Yankton

Chapter 44

Chapter 44 We Built it and They Came

It was around midnight in the "garden of good and evil," as Mark had taken to call old Deadwood, I built a fire in the big stove as well as the kitchen stove before we turned in.

"You know you're spoiling me," muttered Montana, "I'm starting to miss the temperate air…"

"You mean air conditioning?" I replied.

"Yes, I have personal business to attend to as well I'm not looking forward to that commode."

"Oh well…"

The next morning, as we came down the hill, I glanced over towards the livery stable to see the manager wailing on a small boy. I was off that buckboard in a flash, heading towards the guy with blood in my eye. He was just about to strike the boy again, when I laid a roundhouse blow to the side of his face taking him right down. Before he could recover, I was driving a size 11 "gunboat," right into his face. Pulling him up by his collar, I snarled in his face,

Listen here asshole; you don't go hitting kids like that! What kind of a monster are you, how do you like it when someone beats on you?" With that, I punched him in the gut a couple good ones leaving him on the ground moaning. The boy was crying and cringing in a corner.

"What's your name son? I asked, he didn't answer at first, so I slowly approached him, causing him to cringe even more.

"I won't hurt you son, what's your name?" He looked at me a moment, then slowly replied,

"Caleb."

"Well Caleb," I replied, you don't need to put up with this, is this man your father?"

"No sir," he replied,

"Where are your parents?" He continued to study me, then said,

"You live in that place top of the hill?"

"Yes I do, my name is Brian, that skinny guy out there on the buckboard is Jake Howland, the other guy is Craig Ruckerman, and the lady is Montana Carter, we live north of her in a place called Purgatory." The boy seemed to consider this, replying,

"I ain't got no folks." I grimaced, as I thought,

"You can't leave this kid here, poor little guy," so I did the only thing I could do.

"Well Caleb, would you like to come and live with us? I promise you a decent place to sleep, plenty to eat, some decent clothes. Course you'll be expected to do some chores, but you'll be working right along side me. Probably have to go to school as well, but I guarantee, no one will ever lay a hand on you again."

Again, he mulled over what I had just told him, then looked up at me,

"My own bed?"

"Yep, even a little tent cabin you can call your own, like I say, plenty to eat, and decent clothes." With that, he looked down at his tormentor and spit on him, then he walked out to the buckboard and crawled up next to where Jake and Craig were sitting.

Nobody spoke as they could see me glaring at them, they all knew there would be no argument on this, although Montana smiled at me and patted my arm, and in a low voice said,

"I've never met a man such as you."

Caleb rode in the back of the buckboard sitting on top of all the supplies we were hauling back, he had apparently struck up a conversation with Craig and Jake. I couldn't hear what they were talking about but every time I would look back that little guy would be nodding over something somebody had said, or pointing to something.

Once we reached Purgatory, he pitched right in helping me to feed and brush down the horse and hang up the harness. After we finished, I showed him where he would sleep. I had misspoke when I told him he would have his own tent, but I directed him to Mark's old bunk in my tent. He didn't seem to mind as I told him the bed was all his, and the locker next to it was where he could store his clothes.

"That footlocker is where you can put all the "stuff" you acquire Caleb," I explained, "This is yours son, nobody will bother it." I then sat him on the bed, he appeared to be around eight or nine, and although his clothes were ragged, and the shoes he wore were practically coming apart on his feet, I could tell the kid had an inner pride in himself. His blonde hair was dirty and needed cutting but he gave me a small smile as I studied him.

"How old are you Caleb?"

"Umm, nine I think."

"So you don't have any parents at all?"

"No sir."

"Don't call me sir, Caleb, I work for a living, Mr. Yankton will do." I then pulled up a chair and sat down,

"What's your last name Caleb?" He looked at me, then put his head down,

"Miller."

Well Caleb Miller, welcome to your new home." He seemed to perk up, so I continued.

"Here's the deal Caleb, I'm not your father, and I sure can't be your mother, good or bad, they are who they are I can never change that, and I wouldn't try, but I will be your guardian and protector, someone you can go to with questions or you're in trouble, in short, I will be your friend. There are a lot of good people working here, and you'll meet them shortly.

I told you that there will be chores for you to do, but they won't be anything you can't deal with, there will also be opportunities for you to make money doing things for people. We're going to get you some good clothes, plenty to eat, and a lot of friends, then later, I'll take you hunting and fishing would you like that?" Caleb's eyes lit up at that,

"Can I have a gun?"

"What kind did you have in mind?"

"I dunno, something I could hold I guess."

"Well we'll have to see, but we'll worry about that later."

"That lady that was with you, she's pretty,"

"She is, isn't she," I replied, she runs the saloon, I told you her name is Montana."

"My momma was like her."

"I thought you didn't have any folks?" I replied,

"Oh…momma's around, she just don't want me botherin her." This admission shocked me; I reached over and gently hugged him.

"Well you're safe here Caleb, now, let's go meet the other's."

On our way up to the clinic, I ran into Colin who obviously was up and moving around.

"Colin! Your alive, welcome back!" He started to chuckle, but caught himself as he started to cough.

"Aye I am happy to be back thanks to Mark and God's own angel that dear Miss Bishop."

"Are you supposed to be up?" I asked.

"Aye that I am. Twas miss Bishop that chased me out and ordered me to exercise and build up me strength."

"Well she's right you know, lying in bed will sap your muscle strength, as well as make you prone to pneumonia, especially a lung wound like that, just take it easy, do a little bit every day and you'll be fine. My sister got something for you, that I think you'll like, it's in my stuff, but I'll give it to you later, by the way, I'd like you to meet Caleb Miller, he's going to be joining us here at Purgatory. Caleb, this is Colin Murphy, one of the best damn men you'll ever meet." Both shook hands as Colin said,

"Welcome lad, welcome to Purgatory, stop by and see me later, we'll chat a bit."

Next stop was the clinic, where Melonie was sitting next to a woman with a newborn cuddled next to her. Mel spotted us, and rushed over,

"Delivering babies eh?" I said,

"Oh that's Mrs. Doyle, her husband left only minutes ago, they're building a cabin just up the road," then looking down at Caleb, she added.

"Well who's this?"

"This is Caleb Miller, I'll tell you more later, but he's going to be living here at Purgatory now, Caleb, this is Miss Melonie Bishop, another benefit of living here, if you get hurt, she or my friend Mark Sedgwick will make you better. By the way, where is Mark?"

That Mr. O'Rourke sent word that he wanted to see you two, Mark went to find out what."

"I was starting to wonder when he'd be calling again," I commented.

"This place is certainly growing," commented Melonie, Caleb is our second resident this week."

Oh, who's the first," I asked, Melonie made a face, and frowned,

"Mrs. Narcissa Yancy. "

"From your look of disgust, I take it you don't care for her?" I said, Melonie snorted,

"Mrs. Yancy is the quintessential southern belle," began Melonie.

"Klara hired her. Supposedly, she and her husband decided to step off their riverboat, to come and see what Deadwood had to offer. Well not long after their arrival, her husband took umbrage with one of the sports in Deadwood, and was shot and killed for his effort. Poor Narcissa was left almost penniless, as so many are, and her future was looking bleak. Mr. Miller was offering her "work" at his place, but someone referred her here, so she showed up two days ago. According to Klara, the woman is an incredible card player, and supposedly a master at the Faro table."

I looked at Melonie and grinned,

"I see that look Mel, what is it you're not telling me?" She grimaced, and shrugged,

"Well…We've already had a disagreement. We were sitting at the table over at the saloon the other day, when the subject came up about the last of the federal troops leaving the south; I casually said something to the effect that perhaps they might need to remain a little longer. This excited Mrs. Yancy into a personal attack on me, she then demanded to know where I was from, when I informed her that I was from Michigan, her anger only worsened."

This didn't sound good, the fact that Klara hired someone without consulting Montana was a problem in itself, but to have to deal with some woman, who was still fighting the Civil War, was something else entirely.

"So what's the current situation?" I asked,

"We are not on speaking terms," added Melonie, "On top of that, I heard her arguing with Kitty and Maggie, over what, no one will say, it's a terrible situation, Klara is upset as well, she's afraid Montana will terminate her employment for employing a woman like that, and I couldn't blame her." I grimaced, and said,

"Well I guess I'd better get over there and try and save Klara's job, could you keep an eye on Caleb while I go and deal with this?" She agreed, and asked the boy if he wanted to take a bath as there was a tub with warm water in the back room. Mimicking Arnold Schwarzenegger, I announced,

"I'll be back!"

When I entered the saloon, there were several people sitting at tables either drinking and talking, or playing cards, Craig was talking to Maggie, and Montana was sitting at the employee table talking to Klara and the new woman. Sitting down net to Klara, I asked,

"I heard there might be a problem here? Klara, has Montana fired you? Cause if she has, I'll give her that spanking she's been asking for." This brought a shocked surprise from everyone, even Maggie and Craig looked over.

"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Montana, "Nobody's fired anyone, and whatever you may have heard, it's all been settled, Narcissa here is taking over my position so I can devote more time upstairs helping out Kitty and Maggie." This one caught me totally, looking at Montana, I looked for any sign that she was kidding, I saw none. I just started thinking to myself,

"Man! She's serious," when Montana started laughing,

"I saw that one coming a mile away. Seriously though, Klara did the right thing, I've been hoping that someone like Narcissa here would grace our door, but until the boarding house is completed, Klara will help out when things get busy, Narcissa and I were just working out terms, and while we're on the subject, I promised her a room at the boarding house whenever you decide to start on it."

"Well that's just great," I said, but when your and Mrs. Yancy are done with your business, I'd like to have a word with her."

"Fair enough," replied Montana. While Montana and Narcissa were chatting, I spoke to Klara.

"Klara, we've got another youngster living here now, his name is Caleb Miller, and he's around nine. That guy who runs the stable down the hill from our cabin was beating the hell out of the poor kid, so I stopped it. Long story short, Caleb's here now, maybe you could go introduce yourself, and have him meet Inge and Steinar, he's over at the clinic with Melonie." She thought that was a wonderful idea, so left right away.

When the two women were done talking I introduced myself, then got right down to it.

"Mrs. Yancy, it's come to my attention that you and Melonie had a bit of a spat the other day, before you do anything else, you WILL, apologize to her, is that understood?" She glared daggers at me, then said,

"She's nothing but a damned Yankee, who not only insulted me, but my homeland as well, I will not apologize."

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way," I thought. I looked her in the eye, and slowly said,

"I hope you are not going to be a hard case. For what it's worth, I know all about reconstruction, carpet baggers, Bedford Forest and his Klu Klux Klan, believe me, I know more than you could possibly know, a lot of hard feelings and bad situations came out of that, but there it is…Deal with it." My gruff approach seemed to cow her, but just for a moment, she counter attacked with,

"Where do you come from sir?"

"Wyoming, and my friend Mark hails from Wisconsin, another damned Yankee. Look Mrs. Yancy, the war has been over going on twelve years now, the south you knew is never coming back so get over it." Yancy glared at me with a stone cold stare, as she slowly and deliberately stated,

"You are certainly no gentleman, how my employer see's anything in you is beyond me."

I shrugged, then replied,

"Actually Mrs. Yancy, I am a gentleman, and Montana and I have a wonderful relationship. We seem to be getting off on the wrong foot here, and I don't want that, however Melonie is a wonderful woman, my friend Mark is teaching her everything he knows, preparing her to become a doctor, and not just some old "sawbones" either. Tell you what, why don't you tell me your story, everything. From what little Melonie told me, it sounds like you have a very interesting one at that." This seemed to temporarily stop her in her tracks; she studied me for a moment, then said,

Very well, however you must tell me yours."

"What makes you think I have anything interesting to tell?" She gave me a wry smile,

"Did not Miss Bishop tell you that I am an excellent card player?" I shrugged,

"I believe something was said about it."

"Well sir, I'm an excellent judge of "reading" my opposition, besides Mrs. Carter hinted that you were a man of secrets. Smiling, I replied,

"No secrets really, those that know me, know my secret, but it's not just me, my friend Mark as well, along with my sister, who you will meet at another time. But seriously, just keep your eyes and ears open, and you too will eventually come to know my secret as well."