New Beginnings: Life Changes
ch. 50
Home
On Sunday afternoon Joseph, Ben, and George are back at Rob's continuing to work with the building crew.
"Rob? Why weren't you in church today? Amelia was there but you were not. We asked Pa if we could come help this morning and he said we had church. He said you were not building this morning. If you weren't building why weren't you there?"
"I was working, George. I need to work to get our home built. Have you noticed the windows are now cut out and framed? I did that this morning along with some of the stone and mortar work around the foundation."
"It looks nice, Rob. Where did you find the plate-sized flat rocks?" Aaron asks as he looks up from hammering shingles on a piece of wood.
"Thank you. I have been gathering them from the creek bed for weeks. There is one that dried up a little past the woods. I have been gathering from there. You boys are doing a terrific job with the shingles. I need to get back to work now."
As he turns to leave, everyone sees a line of wagons coming up the trail.
"That's my Pa and yours too Caleb," Aaron exclaims as the wagons get closer.
"I see Mr. Anderson, Jason, and Jeffrey. It looks like Mason, Mike, and Mark are with them. There's Mr. David from the store and a lot of men with him. Oh, there's Pa, George. I wonder if Rob will be in trouble for missing church?" Ben declares. watching Rob walk to greet the men.
"No, he's one of the grown-ups now. He can not get in trouble." Caleb answers before George has a chance to speak. The four boys go back to work while stealing glances at the newly arrived group.
"Hello, Rob. We are here to work. Everyone brought tools. You just tell us what you need and we will help." Chris replies to Rob's greeting,
"Thank you for coming. I have walls for framing the second floor, for inside, and rafters that need building. We also need to close in the house. My foreman. Wilhelm Gothard is the man in the dark blue shirt. I will let him decide where everyone needs to work. Let me go get him."
Several hours later, the ground floor has walls inside defining spaces for a kitchen, sitting room with a space for a large fireplace, a room for the water closet plus bathtub, and two rooms at the back of the house. The outside has begun to be closed in by the men nailing the large sheets of wood all the way around the frame.
Having taken a break from their shingle work, the four younger boys are watching the second-floor walls be hauled up by rope.
"You four move back by the pile of lumber! You are too close and could be hurt if the ropes snap." Ethan commands, having come around a corner to find them standing there.
"Aww! We want to see the walls heaved up, Uncle Ethan! We are fast runners and can outrun a wall if it falls!" Caleb argues as Ben, Aaron, and George move back by the stacks of lumber to watch the men work.
"You can see from over by the lumber. This is not a safe spot to watch. The ropes could come loose and the wall come down right where you are standing! Do as I say, Caleb."
"I'd have plenty of time to run! I can move quickly!"
"Mind me and go stand with the other boys young man! I will not tell you again!" Ethan says, his hands on his hips giving the child a warning look.
"I am staying! I want to see it close up." Caleb answers back arms crossed stubbornly.
"Taking the boy firmly by the upper arm, Ethan says "We will go ask your Pa what his opinion is on this matter. Come along."
"Unncle Eeethannn, nooo! I'll mind you! I'll move back, I will! Please don't take me to Pa. Please?"
"You had several chances to do as I said. You made the choice not to obey so now you deal with the consequences of that choice."
Having been able to hear Caleb arguing from their place by the stacks of lumber, and then see his Pa leading him away, Ben tells Aaron "I think Caleb is going to be wanting to stand up to work the rest of today."
"Yeah, he should know not to act like that with Uncle Ethan by now. I was expecting him to get his backside swatted right there!" Aaron answers.
"Look, they are raising another wall. This one must be for the front because it has windows cut out." George comments, getting the other boys' attention.
"Rob is going to have a lot of windows in his house. I counted at least twelve premade framed windows inside, yesterday. They are covered in that gray quilt in a corner." Aaron tells the brothers.
"Yes, he and Amelia picked a house kit with many big windows. They will even have one in the attic. There will be single windows on the sides and double in front and back. Four double windows in front at the top and bottom, there will be a curved cover and columns on the entrance. They plan to make a side porch later." George replies.
"We saw a drawing of this house in the Sears and Roebuck catalog. It has a roof around where the second floor part is as well as the high roof. It looks like you could climb out a window on the second floor and climb down to the ground from there. In our house, you can not do that. There isn't a first roof." Ben comments.
"When you stay over some time, you can try climbing out the window onto the first roof," Aaron replies.
"Aaron! Don't give him any ideas! He gets in enough trouble already without you thinking up more bad things for him to do." George teases with a playful shove to Ben.
"It was Joseph who got in trouble last, not me. I haven't been in trouble in weeks!" Ben says returning the shove.
"There goes your Uncle Matt and Caleb into the woods. Betcha he's about to get his tailfeathers singed!" Aaron remarks minutes later as they are hammering more shingles together.
"Yep, looks that way. Glad it's him, not us." Ben answers.
Three hours later a halt was called as the sun was setting soon.
"Thank you all for coming. We appreciate the extra help." Rob tells the gathered group."We have rain in the forecast for the next three days so it is great to have the frame up and sealed. The oilskin over the rafters will help keep the water out."
"You are welcome. We are a family in this community. Families help each other." One of the men replies. "We will be back next Saturday to help any way you need." Another man comments.
After the men have left, Ethan gathers his three boys before telling Rob "The boys will come help again but it will be later in the week. With being here until evening and homework after supper, they have chores to catch up on. What is your plan for the next two to three days?"
"Amelia and I are going to Denver tomorrow. I'm taking her to look at the premade furniture shops. I do not have time to build furniture. We need a bedstead and a kitchen table plus chairs. I need some seating for the front room too. We will be home Wednesday."
"That sounds like a good plan," Ethan replies, subtly catching Joseph's eye. Knowing the boy has been building a piece of furniture, he hopes Joseph doesn't react to ruin the surprise.
"Pa? Before you leave, would you take a walk with me? It won't take long." Rob asks.
"Of course," Ethan answers before directing his other sons. "Joseph, Ben, George, you start for home. I will be along."
As his brothers leave, Rob leads his Pa behind the house into the woods. I came upon this last week. I wanted you to see it. I also need to apologize for the way I acted. I was wrong and foolish. I behaved the way a child would behave, not a man. I regret that. You were right to treat me as the child I behaved as, not a man! Will you forgive my lapse of sense? Will you take and keep this revolver?"
"It is forgiven. You admit you made a serious mistake and accepting responsibility shows you are not a child. I know you well, son. Yes, you go off half-cocked at times but you are much less likely to do so now than in years past. I have faith you will not act so rashly again. Everyone makes mistakes, Rob. Choosing to learn from them and move on is important. You keep your revolver. You will remember not to make this mistake again. Your shame and regret will help you. Now, what am I to be looking at?
"Here in the creek bank. Do you see this cave? It has signs of a fire being built outside. Over here is an indentation. I believe it is a person having slept on the floor enough times to create the indentation. I do not like the idea of someone camping out so close to my house. This creek is on my property."
"There is nothing I can do right now. I will come again in more daylight to look this over. We will make sure no one is living here before you move in, son."
The week is long for the three young brothers itching to help Rob with his house. On Wednesday, Joseph is cranking the wet sheets through the wringer as Ben lifts them from the rinse water. "I am happy this is our last time washing bedding. We did Claire's and Mama's on Monday. All of ours yesterday, and Rob's today. Why we had to do Rob and Claire's when neither seems to ever be here, is strange!"
"Umm-hmm, watch your fingers! You don't want to get one of your fingers pulled through the wringer!"
"Joseph? Will you ask Mama if we can go see Rob after school tomorrow? We can say we just want to see him, not stay to build."
"Pa said we are to come straight home all week as we have to help with house chores as well as our regular chores. Mama has us scheduled to do windows and help restuff the mattresses with fresh hay. It is her second week of spring cleaning and she even made up a schedule for each day. If you want to go against Pa's directive then YOU ask. I am not going against Pa."
"You could still ask if you weren't a fraidy cat! What about the weekend? Do we have to work at home most of Saturday?"
"How would I know that?" Joseph asks sharply, exasperated by being called afraid and by the question.
"You said you knew the schedule!" Ben snaps back equally aggravated.
"I never said any such thing! I said we were scheduled to wash windows, and stuff mattresses. Come, let's go hang these sheets on the clothesline."
"You can do it! I need a break." Ben answers.
"Ben, if you do not come to help me, I will tell Mama you quit before finishing. Do you want to copy and memorize Bible verses again tonight? You just did that Monday night. If Pa catches you having to do that again, he won't be happy with you. He will know you disobeyed Mama. I would not risk it just because you are tired of working."
"Will you give me time to use the water closet, oh great one? I need to do that and get a drink. I want to see if George still has the bad headaches he had earlier."
"Headache is just one, headaches are many."
"Well he has had this coming and going all afternoon so I say headaches."
"Alright, call it what you want. Go on, do what you need to, then come and help me hang these blasted sheets! I'm happy to be done with the washing as well! Maybe we'll have time to play a game of halma after supper."
"If you help me get my arithmetic homework done, we can play. Pa won't let me play if it isn't correct. I have more long division problems. When does long division end? I have done it every year since third grade!" Ben continues the conversation as he joins Joseph in pinning the sheets to the clothesline.
"My goodness, a whole two years of it! All of third and most of fourth grade!" Joseph teases. "Teachers must love long division problems because even in the tenth grade, we have them. I have some with five numbers divided by four numbers. It takes two tablet sheets to show all the steps! I suppose it ends when you finally graduate, Ben. That and diagramming sentences are dreadful."
"Mrs. Donaldson does not have us do that. We write sentences with vocabulary or spelling words and short compositions but not do what I have seen you do."
"Be prepared. It will happen sooner than you know. You will be in fifth grade next year. You will have to tell subject, predicate, verb, noun, adjective, adverb, all of that plus more, in sentences. They make you come to the chalkboard with everyone watching to do it too."
"Miss. Donaldson doesn't make us do things at the chalkboard until we show her we have done it correctly on paper or a slate," Ben answers pushing the last wooden clothespin over the sheet.
"All finished! No more sheets to hang!"
"We're to bring in the clean diapers. Go to the left end of the line and work towards me. I bet you a night off washing dishes that you can not get more diapers off before we meet!" Joseph announces.
"I got twelve! How many did you get?" Ben asks as he gets to Joseph's spot on the line.
"Eight counting the one I am unclipping. How did you get them off so quickly?"
Grinning, Ben says "I didn't unpin them. I pulled them down! I do not have dishes tonight!"
"Lucky you! Now go back and fetch the clothespins. Mama wants them inside as well as the diapers."
Two weeks later:
Carefully making his way through the darkness, Ethan quietly approaches the cave Rob showed him. Being near midnight, he hopes to catch the person staying in the cave off guard.
Making his way to the entrance, he stops to listen. Hearing heavy breathing with wheezing, he moves inside, gun drawn.
Finding only one figure rolled in blankets but unable to see much in the dark, Ethan lights the torch he brought. Passing it over the unmoving, wheezing figure on the floor he sees familiar features he hasn't seen in many months.
Before he can do anything a younger man enters carrying wet leaves, stopping in surprise at the sight of Ethan.
"Heebee" (hello) Ethan greets in the Arapaho language.
Surprised at hearing his native language, the younger man replies "Hutousihi" (What is your name?)
"N`e`e eesihinoo Lone Wolf" (My name is Lone Wolf.)
"Lone Wolf, I am Dark Moon or Thomas Moon. Are you Timber Wolf's cub? Your English name if you will."
"You speak English! Good! My name is Ethan Cord and yes, Timber Wolf is my mentor. What has happened? He has been away nearly a year. I barely knew him when I saw him here."
"Timber Wolf is very stubborn. He fell ill many times but we treated him. This past month he weakened and became uh deveroius?"
"Do you mean delirious?" Ethan asked the young man.
"Yes, thank you, delirious. He talked of you by native name and English name. He wanted to come home to see you. I brought him to you. You are healer and have English medicine. He is better here. I will leave now."
"Wait just a minute. I need to know where he's been."
"South of here, several days by horse. He was our medicine man for many moons."
With that, the man seems to fade into the night leaving Ethan alone with John Taylor.
"Well old friend, I'm happy you're home. Now to bring you back to be able to be more yourself and hopefully will be up to talking. We'll move you to the clinic. Dr. Amy will help me help you. I'll have a travois ready to put you and the blankets on soon. I have Lightning here so he can pull you to town. I do not believe you can sit a saddle."
Waiting to see if his speech elicits any response, he sees no change in the man.
"I'll be back soon," Ethan tells him before leaving the cave.
Having used the torch to see by, Ethan has the branches cut for tying across the two long saplings he found for side poles. Using strong vines, he quickly makes an A-frame with branches across the center. The saplings are long enough to be tied to either side of Lightning's saddle.
Having brought the horse near the cave, Ethan uses the rope he keeps in the saddlebags to secure the travois behind the saddle with a slight incline in the upper part. Returning with the blanket wrapped bundle, he gently lowers him to rest on the A-frame.
"Let's go slowly up the bank, Lightning. We have our old friend here with us."
Successfully navigating up the embankment without having the travois come apart, Ethan mounts and begins the slow walk towards town.
Inside the clinic, Amy wrapped in her dressing gown, examines her patient as Ethan holds the lantern for her to be able to see.
"The first thing we need to do is wash him. He has dirt caked on his legs and back. I will heat water while you get the herbs we need to lower this fever. My supply is getting low so I hope you will find time to go out gathering to restock. I have nightshirts and drawers on the bottom shelf of the supply cabinet. Keeping a supply of different sizes has helped with overnight patients."
"Here, listen to his breathing. I suspect he has pneumonia with the wheezing and the crackling sounds I hear when he breathes." Amy says handing Ethan the stethoscope.
"Should we try a steam tent? We use that with Ben and George to help when they have wheezing." Ethan asks.
"I believe we need to make a mustard plaster before anything else. Let's force some of that congestion out. The flour and mustard powder are in the supply cabinet. The jars and canister are labeled. I will get water, a couple of bowls, and the cloths."
"Delphie used one of these for Ben this winter. It cleared his lungs in one day but the boy howled when it was placed on his chest. He said it burned."
"She must have put too much mustard powder in the mix. She did use cloth, not put it on the boy's bare chest didn't she?"
"She used old handkerchiefs."
"That was the problem. The material needs to be thick or the paste will seep through. I daresay you will have a rebellious child if you ever try mustard pack on him again! He won't likely forget the first time." Amy says with a smile.
"I believe you are right about that. We may not be able to use mustard plasters on any of the three boys. Word spread and now all three are suspicious if their mama begins mixing flour in a bowl!" Ethan replies causing Amy to laugh.
Both adults are trying to keep the mood happy for the man in the bed. Dr. Amy has convinced Ethan, patients can heal better in warm, joyful environments.
"I have mixed two tablespoons of mustard powder, as he is an adult, into one cup of flour. Now I add the warm water from the kettle and stir the mixture into a thick paste." Amy explains as she works.
Placing one thick piece of fabric on John Taylor's chest, she spoons and spreads the paste onto the cloth before covering it with the second cloth.
"We let this sit and draw out the pus in his lungs for fifteen minutes. He should be able to cough out some of the pus. If need be, I can repeat the plaster in an hour. Let us go into the sitting area while we wait."
"Are you planning to go home tonight? I can care for him." Amy asks as the two move into the small waiting area.
"I will stay until we see if he can cough out anything. I will be here tomorrow to check on him."
"That seems a good plan. He may have a long recovery or it could go the opposite way. His condition is not good, Ethan." Amy feels compelled to tell her brother-in-law.
"I'm aware and for that reason, I want to keep this between you, me, and Delphie. I don't want the children to know until he is better and more himself."
"So be it. It is your decision."
By the end of the following two weeks, Ethan asks Dr. Amy "Now that we have his temperature normal and the congestion down, how do you see his chances?"
"Both of those are good signs. I do like the sound of his lungs more now. It is not completely clear, Ethan, just much better. I would like to see him show a response to something we do. I have seen no improvement in that since you brought him in. Does he respond to you in any way? A hand twitch, eye movement, mouth moving, anything at all when you are with him?"
"No, I talk and stroke his arms as you said but I get nothing from him at all. I feel he is not here just his body is with us."
"I would like to try something, with your permission, to bring him back. He has recessed deep but with love and luck we may reach him."
"Why do you need my permission? You are the doctor, not me." Ethan asks.
"It involves your children." At Ethan's frown and head shake, Amy says "Do give me the courtesy to at least hear me out before disagreeing! You are such a calaoiseach man Ethan Allen Cord!"
"Resorting to Irish to call me stubborn, Americus? I have learned that word from your sister. Delphinium calls me that when she is very peeved! What is your idea?"
"Let the boys visit one at a time. They can talk to him and it may bring him back from wherever he is. The boys are very close to him from what you have told me. He is a grandfather to them. It might be just the medicine he needs, hearing their voices."
"I will talk to Delphie. We will decide if Ben and George should come. Joseph and perhaps Rob could come but the younger boys might be too upset to see him this way. You know how George's abilities get him so sensitive at times. He just feels the emotions of people he's, as he calls it, 'connected' with."
"Ethan, the child is already experiencing something. He has come to me every day after school asking for headache treatments. He says Delphie's method of a warm cloth and extra rest do not help. I suspect he's unknowingly connecting with John Taylor. Keeping him away will not help. Remember when Ben was so ill? George needed to be with him to stop his overflowing emotions."
"Yes, I remember. I will talk to them all tonight. If they are willing, Joseph will come tomorrow from 3:00 until 5:00. I need the boys home by five-thirty at the latest for chores and homework."
"I will help them keep up with the time. Thank you for agreeing to my suggestion." Amy replies.
Another two weeks have passed. The boys have been visiting John Taylor three days a week. Each taking one day after school to sit and talk to him. No one has seen any sign of him being aware of their visits.
Friday evening just as they are finishing supper, Ben coming back from the W. C., sees a wagon shape drive into the ranch yard. He can barely make out the driver and a person wearing a bonnet.
"Pa? Mitch just drove up in a wagon. There is someone with him. I think it is Dr. Amy." Ben says swapping a worried look with George.
"Everyone stay here. I will go talk to them."
After the front door closes behind Ethan, George says "Pa looked so sad just then. He is worried it is bad news about John Taylor, too."
"You boys go ahead and clear the table. We will wait until later for dessert." Delphie says bouncing Emerson on her arm attempting to soothe her to sleep.
Busy washing and drying the dishes, none of the boys look as they hear the door open and close. At Delphie's gasp, George glances over. Dropping the pot he is washing he shrieks "CLAIRE!" before leading the mad rush to hug her!
Laughing at their enthusiastic rush and returning all the hugs, she says "I missed you all so much! Talking to you every week was nice but not the same as being here. My goodness everyone has gotten so tall! Let me loose, boys. I need to meet someone." Claire says before walking across to Delphie to hug her as well.
Lifting the baby girl from her mama's arms she says "Hello, Emerson. You are just as pretty as your brothers have said. I'm your big sister, Claire. I'm so happy to be able to come home to meet you! We have all summer to get to know each other! I do not go back until September."
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