Ask No Tomorrows (8 page)

Sam had been
the one to risk his life for the other children in the camp too.
Knowing he was older, he fought as an adult to defend the Indian
camp many times when Lee and Chase were gone on scouting parties.
Most of the time the Indian camp remained peaceful, but every now
and then a renegade bunch of outlaws would try to take it over, and
those were the times that Sam learned to fight and defend the
weaker ones.

He’d been
doing it ever since.

Yes, Lee and
Chase had taught him well how to handle himself and how to defend,
and he was grateful. But the one thing they didn’t teach him,
couldn’t teach him, was how not to defend the weak.

He glanced
down at Riley once more. Did she have any family? Friends? She sure
didn’t act like it.

Or was she
like Nodog, another stray. He’d protect her, as long as he could,
for he knew it was the right thing to do, maybe not the intelligent
thing to do, but the right thing. Lee had taught him values he’d
never forget. It was the things Lee taught him that he held fast
to, for Lee was a good man.

Chapter Six

It was nearly
noon the next day before they stopped, finding the ruins of an
abandoned shack. They scouted the place first and once Sam was sure
it was safe, he made camp. Nodog didn’t leave his side, sniffing
the place and wagging his tail that all was alright.

Whoever had
lived here had left little, and in a hurry, Sam decided as he tried
to find food or comfort. Odd and end clothes were scattered about,
as though they had either been gone through many times or thrown
out for travel. Evidence of a couple of Indian attacks and a
partially burnt out floor left Sam with an idea that Comanches had
raided the place a couple of times.

“
Not much of a place, but we can rest up here for a while,” Sam
said. “Looks like a norther blowing in. Looks like we’re gonna need
some shelter before long.”

Riley
nodded.

He walked
around the shack and opened a cellar door around the side. “Got a
storm cellar too. And looks like we found a little food here. It’s
all canned goods, but we can take some.”

“
I
hate storm cellars; they are so dark, and there are spiders and
sometimes snakes in them.” Riley shivered visibly.

“
Well, you may hate them, but if the weather is bad enough you
might be glad of it,” Sam informed her none too gently.

“
I’m sorry, but I was bitten once…” Riley offered her
excuse.

“
By
a snake?”

“
Yes, dad had shoved me into the cellar when a bad storm came
up and he’d gone to check the stock, and there was a rattler down
there just waiting. With no doc around, I almost died. Old Gordy,
he fixed me up though. He had some Indian cure and it
worked.”

“
Gordy?”

“
Yeah, the hired hand I told you about that I trusted so
much.”

“
That must have been a real experience. But your dad and this
Gordy took care of you…?”

“
Yeah, I was pretty sick for a while, but I healed up. I was
about ten when it happened.”

“
Look, I agree they aren’t the best places to be, but we do
what we have to do in an emergency,” Sam added.

“
Yeah, but at least you know why I don’t like these kinds of
places.”

“
I
guess I do. We won’t go down unless we have to,” Sam promised.
“Besides, Nodog can sniff out a place better than any two legged
animal. If there are snakes there, we’ll know it before we go
inside.”

“
Good. I trust your dog.” She glanced at Nodog who eyed her
then wagged his tail.

Sam went
around the back and found a well. He raised the bucket and pulled
the ladle from the handle. He trickled the water on his face then
opened his mouth and tasted it. It was cool and sweet. He poured
some into his hat and let Nodog have a drink then he did the same
for his horse that he hobbled out back.

“
We’re in luck. I can make some coffee.” He proceeded to take
the bucket inside. “Looks like they left a trunk of stuff here too.
Go through it and see if there is anything we can use. Cut some of
it into bandages with this knife and we’ll bind you up
soon.”

“
All right.”

Finding some
twigs, he scrounged up enough for a fire in the old stove inside
the partially burnt out cabin. He dug his bag of coffee out of his
saddle bags and made a pot in an old burnt up pot he found near the
stove. He had a can of peaches in his bag and took them
out.

He saw the
huge pile of bandages she made and he told her to go stuff them
into the saddle bags.

“
After I doctor you again,” she insisted.

“
I
don’t need doctorin’,” he insisted.

“
We’ll see about that; now take your shirt off, Sam,” she
instructed.

“
Look, I got things to worry about other than that right
now…”

“
Maybe you do, but this comes first. I don’t want you comin’
down sick on me, Sam. It won’t take long,” she promised.

“
Good grief girl, I ain’t gonna get sick on you.” Sam finally
shucked the shirt, and Riley dug out the aloe and began running it
over him gently. He barely flinched, but she saw goosebumps on his
arms and smiled.

He saw her
look and he shrugged. “It’s cold.”

When she
doctored his chest, he couldn’t stop staring at her. She ignored
him ‘til she was done, then looked up at him with innocent eyes.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? And you remembered to keep the
shirt off for a while.”

He kept
staring at her for so long, she turned pink.

“
It’s healing up good.” She cleared her throat.

“
Let’s check the area for things we might need,” he suggested
as he started to put the shirt back on.

“
Okay.”

Sam
frowned.

Riley was
still wandering about outside, when he called her in.

He handed her
the one cup he had found.

“
I
never have figured out why coffee smells so good. Smells heavenly,
aren’t you having any?” she asked, her eyes straying to his
chest.

“
Yep, half of this.” He nodded to the cup.

“
Oh…oh, sure.” She sipped a bit and handed it back.

Sam turned the
cup around and sipped some from the other side then handed it back
to her.

“
Sit down, we’ll split a can of peaches,” Sam
instructed.

“
Peaches?” Riley squealed. “You’ve found peaches?”

“
No, I didn’t find these. Hattie, my sister, packed them for me
before I left. She knew how much I loved them.” Sam smiled and
hunted for something to pick them out with. “Don’t have but a
couple of cans left of them.”

“
You must have been pretty close to your sister. You talk about
her a lot.”

“
I
wasn’t but about five when my Ma got kidnapped and my pa was hung.
Hattie, she was like a ma to me after that happened. We was real
close. That is ‘til I got older. After we moved to the Indian
village everyone sorta took me under their wing; I was the only
black boy in the camp.”

“
You’re lucky. I didn’t have a sister nor a brother. Ma died
when I was pretty young, so dad and I became close I guess you
would say. He just didn’t know how to handle a girl.”

“
He
learn you ranchin’?” Sam asked.

“
Mostly him…and some of the hands. Back when I was little we
had lots of hands on the ranch.”

“
How old are you, Riley?” Sam asked as he hunted for something
to dig the peaches out with.

Not finding
anything to eat with, he picked up a twig, sharpened it with his
knife and stuck it in one of the peaches and handed it to her.
“Have one.”

“
Nineteen…how old are you?” She looked at him.

“
Twenty-five…” he answered.

“
Somehow, I didn’t picture you with brothers or
sisters.”

“
Well, I had both, but the rest of them got killed.”

“
Killed…how?” Riley’s eyes widened.

“
They called themselves White Knights, they go about the night
killin’ black people. My two brothers tried to run and escape them,
but they shot them down, in the back; they hung my pa, kidnapped my
ma, and my two other sisters…well, they eventually killed them
too.”

“
White Knights, must be what I heard tell of the Klan? Least
ways that’s what they called themselves.” Riley’s mouth flew open.
“I never understood what that was about, but I did see a hangin’
once. And I don’t care to see another either. But why do they pick
on black folks, do you know?”

“
Don’t want them takin’ over the land or the vote for one
thing. Don’t like them because of their skin color for another.
Anyway, they hung my pa, kidnapped my ma, killed my brothers and
raped and killed a couple of other sisters. I was the baby of the
family. I was fishin’. When I heard ‘em comin’ I hid out in the
woods. Hattie…she waited ‘til they weren’t lookin’ and
escaped.”

“
Oh
Sam, I’m so sorry…” Riley put her hand on his. “That must have been
a hard time for you and your sister.”

He glanced
down at their hands and she removed hers. “It was. It was a long
time ago…”

“
Didn’t realize you had family, Sam. Guess I just figured you
were alone. Where does your sister live?” Riley asked, taking the
peach.

“
She lives with the Shawnee, up north a ways,” Sam said
flippantly.

“
Why does she live with them?” Riley asked, her curiosity
obviously getting the best of her. “I mean, I never heard tell of
black people living with the Indians.”

“
Lots do these days. Only place we can live like equals. People
don’t have to live in shame there, and can love who they want.
There are many that live with the Cherokee Nation. Belong there,
they say. But Hattie is married to a white man, and the Indian camp
is the only place they could live together in peace as a couple.
The old Shaman of the tribe married them,” Sam told her without
thinking. “The only place their marriage would be recognized. Lee,
my brother-in-law, had a good friend from the Shawnee and he wrote
and asked them if we could come. They invited us with open
arms.”

“
I
never thought of that. So your sister married a white man.” Riley
eyed him.

“
That’s right, but you gotta understand, she’d known him a long
time,” Sam insisted. “Yes sir, a long time…”

“
Did she love him?” Riley continued to quiz him.

“
Oh…she shore did. She was crazy in love with him. Sounds
strange I guess, but it happened. When she thought he died in the
war, she buried him proper like. She cried forever it seemed. But
then so did I. Lee
was
special.
He was that kind of man, a caring man, a good man. He took us in
when our folks died. He buried my pa. Seen after us. But he went to
war. That was a hard time for Hattie, my sister. She shore did love
him. Lee didn’t die in the war like everyone thought though, but he
did lose an arm…” Sam shook his head. “I took one look at my sister
when he came back and knew she was crazy in love with the man.
Losing an arm was nothin’ to her, she loved Lee. She loved the man
he was. A missing arm meant nothing to her, and Lee he could hold
his own, in a fight, with work, and I guess with lovin’ my sister,
‘cause he made her happy. She’s been happy ever since.”

“
And his losing the arm didn’t bother her? I’d like to meet her
someday. She must be quite a woman.”

“
Not a bit. You see, Lee was still Lee to us. When we were
kids, Pa taught us that white people were mean, no goods. We
believed that ‘til we met Lee. Lee acted like there was no
difference in color. Kinda like you.” He stopped and thought on
that for a moment. “And he took care of us, paid money for someone
to see after us. Can you believe that?
He
paid a white woman to take care of us, didn’t want to
come back and see us slavin’ for someone. That’s what he told her.
Then he came back to us and made a real family out of us. There
just isn’t anyone better than that man, in my books or
hers.”

“
He
must have been a very nice man…I’d like to meet him someday too.
I’ve never met a one-armed man, especially one that could take care
of things.”

“
He
was the best. Still is.”

The wind
kicked up and the door shut, darkening the room for a moment. “How
long they been married, Sam?” she asked in the darkness.

“
Oh…nigh onto thirteen or fourteen years now.” Sam figured the
time up in his head.

“
They got any kids?” Riley asked as she finished the peach and
handed him the stick, touching his hand in the process.

“
Yeah, they have four kids, three boys and one girl. Prettiest
kids you ever saw,” Sam said, taking the stick and reaching in for
a peach for himself. “And of course Hattie had three girls before,
only they weren’t hers.”

“
Weren’t hers? Then how’d she get them?”