Aimee Baldwin

It wasn't supposed to be this way!

By this time, I was supposed to be on my way back to Washington City on my Daddy the General's arm, where we would become the toast of the town. Reporters would hang on Daddy's every little word, clamoring for him to run for president, while I myself would be the belle of every ball with fine young men from distinguished old families vying for my hand, perhaps even fighting duels over me! And naturally after the election, what with my dear sainted Mama having passed on to her reward all these many years ago, I would serve as Daddy the President's First Lady, perhaps even to have a White House wedding!

That's how things were supposed to be. We should be on our way back East, back to civilization, instead of still living out here in the West among all these savages. Oh, and after all these years of living in one fort after another, I well knew that savages in the wild West come in every hue of skin color, and all too many of them dress in Army blue. Hmph! I've seen them. Casting their piggish eyes upon me, the General's daughter. Why, those vulgar men wouldn't know a lady from a bar maid!

Well, they were useful, some of them, Colonel Rath most of all. He found men who were happy enough to aid me in stirring things up by dressing themselves up as redskins to make it look as if the fort were in danger, as if the tribes round about us were going on the warpath. And so many men were willing to cooperate! So why didn't Mr West?

Hmph, that dreadful man! And I'd had such hopes for him! I thought surely Mr West would confirm to the president what terrible danger we were facing from the Indians out here. That's why I took him outside away from his silly ol' boxing match, so he could see for himself.

But then it turned out the man wasn't a proper government agent after all; of all things, he was an Indian lover! But then I should have realized what sort of man that old fool in the White House would send to us in our hour of need.

But that was all right. If Mr West wouldn't help us out in one way, we'd just see to it that he'd help us another. Just like Oconee.

Oh my lands, that Oconee! It never ceased to amaze me how very much that silly Indian liaison fellow helped us! Of course, I knew what he wanted. Just the same as I wanted my Daddy the General to become the leader he was destined to be - the President of these United States - in a similar way Oconee was aiming for the heights. He wanted to be the chief of all the Indians hereabouts, wanting to prove himself to his kinsmen that he was more of an Indian than any of his full-blooded cousins. But for Oconee to become chief, something would have to happen to the old chief, Strong Bear.

The plan was brilliant - at least, until it wasn't. Oconee would arrange a meeting between Mr West and Strong Bear where it would develop that the old man was dead, murdered, and Mr West would of course be blamed for it. Oconee's braves would then mete out their heathen justice on Mr West, and with the death of a prominent man on either side, why, war would just naturally break out.

And it was working! It was going to work! The old chief was dead, and Mr West was about to be dead, and after that the tribes would take to the warpath, thirsting for revenge, massacring left and right - and then my Daddy the General, the old Indian fighter himself, would step in and put down the rebellion, kill all the Indians, save the day, and be lauded as the greatest American general living, bar none - just as he ought to be.

And after that, the White House!

But I really don't understand Oconee and why he was so willing to go along with this plan. Surely he realized that my agency for Daddy the General to sail into the presidency would be on the floodtide of an ocean of red man's blood. Or maybe Oconee thought he and his braves would be strong enough to best the whole United States Army and that the ocean of blood that would be spilled would be white man's?

Not that either came about. And it was all because of that man James West, and him dead, or as good as it! Oconee's braves knocked him down into that pit; I saw them do it. And when he tried to climb back out again, I just casually stepped over there myself and trod on his fingers to make him fall back down in again.

So he was dead. Why couldn't he have just stayed that way?

And he wasn't the only one who just couldn't stay dead! That partner of his, Mr Gordon, had to go and dress himself up as Strong Bear and play like he was rising up from the dead to warn the other Indians not to trust Oconee. Oh, but I wish I'd shot that man when I'd had the chance!

Well - I got away, at least. Some of Oconee's own people helped me, giving me food and taking me on to a town where I could send Daddy the General a telegram saying I was safe, that I'd escaped from Oconee's tribe after they'd kidnapped me. I added a few more details guaranteed to put Daddy the General on the warpath himself against Oconee's people. And then I waited.

But I never expected this. This very morning as I was eating my breakfast in the hotel dining hall, somebody came in carrying the news that my Daddy the General had resigned his commission! And that, that upstart, that common, vulgar, whiskey-swilling, cigar-chomping buffoon in the White House who could never hold a candle to my Daddy - that horrible man had accepted my Daddy's resignation. Nothing could be more humiliating, nothing whatsoever! And one of the reasons they said my Daddy resigned was so he could devote himself to his family as a private citizen. Devote himself to his family! I'm all the family my Daddy's got left!

Well, I marched right back up to my hotel room and now I'm packing. Not that I have much to pack, only the few clothes I've had made for myself since arriving here. I've got a little money still, so I figure I'll just take the next coach out of this town and head on West to San Francisco. It's a good sized city; once I change my name, I doubt if even Saint Peter could find me there. It's not Washington City, of course, but it'll just have to do.

There's a knock on my door. Must be a maid come to tidy up. I answer it.

I stare. "D-daddy?"

He's right there in the doorway, that giant of a man, my Daddy the General. "Aimee," he says in that voice I've missed, "you come on now. It's time to go."

Go? What does he mean? Go where?

He crooks his elbow to me. "Come along now, Aimee. We'll send for your things later."

Automatically I slip my hand through his elbow and let him lead me downstairs. We pass through the lobby and out onto the porch. And that's where they're waiting for me, a colonel and three soldiers, men I don't recognize.

"Aimee Baldwin," says the officer, "you are under arrest for conspiracy to instigate…"

What? I don't even hear the rest of his words; they're meaningless to me. I can only stand there and stare at him, leaning on my Daddy the General's arm.

But then Daddy takes his arm away. "Do your duty, men," he says to the soldiers. They step forward and one of them clamps manacles around my wrists. Then they start to lead me away to a wagon that's standing nearby.

"No! No, Daddy, you can't let them!"

"Your father," says the officer coldly, "has resigned his commission, Miss Baldwin, and no longer has any authority in this matter."

"That is true, Colonel," my Daddy answers, "but… if I may?"

The colonel regards Daddy for a long moment, then nods. And here comes my Daddy and takes my hands.

"Aimee my darling, you need to understand something."

"Did you really?" I ask, daring for once to actually interrupt my Daddy the General.

"Did I really what?"

"Did you really resign your commission?"

"Yes, I did, Aimee, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do." He pauses to consider, then says, "The third hardest. The first hardest, of course, was when I had to bury your dear mother. And the second hardest, that was my final official action before resigning," and now he tips my chin up to be able to look me in the eye, "when I issued the warrant for the arrest of my only daughter."

My… my arrest… But… but it was all for him! Doesn't he understand that? Daddy…!

The world crashes down around me. I don't even feel the soldiers' hands as they lead me away and put me into that wagon. All I can see - all I'll ever see for the rest of my days - is my Daddy the General, stern as ever, handsome as ever, as he looks down at me.

And turns his face away.

FIN