The Family Tree

Chapter 4

Frederick McIntosh lived on a ranch with his family in the small community of Brown, Nebraska. Brown was a half-hour horse ride from Smithville. When Frederick turned eighteen, he frequented the local saloon in Smithville. Frederick’s family was wealthy from raising cattle. If his parents knew he had been going to the bar to drink, they’d be disappointed. His folks thought people frequenting saloons were below them. Most families were poor except for the McIntoshes. The only other family of wealth was the Smith family. The Smiths had a daughter named Tiffany, and Frederick’s folks hoped the young people would marry and have kids someday.

Frederick’s father taught him two things in his life, to fear God and to work hard. Frederick didn’t much fear God, but he was a hard worker. He knew cattle farming. Farmers in the county wanted him to work their farm, but he felt loyal to his father. Nobody could afford to pay him as his father did. Frederick figured he would work and die on his father’s ranch. In the meantime, he wanted to have fun but figured he would marry Tiffany and have kids at some point. It wouldn’t be so bad. He could grow to love Tiffany. First, he had wild oats to sew. Frederick felt lucky in a way. Tiffany was the only available girl around, so he felt lucky that she waited for him. If not for her wouldn’t have a future wife.

After kissing Tiffany in the hayloft, his hormones raged. With the help of his friend Slim, he learned the ins and outs of being with a girl. Slim"s parents were drunks and loose, and Slim learned these ways from them. No other kids knew about s*x or hormones aside from Slim. Fredrick listened to Slim to prepare for the day he and Tiffany would be together.

Frederick’s mother and father had a life all set up for Frederick. A farmhouse built behind their house stood available when Frederick and Tiffany married. The couple would inherit the ranch and money after his folks passed, and there would be no financial worries.

Tiffany assumed he was the boy for her to marry because he had always been the only good boy around. Tiffany’s family became wealthy from ranching and mining gold. Stinson, her father, discovered gold in Anderson cave. Tiffany felt ready for marriage and kids, but Frederick needed to rid himself of wildness first. She had no choice but to wait. There weren’t any other boys in the territory. She felt lucky to have Frederick. If not for him, she figured she would die old and alone. The only other boy was Slim, trash by her standards, and she damn sure had no interest in him. Frederick liked Slim even though he was dirty and poor and his parent’s drunken assholes.

Slim and Frederick had a blast. Being old enough to drink, they liked going to the saloon or stealing Slims Pappy’s moonshine. The two of them would down huge burning gulps, getting drunk by the time they made it into Smithville. One night they ran across two older drunk guys, and they got into a bit of skirmish with them.

“Shouldn"t you be at home in bed, boy?” one of the men said to Slim.

“Yes sir, I ‘spect so with your f*****g sister.”

The man stood and decked Slim with one punch.

Frederick busted a bottle over the man’s head.

The sheriff happened to be passing by and, hearing the skirmish, rushed in with his pistol drawn to break up the fight.

The sheriff grabbed the boys by the arms and escorted them to jail. The sheriff"s deputy led the other two men to the sheriff"s office with his g*n drawn on them. They all spent the night in jail.

“Ain’t you that McIntosh boy?”

“Yessir.”

“Why are you hanging around Slim for, he ain’t nothing but trouble? You are from a good family, and I hear ain’t nobody as good with horses and livestock round these parts as you are.”

“I guess so, sir.”

“Do you know who I am, son?”

“You are Sheriff Wallace.”

“Do you know what else I am?”

“Yessir, you are the wealthiest rancher in Nebraska.”

“Damn straight, but I love being sheriff more, so I hire good men at good wages to run my ranch. I have heard about you, Frederick. Tired of working for your daddy, come see me. I will double your pay and give you room and board.”

“Thanks, sir, but I can’t let my daddy down like that.”

“I need work, Sheriff,” Slim said.

“I ain’t hiring you; you would work half a day and take off.”

The next morning after the sheriff let them go, Frederick told his father what had happened. He wasn’t too happy about it, but Frederick was an adult, not much his father could say.

Frederick spent more time with Tiffany. It wasn’t likely he would run across any other girls out in the plains, so he resigned to the fact she would be his bride. They began kissing one evening behind the barn, the dust swirling around their feet as much as their hormones swirling through their bodies.

“We can kiss, but I ain’t giving myself away till we’s married. Only w****s in saloons give themselves away before marriage.”

“How you know about w****s in saloons?”

“I overheard my daddy talking about them in the feed store to Mr. Crump.”

“Your daddy pays for them w****s?”

“No, fool, they’s talking about shutting them down.”

This conversation gave Frederick an idea. Frederick rode over to Slim’s house to tell him about the w****s at the saloon in Smithville. They mounted their horses and were off. Slim and Frederick arrived at the tavern, and Frederick felt nervous. He’d never been there seeking a w***e, and he wanted to run out of there as fast as his legs would take him. Slim didn’t appear nervous at all. He walked right up to the barkeep like a man asking for the Madam.

A woman walked downstairs from the second floor wearing a flashy dress and a hat with a feather arched off of the back. Frederick never saw a woman like this. This woman floated down the stairs like a goddess, and it scared him to death. A chill swept his body, making him quiver. The woman was Ms. Ida Lee. They had always heard of her but never had seen her.

“Can I help you, boys?”

“We are looking for two girls, ma’am?” Slim said.

“How old are you boys?”

“Eighteen.”

“That’ll be ten dollars per girl then.”

“T-ten dollars apiece,” Frederick said. “I ain’t sure we got ten dollars apiece.”

“Then you ain’t got no girls then. So go on get outta here.”

He and Slim counted their money, and they only had five dollars between the two of them. They walked back into the saloon. Ida Lee sat flirting with the bunch of men at the table, distracting them from their poker game.

When Slim and Frederick walked back into the saloon, spurs jingling, everyone turned to stare at them. The cowboys got a kick out of watching Slim and Frederick.

“Don’t be such nervous men; everybody starts somewhere,” a cowboy said as he downed a shot of whiskey.

“Mrs. Ida Lee,” Frederick said as his voice squeaked out of his mouth like a mouse. He couldn’t believe this was his voice.

“All we got is five dollars between the two of us.”

“I tell you what, boys, I will get two of the girls to give you a dance, how’d that be?”

They agreed, so Ida Lee called for the girls. Susie took Slim to her room. Emma took Frederick. Frederick grew light-headed from nerves when he saw Emma coming for him. Emma was the most beautiful woman ever, prancing across the saloon floor like a goddess with hypnotizing light. He fell in love with her at first sight. At first glimpse of Frederick, she felt her heart race as she walked across the saloon floor by the piano player who played a chorus. She never felt attracted to any of her customers until Frederick walked into the saloon that day.