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Post by kaijafon on Sept 9, 2017 9:31:30 GMT -6
Thanks so much!
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Post by willc453 on Oct 16, 2017 7:24:06 GMT -6
Chapter 41 The Affected---Tale Of Two Brothers During that second year, while making the go round of meeting all the homesteader kids parents and seeing how they were doing, noticed many of the kids had very little play time. The land had to be seeded, crops pulled, livestock taken care of, etc. during spring, summer and fall. Basically if you were old enough, you worked from sun up to sun down just to put food on the table and hopefully trade some extra for either cash or credit at one of the stores in town. When people had extra chickens/eggs, I bought them, along with other small livestock such pigs and goats. Some were kept for stock, other wise they got cooked in our restaurant. Kept Big Mac busy planting a few acres of wheat, corn, potatoes & barley along with his own small garden. In that second year, he had gotten a lot better cooking......good enough that he started prepping food in our restaurant while also learning to cook even better. At first, he wasn't real big on being a farmer/cook/caretaker until I reminded him not many farmers/cooks/caretakers make a miners monthly wage AND not only was it a lot cleaner, but much healthier than working in a mine. His face kind of clouded over in remembering the mine collapse and realized considering what he had gone thru with me AND the mine, he was a very fortunate fellow. Thing is, he never knew what I'd come up with or do next, like the time we went picking flowers to plant around my place and the school. As we passed thru town, people asked where we were going, so told them. Got a lot of ribbing about that one, but no one made fun of Big Mac about it even though his face was red as a beet. Thing is, later on, the WOMEN noticed and commented on the flowers around the school building. When the kids came to town, they would drop by to see me and I “suggested” that maybe they should do the same around their place for their ma's. Later on, had more than one mother thank me and come to find out more than one husband did some flower picking/planting himself. Yep, I was Cupid in disguise. We (Big Mac and I) were kicking back on the porch (added earlier that 2nd year) and got to thinking while we watched some birds swooping and diving for bugs outside my place. He commented how it must be nice to just fly thru the air like a bird and without thinking, said man's already been in the air like a bird. He started laughing, saying that's about the funniest thing he ever heard of.....unless of course, I meant when you're falling out of tree, jumping off a cliff or from a burnin' building. Which got me to thinking about kids and playtime. I said you don't believe me and he replied while he respected me a lot, but sometimes I had to be just plain loco. I said, let's make a bet with me giving you 1,000 to one odds against me being like a bird in the air. He said, wait a minute....if I bet you $1, you”ll pay me ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!? I said yep and if you want, why not bet $10 against me, this way you MIGHT win $10,000. He said you've got a.....then stopped. Then said how people talked about me how I'm like a snake swimming in water, leaving no trail to follow....and noticed you said I MIGHT win. Thing is, who ever heard of horses not only wanting to watch a bunch of men fight one man, but then join in the fight? Or putting ski's on a wagon during winter to make sure kids got their schoolin'? He asked if it was possible and I explained to him how it was done. He was surprised this was such an old invention/idea. Then started collecting newspapers and had some woodworkers make the other stuff needed. When asked what could I use this kind of wood for? Told 'em it was either a new kind of toothpick that all the easterners are using now or chopsticks the Chinese will use. Then to a cathouse and picked up a couple of worn sheets so thin it was easy to see thru them. Had the word passed around to all the school kids that they and their parents were invited to see me after church services a couple of weeks later AND I'd have a steer cooking along with some odds and ends from my restaurant. Now originally, the saloon had ONE stove to do all the cooking on and once I saw that setup, not only 4 more ordered, but they were REALLY made for cooking large amounts of food, which meant enlarging the kitchen not only for the stoves, but additional cabinets, which of course, had the original saloon owner screaming costs. The third stove went to my place which is where I started showing Big Mac how to actually cook, along with the fourth for my place over the school. With mines needing all sorts of timber to shore up the shafts, there was lots of left over stuff that couldn't be used, so I made arrangements that I actually got paid to remove all this unwanted wood. Now back then, the nearest trees were cut down will nilly without thinking of future effects on the land, such as when there was a heavy rain, it created a almost disastrous mudslide. I had hired some guys to cut trees for firewood for me, but I went with them each time to cut down specific trees and they thought I was “wrong in the head” for doing this, but since I was paying them....but their tunes changed after that big mudslide. I also made sure to have seedlings planted to replace the trees cut down. Thing is, with 3 stoves, we were using at least a cord of wood a day because like the saloon, we were open 24/7, INCLUDING Christmas. Which meant a lot of wood ash was created, but made money off of that too by adding some meat grease and rain/creek water to make soap. Now this stuff was rough, BUT then I made a softer version with some cheap perfume added to it which the ladies loved. Back then, there were no thermometers for these wood stoves, but one trick was if you could hold your and inside of the oven for 15-20 seconds, then have to remove it to prevent being burned, the stove was ready. Remember those Hollyweird westerns where the cowboy, etc. drops a coin or two on the bar for a drink? Not quite, as drinks & goods were also bought with gold dust?! Most money at the time (at least in the western part of the U.S.) was either gold coins or dust and believe me, I made d*amn sure I wore gloves EVERY time around that stuff. Got some laughs from people about my aversion to handling it as the town people called it. I simply told them I had an allergic reaction to the stuff, something they'd never heard before of course. With everyone using gold dust in the saloon/restaurant, taught one of our bartenders NOT to get sticky fingers with other peoples gold dust. Our bartender would heavily grease his hair and after taking gold dust in payment, there would always be a little bit left on his fingers or beneath his finger nails. He'd then casually rub his hand thru his sticky hair leaving a bit of gold in it each time. As this was a silver mining town, handled a lot of silver, charging a five percent fee. Never worried about being robbed as I'd have the silver melted into 25 pound ingots. Never bothered having it shipped somewhere.....just jumped it to another world/dimension where it was more valuable than gold which was readily available everywhere. Saturday evening, took over 1 of the restaurant stoves with me and Big Mac starting to cook. Twenty one pies (blueberry, blackberry & raspberry) were made along with small portions of food as eaten in England, Germany, Ireland and France as many people had either come from those countries or their parents had. Add one hundred pounds of potatoes which were baked outside of my place along with the roasting steer. Well, I THOUGHT I had enough to feed about 100 adults/kids, but with the smell from so many pies/side dishes cooking and of course, the word being passed around town, suddenly I had a lot of new “friends”. This is when I decided I better not only have a second steer on a spit, but a couple of pigs. The parents and kids came out to my place after Sunday services and of course, with them bringing side dishes. With so many “new friends”, ended up borrowing a bunch of barrels & cut lumber to make more tables, with everyone just sitting on the grass to eat. Parents were told to bring their own dishes/silverware. As it was, about half of our cutlery and plates from the restaurant also ended up being used. Those who had musical instruments brought them so we could also do some dancin' before and afterwards. After the kids stuffed their faces at the first feeding, I called them all together to say okay, class is in session and you should of seen the look of shock on their faces when I said this. I mean after all, it wasn't winter, right? This was when Big Mac pulled up with a smaller wagon of mine with a tarp over it and besides him, were two Chinese. I said this is Mr. Wu and Mr. Chang and you may guess correctly they're from China. I know a lot of town folk look down on them because of their looks and “foreigner” way of thinking, but remember, with the exception of the Indian, ALL of us came from other countries at one time or another. Now, let's talk about guns....what would you do if you didn't have any or better yet, never even heard of them? Of course, some of the adults had come over out of curiosity, others to find out why some “Chinamen” were at my get together, but of course, they weren't about to say anything not wanting to take a chance of missing out on at least one piece of pie. Got a couple of hoots from more than one guy who said guns have always been around and white men invented them which is why we're superior to all other races. I said oh goody, school in now in session for YOU ADULTS TOO, because you're about to learn how the world really is and NOT the way you thought it was/should be. Now, the earliest inventing of gunpowder, was by group of Taoists, which is a religious belief among some Chinese just like there's different versions of Christianity and other other religions here in the U.S. They believe in living in harmony with the Tao,which literally means Way and they follow what they call the Three Treasures which are compassion, frugality and humility. And if you're wondering, the earliest roots of Taoism go back to at least the fourth century BC. I know you wondering what does this Chinese religious belief have to do with gunpowder? Actually, it was Chinese alchemists who where in the pursuit of immortality which, I sure sounds quite strange today. This was done in the ninth century during what is called the Tang dynasty. Knowledge of gunpowder started spreading during the 13th century when a Mongolian named Genghis Khan invaded and attempted to rule over what is now called the old world, meaning those nations in Europe. Mongolia is part of China, much like the states of New England, New York, etc. are part of the U.S. This happened in the 13th century. In a way, he was like King Arthur who wanted a united England. The earliest known formula appeared during the Song Dynasty which was in the Opus Majus, a 1267, a treatise by English friar (a kind of sky pilot), with gun powder being used in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, fire lance and eventually rockets. And of course, fireworks. The pistols and rifles used today actually came from artillery being developed during the 15th century by states such as the Duchy of Burgundy and from there, which later lead to pistols, rifles and shotguns. I can see you're getting bored with this school lesson, so let me talk about another Chinese invention, the kite. Asked the kids if they had ever seen or heard of a kite and most hadn't, though a few adults there had. Explained how they were invented by two Chinese men, Mozi and Lu Ban, during what was called the Warring States Period, which was from 475 to 221 BC in China. They were used in providing military intelligence for the various Chinese forces, along with being used to measure distances which was useful in moving large armies across difficult terrain, calculate and record wind readings and even providing a unique form of communication similar to ship flags at sea. About a thousand years later, it was was used as an emergency warning device called the zhi yuan as an appeal for help during the siege of Nanjing for example. Originally they were made of light cloth, but it wasn't until the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907) that kites started getting made of silk, then paper, with the ribs being made of bamboo. It wasn't too long before people started creating artistic and very acrobatic kites. It was during the Ming (1368 to 1644) and Qing (1644 to 1911) Dynasties that making and flying kites became an art form. So now you have emperors whose empires lasted several hundred years BEFORE the United States even existed and of course, BEFORE what was called The New World was discovered. I am sure many of you have heard of Marco Polo? It's said he was in the Chinese city of Weifang that he first witnessed the flying of a MANNED kite. He of course, brought a kite back with him after he traveled what later became known as The Silk Road. I turned to Big Mac and said if you please maestro....and he actually put 1 hand behind his back, the other at his waist and bowed! Then he pulled back the tarp to show a bunch of kids the kites we had made for them. As they would say in the future, the kids went wild. Thing is, they didn't make a mad rush for the wagon as they were good kids. Told them we had put their names on each of the kites, with Big Mac calling out the name of a kid and the kid accepting their kite, which also had about 100 feet of twine attached to it. And yeah, more than one adult gasped as the kites were given out. Then there were three kids who hadn't gotten a kite and I said, gee, it MIGHT appear we didn't make enough kites....and those kids faces kind of dropped until I said I saved the best for my three best students at which time, Big Mac pulled out 3 COLORED kites in the shapes of the photos provided. MAJOR gasps from kids and adults when they saw them. When I said let's go to a near by hillside to fly them, there was a mad rush by the kids for the hillside, with parents and adults slowly following. The kids flew their kits for about 45 minutes when I asked them to bring them in as school was back in session....but this time, it was not only for them, but adults. Once this was done, I said I heard some of you making disparaging remarks when I mentioned how the Chinese could send a man into the air using a kite and how that was impossible because there's no way something as fragile as a kite can bear the weight of a man. Looked over the crowd and said good, here comes Mr. Wu and Mr. Chung with my kite who were carrying a box kite a little over 20 feet long. Remember back when I “flew” that paper dragon for Mamma Chiun during that Chinese New Years celebration back in San Francisco? Basically the same thing, but didn't use my jumping ability. I also made d*mn sure the thing would work by going to the mechanical Laura's world and having them design the kite size needed, then tested it while on their world/dimension. They, of course, thought I was crazy for wanting to even try such a thing even if it was proven mathematically sound. I used silk bought during this time frame of the U.S., along with lumber from the local mill, though I did cheat having it trimmed down in diameter so it could be used by the mechanical Laura's people. Asked the kids if they wanted to help Mr. Wu and Mr. Chung fly this kite and of course they ALL did. But told them they had to do what they said as they had experience in flying kites. No problem from the kids, though a few adults didn't like the idea of their kids taking orders from them because they were Chinese, but they went along with it in the end. Stuck my arms thru the leather straps and then tightened my chest strap. For a bit, didn't think it was going to work and of course, started getting “help” from the adults with them saying I should flap my arms like a bird, jump off a cliff, etc. That ended when I was suddenly 50 feet in the air and stayed there for about 5 minutes with everyone (including kids) standing there with their mouths wide open, followed loud cheering. Once on the ground, quickly had the kite several hundred feet back in the air, at which time we (Mr. Wu, Mr. Chung and I) set the kite free and it flew even higher before drifting off and out of sight. Of course, this may have been helped by several VERY SMALL self inflating helium balloons inside the frame work. Why? More than one guy wanted to try it and I worried not only about this, but what if history got changed? A few guys were a bit unhappy that I wouldn't make another OR show them how them how to make one. As to Mr. Wu and Mr. Chung, they of course had never seen anything like this before....they were used to regular kites. Or at least that's the story that was passed around town. Back to the cooking steers and more eating for a bit, then said class's back in session. Said everyone's got oil lamps in their homes which are made of glass and metal....but how about a lantern that's made of paper? Of course, while there were a few cat calls about how the paper would burn up, those quickly shut up when they were reminded how NOBODY thought anyone could be in the air like a bird. At which time, Mr. Wu and Mr. Chung started pulling out Chinese paper lanterns from my wagon. I was used to red ones, but being a red lamp was lit at night outside more than one cathouse.... So mine were painted blue, green and yellow. Explained that Mr. Wu's and Mr. Chung's families made these for me to give to you kids, so hopefully you'll treat them with respect for the work in making them. Then showed them how they were lit and to be displayed at night. That the kids were to remember: du shu xu yong yi, yi zi zhi quan jin which means when reading, don't let a single word escape your attention, as one word may be worth a thousand pieces of gold, which stresses the fact that study requires undivided attention and no word should be passed over before we fully understand it. Only in this way can study be rewarded. As to me and the Chinese in town, was picking up some laundry one day and listening to a woman REALLY b*tching about how her husband didn't do this, he didn't do that, that Gweilo (white people) had no idea of honor, this country was terrible, food inedible, why did they ever leave China....well, you get the idea. Looked at the husband and he looked really beat down if you know what I mean and said to him 你皮子痒, or in English, Ni Pi Zi Yang, meaning her skin is itchy which meant a person needs to be “touched” (read hit or struck) i.e., his wife needed a sound beating. They both looked at me at utter and complete surprise at which time I said fán rén bù kě mào xiàng, hǎi shuǐ bù kě dòu liàng which means as a man cannot be known by his looks, neither can the sea be fathomed by a gourd. This proverb notes that judging by appearance may lead to serious mistakes. What added to their surprise was my speaking a form of IMPERIAL HIGH COURT Chinese that dated back to the Qin Dynasty which was the first dynasty in China and occurred several centuries before Christ was to have been born. Yeah, I spent a lot of time in China WAY before Marco Polo and those other johnnie come latelys' arrived. Mr. Li Qiang (meaning strong) immediately changed his demeanor by facing his wife, telling her to basically shut her mouth, NOT to talk in front of people like she had been doing, she WOULD IMMEDIATELY give him the dignity and respect he was owed as her husband and father of their children.....and I'll see you later about your itchy skin. Boy, she was one shocked woman to say the least. I was asked in broken English if he would be so honored to share tea with me and I could see in his eyes he expected me to say no because after all, he was Chinese and after what his wife had been saying..... I said I would be honored and followed him back to their living quarters where his 6 year old daughter was taking care of their youngest, a boy and their first son which is REALLY important among the Chinese. He hesitated as he removed his shoes and then smiled as he saw me removing my boots, especially when I said ru xiang sui su, meaning when you are in Rome, do as the Romans do. He apologized for his wifes words and attitude for this country and I replied sài wēng shī mǎ, yān zhī fēi fú. A bad thing may become a good thing under certain conditions. According to the book Huainanzi (Lessons of Human World), an old man living in a border region lost his horse and people came to comfort him, but he said 'This may be a blessing in disguise, who knows?' Indeed, the horse later returned to the man and brought him a better horse”. For now you are in a new country, free of all imperial imposed restraints with only lack of will to do better to impeded you. And from what I've seen of your countrymen, they are all hard workers, wanting to make a better life not only for themselves, but their families. For zhǐ yào gōng fū shēn, tiě chǔ mó chéng zhēn, that if you work hard enough at it, you can grind even an iron rod down to a needle. This proverb encourages us to persevere in whatever we undertake. Just as the English proverb has it: "Constant drilling can wear away a stone". Said you know I'm the school teacher here and there are at least 8 children of school age here. Why aren't they in school? Well, 3 of them were boys and were kept busy helping the family, while the other 5 were girls. Remember back then, Chinese girls were basically considered trade goods to be married to another family and create ties between the families. Different countries, different customs. As to them going to school, h*ll, no blacks or Native Americans were going because of the color of their skin and d*amn few Mexicans. Basically it boiled down to if you're white, you're all right. If brown, hang around....otherwise get lost. So those BLM people have NO idea what it was like in early U.S. history during and before your current time frame. I sat there for a bit, then saying you are all like men using a bucket to get water from a river when you should build a waterwheel or windmill. Children MUST have at least a basic education so that as each generation comes along, they will be able to better themselves. Instead of getting buckets of water, they become the people who tell the people what to do with those buckets of water. As for the girls not needing an education, consider how more valuable they will be as brides when they can read, write and speak even basic English if their husbands can not? How many Chinese have you met in OUR country that needed an interpreter while working on the railroad or in the mines? He asked how could he consider the U.S. to be his country and I told him people are coming from all over the world...white, black, brown and yellow. The only people here before them was the red man. And the non-red men consider this to be their country no matter where they're from. That if he and the others would give permission, I would give lessons for at least one hour a day during winter after my regular school teaching is over and while summer is almost over, I will even start teaching them as soon as possible. He replied yǒu yuán qiān lǐ lái xiāng huì. It meant fate brings people together no matter how far apart they may be. This proverb points out that human relationships are decreed by Fate. On the way out of his home, I said two things to his wife: rén wú wán rén, jīn wú zú chì: it is as impossible to find a perfect man as it is to find 100 percent pure gold. The other was ài bú shì zhàn yǒu, ér shì xīn shǎng: love is not about possession, it's all about appreciation. The kids came to school 3 days later. I only had a couple of people complain about me teaching “them heathens” and they were some of the ones that ok'd hiring me as a teacher. It was short and sweet. Told them they were paying me as a teacher, but since school was NOT in session, I wasn't being payed, so they couldn't b*tch. That I was also going to teach them in the evening during winter and if need be, will do so in my place above the school. However, if they're THAT disappointed in my performance as a teacher, I'd resign immediately and they could go back to what they had before I was hired....which was nothing. Them: oh no, no, no, no....we want you to stay and we're sorry about this entire misunderstanding. I've eaten a WIDE variety of food thru my long life, but more than once, I'd want food I grew up eating. Then one day while at my place, Big Mac found me grinding up a bunch of meat and asked if I was making sausages. Said no, making something a little different and if you want, start cutting up some slices of bread for me along with some onions, tomatoes and pickles. Then showed him how to cut potatoes the way I wanted 'em. Yeah, he was a bit confused, but did everything as directed. Afterwards, he said it was the best d*mn thing he'd eaten and that we should sell them at the restaurant. They were and from that point onward, more than one customer would order a Big Mac and fries, though it didn't have that third bun in it and you could have it with or without cheese. We even made it to go which was a new one on everyone. Which lead me to serving fish and chips which was really popular among what few Englishmen were living in town. Of course, it also depended on whether we had fresh fish available.
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Post by willc453 on Oct 16, 2017 7:27:01 GMT -6
Other kites:
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Post by kaijafon on Oct 18, 2017 19:49:08 GMT -6
Thanks!
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Post by willc453 on Nov 2, 2017 11:15:55 GMT -6
The Affected: Tale of Two Brothers Chapter 42 Anyone remember when I first got Affected helping Superman (now known as Hercules) with that terrorist hijacked airliner? And how I was busy jumping many of those passengers to Disneyland? Well, back in late June, early July of 1955, started seeing advertisements for this new amusement park called Disneyland and realized, gee, never been to the opening of that place. Now, I had been there as a graduation present from my folks when I graduated from high school along with THOUSANDS of other graduating seniors. Then went back twice when I was driving truck. Remember, this was wwaayyy back when I hadn't been Affected. Now come to find out that there were actually going to be TWO “grand day openings”......one for VIP's and of course, the press on one day, the next day was for the common man. Since there's NO WAY I'm going to be EVER lumped into the common man category, figured Walt was really busy getting his park up to par and it was just a slight oversight on his part or probably more realistically, it was miscommunication among his staff in seeing that I had been sent an invitation. You'd be surprised how one guy was so careless with his press pass and since there wasn't a name written on it, how could I return it? Now the story goes that Walt got inspired creating his park while sitting on a park bench after his daughters had been on a merry go round ride at Griffith Park. That actual park bench he sat on was on display near the entrance of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.....or at least it WAS. This particular bench along with other OLD Disneyland/Disney memorabilia is at one of my parks on another world/dimension. Oh...it seems I forgot to mention that I met and knew Walt before he became famous. While the story of the park/merry go round sounds good, it was a little more involved than “golly, I'll build an amusement park for everyone to come to”. My story actually starts back in 1909 when I was teaching at the Marceline, Missouri elementary school for a year at which time found myself bored with teaching, gave notice, then yondered a time, distance, world and dimensional wise for bit as that western writer fella L'Amour would say. So in 1911 after a five year vacation break, (with my Lara's if ya gotta know) found myself in Kansas City, Missouri teaching at the Benton Grammar School because it was a good cover (and paycheck) as I wanted to see how the town was turning out from being a major cow town back in the 1800's. It also gave me a much wider variety of ladies to chose from than what was in Marceline. (And wait till I tell you how things REALLY were in San Francisco in its early days) Not that I actually met Walt while at the Marceline school because he was just one of many kids there and wasn't in my class. It was in Kansas City where Walt got interested in drawing and developing his craft when he was paid to draw the horse of a retired neighborhood doctor. Then one day, overheard a teacher talking about a kid who kept falling asleep in class and it's some kid named Walt Disney?! Thought it couldn't be, but it was. Anyway, after drawing that horse, he practiced drawing by copying the front page cartoons of Ryan Walker, then developing an ability to work with watercolors and crayons. As to his attraction to trains, that's because he lived near the Atchison, Topeka And Santa Fe railway. Thing is, his school chum Walter Pfeiffer's family were theater fans, introducing him to vaudeville and motion pictures. Pretty soon he was spending more time at their place than his. Now his Dad (Elias) had bought a newspaper route and soon after that, Walt and his brother Roy would get up at 04:30 every morning to deliver The Kansas City Star and Kansas City Times, with the Star being done in the morning, the Times in the afternoon. It was an exhausting schedule and Walt often got poor grades for falling asleep in class, but he did this route for more than 6 years while also taking Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute and a correspondence course in cartooning. Since I was curious about the kid who became the man down the road time wise, decided to see what happened next when his dad bought stock in a Chicago jelly producer (the O-Zell Company) and moving everyone to Chicago. Of course, got a job as a teacher at the McKinley High School where Walt became a cartoonist on the school newspaper, drawing patriotic pictures about The War To End All Wars, i.e. WW 1. I of course, have a copy of EVERY school paper he had drawings in. He did try joining the Army, but the Army wouldn't take him because of his age. But being a cartoonist, no problem forg....mmm, modifying his birth date on his birth certificate where he joined the Red Cross in September of 1918 as an ambulance driver. He got to France, but the armistice had been signed, so the war was over. Found out he had drawn cartoons on the side of his ambulance for decoration and some of his work was published in the Army's newspaper, Stars and Stripes and yes, have copies of every issue whether it had his stuff or not. I also have copies of the Stars and Stripes during WW 2, Korea and Vietnam. After coming home, he moved back to Kansas City in 1919, where he worked as an apprentice artist at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio drawing commercial illustrations for advertising, theater programs and catalogs. This was where and when he met an artist named Ub Iwerks who helped him develop Mickey Mouse. Thing is, in January 1920, the company's revenue's declined after Christmas, with both of them being laid off. They started their own business, the short lived Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists, but failing to attract many customers, they agreed that Walt should leave temporarily to earn money at the Kansas City Film Ad Company run by A.V. Cauger. A month later Iwerks also joined. The company produced commercials using the cutout animation technique which was when Walt became interested in animation, though he preferred drawn cartoons such as Mutt and Jeff and Koko the Clown. With a borrowed book on animation (guess who lent him that book) and a camera, he began experimenting at home and coming to the conclusion that cell animation was more promising that the cutout method. He couldn't get Cauger to try cell animation, so he opened a new business with co-worker Fred Harman from the Film Ad Company. Their main client was the local Newman theater and the short cartoons they produced were sold as “Newman's Laugh-O-Grams”. Walt studied Paul Terry's Aesop's Fables as a model and the first six Laugh-O-Grams were modernized fairy tales. In May of 1921, the success of these led to the establishment of Laugh-O-Gram Studio where he hired more animators, including Fred Harman's brother Hugh, Rudolf Ising and Iwerks. When these didn't provide enough income to keep the company solvent, Walt started production of Alice's Wonderland, based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which combined live action with animation. He cast Virginia Davis as Alice with the result being a 12 and a half minute one reel film. But it was completed too late to save Laugh-O-Gram which went into bankruptcy in 1923. Later, found out that Walt moved to Hollywood in July 1923 even though New York City was the center of the cartoon industry because Roy (his brother) was convalescing from tuberculosis. His efforts to sell Alice's Wonderland was in vain until he heard from New York film distributor Margaret J. Winkler. She was losing the rights to Out of the Inkwell and Felix the Cat cartoons, so she needed a new series. In October, they signed a contract for six Alice comedies, with an option for two further series of six episodes each. This is when Walt and Roy formed the Disney Brothers Studio which of course, later became The Walt Disney Company. He got Davis and her family to move to Hollywood to continue the series, with Davis on contract at $100 a month. In July 1924, Walt also hired Iwerks, getting him to move from Kansas City. In 1925, Walt hired Lillian Bounds, an ink artist whom he married July of that year. And if you're wondering, I sent them 2 Tiffany lamps as wedding gifts. Anyone remember the Lindbergh kidnapping? After that, Walt and his wife took steps their daughters were kept out of the public eye as much as possible and not photographed by the press. By 1926. Winkler's role in the distribution of the Alice series had been handed over to her husband Charles Mintz, who was a film producer, with the series running until July 1927. By this time Walt had become to tire of it and wanted to move away from the mixed format to all animation. After Mintz requested new material to distribute thru Universal Pictures, Walt and Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. In 1928, Walt hoped to negotiate a larger fee for the Oswald series, but found Mintz wanted to reduce the payments. Mintz had also persuaded many of the artists involved to work directly for him. Then Walt found out that Universal owned the intellectual property rights to Oswald. Mintz threatened to start his own studio and produce the series himself if Walt refused to accept the reductions. Walt declined this ultimatum and lost most of his animation staff except Iwerks. As to Universal studios, it got its start in 1915 when Carl Laemmle opened the gates of the studio ranch called Universal City to the public for the price of 25 cents and at the time, Universal City was on 230 acres in North Hollywood. The public was invited onto the property where they could enjoy a hillside picnic while watching the production of Universal's latest film. This practice of filming in front of an audience worked fine until the end of the silent film era when “quiet on the set” became necessary for filming with sound. And as many may know, later the company produced classics such as All Quiet on the Western Front, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. Now to replace Oswald, Walt and Iwerks developed Mickey Mouse, possibly inspired by a pet mouse that Walt had adopted while working at his Laugh-O-Gram studio. Walt's original name was going to be Mortimer Mouse, but his wife Lillian thought it too pompous, suggesting Mickey instead. Iwerks revised Walts provisional sketches to make the character easier to animate. Walt provided Mickey's voice until 1947. Now Mickey first appeared in May 1928 as a single test screening of the short Plane Crazy, but it and the second feature, The Gallopin' Gaucho, failed to find a distributor. Following the sensation of The Jazz Singer, Walt used synchronized sound on the third short, Steamboat Willie. After the animation was complete, Walt signed a contract with former executive of Universal Pictures, Pat Powers, to use what was called the Powers Cinephone recording system. Cinephone became the new distributor for Walts early sound cartoons which soon became popular. Wilt hired Carl Stalling who was a professional composer and arranger on whose suggestion the Silly Symphony series were developed and providing stories through the use of music. The first in the series, The Skeleton Dance (1929), was drawn and animated entirely by Iwerks. Walt also hired at same time, several local artists, some who stayed with the company as core animators, later being known as The Nine Old Men. While Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphonies series were successful, Walt and Roy felt they were not receiving their rightful share of profits from Powers. Walt asked Powers for an increase in payments for the cartoons which Powers refused and signed Iwerks to work for him. Stalling resigned shortly afterwards, Powers thinking without Iwerks, the Disney Studio would close. I was checking on Walt to see how he was doing because I wanted to know/see how he turned from a kid in high school to what he became. When I saw him in 1931, he looked like sh*t and told him he needed to stop and take a vacation. He reminded me too much of Abraham (Lincoln) after The War Between The States ended. In October, Walt had a nervous breakdown, with him and his wife, taking an extended holiday to Cuba and cruise to Panama to recover. Walt blamed his breakdown on Powers and over working... as being a workaholic in today's terminology. Okay....I'm sure there's more than one person out there that remembers the first Mickey Mouse Club which started off back in the mid 1950's, right? EH....you're wrong as it wasn't the first Mickey Mouse Club. On tv yeah, but in reality it started back in 1930. You see, there was a theater based Mickey Mouse Club, with the first one starting on January 4, 1930 at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California with sixty theaters hosting clubs by March 1931. By 1932, the club had one million members and in 1933, its first British club opened at Darlington's Arcade Cinema. In 1935, Walt began to phase out the club. As to the tv show, Jimmie Dodd was the head Mouseketeer who wrote the opening theme called The Mickey Mouse March, with it also being reprised at the end of each show with its slower it's time to say goodbye verse. Roy Williams was a staff artist who not only appeared in the show as the Big Mouseketeer, he suggested the Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears be worn by the cast which he helped create along with Chuck Keehne, Hal Adelquists and Bill Walsh. There were also two teams: a red and blue with the ones on the red team getting most of the tv time. Dodd also wrote many other songs used in individual segments over the course of the series. And there were five themes: Monday was fun with music day, Tuesday guest star day, Wednesday anything can happen day, Thursday circus day and Friday was talent round up day. As to why the show was canceled in 1959, there were several reasons. Walt and ABC couldn't come to terms for renewal, the Disney studio didn't realize high profit margins from merchandise sales, the sponsors weren't interested in educational programming for kids and many commercials were needed in order to pay for the show. With the lose of Powers as distributor, the studio signed a contract with Columbia Pictures to distribute the Mickey Mouse cartoons which became increasingly popular, including internationally. Walt was always eager to embrace new technology and filmed Flowers and Trees (1932) in full color, three strip Technicolor. He also negotiated a deal giving him the sole right to use the three strip process until August 1935. The rest of the Silly Symphony cartoons were in color, with Flowers and Trees being popular with audiences and won the Academy Award for best short subject (cartoon) at the 1932 ceremony. He had also been nominated for another short film (same category) called Mickey's Orphans, receiving an honorary award for the creation of Mickey Mouse. He got another Oscar in the same category for The Three Little Pigs (1933). With this kind of success, Walt increased his studios staff which was nearly 200 by the end of the year. He ended up creating a story department that was separate from the animators and that with storyboard artists, would detail the plots of Walts films. Now everyone's seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but it wasn't just drawn and then released....this wasn't Walts style. By 1934, Walt was becoming dissatisfied with formulaic cartoon shorts and began a four year production of this movie. When news about the project leaked out, many in the film industry predicted it would bankrupt the company, nicknaming it “Disney's Folly”. You see, it was the first animated MOVIE that was made in full color and sound, which cost him 1.5 MILLION DOLLARS with the movie being three times over the budget. Why? How about Walt sending his animators on courses at the Chouinard Art Institute in L.A., along with bringing animals into the studio and hiring actors so the animators could study realistic movement. As to the art institute, it was a professional art school and in 1961 Walt and Roy guided the merger of the school and the L.A. Conservatory of Music to establish the California Institute of the Arts. To portray the changing perspective of the background as a camera moved through a scene, Walts animators developed a multiplane camera which allowed drawings on pieces of glass to be set at various distanced from the camera, creating an illusion of depth. The glass could be moved to create the impression of a camera passing through the scene. The first work created on the camera was a Silly Symphony called The Old Mill in 1937 which won him an Academy award for animated short film. And even though Snow White had been largely finished by the time this system had been completed, Walt ordered some scene to be re-drawn to use the new effects. Snow White (1937) was the most successful sound film to date, wining him another honorary Academy award which consisted of a full sized Oscar and seven miniature Oscar statuettes. The movie grossed 6.5 million. This is when he started work on Pinnocchio and Fantasia in 1938. Neither performed well, partially because of revenues from Europe had dropped following the start of WW 2 in 1939. Because they had made a loss on both movies, the studio was deeply in debt by the end of February 1941. So in 1940, this is when he and Roy started the company's first public stock offering (you can guess who bought some as a favor for a former high school student) and implemented heavy salary cuts. Thing is, with the salary cuts and Walts sometimes high handed and insensitive manner dealing with staff, this lead to a animators strike lasting five weeks. A federal mediator was brought in to negotiate with the 2 sides, with Walt accepting an offer from the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to make a good will trip to South America because he knew the negotiations would be unfavorable to him. Between the strike and financial state of the company, several animators left the studio and Walts relationship with other members of his staff was permanently strained. This also temporarily interrupted Dumbo which was released in 1941, but Walt produced it in a simple and inexpensive manner. Thing is, in 1947 during the Communist/Red Scare time, in 1947 he testified before the Herbert Sorrell committee stating that several of his former animators led the 1941 strike against him because they were part of an organized communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood. No. How about the truth? Like many of the animators worked a lot of over time WITHOUT pay, but had been told by Walt they would receive a share in the movies profits. Never happened. This surprised me considering the number of times he'd been screwed over earlier in his career and now he does it to his own employees that helped him make his company what it was? When Walt and family moved to their new home in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles, he had created a miniature live steam railroad for his backyard. This ran for three years, until he ordered it into storage due to a series of accidents involving his guests. And if you notice, the narrow gauge Disneyland railroad that links the lands of Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland together, it was placed on a high berm to separate the park from the outside world. Only reason I was in there was because of the roaring 20's, with me owning a few speakeasy's not only there, but also in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco but that's a story to tell another time. After Prohibition was repealed, I moved to the Los Angeles area in 1926 and started investing in orange/almond groves, farm and bare land because I knew WW 2 was coming up and land values were about to go sky high. Remember, evil empires and ESPECIALLY satisfying my Lara's tastes are NOT cheap. After being Affected, never was much of a movie buff, but then saw an advertisement on a movie billboard for Steamboat Willy staring none other than Mickey Mouse, which of course, was Walt's first cartoon released in 1928. What really made this cartoon stand out was it had sound, the first time a cartoon had this, with him being Mickey's voice for a short period. Remember, sound was just coming out in 1927 with the release of The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson. When these types of movies were released, they were called talking pictures or talkies and THE rage of the time. Later, movie theaters were called picture palaces because of the amenities such as day care, a bar and other things along with how lavishly they were decorated inside. Before talkies, words would flash up on the screen and there'd be a piano or organ player, sometimes with a small band playing music to accompany the movie. Now back in those days, radio was THE main source of entertainment AND information. By 1923, nearly 3 million people owned radios along with the radio stations reading newspapers so people would know what was going on in the world. By 1922, there were 600 radio stations and it wasn't till 1921 that Chicago got its first radio station. Thing is, found out that he had moved to Los Angeles and opened his own studio named the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy....not that it was just that easy. Of course with Steamboat Willie, his cartoons were in great demand, but then he started working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which took 3 years to make because of Walt's insistence on improving the artistic and technical quality of it. Of course it was a great commercial success when released in 1937. I happened to stop by while he was making it and find he was having his artists wash and clean the film cells so they could be re-used instead of just tossing them and using a new one...yeah, he was that short on money even though the cells cost a penny each at the time. The reason I got to see him was mentioning to someone that I was a teacher at his former high school. So when I heard about what was happening to the cells, bought a lot of 'em at two cents each and later time wise, sold them for a lot more than that. Buy cheap, sell high is always a good decision for evil and capitalistic business empires. Thing is, when Pinocchio (1940) was released, it was a commercial disaster. Yep, Walt made a flop...but when it was released again in 1945, it became a success. Well, WW 2 comes along with aircraft and other companies buying land all over the place, with me making a profit of course. Which I invested in “worthless swamp land” in Florida....can you guess where some of this land was at and what attraction was built there? And if you're wondering, spent around 20 years during that time frame...again, another story to tell. As for Walt and his company, starting in 1942 until 1945, they were asked to start producing pro propaganda films for the military. Walt's company was the go to guy for this from the very beginning because of his well known cartoons, with over 90% of his employees producing these shorts. He produced over 400,000 feet of educational war films, most at cost, which equals 68 hours of continuous film. But along with the military, the Dept. of Agriculture and Treasury Dept. caught onto Walt's creative approach to educational/propaganda films and insignia's. The Navy's first request was for 90,000 feet of film to be ready in three months, which was a shock to Walt because he was used to creating 27,000 in a year. The Treasury Dept. wanted him to make a film to make Americans accept the payment of income taxes called The New Spirit (942), which was followed by The Spirit of '43 (1943) where Donald Duck deals with income taxes and shows their benefits to the American war effort. A Gallup poll shows this film was seen by 26 million people, with 37% admitting that the film played a factor on their willingness to pay taxes. Walt also made a book for kids to try and encourage them to purchase War Savings stamps. His company also created a number of anti-German and Japanese films for soldiers and the public. He wanted to portray these countries and leaders as manipulative without morals. A few he produced was Reason and Emotion (1943), Der Fuehrer's Face (1942) as examples with Der Fuehrer's Face winning an Academy award. Originally when people wrote letters to Walt about visiting his studio, he realized that a functional movie studio had little to offer to visiting fans and began to foster ideas of building a site near the Burbank studios for tourists to visit. His ideas evolved to a small play park with a boat ride and other themed areas. The initial concept, the Mickey Mouse Park, was to be on an 8 acre plot across Riverside Drive. He started to visit other parks for inspiration and ideas, including Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, Efteling in the Netherlands along with Greenfield Village, Playland and Children's Fairyland in the U.S. But realized the site was too small and hired someone to determine an appropriate site. This is when and where he bought 160 acres of what was basically farm land, orange and almond groves....and some of my former property. Thing is, I think his idea of a park got going by his Dads memories of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago because his Dad worked at the Exposition. Now the Midway Plaisance there included attractions representing various countries from around the world, others representing various periods of man. It also included many rides including the first Ferris wheel, a “sky” ride, passenger train that circled the perimeter (sound familiar?) and a Wild West show. As to the exposition, it was also known as The Chicago World's Fair and was celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the new world in 1492. It covered more than 600 acres with nearly 200 new (but purposely temporary) buildings of predominately neoclassical architecture, canals, lagoons with people and cultures from 46 countries. While it was open for six months, more than 27 MILLION attended the exposition. When it opened October 9th, the day designated as Chicago Day, the fair set a world record for outdoor event attendance by drawing 751,026 people. And if you're wondering, the first American attempt at a world's fair was in Philadelphia between May 10th and November 10th, 1876 to celebrate our 100th year anniversary of independence. And while it drew crowds, it was a financial failure while the Chicago one was not. Yeah, went there, saw it all. Now likely adding to Walt's influence on his park was Benton Harbor, Michigan's House of David's Eden Springs park where Walt visited and ultimately bought one of the older miniature trains originally used there. Now Dick Kelsey was the studio production designer, with Walt sending him a memo about what was referred to as a Mickey Mouse Park in 1948. The memo was based on notes he and Ward Kimball made in 1940 while at the Chicago Railroad Fair, along with a two day stop at Henry Ford's Museum and Greenfield Village which was a place with attractions like a Main Street and steamboat rides. (sound familiar?) After the war, I still had land in Anaheim, California. You can guess where that land was at, right? Yeah, part of what is now Disneyland. Money....without it, all the ideas, plans and hopes one may have won't go anywhere. Walt had difficulties in obtaining funding, so he investigated new methods of fundraising by deciding to create a show named Disneyland. This is when a new tv broadcasting company called ABC, decided to help finance the park with Walt producing tv series such as Daniel Boone, Zorro and of course, The Mickey Mouse Club which was a first for a major studio to do this. It cost $17 million to build Disneyland with construction beginning in 1954. If interested, there's a Youtube video showing its construction, but at a really fast speed along with another of the tv LIVE broadcast of opening day. And yes, I'm in the later....but was wearing a costume as one of the Disney characters. Tickets originally cost $3.50 with the average yearly wage being $4,418.19. Untold thousands of the old A, B, C, D and E tickets are still in circulation, moldering away in people’s drawers. From time to time, guests still show up at the park with them, and they’re given the face value of the ticket. (At their most expensive, individual E tickets went for 95 cents.) A better bet is to sell them on eBay, where they fetch many times that amount.....ask me how I know. For the first five years, Disneyland was owned by Disneyland Inc which was jointly owned by Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney, Western Publishing and ABC. Walt rented many of the shops on Main Street U.S.A. to outside companies. Then by 1960, Walt Disney Productions bought out all other shares, which eventually ended with Walt Disney Corporation buying ABC that same year. Remember how the park was to be originally called Micky Mouse's Park? Then the project was to be called Disneylandia, but following ABC's advice, it was changed to Disneyland. The park opened 1 year and 1 day later. Thing is, route 101 along with Interstate 5, was under construction at the same time just north of the site in preparation for the traffic Disneyland was expected to bring and two more lanes were added to the freeway before the park was finished. He also got an temporary agreement with Anaheim that no building would be so tall as to see Disneyland from that building. Okay, back to opening day. There were 28,000 people there that day, though only half of those were actually invited, with others having purchased counterfeit tickets. And no, I had NOTHING to do with that. HOWEVER, I did buy a bunch of REAL tickets a couple of days later and mmm...“modified” 'em so I could take some of my favorite high school kids to also be there when the place opened. I mean after all, you do remember that Walt “modified” his birth certificate to join the Red Cross earlier in his life, right? Others sneaked into the park by climbing over the fence with the park featuring 18 attractions. Now some of the famous on that opening day was Art Linkletter (Kids Say The Darnest Things), who if you didn't know it, earned his degree in teaching while also being on the college basketball and swim teams. He became a radio announcer because it paid better than being a teacher.....sadly, just like it is today for many teachers. Now Art and Walt knew each other, but Art declined the opportunity offered by Walt to invest in Disneyland along with building and operating the Disneyland Hotel due to Art's doubts about the parks prospects. But out of friendship, he volunteered his experience as a live tv program broadcaster to help organize ABC's coverage of the opening on what was Art's 43rd birthday. Of course, that opening day experience convinced Art that Disneyland was going to be a huge success so when Walt asked what he could do to show his gratitude for his broadcasting role for the park, Art asked for Disneyland's camera and film concession for its first 10 years, which was quickly granted. This of course, turned out to be extremely lucrative for Art. Unlike today's “celebrities”, people back then didn't say we got irreconcilable differences, let's get a divorce. He and his wife Lois were married for almost 75 years. Sad thing was they outlived three of their five kids. And in case you didn't know it, he was an orphan to begin with. Then there was Bob Cummings (Love That Bob tv series which ran from 1955 to 1959, among others) and Ronald Reagan who some remember was not only a well known movie/tv actor before being becoming governor of California, but later as President of the United States. Of course with so many tv cameras and their cables, more than one woman tripped. Remember, ALL those women were in dresses and high heels. And NO, I did NOT jump any cables so they'd trip to show a bit more leg either. Jeez, I might wicked, depraved, horny, etc., but I'm not that way ALL the time. As to Bob, he was caught smooching a dancer in Frontierland and remember, this was LIVE and ON THE AIR AS IS, with NO editing options available at the time. At one point while in Fantasyland, Art tried to give the coverage to Bob who was on the pirate ship. Bob wasn't ready and tried to give the coverage back to Art who had lost his microphone. (hey, thought he was done with it and would look great as part of my Disney memorabilia okay?) Bob then did a play by play of him trying to find it in front of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. There was only a two lane road for Harbor Boulevard at the time, so you can imagine the traffic jam. Those famous people WERE scheduled to show up every two hours, but instead, they showed up all at once. (typical Hollyweird people ya know) The temperature was unusually high (101 degrees) and because of a local plumbers strike, Walt was given a choice of having working drinking fountains or running toilets. He chose the latter, leaving many fountains dry. This generated negative publicity since Pepsi sponsored the parks opening with disappointed guests believing the inoperable fountains were a cynical way to sell soda. Walt told them that people can buy Pepsi-Cola, but they can't p*ss in the streets. Vendors ran out of food and drink because of all the people who weren't suppose to be there. I got A LOT of phone numbers from women that day by simply offering them a cold soda pop saying here's something cold for a hot lookin' woman. Of course, made d*mn sure when I was doing this, I didn't have one of my Lara's with me. Asphalt for areas of Main Street had been done earlier that morning with some women's high heel shoes sinking into it. A few more phone numbers rescuing fair damsels in distress. Paint was still wet on some of the buildings and trees were still being planted. On opening day, Walt had his gardeners cover bare patches of dirt by replanting weeds from the parking lot and labeling them with long, horticultural sounding names. Parents threw their kids over the crowd's shoulders to get them onto rides such as the King Arthur Carousel. Which by the way, was actually made in 1922 for the Sunnyside Beach Park in Toronto, Canada. It was a Dentzel Menagerie carousel which was moved to Disneyland in 1954. Now originally it only had 3 rows of horses and animals on a 72 foot (22 meter) diameter platform but it was refurbished and turned into a 4 row unit to increase ride capacity with additional horses coming from the Stein & Goldstein carousels, Coney Island carousels in 1955 and other various carousels. The original chariots were removed and used as cars on the Casey Jr. Circus Train attraction and while there's a Wurlitzer number 157 band organ face on the carousel, it doesn't operate. Motif's from Sleeping Beauty was used in 1955 to replace elements of the carousel. Also, the Princess and Jester head motifs were redone in 18k gold leaf. Today it's got 72 horses, most of which were originally carved in the Dentzel factory in the late 19th and early 20th century. Now there's two kinds of carousel rides: standers and jumpers. Standers don't move, while the jumpers move up and down. All the rides were converted to jumpers as this is what Walt wanted and were operated by custom built crankshafts. Now because of the overwhelming popularity of the carousel's single white horse back in it's early days, all horses have been painted white since 1975 and one of the 72 horses is actually a mule. When the turntable was rebuilt in 1973, one of the renovations included a entirely rebuilt turntable and a new computerized operating system that stops the carousel at the same spot every time. And of course to begin with, Disneyland only had 18 attractions to start+, but 14 are still there. As to the Mad Tea Party, it not only debuted during the opening day of Disneyland, it's also featured at all 5 Disneyland theme parks around the world. And yeah, the Tea Cups has gained infamy over the years for guests who got motion sickness from the spinning part of the ride. It was originally located directly behind Sleeping Beauty's Castle where King Arthurs Carousel is now at and moved to its present location in 1983. Thing is, the original ride was unable to run in the rain. Yep, once the turntables were saturated with a moderate amount of water, they slip and can't spin. Of course, later versions of this ride were covered so this wouldn't happen along with protecting guests from the weather and heat from the sun. Remember Snow White's Scary Adventure ride? Well, the vehicles are the Seven Dwarf's beds, each one named after one of the dwarfs. Now there's a part where the Witch offers the guests the poisoned apple, and of course, guests consistently tried (and often succeeded) to steal the apple. Yep, got one of those myself. When Fantasyland was reopened in 1983, the problem was solved by replacing it with a 3D image of an apple. Guests who reach out for the apple now find their hands passing thru it. And if you look in the window above the entrance to the attractions, you'll see the queen open the curtains and peer out the window about every 30 seconds. As for the Canal Boats of the World, originally it was to be a Lilliputianland which was inspired by Madurodan, a miniature city in the Netherlands that Walt had once visited. But technology didn't exist for creating the miniature animated figures that were to inhabit the village, so the canal ride was opened under Canal Boats of the World with the intention of a journey past miniature recreations of the great landmarks of the world. But time and money prevented its completion by opening day. But there were other problems such as the outboard motors being prone to overheating, often forcing the boats to be pulled by hand and because it opened with little landscaping, it earned the nickname The Mud Bank Ride among park executives. After only two months of operations, it was closed while Storybook Land was constructed and the muddy banks were landscaped with miniature plants. And there was the idea of having Monstro the whale (from Pinocchio, remember?) swallow the boats and boats being hurtled down a watery path into a pond below. It was re-opened in June 1956 under the new name of Storybook Land Canal Boats. And there was going to be a torture chamber for kids as part of this ride after Monstro swallowed the boats. Now Autotopia was to represent the future of what would become America's multilane, easily accessed highways which were still being developed at the time of the parks opening. Remember, it wasn't until Ike became President that he pushed thru the development of major highways. And no, it wasn't to make America more mobile with their cars.....it was in case the military had to move quick in case of an invasion or getting them to ports in the U.S. Before freeways, there were basically only 2 lane roads, planes or trains for mass military movement of vehicles and personnel. Anyway, it gave kids the experience of getting behind the wheel of a real gas powered vehicle. Gotta wonder...how many kids asked if they could have the car keys as they knew how to drive now as they left Disneyland. As to the cars, they were tested without bumpers and almost completely destroyed by the test drivers. Bumpers were then fitted around the vehicle, but there was still problems with collisions as a guide rail hadn't been installed on the ride. Of course, eventually they were fitted with spring loaded bumpers to discourage collisions. Back to opening day. The Mark Twain steamboat nearly capsized because it was over loaded on its first trip. Rides broke down. And yeah, Walt did get some extremely negative newspaper press reviews from the preview opening and later, he and his 1955 executives referred to that date as “Black Sunday”. He later invited attendees back for a private “second day to experience Disneyland properly”. So July 17th is why this is the official birthday of Disneyland. Now on the second “official” opening, crowds were gathered in line as early as 2 am. First guest to buy a ticket was David MacPherson with ticket number 2. Walt's brother Roy, arranged to pre-purchase the number one ticket from Curtis Lineberry, the manager of admissions. There's an official photo of Walt with two kids, Christine Vess Watkins (5) and Michael Schwartner (7) incorrectly stating they were the first two guests of Disneyland. Anyway, both kids got lifetime passes to Disneyland that day and later, MacPherson was awarded one shortly after which was expanded to EVERY single Disney owned park in the world. Approximately 50,000 people were there for the second opening. And yes, I was there along with some of my Lara's and boy, did I get some major lovin' afterwards. Of course, Disneyland recovered and having attractions such as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow Whites Adventures, Space Station X-1, Jungle Cruise, etc., it's drawn in countless kids and parents. Originally, the castle was going to be called Snow Whites castle, but with it was changed to Sleeping Beauty's castle the day before because of that film being released four years later. Now Sleeping Beauty's castle is 77 feet high, but is the ONLY Disney park with a real functioning drawbridge. It's been used twice: once on opening day and the second time for the opening of the remodeled Fantasyland. And you'll find the Disney family crest on Sleeping Beauty's castle located above the drawbridge. Did you know there's over 200 feral cats living at Disneyland? All have been fixed and gotten their shots, but the Disney people didn't know about the cats being on the property until they found over 100 of them living in Sleeping Beauty's Castle quite a few years ago. They keep the mice population down and you'll probably never see one because they're nocturnal. Sleeping Beauty's Castle is based largely on “Mad King” Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, but with one big difference: The top is on backwards. Walt didn’t want it to look too much like the real thing. As to that “golden” spike located on the ground just after walking through Sleeping Beauty's castle, it is NOT the exact center of the park. It was used to center the castle to Main Street, U.S.A. Michelle Pfeiffer worked there as Alice In Wonderland, along with Steve Martin in Merlin's magic shop and Ron Ziegler, Richard Nixon’s press secretary during the Watergate scandal, worked as a skipper on the Jungle Cruise ride. As to the original Pirates of The Caribbean, those were HUMAN skeletons because their prop people thought theirs looked too fake/unrealistic. Of course, eventually they were replaced with props except for one human skull....it sits above the bed in the treasure room at the beginning of the ride. And yes, the skeletons were all given a proper burial after being replaced. Many of the faces of the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean are modeled on those of the “Imagineers” (Disneyspeak for the park’s artists and engineers) who created the ride. There’s evidence one face was modeled on Walt's. Can you imagine Walt dressed as a pirate either chasing some tavern wench or looking at another wench, saying aarrggghhh, prepare to be boarded? It was also originally envisioned as a walk thru attraction along with The Haunted Mansion. Paul Frees, who voiced Professor Ludwig Von Drake and the skull that says “dead men tell no tales” on the Pirates ride, also voices The Haunted Mansions ghost narrator. He was also the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy along with many of the pirates. He was the voice of John Lennon in the old Beatles cartoons and Boris Badenov in the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. There's a Mr. Toad tombstone in the pet cemetery outside of Haunted Mansion and a ring at the Haunted Mansion which is said to belong to the bride inside the ride. It's near the section where the dead fisherman/sailor is located. And the hitchhiking ghosts actually have names: Ezra, Phineas and Gus. And instead of the Pirates attraction, there was hope to build an elaborate and large cowboy themed attraction called Western River Expedition. Now if you want something more than soda pop or water to drink, you're out of luck when it comes to alcoholic beverages....well, unless you're one of the chosen few. (or in my case, unchosen) You see, there's that place called Club 33 which is a restaurant located in New Orleans Square and is the ONLY place in Disneyland where you can buy alcohol. Of course, it's NOT open to the common riff raff, but to SOME famous celebrities are and by invitation only by Disneyland. This includes a Chardonnay specially bottled for the club by Fess “Davy Crockett”) Parker. Its 480 members pay an initiation fee of from $8,000 to $27,000, and yearly dues of $4,000 to $15,000. The current waiting list for membership is said to be seven years long. Yeah, it's THAT exclusive...well almost, as more than one Lara and I have been inside. And since I have NEVER been asked if I was a member, why should I bring up such a trifling subject if they don't? As for the Jungle Cruise, Walt wanted to have live animals for it, but changed his mind after a zoologist told him most of the animals are nocturnal would be asleep during park hours. In the beginning, there were alligators in a pen near the ride turnstiles and occasionally would escape into the lagoon. Walt's private apartment is located directly above the fire station on Main Street, U.S.A. The light from the lamp in the window to his apartment is meant to represent Walt's presence in the park. As for his monorail, it was the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere and the term used by employees when a park guest vomits was known as a “protein spill”, though it's now known as a Code V. And if you're ever referred to as a “treasured guest” by a Disney employee, it actually means you're an a$$hole and other workers are being warned about you. Of course, Walt bought more land, increasing it from 62 acres to 85. As for employees in the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse outfits, Mickey has over 290 while Minnie has over 200. One thing Walt thought of ahead of time was trash. You know how some people are just slobs, which is why guests are no more than 30 feet from a trash can and of course, there's people sweeping trash from those who are too lazy to walk that far. When The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction replaced Mr Toad's Wild Ride, there's a painting of Mr. Toad handing the deed over to Mr. Owl. Fourteen of the opening day attractions out of 18 are still running. As to the parking lots, originally they were named after 6 of the 7 dwarfs, but have since been changed to popular heroes and villains. Of course, Disneyland won't admit it, but one night I had my five favorite Lara's names posted in these parking lots.....with mine being in the center of them all of course. I'd show everyone photos, but I can already hear the cry of photoshop, photoshop. Things changed after 9/11 so now, no flights are allowed within a three mile radius around the parks or below three thousand feet. A lot of coins are thrown in the water near It's A Small World, with Disneyland donating that money to Give Kids the World, a nonprofit group that grants wishes for kids with life threatening illnesses. As to the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride, Timothy Q. Mouse used to brandish a training whip to make the elephants soar. Times changed, with the whip being replaced by a “magic feather”. One of the original Dumbo flying elephant vehicles is on display at the Smithsonian. I got one, then had slightly larger copies made as beds for kids to sleep in, including several night lights installed so the kids weren't in the dark. The plants in Tomorrowland are all edible as it's meant to double as a farm “where humanity makes the most of its resources”. Sound familiar Dancing Wind? All employees had to be clean shaven until the 2000's. Disneyland's only been closed 3 times: day of mourning for JFK, the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and on 9/11. And by the way, no gum or peanuts with shells are sold to keep the grounds clean at all costs. How many of you have ridden on the Mark Twain Riverboat? Did you know you can ride it from the wheelhouse? Just ask one of the cast members working on the attraction to ride there. I of course, got even a better view while sitting on top of the wheelhouse. Since I was next to all the fancy woodwork on top, was never seen. And if you notice, when asking for directions from someone in a suit (costume), they're required to communicate with either an open palm or two fingers to point to avoid offending certain cultures. Did your balloon pop or fly away while in the park? They’ll give you a new one....as long as you have a receipt. The Matterhorn was the first tubular steel roller coaster in the world and of course, everyone pretty much knows about the basketball court inside of it. But it wasn't open on opening day. In its place was a two story tall pile of dirt from the excavation of Sleeping Beauty's castle moat. It was billed as “Lookout Mountain”, as the Matterhorn didn't open till 1959. Now late at night on rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World, some couples regularly try to make “The Happiest Place On Earth” a little happier if you know what I mean. They're apparently unaware that virtually every inch of every ride is observed by security cameras or hidden employees. Sometimes they're startled by a warning from a loudspeaker, occasionally they're greeted at the exit by applauding employees. And if you're wondering, that Laura and I got a VERY enthusiastic later type of greeting. On Splash Mountain, high spirited women sometimes lift their blouses for the cameras that snap souvenir pictures. These girls gone wild photos are usually destroyed by park employees, but more than a dozen were smuggled out and posted on an Internet site called “Flash Mountain”. (And I can already see all you guys leaving my blog to check out that web site). How many have been to the main street opera house? Originally it was the parks lumber mill and converted into an opera house after 1961. As for Main Street, which is based on Walts home town, Marceline, Missouri, with the designers making the ground floor buildings nine-tenths scale, the second floors seven-eights and third floors at five-eights. Then there was Monsanto's House of the Future which was made entirely of plastic...you know, the newest wonder for a modern and futuristic age. It had a computer teacher so kids never went to a school, a picture phone, but what really amazed everyone at the time was a microwave which could cook a potato in three minutes. Years later when it was to be torn down, the wrecking ball just bounced off. As for Tomorrowland, it was meant to represent the year 1986 when Halley's comet was due to make its next appearance. Now back in 1961, Walt wanted to add something during the nights at Disneyland for the guests to oo and aw at. Of course, fireworks were a good idea, but NOT Walts idea of style/showmanship. How about having Tinker Bell fly thru the air for everyone to see? Walt found Tinker Bell in the form of Tiny Kline who was a Hungarian circus performer and previously worked as a stunt aerialist, hanging from a flying airplane by her teeth. She was the first to fly off the top of the Matterhorn on a zip line to Sleeping Beauty's Castle as the fireworks went off. Out of sight of the guests, she would be stopped by two burly Disney workers holding up a full sized mattress. She was 71 when she started doing this and continued until 1964 when she died of stomach cancer. I'm told she was paid $650 for each nightly run. Well, as the Mouseketeers would say.....and now it's time to say goodbye to all our company.......
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Post by willc453 on Nov 2, 2017 11:17:34 GMT -6
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Post by willc453 on Nov 2, 2017 11:18:52 GMT -6
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Post by willc453 on Nov 2, 2017 11:20:19 GMT -6
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Post by willc453 on Nov 2, 2017 11:21:44 GMT -6
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Post by willc453 on Nov 2, 2017 11:23:00 GMT -6
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Post by willc453 on Nov 2, 2017 11:24:42 GMT -6
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Post by kaijafon on Nov 3, 2017 7:55:19 GMT -6
Hey Ben, I've seen you in other photos too!!! There are a bunch of pictures going around facebook right now that show "time travelers", one guy has a CELLPHONE long before phones. I bet that was YOU talking to one or more of your Lara's! And then there is that one of all the very nicely dressed people back in the 1920's and that one guy wearing a Tshirt and hoodie!
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Post by willc453 on Nov 3, 2017 9:37:01 GMT -6
You know what? I'm not the only time traveler as I've taken a few Affected people with me back in time. Bad part is the number of cell phones & video cameras everyone has....proof: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn1sY8zB87E
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Post by willc453 on Dec 26, 2017 22:13:27 GMT -6
The Affected---Tale of Two Brothers Chapter 43
Now one of the things about running an evil empire is money. The bigger you get empire wise, the more money you need....ESPECIALLY when you've got so many Lara's to support. And if you look around, there's ALL SORTS of ways of making money.....for example, KNOWING where and how there's money to be made. Silver is one example. So there I am in a booming silver mining town and it got me to thinking.....just where is there MORE silver just waiting to be discovered, but hasn't been.....YET. And of course, to be “discovered” by yours truly. The other thing is when you don't know something, ask those who know, which is why I went to Big Mac. Thing is, while he was a miner, he was the guy who'd dig the shafts, shore up the walls, etc. and not the guy who knew what to look for when looking for silver, etc. Like the Klondike gold rush (and yeah, was there making LOTS of money), there's many people looking to strike it rich. For awhile, I even staked some guys who said they were prospectors, supplying them with supplies from my store. Remember, back then a mans word was his bond. I tried 4 guys and during that second year, NONE found any gold or silver in any real amounts. Then realized I was going about this all wrong....NEVER work for your money, especially if you have a world wide/multi-dimensional evil, etc. empire. Instead, make your money work for you. Now, flying saucers/UFO's have been around a LONG time....like going back to biblical times for example. With access to starships and other forms of advanced technology, it's quite easy to scan the earth and know EXACTLY what's underground. So no problem bringing in drones to scan the countryside for 100 miles. Always did this on moonless and cloudy nights, with me starting my scans in winter at the tail end of my second year. This took a few months as I wanted a THROUGH scan, not just of silver, but gold and other metals like lead, copper, etc. because what may be common on this world, is valuable on others, especially on those worlds in another dimensions. Oh yeah, there was LOTS of silver that just hadn't been found. But being careful in not wanting to change history, made sure NONE of these places were major booms gold/silver wise.... or should I say, NEVER REPORTED as such.
So, in the spring of the third year, let word get around that I got gold fever just like everyone else. Of course, more than one townie/miner got a laugh at this because after all, I was a school teacher, cook, blacksmith and store owner....just what would I know about finding gold or silver? But others....well, they remembered how I'd arrived in town with just the shirt on my back so to speak and look where I was at now money wise. Want to drive people bug sh*t crazy? Come up with a piece of “technology” that simply won't work, but SOUNDS/LOOKS plausible. Like props used in movies. In this case, got two pieces of crystal, one about the size of my fist, the other half that size. Thing is, I made it so the smaller piece would fit/join the larger piece. So me and two of my original six horses took off to do some prospecting. And if you want to know, when we got back, those two told the other four how they got ONE of those really large apples PER DAY. Of course, I hadn't mentioned to any of them that they would be getting a bonus for helping me. Nothing like exploiting the literally unwashed and uneducated masses. After the first trip, they would line up telling me (mentally) PICK ME! PICK ME! After that, I'd simply have them taking turns going out with me. Now Big Mack happened to see this and asked what was going on. I told him that they ALL wanted to go on my next exploration trip and he just kind of shook his head, saying he didn't think horses were that smart. I said they're pretty smart and watch this. Turned my back to the horses and told them to back up a couple of steps while doing it mentally. They backed up and Big Mac just stood there dumbfounded. And if you're wondering, I'm NOT like Dancing Wing or Coyote in their way of communicating with animals. I think it was hanging with Mothers people that gave me a LITTLE bit of being able to communicate mentally with animals and other species.
Thing is, Big Mac tried to persuade me from doing this because he thought it was a d*amn foolish waste of time because of my lack of knowledge. Reminded him I was a school teacher and as part of my job was being familiar with a large variety of subjects, including geology. And by the spring of the third year he had became a GOOD cook and would help out from time to time in our restaurant. He'd only had a third grade education, but now there was a drive in this man to make something of himself now that he wasn't a miner any more. He remembered how I came to town with some money, but in looking what I had become in just two years, who'd know where I'd be this year? When I found out about his lack of education, started teaching him along with the townie/farm kids during the day and Chinese kids at night during winter. What surprised me was when three of the Chinese elders came to visit, asking if their eldest sons could also learn English near the end of that second year. The parents of these Chinese kids now understood how an education would better their lives and what really helped was their kids being eager to learn. A good thing about all this teaching in winter was the kids got to know each other AS PEOPLE and as not some “foreigner”, especially when the weather was really bad and the farm kids had to stay overnight at the school. As for the townie kids, they LIKED staying overnight at my place in part because of my stories, another was the food. Not that anyone was starving of course, but there was always some how an extra pie or two that I didn't have time to send over to the restaurant the night before. And got the okay from the Chinese parents for them to stay from time to time. Thing is, the parents were INVOLVED with their kids learning (unlike many parents of today) and later, heard their kids were trying to help their parents understand English better. When some of the Chinese miners heard about this, those kids would teach them some, then before I knew it, had a dozen miners in class. So I was pretty d*amn busy checking our restaurant, saloon, my store and of course, teaching. What got Big Mac hooked on reading was Huckleberry Finn by that “new writer fella”, Mark Twain. Thing is, while I was working up to 19 hours a day, all I had to do was go to my place above the school house, jump to some Laura's for a day (or two or three), then jump back a few hours later Colorado time frame.
Anyway, it was high ho Silver, away with me and my two horses. Not that I really needed them with my jumping ability and KNOWING where the good stuff was literally buried, but I needed to lay tracks as it was said back then as I didn't want ANYONE to wonder how I so easily found these strikes. Of course, this gave me and the occasional Lara (okay, several) an opportunity to visit while we ran nekkid thru the woods playing tag, hide and go seek or skinny dippin' in more than one beaver pond or stream. Occasionally we'd have visits by various tribal members, but none gave either of us any trouble. Thing is, I ALWAYS made sure I had trade goods with me on all these trips as you never know when I could make a buck. We'd be out for a couple of days, I'd send the Lara's back home, then head back to town with me looking disappointed of course. After checking how the various businesses were doing, head right back out. After a month of this, I “discovered” my first silver lode.....and got laughed at by everyone except Big Mac. He felt sorry for me because I was going to hire a dozen miners and felt he should look the land over for me before I did this. I said okay because when you do a shell game (like I have more than once just as a carnie alone), make it believable as possible so the suckers come back for seconds, thirds, etc. He looked the land over, shook his head saying he's worked a lot mines and this place looks only good for rock.....and nobody's buying rocks. Which gave me an idea that I used further down the road time wise. But I pretended to be obstinate and of course, it was a failure...along with the other 2 “discoveries”.
Now Big Mac and I were in the saloon after I came back from another trip and he was saying I should give up this fool notion of me suddenly striking it rich and stay at what I was really good at: teachin' and runnin' a business. I said nope, but think I found me an edge and showed him the 2 crystals. He thought they were pretty and asked where I got 'em from as he knew a guy in town who liked working with this kind of stuff in his spare time. Said remember how I go out to trade with the Indians each month? When he said yes, said one of them knew I was interested in not just the old ways, but things that happened generations ago. They told me about a cave which they believed was haunted, so went to that cave where there were some old Spanish helmets and breastplates along with a dried out dead body. But in a rotting leather bag, I found this. Which got me to thinking about that Spanish guy Cortez and his looking for that city that was to be COVERED in gold. Been playing and practicing with it, using some gold and silver dust/rock, along with gold and silver coins. Then showed him the symbols “carved” into them which I told him were actually VERY, VERY ANCIENT metallurgical symbols. Why, they may even of been carved into these crystals before Christ was born. I mean after all, when you're goin' to tell a tale, MAKE IT A WHOPPER! That when when you place a finger on one of these symbols, the crystal actually lit up when that metal was around. He had never heard of such a thing. I, of course, made sure at this point I started talking in a kind of sneaky, let's not anyone hear what I say kind of voice, so of course, more than one man had “casually” drifted over to hear what I had to say. But I REALLY got everyone's attention when I connected the 2 crystals together, placed a silver (screw that scary gold sh*t) coin near it, placed my finger over one of the “metallurgical symbols” and of course, it lit up while pulsating off and on! That REALLY made everyone sit up and pay attention.
Of course, we found silver within five feet of the surface of my fourth “discovery”. After labor and material costs, made a little over $250,000 which may not sound like much, but how about it being worth around $1,500,000 in today's money? Had six more “lucky” silver strikes that after expenses, netted me close to $2,000,000 EACH in 1800's money. And of course, had A LOT of unsavory people suddenly being interested in my crystals.....which also included one particular mine owner. It did not end well for him and those with him. I had a safe that I kept the crystals in and some dastardly fellows simply yanked it out of the barn I had built along with wrapping a bunch of chains and locks around the safe/floor beam. Not that I was worried about the barn collapsing when that beam went because I had already sawed half way thru it and filled the gap with a flour/water mixture, covered by dirt. Of course, this theft was done during one dark and stormy night near the end of summer. So by the time Big Mac heard the noise and got to the barn, they were off and down the road.....but not for long for suddenly there was a VERY loud bang and flash of light that had Big Mac thinking it was a REALLY big bolt of lightning hitting somewhere close by. Yeah, the crystal had been booby trapped from the beginning with this thought in mind. Besides, I remembered what had happened when I forgot about and left that sword in that stone a long time ago. Remember those 'magical rings” I've used from time to time here and on other worlds/dimensions? The ONLY way the two crystals would work was WHEN you wore a plain looking ring. And there was a ten mile radius on the crystals when several symbols were pressed. Without the ring within that range, KABOOM! And no, wasn't changing history because I checked...that one mine owner had died without children, but they did find a letter from his younger sister and sent a telegram saying he had died (but not how) to her. In the spring of the fourth year, she showed up. As to the others, couldn't find anything on them. Felt sorry for the horses that were killed though. And if you're wondering, the barn was used just to store feed and other things like my wagons, etc. Oh yeah, before I forget.....of course the federal government will now soon be charging me with “insider trading”. Not that they'll be able to prove anything, but you know how it goes....anything to make it look good in their fight against us evil Affected who just want to make a buck or two. Oh....if you're wondering, sold each of those mines for a VERY good profit to a couple of other mine owners.
Now I didn't care much how the Chinese were treated, but while some things can't be changed without changing history, sometimes it's the little things that can make a difference. As to my mines, had Big Mac overseeing the first 3 and for the others, used a guy he recommended. Biggest thing to me was how he treated other people no matter what their color was. Thing is, ticked off more than one mining company/owner when I hired a hundred Chinese to work my mines so suddenly they didn't have really cheap labor available. Remember, back then, Chinese were REALLY low on the food chain. Why did they all come to work for me? Several reasons: paid them the going wages for mining vs what they had been making which was about one fourth of the wage of white men. The other was NO cutting of corners when it came to safety. Even so, there were accidents, but no deaths. This was when my years of being a doctor came in handy which really surprised Big Mac along with others in town when I had to amputate one guys hand, the other his leg just past his knee. Remember, had already been there, done that during the War Between The States (aka Civil War) along with other places and times. I got a lot of face (honor) among the Chinese when I didn't fire 'em because they were crippled which they all expected me to do. Instead, after they healed, had a wooden peg leg made for the one guy, the other got a wooden hand that he could also change so he could be wearing a hatchet or a hook. They went to my place, helping Big Mac with growing crops, etc. with me having another smaller place built next to my mine, including a smaller stove, beds, etc. They got paid a fourth of what Big Mac was getting paid, but then he was their boss and they weren't working as miners any more either. Adding to this was my teaching them English among other things at school. As to those who got hurt, but not seriously, I kept 'em busy doing other things while drawing full wages.
Oh....if you're wondering, sold each of those mines for a VERY good profit to a couple of other mine owners near the end of the third year. Not my fault that within a couple of weeks of digging further in the mines that the silver ran out.....and actually lost money in buying my mines. Caveat emptor, meaning buyer beware for those who don't speak or understand Latin. And if you're wondering, did I ever use my time jumping ability to hit it big? No....for several reasons. First off, couldn't hit any big jackpots before I was Affected as I'd probably change history AND of course, the IRS would have been after me for filing 2 separate 1040 forms. One for the lottery, the other when I was a truck driver and of course, after being Affected because no doubt the government would of refused to have me payed off and confiscated it. However, it didn't bother me by giving winning numbers to people for smaller amounts which income tax did NOT have to be payed on.
Now I used chloroform, something that still wasn't that widely used, but easy enough to make using chlorinated lime with ethanol. Now during this third year, the town was still booming and was surprised when Dr. Renee Belloq came to see me. He'd heard about my amputating the limbs and wanted to meet me. He had served during the war (War Between the States) not so long ago, though he had been working the Confederate side, but didn't have any available or how to use it during that time. He was a bit shocked when I explained to him in detail and in medical terms, what I did and how I did it. He then wanted to know why I wasn't working as a doctor and told him I felt like a career change, which is why I'm the school teacher among other things here. And in case you're wondering, Moldenhawer, a German pharmacist was said to be the first in having produced it first in 1830. And in 1831, Samuel Guthrie, an American physician from Sackets Harbor, New York produced chloroform. I'm sure many are wondering about no doctors in town, so who did the medical work? Most of the people took care of it themselves, but if need be, there were 2 barbers who could pull teeth, set legs, etc. along with being undertakers. Remember how I'm always worrying about changing history? Well, that's not quite true...ESPECIALLY when it comes to kids.
First it was Sonny, a 7 year old boy who had lost his parents to Apache's in my third year in town. When what was left of the wagon train came thru town on their way to Oregon, he made sure he was left behind. Seems the couple that had “adopted” him didn't care/love him, but looked at him as free labor. Yeah, parentless kids were REALLY exploited way back when, just like those of today. Don't believe me? Look up the horror stories told by kids in a foster “home”. And while all these foster homes aren't like this, all it takes is a few bad apples. I got called when one of the blacksmiths told me there was a really sick kid curled up in his barn. Seems Sonny had covered himself in hay, but the owners dog found him. I was notified because the blacksmith couldn't find his parents and of course, no one actually knew him. He had been scavenging for food and finding shelter where ever he could including working at a couple of the cathouses running errands, usually being paid in getting a meal and a place to sleep from time to time. Why tell me? Because I was the school teacher working with kids all the time and after what happened to those who beat up Little Foot and Owl, EVERYONE knew how I felt about kids no matter what their skin color was. Checked Sonny and realized real quick his appendix was going and about to burst! Told Charlie (the blacksmith) to get a blanket and 3 guys to carry Sonny to the saloon while his apprentice took a horse to tell the kitchen get several buckets of boiling water going, then get Big Mac to grab my 2 black bags and bring them to me at the saloon. While we carried Sonny to the saloon, this is when Dr. Belloq showed up as I found out that he liked kids too. Told him what was wrong and his face kind of fell, saying in the cases like this, the patient dies as there's no procedure for removing the appendix. Told him not on my watch, doctor. He'd never used chloroform before, so told him I'd explain what I was doing when possible with Big Mac helping me as he had done previously with those two Chinese miners. While the water was boiling, had Sonny brought into what I call the game room....you know, where I had tables set up for checkers and chess. The few guys there MOVED when I told them to. Sheets were brought in and several torn into smaller sections, then dumped into the water heating up. A smaller pot of boiling water was used to sterilize my equipment along with my thread and when Big Mac showed up, I started making chloroform from ingredients in my bag. Had a couple of bystanders use small tongs to to wring the water out of the various sheets with the biggest one being layed on a table while smaller ones outlined the appendix area and of course, where I layed my sterile instruments. Once everything was ready, said let's do it and started cutting. Big Mac passed out along with a couple of other bystanders, at which point Dr. Belloq stepped in using the chloroform when I told him to. Yeah, while Big Mac had helped me with those two Chinese guys, it was different when he and some of the others saw Sonny being cut open, being that he was a kid. Kind of funny how some guys tough as nails, will at times get green or pass out when it comes to hurt kids. And if you're wondering, I've got several hundred “medical bags” though some are in leather pouches for example, along with I call meddocs which can do up to VERY basic heart surgery/repair for example in the field. Had the mechanical Lara's people develop me these. With “accessories”, I have several different sizes of medlabs (portable chemical labs) that connect to the meddoc so the meddoc can have the medlab produce whatever chemicals are needed, including a limited supply of blood for example. It's a limited supply because more than once I've dealt with different species on other worlds/dimensions. As to nano medical technology being used to help a patient, it's okay when you've got nothing better. Having hung quite a bit with Dancing Winds future generations and other people thru time, got the mechanical Lara's people to develop BIOLOGICAL nano bots. After the problem is taken care of, they are absorbed by the body in case there's any future problem for a set time period. After that time is up, they alter themselves into vitamins, etc. over a period of time until the nano bots are gone. Now in the case of Sonny, I cheated....for the internal thread used, used biodegradable thread which not only is absorbed by the tissue, but is....well, let's say it's chock full of vitamins, antibiotics and other things. Afterwards, to sew up the cut, used silk thread as I couldn't simply have the biological thread absorbed by the body.....this would bring up too many questions.
Well, Big Mac came to, with us putting Sonny in a borrowed wagon and taking him home to recuperate for the next few days and of course, so I could check on him from time to time. Had the sheets cleaned by one of the Chinese so I'd be ready next time I had to do this. While I'd have to re-sterilize them again before using them, at least I had material ready to use. As for Dr. Belloq, he had A LOT of questions, but put him off by telling him to be at the school the next day. I of course, had things ready for his school lesson. The operation hadn't taken that long (maybe 30 minutes?) and during that time, I had gone into teacher mode, explaining what I was doing, why, the various organs one has to deal with other than the appendix and of course, post operation procedures. Remember, back then there was NO mass communication, so things could happen for months, sometimes a year or two before people heard about something. There was word of mouth, telegraph, newspapers, magazines and of course, mail; usually between family members, the cost of which was very high.
Right off the bat, Dr. Belloq wanted to know why I wasn't teaching what I knew at medical school as I'd be invaluable to future doctors, along with writing everything up to be published in medical journals. My reply was simple: arrogance. He thought I was talking about me being arrogant and said this didn't make any sense as he started checking on me (?!) after hearing I was a doctor and especially since he found out what I had been doing here the past two years. He wasn't afraid of competition, but more than anything else, wanted to compare notes as doctors. I said no, it's not me with the arrogance, but people in general who think they know everything and if it's not invented here, it can't be done. This is when he brought up the kite flying episode from the previous year. I said this is just one example of people saying that man can't fly like a bird, but how about The Black Death...had he heard of it? Of course he had and the cause of it, but he didn't know the origin of it or the full ramifications of it in Europe. So I explained that it just wasn't fleas that caused this pandemic, but man and his lack of knowledge about sanitation....which is basically the same as it is today. He of course objected to this, saying that man, ESPECIALLY Americans, have come far in knowledge about sanitation. Asked if he'd heard of the Silk Road, which he had some knowledge of. Told him that the fleas from ground rodents such as rats and marmots is what started The Black Death, coming from the plains of Central and Western Asia, Kurdistan, Northern India and Uganda and of course, which were carried by rats who came to Europe via the Silk Road and merchant ships. Though it's now believed that all 3 waves of Black Death originated from China. He was surprised there had been 3 waves as he thought there was only one. With the first wave reaching the Crimea by 1343, from there it spread to other countries rather quickly. Just TWELVE ships arriving in Italy are believed to have started it, but from there, the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France, Spain, Portugal and England. By June 1348, it turned and spread east through Germany and Scandinavia from 1348 to 1350. It was introduced in Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askoy, then spread to Bjørgvin (modern Bergen today for you people) and Iceland. Finally it spread to northwestern Russia in 1351. The plague was somewhat less common in parts of Europe that had smaller trade relations with their neighbours, including the majority of the Basque Country, isolated parts of Belgium, the Netherlands, and isolated alpine villages throughout the continent. I'm sure you're wondering why these 12 infected ships went to Scicily. Asked if he had heard of Ghengis Khan. He did remember a little about the man, so told him how it got to Scicily. Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via Genoese traders at the port city of Kaffa in the Crimea in 1347. After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering from the disease, the army catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls of Kaffa to infect the inhabitants. The Genoese traders fled, taking the plague by ship into Scily and the south of Europe.
When it spread, it's estimated to have killed 30 to 60 PERCENT of Europe's TOTAL POPULATION. That in total, the plague may have reduced the WORLD population from an estimated 450 million to 350 to 375 million in the 14th century and didn't fully recover to pre-plague population until the 17th century and STILL reoccurs from time to time today. Think of the ramifications it had on EVERY country in Europe...the religious, political, social and economic impact it had during this time. No doubt it changed history. Adding to this was a series of natural disasters which lead to famine thru out Europe. Researchers don't think the plague ever became endemic in Europe or its rat population. The disease repeatedly wiped out the rodent carriers so that the fleas died out until a new outbreak from Central Asia repeated the process. The outbreaks have been shown to occur roughly 15 years after a warmer and wetter period in areas where plague is endemic in other species such as gerbils. Now imagine this plague occurring again, but this time in the United States....with almost EVERY man, woman and child dying from it because it would be so easily spread. Dr. Stone protested, saying major knowledge in medical and sanitation has been achieved and this could never happen again. Asked him if he'd been to any big cities in the north for example or been on a ship and of course, he had been to Boston for medical training, followed by taking a ship to California, then traveling to Colorado. Since I KNEW how things were in some of the big cities and ESPECIALLY ships, started questioning him about sanitation conditions on both of them. This is when he realized how filthy and disease ridden these “civilized” towns were. He realized now that it was not only wanting to open a practice here in the west with few doctors, but subconsciously how bad things were living wise for many in big cities with rats everywhere, no safe removal of human waste, garbage just thrown out to MAYBE being picked up in a few days. When asked why didn't the Black Death keep coming back, told him that the disease from the fleas that were on the rodents would eventually kill the rodents, in which turn, the fleas died. But the Black Death wasn't just in Europe and parts of Asia. It spread from the southern part of Russia, then in autumn of 1347, it reached Alexandria in Egypt, probably thru the ports trade with Constantinople. From there, it traveled to Gaza and along the eastern coastal cities in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. When the disease reach Antioch between 1348 and 1349, the residents fled to the north with many of them dying and of course, infecting other people in their journey.
Yeah, this was a real eye opener for him....and he realized it could happen again in the cities. Like I said, he had heard of it, but it wasn't something studied at medical school because after all, “man had advanced so far in the medical field”. He asked where I had gotten my information on all of this and told him from libraries, colleges, used book stores, estate sales and other places and people. Like reading A Discourse on the plague by Richard Mead which was published in November 1720 or A brief treatise of the nature, signs, preservation from and cure of the pestilence by W. Kemp published in 1665. Thing is, there's really been no good, detailed study on the Black Death and from what I've read, it IS a possibility of it coming back...from the dead. When asked what I meant, I said I've read accounts where the dead were buried in mass graves or other times, be stacked in a basement and the home or building set on fire which doesn't guarantee the disease has been irradiated. So if for any reason these graves are disturbed.... He didn't like that thought at all. Of course, he really wanted to know about the appendicitis operation so first asked him if he had ever talked with any Indian medicine man or shaman. Of course he hadn't and he not only said so, but they had to be quite ignorant in ways of modern medicine. I said thank you for coming over Dr. Arrogant and I'll see you some other time as I walked to the door to let him out. He says his last name is Belloq....then he stopped and asked if he was being arrogant with his opinion of Indians and their ways of medicine. I said yeah... along with being stupid and at that word, he steeped towards me with his hands clenched into fists and said if we weren't doctors, I'd thrash you here and now. I said no, you wouldn't and the way I said it, he stopped because I could see in his eyes him remembering how Big Mac and I had originally met along what happened to those who roughed up Little Foot and Owl....and who knew what other scraps I had been in BEFORE I came into town? I said good....maybe you aren't stupid after all in wanting to thrash me now, are you? And maybe, just maybe now that I have your attention, you'll listen to my explanation for using that word.
Arrogance is believing your way is the ONLY way and for those that don't live your life style or way of learning, has got to be less in your eyes and not worth learning from. Stupidity comes from REFUSING to learn when it's freely available or worse yet, when knowledge is staring you in the face and you refuse to see it. Just because someone goes to school, doesn't make them smart. Can you define a classroom for me? He started talking about my school and I said you just proved my point about not seeing knowledge in front of you. Socrates and Plato didn't always teach in a building, but did it outside, weather permitting. Americans and those in Europe are discovering new drugs all the time, but what if others knew about them already, like the Indians or the Chinese, who use NATUAL ingredients to help people with ailments? I said, come upstairs with me and I'll show you 2 books I've made. Said I've spent some time among the Indians, including their medicine men and part of their ability is the persons BELIEF that the medicine man can cure them of evil spirits, so he's like a priest. The other thing is by using what's available in nature, he will use that to cure them of their PHYSICAL ailments.
To begin with, most of the history of the appendicitis and appendectomy has been made in the last three centuries. Jacopo Berengario da Carpi gave the first description of this structure in 1522. Gabriele Fallopio, in 1561, appears to have been the first writer to compare the appendix to a worm. In1579 Caspar Bauhin proposed the ingenious theory that the appendix served in intrauterine life as a receptacle for the faexes. Many of anatomists added more or less insignificant ideas concerning the structure of the appendix and entered upon useless controversy concerning the name, function, position of the appendix vermiformis. The first successful appendectomy was performed in 1735 by Claudius Amyand. Geillaume Dupuytren considered that acute inflammation of the right side of the abdomen arose from disease of the caecum and not the appendix. As surgeons were wary of opening the abdomen for examination, early stages of appendicitis remained unknown. John Parkinson was able to give a good description of fatal appendicitis in 1812. Surgeons began draining localized abscesses which had already formed. From there, doctors would cut open a corpse to study the body even further. So knowledge about the appendix has always been there, it's just lack of communication between people and of course, it wasn't invented hereitis. I asked if he remembered me washing my hands before touching any of my instruments. He had, but was surprised that I had boiled my instruments before using them, because after all, they looked clean to him. Explained to him about sterilization and the passing of possible diseases unclean instruments even though they look ready to use. Think about how easy it's to pass a cold from one person to another. Now imagine someone being operated on with the doctor having a cold. A cold just isn't in ones nose, but thru out the entire body. That's when he said he was surprised to see me wearing a mask when I operated on Sonny. I said yes. Pulled a large and small book down from one of my book shelves and he just kind of started in awe at the number of bookshelves that not only filled with books, but also having 4-5 dozen more kind of scattered everywhere. When he opened the large book, he asked what all the botanical specimens were for and told him look at the second, smaller book. When he did, he found not only the scientific names of these specimens, but also what they were known as by others. The real kicker to him was finding what each plant would do if you had a fever, headache, help healing a wound or protecting it from inflammation, etc. Asked if he had heard of acupuncture and of course, he hadn't, so I gave him a quick demonstration on his arm to where it just flopped and he couldn't control it. Scared the hell out of him and told him if I added a few more needles to your arm, you wouldn't feel any pain in it. This I learned from the Chinese. After removing the needles, he just stood there and said he never realized he was that ignorant and arrogant.....and would I consider teaching him what I knew? I said I have no idea how long I'll be here, but probably another year or two, then I'm moving on to see what's out there in the world. But give me a holler when you need a consolation and if you want, that one bookcase is filled with medical books from different times and places. Told him I have outstanding orders with several bookstores to buy/hold them for me until I let them know where to send them. He didn't have a microscope, so gave him one along with some other things. I said I know you still don't understand and maybe believe about being sanitary as possible when performing surgery, so have some people put a sample of saliva on different slides and see how different they are. Said you're welcome to my private library any time, just ring the bell at the base of the stairs to let me know you're coming up.
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Post by willc453 on Apr 6, 2018 12:21:00 GMT -6
The Affected---Tale of Two Brothers Chapter 44 Now if anyone forgets, there's two of me doing these entries. There's the young me who's off with Mothers people checking on their forgotten colonies during your time frame, the other is the old me who's been doing all this time/other world dimensional traveling. And if you're wondering, why hasn't the young me read any of the old me entries? When I met the mechanical Laura people, had them set up a program that would block the young me from reading any of them along with me having TWO passwords so when ever the young me would go to make an entry, it just depended on which password was used to access ALL of my entries. Anyone remember back when I got hired as a school teacher and it was expected for me to do boarding round? In case you forgot, that's where I was suppose to spend a week at each families house along with being fed and how a couple of these places weren't all that well built and as for the food..... At the end of the second year, spent a couple of weeks helping a couple of families fix their place up so it didn't leak, the fireplace actually worked a lot better, wood was chopped and stacked in preparation for winter, etc. Now some people have a hard time in life, no matter how hard they try. Like trying 5 times to find water so a well could be dug and during all of this, all they had for water was rainwater or getting it from a creek about a quarter mile away. That's A LOT of work. When I heard about this family...hello drone, which immediately found water. I, of course, had a dowsing stick which of course, LOOKED like a stick. Seems the underground creek curved a couple of times and they simply missed tapping into it by 10-15 feet. Then “discovered” that the creek went up a hill a little bit behind their place which meant they could REALLY start raising even more crops to eat or store. So I found myself doing a little terra forming and once word got passed around, had others asking me to do the same. Some were charged a fair price, others like having kids in my class got it for free. Got a lot of free, home cooked meals after that, which of course saved me money. Now ALL the wives could cook, but some were A LOT better at it than others. Of course, they'd all heard about my restaurant and of course, the meals I served in the summer of the second year. I'd show up a littler earlier than expected and either help the husband out directly with what ever chores he had to get done or simply start chopping/stacking wood for winter. And believe me, you can NOT EVER have too much wood stored before winter hits. Even brought my six horses with me to haul trees back to their place to be cut up later. Now the last thing a man wants to do is even insinuate a woman's cooking needed help, especially if he wants to live longer. Thing is, didn't need to do this as basically a lot of 'em asked me how I did things since I owned such a money makin' restaurant and of course, more than once their kid(s) would bring back home extra food I some how made too much of when school was over during the winter. Then there was the feed feast I put on during the summer of the second year. And of course, when the ladies went into town, they'd start talking about how I showed them how to cook in different ways. Like cooking a couple of rabbits slowly that the meat would simply melt off the bones no matter how old that jackrabbit might be. Or how crawdads could be eaten after being boiled, then sauteed in butter with some garlic and then mixed in with rice. Not many people (white) ate rice except those from the south and of course, the Chinese. They'd heard of dandelion wine, but didn't realize it could be used for other things and of course, the different types of mushrooms as another example. So when I'd have time, I'd take the kids out and we'd go looking for things to add to the table. More than one mother kind of rolled her eyes at some of the things we brought back, but after showing her how to use them, she was giving the kids a run for the money when it came to eating everything found! I also made sure each of these families made a book with an example of each herb, etc. so they'd know what to look for and what to watch out for as far as NOT using it. Then I'd have the wife write down the recipe of what I helped her cook so she could trade it with the other wives when they came into town. A couple of wives wanted to know how I cooked something that I had done with another wife and told them no....they had to go talk with that wife when they came into town. Well, a lot of husbands got a lot happier food wise after this, though more than one gave me the eye as I was still single.....and of course, now more than one wife had a sister, cousin, etc. that would just be perfect as my wife?! I got out of that one by explaining I had been married once, but she had died some years ago. That got me a lot of sympathetic clucks from the ladies. Ended up having what I called ladies night, even though it was held during the day and only once a month during the summer and of course, on a Sunday. Tea, with all sorts of small deserts and pies along with the latest catalogs for the ladies to look over while the ladies caught up on the latest news with each other. As for their kids, Big Mac & those 2 Chinese miners kept them busy taking them fishing or looking for food in the forest. Yeah, I was running a baby sitting service, something no one realized back in the 1800's....and giving the kids unknowingly, more education. As for costs on everything, I broke even because from the catalogs, the ladies would order dress patterns for example, which lead to selling more cloth for those dresses. Of course, the ladies would also want to know more about the deserts I made for them, some requiring spices/ingredients that no one but my store carried. As to my general store, got a lot of families coming in to do business with me not only because of my prices and variety of goods, but the kids looked forward to coming in because each of them got what was called penny candy back then. Thing is, I NEVER had any kid trying to hit me up for 2 pieces as far as saying they had never got one from me. Of course, it was on Sunday when the families came into town to go to church. Think of the can do attitude these people had in coming out west. They take what they could, had some money saved and then travel by wagon train from the mid west or back east. Stake section of land for homesteading, then having to buy seed, till the soil, plant the seed, etc. while also building a rudimentary home/shelter before actually having a house built. Had more homesteaders coming out and some just had bad luck. Like one family had a oil lantern fall inside their place, with the family barely escaping with their lives....and of course, losing everything they had inside of their home. They were living in a SMALL barn which housed their 2 horses and other miscellaneous things used on a regular basis. When I heard about this, started calling on those who still owed me money when I dealt with those bullies who roughed up those Arapaho boys. Showed up with twelve men and it took us and four of their neighbors a week to build 'em a new place which was a bit bigger than their original place. Now back then, unless it was a stick house, most homes didn't have bedrooms, but lofts. So what this family had was a large open area and kitchen combination along with a new wood stove and fireplace. Neighbors got together donating various things such as frying pans, pots, etc. Maybe getting one piece of cooking gear or a blanket doesn't sound like much, but when you have several dozen people doing this..... As to me flying thru the air on that box kite in my second year in town, that d*amn near bit me in the b*tt in the third year. Newspaper people....a d*mn scourge and pox on people like me who just want to be left alone and unnoticed. You know how it is...people will talk and with people passing thru town on a regular basis, they of course passed the word around for a couple of hundred miles. One of my kids was the first to tell me that some newspaper people were looking for me because they'd heard about a man who could fly in the air like a bird. WTF was my first reaction, but thought it over and came up with a plan. Told the kid he was to get all the other kids he could find and start following them and letting me know where they were....and where I wouldn't be, of coure. In fact, it wasn't me that went flying thru the air, but Midget Mike....you remember him doing all this flying, right? And winked at him. He understood. Passed the word for me and Midget Mike to meet and he agreed to help me out....which by amazing co-incidence, pay off the rest of his debt to me after the fight I and the horses had earlier. Those 3 newspaper people were running around town looking for me for three days, before someone mentioned Midget Mike, who of course was not only found, but came up with one heck of a story on how it was done. Then those three wanted a demonstration, but Midget Mike refused saying it was too dangerous. Since I had the best saloon and resturant in town, those people stayed there and of course, made a profit, espeically when we were written up by the newpaper people on the quality of our place and food. So we'd have more than one person stay or eat at our place while passing thru town. Remember how I got to know the Chinese, teaching their kids, etc? In the summer of that third year, ordered not only a lot of rice, but also a lot of dried and canned vegetables such as beets, sprouts, etc.....and in return, ended up getting not only all their business at my store, but the Chinese miners too. Then had Big Mac plow a couple of acres to grow vegetables the Chinese were used to with the two Chinese ex-miners of mine. Thing is, near the fall of that third year, I noticed NONE of them were having a mid-autumn festival which really surprised me because it's such a big thing among ALL Orientals. It's held on the 15th day of the 8th month, which for them, can start in September or October. Now the official name for this is called Zhnggiu Jie in Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, Jung-chau Jit in Hong Kong and Macau. Chuseak or Hangawi in Korea and Tet Trung Thu in Vietnam. It's also known as the Mooncake festival/celebration. In traditional Chinese it's 中秋節, in simplified Chinese, it's 中秋节. As for other countries/languages, it's Jūng-chāu Jit (中秋節), official name in Cantonese, Chuseok (추석, 秋夕), official name in Korean and Tết Trung Thu, official name in Vietnamese for example wher it's celbrated as Moon Festival or Harvest Mood Festival along with the traditions of moon worship and moon gazing. But it's more than a way of celebrating the end of the autumn harvest. The festival celebrates three fundamental concepts that are closely connected. Gathering: such as family and freinds coming togethr or harvesting crops for the festival. It's said the moon is the brightest and roundest on this day which means family reunion. This is the main reason why people think mid-autumn is important. Thanksgiving: to give thanks for the harvest or for harmonious unions. Praying: asking for conceptual or matial satisfaction such as for babies, a spouse, beauty, longevity or for a good future. So started asking around and was told (by the Chinese) each family was having their own private festival and of course, the single Chinese miners were left out in the cold so to speak. Why private ones and not a communal gathering type? They didn't want to draw any more attention to themselves more than necessary. Remember, these people were on the bottom of the food chain community wise. Nowdays, people have no idea how things were not long ago when it came to shopping. No buying via the internet, no large groceries stores, convenience stores on every corner, etc. While mail order was done, it would some times be months before you got your goods and that was only available basically in the big cities. If you're a booming mining town, the only option you had was the general store which carried a little bit of everything. And yes, I did mail order for people once a month by taking requests, then sending a rider to the nearest telegraph office to make the order. Well, knew this had to change as far as the Chinese not celebrating an important holiday like this. Besides, if I didn't, I know Mama Chiun would give me h*ll if she ever found out (and she would) and maybe even cut me off from her pot stickers for awhile! I invited/had the word passed among the Chinese that they were all invited to my place to celebrate this holiday....which was only a week away. Of course, with time travel, time is realtive. Jumped back in time to order a lot of fresh veggies from several places in San Franciso which at the time, was begining to get a large Oriental population, mainly Chinese, but also Japanese. And not only veggies, but ducks, chickens and pigs. The cattle I got locally which kind of started a rumor in town as everyone was thinking I was going to have another barbque like I did with the kite flying demonstration. Also had sheets of metal built/assembledd to my specifi-cations to also be delivered. Then jumped to China time wise to make sure I remembered what these things looked like and get the caligraphy/words right. Remember, while I was respected among the Chinese for teaching their kids at school, I really wasn't part of their VERY tight knit community. That didn't happen until the 4th year. Jump to the mechanical Lara's world, told them what I needed and once it was built, jumped back to Colorado's time, one piece at a time. And in the mean time, had Big Mac and my 2 ex-miner Chinese employees dig 2 holes not far from our place. Now in my forth year of being there, those 3 were busy farming 200 acres of land AND canning the stuff as it was ready to be eaten. This is when I had a shed built just for this built. Of course, a lot of the food grown was sold to my/my partners restaurant...at a profit of course. Now by this time, the saloon/restuarant was booming and with the right people there taking care of things, it did leave me free time to do other things. As it was, damn near forgot to get some woks for cooking. Considering I was cooking for 200, maybe more people, there was A LOT of cooking to be done. What helped was both the Chinese employees knew how to cook at least the basic stuff, so watched over them as they cooked while also cooking the harder stuff with Big Mac watching/taking orders on how to make some of the condiments/prep stuff. He wasn't enthused about this because it wasn”t “real American food”....until I reminded him that the way I had been training him in martial arts wouldn't be considered “real” fighting by Americans either, would it? He understood and helped with without further comments AND asked what some of the veggies were. Then went to a carpenter in town, having them make different parts for what I wanted. One asked what was I having him make and he shut up when I told it could be a gallows. Well, passed the word around to the Chinese informing them I would be honored if they would visit my place for a mid-autum festival and only thing they would need to bring was tables to eat on, pillows to sit on and of course, their own utensils. This isn't a normal request by a host, but what the hell, I was spending a small fortune as it was and it'd be d*mn hard to sell so many pillows and low tables aftewards, much less chop sticks & bowls. Had the couple of blacksmiths make me the first kind of, sort of hot steam tables. Food was on top of the table with water poured thru a hole on top of it at each end, while there where doors to continually feed the fire and of course, 2 chimney pipes, also at each end. Those I turned into money makers later on by opening a 2nd restaurant, but this one was buffet style, a new one (again) on everyone. Charged a flat rate for adults, 25% rate for kids under 12 and since I knew EVERY kid..... Everyone paid for their meal before eating (another new one) and the money rolled in even though the buffet only served breakfast and lunch. Ended up buying another kitchen stove later on as the demand was so great. And if you're wondering, there was very little food wasted as in people loading up a plate and only eating half of it, with the other half being thrown away. It just basically just wasn't done. I mean, you paid for the food, you weren't about to waste it unlike people of your time. What food scrap was left, was given to the dozen or so homeless dogs....and of course, soon had them following me like my original 6 horses, but at least they stayed out of the saloon and other places when I told them to. Some people are cruel simply because they get away with it until they're called on it. Was checking that days business in the saloon when I heard two of my dogs yelp and I was out the door in a flash just in time to see this guy throwing a rock at one of them which was simply trying to get away like the others. I gave a kind of dog howl along with a telepathic call, with the dogs stopped running away and turned toward me. That's when I got their telepathic image showing there were THREE guys who kicked 'em?! That's when I gave out THE pack call outloud and mentally. Within minutes, I had close to 40-50 dogs by mine. Yeah, while I made sure my strays got fed, didn't mind feeding the others as long as they behaved themselve and of course, they KNEW who the alpha male was among them. Near me, was a dog I called Jaws who I think had bit of wolf in him, so he was quite a bit bigger than the others. I told the rock thrower that my dogs told me you and your 2 friends kicked them and I saw you throw a rock at one of them. Your choice: the easy or the hard way. They wanted to know what the easy was and had my pistol out and cocked, saying this is where I kill all 3 of you, right here, right now. Or you can have it the hard way. They took the hard way, apparently not having gotten the memo about me and my six horses a few years ago. Told them to toss their gun belts and knives off to one side and when they would do this, I'd do the same. Well, Red (the sheriff, remember him?) came walking up to see what was going on, so gave him a quick update while these guys started getting rid of their guns. I gave mine to Red, but wouldn't you know it......a LARGE crowd was soon formed and of course, it was the school marms goin' ta be in another fight?! What are the odds/any takers and for who? Of course, Midget Mike took every bet he could afford that was against me. And having remembered what happened last time, everyone stayed WELL AWAY from the dogs, ESPECIALLY after hearing me brief Red. I looked at Jaws and 2 of the other largest dogs and gave 'em mental images of biting/holding these guys on the crotch, while the other dogs were to bite 'em everywhere else except the throat when I gave them the command. Well, those three were a bit nervous when they realized they were SURROUNDED by so many dogs, but what the heck, they were mongrels and nothing to be afraid of.....right? I said two words and a mental command to the dogs of: SIC 'EM! Two minutes later, I called 'em off and those three were a bloody mess. Asked the dogs if they wanted a cookie and of course, more than one guy was thinking I was actually offering everyone cookies and considering the quality of the resturants food..... Told them no, this was for the dogs and we (dogs and I) went behind the restuarnt as I knew we were killing a couple of cattle that day. We were killing a lot of animals for restuarnt use, so the dogs in the area were also getting tidbit such as bones, etc. Ended up having a slaughter house/ processing building made just to keep the dogs out. What I didn't know was four of my school kids (Chinese & white) saw everything that happened at the slaughter house. So, got 40-50 dogs following me and of course, all the former fight on lookers couldn't move out of the way fast enough. Had a whole bunch of bones, but also took roughly 50 pounds of good meat to give to the dogs. Called Jaws and the other 2 crotch gabbers up front and told the others they had to line up in rows of 10 according to pack dominance, which they did. Remember, I was giving them mental commands and verbaling telling them what I wanted them to do at the time. A few minutes later, they were ready. I said okay, now let's do the happy dance for your cookies. Jaws gave me a mental look of you got to be sh*tting me and I'm not going to do it while also giving me a look of defiance. I said fine, no happy dance, NO COOKIES FOR ANYONE! THAT got their attention. Turned my back to all of them and said when you're ready, start barking, but not loudly. And gave mental images of me chewing on a meat laden bone while making mmmm, mmmm, mmmm nosies. Suddenly there's A LOT of barking and they're standing on their hind legs, twirling around, doing their happy dance. So starting off with Jaws, gave him his cookie and each dog after that came up to get theirs while the others waited. Ended up later having about a dozen of them (including Jaws) come over to my place to stay. Yeah, just one of the things I learned from Coyote. Now, remember those four kids who saw all of this? The white parents said you're full of it, but as for the Chinese, it was an entirely different story. They believed and of course, spread the word among themselves that I was a magican/used magic. In their words, I was moshu along with others meaning I was a mage, sorcerrer, thaumage, charmer and trickster. Well, the day came for the autmn festival and of course, I had my Chinese gate erected the day before. Mine of course, was a lot smaller, though it did have four posts along with the words health, long life and prosperity written on the first level. Invited a few friends of mine (white & Indian) to come out, including Red. The Chinese brought their tables/dishware and EVERYONE was surprised to be greeted by me in full, imperial robes from the emperor of Huangdi time (in Chinese 皇帝, pinyin: Huangdi) of the Chinese soverign who reigned with the founding of the Qin dynasty that unified China in 221 BC. Along with this, they were suprised to see my gate and words written on it. EVERY ONE of them went thru the gate and when they left, went back to the gate as it was considered good luck. Of course, for my non Chinese guests, they got bowls/plates and regular eating utensils. Had yards of canvas for everyone to sit on and after greeting everyone, went back inside to change because I, Big Mac and my 2 Chinese workers of mine were kept pretty busy keeping the food cooking along with filling the hot water steam table with water, wood, etc. Then came the time where we could eat and Big Mac....well, he wasn't surprised when I pulled out and started using a pair of chopsticks just like the Chinese were doing. Like I said, wanted these people to be comfortable/happy in celebrating their autmn festival. And if you're wondering, Big Mac didn't hesitate in scarfing a lot of this food he originally wasn't too sure of, though he wasn't about to attempt using chopsticks. Then asked if they would like to hear some music (樂 yue), maybe even dance at which time I brought out my seven string guqin and started playing it along with suggesting if anyone had musical instruments, I would be honored if they would get and play them during this festival. As for the guqin it's of the zither family. It's been played since ancient times and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted by the quote “a gentleman does not part with his quin or se without good reason”. It's also associated with the Chinese philospher Confucious and yes, knew the man along with a lot of other philosphers. It's also sometimes referred to by the Chinese as “the father of Chinese music”. Had Big Mac take those who wanted to get their instruments to their homes and within 2 hours, we were all playing....but nobody was dancing? So got up and started dancing Chinese style and that's all it took to breaking the ice among them. Remember how I always acted at Mama Chuin's and her pot stickers? Last thing I wanted to do was hand make at least 600 pot stickers, so jumped ahead time wise to visit her and of course, make a LARGE order of pre-made pot stickers that I planned on cooking myself. Now by this time, I had changed physically as well as having shoulder length hair, but she recognized me by my voice (?!) when I placed the order to her granddaughter who was questioning about the size of my order until I pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills and said say when....provided they'll be ready within 4 hours. Man, Momma was on me quicker than a prison coon dog after an escaped convict and wanted to know what was going on/the problem. That's when she realized who I was and asked what was I up to. Said I was just making a to go order and I'll be back in 4 hours. OH NO, she says and grabs me by an ear lobe and pulling me down to her eye level saying you're not going ANYWHERE number ten son until I get the FULL story....and gave a kind of yank on my earlobe which HURT! Yeah, could of jumped out of there but no more pot stickers from Momma is the way it would of ended. NOT good. Now she and others of her family have been reading my blogs and she wanted to know what I was up to, so started telling her about me being in Colorado in the 1800's. At which time she says she hasn't read that story and I replied that's because it hasn't been posted here time wise....yet. And of course, had a lot of her family gathered around wanting to know what was going on and after realizing who I was, wanted to know more. Unortuneately, I had picked a time where the restuarant the restuarant was 6 hours away from closing and most were Chinese, who of course, wanted to know more. But Mama told them this was a family affair, their food would be boxed for take home and no charge for the food. And when Mama said this, there were NO complaints from the customers as they knew better. First thing I said is I need those pot stickers, so if you'd get some people on makin' e'm, I'll start telling some of what I've been up to. Mama didn't hesitate and had 6 of her girls making them, along with the cooks cooking up more ingredients for them. Of course, Mama didn't have any of the boys or men make up any pot stickers because “men are so clumsy”. Some wanted to see the bat I used in Mama's defense years ago which was no problem by jumping it to me which startled the hell out of some of them. And of course, there was still dried blood on some of the nails and bat itself. Then of course, it was how I was dressed when I met my wife at which time I told them no, because it brought back too many memories. But how about what I'm wearing in Colorado right now? TRIED to get sneaky and told Mama for that, I'd need the okay to jump where all of it was at and get dressed. She said hell no.....you may be my number 10 son, but you're also a sneaky white devil of a man. You jumped that bat here, you can do the same with other things. Cr*p. Said if they'd turn their backs for a bit and when I was ready, I'd show them my outfit from Colorado time and put that on. Thing is, think some of the girls peeked while I was getting dressed. They didn't expect me to be dressed in Chinese clothing. The majority of them had no idea what to think of it and some thought it was some made up stuff until two of them that were history buffs, corrected them. Mama Chuin looked at me saying it's not only authentic, but you wore it back then, yes? I said yes and it was somewhere between five and ten years as the Emperor needed someone to take names and kick a$$ so there would be a united China. Of course everyone wanted to hear that story, said okay, but no one could talk about it outside of family as I haven't posted that story yet. They eagerly agreed. Well, the pot stickers got made and of course, Mama made sure not only did I have a “ few extras just in case”, she also made sure I got some to eat while telling my time in China story. Thing is, I couldn't take the pot stickers as is because they had them in cardboard boxes which, in that Colorado time period, didn't exist yet. I explained why, then jumped to a store where I got a big roll of brown butcher paper and had them wrap everything in a bunch of packages which took me several jumps to accomplish. Of course, Mama and her family wanted to know WHEN those dragons I wrote about were going to be here for the Chinese New Year. Told her soon and jumped. I cooked the pot stickers, using cans of pure olive oil which was avaialble at the time and of course, everyone loved 'em. Attachments:
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Post by willc453 on Apr 16, 2018 15:55:55 GMT -6
The Affected: Tale Of Two Brothers Chapter 45 Now in the later part of the 4th year, we had a snowstorm which caught everyone by surprise, including me. The kids were in school and when I saw it coming down like it was, told the farmer kids to stay there while I made sure the townies (white and Chinese) got home okay. Thing is, on the way back to the school, stopped in at our saloon and my restaurant to see how things were going. This is when I found out the stage was overdue by 3 hours and since they had to go thru the pass to get to our town.... Yes, there was another route to town without going thru the pass, but it added something like another 90 miles to the run and there were no stations (stops) available for the stagecoach. Now this pass could be bad as in closing the town off for four days like it did one year. Trudged thru the snowstorm to the stagecoach station because I wanted the exercise and talked with Allan “Rocky” Lane, the station keeper. Yeah, he was worried about the stagecoach, thinking maybe it got stuck in the snow along with NO idea where it might be stuck at. Even so, he was busy hooking up a team of horses to find those people. He was also thinking the horses hooked to that stagecoach could be exhausted trying to pull/drag the stagecoach thru the snow....or froze dead. Offered to use my school wagon, which was accepted. The problem was, had to borrow a horse to ride back to the barn at my place which was about five miles outside of town...I mean, how could I return with it ready to go, within 30 minutes or less? Didn't need these kind of questions coming up. When I got to the barn, called out to Big Mac and the other 2 guys to help me get it ready which didn't take that much time, including putting the battery operated, heated blankets on the horses along with other things inside the wagon. But this time had skis 50% wider installed which meant they were each about three and a half feet wide and eight feet long so it would help distribute the weight even better. Dropped Big Mac off at the school and by the time we (horses and I) got to the eastern outskirts of town, snow was over 2 feet deep and got worse as we headed further east. About an hour later, saw Allan and one of his hands, Art Accord, heading towards me in their stagecoach. Snow was about a foot or less below my horses bellies. Was told that they couldn't make it any further, so Allan had Art take that set back to town after Allan took a bunch of blankets from it and put them in my wagon while I started up that small wood stove. Took us another 45 minutes to finally reach the overdue stagecoach and it wasn't good. Bill Cody was Jehu, meaning the stagecoach driver, with Bob “Tumbleweed” Baker riding shot-gun aka as in being the shotgun messenger or guard for the stagecoach. Of course, everyone was really glad/totally surprised to see us. Those six horses on that stagecoach were not only exhausted, but beginning to freeze, so quickly got out my additional heated blankets. What had helped those six horses was Bill and Cody had put a blanket over each of them, something the passengers had objected to...until they said if the horses froze/died, there was a good chance of everyone not making it into town. It also helped they had cleared what snow they could from around the team. They had only made it this far because everyone had gotten out to help push it thru the snow and they too were exhausted and cold. Had Allan start heating up stew from my restaurant, along with Johnnycake which is a kind of cornbread and of course, a pot of coffee. Of course, the stew, Johnnycake and coffee had froze during the trip to find these people. Bill and Bob helped me with the horse blankets, something they had never seen before. There were a total of eleven people (nine of 'em passengers) on that run and surprised to find two white women as passengers. Had Bill and Bob get in my wagon, saying I'd be in myself in a few minutes and this time, jumped a few special apples for these horses. Think energy bars along with being chock full of vitamins and some amphetamines. Then gave my horses two bigger than normal apples as their reward along with the promise of three more when we got back. Checked on them and they were doing okay though they complained about the cold. Now that wagon was pretty crowded with eleven adults, but everyone was thawing out until I caught one guy rubbing snow on one of the lady passengers hands, saying it help would prevent frostbite?! I gave him a whack on the head which kind of stunned him and told the woman to get rid of that snow, then had Bill get a canvas bag under the seat where I had a bunch of used towels I'd use to wipe the horses down during my monthly trading with the Indians. Towels got hung along the stove and heated up pretty quick, with everyone using them on their hands and bare feet. Of course, the two ladies didn't think it would be proper for their feet to be laid bare for everyone to look at so to speak, but I took care of that by pulling out one of my two knives and sliced right thru both sets of shoestrings and yanking off her shoes...the other couldn't get hers off fast enough! USUALLY the stagecoach didn't have many passengers during winter time, so I only brought 8 bowls, spoons and cups. The ladies got their own bowls, spoon and cup while the guys shared the other six sets. Had about two gallons of stew which wasn't enough to feed everyone along with the Johnnycake and coffee, but it gave them some energy, improved their mental attitudes. Told Allan to take everyone back to town and I'd bring his set in when the horses were ready, something Bill and Bob objected to, saying it was their job to do this. Told them they were too beat and when I looked at Allan, he said I was right. Told Bill he was NOT to use his whip in ANY way because if he did, the horses would tell me and then he and I would have an unpleasant discussion about this matter. Thing is Allan, Bill and Bob knew about what happened after I got my original my six horses, along with those guys who kicked/threw stones at my dogs, so they knew I wasn't joking. Said I'll have the horses drop everyone off at the stagecoach station, then anyone who wants to, can be dropped off at the hotel/restaurant and after that, the team will head to my place where my guys will take care of 'em. Said let me get the strong box to take back with you, then talk with the horses on what they're suppose to do. Everyone but Allan, Bill and Bob looked confused when I said this. Got the strong box from the stagecoach, tossed it under my wagons seat, went back to the horses to talk to them, then watched as the stagecoach with everyone in it, slowly headed back to town. Spent the next 30 minutes “talking” to the horses, letting them know we were in this together and jumped buckets of oats for them to eat which made them even happier along with thoughts from me of them of being in a “warm” barn (meaning out of the snow/wind), getting rubbed down, etc. Now they were anxious for all these goodies waiting for 'em. Thing is, they ALL had the beginnings of frost bite and back then, when a horse got lame, it was killed and eaten. Jumped a vet kit to me, did a blood test and using the miniature lab, came up with some replicating DNA tissue which would replace the damaged cells. With all the passengers not there, we made reasonably good time and of course, the further west we got, the snow level got “lower” as from being just above horse belly high to below their bellies. Even so, had to stop more than once as the horses were getting winded dragging the stagecoach thru the snow, then the wheels froze to the axle a couple of times. No problem as I jumped a couple of propane canisters with a blow torch on each one of them and soon we were back on the road or should I say, back on the snow? I'd be checking the horses by walking next to each of them making sure they didn't over heat and when they started to, would turn down the blanket thermometer a bit. As it was, took us almost four hours to get to the station and in front of the barn. Still coming down, so no one heard us come in, so opened the barn doors, unhitched the horses and they took off for the barn. Of course, rubbed 'em down, got 'em some hay, etc. and soon they were like happy little foals in springtime....especially when I gave each of them another apple, the regular kind of course. Took a couple of feed sacks to take my horse blankets back with me as I wasn't about to leave them there. When I opened the station door, everyone turned around in surprise and told Allan the horses had been taken care of and the stagecoach was parked in front of the barn. Two of the male passengers and both women had decided to go to the hotel and headed for my hotel. Once I was out of sight of the station, jumped to appear behind my slaughter house. Walked to the restaurants rear door, then for the hotel part to see how those four were doing. Fortunately, we still had empty rooms so no one had to double up. Was surprised to see the two women by the fireplace in the restaurant considering how late it was. Seems they were still wound up a little bit about their close call and couldn't sleep. Of course, the rooms didn't have fireplaces or stoves which is why they were there in the restaurant. Once they saw me, they came over to thank me again for rescuing them, at which time told them I had brought their luggage. They got real happy to hear this. Told them I had to check on my people working my store, then check on my kids, then my horses. Never thought of asking their names as I was kind of busy trying to cover a lot of bases at the time. By this time, the store was closed, but talked with “Bronco Billy” Anderson that it was to remain closed until the storm was over. He, his wife and their son lived in the place upstairs which wasn't much......two bedrooms, livingroom/parlor and kitchen. Baths (once a week) were taken in a large tin tub which was left outside until needed. Rest of the second story was used for storing extra goods but he got it as part of his wages. Everyone was salaried in case you're wondering. And with Billy and family living upstairs, never had to worry about someone breaking into the store. So then had to track down my other two employees to let them know what was going on. Now when I had the store built, had a wooden sidewalk installed not only in front of it, but for about five feet past each side of it. This made the ladies coming into town a lot happier when they went shopping in the store because they'd take the kids inside without having to walk thru a bunch of mud along with the town ladies. Over a period of time, other businesses did the same. Thing is, as I was leaving the store, heard a whine from under the porch. Had to clear the snow away to see what was under there and it was a b*tch giving birth to her puppies! Went back inside the store to get a crowbar, called out to Billy to get me some blankets while also throwing more wood in the wood stove, at which time, started removing a couple of the boards (which were actually logs) to where I could see her. This was NOT good as her fourth pup was having a difficult time getting out. Gave the dog mental images of her and pups being carried inside the store to lay on some blankets by the stove. Took off my buffalo coat and after putting it on the sidewalk, got the pups and her onto it, then all of them into the store. Billy wanted to know what was going on, told him and said I'd deal with it. So he went back upstairs while I helped momma dog deliver the rest of her pups. Then back to the restaurant where there was still some stew left, which she got. After telling Billy what was going on and what to do with the dog and pup, locked up the store, checked in with my other two employees, then jumped for my place to check on the horses which were okay and happy to get their apples, then jumping to the school. Of course, the horses were telling me no more cold, no more cold. I said okay. And if you're wondering, I'm a qualified veterinarian. The reason was me remembering that A hole who had tossed that b*tch and her pups into the swamp while they were inside a feed sack back in Mississippi so long ago. This was when my kids and I were traveling across the U.S. in the motorhome. And of course, it has helped when I've gone to other worlds/dimensions/times. It had been one of those really rare long days; the kind where I hadn't jumped to get some sleep and jump back time wise. It was some time after midnight when Big Mac heard me opening the door and of course, he had his gun out because back then, you never knew what could happen, day or night. Yeah, I was pretty tired and of course, the school door didn't have a lock on it anymore than my library. The kids were all glad to see me, but Big Mac shooed 'em away, saying leave me be until I got something to eat which was again, leftover stew, warmed up biscuits with honey and a couple of scrambled eggs. So while I was TRYING to eat and telling everyone what had happened, I leaned back giving a big yawn and that was the last thing I remember. When I woke up, was in my own bed with Sarah (one of kids) staring at me about two feet away. She kind of jumps up in surprise with me looking at her and starts shouting HE'S AWAKE, HE'S AWAKE. Big Mac came up, followed by the rest of the kids of course. He said he was surprised I had slept so much because more than once he was thinking I wasn't human....uh oh. Asked why was that and he said remember working when you worked at the blacksmiths shop, working those 18-19 hour days and how you always seemed so refreshed? I said yeah, I do....maybe I lost some of my wind being a townie more or less. Looked at the kids and asked him just what the heck are those boys doing? He turns around and says remember those stories of cannibals and pirates you told the kids? I said yeah...Big Mac says since according to them, they haven't eaten FOREVER, they're thinking about being blood thirsty, cannibalistic pirates! So a few of the boys were smacking their lips, making mmm, mmm, mmm sounds while talking about how they'd carve me up and what kind of spices to put on my dead carcass along while giving a few aarrgghs! I told 'em, I can't be having that as I'm kind of fond of my fingers and toes, so everyone get out while Big Mac and I talk. Seems that bit of food I had earlier was the last of it. First off, I had slept for a little over fourteen hours which was a new one on me. Second, it was STILL snowing and third, it had snowed so much the snow was somewhere above the school windows and door!? Remember, I'd bring stuff from my restaurant that was already cooked or make it on the stove in the school to feed the kids. Just never really thought about having a real stockpile of food as I never imagined such a situation happening. Anyway, knew Colorado had some brutal winters, but this kind? Didn't make any sense. Asked Big Mac for some coffee and heat up some water so I could at least bath my feet. While he did this, opened one of my windows and saw snow.....just below the windows bottom frame?! Snow must of drifted at least 14 feet high on this side alone. Snow was piled up above the windows on the ground floor. Took care of that in the spring of the fifth year by building a storage shed that was between the school and library with a door on it and putting additional doors on the library and school so either side could access the wood without going outside to the shed for it. Made sure it held at least 15 cords of wood and then had additional cords stacked on each side of the library and school. Then added a vestibule to the schools front door so when the kids came to school and opened that door, all the cold air didn't come rushing in. Once they hung up their coats, then they'd open the door to the school. Also had a 10x12 foot root cellar dug under the school to store supplies, with a door on it. Of course, by the time this happened, I was out of a job as school marm and working as a lawman. Told Big Mac what happened, then decided to give myself a whores bath which was nothing more than wiping myself down with a rag using some hot water, then shaved. Thank God for my second ability in being able to heal quickly because it was painful AND bloody more than once while learning how to use a straight razor in the beginning of my travels. I wasn't worried about anyone freezing inside the school because of the copper tubing I had put under both floors, but did worry that if the fire died out or get really low like it was beginning to, the water in the pipe might freeze pretty quick and there would be hell to pay in fixing it. This is why I didn't take a regular bath...water temperature was going down, so my bath such as it was, along with clean clothes and a shave made me feel like a new man.....and hungry. Told Big Mac first thing we needed to do was clear the door and get more wood. We simply slid down the snowbank from the second story, then went to digging out the snow covered firewood. Then we tossed smaller pieces thru the open window on the second floor to the kids waiting for them. Big Mac was able to rip some of the flat lumber from the porch of the library which we and a couple of the older boys used as shovels and even so, it took the both of us almost an hour to clear a path to the school door. Told the kids to get dressed as we were going into town to get something to eat at the restaurant (kids: YEAH!) and then we'd go to my store for additional food supplies for the school. Thought of having the kids stay at the hotel, but what if any of the parents some how made it to the school only to find it empty? By now the snow was two plus feet deep, but with Big Mac leading, he cleared a path for the kids to follow with me behind them because even so, more than one kid had trouble walking thru it. With the snow still coming down, didn't take any chances and used a rope to tie the kids together. Get to the restaurant, get the kids settled at some tables, which at this point Big Mac asks who is she. I turned around to see who he was talking about....and right into Big Mac's back! Felt like I was Wile E. Coyote slamming into a mountainside. Backed up a bit and saw he was staring at the two women I had help rescue....and saw that glazed look in his eyes and KNEW what that meant. Said, you mean those two? Oh, they're the ones I picked up the other day in that stuck stagecoach. Big Mac: you KNOW her and of course I had no idea at first which woman he was smitten with. Told him no, because at the time I was busy taking care of a lot of things. But the ladies made it easy for him because they come walking over to us, at which time I gave Big Mac a jab in the ribs and hissed to remove his hat or at least tip it when they got closer. Well, the first lady's name was Lizzie E. Johnson Williams, the other was Margaret Heffnan Borland. As they got closer, noticed Lizzie was walking kind of funny, then realized she was the one whose shoe laces I had cut apart on the stagecoach. She had tied bits of what was left, to more or less hold them together so she could wear them. Well, we both tipped our hats to the ladies and I said, ladies, I'm sorry we didn't have time for more proper introductions at the time, gave them my name and said my friend here is....well, Big Mac was just standing there like a statue staring at Lizzie until I gave him another poke in the ribs, this time a little harder, at which time he gave his name as being Big Mac. Said ladies, I'd love to talk with you, but I gotta feed that bunch of hungry, blood thirsty, cannibalistic pirates over there and if you're hungry, it's no problem to cook up extra for you two while the three of you talk...that is, if Big Mac doesn't mind keeping you ladies occupied while I'm cooking everything up. Oh yeah, he didn't mind at all. As I walked away, Lizzie asked where our wives were at since we had our children with us and I said neither of us is married, but they're mine, for better or worse. Feeding kids....well, they're like baby birds in a nest waiting for momma bird to bring home the bacon, or should I say, the worm. And of course, they only know two words: FEED ME, so me and my cook was pretty busy feeding and re-feeding the dozen of 'em. What made them happy was having honey on their pancakes. Remember back then, sugar was basically the only thing available for those with a sweet tooth unless you found a bee hive. In my second year, my vegetable crop wasn't doing so well and realized while there were a lot of bees around, they weren't around where I needed them as in around those apple trees I had planted and hoped to harvest later on. Of course not having Dancing Winds ability to talk to animals/insects, was kind of own my own. So first off, needed an education on bees and bee keeping. Remember all those farms Dancing Wind and I started during those years right after we met? Went to one of them and always making sure I was out of sight on those rare occasions when she or I (the young me) was also there. Spent six months learning bee keeping, then jumped back to Colorado time. So when I went trading with the Indians that summer, asked about bees and said I was looking for honey. That didn't work out too well because they destroyed a couple of hives and while I could use the honey and the combs, it wasn't exactly what I wanted. When I explained what I wanted, they looked at me strangely, but agreed to show me where other hives were at for up to double what I had been paying in trade goods and of course, depending on the size of the hive. With more than one tribe in the area, soon had locations of close to two dozen hives. Paid 'em for the hive locations and went back to town where I had bee hives made by some local carpenters who, of course, were curious about what they were making, especially after I ordered three dozen of 'em. Told them that the frames were a new kind of window frame, while the boxes were going to be shipping containers. Now smokers for bee hives weren't invented until a bit later, but a lot of wet, burning brush worked just as well. As for me, made sure we were well protected from the bees with gloves for our hands and making a head covering using thin muslin cloth over our hats and wrapped with a piece of cloth at its base. Ended up having Big Mac go with me on a couple of trips because some of these hives had something like TEN THOUSAND bees or more in them! That made for a heavy hive/awkward hive to carry, then putting in the wagon and of course, getting it out. Then take the queen bee, putting her in her new home, with the rest of the bees eventually following her at which time I got the honey and combs left behind. The kids got pancakes with REAL butter, none of that sissy margarine stuff which wasn't invented until WW 2, along with honey on their pancakes, eggs and milk to drink. To stop ANY arguments among the kids that someone took more honey than someone else, I poured it on each of their pancakes BEFORE they got their pancakes served. The ladies got ham steaks, fried potatoes while Big Mac got two BIG steaks and LOTS of fried potatoes along with a lot of toast between the four of us and of course, coffee. This was something the ladies weren't used to drinking, but did okay with it, using milk and sugar. About twenty minutes later, my cook brought out bear sign, something the ladies hadn't seen before or heard of. Of course, the kids are watching us from time to time and kind of let out a gasp, saying.....LOOK, LOOK, THEY GOT BEAR SIGN?! Margaret asked what was bear sign, so I told Big Mac to tell 'em, you know, giving him a chance to talk to the one he was interested....and he does, by saying it's another word for bear sh*t?! Those ladies couldn't drop those forks fast enough. I glared at Big Mac and told the ladies that I was sorry for the poor choice of words my friend said, but you should realize/understand that these are western style doughnuts. The ladies laughed and started eating them, saying look at your friend, his face is turning sssooo red, which of course, got redder. Now Margaret wanted to what type of sugar I had on her “bear sign” and told her it was confectioners sugar, then explained how I made it. This is when one of my regulars came in, saying since we're going to be here awhile, how about a tune? Remember, this was a mining town, so it was going 24/7 no matter what the weather was like. Looked at the kids and they were still eating and from the way they were going at it, KNEW they'd be wanting seconds. This time the kids got fried eggs and taters with gravy on the taters. Got my banjo from the saloon and said no doubt some of you have sung this before, with me playing/singing Goober Peas, then it was I'm a Banjo Pickin' Girl but changing the lyrics from girl to boy. Of course some of the men from the saloon came in and started dancing or clapping their hands and that's when I called out to Big Mac to ask Lizzie to dance, otherwise this would be the last one. Kind of surprised he did considering how things started off. Of course, Margaret got asked right off that bat then. Said here's a slow one, called Shenandoah and for that one, used my guitar. Checked on the kids and they were SLOWLY finishing up the end of their second meal and asked 'em if they wanted any more and of course not....they were stuffed. Said too bad, guess I'll have to eat your share of the bear sign that's in the kitchen! Kids: no, no, no....we have room for bear sign! They got half of one each and believe me, those kids were REALLY watching me as I cut 'em in half just to make sure I got it right. Said got time for a couple more and that's it as I gotta get my kids home, which to me, meant taking them back to the school. Then played Utah Blaine, followed by Whispering Pines and said this last songs ending is a little different than what actually happened, but you get the idea....and started playing/singing Big Bad John. After it was finished, Big Mac just kind of sat there stunned. Said I gotta go to the store for more food, so had Big Mac stay with Lizzie/Margaret. Made two trips because I didn't want us to run out of food and as it was, we were packing a little over three hundred pounds of canned food and meat between the two of us, with Big Mac carrying most of it. Got the kids roped up again and back to school we went. After putting the food away and storing it where we could, we got more wood. Then I said, golly Big Mac, I forgot to give something to Lizzie and would you mind taking it to her right now even though it's really snowing? Boy, did Big Mac ever glare at me when I said that, so I quickly held up a pair of shoelaces in my hand, explaining why she might need them. Next thing I knew, they were gone and he was headin' out the door. Called out to him, saying it looks like it's going to be a bad one, so get a room at the hotel till it settles down okay, even if it means for a couple of days. Think he moved a little faster when I said that, turned to the kids, saying school's in session. After that was over, the kids went to either working on homework or reading books from the library brought over before the storm even hit. Thing is, it gave me time to think. Now by this time I had spent almost four years in this town, made a lot of money and friends, but it worried me that I was beginning to get tied down mentally which was very rare. This wouldn't be a good thing because how long could I stay here before people started asking why didn't I age? Another was when I replied maybe I was becoming a townie? Forty-five years earlier (Colorado time), I was a mountain man going thru these and other mountains and there was NO WAY me and my mules would have been caught pants down by a sudden snow storm like this. And of course, now I was referring to the town as OUR town, like I was a part of it as in having roots and there to stay. Had a lot of valuable property and goods, so needed to start thinking on how to dispose of it all. Attachments:
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Post by kaijafon on Apr 16, 2018 20:05:53 GMT -6
I wouldn't be able to walk 100 feet in those shoes!
thanks for the MOAR!
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Post by willc453 on Jun 8, 2018 9:53:41 GMT -6
The Affected: Tale Of Two Brothers Chapter 46
Now in the beginning of the fourth year, spring was trying to get here, but it was touch and go if you know what I mean. Most of the snow would disappear and things would start turning green and boom...two-three inches of snow. Was walking on some of the newly installed sidewalks which were still green and therefor a bit uneven, but a lot better than walking in the mud and snow like it had been. That's when I heard Antonio screaming something in Italian, which was something he did when he got excited. Ran over to see what was wrong and find he's shaking Agostino, his 8 year old boy who had just started going to my school last year when school started up again. As for Antonio, once he heard about the school having a school teacher, he was adamant about Agostino going not just for the schooling, but learning “to speak American” as he put it. Since I knew a lot of languages, it was no trouble giving him lessons in Italian and English which is why I got the Chinese kids, along with a couple of Germans, Swedes and Russian kids. And if you're wondering, in the future as a teacher (again, in your past), NO kid tried twice saying he/she didn't habla.
I looked at Agostino and his face was turning blue, YANKED Antonio from the boy and in Italian, asked what happened. He had been chopping wood to use in his barbershop and showing Agostino how to use it. Remember, back then boys started doing hard work at an early age. Thing is, he didn't realize how loose the ax head was on the handle and as he swung it to the side to bring it overhead, it flew off, hitting Agostino in the throat! The “good” thing was the ax head hit the boy along the length of the ax head and NOT the cutting edge because I'd have Antonio shave me from time to time because he was good and as to his razors sharpness.... And if you're wondering, I speak a dozen or so Italian dialects which shocked Antonio when I started speaking to him originally. Problem was, Antonio grabbed me by my shoulders, shaking me and crying out to help his boy. Shoved him away again, saying I was trying to and keep your hands off me.
Then saw Dr. Belloq running towards us (with a bunch of other people now) and told Belloq to keep Antonio off of me, which he did and started applying CPR. The boy wasn't getting any air at all from my attempts. Called out to Antonio, telling him to give Dr. Belloq your pipe, which he did and of course, Belloq was just kind of staring at me wondering what was going to happen next. Tossed Belloq one of two pocket knives I always carried at that time...one for general cutting/whittling, the other for emergencies like this. Told him to cut the stem just above the mouth piece and below the bowl. While he was doing this, pulled out my second pocket knife, which of course, wasn't really a pocket knife, but a surgical scalpel which among other things had a self sterilization feature on it. Opened it up and went to do a tracheotomy on Agostino.
Felt for and found the cricoid cartilage which is where I made my one half inch deep incision. I tried pinching the incision to open it, but ended up placing my finger inside the slit to do this. Agostino STILL wasn't breathing, so started breathing what air I could into his lungs while my finger was in this gap and using my other hand to doing CPR on his chest. I screamed at Belloq that I needed that tube NOW and to see that it was washed in whiskey to help sterilize it. When it was given to me, one end was a little ragged, so used the other end and then started breathing thru the tube, giving Agostino two quick breaths, paused, then gave one breath every five seconds while still pumping on the boys chest. In less than a minute, the boy started breathing, with Antonio and Belloq hearing the boys ragged breath and when Belloq told the crowd that the boy was breathing, a cheer went up. And Antonio almost went ape sh*t when he saw the tube in his boys throat, wanting to know why did I cut his boys throat, but he wasn't dead. The reason he didn't attack me was Belloq grabbed him. I said explanations later, let's get the boy out of this mud and snow before he catches a cold. Quickly was given a blanket and using that, we (Antonio and I) carried him to their living quarters which was above the barbershop where we layed him on the floor next to their cooking stove. His wife Concetta (meaning pure in Italian), also went a little nuts in trying to get too close to us and then started screaming when she saw the former pipe stem sticking out of her sons throat. I told Antonio to slap her and he did it without hesitation which shocked her and of course, she stopped screaming. Told her I needed blankets and then Antonio and I stripped the boy of his soaked clothing and soon had blankets over and under him. Belloq was with us and asked he get his stethoscope, which took him a little over five minutes. With that, able to listen to his heart and lungs. The problem was, the boy started coming awake and beginning to thrash a little bit, but told him (in Italian) NOT to do this or try talking as he was hurt and may make it worse. He understood and lay perfectly still.
That's when I told Concetta I needed 2 cups and some coffee which took another fifteen, twenty minutes to heat up. Once that was done, poured a little coffee in them and then added some angels sweat to it, telling them to drink it. They both did and kind of gasped because it wasn't wine, something they would drink from time to time. Passed my flask to Belloq who kind of gasped and his hand kind of shook when he passed it back to me, saying my God, WHAT IS THIS STUFF? Told Antonio in Italian that he needed to ask one of the people still waiting to find out what happened to have Big Mac bring my medical bag asap and told his wife (in Italian) that her boy was going to be okay, but I'd be living here for a few days until the boy is safe and starts healing along with what had happened. They were both quite happy hearing this and this is when Belloq asked for a private consultation, so we stepped to one side of the room.
He said he thought I was going to kill the boy as he THOUGHT I was literally cutting open the boys throat which of course, would lead to massive blood lose until he saw very little and of course, surprised as h*ll when I started blowing air where my finger was in his throat, then quickly followed by my pumping the boys chest like I did. Then putting the former pipe into the wound. I kind of sighed and said remember what I said about ignorance and he grimaced, saying yes. Asked Concetta for paper, pen and a pencil which took some time for her to get because she didn't have everything, so sent Antonio to my store for it. Told him to have the store charge Dr. Belloq for all of this and Belloq just kind of looked at me. I said school's in session....you ready to pay for your ignorance? He said yes without hesitation and when Antonio came back with everything (including ink), I REALLY had to think and remember everything learned in medical and surgery school which was a LONG time ago for me. But Belloq was patient and just sat there as I started drawing the entire throat area, using pencil for general outline, the pen and ink for the major parts. Thing is, pencils back then didn't have erasers on the ends of them and it wasn't till March 1858, that Hymen Lypman here in the U.S. got the first patent for attaching an eraser to a pencil. So I didn't want ANY kind of mistake in my anatomical drawing. When I was done, said I was ready and of course, Belloq had been trying to watch what I had been drawing.
I said what I did is called a tracheotomy and the oldest surgical procedure that I know of as this procedure has been shown on Egyptian tables which I believe date back to 3600 BC. Belloq kind of gasped at this news and his jaw kind of dropped, followed by him saying that's imposs...and then apologized for the interruption. I continued with from what I've read, a Persian guy named Asclepiades was the first one to be credited in performing this in 100 BC. Notice I said he was the first to do it, but the first SUCCESSFUL tracheotomy was done by Prasovale in the 15th century and in the 16th century, Guidi invented an original method for doing this. It wasn't until Antonio Musa Brasavola, an Italian doctor who performed the first DOCUMENTED case of a successful tracheotomy and he published his account of this in 1546. His patient suffered from a laryngeal abscess and recovered from the procedure, just like Agostino should. However, we have people like George Washington's doctor who LET the General and former President die. Belloq: WHAT??!! Yes, in 1799, George Washington died of an upper airway obstruction, probably due to acute epiglottitis or an abscess. Washington's doctor WAS FAMILIAR with the tracheotomy procedure, but hadn't actually performed one himself. He apparently was unwilling to do his first tracheotomy on a person of Washington’s stature. Belloq shook his head in disbelieve and asked how I knew this. I replied by reading of the physical description of the General the doctor himself gave in his memoirs. And do you remember studying and reading about the outbreak of diphtheria among children at the beginning of this century? (remember, I'm living in the 1800's) He remembered, telling me how one kid he didn't know, died from it. He was shocked to find tracheotomies were used in the early 1800's for airway inflammation in children due to diphtheria. The first documented successful tracheotomy performed on a child was reported in 1808.
Belloq just shook his head and I told him, I know what you're going to ask next: how do I know all these things, right? He shook his head and told him what I say to you next is between just you and me and that means I have your word, correct? He said yes. I said I'm from a VERY rich family and we've made more money than any of us can spend in a lifetime. So, it was decided we'd invest in the future of humanity not just in businesses to make money and have people working, but also find and keep as much knowledge as possible while also investing in possible future discoveries. I don't mean an organized group of people, but by individual people like Peter Durand, a British merchant who got the first patent for the idea of preserving food using tin cans back in August 1810. (Of course, I didn't mention that this idea of the invention was communicated to him more than a year earlier “by a friend abroad”) or a German fellow, Frederick Koenig who invented an improved printing press that same year, then there's that Frenchman, Joseph Nicephore Niepce who invented photography back in 1825.
We're not looking for just inventors, but those who would build a better society. I said remember Sonny, the 7 year old boy whose family was killed by Apache's and been living with Big Mac and me since last year? Bellow did and if you're wondering, Belloq was whenever possible, a regular at the school house to check out my books no matter what time of the year it was. I said Sonny wanted to know why he got so sick and what happened. Told him and he asked to see my doctors bag and has been pestering me a lot about the different instruments and what they're used for. I was thinking maybe if you had some time on your hands, you could tell and show him what a doctor is all about. Maybe it's a passing boys fancy, but what if he has a real interest in the medical field? We both know there's simply not enough doctors out here. Now if YOU think he's really interested in the medical field, I'll see that he can go to college to become a doctor. He agreed.
Now as to Sonny, he lived with us, us being Big Mac, the two Chinese ex-miners and me, at least when I was there. Within a week of being with us, he was up and about, but he figured we'd kick him out because after all, he wasn't family. I told him right up front he was welcome to live with us as long as he didn't do something bad like robbing or stealing. And oh yeah, you WILL take a bath once a week along with going to school during the winter. He didn't care too much for the bath part, but I think more than anything else was Big Mac's cooking and of course getting three meals a day. He cried when I took him to my store and gave him 4 complete sets of clothing, two pair of boots, longjohns and a hat. First time he'd ever worn/had new store bought clothes or actually had new boots. During the summer, he helped my guys with the planting and later harvesting everything, along with me taking him on my trading expeditions with the various Indian tribes a couple of times.
He didn't care for this too much because of what the Apaches had done to his family. Of course, he stuck REAL close to me most of the time. Explained to the various tribes that he was my brothers son and what had happened to his family. Thing is, they didn't care one way or another unless they were dealing with the Apaches which did happen from time to time. And if wondering, had dealings with Apaches when they made a raid on a tribe I knew in Colorado along with the time I was in New Mexico helping a Mexican family they were bothering. Another story, another time to tell. It took Sonny some time to realize and understand that not all Indians were preying on people like the Apaches, though when the opportunity came for them to make a raid on another tribe for its horses, etc., that was a different story. He didn't want to go berry picking with them until I explained the men and women here would protect him just like they would protect their own kids in part because you're a child, the other is they know we're family. That's when he asked if we (meaning me & him) were family and could see the hope in his eyes. I said since we're all living together, why not call all of us your uncles? He liked that and when I talked to the guys, they all told him they would be happy to be his uncle. Of course, the two Chinese were a bit shocked hearing this request because this was a WHITE boy asking them to be his uncles! Had him learn some Chinese because as I told him, you would be honoring your uncles this way and explained how Chinese viewed honor. And yeah, he was surprised to see Chinese kids at school and they were surprised he knew some Chinese. My two men would cook Chinese food when possible and showed him how to use chopsticks, while all three of them would teach him how to cook. Yeah, we worked his a$$ off not in just physical labor, but mental. And the kid couldn't get enough of reading, with Big Mac tucking him in his own bed late at night simply because the kids head started nodding and soon was resting against our kitchen table. Came in one time and quietly asked Big Mac what the hell kind of noise is that kid making and he replied sounds like a baby grizzly bear don't it? I had to agree.
So in the forth year after helping with the planting in the spring for example and doing his other chores, he'd ride into town using one of the horses to spend up to two hours with Belloq, then return home, but checking in with me whether I was in town or in my place above the school. This was so I'd know where he was going after leaving Belloq. Remember, bad things were happening all the time during this period and the odds of a child being harmed was small, but still..... During the summer and fall, it was help bring in the crops, along with feeding the livestock, etc. along with taking him fishing when one of us had the time.
Now as to Big Mac taking those shoelaces to Lizzie, the man didn't return for FOUR DAYS! Yeah, he had it bad. Then I got a major shock....how about she was the new school teacher?! Now I took the kids to their homes two days after the snowstorm and of course, the city kids didn't even try coming to school. Far as I was concerned, school was out for the rest of the week, not that the kids minded. How'd I find out about Lizzie? On the morning of the forth day, hitched up one of the horses at my place and went into town. After leaving the horse at one of the stables, went looking for Big Mac who was talking with and having breakfast with her. I could see from her expression she liked him, but not in THAT way and as for Big Mac....he was like a school boy who's fallen in love with his teacher. Thought if he kept acting like he was doing, he's going to lose any chance he might have with her. Gave my order, with Big Mac saying hello when he heard my voice and that he had planned on heading back to my place in a little bit and yes, his face was a little red. Told him not to worry, the other guys were handling everything with no trouble and school was out for the rest of the week. This is when Lizzie said she couldn't wait to see HER school AND the sleeping quarters above it which was something she'd never heard of before! To say I was stunned is putting it mildly because I started to choke on my omelet and this is when Big Mac said he was going to tell me as soon as he found out, but.... I said no problem and when I finished eating, said this is how things will be until next winter when you take over. For one thing, you're going to get paid for teaching for the rest of this winter as I have been. That I'll go to the city council to clear this matter up so that NEXT winter, you'll be the only school teacher, okay and in the mean time, you”ll have a chance to see how I do things. Well, all of this kind of shook her up and said we'd go with my plan and besides, it would be interesting to see how I taught as Big Mac had said so much about me.
This is NOT what I wanted to hear for several reasons. First off, I like being the gray man, you know, someone who's not really noticed, though I'll have to admit, I've failed in doing so more than once since being here. The other was I wanted her attention focused on Big Mac and not me, so I said has Big Mac told you much about himself and of course, he hadn't. Big Mac had NO idea how to present himself in a positive way, so for him, it was easier to talk about me. The third thing was she was looking at me in THAT way. So I started telling her how Big Mac WAS before we met and she actually pulled a little away from him and when Big Mac saw this, he said he was sorry to have bothered her, got up to rise from his chair and looked at me with a lot of hurt as if to say I thought we were more than boss and employee. I reached up with a hand and put it on his shoulder, saying you KNOW it's impolite to leave during a conversation and squeezed a couple of nerves in his shoulder. He sat down and whispered to him, remember I'm like a snake thru water at which time the hurt look went away. He had NO idea where I was going in describing what he used to be, but what ever it was, it was NOT like he had thought or she was expecting. Then told her how Big Mac and I had met and she gasped at the idea of a gun fight and at this time, one of my cooks said I had a couple of friends of mine looking for some cookies. Lizzie said I gave cookies to friends of mine at the back door, but why not inside here where it's warm? I told Big Mac to explain it to her and I'd be back in a bit. Got some bones from the slaughter house, bringing them back with me and of course, told the dogs they could come in and we went to where Big Mac and Lizzie were sitting. At which time I had the dogs doing their little happy dance with Lizzie and everyone else applauding. After taking the dogs back outside, returned with my tale of Big Mac.
How he was there helping build the school house, how I HELPED HIM rebuild my place, the porch, the garden and was going to continue when I saw Nervous Ned enter the restaurant and called him over. He kind of gaped at looking at Lizzie and of course, tipped his hat, but then he gave a really big smile in saying hello and shaking Big Macs hand and thanking him again for what he'd done. Nervous Ned was one of the survivors that Big Mac saved when the mine collapsed and had NO trouble retelling the tale of what he had done in not only saving his life, but others. Lizzie just sat there kind of stunned when Ned finished his story. As for Ned, that experience was enough for him and worked as a hostler at the stable where I'd keep my horses when in town. Told her that as a teacher, she should know better than to judge a book by its cover, then turned to Big Mac and said take both horses (meaning the ones we road into town on) and show Lizzie the school, my room and the library. Lizzie kind of gasped at hearing we had a library. Then said I had to go see about a dog and her puppies, so got up and left....kind of, sort of. Yeah, wanted to make sure they both did leave the restaurant, then by a back way, headed for the stable where our horses were at. Of course, it took some time for Big Mac to get the horses saddled and while she's ridden before, it was like all other ladies did at the time back east, which was sidesaddle and of course, she wasn't used to western style saddles.
Looked and saw she didn't have her foot in one of the stirrups, but one leg was curled around the saddle horn. Of course, Big Mac helped her into the saddle. I said Lizzie, I can see the way you're sitting you've ridin before, but out here, you need to ride a horse like a man, so swing you one leg over the horn so Big Mac can adjust the stirrups for you. Lizzie: thank you very much, but I DO KNOW how to ride a horse quite well. Told her it was different out here in that a lot of things could spook a horse and if you're not careful, more than one cowboys horse has dragged him to death because his foot was caught in one stirrup and he couldn't free himself. So he'd shoot the horse if he could. Her: really? I don't think I need to worry abou......that's when I gave the two horses an image of a rattler with in a foot or so of them and started shaking the five inch rattlers tail which I had behind my back. Lizzie would of fallen on her face as the two horses took off but Big Mac caught her and I shouted at him to take her back to the restaurant till I dealt with the rattler. He started leading her with her hand in his until I told him don't be an idiot, carry her because I think the snake's moved....do you want her to be bit? Well, without hesitation, he scoops her up in his arms and off they go for the restaurant. But as he turned to look back at me, I held up the rattle and he just grinned. Well, start hooking up a carriage for them to take to the school when Nervous Ned comes walking in asking what was going on because he just saw my two horses running down the street like they were in a race against each other and why was Big Mac carrying that new school marm like that? I said, why you need to check this filthy stable (which it wasn't) more often because it sounds like there's a six, maybe EIGHT FOOT timber rattler inside here. He looked me in the eye and said you know that's hogwash because we're too high in the hills AND it's the dead of wint...at which time I rattled the rattle again. He jumped back a couple of feet, saying son of a bitch, you're right....then started laughing when I showed him the rattle. So while he helped me hitch up the team, thought of my two horses and gave them the thought of an apple IF they headed straight home. They did.
Drive the carriage up to the restaurant and then stepped inside looking for Big Mac and Lizzie. Thing is, they weren't alone....three other men were also sitting with them, all trying to get and keep Lizzie's attention. This was NOT good as I could see two things in Big Macs face....that he had lost Lizzie's attention AND was looking like he was ready to pound some people. Told her that a carriage awaited for such a fair lady to take her and Big Mac to the school. I of course, sat in the back of it, telling them I'd walk home to see how things were going.
Well, when we got to the school Lizzie looked at me like I was to help her out of the carriage and I said if you'll wait a moment, I'll be glad to help you out while Big Mac secures the horses...got a wtf look from him on that one. But as I started to get out, cried ow, ow, ow....think I pulled a leg muscle. Big Mac, would you mind helping Lizzie out of the carriage? Of course he was ever so happy to do this. So I'm “limping” and showed where Big Mac had planted flowers, that he even knew the scientific names of them and with a nudge from my elbow into his ribs, he identified two of them which was all he knew at the time, so told him to forgot telling her the rest. Just tell her what we call them out here, which he had no trouble doing. As I said, Big Mac once he started reading, had a thirst for knowledge. At this point, pulled my key out, giving it to Lizzie saying it was for the lock for my place upstairs. That she was welcome to stay there and I'd return to get my things out. But since I had a lot of things, I'll send Big Mac out to get them if he doesn't mind. He didn't. I could hear Lizzie's surprise finding the school was warm, with Big Mac saying something so with no one around, I jumped back to be behind the slaughterhouse and into the restaurant where those three were talking how nice Lizzie was and of course, good wife material. I said boys, that's all well and good and even though Lizzie's a maverick and I'm sure more than one man here in town would like to put his brand on her, Big Mac saw her first and wants her for his own spread if you know what I mean. Now you let him have a go at her and I'd appreciate it. Of course, more than one man wasn't agreeing to this as after all, she was single and few white women were available. I said to them, you boys want to be careful as I'm pretty sure there are other timber rattlers around and who knows when someone might get bit or have some sort of “accident” involving one of them? Of course, some laughed, saying how there were no rattlers in the area and why until I shook that rattlers tail behind my back, then held it up. Then said, like I said earlier, you will NEVER know when you might run into one...understand? Suddenly they did and started laughing. I said Lizzie's green and don't be letting her think the place is over run by rattlers OR how hundreds or even thousands have died from it's bite. They agreed and with also some going to put in the good word about Big Mac and many remembered encountering Big Mac before he and I met and how he's changed since working for me.
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Post by 9idrr on Jun 8, 2018 21:07:10 GMT -6
You ain't lost your touch!
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Post by willc453 on Aug 24, 2018 20:05:09 GMT -6
The Affected: Tale Of Two Brothers Chapter 47
Well, next morning Big Mac was getting the fire going in the stove and asking if I wanted anything. I said not right now, so you go ahead and make breakfast for you and Sonny. He did and while I drank my morning coffee, watched them both eat. Thing is, it was a case of monkey see, monkey do with Sonny imitating Big Mac to a smaller degree which was something I hadn't thought of or really observed. When they got done, Big Mac asked if he could leave to check on Lizzie and said no problem, but how about making me breakfast now and showing Sonny how it's done. Well, he wasn't happy about this, but did it and put the plate before me, saying now? I said nope, first I want you and me to fight and stood up. This is when Big Mac said he'd be quite happy to learn more about how to fight differently, but couldn't it wait until he came back? I said no, stood up and balled up my fists, so Big Mac kind of sighed and held up his ham hock sized fists and Sonny just kind of stood there not understanding what was going on other than his two uncles were going to fight for some unknown reason.
So I lightly hit his two fists with mine, saying you're used to THIS kind of fighting, but there are other ways at which point I turned around, picked up and held up a fork from the table. Said this is another form of fighting and of course, he didn't understand. He said we're going to fight with forks? Don't think they're really going to hurt unless you poke someone in the eye with one. I said you two sit down while I eat breakfast, but I'm going to pretend I'm Lizzie eating okay? Once they were seated, I hunkered over my plate (eggs, ham steak and fried taters with scratch gravy) with my elbows on the table and started shoving food as fast as I could and when food dropped from my mouth onto the plate or table, used to my fingers to grab it and shove it into my mouth. In less than a minute, Big Mac said Lizzie didn't eat that at all and why was I acting like she did? So when I asked how she ate (with my mouth full), he replied....well, lady and delicate like....and certainly not talking with her mouth full. I said I know you don't eat exactly gobble down your food like I was doing, but would you say it's a reasonable good imitation? He said yeah and what's wrong with the way I eat? I said when a lady is eating with a GENTLEMAN, she expects him to not only behave like a gentleman, but TO EAT like a gentleman and not like some prisoner who's just been let out of prison without being fed for a week or two. And we BOTH know that you're NOT going to be her only suitor and pretty sure they DON'T eat like I just did, right? Big Mac looked glum as could be until I held up my fork, asking him if he was ready to fight and he just smiled, reached down to pick and hold up the other fork.
This is when Sonny started wandering off and I said get back here young man, you're included. Sonny: why me? Why do I have to learn how to eat like a gentleman, why girls are....at which time I interrupted him, saying be careful what you say about girls. Sonny: I wasn't going to curse like you and Uncle Mac do. I said, hmmm, out of the mouth of babes.....Big Mac he's right, all THREE of us are going to have to watch our language from now on as both of us know ladies don't like hearing men curse. To Sonny I said, I know you're not interested in girls right now, but when you get older, you will. And learning how to do and not do things will help you later on in that part of your life, trust me. Then spent twenty minutes showing both the basics of polite eating and when I said that's enough for now, both stood up until I put my hand on Big Macs shoulder and pushed him down back into his seat. He said what now as you said we were done, right? I sniffed him and asked when was the last time and the boy had a bath AND a change of clothes? Last time for both was a little over two weeks ago. I kind of sighed and said you will now take a bath every four days and change your clothes after taking that bath. And since you're going to be busy, you may not have time to wash everything so that you have clean clothes to wear all the time, take your dirty clothes into town and have the Chinese laundry wash 'em. Big Mac wanted to know why and I said appearances, I mean look at your hands and of course, he had no idea what I was talking about until I pointed out the dirt, mud and whatever was under his nails. And let's not forget your hair because the way it looks, it makes you look like a grizzly bear just coming out of hibernation with leaves, sticks and other things stuck all over its fur. He said he didn't have anything in his hair that he knew of, but I said remember, ones appearance is how a woman will judge a man to begin with. You also need some new clothes and of course, he disagreed until I told him he needed a suit along with a shave and haircut. So while Sonny got the water going for the bath and shaving water (and snickering from time to time), had Big Mac strip to his longjohns and started measuring him because as I told him, we simply didn't have suits in his size. I said you can keep your boots, but they have to be cleaned up. Then had Sonny get a horse brush from the barn and had him clean off all the mud on Big Macs boots.
Had Big Mac lean his chair against a wall while I gave him a shave which kind of surprised him and told him I'd worked as a barber from time to time and before that, I was an undertaker. He kind of twitched at that one and told him I was glad he hadn't really jerked because I might of cut his throat by accident. And if that had had happened, I'd of been out of good worker and of course, Lizzie would be marrying some other man. He scowled at that, so I gave him a rap on his forehead saying no scowling remember and followed that by saying in a high pitch voice: Oh Big Mac, you scare me so when you look like that. He finally got the idea after a couple more raps to his forehead. After the shave, it was cutting and styling his hair so it looked a lot more presentable. Sonny had finished his bath and gotten dressed, so asked him what he thought of Uncle Mac. He was shocked and said so, at which time I told Big Mac to look in the mirror and he was really surprised. After Mac had his bath, told him you better hurry up as I figure Lizzie's going to be up by now or soon. He hurried, though I did tease him by asking if he washed behind his ears and of course, his hair. His reply was yes teacher and smiled. He was going to take one of the wagons over to see Lizzie and I said no, take the school wagon. He wanted to know why and I explained if she's going to take over my job, she's not only going to have to learn how to harness the horses and get them hooked to the school wagon, she's also going to need how to handle them AND where all the kids live at outside of town. It'll also introduce her to all their folks. Of course I'm kind of busy, you think you can find the time to show her how to do all this? He could. Then it was me telling him the school might be getting low on wood for both stoves, so how about chopping a few cords enough for say, a month or two? No problem he says. Me: don't forget to take some stew, bread and coffee with you in case you two get hungry. He stopped, looked at me and asked if there was anything else. I asked if he was still hungry and he said no, I had enough. I said too bad, because by the time you get there, Lizzie might be making her some breakfast and of course, as a courtesy she'd offer you some which meant having MORE time with her. AND you get to know how good or bad a cook she is. He couldn't leave fast enough. Once Sonny got his chores done, he saddled a horse so he could spend his two hours with Belloq.
As for that bitch and her puppies I had saved late in the forth year, once they were old enough, jumped them to one of my labs where I had physicals done on them along with making sure they got their shots for rabies, etc. (my shots last a minimum of five years) and of course, being fixed as I didn't want to add to the towns dog population. So now Sonny and Big Mac had dogs and as the dogs got older, taught 'em a few of the tricks that I knew while working at Barnum and Bailey's circus as one of their animal trainers. Big Mac didn't return until late that afternoon, something I figured would happen. This was because when Big Mac and Lizzie showed up at one of the farms, of course, the wives would ask her in, offer her a bite to eat and of course find out more about each other. Of course, Big Mac realized he wasn't wanted when they were doing this, so he'd talk with the husband or kids and help out with things needing help with. And no doubt more than one wife would see the way Big Mac looked at Lizzie.
The following week when school started up again, Big Mac took the school wagon to pick up Lizzie, etc. and later, I'd show up at the school. Now Lizzie observed how I taught and she was a bit shocked in how advanced the kids were in their schoolin', the way I taught, my feeding them, along with speaking the different nationalities/languages which of course she didn't know. I told her not to worry about not knowing all their languages as by now, they could speak basic English with little trouble. It's just easier for me to explain things from time to time in their language. Now I had a meeting with the mayor and town council and got them to kick in up to fifty bucks a month to help cover food costs, though they did some screamin' and hollerin' about this wasn't part of our original deal. I reminded them of the school wagon which I paid for out of my own pocket and how much schoolin' these kids got with me picking them up and later, dropping them back on their homes. If I hadn't come up with it, how much schoolin' would the kids have really gotten? And how many times have the out of town kids stayed in the school when the weather was too bad to get home? And of course when that happened, they needed to be fed. They coughed up fifty dollars a month not just for this extra expense, but because they knew they had gotten one hell of a bargain with me as their teacher, but of course, expected the same from Lizzie. Since there was no taxes (state or federal) of any kind at the time, they talked to some of the silver mine owners who had no problem covering this cost for several years in advance. And of course, what ever Lizzie needed for the school she got from my store, but at my cost as my part of kicking in for the school.
Of course, then there was Big Mac's suit and figured since I'd be making one, Sonny needed one too though his I made a little bigger than needed as knowing kids, he'd grow and wanted it to last as long as possible. These I made, using materials from my store. Now I could have had them made somewhere else, but this was a personal gift from me to them just like I've done for my Lara's. Took me two weeks to make them, but also ordered dress shoes but this time using a leather worker here in town and WAS going to order two pairs of Stetson dress hats coming out of Denver, but would take two months before getting them. Didn't want to wait, so jumped back time wise, placed my order and got them a week later along with some fancy handkerchiefs, neckties and shirts along with a couple more long johns. Drove Big Mac and Sonny crazy with curiosity because the hats along with everything else were in boxes tied with string to keep them shut. Paid a couple of the wives at the farms to make some socks and scarves for them which they were quite happy to considering it brought in extra money for them. Of course, I supplied the yarn and cotton while they supplied the skill and time.
So Big Mac and Lizzie went around picking up the farm kids which made me happy as it gave me more time to sleep in....I thought. The problem was some other guys had their eyes on Lizzie and were also trying to court her which didn't make Big Mac too happy. He was ready to pound on some people and I told him, that's NOT the way to go about doing things. If she's interested in you, she'll let you know and if not, she'd of told you already. He still worried, so asked him who was also interested in her and he told me. Not soon after our conversation, those seven men suddenly lost interest in Lizzie. Seems they didn't take my warning about rattlers seriously, because they'd hear the rattle behind them, turn around and suddenly they were struck on the ankle...hard enough that two of them had their ankles broke. After they had been struck twice, I had a talk with them separately. Reminded them that Ben was trying to court Lizzie and I'd appreciate it if they gave the man a chance. Of course, they weren't having none of this as she was still unbranded so to speak. Told them too bad as I heard they were having trouble with rattlers around town and held my rattle and shook it. I said do you understand now? They did and gave Big Mac a better chance at courting Lizzie.
Lizzie was amazed at my school set up and of course, it took Big Mac almost five days to get everything out and making sure she had enough wood cut and split for the two stoves. He'd of gotten it done sooner by the way, but he was busy teaching Lizzie how to hook the team to the wagon, run around picking up the kids and of course, going to school. To say she was surprised at this is putting it mildly and told me she knew he was interested in her, but this was taking things a little too far. I said you're right and you're wrong. He wants to make himself a better man and believes he can by learning, so several years ago, he came to school to learn his ABC's. Now when the kids leave for their lunch break, ask them what they think of him and how long he's been coming here. She did and I could see her smile as she watched Big Mac play with the kids. I checked the weather by jumping time wise until I knew when there would be a period of really nice weather. So, four days before that day, asked Big Mac if he'd ever gone on a picnic and of course, he hadn't. Explained it to him, but he protested that it was still raining and probably would for the next couple of weeks, that is if we were lucky it didn't snow again. Told him the rain would stop some time tonight and tomorrow we go to the lake to get a bunch of reeds to make a picnic basket. Him: you mean there's an actual basket just for taking when you go on a picnic? Me: yep. Next morning of course, while the ground was wet, it had quit raining. Hooked up a wagon, taking 2 of my horses and when ready, called out to Big Mac and Sonny saying daylights awastin'. Of course, I didn't get in the lake with Big Mac and he complained about this, saying it would be nice if I gave him hand. I replied, ahem...remember it's YOU going on a picnic with you know who or have you already forgotten this? Sonny didn't care about getting wet/cold as he was helping his Uncle Mac. Had them gather enough reeds for 3 baskets because I wasn't too sure how much was enough. Of course they were cold after coming out of the water, but some hot coffee and stew made the two of them feel a lot better while sitting by the fire. After that, we went fishing for the rest of the day. When we got home, had the two of them spread the reeds out near our stove and told them DO NOT step on them.
After that, it was fish cleaning time for the five of us. Some got smoked in some smokers I had made at the blacksmiths, others went to my restaurant for the three Englishmen in town who liked fish and chips while others went to our root cellar where they'd be good to eat several weeks down the road due to the cold. Think we had caught something like a hundred plus trout and graylings, ranging from a half a pound to several that had to be at least 16 pounds. No doubt some people will be screaming how I was raping Mother Nature in taking so many fish this one time alone. Not true. Frankly, not many people in town at the time actually ate fish, though the farmer kids would catch as many as they could during the spring and summer when they weren't working their farms. The other thing was there was NO real fishing pressure on that lake or the various streams and creeks. Even the various Indian tribes couldn't because they used bows, spears or fish baskets. So what we caught that day and others....was nothing more than a drop of water in a five gallon bucket fish population wise. As to the head and guts, the cats got those. The ONLY reason we had five cats was for mice control. The damn things were getting into the horses feed along with the dried corn and other things we had been growing and breeding like crazy. Which brought up a problem between them (the cats) and Jaws and the other two dogs I had brought out to the place. This was back when I sic'ed the town dogs on those guys who had kicked my dogs earlier. The problem was trying to get those three NOT to chase and especially NOT kill the cats. Tried explaining to them I didn't want this happening, but the three of them....well, when it came to cats, they had only one thought: see cat, chase cat, KILL CAT. Broke them of that habit the day I saw the three of them with a cat cornered and no where to run or hide. Gave 'em a mental sabre tooth tigers roar behind them where they mentally saw SIX sabre tooth tigers leaping thru the air at them! Those dogs couldn't haul a$$ fast enough in trying to get away. Did this a couple more times until the dogs realized every time they had one of the cats cornered, there were even bigger cats coming to eat them. I gave the dogs the mental impression/thought that the cats were kittens and the sabre tooth tigers were their parents so to speak.
It took a little over a day for the reeds to dry out good enough to make two baskets as I wanted not only Big Mac to learn how to make them, but Sonny too. It took them most of the day for them to be completed and to my satisfaction. The day before the good weather came, he asked her out and though she had doubts about the weather, she agreed. That night I had Big Mac frying two chickens and how to make potato salad, something he'd never heard of while Sonny got busy heating water for coffee and tea that would be for Big Mac and Lizzie. Chicken got wrapped in brown paper, potato salad in a bowl, covered with butcher paper and using some dried blue berries, had him make a pie. Now remember how I'd buy things from settlers passing thru town? Picked up a very fine China dinnerware set of 8, complete set of actual silverware along with the various bowls such as a creamer, gravy bowl, etc. And let's not forget VERY fine linen to keep your hands/mouth clean and actual lead crystal glassware.
As to their picnic, it turned out even better than I thought because a couple of warriors from one of the tribes saw the wagon and came over to check it out. Of course, Lizzie didn't know what to do because she was thinking they were going to be attacked, scalped, etc. Of course, Big Mac and the Indians knew each other from us trading with each other. There was still a lot of chicken, potato salad, coffee and tea left over, so Big Mac offered to feed them, which they accepted, while sitting across from Big Mac and Lizzie. She was a bit shocked to find that Big Mac could talk with these braves, at which time he told her about going to trade with the various tribes during the summer. Note that he never mentioned me going on these trips and of course, when asked, he told her that HE had cooked everything because she was thinking he had bought the food at my restaurant. So the boy was learning how to present himself.
Now when I originally got into town, my place was only a couple of acres, something that I quickly changed by filing a claim of 320 acres, then in the second year, another 320 acres. Not that I used that much land farming of course. Think I was only farming fifty acres or so of it, which back then, a pitiful amount. Now I told you how once Big Mac started getting an education, he quit his drinkin', gamblin' and whorin' around and started saving his money, though at the time he didn't know why. Maybe it was just a case of him realizing he wanted a better future and money always helped. Now he had been thinking of putting a claim on land and came to me about it. Told him better to get in now while land is basically free because before too long a bunch of settlers may decide to settle here like others are already doing. So he did before summer was gone in the third year. Not that he worked it other than the five of us putting up a small ten by fifteen foot cabin along with a rock fireplace.
Now when spring of the fourth year came around, Lizzie was out of a job as school teacher, but hired her to work in my store along with keeping the books on the store, restaurant and my share of the saloon. Also had her working in the restaurant taking orders when needed, so she was kept pretty busy which made her happy as she didn't know what she was going to do during the summer money wise. Paid her the same teacher wage for working for me. Now of course, she wasn't working all the time, once the weather improved, she and Big Mac started going on picnics on a regular basis.
May of that fifth year she said I do to Big Macs marriage proposal, which made things a little awkward as he didn't really have a place of his own except that small place we had made earlier when he claimed his land. Of course, while he had a fireplace, no cooking utensils, bed, table, etc. and it was a bit further out from town because of that. Now what got things going was Big Mac asking if I'd help him enlarge his place and I said no, but how about this? I know you got money saved, so how about I sell you my place? He wanted to know where I was going to live and told him I'd live above the school like I did before and since you and Lizzie need some time alone as newlyweds, Sonny can stay with me.
Man, we REALLY cleaned my former place up before those two got married. Now originally, the place wasn't painted as it wasn't a regular stick house. Nothing but logs with mud packed between them. Made sure there NO air drafts, checked to make sure all the shingles were in good shape, then made a large batch of whitewash, with the five of us painting the interior so it wouldn't look so dark inside and reflect light easier from the lamps or fireplace. Remember I had used the membranes from the elephant people when I first started living there? Got some carpenter tools, then showed Big Mac and Sonny how to make window frames for the five windows on the place. The wood shutters remained in place just in case the place was ever attacked. Close the shutters from the inside, lock them in place and there was an opening in the shape of a cross in each one so you could fire at the attackers. I ordered glass from a place in Denver and it took a few weeks to arrive. Then it was finding a lot more flowers to plant in front of the place and I got some flowering vines that would eventually wrap around the porch posts.
Now back then, there were bad men and BAD men, the difference in being in the first category, it meant you better pack a lunch if you started messing with them. The other type was your stage coach robber, cattle rustler, etc. and they of course, traveled in packs. In this case, the BAD men were Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Bob Livingston, Max Terhune, Robert “Bobby” Blake who also went by the handle of Little Beaver and William Boyd.
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Post by texican on Aug 25, 2018 23:22:15 GMT -6
WillC,
Good story with lots of interesting info....
Wouldn't it be great if you could time jump....
Texican....
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Post by willc453 on Jun 3, 2019 4:24:02 GMT -6
The Affected: Tale of Two Brothers Chapter 48
Now one of the things I ended up doing was paying visits to the “working ladies” if you know what I mean, as there were more than one brothel in town. Many were actual wood, two story buildings, others the girl would work out of tent which was a bear during winter. And with the shortage of white women, more than one got proposed to and married a farmer who had claimed his own homestead. America at this time was booming and pushing out everywhere in the west. Which included a lot of women doing their trade, then there were the mail order brides which I ended up getting involved in as the money doing that was good. Once again, cupid in disguise, that's me.
Now brothels have been called many different names such as cathouses, whorehouses but then a new term started being used: “parlor houses”, with many being VERY fancy places of pleasure. Now one of these madame's was Eleanor Dumont who came into town with some girls and money which she used to build her own “parlor house”. Now this wasn't your usual “soiled dove” place of business as it was not only very finely furnished, she was also a respectable lady dealer. Her parlor was called Vingt-et-un, serving champagne instead of whiskey and only accepted the patronage of well dressed and heeled (meaning money) gentlemen. She of course, used my store for all her purchases and needs which made me a lot of money. As to well dressed gentlemen, that meant suit, ties, etc. as “rates” for her “young ladies” was much higher. But you got what you paid for there too. As time would go time, her beauty started to wane and of course, more women began to fill the town looking to use their specialized working skills if you will. Now the place was hugely popular, with many men buying their suits from you know who. Then when the available silver began to dry up and people leaving, Eleanor moved to California and bought a ranch. Thing is, she fell head over heels in love with a handsome, silver tongued man named Jack McKnight. Thing is, McKnight was a con man and ended up not only stealing all her hard earned money but selling her ranch, leaving her completely destitute. Not one to take this laying down from anyone so to speak, she chased him down with a shotgun and ended him. In need of money, she began setting up gambling tables at other mining camp where it's said she met Calamity Jane at one of them and trying to teach her how to play poker.
Then there was Mary Elizabeth "Libby" Haley Thompson or Squirrel Tooth Alice, as she was more commonly known because of a gap in her teeth and her love of prairie dogs. She had a traumatic youth as she was kidnapped by Comanches when she was 10 years old and remained with the tribe for three years. Though her family paid the ransom fee and had her returned, she was shunned by society thereafter, with the exception of an older man who took an interest in her. He wanted to marry him, but her father didn't like the match, so he shot and disposed of suitor. After that incident, she ran away from home and worked at several establishments as a dance hall girl and prostitute. She opened her own place here in town, where she met her husband. Later, they moved to Sweetwater, Texas, opening another place of her own.
Now with Belloq and I being the only doctors in town, there were times I ended checking the various ladies when they had problems such as crabs, etc. Now with Belloq being interested in Margaret Heffnan Borland, he wasn't about to enter any of these places. And in case you forgot, remember that mine owner who got blown up by “lightning” when a group of men tried stealing my gold, silver, etc. finding quartz rocks? She was the niece of that mine owner and the one we had sent a letter to about her uncles unfortunate demise. Of course with Belloq being a doctor, he pretty much swept the field of suitors out of the way as he was WAY above the cut of her other suitors as far as ranking went in town, skill and knowledge. He wasn't really thrilled about the ladies coming to see him in his office either, so that left me. Not that I had to make that many “house calls” if you will and besides, many would show up at my restaurant once a month all dressed up in their finest to having tea, along with various fancy pastries I'd make the day before. As to my regular customers, they KNEW better than to even talk to the ladies which I made quite clear to everyone. Word got passed around town VERY quickly about this.
Of course, they didn't show when all the wives with their husbands and kids showed up once a month for groceries, etc. and of course having their tea party. With me going to the ladies, it gave me a lot of info on what was going on in town. When you got 30+ women together, they WILL talk and talk a lot. Now at that time, I was sitting in my rocker under the porch of the store when I see Kenne Duncan go into the sheriffs office, then come out again. When he spots me, he comes running over asking if I knew where the sheriff was at. Told him that he'd gone out of town on a business matter which wasn't quite true. He and a “young working lady” had taken off to a near by lake for a picnic. Well, this is when Kenne says the Tyler gang were at Eleanor's place, raising h*ll with what few customers she had, with them leaving. Man, I sure dislike seeing a money making business like that lose money. If she lost money, why she might not be able to spend as much at my place the next time she needed something. Which meant, I'D lose money too. I said well come on, let's take a look see, went inside to get and strapped my belt on which held 2 pistols. I was all dressed up, including wearing my derby hat.
As I mentioned earlier, the Tyler gang was comprised of Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Bob Livingston, Max Terhune, Robert “Bobby” Blake who also went by the handle of Little Beaver and William Boyd. When I entered the parlor of the Vingt-et-un, the 6 of them all had women in their laps and not treating them like ladies as they should have been doing. Well, Eleanor comes over asking where the sheriff was at and when he was coming, told her he was out of town so I figured I'd deal with this matter at hand and quietly told her what I wanted. She just looked at me for a moment, then went to get everything. When she came back, she had 6 bowls which she poured milk into each one. Of course, those 6 are watching what she'd doing and when she got out of the way, I casually opened my jacket which uncovered one of my pistols, then pulled out my pocket watch (which was on a long silver chain), looked at it and said boys, you had your fun, but it's time to leave as you are not properly attired for business in this establishment. Now Miss Eleanor has gotten you pussies some fresh milk and once you've finished it, you are to leave and NOT return. Oh yeah...when I called them pussies, they knew what I meant, with them NOT being happy about this and quickly dumped the girls off their laps where they fell onto the floor and remained as they KNEW there was going to be some shooting done. Well, Tom was the first to stand up, saying he's killed men for lesser insults and just who the h*ll did I think I was talking to them like I did? I said the sheriff's out of town and as for me, I'm just the local school marm. Then shot him and both Bobs without hesitation or a warning of any kind. You see, when it comes to being violent, start the dancin' without further adieu. The other 3 just stood there stunned and I said I have good news and some bad news for you 6. Well, the 3 I had shot, I shot in their gun arms, so they couldn't draw and would have a hard time doing a border shift with them. A border shift is where you draw your gun with 1 hand and toss it to your other hand for use. Now Little Beaver was the first to ask what's the good news? I said those I shot are still alive, though I could of done it a lot differently as in shooting them dead. When Max asked what the bad news was, I said, I still got 3 bullets in this pistol and 6 more in this one, pulling my coat back to show and draw the other. Now drop your gun belts. NOW. They did and had them step away from them, along with them then dropping their knives. Now you pussies, come over to these bowls of milk and lap them up like good little kitties. They hesitated until I cocked my other pistol and said your choice: either lap the milk up like good little pussies because it's full of good stuff for you....or I can shoot you other 3. They all decided to lap the milk up like good little kitties.
Asked Eleanor what she was owed and she quickly said nothing, just get them out of here please. I said I'd like to, but think of the gentlemen that were here earlier who had to leave unexpectedly and therefor, the money you and these nice ladies DIDN'T make, along with what ever liquor they'd been drinking. She came up with a figure and I said okay boys, let's leave this fine establishment. Well, took 3 of them to the sheriff's office and jail cell, saying I had placed them under citizens arrest for disturbing the peace and of course, defrauding an innkeeper which was a new one on them as they'd never heard of such a thing. I said you were all busy drinking Eleanor's liquor and not making any kind of financial arrangements with the ladies you were all so engaged with. I and the 3 shot ones then went to Belloq's office where he removed the slugs from the 3 I had shot, charging them $25 each. And I'm the one who suggested his price for this. They howled about that until I suggested I could always put some slugs back into the same places (more or less) and briefly touched my pistol. They suddenly realized this was a great and VERY reasonable deal for them. Off to jail and the cells they went too. I said it may be a few weeks before a judge shows up, which means you either get the normal jail food or the good stuff. Since the council didn't believe coddling those in the pokey, it was bare minimum. Like plain oatmeal for breakfast, a plain biscuit with some watery gravy and water. As for lunch and supper, it was always stew with some REALLY tough and unknown mystery meat in it and again, nothing to drink but water. And yes, I made sure I got the contract with the city council about feeding any prisoner. A bit here, a bit there, why the money does add up you know. Then told them I had to leave and HOPEFULLY some vigilante group doesn't get together and decides to just hang the lot of you. They REALLY didn't like this when I informed them how popular Eleanor's place was, I mean with the mayor and more than one member of the city council doing “business meetings” there if you will. When I left them, they had glum faces. When William G “Red” Angus and his lady friend came into town, several people told him I needed to see him first, which he did. Once I knew he was in town, sent the dozen guys I hired to be at the back part of the jail talking how those inside should be hung for disturbing and frighting such a fine and delicate lady such as Eleanor. I paid them off with 2 free meals of their choice at my restaurant. Told Red what had happened and then what was happening right now behind his jail. He laughed and said okay. He walks behind the “vigilante group” and tells them to move it along, that's the end of the hanging talk and if there was a hanging, the circuit judge would order it. Of course, my men left saying how the good ol' day were gone. That this place was becoming too civilized when a man couldn't rightfully hang someone for doing something like those 6 had done.
Now before I left for home, checked in with my people at the restaurant, telling them what to do. Tom, well, he got a REALLY nice breakfast with eggs, bacon, fried taters with scratch gravy, along with my GOOD coffee. As to his boys, they did not and were QUITE unhappy about this state of affairs. Eleanor and her girls hadn't talked about what had gone down, but I had forgotten about Kenne Duncan standing in the open doorway of her establishment. Went back the next day to check on my businesses because I hadn't finished the book keeping when Red walks in. First thing he wanted to know why did Tom get such a fancy breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday and a breakfast that morning while his boys got the usual fare. I said, no doubt they have money somewhere stashed and if they want the good stuff, they'll have to pay for it. Otherwise, the 6 of them will get the normal fare. I mean, I'm just a simple school marm, turned businessman trying to turn a profit. He looked at me, laughed and said how about us going to see those men and your “business” proposition? We did and they were about broke and I said too bad, because of the charges brought against you, you'll do at least 30 days here, heck, maybe even 90 because of what you were doing at Eleanor's and reminded them that she KNOWS a lot of people in town if you know what I mean. They did. Their faces got glummer.
Now what they didn't know was the circuit judge wasn't going to be in town for about a month and their faces got really glum when told this. Which meant they'd be in jail for at least 60 days. That's when I said, we could settle this a bit more quickly if you're all willing. They were....until they heard my proposition. Since they didn't have the money to pay for everything, I said if Tom can come up with what's owed, Red will let him go get it. That is, that I have Toms word he'll return with the money. Tom quickly agreed and I could see him thinking adios guys...I'm outta here, forever. Until I said the sheriff's kind of busy here in town and you do NOT want me come looking for you, do you understand? He did. Remember that saying of ill gotten gains does no one any good? Not true. Tom rode out of town to where he and his gang had stashed the majority of their money, taking out what was needed for their fines and expenses occurred while at Eleanor's. Once he left, I took the rest of it with a note saying two words: thank you.
Now I had their horses and all their gear brought to my stables and of course, they had been charged for the feeding, watering, etc. of them. While they had had some money on them, it wasn't enough to cover their fines and expenses they incurred at Eleanor's. That day we left them to think things over and of course, started getting the basic prisoner fare. Tom didn't return until the afternoon of the next day and we took ALL the money they had on them except for 25 cent pieces, along with their rifles because after all, my stable had been caring for their horses. What brought them around was finding out the judge wouldn't be here for about a month and during that waiting time, they'd have to pay for their bare minimum meals along with the care of their horses. They were also fined for no visible means of support, meaning a job where their employer could verify they were gainfully employed. They quickly realized this was a deal for them when I asked Red if he'd checked his wanted posters lately. He hadn't and that's when Tom and his men agreed that the “fines” were actually quite agreeable AND they apologized to Eleanor quite profusely. Once Tom paid off their fines and expenses, they couldn't leave town quick enough, never to return minus their guns and rifles which were kept for the safety of the community. Those I got, eventually selling them thru my store.
The money got divided 3 ways between us. I got the money for the meals they had gotten, caring for their horses and a box of bullets to replace the 3 I had used. Eleanor got more than she would of if those 6 had been properly attired and behaved themselves and as for Red, it was an unexpected financial bonus for him. I escorted Eleanor back to her place, during that time she told me I was invited over any time, free of charge with any of her ladies. I looked at her and said does that include you? It did. Well, I hadn't been laid in a good 2 weeks because of one thing or another, so the next morning when the place was closed, I came calling at what I considered a decent hour. Having taken some ganja before hand of course. Well, Eleanor was quite surprised to see me, but she didn't hesitate in going to call those 6 girls that I had helped yesterday. I said if you don't mind, I'll start with the best and work my way down and looked at her. She knew what I meant and on the way to her room, asked what rooms the other girls were in and was told. She was a bit late opening her place up that afternoon and unsteady on her feet when I left her after 4 hours. Off to knock on another door and another 4 hours with her. Time for me to get home and some rest, which was simply jumping to a place of mine, getting some sleep, getting my laundry done according to the 1800's standards, then seeing the 3rd girl on my list. Yeah, it took me a little over a day and a half claiming my “on the house” offer from Eleanor, but then Eleanor wanted a 2nd round with me as I had taught her a few things a man had never done with or to her before. Would you believe it, not long after that she actually wanted me to move in with her and become her “fancy man”? I told her that I had been married once, but she died and since then, would never become a one woman man again. Surprised she accepted my explanation, but yes, I did “tarry” with her from time to time, including taking her out for “picnics”. Fortunately, due to my 2nd ability of healing quickly, the scratches on my back and bite marks on my shoulders/neck healed within an hour or less from her and the other ladies.
About 2 weeks later, I'm having breakfast at my restaurant when Red and the city council come in and head right for me. I said I'm having breakfast right now and do NOT want to be disturbed until I'm done. After that's done, we can talk business. They not only agreed, but sat down to have breakfast with me, so I made a few bucks as I figured they might be hungry and because my food was so great..... Well, upshot was that Red was leaving town and had given notice as he was headed for a town in Montana and would I take his job?! I asked why me, because I got NO lawman experience at all and their reply was I could of become extremely violent more than once, killing someone, but hadn't. They were looking for a man to settle problems without getting a reputation of killing a lot of people. We settled on a monthly pay which was pretty good, along with me still being able to run my businesses. Big Mac and others could run my places, though I'd still stop in to see how things were going. And this job was not to be permanent as I told them that I'd be leaving myself before too long, but not before they found someone else to be sheriff. They agreed.
Being a lawman was in some ways was a lot easier than expected. Back then, a mans reputation was known, especially a well known lawman. And if wondering, there were a lot of well known lawman, meaning more than just Wyatt Earp for example. There was John Hicks Adams, Alfred Shea Addis, Elfego Baca, Phillip Cuney “P.C. Baird, Mariano Barela, Joel Almon Bascom and his brother John Watson Bell Bascom to mention a few. Drunks got hauled off to jail to sleep it off, with the saloons sending someone to me when someone had too much to drink. I wanted them in a cell before they got rolled for everything they had. They'd sleep it off in jail and in the morning, got a good breakfast which I charged the saloon. Now why would these owners of the saloons do this? They quickly realized I was NOT coming to their place until AFTER any gun, knife or regular fist fights ended, which more than once would result in their place being trashed or full of bullet holes. So it was a lot cheaper my way and besides, I made a profit on the breakfasts the now sobered up men ate. Thing is, with this new job, found myself getting more and more tied down and not wanting to leave. Not good. The good thing was things started winding down with silver being mined, I'd get them for pennies on the dollar or as the saying goes, a penny saved is a penny earned as Benny (Benjamin Franklin) once told me. So I'd buy 'em and just let them sit and when they price was too high, I just waited for them to leave and stake a claim on them. Didn't care if someone worked the claim just as long as they knew who it belonged to and couldn't put a claim on it either. Unless I KNEW there was more silver in it, somewhere else in the mine at which time I'd simply blow about 20'-30' of the entrance up telling everyone I was concerned about the safety of the mine and anyone trying to work it. Remember those Texas brothers who tried cornering the silver market in order to make the price go up and how suddenly so much silver got onto the market? MUCH later on, I brought in some Georges which is my term for the mechanical Laura's, some which looked like that thing from the first Terminator movie and some specialized A.I.'s for the more serious excavating. These were actual machines that were A.I controlled, but had speakers so we could talk to each other when needed.
When Belloq and Big Mac proposed to their women, it was a big thing in town. Belloq got married first, with me doing the cooking for both weddings. Belloq and I had arranged things so after their wedding night at their place, they caught the stagecoach the next day for Denver for a week, with me as the towns doctor and if needed, dentist. Then came Big Macs wedding day and because I had his measurements earlier, made him 2 new suits, along with some shirts and socks to boot. Also made them a set of gold wedding rings which I was VERY careful when making them. They had 2 swans etched on the outside of each of them, along with their first names on each side of the swans. I had to explain that swans mated for life. Sonny got to be the ring bearer and you couldn't see a happier kid. Thing is, Big Mac and Lizzie had had a talk with him after they told us they were getting married and his face REALLY fell, thinking he'd lose Uncle Mac as his uncle once they got married. When they told him that they wanted to adopt him, he REALLY lost it, shedding more tears than Niagara Falls. Five minutes after the wedding and their first 2 dances, the adoption papers were signed, with me, Red, Belloq and my 2 Chinese farm workers being witnesses. As to the 2 dances, first was between Big Mac and Lizzie, then it was Lizzie and Sonny. And yes, I did teach Big Mac basic dance moves so he wouldn't step on her feet. Getting married at times gets complicated. From that day forward, Big Mac was called Dad, while Lizzie was called Mom. Sonny now had a family that loved him.
Well, the 2 of them had 3 days of togetherness until I REALLY pounded on the door with Sonny next to me and me yelling get up you lazy city slickers. You got places to see and people to meet. They were quite shocked to find I not only had stagecoach tickets ready for their trip to Denver, it was where they'd spend 5 days at a really fancy hotel. After that, it was by train to San Francisco where they'd spend 7 at another fancy hotel. Since I knew and contacted the owners ahead of time (but didn't tell them that), I knew they'd be treated well, with all meals provided for no matter what the cost. Lizzie was going kind of crazy like (being a woman of course), saying she wasn't prepared for this and needed some dresses and such along with how was she suppose to do this when the stage was leaving in a few hours? I simply gave her the addresses of 2 dress makers, one in Denver, the other San Francisco and of course places where she could buy hats, etc. She wasn't happy with spending THEIR money like this until she was told I was paying for everything as an additional wedding gift. Remember that fancy China dinnerware set that Big Mac had used on his picnic with Lizzie? They got that and some other stuff that I couldn't sell and was taking up storage space. One reason I wanted them out was so Sonny & I would have separate beds in my former place as the kid would snored like a baby grizzly bear during hibernation more than once and I couldn't jump elsewhere for some needed sleep with me watching him. When they came back, they had seen the elephant as the expression goes. Lizzie was shocked when she was told by the people at the dress makers and the other shops, she had an open and unlimited account with them, with no charge to her. She brought back 6 new dresses and other things, thanking me profusely. I told her it was cheap enough as I was finally able to pawn off a lazy and worthless ranch hand onto an unsuspecting woman. So now, it's YOUR responsibility to keep him in line. About 4 months later, the council found a man to replace me as sheriff and with my various businesses now being sold to others, it was time for me to leave. In a way, it was hard as I'd been there basically 5 years and had grown roots. But I knew I couldn't stay as time had changed too many things and word would get around how I never seemed to age. That would NOT be good. Jumped a few times till I could just see my former home and walked the rest of the way to it. Jaws and the other dogs came running up, barking and growling until they recognized me. I jumped them a few beef bones which they eagerly and happily accepted, then running off to consumer them elsewhere by themselves. Big Mac was sitting on the porch in one of three rocking chairs we had built, along with a bench. The flowers we had planted earlier were in full bloom, along with trees that would eventually give a lot of shade. Was told Sonny was at Belloq's and asked if I was leaving now? I said yes, it's time for me to be movin' on. He said he wondered when it was going to happen as he'd seen what he called “the wanderin' eye” in me last year and when I started setting things up for my places to be bought by my employees..... Asked if I'd seen Sonny about me leaving and I said no, it's easier for me doin' this way and don't bother calling Lizzie out either. Told me leaving like this was going to really hurt Sonny and I told him to tell the boy that I loved him but if possible, I'd be back some day. We shook hands with me telling him vaya con dios, then turned around to start walking down the road which would eventually lead to Denver. Once out of sight, I jumped out of Colorado and that town I had spent so much time in.
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Post by texican on Jun 3, 2019 17:40:00 GMT -6
Nice chapter WillC....
Now a chapter on the boys would be appropriate since you posted this chapter on the boys story....
Texican....
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Post by willc453 on Jun 3, 2019 18:43:38 GMT -6
Nice chapter WillC.... Now a chapter on the boys would be appropriate since you posted this chapter on the boys story.... Texican.... Two Brothers is at 3 pages and figure a couple more pages at the most on that one just so I can close out his time in Colorado. The Shadow is at 1/2 page, dealing with those base zeta people, along with those that hired them, elected officials and those in other countries who sold some of their citizens to be experimented on. And maybe have them rescuing others in other countries. Of course, the boys have plans for those base zeta people AND turning a buck. And since this is their last year in college, already thinking of what they'll be doing along with how they & the girls 2 Thanksgiving dinners went with their families.
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Post by texican on Jun 4, 2019 21:03:24 GMT -6
WillC,
The moar hounds are waiting with baited breath.... (Think of anchovies, onions and garlic....)
Texican....
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