#Serial Western Romance – Page 2

Go West~Chapter 20

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Twenty

Aldon’s letter to Ellie’s Family

Dear Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cameron, and Mrs. Morgan

How do you do? It’s good to meet Ellie’s family. I hope all of you are in good health and prospering. You have a fine daughter and granddaughter in Ellie, who has certainly made a place for herself here. This morning, she asked me to write you about my wartime adventures. She thought her grandfather, particularly, might be interested in them. There isn’t much to tell, but I’m happy to tell what there is.

I flew a Nieuport Bebe in France. It was retrofitted with camera equipment so we could get photographs of what the enemy was doing. By the time the war ended, I was twenty-five. That was considered an old man by the flyers and photographers because not many of us survived to that age.

We were billeted in a small chateau in a pear orchard away from the front. It was spring, and my window framed clusters of white blossoms on the trees. My room had a linoleum floor, a chifforobe for clothes, a table and chair, and an electric light. The bed was lumpy, but the feather quilt (they called it a duvet) came in handy for cold nights. We slept whenever we got the chance. The doc said that was the way we got our energy back after being in danger for such long hours.

I did wish they had a horse or two around there. I could have ridden or spent some time working with them. By that time, they’d all been eaten. I understand the French still eat horse meat. I guess you’d have to develop a taste for it, and forget you’d had several best friends who happened to be horses.

I missed my family while I was gone, but they wrote and sent packages when they could. Ma and my Aunt Molly knit a lot of socks and what they called balaclavas for the soldiers, and I got my share of those. I guess about everybody knows what a balaclava is, but in case you don’t, it’s a warm cap that comes down over your ears and up onto your chin.. In case you’re wondering what I did with them all, I passed them around. A good, thick balaclava can come in handy in the wintertime.

Ma and Molly also sent a homemade cake packed in popcorn. By the time we opened the package, the popcorn had worked its way into the cake. We ate it anyhow and the boys went crazy over it. I’ll bet they never get another one like it.

Many pilots started out as photographers. I hear tell that the Red Baron fellow started out as a photographer before he became an ace fighter pilot. Most of us had only seen a camera once or twice – when the school photographer, or the man with the goat cart came around. We had a lot to learn, but our lack of knowledge didn’t count against us. They constantly changed out the equipment and we had to figure out how to use it.

When I became a pilot they kept me in surveillance. In Belgium, my passerger could hardly find anything to take pictures of. The countryside was desolate as far as you could see. Once in a while you might catch the stump of a burned tree or a bombed out building, but most of the landscape was just wet mud or dried mud – not much variety in that.

I’m thinking the following is the story Ellie wanted me to tell. If it was a school essay, I suppose I’d entitle it, “My Closest Call.” It happened while the photographer and I were flying behind the lines. The place hadn’t been destroyed yet, but the Huns were doing their worst. Our engine started sputtering, so I shut it off and looked for a place to land. It was quiet then — just us and the wind whistling past our ears. We lost altitude fast, so I decided to set down in a field. That all went fine until the bus picked a downhill slope and flipped when it landed. We were upside down with two wings broken by the time we stopped sliding. Fortunately, the bus did not blow up — probably because Somebody reminded me to turn off the gas. A group of resistance folk saw us coming down and got us out of the airplane and into a barn tuit de suite as they say in France, toot sweet. The next thing I knew, the Bebe was hidden under a sort of haystack. They didn’t have much vegetation, but they put canvas and branches over it so no one could spot it from the air.

They brought us stew with plenty of turnips and not much meat and were we ever glad for it. They got word to our side right away. A crew came in a big truck and hauled us and the Bebe back to base. I kept on flying and even taught a few pilots until the war ended. That’s it for now.

Come on out to Colorado and see us. Come in the fall if you can, the quaking aspen is most colorful at round-up time.

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 16

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Sixteen

Aldon

“All the guys seem to be down for the night, but I’m not ready to sleep, yet, are you?” Ellie asked when they got back to camp.

“No, let’s play some music,” he said.

“Could we play softly enough not to disturb the men?” Ellie’s brow wrinkled.

“Once they prop their heads on their saddles, nothing short of a stampede could wake them. We’ll go get the instruments.” He took her to the chuck wagon and found her violin case.

“I’ll get the chairs from the cabin and we can sit out here and look at the moon while we play.” Ellie wrapped a scarf around her head, and Aldon left his Stetson on.

“We haven’t played together before.” Ellie arranged herself in the chair with her violin at the ready. “What songs do you know?”

“Turkey in the Straw.” He concentrated on tuning his mandolin and then struck up a chord.

They played together fast, faster, fastest, until their fingers tripped over the strings and the two of them broke down laughing.

Aldon strummed the chords to, “Springtime in the Rockies,” and Ellie sang along. Afterward, she told him that her grandfather had sung the song every morning when she drove him and her grandmother work. A loud snore came from the circle around the campfire, and Aldon and Ellie snickered.

“At least our music is good enough to keep folks sleeping,” Aldon said.

Ellie’s violin bow slowed as she began to play something soft and haunting. Aldon rested his mandolin against the leg of his chair and closed his eyes so he could listen with all his mind and heart. What richness Aldon heard, what depth. At first, it was like an ancient Irish melody exploring every corner of his soul. Later, it danced between joy and sadness, putting him in a place where he felt fully contented with an occasional edge of yearning that pierced him to the soles of his feet.

The high peaks against the evening sky, the shimmer of moon, and the soft flap of a white owl put the cream on his happiness. He surveyed his mountains, his cabin, his neighbors around the fire, and his woman playing the violin like a master. But no, Ellie was not his woman, she was only the most beautiful and exciting woman he had known.

Finally, the music recalled to mind a child gamboling down a hill, full of energy and glee. When the piece ended, the night was silent except for snores and the lowing of a cow grazing in the meadow.

Ellie sighed. She rose and putting her violin away, she walked with it across the clearing, past the men, and up onto the wooden porch of the cabin.
Ellie

Ellie entered a room bathed in moonlight. The tang of vinegar assailed her sense of smell, and she wondered if someone, such as Kenny, had cleaned with it while she and Aldon were at the pond. Looking around, she spotted a kerosene lamp with a Prince Albert can lying beside it. Grandad had told her how you had to keep Lucifer sticks dry, so she took a chance that instead of tobacco, the tin contained matches. She removed the lamp’s shining glass chimney, and turned up the wick so she could light it.

The extra illumination showed a single bed in one corner. She walked over to it and sat down on a star-pattern quilt that covered it. What a work of art! Grandmother could sell a quilt like this for an excellent price.

Ellie heard a gentle tap on the cabin door, and when she opened it, Aldon stood there with the chairs from outside.

“Let me put these where they belong and light the fire. Will you be okay?” he asked his voice gentle. “Is the cabin clean?”

“Yes, everything’s fine. Thank you for taking such good care of me.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” he said. When Aldon finished his small chores, Ellie closed the door behind him and went to the four-paned window to watch him walk away. It’s too bad I couldn’t have asked him to stay so we could talk, she thought. But what would the men have thought?

When she turned down the bed, intending to get in with all her clothes on, she felt three more quilts. They knew they must be exquisite too, but she didn’t have the energy to examine them.

At the edge of sleep, Ellie found herself drifting over a misty pond. Then she was no longer alone. She was pounding the arm that held her, Aldon’s arm. She felt no sense of panic or fear, though. There was nothing to fear from him. Soon she was in his arms soaking up love and heat. She drifted into a dream about a white owl flying through the night making a whooshing sound with its big wings.

The next morning when Aldon rapped on the door again, Ellie felt as if she’d only slept for an hour. She snuggled down and put the heavy goose-down pillow over her head. But somehow, she could still hear his voice when he called to her.

“Ellie, I’ve brought you some warmer clothes.” Aldon said opening the door slightly, “I’ll lay them here.

“It’s not morning yet,” she called. There was no answer. He had gone away, and knowing it was her duty to get up and help Kenny cook breakfast for the men, she forced her feet onto the cold floor. For a moment, her mind went back to France during the war where everyone suffered cold and hunger. The sounds of men getting up brought back the cold and snow crisp on her cape and face as she tied bandages and comforted dying men. She hadn’t shirked then, and she wouldn’t shirk now.

With her arms wrapped around herself, she hurried to the pile of folded clothes and put on long-johns, stockings, trousers, a too large, hand-knit sweater, and boots. She added Aldon’s sheepskin jacket, which had become her favorite item of clothing.

When she got to the main campfire, she and Kenny prepared bacon, eggs, flapjacks, and left-over beans. When the cattle had all been seen to, Aldon joined her in on the chuck wagon seat, but insisted she drive.

Go West~Chapter 13

Go West

Chapter Fourteen

Ellie

As Molly, Kate, and Ellie approached the log corral, Ellie saw the cattle kicking up dust in the far corner. Molly stepped onto the bottom log and put her arms over the top one to balance herself. Ellie, taking her lead, helped Kate up, and the three women waited for the action to begin. Ellie saw the handles of the branding irons sticking out of the fire in the middle of the enclosure.

“It won’t be long now,” Molly shouted. She waved to one of the older cowboys. “There’s Jim, he married my cousin.”

“Good morning.” Aldon rode over on one of the most beautiful horses Ellie had ever seen. Its white mane and tail blew free. The colors on its hide reminded her of a brown, black, and burnt orange painting, on a white background, she had seen in a gallery once.

“Is that Chief?” Ellie asked, remembering her few conversations with Aldon. The horse nodded its head twice as if in answer, but Ellie suspected it was only demonstrating impatience.

“Yeah, he’s an Appaloosa.” Aldon answered.

“I like his hair,” she hid a smile, knowing her choice of words would tease Aldon. He hesitated before speaking, but then he smiled too.

“Most of his breed has one or two colors, but he got all four.” Aldon touched the brim of his Stetson. “We’ll get to work, now, kid. So long.” He touched the brim of his Stetson, gave the animal a light kick with the heel of his boot and they were away.

Ellie, watched Aldon as he left. Suddenly he had a rope in his hands and was twirling it over the cows’ heads. He seemed to choose a cow and calf to separate by letting the loop drift between them. The cow stepped back, and at the perfect moment, the loop settled on the ground under the calf’s hoof, catching him by the ankle. Aldon pulled the rope tight, and Chief strolled pulling the calf along behind on three legs. At the fire, a big man grabbed it and threw it to the ground. He tied its back feet together, then its front ones.

The creature bellowed in pain as another man shoved a red-hot iron into its hip. The sizzle and smoke from the burning brand, and the odor of singed hair took Ellie back to early days at Grandmother’s store when she trained in the beauty salon. It was the day the permanent wave machine malfunctioned and burned the curls off a patron’s head at the scalf. The smell, combined with the calf’s agony, made her sick at her stomach, so she lowered her head hoping she wouldn’t upchuck into the corral. She didn’t think anyone saw her distress, but when she looked up, Molly was scowling at her.

Telling herself to be brave Ellie looked again into the center of the pen where the young steer had been released to return to its bawling mother. A cowboy, down on one knee tossed something white that looked like baby eggplants into a galvanized bucket.

“There now,” said Molly, “that’s the castration done. Those Rocky Mountain oysters are a treat for the men. They insist on frying them theirselves. They think a woman can’t do it, but I was frying them when they were only gleams in their dad’s eyes, so they needn’t tell me there’s anything a woman can’t do.” Molly stepped down and started back toward the house. “We have to get dinner ready, and then start on supper.” The other two joined her.

“Will those poor calves be ready to travel this week?” Ellie asked.

“Sure and they will. They never give it thought. What’s the matter, girl? You can’t be feeling sorry for everything and everybody around here. This is a working ranch! You’d best hurry up

***

“Are you ready for the drive?” Aldon stood in front of the serving table, which had been brought outside for the noon meal, giving her a knowing look. Apparently, her lapse of attention was already the talk of the ranch.

“Ready when you are,” she said, handing him a slice of bread. He laid it on top of his chili.

“Thanks for the grub.” Aldon turned and walked over to a grove of trees where the other men sat on the grass eating. She wished he could have stayed and talked, but she knew they must tend to their jobs. As Molly had said earlier, there was no time for lollygagging.

“We better slice the cakes.” Molly came up behind her and set a cake and a knife on the table. “Those fellers will have all that chili et in no time and be looking for more.”

She was right. They wolfed down their dinner, came for seconds, and then demolished the cakes. As the cooks cleared the tables, the men rested against cottonwoods with their hats pulled over their eyes to shield them from the bright sun. The younger ones, including Kenny Fitzgerald, roughhoused like warriors training for battle. Too bad we have no young maidens here to swoon over them, thought Ellie.

***

At suppertime, after the branding was finished, the men filed into the kitchen and seated themselves at the long table. Since she was going on the cattle drive, Aldon insisted that Ellie sit down with them instead of serving. Molly gave him an annoyed look before she handed him the plate of Rocky Mountain Oysters, the product of the need to neuter the calves. As the plate went around and the contents disappeared, the men laughed and joked. The plate was almost empty when it reached Ellie, but the men had stopped eating and talking and were staring at her. She forked a Rocky Mountain Oyster, put it on her plate, took a deep breath, and cut off a morsel. The men fell silent, all looking at her. She knew she had to prove she wasn’t a sissy so she put the bite into her mouth. As she chewed, she thought she might be sick again. It only took a moment, however, to discover that the meat tasted like nothing, but fried flour, salt, and pepper. She smiled, and the men around the table roared. Kenny applauded, and the rest joined in.

Go West~Chapter 12

Go West Chapter 12 laundry

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Twelve

Ellie

Molly pushed open the door, let it swing shut behind her, and stood staring at Ellie and Aldon.

“What’s all that caterwauling I hear?” Molly put her hands on her hips and looked at Aldon, who stood and smiled at her.

“Well now, that’s not caterwauling, Ma’am, that’s singing, and mighty good singing, too, I’d say.” Aldon placed his hand over his heart.

“Go on with you, boyo. I’m ready to fix breakfast for the Solanos, so get out of my way.” Molly nodded toward the back door.

“Can I help?” Ellie asked.

“Cut an orange in half, slice it, and cut it again so you’ll have triangles the Signor can pick up with his fingers. Take it up to him while I get the rest of the breakfast. Be certain-sure he has a damp napkin to wipe his fingers on.”

“Before I ride into town, I need to talk to you for a minute, Molly,” said Aldon. He pulled a chair out and she sat down at the table with a humf of annoyance.

“What do you want? I’ve got to get me work started or I’ll be behind all the day.” Molly’s strident voice carried easily to Ellie who stood at the counter cutting a large navel orange. “Young woman, I’ve had the oatmeal simmering all night. After you take the orange up, come back and get the rest of the breakfast for the Solanos, and take it up.”

“Mr. Solano has given me permission to take Ellie on the cattle drive.” Aldon’s voice was low and controlled.

“Over my dead body! I’ve got all the cooking, and then I’ll be training Kate, and somebody has to look after the bairn, plus who knows what that Enrico might dream up. I still have Signor and Signorina, though I don’t know why she’s not old enough to take care of the both of them.”

“Ellie will help with the shopping and cooking and once we’ve gone you’ll have time to do everything you need to. The cousins and I, and Ellie, and Kenny, will only be at the camp one night.” Aldon’s voice held respectful confidence.

“What do you have to say for yourself, young lady, now you wheedled your way into Aldon’s favor?” Molly spoke over her shoulder to Ellie, who had finished cutting the big orange and started to leave the room.

The accusation short-circuited Ellie’s thinking and she froze in the middle of the room with the plate in her hand.

“Molly,” Aldon spoke only his aunt’s name in a tone of gentle reproof and Ellie was released by it to move on. She pushed open the door feeling like a coward but grateful to leave unpleasantness behind.

She knocked on the door of the suite and Signor Solano called out a melodious, “Entrare.”

Shifting the plate of orange slices to her left hand, she opened the door with her right. The Signor sat at his desk with the sun slanting in behind him, turning his white hair into a halo of silver, and reminding her of her grandfather. He made room for the plate amongst a pile of papers.

“Ah, the color of an orange! What a beautiful sight. Thank you, my dear.” Tilting his head to look at her he smiled and started to rise, but she motioned for him to remain seated. “I regret that the Signora is still a-sleeping,” he said. “She will be sorry she missed you.”

Back in the kitchen, Ellie discovered that her singing partner had made his escape and that Kate and Seraphina stood against the counter as they had the day before, waiting for instructions. Molly, was obliging them by giving a lecture, so Ellie saw no choice but to pause and listen too.

“Aldon is meeting his cousins at the feedlot in town to help bring the cattle home. We keep them there over the worst of the winter, but we brand them here before they go up into the range for the summer to graze. This is the smallest herd we’ve ever had, only about five hundred, or so.” She shook her head. “So many things have happened to the original bunch over the years, drought, blizzards, starvation, and disease. In time, even these healthy ones will be sold for beef and then they’ll all be gone. I don’t know what’s to become of us after that. Signor Solano surely can’t afford to keep pouring money into the place forever.” She took Seraphina’s hand and pulled her away from her grandmother who reluctantly let her go.

“Take this little one upstairs, Ellie. Signora told me yesterday that she wants to look after her this mornin’ while we cook the meal for the crew.” Molly said. “Then come back and get the breakfast.”

Ellie wondered whether Molly knew that the Signora was still in bed but decided not to stir the housekeeper’s wrath. As she and Seraphina climbed the stairway, the child asked one question after another in such rapid succession that there were no quiet spaces to insert an answer.

“Where are we going? When will we eat? So I have to eat oatmeal?” Ellie was delighted with the child’s curiosity and the way she expressed herself, and she looked forward to befriending and perhaps teaching Seraphina a few useful things.

“Ah, the little one.” Signor had finished his orange slices and handed Ellie the empty plate and napkin. “Come here,” he said in a soft voice. When the child did as he said, he bent over in his chair and looked into her face while she looked back with equal interest. “I will give her a pencil and paper and she will draw for me here on the floor,” he said. “ Signora will rise soon.

When Ellie got back to the kitchen, Kate was still listening to Molly.“There you are. It took you long enough. It’s six o’clock already and the cow hasn’t been milked, nor have the chickens been fed. After you take up the oatmeal, the cream and the sugar, I’ll show the two of you where things are. It’s no good me showing one and then having to show the other.” She opened a drawer in the cabinet under the counter. “Tea towels in the top drawer, clean dust rags in the bottom one. We wash them and hang them to dry every time we use them.

“We can start the noon meal while we’re still here, then we’ll go to the barn and see what’s what out there. I’ve soaked the beans. When you come back, Ellie, you put them on the stove to boil for chili. Kate, you fry up some of that ground beef wrapped in the butcher paper, over there. They ground it at the general store in town, where we keep our own freezer-locker. When the men go hunting, we take the venison and elk to town, too. We used to do all that meat-cutting ourselves. Modern times are much better.”

As soon as the chili was bubbling on the back of the stove, they went out to the barn and got more instruction, this time in the arts of milking a cow, feeding chickens, and, gathering eggs. Molly allowed them to help with the last chore. At about ten they were leaving the barn to go back to the house when they heard cows mooing and the, “yips” and “hies” of the men driving them. They stepped from the barn to see Aldon and several other men on horses driving the cattle into the field next to the corral.