Detour to Otherwhen ©
by K Pelle
Chapter 5
Perhaps five miles from Chuck and Maybelle's ranch, I pulled over to the side of the road, stepped out and signalled to Anna to pull up behind me, then Ellen and I walked back to the camper.
"Look, I've been thinking, and I decided we needed to have a talk so I can pass on a couple of warnings about some taboo subjects," I started out quietly. "As we were driving, Ellen asked me some questions and in the process of answering her, a couple of subjects came up that I realized might upset the folks out here. The first is a family subject, and I need to warn you that any mention of my biological grandfather, Matoux Delacroix will set my family off on a minor rampage. Mimi, I haven't mentioned him to you, so if Anna hasn't told you about him yet, ask me when none of my family can possibly overhear us. Uncle Charlie gets really upset when his name is even casually mentioned, so it would be best to stay off the subject, okay?"
"So mostly, it's your uncle who gets upset?" Anna asked quietly.
"Well, yes and no. Even our situation is going to bring back associations that might bring up the subject. You see, Delacroix was what they call a 'lady's man' and was reputed to have a magnetic personality, which enabled him to somehow draw women to him," I sighed heavily. "So, now I come for a visit, and the first thing anyone is going to notice is that I'm travelling with three gorgeous women. They're going to think that I'm a reincarnation of that bastard Delacroix, so if the three of you start to tease me in front of others, the situation is going to get touchy."
"But why?" Mimi frowned deeply.
"Well, Joe told me that his grandfather would love 'em and leave 'em, with any gal he could induce into the bushes, and more often than not he left the gal pregnant," Ellen explained before I could think of what to say. "The bastard wasn't above raping the women, if and when he got them alone either."
"And this guy was your grandfather?" Mimi stared at me.
"Yeah, but the story about the rape isn't a proven thing. As far as my grandmother is concerned, she was with him only once and it wasn't rape. The real problem is the fact that he would come into a new town, screw a young woman or two, and then leave, not seeming to care about the mess he left behind him. I don't suppose he even knew he was leaving pregnant women behind, since he never hung around long enough to find out, but I doubt if he even cared."
"Yeah, but his reputation should have been a warning to the girls, shouldn't it?" Mimi seemed argumentative.
"Well, they didn't have either pregnancy tests or rapid communication in those days," Anna snapped as if she was annoyed. "If he kept moving every few weeks, his reputation would follow him, not precede him."
"Anyway, just stay away from mentioning him, okay? On top of that though, there is an even touchier subject and it concerns everyone on the reserve, not just my family. If anyone mentions the words, treaty, indian agent, government legislation, or particularly Treaty #7, try not to comment in any way. Just do your best to stay out of the discussion and listen. Each and every person on this reserve has a horror story to tell about the treaty system and about past happenings when they or their ancestors have dealt with the Federal Government or their agents," I sighed heavily. "It's not that I don't care, or that I disagree with what any of the local people say, I just don't want to be involved in stirring up bad memories or creating problems for old friends. Again, if and when we are completely alone, so there is absolutely no way we can be overheard, I'll discuss the subject with you, but otherwise I'm planning to try to keep my mouth shut. You see, to some of these people, I've abandoned my roots and gone white. People who think that way find the idea of accepting my lifestyle to be a real problem. Unfortunately, even though they don't want to, they're losing their traditional lifestyle and they know it, so they feel helpless. Because I recognise that and see it happening, more and more with each passing year, I try to adapt to the local customs as best I can. In other words I try to be just another half-breed injun when I'm here."
"Umm, that's going to be a bit difficult for me to do that, since I don't exactly look native," Ellen giggled uncomfortably.
"Actually, other than being overly dark skinned, you look closer to most Métis than I do," Mimi laughed. "I've even been told that I look like I come from somewhere in the Orient."
"Hey, it doesn't matter. Around here, you're going to get called a half-breed as long as you have any association with me and there is any hint that you might be Métis, so you might as well get used to it. For gosh sakes though, don't lose your cool over being called a breed or an injun either, many of the people calling you that are probably of mixed blood themselves, so it isn't really meant as a slur. Besides, compared to what could happen, being called names isn't really all that important. We'll only be here for nine or ten days anyway, and during that time we have to spend some time on an archaeological dig, as well as getting used to riding horses, so we can keep busy. If we're busy enough, that alone should keep us out of most of the controversy."
"The part about riding horses is going be the hardest for me," Anna sighed. "I'm still a bit worried about that."
"Don't worry about it," I smiled as I reached out and touched her hand gently. "One of my horses is an eight-year-old mare called Lucy, and she's like riding a rocking chair. She's old enough to be gentle and well enough trained that she doesn't need much guidance or skill from the rider. All you'll have to do is make sure you're sitting solidly in the saddle, with your feet in the stirrups and you'll be fine."
"I hope all of your horses aren't like that," Ellen commented. "I've been riding since I was six, which is when I got my first pony. Now though, I like a spirited horse."
"Maybe I should let you take the edge off my favourite horse then," I grinned at her. "He's an Appaloosa stallion and he gets a bit energetic if he isn't ridden every couple of days. Since Chuck knew I was coming today, he probably left him alone for a while, just so he can get to watch me go for a bit of a ride."
"Hey, I'm not a rodeo rider," Ellen backtracked, causing me to grin, while both Anna and Mimi laughed aloud.
"Well, I'll let you look my horses over later, but we'd best get going, before one of the neighbours thinks we're having car trouble and comes to see if they can help out," I headed for the Jeep.
To my surprise, Ellen and Mimi swapped rides, so it seemed I'd have Mimi for a passenger for the last few miles. She was taken by surprise as she hopped in though, Bruno sat up, leaned forward and sniffed at her for a second before settling back and staring out the window again.
"Damn, that is one big dog," Mimi grumbled, frowning at me. "He just scared the shit out of me, but at least he seems to accept me as part of your crowd."
"Yeah, he's big, but actually he's been surprisingly calm, considering the situation. I mean he's completely out of his element here. He's been stuck inside for hours and hasn't made any kind of complaint," I shrugged my shoulders. "But, I don't imagine you climbed in here to talk about the dog. Did you have something on your mind?"
"Yeah, one time when we're alone, I want to hear about your biological grandfather, what was his first name, Matoux? You see my father's grandmother was a Delacroix, so you and I may be distant relations."
"Well, we've still got a few miles to go, so I can easily tell you all I know before we get to Chuck's ranch," I laughed sardonically. "In fact I can condense it into one sentence. He played a fiddle, seduced my grandmother, got her pregnant, then left town. Other than that I don't know anything else about the man."
"Oh! Well, I can tell you a bit more about the Delacroix family, those from my side anyway. Most of them were artists or musicians in one way or another. They did have itchy feet though. Quite often the men in the family wandered around from place to place, never staying anywhere for long, so that sounds about right. The women of the family were usually hard working, but all of the family members were quite charismatic. The whole family seemed to get along well with people initially, but they had terrible tempers, so they often got into fights and feuds. In fact that might be why I get annoyed so fast, I might have inherited that trait, but I've learned to keep a lid on it most of the time. I try to turn my anger into energy, which I can use to do something useful."
"Well, from what you've said about your folks, it could be the same family, so maybe we are related, but I'm not about to bother chasing it down any further."
"Actually, I've seen some of the work you do as a woodworker and as a machinist, so I'd say you were quite artistic. As well as that, I've heard about you from Anna, how you go from dead calm to being on the warpath in seconds, and how you use your anger constructively, so I think you might carry some of the same genetic patterns that I do."
"Possibly, but it doesn't really matter to me."
"Well, it does to me," She laughed. "I'd like to know if we are distant relatives or not. It's not like we could be closely related, just second or third cousins, but like they say, 'blood is thicker than water.'"
"You're grabbing at straws," I snorted, then frowned. "If you'd like though, I'll give you the contact information for Mary Bluesky, the secretary/treasurer of the National Métis Council, perhaps she can help you chase it down. Just do me a favour and don't mention any of this around Uncle Charlie. He still gets upset about the way his grandmother and my mom were treated, and that was brought on by what that bastard Delacroix did."
"I think you're really throwing a lot of blame on a man who probably didn't intend anyone any harm. There's a good possibility that he never even considered what he was doing to be anything out of the normal."
"Yeah? Well, just because he didn't think he did anything wrong doesn't mean much to me. I happen to know he abandoned several pregnant women without displaying any remorse and that alone labels him as a slime ball as far as I'm concerned," I growled, then sat up straight and tried to calm down. "Anyway, there's the turnoff to the ranch ahead of us. You might want to prepare yourself for a rambunctious greeting."
As we pulled into the yard, Chuck, Maybelle and their three kids came boiling out of the door of their house. Leading the way toward us was Little Jo, arms outstretched and a huge grin plastered on her face. I hadn't seen her in almost eight months and as soon as I saw her I realized that she'd grown quite a bit. Even though she was only twelve, she was starting to look like a young woman with curves in the right places, but I didn't have much chance to note the differences right then. In fact I'd hardly gotten my door open and stepped out before she tackled me with a leap that ended in a full contact hug and, to my surprise, a kiss on the lips.
Then, with her arms wrapped around my neck, and legs around my waist, she glanced across the top of the Jeep at Mimi, then turned back to stare into my eyes.
"Is she your new girlfriend?" Little Jo demanded.
"Nope, dammit," Mimi laughed aloud. "Not me, that would be Anna, but you'd better watch out anyway, you've got lots of competition for his attention now, and you can consider me part of that crowd."
That comment made Little Jo blush, but she giggled when everyone else broke into laughter. So after peeling Little Jo free of my chest and swatting her lightly on the butt as I set her down, I managed to introduce everyone to my cousins. Surprisingly, Ellen and Little Jo became buddies almost instantly. I don't understand why they became friends, because Ellen still flaunted her interest in me and Little Jo had always been jealous of me when I visited there before. She'd developed a crush on me when she was only five or six years old, and nothing I or any of the family could do or say seemed to dissuade her of the idea that I was her boyfriend. I hoped that having Anna around for the next few days would tame that childhood crush, but even then I expected Little Jo would spend as much time as she could in our company.
Anyway, greetings and introductions took a while. I hurried while introducing Anna, Mimi and Ellen, so that was quick and easy, but once I got to my cousins I took my time. Actually Chuck and his family were virtually my closest relatives, now that my parents were gone, so I suppose I got a little carried away. On top of that, since I lived so far away and usually only saw them once a year, greeting them was an emotional time for me anyway.
To explain why we were so close, when I was a kid I'd spent a lot of time with Chuck, and since we were nearly the same age, we'd grown to be almost as close as brothers. We'd gotten each other in and out of trouble since we were old enough to walk, which meant that we each knew that the other one was always there if we ever needed help. I felt I had to instill that fact in Anna's mind, so I may have gotten a bit long winded about Chuck.
I didn't exactly ease off with Maybelle and the kids either. I made sure to tease Maybelle a bit about being named after Mother Maybelle Carter, the singer and head of the Carter Family. Then I teased Little Jo, claiming that she was named after the character on the TV show "Bonanza." I even hummed a bit of the tune used in its intro; "Dum tada dum tada dum tada dum tada dum DUM ..." which made her giggle and blush. When I came to Johnny, who was Chuck and Maybelle's only son, I bragged a bit about his skill as a young hunter, even though he was barely eleven, so as I talked you could almost see him swell and strut. Of course I teased Fawn, the youngest of the family, calling her my little Bambi, swinging her up into my arms for a hug. Of course at almost ten years old she protested that she was too old for that, but she did hug back and giggled almost like her sister had.
Once the introductions were over, we had to take care of the dogs. We staked them out next to an old camper I'd bought from Chuck several years before, but left at his ranch so I'd have a place to stay when I visited. To be honest, tying the dogs up like that was just to keep the two of them from running off and getting into trouble for the time being, later on I planned to train them to stick close to the area without the need of the chains. Of course, once the fuss of tying the dogs up was taken care of, Chuck insisted that we had to go inside to have a coffee and naturally Maybelle offered us some of her homemade chocolate cake. After our coffee break, the kids had to show me how well they'd been looking after my horses, which meant everyone made a trip down to the barn to let them brag a bit. They deserved to brag too. They'd done a great job of caring for those horses.
I had four breeding age mares, a six-year-old Appaloosa stud and a two-year-old filly who was just being gentled to ride. As well as those, I owned two yearlings that I planned to trade off. I could see that all four mares were in foal, but they weren't far enough along to be hurt if they were ridden. Then Chuck grinned wryly, telling me that since they'd been so busy getting ready for our trip, Cayuse, my stallion, hadn't been ridden a lot that spring.
Actually inside of only minutes, Little Jo had her pick of my little herd nudging her and eating out of her hand, so she hinted that we should all go for a ride. She'd chosen Star, a four-year-old quarter Horse mare that I'd bought only the year before, then suggested that Mimi and Ellen might want to ride Paint and Patches, my 'twin' Appaloosa mares. They weren't really twins, they just looked like it, actually they were both from the same mare, but one was a four-year-old and the other was six. When I thought about her idea, I decided taking a ride was a great suggestion, and asked her to catch Lucy for Anna to ride, explaining that Anna hadn't ridden a lot, so she needed a gentler horse.
Of course that meant I was going to end up astride Cayuse, so I bit the bullet and quickly threw on his bridle and saddle. I wanted him settled down before Anna got into the saddle since I wanted to keep an eye on her. Actually, Cayuse and I had gone through this same routine many times before and considering all the factors, we got along quite well -- once he'd admitted that I really was the boss. There were times that I swear that horse used that bucking session as a stretching exercise, either that or he was checking me out to be sure I was up to his standards as a rider. As I put a foot in the stirrup, I knew he was going to try to dump me on my butt and I knew that he knew I knew.
Anyway, I got his saddle and bridle on and ready, then pulled the reins up tight before I even swung into the saddle. By keeping those reins tight, he couldn't stretch his neck out and get his head down, so there was no way he could get the leverage to buck in full-out fashion. Still, he did a pretty good job of crow-hopping, then tried a sudden spin to his left before breaking into a flat out run, followed by a stiff legged stop. All I did was clamp my legs tight, and hang on, then when he tried to stop so suddenly that I was almost tossed over his head, he got a dose of both heels of my boots clamping tighter than before. I think both he and I knew that if I'd had my spurs on he'd have really felt that. That was it though, after that he was smart enough to decide that he had to live with hauling me around, so rather than fight my dominance, he cooperated. He'd always reminded me of a teenage kid, if he didn't get attention often enough, he'd find a way to make himself look like a bit of a rebel, but if he got lots of attention he was a great horse. Of course if there was a mare in season anywhere around him, he was a lot more rebellious, but I figure that comes with the territory when you ride a stallion.
When I came trotting back into the yard, Chuck just shook his head.
"Joe, ya shoulda bin a rancher," he grumbled. "Ya ain't even seen that horse in near eight months, but after a couple o' minutes o' crow hoppin' an' jackin' around, he acts like ya rode 'im yestiday. Fer me, it's a half hour battle every two - three days. E'en then he acts like a spoiled brat, always lookin' t' do mischief."
"It's like I told you years ago, Chuck, you've got to learn to cross your toes and hold your tongue right when you're riding a stud horse," I kidded, winking at Little Jo and Maybelle who were both grinning at Chuck's frown.
"Cross yer toes, my ass. Ya ain't got room t' wiggle yer toes in them skinny-toed boots of yers, let alone cross 'em," he grumped, then stomped off to saddle his favourite gelding.
I just chuckled and stepped off Cayuse so I could hold Lucy's bridle while Anna got into the saddle. She was looking a bit anxious because it had been about four days since she was on any horse and this one was new to her. But when I led Lucy around a bit, then swung aboard Cayuse and rode up beside her, Anna seemed to be doing well enough.
It was a good afternoon, with all nine of us riding around the closer parts of the ranch, looking over the work that had been done and talking about the upcoming trip. Actually, we only rode for a little over an hour, then we went back to the barns and the women went into the house, meanwhile Chuck, Johnny and I rubbed down the horses and talked for a while. Mostly that afternoon and evening were spent just socializing, but we all knew that the next day we'd all have to get busy, after all, we had a trip to prepare for.
However, there were a lot of other things that went on over the next several days too. Anna, Mimi, Ellen and I spent eight hours each day working with a local archaeologist as he explored one of the old campsites near the buffalo jump, showing us the does and don'ts of exploring a dig. In any spare time we did have, we also tried to learn more of the basics of the Peigan language, simply because knowledgeable sources were so handy. As well, we all spent some time readying the horses and other equipment we wanted to take on our expedition. Then there were a myriad of other details that cropped up to complicate our lives over the next ten days, so we were busy as beavers, wishing we had more time to get ready.
Of course, life being what it is things got complicated every once in a while. The first complication which comes to mind, was the subject of the dogs. Minutes after we arrived, the three male dogs that belonged on the ranch were surrounding the pickup truck where Curly was being kept, which wasn't really a surprise since Curly was in heat. However, when I drove a screw-stake into the ground next to my old camper, then led Bruno over to fasten him there with his chain, the situation changed. Almost instantly every one of those dogs decided they were going to pull back a little bit.
But then, Chuck's reaction might have explained their withdrawal, "Damn, ya said onta phone thet ya had a dawg, not a bloody horse. Fart, he could eat any one of our mutts fer breakfast and still be hungry."
Still, Bruno didn't raise any fuss until Curly was let out of the camper-truck and brought over to be near him, but even then his reaction was completely predictable. After all, he was a male, she was female and he'd chosen her for his mate. In order to establish his dominance, he just stood up to his full height and snarled at the farm dogs that approached, but he only growled loudly one time and then only at the bravest of Chuck's dogs. In fact it was a rather reserved display, yet suddenly all of the farm dogs decided they had important business in other parts of the ranch. Surprisingly Curly seemed just as infatuated with Bruno as he was with her, and she surprised Anna and me by abandoning us to stay with him. So in the long run our dogs weren't really much of a problem, at least not as far as the other dogs were concerned.
However, where people were concerned it was a different story. It only took the visit by one of the neighbours and a day or two for rumour to spread before people were dropping by the ranch, using various flimsy excuses to stop by. There were several who dropped in to say hello to me, but others who admitted that they came to see 'the strange new breed of dog' they'd heard rumours about. Each and every one of them wanted to see Bruno though, but at least Chuck and Maybelle took all the fuss and bother in good spirits. Besides, it made Chuck a few bucks while he was shoeing or trimming the hooves on horses that folks brought over as an excuse to come visit. Personally, I was soon bored with the whole routine. After all, most of the people who dropped around only knew me slightly. So while I had to be polite and try to answer all the dumb questions about my bear-dog, I got really tired of repeating what little I knew about him.
Then on the fourth night we were at the ranch, a pack of coyotes started howling fairly close to the yard, wakening me from my sleep. Suddenly I heard a rattle from Bruno's chain, then a twang, so I rolled out of bed and yanked on my jeans and boots. Curly was still standing near the spot where the pair had been sleeping, but Bruno wasn't. He was gone. Then only a moment or two later I heard a ruckus that seemed to come from the direction of one of the nearby knolls. A coyote gave a couple of curious yowls. A few seconds after that it sounded as if several coyotes got into the act and for a moment or two there were several growls, as well as a few yips, yaps and yowls. Suddenly though, silence descended again, so about then I began to worry that Bruno might have been hurt. The moonlight was weak, which meant I couldn't see much, and since the sounds hadn't lasted long enough for me to get a real bearing on the coyotes' direction, I didn't know exactly which knoll they'd come from. I wanted to go check things out, but since I really didn't know where to look, I was unsure what to do.
Just about then Chuck came out of the house, bitching about the coyotes, mentioning that one of his cows had recently calved, so he was worried that the coyotes might have killed the new calf. Since the coyotes had quit making any noise and we really couldn't see anything, we were talking about saddling a couple of horses, but thought we'd best wait until daylight. About then I was wondering if the coyotes had ganged up on the dog and on top of that, I was worried about him running loose. Just as I was saying something to Chuck about my worries, Bruno came trotting back into the yard, head held high, but twisted off to one side. He had to trot that way though since he had a dead coyote dangling from his jaws and dragging on the ground. When that huge dog came over to me and dropped the dead coyote carcass at my feet you could have driven a semi-trailer truck into Chuck's open mouth.
I was just as surprised as Chuck, but I had enough brain cells still firing to make a fuss over Bruno and for the first time since I'd gotten him, he seemed proud of himself. Actually I had a hard time checking him to see if he was injured in any way; he was much more interested in trying to lick my hands and face than he was in letting me look him over. Even though I led him under the yard light so I could see better, I couldn't find any damage at all. There didn't seem to be any wounds, not even any saliva on his coat, other than around his mouth where he'd been carrying the coyote.
However, while I'd been checking out Bruno, Chuck had been looking over the carcass of the coyote. It was certainly in a lot rougher condition as the dog was. One of the coyote's back legs was broken in two places, and its neck had been snapped, but other than that it looked to be in fair shape.
"Well, Joe, whatcha gonna do with this varmint?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'll trade ya a roast o' beef fer the carcass. Maybelle's got a roast thawed out fer tomorra, but we kin eat burgers instead," Chuck laughed. "Ya needta give that dawg a reward, and I wanna take the coyote into town an' get 'im stuffed. Then yer gonna have ta tell me how ta get a dawg jus' like that'n. I figure having one of 'em onta ranch would be worth a lot, just t' chase off coyotes 'n other varmints."
"For all I care you can have the dead coyote. I don't want it, but I don't want Bruno to chew on it either, so the sooner it's taken away from here the better. Actually I was wondering if we shouldn't have it checked for rabies or anything."
"I wouldn't worry none 'bout thet." Chuck shook his head. "Thet coyote was actin' normal, being a sneaky little bastard after m' calves. If it'd had rabies, it'da gone after t'other dogs 'r even you, since you insist on sleepin' out here in yer tent most nights. I'll go wrap this guy up and toss 'm in the freezer, 'n tomorra I'll take 'm ta thet taxi-dermy guy in town."
"Give him to me so I can drop it in a garbage bag and put it in the cool room. I do not want it in my freezer, the cool room will do for tonight," Maybelle ordered, having come outside to see what the ruckus was about. "And, you can't have that roast either. Instead you can have some burger meat for Bruno. He'll enjoy that just as much as a hunk of roast anyway."
"Okay, Maybelle. Now, Joe, tell me agin, where kin I get a dawg like this'n?" Chuck demanded.
"Well, if you've got two grand to spend and if Dietrich will even consider selling a bear-dog pup to you, he lives in Banff," I grinned.
"Two-THOUSAND dollars? Ya paid two-thousand bucks for a dawg? Holy Shit man, yer nuts!"
I just laughed, then explained how I'd ended up owning Bruno. I didn't realize that I hadn't explained that to him before, but then we'd been busy with family matters and other things. As we were talking, I led Bruno over to chain him up again, but I couldn't. His chain was there, and it had survived in one piece, but Bruno's heavy leather collar was snapped in half. I did have a spare collar, but Chuck suggested that I let Bruno run free for the night instead of putting him on his chain.
"Jus' in case 'nother coyote comes 'round, as if one would, but I think he's earned hisself a night's freedom," he laughed. "I just cain't get over the idea that he took on a whole pack of them thievin lil buggers and run 'em off. Look at 'im, he ain't even got a scratch outta thet fight."
So, for the rest of the time we were on the ranch, Bruno and Curly ran free, but to my surprise they didn't cause a bit of trouble. Actually on two other mornings I woke up to find a coyote's carcass outside the camper door. Chuck would just grin, take the coyote away to dispose of the body, then hand me a package of hamburger for Bruno. Both he and Maybelle seemed to think they were getting the best of the bargain, so I didn't argue. Bruno and Curly just ignored the fuss and enjoyed the treats they were getting.
I wish the issue of teaching Anna to ride a horse had worked out as simply as the one with the dogs, but you can't have everything go your way. In only a few days, Anna proved she could ride, just not very well, and as far as I could see the problem was a matter of desire. She didn't seem to feel comfortable sitting on the horse and the horse knew it. That meant she could only ride on old Lucy, who was calm, quiet and extremely easy to ride.
Since Anna wasn't comfortable about being on a horse she rode stiffly and if the horse was moving faster than a walk she looked as if she was about to fall off at any time. She bounced, she leaned, she grabbed for leather, in fact she developed a lot of bad habits and it didn't seem that I could do anything to help her break them. She was stubborn about learning to ride though, trying to go for a ride every evening, but it was only in the last few nights we were on the ranch that she grew more comfortable around horses. Really her sudden confidence about riding came about by accident. Actually, it started as a very stupid practical joke gone wrong and although it ended with surprisingly good results, it could have led to a bad accident.
I'm not sure exactly how it all started, because I wasn't there, I only heard about it after the fact. That evening Chuck and I had gone to pick up Chuck's horse trailer from his father's place, so Maybelle and Mimi had convinced Anna that they'd go along with her on her evening ride. While they were convincing her, Ellen and Little Jo snuck out to the barn and swapped Maybelle's horse, Diamond, into Lucy's stall, knowing that they looked quite similar. In fact they were nearly the same size and almost identical in colouration, but their personalities were a lot different. Diamond wasn't nearly as placid as Lucy, in fact she was quite spirited and a touch rebellious.
I suppose Anna thought Lucy was just in a bad mood or something, but she managed to get the saddle and bridle on the horse. Then to everyone's surprise she simply put a foot in the stirrup and hopped aboard. Since Maybelle and Mimi had been talking while Ellen and Little Jo had been waiting for Anna to notice the difference in the horses, she caught everyone unprepared. No one else was in their saddle at the moment she mounted Diamond. Almost instantly the horse decided she wanted to go places and she broke into a gallop from a standing start. It was only when Anna had to hang on for dear life that she realized someone had swapped horses on her. Typically for her, she didn't get frightened, instead she got annoyed. Okay, let's be honest, she got bloody angry and decided that there was no damn way she was going to fall off that bloody horse.
Anna is an extremely intelligent woman and after several days of my instructions, she knew exactly what she should do to keep her seat in that saddle. She made certain her boots were set into her stirrups, tightened her legs around the barrel of the horse, lifted her rump slightly from the saddle, then bent forward and shortened up her grip on the reins. She still didn't have control, but she found that she was actually enjoying the ride and to her surprise, she didn't want it to stop right away. The horse was loving the idea of running flat out, but then Diamond was a cross between a Thoroughbred mare and an Arabian stallion, so she was bred to run and not just for short distances either. It took Anna a while before she finally had Diamond fully under control, but she didn't fall off. Instead she rode Diamond in a big circle that led back to the barn and stepped down with murder in her eye. She was planning to kick the two younger girl's butts, but Maybelle, who had sent the younger girls after Anna, then stayed at the barn in case Anna did come back, suggested an alternate plan.
Since the girls had been left far behind by Diamond's raw speed, they didn't realize Anna had ridden in a circle and was already home, so they were still out looking for her and the horse. They couldn't even follow the horse's tracks, because we'd been doing so much riding lately that there were tracks going here, there, and everywhere.
Meanwhile Maybelle and Anna rubbed the horse down, strapped a horse blanket on her back and a leg wrap on her lower front legs, gave her a small bucket of water, then put her back in her stall with a bit of oats as a treat. After that they went to the house, but they stopped at the camper and dug out the grubby jeans that Anna had been wearing that day while she was working at the local dig. Once they were inside the house, Maybelle had Anna take a quick bath, then dry off and put one of Maybelle's robes, leaving Anna's grungy jeans prominently displayed.
Then Maybelle got imaginative and downright nasty. A few light swipes across Anna's face and arms with a cloth dipped in watered-down red food dye gave the illusion of scrapes on her skin. Then a bandaid on Anna's cheek, two on her left arm, a couple on her left calf and a quickly fashioned sling for her left arm added a bit more drama. The final touch was an elastic tensor bandage on her left ankle and foot. That bandage also held a pair of loonies under the arch of Anna's foot, which served to remind her to limp convincingly if she stood up and walked around. After that they sat at the kitchen table, talking and drinking herbal tea, just waiting for the girls to come home.
I'm not sure how Maybelle let Mimi know that Anna was okay, but when Chuck and I got back with the horse trailer, Mimi was the person who met us and explained the situation. She told us an edited version of the story before we ever got to the house, so we did our best to play along with the gag. In fact it wasn't until the next morning that the other two girls found out Anna hadn't actually been hurt. Which was also the time when everyone else laid into the younger girls about dangerous practical jokes and how people could get hurt from them. Of course by then the two of them had worried all night about how badly Anna might have been injured.
Up until then we'd all been extremely happy with the way the girls had taken to each other, in fact their love of horses and the outdoors had drawn them together. Still, considering the six-year age difference between the two of them, it was somewhat surprising that the two of them became best buds, but there were other factors in their lives that did act as bonds. Both of them were the older siblings of younger brothers and both of them had lived their whole lives in a country setting. Ellen lived on a farm and Little Jo lived on a ranch, but both of them had always had a horse and a dog of their own. Ellen was used to competition, since she was involved in skeet shooting, while Little Jo was just as competitive, riding as a junior barrel racer in local rodeos. The strange thing was that they didn't really compete with each other, instead, they taught each other. Unfortunately both of them like to tease and play jokes on other people, which was what got them into trouble.
Luckily, by then we were getting ready to pack up and move on, so there was lots to do and we had several mildly boring or slightly unpleasant jobs that needed to be done. For the next two days Ellen and Little Jo were tasked with many of them, but all of us were impressed that they didn't complain. Instead they both dug in and did those chores willingly. I suppose both of them realized they'd earned everyone's annoyance.
I know that on top of their willing work, both of them apologized to Anna, but since they were seldom around her, their apologies never got so far over the top that they might annoy her. In fact Anna was so busy right then that even though we were a couple, I was seldom alone with her except on the nights when we were sleeping together. Right about then she was dealing with last minute questions that she had for the archeologist she'd been working with. At the same time she was trying to cram in a few more lessons on the basics of the Peigan language from one of the elders of the tribe. Then during any spare time she had, Anna was often on the phone with Mary Bluesky, finalizing the extent of the research that the Métis Council wanted her to accomplish at the Cypress Hills site. The only time we spent together seemed to be when we were in bed, and since we'd both been working so much, we barely had time to cuddle before we'd fall asleep from sheer exhaustion.
The rest of the crew was busy as well. Maybelle and the kids were busy sorting and packing what they wanted to take along and the women who'd come with me often helped them if they had any spare time. Meanwhile Chuck and I were going over Chuck and Maybelle's trucks and trailers during the day. Then in the evenings we were busy checking out all our bridles, saddles, and riding equipment, as well as the harnesses and rigging for the team and wagon. What complicated matters was the fact that Chuck and his family weren't planning to stay onsite with us for all that long. Instead, they'd decided to take a break from their normal routine for the summer. Normally Chuck and his family took off during the kid's summer holidays, taking his portable farrier truck and the RV to follow the Alberta rodeo circuit. He'd been a bareback bronc rider when he was younger, but now he managed to pay for their holiday by shoeing horses as they travelled around the province.
This year though, since Cypress Hills was on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, they decided to follow the Saskatchewan rodeo circuit while the rest of us worked the archaeological dig. In fact they were pulling Little Jo and her two brothers out of school early so the kids could come along. They'd even arranged for two of the neighbourhood boys to come over and look after the ranch for the month they'd be gone.
Needless to say, the sheer volume of arrangements got complicated as hell.
Anna, Mimi, Ellen and I had managed to get all our ducks in a row, except for the horses we needed to take along. However, in order to transport the horses and their gear, I had to borrow a trailer that would take all six of my horses, the four we'd ride and a couple of spares. The trailer belonged to another of my cousins, so I'd had to tow it from his place to Chuck's ranch. Only when I was towing it, I found that even though it was empty, it had been a load for the Jeep on any of the hills. The little four cylinder engine I'd put in the Jeep just didn't have enough torque to do the job. Instead we planned on towing it behind Anna's camper truck, but the camper truck still didn't have a control unit for the electrical brakes on the horse trailer. Which meant I had to take a trip to town to buy a brake control unit and install it. Once that was done, our group's needs were almost set and we wouldn't need to change anything else, at least nothing I could see at that time. Knowing the normal perversity of fate, I trusted that something would come up which would have me running around like a wild man at the last moment.
Of course that was disregarding our need for the horse drawn wagon and a team to haul it to our campsite in the Cypress Hills. However, since Chuck owned both the wagon and the horses, he assumed they were his problem. I refused to let that idea sit though, and made sure he understood that I felt it was a joint problem. The wagon did have two tongues we could use, a short one to be used when it was hauled by a truck or tractor, and a longer one used for the horses. The longer hitch was complete with singletrees and a doubletree for connecting the harness of the team and all that had to be checked over and everything seemed okay. However, no matter how we worked it out, that wagon was an extra load that had to be hauled along with us, and the actual job of hauling it was quickly becoming a pain in the butt.
Now if everyone had only been going to the Cypress Hills, it wouldn't have been a problem, but since Chuck's family was planning to leave again once we were there, it was a different story. First of all, they needed their big RV, so they'd have a place to eat meals and a place to sleep each night. Then, since they were attending rodeos, they needed to have Chuck's 'farrier' truck with them because the extra money Chuck made shoeing horses would pay for the trip. As well, since Maybelle competed in women's barrel racing and Little Jo competed in junior miss's barrel racing, both of them needed their barrel racing horse along. However, each of the family also wanted and needed their regular riding horses. On top of that, Chuck liked to have at least one spare horse along and until we got to Cypress Hills, he had to count on hauling along the two horse team for us to use. Altogether that added up to a total of ten horses, but his horse trailer was only designed to hold eight riding horses. Chuck had a second horse trailer, meant to carry four horses, so it would easily haul the team. Unfortunately, that meant Maybelle would have to haul the smaller horse trailer behind their RV because the larger trailer had to be pulled behind Chuck's 'farrier' truck.
That still left us with no easy way to haul the wagon and although we knew it was physically possible we discovered that it wasn't legal to pull the wagon behind a trailer on the highway. More importantly, even if it used ordinary automotive wheels and tires, it was still only a farm wagon, so it wasn't sprung for use on the road and it certainly wasn't licensed. Of course the alternate option, which meant taking along eight or ten pack horses, was even less palatable to any of us. If we hadn't had so much camping gear to pack, it wouldn't have been so bad, but we had my trailer loaded, the back of my Jeep full and a lot more in the camper and truck. Hauling everything we'd need from place to place as we checked out various sites on the plateau at Cypress Hills would be a real pain without that wagon.
Unfortunately we didn't have any idea how we were going to get the wagon there and we were running out of time too. We were supposed to leave Chuck's ranch no later than Sunday and it was already late on Friday. Then Maybelle and Anna came out to where we were puzzling over the problem and asked us just when we were going to stop working and get cleaned up for the party.
I don't know about Chuck, but as far as I could remember that was the first I'd heard about a party, but when I said something about that I got a double barrelled balling out. It seemed that the women felt there were several reasons for us to have a party. To start with that day had been Anna and the girls last day at the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump archeological site and Anna felt more confident about heading up the new dig in Cypress Hills. Second, the elder who had been teaching Anna to speak a bit of Peigan had told her she was doing very well, so she felt a celebration for that accomplishment was in order. Most importantly though, Anna and Maybelle felt that they wanted to help Ellen celebrate her eighteenth birthday.
I felt like a bit of a fool over that because Ellen had even told me when her birthday was, but I'd forgotten it completely. Luckily Anna and Mimi hadn't and they'd passed on the news to Maybelle. In her turn Maybelle had contacted a few friends and neighbours, who were going to drop over that evening. She had even made arrangements for some of the local musicians to drop around and bring their instruments, so it sounded to me as if this party was going to be quite a shindig.
For once I wasn't dumb enough to get into a discussion of their plans. I just glanced at Chuck, winked and rolled my eyes skyward, then turned to follow Anna to the camper.