Gone to Kansas Ch. 01

This story is purely fiction and for entertainment purposes, it takes place in the Midwest during the 1870's and although the places are real and some of the characters are loosely based on people I've known in real life, the rest is purely fiction. I'm sure there are a few things that won't be historically correct, and I did my own editing so expect some errors. Everyone having sex is 18 or older, there are some sexual situations thrown in here and there, but it isn't the main part of the story, CH. 01 has a voyeurism scene although overall I would label the combined stories as a Romance but due to its length, I'm putting it in a series as a Novel/ Novella.

There is quite a bit of violence and the mindset of these folks in this story doesn't' quite fit our modern kinder gentler society that is trying to turn todays male into a pacifist. It also doesn't quite portray this time period as Hollywood did, the confrontations are about survival, not being fair to your enemy and giving them a fighting chance. So, you've been warned, I hope you enjoy the tale!

********

My name is Zeb Schmidt, and the story that unfolds in this tale is just a short chapter of my life, however, it's a big part of what shaped me into the man I am today. This tale begins in the year 1872, in a little town in Missouri named Cooper's Hill. At that time, I was 19 and thought of myself as a grown man and physically I was, I just lacked real-world experiences to be confident in myself. Little did I know that in the coming year I would experience more than most men do in a lifetime.

I lived with my mother, Hannah, my two younger sisters, Heidi age 16 and Elizabeth age 14 and my mom's new husband of 4 years, Danny McGregor. Mr. Danny, as I called him, owned several businesses in Cooper's Hill. He owned the general store, and he had a crew of men cutting railroad ties to sell to the railroad.

We lived in the top of Mr. Danny's store in the little town of Cooper's Hill. I stayed there as well, except when I was out with Mr. Danny's crew cutting ties. My mother and sisters helped out at the store; they also did side work as seamstresses, repairing or making clothing.

My sisters and I went to school all the way through the 8th grade, which was more than most kids got to do in our area. We had a good life together and were much more fortunate than most. Mr. Danny was a shrewd and successful businessman, and we were well provided for.

My family's life had changed a lot since 1867, the year my father died. We were living on a farm with a decent amount of cattle, some horses, and a few hogs and chickens. My father, Zebulon, was seriously injured while riding a young horse that wasn't completely saddle broke. He died about a week after his accident leaving my mother widowed at the age of 31. I was 14, Heidi was 11 and Elizabeth was only 9.

Momma and us kids tried to make things work, but there just wasn't enough of us to keep up with the work that had to be done on the size of farm we had. As luck would have it, Mother developed a relationship with Mr. Danny, and they were married about a year after daddy died. Mom sold the farm and all the livestock, and we moved to town to live with Mr. Danny.

It was quite an adjustment for me moving to town, having grown up on a farm. I had grown up hunting and fishing along with helping work livestock and all the other things that go with farm life. I was still able to go out hunting and fishing living in town, as my chores would allow, the woods were only a hundred yards or less away from any building in our little town. Cooper's Hill wasn't exactly a big city, it was about as "in the country" as one could get, it probably didn't have a population of even 100 people, however people came from all over the countryside to get supplies there.

I was old enough when momma married Mr. Danny that I just couldn't call him "dad", but both of my sisters quickly adopted him as daddy and called him as such. Mr. Danny, as I called him, was a good man and took good care of us. He was loving to my mother and sisters and was always quick to help me in any way he could, be it advice or how to do something. However, Mr. Danny was not someone to mess with. He was about 5' 10" and weighed at least 200 pounds, most of it being muscle. Mr. Danny was of Irish decent, and he had the look and build of a fighter. He had a reputation as a man best left alone, rumor was that he was quite the handful in his younger years and judging from the scars on his knuckles I'd guess they were true!

I had no ill will towards him for snatching up my mother, she was a beautiful woman and every eligible man in the area wanted her. She was about 5' 7" tall with brownish blond hair and weighed about 135 pounds if I had to guess, with full breasts and hips, she fit the saying of, "built like a brick shithouse," to say the least!

As for my sisters they were not filled out like momma but otherwise looked like a younger version of her, it was easy to see they would both grow up to be beautiful women. They had a sweet disposition but were onery as hell to me, their favorite thing to do was aggravate me!

Mr. Danny didn't always run a store as I came to find out. He had also never been married before my mother. Mr. Danny was from St. Louis, where he was a policeman for a number of years. He later began working on the steamboats and barges of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. He had an older uncle that ran the general store in Cooper's Hill and was left the store when his uncle passed. He was in his late thirties when he found himself in possession of the store and decided to give up the rough life of a river boat man and try his hand at the mercantile business.

Cooper's Hill, where we lived, was a little town in the middle of nowhere. Most of the people in our area were of German, French or Irish decent. Besides the store of Mr. Danny's there was a church, school, boarding house that served food, a tavern and a blacksmith's shop that also had a livery stable.

Mr. Danny's general store sold most things needed for rural life, from food supplies to clothing, tools, guns, and everything in between. If we didn't have it, we could order it for you, and it would most likely be in as quick as 60 days!

We were very close to the Gasconade River and there were riverboats that would bring deliveries when the weather and water level conditions allowed. If we couldn't get it by river boat we'd go to Hermann and pick up a wagon load of supplies. Hermann was a large town of about 1,500 people that was located right on the Missouri river, it was by far the biggest town in our county.

The railroad also went through Hermann, making it the closest place to get goods for the store. With the railroad and Missouri River going through it a person could get whatever they needed there. We didn't pick up supplies there very often, due to its long distance from us, about forty miles, which took about four days to travel if we took a big wagon for supplies. Hermann was located up the Missouri river about sixty or so miles west of St. Louis, and Cooper's Hill was about 40 miles South of Hermann.

**********

I had been working for Mr. Danny on his tie hacking crew for a couple of years and physically I was strong as a bull, thanks to swinging a broad ax all day and stackin ties. I was about 5' 11" and weighed about 165 to 175 pounds depending on if it was winter or summer, with not an ounce of fat. Summertime always took the weight off of me due to the extreme Missouri heat.

The saying about tie hacking was, "it'll kill ya or it'll make ya mean." It was definitely hard labor cutting those damn trees with a crosscut and using a broad ax to make them into railroad ties. After two years of this work, I was stronger than most! Mr. Danny kept his crew well fed so I put on a lot of muscle with all the hard physical labor.

When I was working with the tie crew, we would leave out from our homes on Sunday afternoon and get to the place where we cut the ties, it was a camp, setup to handle all the laborers for the week, it was only a couple of miles out from Cooper's Hill. Monday would begin the week of work, we would work from daylight to dark until Saturday afternoon, then head home for a day of rest.

The ties were cut, then loaded onto a skid and pulled by draft horses down to the Gasconade River, which was close by. They would be floated down stream to the town of Gasconade, then loaded up on a train for delivery.

I made about 50 cents a day cutting ties. The other workers made about a dollar a day, but since Mr. Danny put me up at the store and provided all my food I was paid less. I would make about three dollars a week. I had managed to save up about $300 in the last two years of work.

I was beginning to think about looking into something different, something I could make something of myself, or maybe something with adventure. I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and I didn't really want to leave my mother and my sisters just yet. I guess since my father passed, I had felt a responsibility to stick around and protect them, even though Mr. Danny was more than capable.

I was back home; it was Sunday afternoon, and I was enjoying my day off. My family and I had attended Sunday services earlier and had a nice lunch together. I was in a back room of the store working on a sling for my spencer carbine, I did leather work for enjoyment and was just passing the time before I had to head back out to tie camp.

On my last trip to Hermann to pick up supplies with Mr. Danny, I saw a man walking through town with his rifle slung over his shoulder, muzzle down. Mr. Danny pointed out to me that carrying a rifle like that was faster than drawing a pistol from a holster if you needed to get into action quickly. I decided then and there that I needed to have one for my rifle, especially since I didn't have a handgun yet, although that was a priority on my list of things to buy.

I guess the time had gotten away from me, and before I knew it, it was time to head back out to tie camp for another week of work. I was dreading going back, things were so much more pleasant around my family over the men I worked with, they were a rough bunch. I was pretty much used to it by now, but still, I hated to leave for the week.

Once I got back to camp, I was one of the first there, I had already eaten with my family, so I just unloaded my belongings and put my horse in the makeshift coral, then pulled up a seat by the campfire, just killing time until bedtime.

We had a six-man crew counting myself. Two men, Richard and James, cut the trees with a crosscut saw and William the foreman, Frank and myself turned the trees into railroad ties with our broadaxes. We also had an old bachelor, Zeke, that kept camp and did our cooking.

Things were pretty smooth at camp for me now, but that hadn't always been the case. Frank made my life a living hell the first year I was on the crew. Frank had been a barge worker before coming to work for Mr. Danny. Most barge workers at that time were known for being brawlers and Frank was no exception. Frank was about ten years older than me and wasn't quite as big as I was, but he was a force to be reckoned with when he got his blood up!

That whole first year Frank used me to take out all his anger and frustrations, and Frank had a lot of both! You'd think a guy swinging a broadax all day would be able to get all his hate, anger, and frustrations out, but not Frank. He had plenty of meanness left for me at the end of the day.

Frank liked to tease me about my mother and sister's. He would make comments about all the things he'd like to do to them, all of it sexual! I would feel obligated to stand up for them and Frank would beat my ass like a loaned-out mule!

Every week would work out the same way, Frank would talk about how he wanted to breed my mom and sisters and I would attempt to make him pay for his foul mouth. He would usually do this on our first night back at the camp, due to him showing up about half drunk and running his mouth.

Momma was concerned the first time she saw me come home with cuts and bruises on my face and wanted to know what had happened to me. I was vague in my description of how I'd gotten my injuries, telling her that I had a difference of opinion with Frank. Momma was a smart woman and I suspect she had a pretty good idea of what was taking place, she asked if I needed Mr. Danny's help in the matter. I told her I could handle it on my own and she left it at that.

Mr. Danny asked me if I was able to handle the situation, I told him I could and didn't need any help, that I believed if he said anything to Frank it might get worse. He accepted my wishes and didn't bring it up again for a while. Mr. Danny and my dad were both of the belief that hardships and hard physical labor were needed to make a good man, and that a man needed to fight his own battles. I wasn't quite sure what I thought of that philosophy just yet, since I was on the receiving end of a weekly ass whippin!

After coming home about four weeks in a row with black eyes and noticeable bruises Mr. Danny demanded to know what was going on out at camp? I told him the situation with Frank, that he'd say things to get me mad, I didn't go into detail about it involving momma or my sisters knowing full well that if I did Mr. Danny would make Frank pay for the things he'd said and know I tattled on him. I didn't want to be known at camp as a tattle tale and not man enough to fight my own fights.

Mr. Danny said, "son come on out on the front porch and let's have a talk." Our talk involved a discussion on bare knuckle and ground fighting and all that goes with it, Mr. Danny began my first fighting lessons that night.

Mr. Danny was Irish, and he had lots of experience in fist fighting. He taught me things I could do to not get my teeth knocked out, he taught me about punch combinations and not to let my anger override my thinking. He would tell me to "fight smart, not mad!" He taught me how to block and dodge punches. He also taught me the importance of foot work, balance and some ground fighting as well.

After about six months of Saturday night instructions from Mr. Danny I could see some progress with my weekly fights with Frank. However, Frank was too drunk during our fights to notice my progression until it was too late. Around the end of my first year at tie camp I beat Frank, just barely, but I did beat him.

This was a huge turning point for my confidence, I knew that Frank was a tough son of a bitch and that beating him put me into the above average fighting skills of most men. This gave me a lot of self-confidence that I didn't previously have. Three weeks later, I was beating Frank's ass like the loaned-out mule that I was, at the beginning of this journey. Frank, even in his drunken state, finally realized it wasn't worth it to pick a fight with me. He even stopped making comments about what he'd like to do to my mom and sisters, at least when I was around!

**********

I was back at home for another Sunday with my family, momma called me for lunch, I had been making knife sheaths to sell at the store for a little extra income. On my way to the kitchen, I could smell something good! Once I got to the table, I asked momma, "what's for lunch?"

She said, "I'm fixing your favorite, paunas and eggs!"

For all of you that don't know what paunas is, it's basically a skinned-out hog head boiled down in a cauldron to a kind of soup, the boiling separates everything from the skull. You drain off all the liquid and get all the meat, brains and whatever else that comes off the hog head after it boils down. Then you grind it up and mix it with flower, cornmeal and some seasonings. Then you form it up in a bread mold and let it set up in the shape of a loaf. To eat it you slice it thin and fry it in a skillet. It's a German thing, and my favorite way to eat it is with a little molasses dribbled on top.

Both of my sisters were at the table as well as momma and Mr. Danny. We had a great time sharing a meal together and I was able to talk to my sisters and catch up on what was going on in their lives. They were both like my mother, sweet and good hearted, they would make wonderful wives for whoever was lucky enough to win their hearts! With the loss of my father, I had come to truly appreciate all of my time with momma and my sisters, they were everything to me.

While we were eating Mr. Danny told me he needed to make a trip to Hermann to pick up some items that arrived by train. It was spring and the rivers were up, and he didn't trust it to be sent by boat up the Gasconade River. "I need you to go with me to help protect the load I'm picking up."

"What are we picking up," I asked?

"Well, I have an order of guns and some sewing machines along with some dry goods I need to pick up, I'm afraid the river is too high right now to trust it to a boat."

"So, you don't want me to go back to tie camp tonight I'm guessing?"

"No, I need you to go with me to Hermann to help pick up this shipment. I'll pay your wages; we'll be gone about nine days. I'm figuring about four days to get there and a day to get everything loaded and sorted out, then four days to get home. I'll pay you a dollar a day for this Zeb, does that sound fair to you?"

"Well, yes sir it does! It sounds a whole lot better than going back to tie camp and listening to Frank's mouth," I replied, immediately regretting saying my thoughts out loud! Momma asked, "what is Frank mouthing about?"

"Nothing momma!" I wasn't about to repeat anything Frank said about my mother or sisters to them!

The things Frank had said still bothered me, Frank would talk about how well-bred my mother and sisters were and all the various things he'd do with them given the chance!

"Can't you see it boy, your momma, she was made to fuck!" Frank would say to me time after time. Which always ended up in a fight. I was a little concerned what Frank might do given a moment alone with momma or the girls. Thankfully he wasn't saying those things around me anymore.

"When are we heading out for Hermann Mr. Danny," I asked?

"We'll leave out of here in the mornin, we'll take Willy and Billy along, so you need to get them ready to hook up to the wagon by first light tomorrow mornin. I want you to get all your gear ready today so all we have to do is hook up the team and go. After you get Willy and Billy ready, pick one of the saddle horses to ride. I want you to be able to scout ahead of the wagon."

Willy and Billy were our Belgian draft horses, they were some of the best horse flesh this town had ever seen when it comes to working stock! They were about eighteen hands tall and were bay colored, super gentle and a pleasure to work with.

"I guess I'll take Buddy for this trip, he's been around and doesn't get much excited about anything. It shouldn't be no problem for him to keep up with the wagon, even though he's gettin a little long in the tooth," I surmised.

Buddy was a buckskin gelding that was about 12 years old but a solid trail horse, he'd been there and done that! He had been my daddy's main saddle horse, so I had quite a bit of sentimental attachment to him.

"Momma, can I be excused? I need to start gettin things together for tomorrow."

"Sure thing sweetie, you go on and get your things together, but when you get done could I ask a huge favor of you?" "Sure momma, whatcha need doin?" I asked.

"I need you to move a new barrel of flower in from the back of the store. Just put it alongside the almost empty one behind the counter. I also need you to cut me up a couple of cured hams."

"Sure, thing momma, I'll get to it in a bit," I replied. I got up and went to my room and started getting things together. I had finished my sling for my rifle, and I was pretty proud of how it turned out; I was looking forward to putting it to use on the trip.