Gus Page 5

  “Much brighter, Gus. Thank you so much.” Rachel beamed.

  “I need to get this to the bank. Can you do that for us, Gus? I don’t get around too well,” Eli asked.

  “I’d rather you didn’t trust me with that much, Eli. Why don’t you have Rachel make the deposit?”

  “She could, but we don’t have any way of getting into town.”

  “We’ll take the wagon.”

  “We could never ask you to hitch up that beautiful mare of yours to the wagon, Gus.”

  “Don’t need to. Picked up a solid pair of horses a little while ago. Old Charlie probably wouldn’t last halfway down the access road.”

  “Gus, you can’t be spending your own money. That’s not right.”

  “It’s all right, Eli. If you really wanna see how stupid I can be, look outside. I bought myself another fine-looking horse. A chestnut gelding. There was no reason at all for my doing that. I just couldn’t let somebody else buy him.”

  “So, Rachel can make the deposit. But could you go with her? I’m not comfortable with her going alone into town. Some folks aren’t as friendly as the sheriff.”

  “If that’s friendly, I sure don’t want to see unfriendly. Of course, I will. But I’ve got to unload the rest of the stuff first.”

  “What stuff?” asked Eli.

  “Just some things I picked up while I was in town.”

  Gus went back outside and pulled down the two heavy panniers and lugged them up the steps.

  He set them down on the floor and began emptying them as Eli and Rachel watched.

  “Why’d you do this, Gus?” asked Eli.

  “Noticed you were low on supplies and had no way of picking them up. They didn’t cost much.”

  “Gus, you need to stop. Now that we have this draft, we’re solvent.”

  “I won’t do it anymore. I promise. But it costs a lot to run a ranch, Eli. You know that.”

  “I know.”

  “Come and check out my new, totally unnecessary horse.”

  Eli and Rachel headed for the door.

  Rachel opened it and saw the beautiful chestnut gelding and the brown and gray geldings.

  “He is handsome. But the other two are very nice, too.”

  “They’ll pull the wagon for a few years.”

  “Gus, did you get anything to eat?” Rachel asked.

  “No, I’m fine. I’m going to head outside and check on the barn. We’ll need the room.”

  Gus walked out to the barn. He needed to start watching his funds. That chestnut gelding was an extravagance. But then, so was Belle. He still had his $200 in his saddle pocket and another $18.45 after buying the horses, saddle, and food.

  _____

  “Eli, this just isn’t right at all. That good man is spending what little money he has to bring us food and get horses for the wagon,” Rachel said, holding the draft.

  “I know, Rachel. When you deposit the draft, take out a hundred dollars and give Gus fifty for the horses. I know you can make him take it.”

  She laughed. “You’ve been married to me for too long, Eli.”

  “I can never be married to you too long, Rachel.”

  She smiled at him then stepped over and gave him a kiss. Then she continued putting away the food.

  _____

  Gus looked at the stalls. They needed repairs. He’d tend to that tomorrow. He had noticed that the barn doors were always open. He walked out and gave one a yank. It was frozen. He looked at the hinges. Not too bad. There was rust, but they could be salvaged. He checked the second door. Same story. He had enough reach to touch the door above the top hinge, so he could do the job himself.

  He went into the barn and found a lantern. He swished it around and was rewarded with the sound of kerosene sloshing about. He opened the cap and poured some kerosene into an old can he found nearby. He poured the kerosene on each hinge, then walked back inside and found the can of axle grease. He smeared it over each hinge. He let them sit while he washed the grease off his hands with pumice soap.

  Once his hands were clean, he walked across the front of the barn and stood back about twenty feet from the right barn door. He took a running start and, just before hitting the door, flipped so his back would strike it flat. His 180 pounds caused a loud crack that sounded like a gunshot coming from the three huge hinges, as the door finally moved.

  Gus turned and faced the second door. Another running start and the same flip at the end. A second bang from the hinges, and the door slammed all the way to the side of the barn. As he was pulling the second door toward him, Rachel came flying out of the house.

  “Are you all right, Gus? It sounded like gunfire out here.”

  “I’m fine, Rachel. I’m trying to get these hinges broken free, so the doors will open and close like they’re supposed to.”

  “They haven’t worked in a while.”

  Gus pulled the left-hand door. It creaked and groaned, but it moved. As he pulled, it became quieter. Finally, it reached the end of its travel, and Gus moved it back. It opened much better. Then he closed it again. The right-hand door was a bit more recalcitrant. He had to push it back to the barn first, then it protested even louder when he started to close it. But after another open-and-close session, it, too, quieted down.

  Rachel watched in amazement as the barn doors moved. They hadn’t moved in years.

  Gus finally left them wide open again.

  “They won’t rust anymore with the grease on them.”

  “That’s amazing, Gus.”

  “I’ll get the wagon cleaned up. It should be ready in another hour or so. Then we can go and make your deposit.”

  “Thank you, Gus,” Rachel replied.

  Gus went outside and led Belle and the new horses to the barn. He unsaddled Belle and the chestnut gelding and put them into the broken-down stalls after watering them. He brushed them down quickly.

  Then he checked out the wagon. He needed to pull the wagon out of the barn to get a good look. It wasn’t pleased about being moved. It took a few minutes, but he finally was able to get it out of the barn. He was sweating heavily by the time he got it done.

  He examined the wagon in the daylight. It wasn’t too bad except for the lack of grease in the wheels. He took the jack out and lifted the back end of the wagon. He removed the right rear wheel and greased it heavily before sliding it back on the axle and putting on the retaining nut and pin. It took him almost an hour to do all four wheels, but it rolled easily as he pushed it back into place. His hands were filthy with grease, so he grabbed his bar of pumice soap. He walked to the trough and filled a pail with water and began lathering off the grease.

  _____

  In the house, Rachel and Eli were talking about Gus and his unexpected generosity.

  Eli said, “I still can’t understand why he’s doing so much for us. You don’t think he’s Jewish, do you?”

  Rachel laughed. “Hardly. I don’t get the impression he’s anything other than what he appears to be, the hardest-working cowboy we’ve ever met and the best man. I wish our Sara had met someone like him. I’ll go and see if he’s ready to go. I hear that the noise has stopped.”

  She gave Eli a quick kiss on the cheek. She went outside and saw Gus hitching up the new horses to the wagon.

  “Are we heading into town?” he asked as he spied Rachel.

  “If you’re ready. The horses are ready. Let’s see how they work together as a team. It doesn’t always work out.”

  He helped Rachel on board and stepped up onto the seat. He snapped the reins, and the horses stepped off.

  “So far, so good.”

  The team responded to their new assignments better than Gus had hoped.

  “Rachel, Eli said that he didn’t like you going into town alone. Is it really that bad?”

  Rachel sighed. “There have been incidents. The women pretty much act like I don’t exist. Most of the men are a little better, mainly because they’re in business, but there are some places
we don’t even go.”

  “That’s just not right, Rachel. You and your husband are good people.”

  “It’s all right, Gus.”

  “Well, I’ll try to keep my temper then. It can rile me up something fierce when I see good folks being treated unfairly. It’s a weakness, I guess.”

  “Hardly that, Gus.”

  They arrived in Kinnick and went to the bank. Gus stepped down and helped Rachel dismount. They entered the bank. Rachel walked up to the teller’s cage and slid the draft across the small counter.

  “I need to have this deposited in our account, please, and I’d like a hundred dollars in cash.”

  Now that Gus was attuned to it, he could see the frostiness. There was no, “What can I do for you today?” or “How can I help you, ma’am?”

  The cashier took the draft, looked at the signature, and opened up a ledger. He wrote some things down and slid the receipt and the cash over to Rachel, who accepted it.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  When the man didn’t say a word, Gus did.

  “Excuse me,” he said to the cashier in his best growling voice, which was impressive. “The lady just said thank you. You said nothing. Where I come from, that’s more than just rude, it’s insulting. Now, unless you really want me to get angry, and you never want to see that, you will apologize to the lady and provide an appropriate response.”

  The clerk actually started sweating as Gus’s gray eyes flashed at him.

  “I apologize, madam, for my rude behavior. You’re welcome.”

  “Now that wasn’t so painful, was it?” Gus said in a less growly voice.

  He made a point of taking Rachel’s arm as they left the bank.

  Rachel didn’t want to say anything, but what Gus did had made her feel like a queen.

  They left the bank, and Gus helped her climb on board the wagon. Gus climbed up, and they turned back toward the ranch.

  “Gus, thank you for that.”

  “I apologize for being forward in taking your arm, Rachel, but I had to show those yahoos that you were with me and that I was proud to be seen with you. I want them to know that you and Eli should be respected.”

  “I don’t think it will change their attitudes at all, really. But with you there, I wasn’t worried.”

  “You and your Eli should never be worried. We just fought a war, killed hundreds of thousands so black folk could be free. Why should you be treated different just because of what you believe? I guess it’s that way with the Mormons, too.”

  “You’re forgetting the Catholics, too. Which is really odd, because all of the Protestant religions are offshoots.”

  “I guess unless you’re white and Protestant, you’re not acceptable.”

  “What about you, Gus? What are you?”

  He looked over at her and smiled. “I’m a cowboy, Rachel.”

  She laughed and asked, “Have you ever known any Jews before, Gus?”

  “Yep. Rode with a feller at the Bar G a long time ago, Jim White. He kept it secret mostly, but he told me about it and why he wanted to keep it quiet. Good man. Even changed his name, he told me.”

  “A lot do. Why did he tell you?”

  “Don’t rightly know. I think maybe he felt guilty for doing what he had to do to be accepted by the guys. It was odd, really. We had three colored men on the crew, and nobody treated them any different. But he told me that he knew they’d be less happy to have him around if they knew.”

  “No, I was asking why he told you and not someone else.”

  “Beats me. Maybe because we got along.”

  “I think I know why he told you. You saw him as another man, and he trusted that you would continue to see him that way after he told you. You did, didn’t you?”

  “Of course, I did. Like I said, he was a good man.”

  “I think you’re a good man, Gus.”

  “Thank you, Rachel.”

  “Oh, and Gus. I need to give you this.”

  She held out fifty dollars in her hand.

  “You hang onto it, Rachel. I’d probably just spend it on whiskey and women. You know how cowboys are.”

  “Gus, I insist that you take this money.”

  “And I insist that you hang on to it. If it’s a battle of wills that you want, Rachel, you will lose. There is no one more stubborn than a cowboy. He’s had to argue with bulls that don’t want to go where they were supposed to go. He’s had to dissuade rattlesnakes from sinking those fangs into his behind. Now, Rachel, you don’t impress me as being as persuasive as either of those creatures. So, hang on to the money, and we can keep a cordial relationship.”

  Rachel laughed. “No one has beaten me in a stubborn contest before. I’ll hang on to the money, but it’s yours.”

  “I can live with that.”

  “Gus, why do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “When we first met you, you sounded like every other cowboy we’ve met. But just a minute ago you sounded so well spoken, I wasn’t sure it was you.”

  Gus smiled. “When I was growing up, my parents were sticklers for the proper use of English. But in the wrangler world, using that kind of language isn’t going to sit well with your fellow cowhands. So, I adopted the slang of a cowboy. It’s actually a more comfortable way of talking, but it’s not as precise. So, it sometimes slips out when I’m talking to someone like you or Eli.”

  “Well, feel free to use either.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. I reckon I will.”

  She laughed and put the cash back in her purse.

  As they continued to ride, Gus looked over at Rachel.

  “Rachel, are you and Eli in any danger?”

  “I don’t know. We were accepted at first, then tolerated for most of the time we were here, but in the last two years, there was a change. We began getting threats, and things began to happen, like Betsy going missing, and sometimes we hear gunfire. But we haven’t gotten any threats in a while.”

  “What does ‘a while’ mean? A year? A few months?”

  “About a month. The last one was a paper stuck on our barn that told us to leave or else.”

  “Do you have any way of protecting yourself?”

  “No. Do you think it’s necessary?”

  “Not while I’m here.”

  “Are you planning on leaving?”

  “No. Not unless I’m asked to.”

  “That won’t happen, Gus.”

  They turned down the access road and soon arrived at the house.

  Gus stopped the wagon and helped Rachel down from the wagon.

  “I’ll go and get the horses unhitched and brushed down. I’ll be in shortly.”

  “Thank you, Gus.”

  Rachel entered the house and found Eli sitting at the table.

  “How’d it go?” he asked as she walked into the kitchen.

  “Fine. I lost the battle of wills over the money. I told him I’d hold on to it, but it was his.”

  “You lost? That must be a first. Other than that, it went well?”

  “Of course, there was something that happened at the bank.”

  “What happened there?”

  “I made the deposit, and the clerk gave me the receipt and the cash. I said thank you, he said nothing, and I turned to leave. Gus told him he was rude and told him to apologize.”

  “Did he?”

  “Oh, yes. He apologized and said you’re welcome.”

  “Now that is something.”, Eli grinned.

  “Rachel, Gus seems so good at solving things. Do you think he could help us find Sara?”

  “It’s been two years, Eli.”

  “Should we ask him? Rachel, he can move more easily in their world. He may find her.”

  “Yes, you’re right. Let’s ask.”

  The door opened and Gus walked in.

  “Horses are put away and everything is all set.”

  “Gus, could you have a seat?”

  “Sure.”

  Gus sat
down. He could see the troubled looks on their faces.

  Eli began. “Gus, we never mentioned it because it never came up, but we have a daughter named Sara. Sara felt the distrust and ignorance worse than we did. She wasn’t allowed to go to school. She had no friends. She was so lonely. As she grew older, she blossomed into a very pretty girl with a fine figure. She was thrilled at being the center of attention of young men when we went into town, and we tried to shield her by keeping her here at the ranch. But she became restless about staying here. She wanted to get away. About two years ago, she went into town and met a young man named Will Brannon. He told her he wanted to marry her, so she packed and, despite our protests, left with him. They were going to Texas. We don’t know where. We haven’t heard a word from her since. I know it’s a lot to ask, but do you think you could try to find her and see if she’s all right?”