Chapter 13
Ceija looked directly into Jess's eyes, "You must do exactly as I say if you are going to get back to the place and time you are from."
Jess nodded. He would do anything to git back to 1870, to git the money ta Slim, and ta put everything back the way it was when he left the Sherman Ranch.
Ceija continued speaking, "You must do everything exactly as you have done since you went through the fog, but you must do it in the reverse order. Have you bought or acquired anything from this time and place since you rode out of the fog?"
"Jest food that I ate." Jess was puzzled now. Were the meals that he had eaten gonna prevent him from gittin' home?
"No shirt, blanket for your horse, bullets?" She asked in the most intense manner.
"No."
"That is good. Food does not stay with you. So, that is fine. Make sure that you take nothing from this time when you start your journey back. It might keep you from getting through in the correct way."
Jess merely nodded. He was trying to make sense of all of this.
"On your way back to the place of the fog, stay on the same path, spend the night in the same places that you did on your way here. Stay in the same hotels, camp in the same places. Try to travel at the same rate. Take the same number of days." She paused, and again Jess merely nodded. "Do not let anything cause you to go somewhere different, even if it seems important to you."
Jess experienced a moment of doubt. How could this strange woman know things like this? Was she just taking his money and givin' him a line like a snake oil salesmen?
"Aw, I see that you doubt me now." She seemed to be chiding him. Instead of being angry or offended, she added, "Of course, you doubt me. It is normal to wonder how all this could be. But does it make sense to you that you are here in 1889?" She waited for him to answer.
"Nothin' makes sense to me rite now."
She turned his hand over again to look at his palm. "You need to return to your own future in your own time. Do what I say. If for some reason it does not work, come talk with me again. But I trust that you will be back in 1870 when you exit the fog on the other side." She smiled as she released his hand and reached into the pocket of her skirt. She pulled out his three dollars and placed the money back into his palm, "You may need this on your journey more than I need it here."
Jess was surprised and opened his mouth to object, but she didn't give him the chance, "I am happy when I can actually help someone rather than just telling them what they want to hear from me. Besides, you are the only man who has ever carried a water bucket for me." She smiled coyly at him as she stood up, "I hope that you are able to get back home. And now I must get ready for the townspeople who always come at night. Please remember me as Romani, not the Gypsy that the townspeople will call me. Madam Caija is a Romani who helped you."
Jess suddenly felt that he was being dismissed, but all he could do was to thank her, nod at her mother as he walked by the older woman on his way to Traveler, and leave.
Jess didn't know what to think as he left the camp. He soon passed the strange wagon on the road. He could only assume that the older man who was driving it back to the camp was Caija's father. Nothing made any sense to him. He figured the only thing that he could do was to follow her directions and head back toward South Pass City. He racked his brain to remember every place that he had gone since he went through the fog. He assumed that reversing the order of every place he had gone would include all the places that he had gone to while he was in Laramie and Rawlins also. He wanted to do this correctly. He didn't know if Caija's advice would work or not. But he had to try it. He didn't know what else to do. He had to get back to 1870. He had to make things right again.