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Excerpt 2 from "ONYX" a work in progress by R.Dale Johnson
Rafe looked at him in wonder. Suddenly stunned by the flood of words from a boy who seldom spoke five words all day. "Your father was more educated than I am and he may be right but I am not a stupid man. My mother taught me to read and write and she taught me mathematics at which I was very good. My father taught me mechanics and engineering at which he was very good. I read newspapers and magazines regularly and I have never heard anything bad about the protectors". He rose and kicked out the fire. "Enough talk. Let's go or we'll not be home before dark. There's bears in these woods who like to eat little boys too" He
laughed.
The boy and man finished running the trap line and headed home. They spoke very little except when the boy saw a bird or something that caught his eye and felt he had to point it out to the older man. They finally came out of the forest just as the sun was setting and stopped on a rise to see the sunset and to rest. In the small valley below could be seen the oil lamps in the windows and smoke rising from the kitchen chimney. Rafe started to build this house thirty-five years ago right after he and Mandy were married. They lived in a wagon covered with canvas until he had a cabin built. The old cabin was all gone now. Rafe had never stopped building. The center of the house was made of stone and brick. It enclosed a large sitting room with a spacious kitchen in the back. On each side of the center were ells made of huge timbers. These contained two bedrooms with bath on each side. Rafe was proud of his engineering skills, which he used to install central, hot water heat and running water that was gravity fed from the cistern on the hill back of the house. From their vantage point Rafe and the boy could see the barn and corral, the old wagon still where he had parked it ten years ago after the horse died and the fields beyond where they raise corn and beans and all the other foods they needed. He had never bought another horse to pull the wagon, so he finally quit building on the house. It was big enough for ten people anyway. Behind the house was the orchard full of apple, pear and cherry trees. Between the orchard and house was the grape arbor. Rafe made wine from the purple fruit with a recipe his father invented. Just behind the house the big stove sat with the tank of water above it. When heated the hot water circulated through radiators inside the house. It also supplied water for the baths.
"Let's go". Rafe patted the boy on the shoulder. "You need to stoke up that stove. I don't see any smoke coming from it."
"Okay". The boy replied. Then asked."Are we running the North fork line tomorrow"?
"I will do it by my self". Rafe said. Tomorrow is the day for your mother to teach you". Sky groaned. He would rather be out in the woods than sit at home while Annie taught him reading, writing and arithmetic.
Rafe went straight to the barn and nailed up the hides to dry. Sky went in the back door of the house to tell Annie they were back. As Rafe came out of the barn he saw Sky throwing chunks of wood in the big stove. He waved to the boy and entered the back door. Annie was bent over the stove removing bread from the oven, her jeans tight across her backside. Rafe tore his eyes away and went to the sink to wash.
"Evening Annie". He said.
She straightened and turned to face him.
"Good Evening, Raford". She chimed. "Did you get lots of pelts today"?
"Only four". He answered. "But, I'll get more tomorrow and I already have eight in the barn so I have nothing to worry about".
Supper and the rest of the evening went by relatively quietly. The boy helped his mother clear and wash the dishes while Rafe cleaned his shotgun and the 45 revolver he always carried into the woods. He also cleaned the boy's 22 rifle even though it hadn't been shot recently. Later they all sat in the big room with the stone fireplace. It was the only room not heated by hot water radiators. Annie sat in her chair reading a magazine while Sky read a paper back about space cowboys or some such nonsense. Rafe and Annie both sipped on a glass of the dark red wine he had made last fall. Rafe puffed on an old pipe his father left him. In less than an hour the boy was asleep. The book had slipped out of his hands and fallen down between his knees. Annie stood and announced. "Bedtime." She shook the boy awake and said. "Goodnight, Rafe". He responded in kind. All went to their separate rooms.
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