Cha'Nara's Gift

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 Our Town

Emily and I were simply amazed at the Vagan's had this thing covered, socially accepted teen promiscuity, I wonder if Cha'nara had tried to explain any of this to Emily's whores. "So," said Emily, "How do you make Ben not feel bad when you say "So Long?" I thought you couldn't do those "mind meld" things on guys." "It is a form of hypnotic control, he will always remember me, just not feel bad about me leaving." All Emily and I could do was just shake our heads, a horrible thought then crossed my mind, what if Cha'Nara had already put the "zap" on our heads and we didn't know it, I still wonder what she truly did to Emily's mind.

I think Cha'Nara suddenly got the idea Emily and I disapproved of Vagan ways and produced something that we hadn't seen before. Holding up her left arm she showed us the most beautiful turquoise bracelet I'd ever seen, "Where did you get that?" both of us inquired, Pip also produced a turquoise ring on a thong around her neck, it appeared to be a matched set. "Ben gave it to me to remember him by. "Ben! Where in Hell did Ben get something like that?" I asked. "From bad man who hurt Rachel" said Pip.

It made sense, Ben probably took the body down to the "chute" went through the man's pockets before dumping him down. Emily examined the jewelry closer, "It's very beautiful Cha'Nara, goes with you're skin very nicely." Obviously Ben thought so as well. "Well Cha'Nara, I can't say we totally approve of you're behavior with Ben, but that's the guardian in us speaking, being around him makes you happy then I guess there's nothing we can do about it, but just remember, We don't want to see him hurt OK?"

"OK" said Cha'Nara. Emily then added, "One more thing, I don't want you up on the second floor when the girls are working, ever! Is that understood?" Pip made a face, but grudgingly agreed. Emily then grinned and said, "Guess you'd better go find your boyfriend!"

Cha'Nara smiled and ran out of the office, I looked at Emily with resignation, "Well we tried, if that's the way they do things on Vaga IV who are we to deny her." I offered. Emily muttered to herself, shook her head and said, "Just when you think you've seen it all." Later on that day, I confronted Ben, "Hey Ben, Cha'Nara showed us that ring and Bracelet you gave her. She said you found it on that guy who roughed up Rachel." At first he thought I was accusing him of something but then realizing otherwise he said, "Yes, I heard him tell someone he was up from Santa Fe way, figured he either stole it from some Indian or bought it down there." I looked at Ben and said, "Guys like that don't buy stuff like that, they steal them, probably killed some Indian woman for them, anyway, it would have sold for thousands of dollars in our time, but they really look good on Cha'Nara. When we eventually go home we'll get the ring re-sized for her finger. Realizing he had just given away thousands of dollars worth of jewelry he started apologizing profusely. "Relax son, I'm glad you gave it to Cha'Nara, she's worth it, she'll take it to another world, think of it as a tiny piece of earth somewhere in the universe. Ben then felt a lot better about it all.

Emily Picks Up The Story

Every morning (unless there was too much snow) Deak and I would run, sometimes Cha'Nara would join us, but usually it was just the two of us. Everybody thought we were crazy, but even with all the exercise we were getting doing other things, it really kept us toned. Most of the time we ran about two or three miles, down to a creek crossing and back, both of us always going armed. Sometimes Deak would "Hardcore" it and carry his M1A at "Port Arms" but people who worked their ass's off every day didn't understand those of us who had PT so ingrained into them they couldn't escape it. One day Cha'Nara complained to us that she wasn't getting enough to eat, and upon closer examination we saw that she was right, most of what the people of 19th century Colorado ate consisted of meat, Cha'Nara didn't eat meat, the vegetarian meals we brought for her were long gone, corn mush, oatmeal, various soups, just weren't cutting it for her anymore, we had to find a solution, and fast.

I discussed the problem with Ben and his mother, Alice could only think in terms of various vegetable soups or breads, however she did mention rice, I told her I'd talk to Gordon Stillwater about stocking rice as well as various spices, I worked out some recipes with Alice such a vegetarian Chili Lentil soup and egg casserole. A couple of these dishes I had had in Afghanistan. Korma was another dish, but I couldn't remember what was in it. We experimented with Quiche, something Mrs. Miller had never heard of, basically eggs spinach and a pastry crust. We cooked some stuff up, played around with recipes, and came up with food that wasn't half bad, meatless meals were a novelty to Mrs. Miller, but I assured her they were quite common in certain parts of the world. A couple days later, Ben came to me and said he had caught a fish and fried it up; Cha'Nara ate it and seemed to like it, so maybe it was just red meat her system couldn't tolerate. When Stillwater finally got in our order of rice lentils and beans Ben's mom put together a bean and rice dish, using cheese was another novel idea to her. Still, she did as I asked and created a tasty casserole, Cha'Nara loved. I talked Alice into adding this dish to her restaurant menu, and surprisingly people liked it, later some improvements were made, but folks looking for something to go with their steak enjoyed it very much.

The crisis with Cha'Nara's food started Deak and I thinking about the necessity of making a return trip home to bring back things like recipes, to improve the level of cooking around here. I asked Cha'Nara about eating fish, they ate things that came out of the water on Vaga IV apparently, so there was another option, I showed Alice how to prepare fish "blackened" and with certain seasonings, Cha'Nara loved this method of cooking even more, so we now had food that our little "space girl" could eat.

This story also brings up another facet of Deakstown. Shortly after Alice Miller opened up "Alice's Restaurant," a name we didn't associate with the Arlo Guthrie song until someone pointed it out years later, (a generational thing I guess). I referred a woman to her that had originally come to Deak seeking work as a prostitute. Lucinda McCord, had apparently fooled around behind her husband's back, got caught, kicked out of house and home and eventually showed up at the Bad Girls Saloon. In talking with her, I discovered she really wasn't prostitute material, she just felt she didn't have any options; her ex's family were very influential and made things hard on her. I asked Alice if she would take in this woman to help her in the restaurant, which she graciously did. As it turned out, Lucinda was an excellent cook as well, the two hit it off and made "Alice's Restaurant" a very popular spot.

Around the first part of November, Deak and I finally made up our minds to make a quick "run" back to 2012 to sell our gold acquisitions and "antiques" Ben wanted to come but Deak needed him to keep an eye on things, I had been grooming Annie to be my "second in command" while I was gone, so final plans were made. I had quietly made an offer to all my "girls' that if anyone wanted to accompany us, we could take one person, that person turned out to be Rachel.

Emily Continues

Ben Miller really wanted to return to the future with us, but Deak insisted he remain, and along with sheriff James keep an eye on things. We promised him that eventually another trip would have to be made, and that he would be the one to go, Ben wasn't happy, but settled for the promise. Of all my "girls' Rachel seemed the most unlikely to want to go, but on the other hand, she was my best student, and seemed to read the most when not working. The other girls were more outspoken and adventurous, but apparently not that adventurous to want to travel into the future. A week before Thanksgiving, we crammed all the antique guns, artifacts, and miscellaneous crap , along with all our gold acquired to date, and set a course for home.

Cha'nara was anxious and fretted over having to leave Ben, Rachel was nervous as well, but I detected a nonchalant attitude that she used as armor. Cha'Nara and I carefully went over the navigation data, double checking everything; finally we initiated the flight sequence for return to the year 2012, one month after we departed. The "unit" hummed and vibrated as before, then quieted down. Checking our data, we discovered we had returned on December 5th 2012, a couple weeks before Christmas. Cha'Nara and I shut everything down, opening the hatch to a rush of wintery air, we were in the "Crate" something I had wondered about. Was the navigation that precise to place us inside, apparently it was, so I knew we would materialize in "Hanger 51," when we returned to Deakstown. It was dark so Deak turned on his flashlight then found the switch for the lights in the "crate." We collected our gear and then sealed up the "unit" before heading for the house. In the shadows, I could tell Rachel was visibly unnerved, this was not the interior of "Hanger 51" when we opened the door to the darkened barn I caught fear in her eyes, "You OK there Rachel? We are at my folks ranch, welcome to the year 2012, just stay strong." I reached over and gently guided her along; outside we found ourselves walking through six inches of snow, there had only been about an inch when we left Deakstown. Cha"Nara began to complain, she hated the snow and cold, although snow in itself fascinated her, coming from a tropical planet as she did.

Someone must have seen us because the floodlights off the back porch suddenly came on; Rachel yelped and jumped at the suddenness of light washing over us. Dad opened the door with, "Holly! The kid's are back!" Dad welcomed us home gave a surprised look to Rachel, "Hurry up Cha'Nara get in here where it's warm!" Once in the kitchen, we stomped our feet knocking all the snow off, mom came in and gasped when she saw Rachel. Before things went any further I introduced her to Rachel. "Mom, this is Rachel Evans, Rachel, this is my mother Holly Carter, that's my dad, Joe." Rachel offered her hand to shake, but she was clearly distracted by the 21st century pressing down all around her. She also had a different "look" about her, shorter, different complexion, clothes, and just an overall different appearance set her off from the rest of us, mom and dad were staring at a person that up to an hour ago had been living in the 19th century, this was culture "shock" writ large. Mom snapped out of her surprise and smiled, offering seats for us to sit, and grabbing for the coffee in the cupboard to start coffee.

Deak had already taken his coat off and was ushering my dad into the other room to find out what had been going on in our absence, Cha'Nara made a beeline for the living room where it was warmer leaving the three of us alone in the kitchen. Mom c****d an ear to what I was saying while she made coffee, Rachel sat in her chair trying to make sense of what she was seeing, and I was trying to talk to two people about different things at the same time. Rachel had a wary look about her, starring at the kitchen lights that in her mind were extremely bright but didn't appear to be lit by a flame; I knew I had a long road ahead of me in introducing her to the future, so I jumped in with the first step. "All the lights in this house Rachel run off electricity, no flame, no smell, in fact electricity powers just about everything we have, as time goes by, I'll explain everything to you so you can understand it, try to remember that in the one hundred and thirty four years we've traveled, they've been pretty busy in this country inventing things."

Emily Continues

Mom served coffee to everybody, Cha'Nara came back in the kitchen and sat down her "pixyish" look and twinkle in her eye restored, Rachel sipped on the coffee and nibbled on the cookies mom put on the table, Cha'Nara began to help herself a little too much to the cookies until I admonished her, "Cha'Nara, don't be pigging out on those cookies," she grinned and waited until I wasn't looking to sneak a couple more. I gave Rachel "Electricity 101" trying to be as basic as I could, she understood what electricity was, but couldn't understand it could be channeled into all the lights and other things it powered.

Deak Continues

I let Emily handle Rachel while I talked to her dad about what had been going on. He showed me a couple boxes of mail, we had received, "We checked for bills and stuff, paying all the bills as you requested, pretty much all of that stuff in the boxes is junk mail, but we kept it for you. A quick check showed me most of it were "appeals" the sort of stuff everybody who wins money gets, over the next few days I'd have to go through it all. Emily's dad told me about his new truck, a Ford 250 four wheel drive, and thanked me for buying it for him. "After all you and Mrs. Carter have done for us, it's no problem." I learned about local and national events, our accountant had been calling, as well as our Edward Jones rep. (I'd have to meet with them tomorrow or the next day) Mr. Carter then asked about Rachel.

"She lives in Deakstown, we offered certain people a chance to see the future, she took it, although I think the light and space are putting the "zap" on her head." "Sure looks a lot different than us, don't she?" "You've got to remember Mr. Carter, people back then weren't as well nourished as we are, you don't see fat people much." "What does this Rachel do?" "Oh ah, um…Works for Emily!" "Oh, I see, where is this "Deakstown" of yours?" "Kinda North of Georgetown, pretty close to where I-70 runs." "Oh way up there then, finding much gold?" "Oh yeah, lots, I've got to get hold of some gold buyers real quick." Turning a bit more serious, Mr. Carter then asked, "Tell me Deak, what's it really like back there?" "Pretty violent, it really reminds Emily and I of the 'Stan, very primitive, crappy roads, no law to speak of, definitely "Law of the Gun." "So tell me about this "Deakstown?" Sitting down with our coffee, I proceeded to tell him the tale.

Emily Picks up the Story

As we talked, Rachel started to become more relaxed, but at one point, she hinted that she needed to go outside to the privy, "Not anymore you don't, follow me." I showed her the bathroom and the toilet, how you conducted your "business" and flushed afterwards, the sink with it's hot and cold running water, and a quick rundown on the tub and shower, Rachel was stunned, it took a few attempts, but in the end she made the leap to the future in regards to "waste management." I showed her how to turn the lights on and off, hazards to watch for, (no poking things into electric outlets, putting electric appliances in water, jus basic stuff every child knows, but when you're from the 19th century, you don't even know what a kid knows yet. Another thing that really upset her was the radio, music and voices coming from a small box, "How did you get someone in there? Where's that music coming from? This has to be magic!" It was around midnight by the time I finished a basic run-thru. Sleeping assignments were set-up, Rachel and Cha'Nara would share a bed, Deak and I would have our own as usual. In the morning, I gave Rachel a quick review on the bathroom, and gave her some of my clothes to wear, a trip to Wal-Mart was defiantly in order, mom prepared a nice breakfast, Rachel was amazed at the gas stove, and totally dumbfounded by the microwave, we warned her to have one of us operate it for her if she wanted anything cooked in it. During breakfast, Deak and I attempted to explain radio, with mixed results, in the end I said, Rachel, "Don't feel too bad if you don't understand a lot of this stuff, we've lived with it all our lives, and still can't understand the operating principles."