10 Pound Bag Ch. 106-110

**** Chapter 106 -- Politicking ****

Surprisingly, there was nothing but silence after I read out the rules. I don't know what I was expecting but silence wasn't it. I suppose that all of my concepts on how this meeting would go were based on Hollywood notions; obviously, Hollywood had it all wrong. So I pressed on.

"I have appointed a Village Council. Councilors, please come up when I call your names.

"First of all, there's me, Zachariah Ebenezer Narrater. I'm the Village Chief and head of the Council.

"When I'm not around, Michelle will be in charge. Please come up, Michelle. Michelle is also owner of the stable and the livery. Should you require the use of either of those, please see her." Michelle gracefully climbed up on the bench next to me and smiled at the gathering.

"Next we have Fabiola Timmons. Fabiola speaks English, Creole, and French. She will be working mostly with the boatmen, their families, and the trading post at Rulo Landing." Fabiola, blushing furiously, joined us on the bench.

"I would like to present Cuupirikpahaa. I call her Mouse. Mouse's father is the Pawnee chief up on the Platte and her mother comes from Bavaria. She speaks English, Pawnee, and German. Mouse is currently in charge of our food stores. Come see her with your needs.

"Finally we have Petalesharo; his friends call him Pete. He is in charge of scouting, hunting, and fishing. He is a chief of the Pawnee and is also an ambassador from the Pawnee."

"Two final things before we begin the eating and drinking."

"This is our land, but this is still Pawnee hunting grounds. The Pawnee have free right to hunt, travel or camp here as they like. They will also help us fight our enemies, just as we will help them fight theirs here on this land."

"Most importantly, every person who comes here and follows our rules is free and equal."

I looked around at a lot of smiling faces.

"Please, let's eat!" I jumped down and led the way to the table.

**** ****

I took only a small portion and ate rapidly. The food was amazing, but I knew Matilda could make it for me any night, and would do so, if she were in the mood. And if I asked nicely. My beer and my bourbon were refilled and I received my first guest within moments.

Of course, Pete had to be first. Right into the fire I go.

"Slaves."

He simply said that and left it hanging. I knew better than to reply. Getting the other person to speak is a power play that has been used for years. If you can wait them out, you have a much better chance of winning. I simply looked at him while I waited.

He broke first. "We have two women and they belong to someone."

Damn he was still obfuscating.

"Who?" I asked directly.

Pete mumbled a name; it wasn't even close to clear enough for me to pronounce. He then paused and seemed to be looking for an escape route. I was beginning to sense a political situation for him here, one that I could turn to my advantage. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Who else, Petalesharo?" I asked in my official tone. He seemed to shrink back and I knew I was onto something. The Pawnee needed me far more than they were willing to admit. Besides, Pete owed me for the Banshee trade. It was time to extract that pound of flesh.

"Please bring me the other warrior and his slave, so we can make a trade." Politeness and respect were still an important part of bargaining, if you wanted to get the best deal. Particularly if you have the advantage in the transaction.

I called Mouse over and explained the situation, my motives, and interpretation needs to do this deal. The women would continue to serve as their cooks and housekeepers, but sexual favors were awarded by the female not a right of a man. Obviously, physical abuse was absolutely forbidden. The women were to have their own lodge and would no longer be forced to live with the men.

Pete introduced me to an amicable but otherwise non-descript man, who listened quietly as Mouse explained the deal to him. He happily accepted my offer without any haggling. That surprised me because, typically, the Pawnee loved to haggle. I simply shrugged and told the woman to move into Mouse's tipi immediately. Matilda brought him his tobacco, gunpowder, and bourbon. First problem handled.

I started round two, "Pete, the other woman, where is she?"

Turned out she was right there also. I hardly spared her a glance. This was not a time to be ogling women. I went straight to the deal and offered Pete a cup of bourbon. He eagerly took the cup and took a healthy draught.

"Very good bourbon," was his polite response.

"Slave OK?" I asked.

"Yes. She good, no trouble." He still hadn't pinged to the plot.

"Excellent! Good trade! Thank you," I responded with a grin.

It took Pete a moment before he started to sputter.

I looked at him and simply said, "Banshee."

To be honest, I liked Banshee. She was a good person and deserved a good life. I was just pretty sure I wasn't that guy and I didn't want to be. I did feel quite sure we'd find a guy to keep her happy, but, at the same time, she was still demanding a child from her 'mighty warrior.' Even Michelle didn't think I could get out of that one.

Pete was fuming, so I gave him more bourbon and made the promise of better gifts to sweeten the trade. He was politically stuck and he knew I had the right to still be harboring a friendly grudge over the Banshee deal. At the same time, he valued my alliance as a bulkhead against a surprise attack by the Kansa. The Pawnee/Kansa blood feud ran deep.

Vengeance complete, and one more person freed.

**** Chapter 107 -- Everybody wants ****

I felt like a feudal lord granting boons that night.

There was a line of people waiting to see me and I decided I wasn't going to go through this alone. I had the table cleared and called the entire council up to join in; we would all suffer together.

Sonya was kept very busy for the rest of the evening. We needed an accurate record, which even meant writing down the absurd requests. I would greet each individual as they came up, then have a brief chat with them...brief was almost always a challenge. For the most part, I tried to hand people off to the appropriate councilor whenever possible, but that proved to be difficult with some individuals. Some people just like to hear the sound of their voice, I guess. I'd politely wait them out and then point them to the correct councilor. If it was a rules issue, then I handled it; the rules were mine for the most part and they'd have to deal with me.

A lot of this was pointless. The requests were often based on 'what if' situations, which simply frustrated me to no end. I reached the point where I wanted to respond, "What if you got tossed into a time glitch?" Michelle seemed to recognize my frustration and took over the helm for a while. During that brief respite, I managed to walk my frustration off by myself. I went out into the darkness for a bit before returning to the fray. I had dearly wanted to escape management shit when I bought my dream ranch; now I was neck deep in it again. We even had minor squabbles between neighbors going on already. It seemed some people couldn't live happily without having a complaint.

Rules questions were firmly postponed until the next day and I reminded everyone that we were having a party, not a town hall meeting. I let each of them know that I would be down at the stream tomorrow. Michelle was going to try and teach me how to fish. I also reminded them to bring a translator with them, if it was going to be needed

We managed to wrap it up in less than two hours. My patience was growing thin and the smart ones noticed. By 10 p.m., we had managed our way through the line and shut the process down. It was still ridiculous by any standard. You would think adults in any era could understand simple ideas. I guess that was just the eternal optimist in me speaking.

Now it was time to have fun. I discovered that we had a couple of decent musicians in the village and they sorted themselves into an enthusiastic, if uncoordinated, band. The dancing was fun to watch. Each group seemed to have a different style and only a couple of songs brought everyone out at once. It was fun and there was even a hope the musicians would organize themselves in the future. Right now, it was a little more like a jam session than a dance.

We shut the taps off early and the booze was locked away in the trailer again. We were still in hostile territory and couldn't afford for everyone to get drunk and sloppy. We'd make better plans for the future. For tonight, most people were only lightly buzzed at best. We'd fortify them with coffee or yaupon tea. Amos volunteered to man the drone; he wasn't allowed to drink yet and had the youthful ability to withstand the late hours. He also thrived on the responsibility.

I had dutifully danced to each type of music as best I could. I reasoned that since my dancing was pretty horrid anyway, I might as well throw myself into it and show community leadership. My crazy involvement seemed to encourage others to join in. The ladies did their part, pulling partners out to dance with them. I danced with just about everybody and to all different kinds of music. Little Esther turned out to be my most enthusiastic dance partner; any time she saw me standing still, she'd grab my hand and pull me out to dance. She seemed to have an affinity for music and movement, a natural talent, if you will.

We started to wrap things up around 11 o'clock. After all, the sun and the rooster would be up pretty early. Tomorrow was a day of rest, but the livestock didn't know that and would be calling for us bright and early. Cleanup went quickly and I was headed off to bed before midnight. I had plans to learn how to fish tomorrow. Have no doubt, I was truly looking forward to that and I really just needed some time off. I didn't have high expectations of being left alone the entire day, but was hoping for a small respite from the hassles of leadership.

I wasn't at all surprised when I wasn't left to sleep alone that night. I wasn't the least bit concerned when I found Michelle in my bed either. Our little romance had faltered and, in its place, we had slowly developed a 'Friends with Benefits' relationship. I hadn't been sure who to expect when I went in and, seeing it was Michelle, I was a bit tentative about this changed relationship.

Undressing gave me time to address this concern. Besides, Michelle was happy to explain the complicated situation to me. Complicated was an understatement and it really didn't take long for my eyes to glaze over. She tried to explain the idiosyncrasies of the situation that I was in. On the one hand, it was good to know ahead of time to expect Matilda during snuggles, but that would be a little later. Heck, I'd never known ahead of time when, or even if, Matilda was going to do something. This would be the first non-surprise visit with Matilda in the entire time that I had known her.

Michelle wanted me alone before that happened, so I slipped into bed. She welcomed me with open arms and open legs. It was as it almost always was with Michelle - warm, gentle and laid back. Things only heated up with her when Matilda joined us; that, in itself, told me a little bit about Michelle.

It was nice and long overdue.

**** Chapter 108 -- Gone Fishin' ****

Matilda did indeed join us. But it wasn't until early the next morning, and it didn't include any sexcapades. She just wanted to snuggle and be held. I was happy to oblige her and we all spooned together in the cool morning air. The shower was nice, but I was wishing for a larger one that could be shared. That would be difficult to build right now, but I did decide that a public bath house would probably be a good idea. I had the beginnings of a workable plan in my head before I was dried off. It would have to be a project for a couple of years down the road, but it was a nice thought, nonetheless.

I spent the early part of the morning lazing about, enjoying breakfast, and spending time with my dogs. Both bitches were coming along well and we'd see puppies before too much longer. Those puppies would be trainable, come spring. Then my work with them would really start. Trained dogs were worth a lot of money, regardless of the era, and they would demand a premium out here on the frontier. I fully intended to profit from that premium. I wanted to add another bitch to the pack, but that was going to take a while. To find another bloodline, I would have to send away to the east coast, or even to Europe. I'd be lucky to pull that off by the end of the decade; it would probably involve some travel.

Our Morgan line presented the same problem. While our current herd of three mares and a stallion was good, I'd need to keep a view on the long-term issue of age. I hoped they stayed healthy. This was where our background story came in handy. In both cases, I knew that the blood lines we had were many, many generations separated. I could safely run these as a distinct bloodline from anything we could possibly come across.

All that aside, I wanted to take a look at my fields. Mouse wanted to go with me, so we went out to saddle up and take a ride. I saddled up Lunch and she took Abigail. Brin came along to keep us company on our slow inspection tour.

We started with the visitor's village. While it wasn't in too bad shape, it desperately needed a well. The folks would probably enjoy closer outhouses also, but I was loathe to put sewage upstream in our water table. I'd never been a big fan of cholera or any other sewage related diseases. The good news for the larger village was that I knew how to make a binjo ditch to run the sewage off. The bad news was that it would take a year to two to get to that stage of development. I wasn't quite ready to set up a cement factory just yet. Another multi-year project to plan for.

I explained each of these things to Mouse as we inspected. She either asked questions or offered up the standard Pawnee solution. So far we hadn't hit on anything the Pawnee had to offer that was an improvement over what I knew would need to be done.

We moved on to the corral next. Again, a well with a pump was going to be necessary. Winter itself would present an entirely new problem. We would also need a larger livestock shed, preferably with an attached hay barn to handle the milk cows, llamas, pigs, and working horses. Winter wasn't far enough away for my taste; we'd have to hurry during this first year.

The pasture looked to be able to hold the entire herd for two more weeks, at best, before we would need to move them to the pastures down on the prairie. If we moved them soon enough, the pasture would maintain the rest of our herd through the summer. Moving them down to the prairie pastures meant turning that trail into a road. That task would be the bulk of the coming week's work.

The fence was another issue. The wire wasn't going to hold. Mostly, it was only a single wire. A split rail fence was needed and that would take a significant investment of time. That might be best handled by splitting rails over the winter, if we could build a big enough workshop.

The crops were faring well and the peas were already fruiting. The womenfolk had been at them already. The tomatoes and corn were coming along nicely. The rest of the garden looked good, though I wasn't in the mood to get down and walk, to get a take on each veggie. The right people were monitoring it and I simply left it to them.

That was enough for today and we headed back to put the horses up. I had a really pleasant time with Mouse and didn't need to find a way to add stress. My 'To do' list had grown enough already.

We were back for dinner, which naturally consisted of leftovers from the previous night's gathering. They had put together some very nice fish tacos with either crawdads or fried trout. We had the best larder in the entire village and, while we shared a lot with the group overall, we still had the prime options when it came to spices and stored veggies. A lot of veggies for everyone else had gone in a tad bit late. There was nothing to really panic about; they were still eating better than most of them ever had in their lives.

After dinner was the afternoon nap, a rare Sunday luxury that I didn't plan on giving up. I had hung my hammock in a shady area and spent a couple of hours dozing or just listening to the afternoon heat get started. I love those moments.

Then it was time to go fishing. I had all of the fly fishing gear. However, since I historically sucked at fishing anyway, I truly didn't expect any sudden surge of talent or skill on my part. One time, Michelle tried hard to teach me. But even after three hours of practice, I had still shown very little improvement. Today, I decided to enjoy the outing anyway, and off we went with the huge set of gadgets that were supposedly required for the job.

I actually had a really nice time. I didn't catch shit, while Michelle pulled in fish after fish. But on the other hand, this meant I had no cleaning to do when we finished. After about four hours down at the river, I was much more relaxed and more than ready to hand my fishing duties over to Amos. He seemed to excel at it. Me, I'd go back to hunting.

A good day, all in all, and after a nice supper I was ready to call it a night. Tomorrow would start another work week. Cutting roads wasn't easy work, even if you were just running crews. I didn't plan on getting fat and happy either, so I definitely wanted to spend a couple of hours swinging the ax.

**** Chapter 109 -- Back to work ****

I was up with the first crow of the rooster. I had a lot to do that morning to get our work teams setup and busy, and that was only dealing with the men; Michelle would handle the women. I intently studied my project list and the work roster while I ate my breakfast. By the time I had finished my coffee, I had a plan for the day laid out. Sonya dutifully noted who I was putting where and who would be the team leader for each group. By the time I had finished my second cup, Timmons and Michelle had joined us and I ran it past them to check validity before I met with the men.

I was due to meet with the men at the center of the temporary village. so we headed over there to get things rolling. Pete and Mouse joined us once we got there. We had about ten minutes to chat before the men started to gather around. I breezed over our goals for the week just in time for the meeting to kick off.

We had our 'Good Mornings' and polite morning chats out of the way in a few minutes, then I pushed forward from there. I explained that our main goals were to try to finish the roads this week and get started on some more permanent builds. I then listed out the work crews. I saw some sideways looks, but nothing I couldn't deal with.

I had two guys that had been apprentice carpenters and they would be working with Holder to build some structures. One was for the animals and the other for ourselves. First order of business would be a woodworking shop. The remainder would clear the road down to the prairie; Samuel would be in charge of that crew. The boatmen would finish the road down to the landing and start on a dock. Clearing the road meant pulling stumps and, understandably, nobody really wanted that duty.

Everybody was to go armed. We were still in wild country and preparation was the path to survival. Lunch would come around 10 a.m. and dinner at about 2p.m. We'd shut down for the day at 6 p.m., then supper was their wives' responsibility. The road team was sent out, except for two men to put their pulling mule into traces. Amos and Mila trailed with the dog cart to move extra tools and chains in that.

Timmons headed out to the boat crew with the other mule. They had their tools and would be hard at work before I ever got there. That left me with Holder and the carpenters.