Railroaded

Just before she arrived at the fire pit she dropped her armload of goods then fell while trying to pick them up. Frank cursed under his breath and stood. He picked up his left over food and carried it across the stream. He stood over the crying Jan then set the food down beside her. He picked her up and began carrying her back to her small porch.

When he picked her up Jan hit him and said through her tears, "Just leave me alone, asshole. You damn men just don't know when to leave a girl alone do you? I don't need any damn man helping me."

Frank tucked his head down against her chest where she couldn't hit him very hard and continued walking. When he got to the porch he set her down and jumped back then said, "Listen, Bitch, I don't know what crawled up your cunt and touched you off but I'm trying to help you here. Now sit there and be good while I bring you some food and pick up that mess you dropped."

Jan felt her anger flare. She lunged for Frank and tried to slap him. That was the last straw for Frank. He grabbed Jan and sat on the porch with her over his knees. He gave her three hard slaps across her butt and said, "Listen, you little bitch. I'm not going to put up with your abuse. If you insist on acting like a spoiled brat I'll treat you like one. Now sit here like an adult and let me help you."

Jan was speechless. When Frank rolled her upright he twisted slightly and helped her sit on the porch. She sat crying while she watched him walk away from her. She wasn't sure she was this angry when Todd, the asshole, stole her company. The nerve of that asshole was unbelievable. He spanked her. He actually SPANKED her!

Frank went back to Jan's fire pit and brought the food to Jan first. He held it out to her but she just looked up at him, her face still showing her seething anger and pain, tears streaming down her cheeks. He sighed and placed the containers of food on the porch beside her. He immediately returned to the fire pit and picked up her uncooked supper. When he got back to the porch he asked, "Now, where do you want me to put this stuff?"

Jan angrily said, "Inside on the table with my other things."

Frank came outside and sat on the porch a little ways away from Jan then leaned on a porch pole while he looked at her. Finally he said, "Go on. Eat it before it gets any colder or I'll have to warm it up for you."

Jan's stomach growled. She looked at him and slowly reached out to pick up the food. Before long she was eating ravenously. After everything was eaten she leaned back against the porch support pole beside her and looked at Frank. She looked down at the ground then quietly said, "Thank you. Thanks for helping me today and for the food. I'm sorry I was such a bitch. I've had a hard time lately, and I guess I was taking it out on you."

"That's ok I guess but..."

"But, what?"

"Nothing. You just. Fuck. Look, I know you don't know me from Adam, but you can't just treat everyone like you have been treating me. There was no reason to assume I was an asshole and out to do something bad. I know there's a lot of shit goes on out here and you were right to be cautious, but you went way too far. You know you've been treating me like shit and all I wanted to do was be sure everything was on the up and up, then later help you."

"I said I was sorry. I guess I was still feeling sorry for myself over losing my business and took it out on you."

"Yeah, ok. I probably wasn't too nice either. I came up here to get away from the assholes back home laughing about how my ex put one over on me for over a year."

"Oh, are you divorced? I'm sorry."

"No, at least I found out what a cheating bitch she was before I married her. Never did get my ring back though. If it wasn't so damn far to Cupertino I would have looked her up and taken my ring back. The asshole she took up with gets what he deserves in her. She was always about her first but I put up with it. Looks like she thought he was a step up over me and she took it. If she did that to me, though, I bet she does the same thing to him later. Just because he was President of some damn little startup software company doesn't mean he's all that great but I guess it did to her. I think I got the last laugh though. The friend that told me about her and her lover said one of the programmers got shitcanned and trashed an important program before they left. He says the company is going under because they can't figure out what the problem is and they've already sold and installed the program in several computer systems."

"I'm from the San Jose/Cupertino area. What was the name of the company? I may know of them or at least I may know some of the people."

"Hell, I don't know. The asshole she took up with had a stupid name. Rod or Todd or something like that. His last name was sort of like a football player. Tarkington or Talkington or something like that. I just hope the asshole loses his shirt and takes her down with him."

"WHAT? That sounds like the asshole that stole my company. Are you sure that was the name of your girl's asshole buddy? I'm getting a real bad feeling here. The asshole that stole my business was Todd Tarkington. We were a startup software firm and I wrote all the programs. Well, not all of them, I had two assistants that did some of the code, but I did most of it and they ran tests and did simpler programs. When I was kicked out I hadn't finished the last program. Well, it was done but we hadn't beta tested it. He sold and installed it before it was ready.

"I remember he had some little bimbo running around with him a lot. She seemed like a high maintenance airhead, always wanting him to take her to someplace expensive and he did. He was always flashy. You know the type-Rolex watches, fancy clothes and cars, can only eat in the fanciest, most trendy restaurants." Jan laughed and continued, "If his little chippy was your ex they both got what they deserved. I love it."

Jan looked sort of sheepish and continued, "I uh, I did make a few changes in the program after he stole my company from me that maybe messed up the program a little. Was your fiancee's name Paula by any chance?"

Frank looked surprised and stared at Jan for a moment, grinned, and said, "Yeah. Is my asshole your asshole?"

"I think it might be. If he is the one that stole your fiancee she didn't choose a real stellar guy. In fact, unless a miracle happens, I believe he is going to lose his shirt on my company. I understand from friends in the business that he lost almost all his good employees and has lost most of the companies that used our software. I think some of the businesses that bought the last release have filed suit against him and the company."

Jan and Frank continued talking for several more hours as they discussed the strange coincidence of sharing the same nemesis. Finally, well after dark, Frank said, "Look, I'm beat. Let me help you inside, then I need to get back to my place and catch some sleep. I'll make us breakfast tomorrow. You need to stay off that leg for a few days."

Janice smiled at him this time and said, "Ok, Frank, but you need to come over here and use my food this time."

For the next four days Frank prepared the meals and helped Jan hobble around. They made three or four trips to the stream daily for her to soak her knee and ankle and generally hung around the camp. As the days progressed they became better acquainted and began to realize they even knew some of the same people, mostly acquaintances from years past. They shared stories from their grandfathers and admitted to each other their day trips were to try and discover where the grandfathers found the gold they came up with frequently in years past.

Finally, a week after Jan's fall Frank said, "Jan, I'm not ready to go home, yet, but we're out of food. I need to go to town and buy more. Do you want me to help you back to your car or are you planning to stay longer also?"

"I really have nothing to go home for right now and it sure isn't costing me much to live here. If you let me pay half on the food I'm good to stay a little longer. I'd still like to do more exploring and I think my leg will be good enough by next week to take some easier hikes. Sure, if you don't mind, pick up more food and we'll stay longer." Jan looked guilty and continued, "Also, while you're in town could you call my folks and let them know I'm ok? I promised to come out of the mountains to where we can get cell service every two or three days and call them to let them know I'm ok. They're probably getting worried now it's been so long since I called."

"Ok, that's no problem. Just give me their number before I leave. Is there anything specifically you need or want? If there is, give me a list and I'll pick it up."

Frank made breakfast the next morning with Jan's help. Just before he left Jan gave him a list of items she needed him to purchase for her. She also gave him a $50.00 bill to help with the costs. She blushed when she gave him the list and said, "I'm sorry you have to buy some of this but I am really going to need it soon."

Frank looked at the list and laughed the said, "Well I haven't bought some of these items before but I think I can do it. It looks as if you have enough specific information down for me to get the correct item." He looked up at the still blushing Jan, smiled, and said, "Well, I better get on the trail. It's going to be a long day."

Frank then took off walking down the old railroad just before the sun rose above the mountains to the east. He had a rough two mile hike across gullies and small streams to where he left his truck. From there he had a two hour drive over poor dirt roads before he even got to a paved road. After that it was about a half hour to town. His trip would probably take almost all day.

Late that evening Frank came hiking slowly up the old rail line to their camp. His pack was stuffed full of food and weighed, he estimated, between 80 and 100 pounds. He purchased mostly dried foods but he did bring a package of lettuce and some fresh green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, a couple zucchini, some carrots, and celery. The fresh foods could be kept cool in the stream in sealable plastic bags until they were gone. They needed the vitamins from the fresh food badly enough he thought it was worth the weight to bring them in. He also had a few cans of canned vegetables as well as the dry beans, rice, flour, potatoes, dry milk to cook with, and biscuit mix. As a treat Frank even bought some ground beef, buns, and a package of steak for them to eat. They would eat pretty well for a couple more weeks then they could either make another trip to town or leave. With the fish and game he planned to take out of season they would live pretty well for the time they remained on the mountain.

A worried Jan hobbled toward Frank with a smile on her face when she saw him trudging toward her. She insisted on taking some of the plastic grocery bags from him. He slowly walked to her porch and dropped his pack and the bags he still carried. He followed the food to the porch floor rapidly and groaned. "Damn, I'm beat," he said. "I bought way more than I should have but it was all things we needed. I just didn't realize how damn exhausting carrying that much weight up this effing mountain would be. Give me a few minutes to rest and I'll make supper."

"No. I can handle the supper. You just sit there and rest."

After the food was put away and supper cleaned up Frank leaned back and stared into the almost dark sky. "Damn, it's pretty and peaceful here. The noise and crowds in town almost drove me crazy. I'm really glad to be back out here."

Jan smiled and said, "Yeah, I almost hate to go back home when we have to leave. The Springs (Colorado Springs) is nice but I really would rather live out of town a ways. I think I hated the congestion and people more in California but Colorado Springs is busier than I like also. I was almost ready to move the company somewhere else before they fired me because I hated the city so much."

The next morning at breakfast the two new friends discussed what they wanted to do over the next few days. Frank said, "I've been panning for gold upstream ever since I got here. I haven't found anything but I know this was a mining camp. Where the hell was the gold? Gramps sometimes showed up with a little ore and from time to time he even had some flakes that had obviously been panned from the stream."

"Have you done any panning downstream from here?"

"No. Gramps always went upstream and came back from that direction so that is where I looked. Is there another stream somewhere up the mountain that I don't know about?"

"I don't think so. Let me get the map."

Jan went into her cabin and came out with a map of the area put out by the government. It had contour lines and showed all the streams, even intermittent streams. There were a couple of intermittent streams farther up the mountain that eventually ran into the stream running down the valley but they didn't enter until they were below the little settlement.

Jan looked at the map and frowned. She said, "Do you suppose they found the gold somewhere along one of those intermittent streams? I think they only flow during wet times of the year and, of course, during a flash flood. They could also have found the gold on one of the smaller streams that flow into this one farther down the valley."

"Hell, I don't know. I suppose we could check them all but that will sure take a long time."

"I still don't see why they built the camp here if the gold is farther down the valley. And why did your Gramps always go upstream to get his gold?"

"Well, for one, the camp was built here because this was probably the best place for it. As for Gramps going upstream, maybe he went upstream then circled around to his mine to throw off people trying to find it. Hell, I don't know."

The next morning a slow moving Jan and Frank walked downstream until they got to where the first dry intermittent stream entered the little stream that flowed continuously. Below the junction Frank began panning for gold. He turned over several rocks and dug the mud and gravel out then ran it through his pan. The first pan yielded nothing. Neither did the second or third. After he washed the fourth pan he grinned and yelled "Yeah!"

He rapidly walked out of the stream and trotted up to where Jan sat watching. He showed her the pan. There were several small glittering pieces of metal in the bottom with a little detritus.

She grinned and looked up at him then asked, "Is it gold?"

"Not sure, but I think it is. It sure looks like it. I didn't begin to find anything until I was well below the confluence. This would indicate the gold came down the intermittent stream I think. Let's see if we can find any gold in some of the dirt in the dry stream bed. That would be a sure fire way to prove or disprove the location."

Once again Frank put dirt in his pan and swirled it in water. Nothing. Again he filled his pan from a different location and washed it. This time there was a couple of specs of color he picked out with tweezers and put in a pill bottle with the ones found earlier.

The two friends sat in the shade beside the stream and ate their lunch while they talked about their discovery. They decided to spend some time walking up the dry stream bed to see if they could find where the gold came from. Since it was late Frank went back to the flowing stream and panned more gold. He worked for three hours taking an occasional break as needed. During that time he found one small nugget and several more flakes of gold that were carefully placed in his pill bottle.

When they got back to their camp Jan prepared supper. As they ate she asked, "How much gold do you think we got today?"

Frank laughed and said. "I have no idea, but I'm sure I didn't make decent wages. We might have ten or twenty dollars worth, but I'd bet it's a lot less than that."

"Where do you think it comes from? Maybe, if we find where the vein is we can find more. I think grandpa brought out some ore occasionally, and there had to be a mine around somewhere or they wouldn't have the cabins and old train tracks up the valley."

"I can answer part of that. You know the big pile of rocks and the scar at the head of the valley?" Jan nodded and Frank continued, "There was a pretty good mine there but it was almost played out when someone made a mistake and set off a whole load of dynamite. It collapsed the tunnel and started a rockslide to bury everything. The miners that lived just packed up and left. They abandoned the tracks and eventually sold off the land to our distant relatives. They each added their share of the mine land to the section they owned before. I have even thought about trying to find some gold in the few tailings that are still accessible up there, but from what I've read the process to leech the gold from them is too difficult and expensive for an amateur like me."

"Oh. I knew this was an old mining camp but I didn't realize the mine was this close to it. I was going to suggest we work on the tailings if we could find the mine. I don't remember gramps ever mentioning that to me. I guess we both knew part of the secrets of this area. Maybe it's a good thing we met up after all."

The next morning Frank and Jan packed a large lunch as well as their prospecting tools and took off downstream. When they arrived at the confluence of the intermittent stream and the one flowing down the valley they stopped to rest for a spell. From that point on the going would be slow and difficult. Jan still had to walk carefully because of her leg pain. She absolutely refused to let Frank go alone, however, so he accommodated his travel to hers.

They moved up the draw, crossing the dry watershed several times, always on the lookout for anything that resembled quartz, gold, or even an attempt at mining. They moved slowly and carefully back and forth from wall to wall in the narrow valley. After going almost a mile down the rising valley they came to a jumbled pile of stones and found some old boards and even a few empty cans and pieces of metal. This excited them both and they spent several minutes giving the area a much more careful examination. Unfortunately, that was all they found. They didn't know if they found an old camp or what but they did know they didn't find a mine.

After several more hours Frank sat under a small tree in exhaustion and said, "Well, we've been all over this valley and not found anything. Why don't we go back to camp and try again tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm beat too. If there's anything to find here it's hidden too good for us to find it."

The next day was an almost exact repeat of the previous one except in the valley with the other intermittent stream. Once again, it was a long, hot, tiring day with nothing to show for their work. This time they didn't even find evidence other humans had ever been in the little valley. That evening the exhausted couple stumbled back to their camp once again.

That night, for the first time, Frank didn't go back to his little cabin to sleep. After they finished their supper and cleaned up he said, "I'm beat. I'm going to sit in the stream and clean up a little then go straight to bed."

"Sounds good. Hang on a minute and I'll go with," said Jan.

Frank hesitated and stammered out a reply, "Uh, Jan I wanted to take a bath before I went to bed."

"So? I want one too. Now let's get going."

When they got to the stream Frank hesitated and looked around in embarrassment. Finally he stripped off his shirt and boots then walked gingerly into the cold water. In the deepest part he sat and began washing himself with a bar of soap. After he did his torso he stood and used the soap under his shorts cleaning himself as well as he could. He handed the soap to a grinning Jan and sat down to rinse off.