Chapter 8
Lou figured that Sam would need to buy some clothing for all the clothing she packed for the overnight camping trip was from the future. There was simply no way she would allow her future 4th great granddaughter to wear skimpy shorts into town. She loaned Sam some clothing to wear the next day and then escorted her into town along with the boys to visit Thompson's store.
As they walked the dirt street Sam noticed smells that wasn't very pleasing. She wrinkled her nose, "How come I smell…poop?" she wondered.
She wasn't watching where she was walking and suddenly Lou grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to the side. She pointed towards a pile or horse manure, "Watch your step!"
Sam gasped, "You guys have horse shit in the streets?"
Lou explained, "The town hired a man to pick it up but he hasn't gotten to it yet." She then led Sam to the boardwalk to get her away from the horse manure.
As they walked by an alleyway more foul smells arose. Sam caught of whiff of what smelled like a sewer to her. "That smells awful." She glanced towards the alley and spied a figure leaning out an open window and dumping a chamber pot into the alleyway. She covered her mouth and nose, "Oh God!"
Lou admitted, "That's what I liked about your house. Flushing toilets."
Jimmy walked behind the pair with Kid. He overhead the remarks. He asked, "Flushing toilet?"
Lou looked back over her shoulder and nodded. "Sam's house has running water that connects to a commode that can flush it all away. No chamber pots. The water goes through pipes in the house. Has hot and cold running water. It's very nice."
Jimmy pondered, "That's sounds like a real fancy house. You must be rich, Doc."
She shook her head, "Student loans kind of eats up my income." For Sam running water was a simple standard for the day. She never thought considered it would be a luxury in the past. She turned slightly towards the boys and mentioned, "If this town were to build a water tower and lay some pipes you could get the streets cleaned up and that would cut down on disease. Might even eliminate some diseases altogether."
Kid suggested, "You can always bring that idea up to the town." He then pondered, "How do you get hot and cold running water into a house?"
Jimmy confessed, "I'm wondering where do you find one them fancy flushing commodes."
They soon reached Thompson's store. As Sam entered she was greeted by a quaint country style general store that had large displays of canned goods and sacks of flour and sugar. She grinned, "Oh, man…this place is cool."
Surprised Lou asked, "You like it?" She assumed Sam would say it was too small and didn't have enough merchandise in it for Walmart seemed to be a warehouse of goods.
She nodded, "This is so cute. It's got charm." She then muttered, "Something Walmart lacks…"
Lou rebutted, "But Walmart is a whole lot bigger and had a lot more stuff."
Sam flatly replied, "Walmart sucks."
"They why go there?" Lou wondered.
"Because there is nothing else." she remarked. She gazed about the store, "This is a little gem. It's got stuff you don't find at Walmart."
Kid hung back listening to the pair chat. As Sam went to the clothing area he approached Lou. He asked, "What's Walmart?"
She explained, "It's a huge store not far from where Sam lives."
"How big is it?" he wondered.
Lou pondered, "You could probably fit 10 stores the size of this one in it."
"Seriously!" he gasped for he never heard of a store that large. "That sounds bigger than those fancy stores in New York City.
"About as big." she gathered. "Malls are bigger."
"Mall?" he asked. "How big is that?"
"One building, the size of the town." she replied. She then wondered if he would even believe her for it sounded so fantastic even to her.
Kid stoop perplexed as his mind conjured a building as big as a town. "That's…"
"Big," she nodded and wandered off amused by his expression. She came over to the clothing section to see how Sam was doing. She stood shoulders slunk with a sour face. "Find anything you like?" she asked.
"Not a thing?" she shook her head. "It's all….outdated."
Lou decided to help. She started to thumb through the clothing when her eyes landed on a very pretty blue and white flower pattern dress. She held it up and showed Sam, "What ya think?"
"Looks like a dress for a doll." she mentioned.
Lou rebutted, "I think it's pretty."
Sam shrugged, "If you are a doll." She knew Lou's taste was traditional and conservative. She decided to have some fun and found a red silky undergarment with black lace. "This is hot."
Lou's eyes grew wide and she growled, "No lady would wear that."
She laughed, "Wear it on your wedding night. Watch Kid turn into an animal."
Lou grabbed it from her hand and placed it back. She scolded, "I should smack you for that."
She laughed, "The look on your face was priceless."
Lou gathered herself and soothed her nerves. She went to the men's clothing and grabbed a pair of trousers and a few shirts, some long underwear and socks. She then went to the boots and found they were all too big for Sam. She glanced down at Sam's hiking boots. "I guess you will have to wear those."
Sam looked at her boots, "What's wrong with my boots?"
"They have them rubber soles." she rebutted. "Like them there sneakers you like to wear. We don't have shoes like that."
Sam assured, "No one will be looking all that much at my shoes."
"You would be surprised. Shoes are expensive." she warned.
She gathered the clothing that Lou picked out into her arms. "I'll just buy this for now. Good thing Teaspoon paid me in advance, huh."
"We all get paid in advanced. It's dangerous work." Lou told her.
"I had to wait two weeks to get my first paycheck from the hospital." she mentioned and then walked to the counter.
Mr. Thompson was waiting on Jimmy who was looking at revolvers. She put the pile of clothing down.
Lou spoke up, "Good day Mr. Thompson. I would like you to meet my cousin, Sam."
The older man behind the counter looked at Sam, Lou and Kid. He admitted, "I thought you might be related to Kid when you walked in."
Sam leaned closer and spoke softly, "I'm related to him too." She didn't say how they were related and simply dropped the subject. She then asked, "How much for the clothes?"
"I'll add it up." he replied unsure how she related to both Kid and Lou.
Jimmy overhead her. He glanced at her and then back at Kid who was milling about the store aimlessly. He asked, "You and Kid are kin?"
She nodded.
He looked back to Kid again. He then asked her, "How ya kin?"
She frankly replied, "He's my grandfather."
Jimmy stood perplexed, "What?" He assumed she was playing a joke. "You being funny?"
"No," she shook her head. She stood as if it was a simple matter of fact. She did resemble Kid a bit and even Thompson admitted he thought she was related to him.
Grandfather made no sense to him. That would be impossible. Jimmy decided to press her for information. "If he's your grandfather than why are you two the same age?"
"Time travel." she bluntly replied. "I figure it's CIA or military. Not sure which yet. God only knows with those guys."
"What?" he asked confused.
She replied meekly, "Ask Lou where she spent the last three weeks."
Mr. Thompson returned with the bill, "That will be one dollar and fifty cents."
She handed him the money. She then asked, "Do you have a bag?"
"I can wrap it up for ya." he offered.
"That will be great." she agreed. He grabbed the pile of clothing and went to the back counter to wrap the clothing in brown paper and string. She spied the microscope sitting in the display case below her. "Hey, you have a microscope."
Thompson replied, "I ordered it for the school master but he changed his mind on the curriculum so I'm stuck with it. I was hoping Mr. Bailey could use it but he says he doesn't know nothing about it. It's for sale if you are interested. Not sure what a Pony Express rider would want with it though."
Jimmy spoke up, "Sam's a doctor."
Thompson turned on his heels, "You're a doctor?"
She nodded, "I am."
"Went to one of them fancy medical schools too." Jimmy added.
She nodded, "Harvard. Studied in Boston." She pointed, "Can I see that microscope?"
"Certainly," Thompson agreed and removed the tool from the display case.
She examined it. "Not bad. How much?"
"Whole dollar." he told her.
She dug out the money, "Here."
"Thank you, Doc." he then meekly added, "I didn't get your full name?"
"McCloud."
"Doc McCloud." he smiled.
She politely replied, "Thank you." It wasn't her real name. Her real name was Doctor Samantha Cain. She felt funny about using a fake name, it was if she was being disingenuous.
"I'll get this wrapped up for ya, Doc." he gathered the scope. "You need me to order you anything, you just let me know."
"Will do." she agreed.