The City of Lovely Brothers (32 page)

"I got beat up," Nick said. "About half a dozen guys—"

"Tell me later. First I'm going to clean you up. You sit there while I get the iodine. Take off your shirt. They get you any lower?"

"Shins, backside, wherever they could kick. I put 40my hands between my legs and covered my crotch. And I only got one or two kicks in the head. Most o' what they done to my face was from punching."

Nick told his story while Caliban washed his

wounds, taped his cuts closed, and kissed his booboos.

Caliban's face grew grimmer as he listened to what had happened.

"And you know what I was thinking about all the time, Cal? I wasn't thinking about the guys who were whaling on me, or even about the people that were looking on and didn't do or say nothing. I was thinking about the story the guys told back in Nebraska the night I run away, how they beat up a faggot and how they couldn't get my old man to stop kicking 'im, and I was thinking of how that guy was me."

"Hush."

"We can't stay here, Cal," he concluded. "They know about us now. You gotta sell."

"Nobody on the ranch would dare do anything to us."

"We can't hole up here like in a stockade for the rest o' our lives. We're gonna hafta leave the ranch sometimes.

It ain't safe for us in town, and folks on the ranch'll hear about us and stare at us and talk behind our backs, even if they don't do nothing. I can't live like that, can you? We 40can't. You gotta sell."

"I know. Where will we go?"

"We can think about that later. Someplace east, I think. A city would be best. We could both find some kinda work there."

"Let's go now and ask Caleb if he'll buy me out.

That makes the most sense, since our properties are right next to each other."

* * * *

They went together to see him. "What happened to you, Nick?" Caleb asked. "Get in a fight or something?"

Nick grunted.

"We've come to ask if you're interested in buying my land," Caliban said.

"Buy your land? Whattaya wanna sell it for?"

"How much will give us for it?" Nick asked.

"That ain't how I meant it."

"I reckon Caliban knows he ain't getting no better, and he's better off moving close to the village," Amanda said.

"Yeah, Calhoun'll understand and he won't hold it against you," Caleb said. "Can't see why it means you gotta sell, though. But if you wanna sell it, why not sell to 40Calhoun? He could use the grazing land. It's him that has the herd; me and Logan work for him."

"Calhoun ain't here, and we need the money now,"

Nick explained.

"You that strapped for money, Caliban? I could lend you some. How much you—"

"Amanda, would you mind if Nick and I had a word in private with my brother? This is sort of personal."

Amanda smiled, excused herself, and went into the house. "I'll put up some coffee," she said.

"We have to leave the ranch, Caleb," Caliban explained. "We can't stay here anymore. Someone in town must've found out about us —about Nick and me— and they're talking. Five or six guys set on him when he was in town today, and they beat him up. Before you know it, word will reach the ranch."

Caleb blanched. "Nobody's gonna lay a hand on you here in Caladelphia."

"Maybe not, but we'll be pariahs."

"But where'll you go?"

"It doesn't matter. We just have to sell and get away as soon as possible. We'll take some clothes, keepsakes, and things like that, get in the car drive to… well, Laramie, probably. Why not? I should say goodbye to Callie, too.

Then we'll get on a train and head east, or west, or 40wherever."

"Ain't you never coming back?"

"No, Caleb, we have to leave for good. There's no way around it. Will you buy my land?"

"No. I don't want you to leave."

"We're going whether you buy it or not."

"It's because of me, ain't it?"

"It has nothing to do with you. Jesus, you of all people should understand why we can't stay here."

"I ain't gonna buy it."

"If you don't, we'll have to sell to Calvin. I don't want to do that. I don't want him to have it, and I don't want to do it to Calhoun."

"Maybe Julia got the money," Nick said.

"She doesn't. Their account's in Calhoun's name.

The big one, I mean. They have another, a smaller one in both their names for emergencies or while he's away."

"We can give it a try" Nick said. "Last thing I wanna see is Calvin getting his hands on your land if we can help it. And if Caleb here won't take it—"

"Are you sure you won't, Caleb?"

Caleb shook his head no.

"Please, Caleb. For me."

"I'd do anything for you, Caliban; you know I would. But not this. I wouldn't take your land if you sold it 40to Calvin and he turned around and give it to me for a present. Please don't ask no more. It hurts for me to say no to you, but I won't do it."

"But why not, Caleb?"

"I got my reasons, and they ain't no worse'n the reasons you got for leaving. I can't make you stay, but I ain't gonna make it no easier for you to leave. And I ain't changing my mind, neither, no matter what you say. So go, just go. Go see Julia. Maybe she'll buy it after all, or maybe she knows about some men that works for Calvin that'll all chip in for it so's they can set up on their own."

"I'd like that," Nick said, "seeing Calvin's own ranch hands buying land he thinks is his out from under 'is nose, but it'd take too long. Let's go see Julia, Cal."

Caleb started crying as soon as Caliban and Nick left. Amanda heard them drive off and came back out onto the porch. "Why, honey, what's the matter?" she asked.

"Ain't they staying for coffee?"

"Caliban and Nick's going away, leaving the ranch, and they ain't never coming back. I ain't never gonna see Caliban again."

"They'll be back, Caleb. I know it in my heart."

"No, they ain't coming back, and it's all my fault."

"Don't go blaming yourself, Caleb. I seen you had some kinda falling out with your brother, but that can't be 40why they're going. You seen for yourself Caliban wanted to sell his land to you."

But Caleb had turned away from her and was

waving his arm behind him as if to shoo her away.

Weeping, he left her on the porch and walked off across the grasslands under the setting sun until she saw him disappear over the rise.

Julia did not have the money. "Can't this wait till Calhoun gets back, Caliban? How come you suddenly hafta leave?"

"I can't explain, we just have to. Isn't there some way we can avoid selling it to Calvin? Don't you have any money at all?"

"I got one hundred fifty dollars. I can let you have all of it, and borrow from Darcie to tide me over till Calhoun gets back."

"I'd let you have it for that, but we need more than a hundred and fifty dollars to move out and get ourselves set up somewhere."

Nick said, "Tell you what, Julia. Cal'll take the money and let you have a strip of it two miles wide that runs along Caleb's property. That way Calhoun'll have it, and Calvin won't go and strong-arm Caleb into selling off what him and Amanda got to get his dirty mitts on the whole west half."

"Thank you, Nick. Calhoun'll appreciate it."

"We'll go to Calvin tonight and sell him the rest,"

Caliban said. "Then we'll go to Miles City tomorrow and draw up the deeds." "Why Miles City? Why not in town?"

"Maybe we can find us a buyer in Miles City and not hafta sell Calvin any of it," Nick said, "and Billings is too far. We'll prob'ly need to go there and back twice." He was thinking aloud, but Julia thought he was answering her question.

"Thank you, Julia. How long do you think will it take you to get the money?"

"I can have it for you the day after tomorrow, when you and Nick come by with the paperwork."

They said goodnight to Julia and turned the car

toward home, but when they reached the main gate to Caladelphia, Nick said, "Let's go to Calv's now so's I'll be right there to see you don't let 'im push ya around. You milk 'im for all you can get outta him, Cal, for Houn's sake if not for ours."

When Calvin heard what they had come for, he

asked them to step into his office. "I thought you might be stopping by with some kinda like proposition," he said.

"You two can't hang around here no more, from what I hear. Calvin Jr. says people're telling stories about you in town. And they make alot o' sense, too, when you think about it."

Caliban turned pale.

"Ain't none o' your business why Cal's selling," Nick said. "Only question is, d'ya wanna buy it."

"Course I'm interested, if the price is right. Far as I'm concerned, you can't get outta here soon enough.

Everyone on the ranch'll be too ashamed to set foot in town long as we got faggots around. You're a blot on the Caldwell name, Caliban. I don't consider you my brother no more."

"If this is all it takes for you to cut 'im off, blood don't mean that much to you. You think Cal and Calhoun and Caleb're thrilled to have you for a brother?"

Calvin ignored him and turned to Caliban. "Sorta got you over a barrel, don't I?"

"I came to you because you're my brother. I'd've thought you'd be fair with me."

"Caleb's your brother, too, and so's Calhoun.

'Course Julia don't got no money. Surprised you didn't go to Caleb first."

"Caleb's not interested. Look, will you give me a fair price or not? Because if not—"

"If not?"

"We'll just drive to Billings and find ourselves another buyer. It shouldn't be hard. Land values are going up. We're not in that much of a rush."

"It ain't like we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning," Nick said. It took more than two hours of haggling, but they got Calvin to agree to a fair, even somewhat generous price. Very generous, since they did not tell him about the two-mile strip they had already sold to Julia. Calvin took the deeds for their great-grandfather's original claim and for Caliban's quarter from the safe and handed them over so they could have the new papers drawn up.

* * * *

They made two trips to Miles City. On the first, they brought the deeds to the best lawyer in town, Troilus Pardoner, and paid him extra to write up the transfer papers before the banks closed. Then they went with him to the bank and had the bank manager co-sign them. They stayed overnight in a hotel and returned to the ranch the next day with a surveyor. He compared his measurements with what was in the papers and declared them accurate. Then the three went to Julia's for the night and took her with them to Miles City the next morning to finalize the sale of her strip.

Two days later, they signed the rest of the land over to Calvin at the bank in town. Calvin did not discover that they had sold that strip to Julia until Calhoun put up fences after he got back from the drive. There had been no fences between Caliban's and Caleb's holdings. They went back to Caleb to ask if he would buy

their bed linens, cookware and some of their furniture, but he refused to see them. Amanda said she was sorry he would not let her buy any of it and told them he would regret it later, but promised to take Jiggers. Julia borrowed money from Darcie to buy some of the cookware she fancied and also their chairs. Darcie bought their down comforters. The rest they sold to Hester to resell at the general store.

Twelve days after Nick's beating they packed their bags and said goodbye to everyone except Caleb, who locked himself in his room when they came. Julia promised to say goodbye to Calhoun for them, and Darcie promised to write as soon as they sent her an address. Then they got in the car and set off for Laramie, stopping in town on the way to send Callie a telegram to let her know they were coming. They had decided to go east.

* * * *

"So you decided to sell out and leave the ranch,"

Callie said. "You plan on settling in Laramie or are ya gonna go somewhere else?"

"We're going east, Callie, a long way east. We mean to look for a city to settle in." "I suppose it's getting hard for you to live in that little house way away from everything, and life in a big city will be easier on you. They have doctors and big hospitals, and you can prob'ly find some kind of office work you can do sitting down."

"There's more to it than that. We're going to live hundreds, maybe a thousand miles from here, and we don't plan on coming back to visit, either. When we say goodbye to you, it'll be forever."

"But why, Caliban? Why?"

Caliban and Nick glanced at Robert. "Well, I guess there's something I ain't supposed to know," he said, and left the room. Then they told her.

"I knew this was gonna happen sooner or later,"

Callie said, "I just knew it. But after all these years I thought maybe you were safe after all, and nobody'd find out. How did word of it get out? Do you know?"

Caliban shook his head.

"How long you reckon you'll be in Laramie?"

"No more'n a day or two," Nick said, "just long enough to sell the car. We wanna go someplace, set up house, and get it over with."

"I got a room ready for you. It got two beds in it, but you can sleep together in one o' them. Just mess the other up so Robert don't know you're sleeping in the same 41bed. Now go and freshen up and rest a bit, and we'll see you at supper."

* * * *

That evening the four of them discussed their plans.

"Decided on where you're going yet?" Robert asked.

"No. That's the most important thing we have to decide. It has to be somewhere Nick can find a good-paying job. He's the main wage-earner now that I've sold my part of the ranch."

"Sold your ranch," Callie corrected. "Caladelphia's four ranches now."

"And now it's three. Calvin bought most of the property."

"Then you couldn't 'a got a good price for it."

"We got a fair price," Nick said, "better'n fair, but it took us nearly all night to get it outta him. Had to threaten we'd go to Billings to find a buyer. He wanted that land real bad, too. His ranch ain't no ranch. It's a town for the men who work at Calhoun's ranch."

"You got enough money?"

"Between what we got for the land and what was in the house and what we had in the bank, yes, we have more than enough. We ought to get a decent price for the car, 41too."