The Homestead: Part Nineteen

~ beetleypete

This is the nineteenth part of a fiction serial, in 827 words.

I unsaddled Lizzie and settled her in the shelter with her feed. Inside the house, the men had been busy. Everything was either thrown around or just broke. Only the table and benches were as they had been. They had tried lifting some floorboards on one side, probably using the big knife. But there was no space under there to hide anything, as they soon found out. They had rooted around up in the chimney too, so there was soot everywhere. I waited a good time to make sure they hadn’t sneaked back, and went to check in the outhouse. The seat box was intact, and the cash box still in its spot inside.

That afternoon, I spent the time cleaning up, and repairing what I could. The smashed chair was past mending, though I was able to fix the beds, put back the floorboards, and make my toolbox good too. Once it got dark, I had some cold meat to eat, and sat in the dark with no fire. If them fellas were coming back, I wanted to be ready for them. I fell asleep in my own chair, still holding the forty-four.

Come sunup, I wasn’t about to leave, convinced they would come back to get me. I kept busy making a new chair from the good wood daddy kept in the bedroom. It took all day, and wasn’t as good as the one they had broken, but passable enough for Henry to sit on. I stayed around the house for five more days, with my nerves never settling. Then on the sixth day, I relaxed a little and started work on extending the horse-shelter into a stable of sorts. Later on, not long after dark, I heard the wagon drive up outside, and my daddy’s voice talking to the horses. I ran out straight away, babbling on about what happened, and how stupid I was to believe the story they told me. Daddy calmed me down, and took me inside to talk to me while Henry unhitched the mares.

Smoking his pipe and sipping whisky, daddy listened patiently, moving his hand up and down to slow me up when I talked too fast. When Henry came in, he related the story to him, in an easy way that Henry could understand. Then he turned to me, and I swallowed hard, wondering what he would say.

“Phin, you did well son. You were right to shoot that Luke when he came at you with a knife. If he died because of it, he only has himself to blame. Though if he recovered, reckon we will see those two again. I’m gonna get us a couple of scatterguns to keep handy, just in case. And you have to tell us both what they looked like, as much as you can recall. I need to know if they are hanging around in town. But all we lost was that old chair, and you are safe, which is the main thing”. I was mighty relieved, and went to get the fire going under the dinner pot.

After we had eaten, daddy rubbed his beard for a while. “I’m gonna have to go and see if I can find Ben. Seems to me he might have steered those two in our direction. No hurry though, that Portugee will show up soon enough. Doubt he’ll be able to keep away from whisky and women for long”. Then he showed me the papers that proved Henry owned the claim, and I was the only beneficiary. It hadn’t occurred to daddy that if anything happened to me, he would have no rights to the homestead.

A week went by, and life returned to normal. I rode around doing the small jobs, and daddy and Henry found Ben as he waited for a rowboat to Delano one evening. Daddy told me he looked sheepish and shifty, and when it was suggested he leave town and head west, he just looked at his shoes and nodded. The next morning as I rode near the Ryan house, Maggie appeared. She was running down to the fence, waving at me. It would have been too rude not to stop.

“Phin, you’ll never guess. Elizabeth is home with our aunt. Why don’t you come in and say hello?” I didn’t get into the house, as Elizabeth was stood at the open door. I took my hat off and smoothed my hair, standing on the porch feeling like a little boy. She was sure pretty; all gussied-up, with her hair piled high, and an expensive looking-necklace around her chalky-white throat. “Why Phineas Fuller, my how you have grown”. She was talking real fancy, almost like some foreigner. Smirking at me a little when she noticed the attention I was paying her, she lowered her voice.

“Take a good look, country boy. I will be leaving for Europe with my aunt soon. She is going to show me the world”.

29 thoughts on “The Homestead: Part Nineteen”

  9. (1) While Phin unsaddled Lizzie, he dreamt of saddling Elizabeth after a bit of sexual horseplay.
    (2) Bad citation: “They had tried lifting some floorboards on one side, probably using the big knife. But there was no space under there to hide anything, except maybe a hideous heart that would make a low, dull, quick sound like that of a watch when enveloped in cotton.”
    (3) Phin checked the outhouse, and found that “the seat box was intact, and the cash box still in its spot inside.” Unfortunately, he didn’t open the box to check for silverfish, cockroaches, termites, or book lice. (That oversight on his part really bugs me!)
    (4) The new chair wasn’t as good as the one the thieves had broken, but it was passable. I think Phin misunderstands the game. You don’t pass around the chairs when playing musical chairs!
    (5) “Then on the sixth day, I relaxed a little…” Reverend Parker would have advised him to rest on the seventh day.
    (6) “If he died because of it, he only has himself to blame.” I should point out that it would be hard for Luke to blame himself once he’s dead.
    (7) Ben looked sheepish and shifty. He pointed at his sheep wool slippers, and complained they made his feet itch. That explained why he kept shifting his feet around.
    (8) After Elizabeth got all haughty and touted her refinement, Phin took out his fiddle and began singing:

    ♬Well I wouldn’t trade my life for diamonds and jewels
    I never was one of them money hungry fools
    I’d rather have my fiddle and my farmin’ tools
    Thank God I’m a country boy♬

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