Winter's Refuge
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Three
JED 'KID' CURRY
Lom left pages and pages of detailed written instructions for Wayne's care. Auntie, Angie, Chrissy, and Hortencia listened carefully and nodded while he explained each point. I'm sure that his papers will stay on the table untouched. These women know how to take care of babies…and spoil them. And they put Lom's mind at ease that his son was well taken care of.
Father Patrick didn't wear his clerical collar on the trip and asked us to call him by his first name. Lom had found out that while Preacher was welcome to preach in the Yuma prison, he was a prisoner there. Other clerics were looked on with suspicion that their bleeding hearts would undermine the discipline of the prison. Father Patrick wanted to avoid that. I felt awkward callin' him Patrick and it was worse when he said to use Paddy.
Nervous, Lom kept talkin' and told us about all the things that Wayne was doin' now. I just smiled. Father Patrick…er…Paddy doesn't know Lom's background with alcohol, like I do. Lom even said he was thinkin' of retirin' as Wayne gets older. He inherited the bank and her family's money when his Susan passed. He told us he works for the challenge now and to keep Porterville safe for his son.
It was Father that changed the conversation. "Lom, Jed, you visited Preacher together last time. What can you tell me about that visit?"
"Well, you should know that the prisoners there look on the Kid as a hero…and some of the guards respect him, too." Lom leaned forward in his train seat. "Let me tell you what happened to the snakes when the Kid was in the dark cell."
I sighed, leaned back, and pulled my hat over my eyes. "Don't need to hear this; I lived it."
I couldn't sleep though, and I heard as Father Paddy made Lom repeat the snake story three times to get all the details right. Then Lom told him about my time as an indentured prisoner in the railroad camp. Lom had reports of my behavior while I was in there. He told me later the guards all respected my integrity, fortitude, and compassion. I don't know about that, but I finally dropped into a restless sleep with dreams of shackles and heat.
I woke when the heat of the desert started to invade the railroad car but laid still. Father, or Paddy, was speakin' in a low voice. "Jed is an amazing man. I've never met anyone like him. Heyes said he's always had a kind heart. I agree, but his life experiences are different from everyone except his cousin." There was a silence and I thought he was finished but he wasn't. "Humility is a virtue. How do we prepare him for this visit? Will he be drawn to that dark cell again?"
Lom's voice came from next to me. "Probably. And I'm sure the prisoners will yell out again that he's their hero. He is, you know. He survived prison at its worst and built a life on the outside. He's becoming a legend."
"And I know he hates that and responds with depression. We need to see if we can get him to see that he's a symbol of hope to the men in prison…without him feeling that he belongs in there with them," Father Paddy said.
I'm havin' trouble callin' him anything but Father but I needed to think about what he said. I don't want to make this visit harder on the two men who were accompanin' me.
I pushed my hat back and sat up straighter.
"You were listening," said Lom, a statement not a question.
"The last part. Father, I'll think about what you were sayin'. You can't understand what goin' there does once it's held you. You feel the shackles again…the confinement infects your soul again," I tried to explain.
"Jed, you're a free man. You paid your time. I don't understand," the priest asked.
"I served less than five years of a twenty-year sentence."
Lom gave a small shake of his head. "Took that long for the governor to grant your amnesty."
"Ain't your fault, Lom; you never gave up on me and Heyes. If I never said it before, thank you," I said. I tried to make it positive.
He nodded and changed the subject. "We've got some overnight hours on this train, and we can each have a row. Let's try and get some sleep. You know, I miss putting Wayne to bed. You think he'll be alright?"
His concern made me smile. "Couldn't be in a better place, Lom. I'm proud how good you take care of him."
We both knew I was talkin' about his heavy drinkin'. "Conquered that demon, thanks to you, Kid," he said as he moved to three vacant seats behind us.
"It's…" I started to say it's nothin' but caught myself. Brushin' aside good things that I do is Aiden's Valpo syndrome. He's taught me to recognize it and answer positively. "You're welcome," I answered, as I felt that guilt that leads to the dark depression nudge my gut.
HEYES
When we left the next mornin', I knew that the Kid was still not to the Yuma prison. I didn't sleep last night. If I closed my eyes, I knew when I opened them, I would be in the dark cell. Angie has adapted to sleeping with a lit lamp in our room…but just one. Quietly, I left my wife sleeping and went downstairs to the kitchen. Out of habit, I checked that all the doors were locked and the windows closed. With a glass of water, I went to sit in the living room by the dying fire. There was a lamp lit and I was surprised by Chrissy, asleep in a chair with an open book, Black Beauty, in her lap. But her dreams were restless. I closed her book and dropped a quilt over her lap. She stirred but didn't wake up. I sat in the chair opposite her so I could be there if she woke up scared.
ASJ*****ASJ
I woke alone with the quilt over me and the sun giving light to our living room.
"Heyes, there you are, dear," Auntie was saying. "Aiden will be here in about ten minutes. Chrissy's almost ready and Victor has your horses ready. Are you sure the doctor said he was willing to ride a horse to Bridgeport?" As she spoke, she was putting the last few items in the box for Matt.
I blinked the grit out of my eyes and took a deep breath. I slept well. At least I had been sleeping without dreams. Angie appeared with Nettie, Joy and Ruth Ann trailing behind.
"Heyes, go wash up and brush your hair. Your packed bag is on our bed. Everything except for your gun. Did you decide to wear it?" my wife asked.
"Yeah, one of us should be armed. Saw the Kid wearing his gun yesterday," I answered.
I was ready when Chrissy came downstairs carrying her satchel. She was wearing a dark blue traveling dress that I knew had been Miss Beverly's. I could just tell that she was with child again but only because I already knew.
I like the feel of this house with so many kids. It reminds me of the Curry household growing up. The Kid's the youngest of eight and our grandparents lived with them, too. Always something going on in that house. And his parents never stayed mad at one of them for long because someone else was getting into trouble. My home was different, not bad but different. I was the only child. I'd had an older brother, but he died in an accident before I was born. Always figured that's why my ma and pa watched me so close. But after I left the Curry house, ours was very quiet. This place is seldom quiet.
Joy and Ruth Ann followed me into our bedroom. I could tell they had something important to say. Joy watched as I took my lock picks out of my boot and added them to the bag. Don't want to get caught entering the prison with them.
She tugged on my pant leg. "Unc Heyth," she said, not able to say her 's' properly. "New brother stay?"
Ruth Ann was signing 'baby'.
"Wayne is not your brother, just a friend. And he's just visiting while your pa and his pa are taking a trip."
"Pa come home," Ruth Ann signed, looking sad. I sat on the bed, and they climbed up beside me.
"Unc Heyth going trip too?" asked Joy.
"Yes, with your ma and Doctor Arden. But I'll be home first," I told them and watched Joy sign my answer to her sister and both of them look sad.
"Want Pa and Ma home," Joy answered.
I gave them each a hug. "They will be soon enough. Now go see if Aunt Angie is ready for your lessons."
I needed them to leave. They can't know where my gun is hidden, even though it's not loaded. I won't load it until we're on the road.
JED 'KID' CURRY
"Father?" I said softly to the man trying to sleep in the row of seats behind me.
"I'm not asleep, Jed."
"Don't want to bother you."
He came and sat next to me. "You're never a bother. And please get used to calling me Paddy, on this trip at least."
I wasn't quite sure how to say what I wanted, but I gave it a try. "Don't know how to prepare myself for somethin' that may make those demons you talk about come after me. I know how to get myself ready for a gunfight. And when me and Heyes was robbin' trains and banks, he used to try to figure everything that should happen and then everything that might happen and plan for that. But this is different. This is...like feelings and stuff."
"Different people prepare in different ways. I pray and then try to visualize what I'm going to do," he answered.
"Maybe you could handle the prayin' part for me. And I can know what's gonna happen, and just not the feelin's that come with actions like walkin' through the intake gate. Afraid if I try to imagine how I'll feel, afraid those dark demons will attack me," I admitted to him.
Lookin' out the train window at nothin', he waited before answerin'. "I'm not sure how to help you, but do you trust me enough for us to talk about what will happen at the intake gate…and maybe how that made you feel last time you were here?"
I closed my mind and took a deep breath. "We got about three hours until we get to Yuma and take the spur to the prison. Where do we start?"
HEYES
Me, Chrissy, and Aiden made good time toward Bridgeport. Chrissy finally gave into riding Summer's Gold, even though she always prefers to be on Spring's Moirai. But Moirai is getting old and before he left the Kid had convinced her the journey would be rough on the horse. The Kid suggested Spring's Promise for Aiden. He's a dark gray gelding who has a gentle personality and a smooth gait.
Stopping to eat the food Auntie had packed for us, I noticed how quiet Chrissy had been on the ride. Now, she sat on a boulder looking at a dry creek bed. Aiden had laid down on our blanket and was taking a nap. He was not used to being in the saddle for long. By the time we get to Bridgeport, his bottom and thighs will be aching.
"Chrissy?" I asked, sitting on another boulder facing her. Looking at me with sadness in her eyes, she didn't answer. "What's wrong?"
"Worried."
"The Kid will be fine. He's got Lom and Father to help him," I assured her, but I was worried about him, too.
She nodded and stared at the creek bed. "Jed stronger now. Worried about you and Matt and Chrissy and Denise."
Now I was worried she had called herself Chrissy but something else caught my attention first. "Miss Denise?"
She smiled. "Denise sick again this morning. With child but hasn't told her husband." She spoke in a whisper as she glanced at the sleeping man, "He has nightmares about losing her in childbirth."
The composition of these trips seemed natural, including Aiden going to Cheyenne instead of with Lom and the Kid. But I remembered he avoided Lom if he could when he came last time. Maybe seeing him reminds him of the woman he lost. I guess those demons of the Father attack all of us.
"We'll be back soon and Aiden within the week. Miss Denise has a lot of female friends in Three Birds." Why was Chrissy worried? I went back to what I found most troubling. "I can take you home, if you want."
"In the long quiet cement halls, I hear echoes and voices from Chrissy's prison. Bad voices of bad men who hurt Chrissy. And the guards scare me," she admitted softly.
"I'll…" I started, but she kept talking.
"Worried Matt killed in there by another prisoner…or die by his own hand." I think we both thought about what the Kid had tried. Matt's sentence was reduced to twelve years. Still, that many years locked up can break any man. And Matt had been part of Mark McWinter's Devil Hole Gang…and a violent gang like that made a lot of enemies. And we both knew it.
Suddenly, Chrissy giggled.
"What's so funny?" I asked. Her giggling had broken though her sad thoughts.
"Not funny…kind of funny thought…not funny at all," she said.
Her explanation made me smile. "Try me."
"You won't make fun of me?"
"I promise."
"Inside those quiet halls with echoes and voices in my head like walking into a real devil's hole," she said. "See, not funny."
But I saw the dark humor in it and laughed, making her giggle again. We were smiling and talking about how when we woke yesterday morning, we found Joy sleeping on the kitchen table so she wouldn't miss saying bye to her pa.
JED 'KID' CURRY
We got to Yuma in time to catch the day's supply train to the prison. It was still the same old train that looked like it would fall apart in a light wind travelin' on the same spur that didn't look like it had been repaired in a lot of years.
"That's what we're taking to the prison?" Paddy asked.
"That's it, Father… er, Paddy. Hasn't changed," Lom answered.
We rode in the lone boxcar among boxes of vegetables that were spoilin' in the heat. I pushed the door half open and stood there watchin'. I saw when the prison was on the horizon, and I stood straighter. I did what Paddy had told me and kept repeatin', "I don't belong there. I don't belong here."
When the train stopped, me and Lom hopped down and I helped the Father. Then I took out my gun and shot two shots up in the air. Immediately, guards surrounded us.
A tall, burly guard I had never seen before asked, "What do you think you're doing?"
I smiled at Paddy and Lom. "Just givin' a Devil's Hole greetin' to let a friend know I'm here."