sat behind Signor Solano. The older woman wore a heavy black coat aged with russet streaks. Her hat sprouted stiff lavender ribbons looping and turning in a fantasy of bows.

Aldon got behind the wheel, pressed on the starter, and the automobile hummed to life. They were on their way to town, an older man, a woman of a certain age, and two young people who still had most of their lives ahead of them.

It took almost half an hour to get to town, but only a few seconds to coast down Main Street to the outskirts. There, identical churches sat facing each other across the road.

“This is the Catholic Church.” Aldon wheeled in next to the north-facing edifice, got out and opened the door for Signor Solano, then helped Molly out of the back seat. A priest in a cassock rushed from the church, gave Signor Solano a hug, and kissed his cheeks. Ellie noticed that Aldon’s face turned red and assumed he was embarrassed. She knew men in Chicago disdained a show of affection, so she wasn’t surprised that cowboys did too.

“That’s Father Contenti,” Aldon said. “We’ll leave the car here and walk across to my church. Opening the luggage area, he picked up a large, black Bible and stuck it under his arm then lifted his mandolin case and closed the hatch.

A large young man in a dark blue suit, red hair flaming in the sun, emerged from the other church and walked quickly across the street to greet them. He pumped Aldon’s hand and hit him on the shoulder. Ah, that’s how they do it here, thought Ellie.

“Hello there, I’m Pastor Quentin Rudd of the Clifton Community Church, at your service ma’am.” He gave a small bow then led Ellie into the church and straight to a pot-bellied stove radiating heat. “Come get warm,” he said. She held her gloved hands above the heat rising from the stove. Looking around she all but gasped at the sight of jeweled light shining through the stained glass windows, dashing color against the white walls, and splashing over the tops of the pews.

“You have a musician’s hands, I think,” Pastor Rudd said.

“Violin.” She looked around the large room. “Your church is lovely.” One of the windows depicted Jesus leading a herd of sheep with a lamb lying contently across his shoulders; another showed Him kneeling against a rock with His hands folded in prayer.

“The first one is an artist’s rendering of the Good Shepherd,” said Pastor Rudd following her gaze. “The second is our Savior’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane not long before His Crucifixion and Atonement.”

By this time, Aldon had seated himself in a wooden chair at the front and was concentrating on tuning his mandolin.

Pastor Rudd walked with Ellie to a front pew and motioned for her to be seated. He then went over to an organ that looked too small for him and fitted himself onto the bench. Angling his feet so he could press the pedals he laid large fingers on the keys. He and Aldon struck up “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Ellie had heard it before at Grandmother’s church, but never like this. Her heart rose up and she felt as if she could fly to heaven on the music alone.

When the men finished playing, Pastor Rudd disappeared through a door at the side of the church. Ellie gave Aldon a look that asked where he was going. “Young’uns outdoor Sunday School,” he said catching the look. He beckoned to the ladies who were coming in at the back and hanging their coats on a coat tree to come forward.

“Please come closer,” he said. The women wore print housedresses and ancient hats. When Ellie looked at their feet she saw white anklets with stout lace-up shoes. Looking up to scan the women’s faces, she saw eyes bright with anticipation. What kind of lives must they lead, she wondered. It’s probably a constant round of child-care, cooking, washing dishes, cleaning and sewing. What could they do for entertainment except come to town for church on Sunday? Could I bear every day being like the one before it and the one after? she thought. Oh well, I suppose happiness depends more on attitude than anything else. Aldon introduced her to Mrs. Bauer, Mrs. McGregor, and a Leitzinger cousin.

“How do you do?” Ellie said the words she’d been taught to say when she met someone. The ladies nodded without smiling, and suddenly Ellie knew she was being judged. Oh Lord, she thought they’ll be gossiping about me the minute I leave the church.

Let’s pray,” Aldon bowed his head, and the women bowed theirs, too. “Lord, please open our ears, eyes, and hearts and help us know you in fresh, new ways.”

“Ellie,” Aldon said, smiling. “Will you please read Psalm 139:14?” He opened his Bible and pointing to the passage, put it into her hands.

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” Ellie projected as she had been taught in drama class.” Was it true? Was she fearfully and wonderfully made? What a fine thought that was. She paused to let it sink in, and a momentary hush fell over the company as if her own awe had become a benediction for them all. Then, in a gentle voice, Aldon assigned a scripture to Mrs. McGregor and she began to read.