Chapter 2

“Well, Well,” Lily said with a smile. “A real live sheriff. Thank you, sir, but I think I can manage by myself.”
“You can bring your friend there with you if you don’t trust me, but it isn’t a good idea for a young woman, such as yourself to be spending the night outdoors. You have already made an enemy in Travis Baker. And he isn’t bright, but he is strong.” The sheriff regarded her with curiosity. How had this tiny little woman handled those four men so deftly? He took in her little boots and her bonnet that was servicalbe, but not fashionable just like her coat. A little smile played around his lips, as he thought of the beating he was sure Travis’ ego was taking at the saloon.
“Is something funny, Sheriff?” Lily asked stiffly. He had been staring at her which made her uncomfortable, but when he had started to smile like that it had made her down right nervous.
“Nothing funny, just thinking that while you can certainly take care of yourself, there is no need to sleep out in the cold when I have a perfectly good guest room and food.”
“I think, Lily, that it would be a good idea for you to go,” Stewart said in his quiet way. Matt looked up at the man who was obviously a friend to the woman he kept calling Lily. He wondered how close they were, but he didn’t ask. It was his experience that people talked about themselves after a time.
Lily stood undecided for a moment, then walked over to her friend and talked to him in a voice low enough that Matt couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could imagine that the man was trying to convince her to stay with him.
He was trying to remember when he had last put sheets on the guest bed when he saw The man put his hand on Lily’s shoulders and then spin her around toward him. When she didn’t start toward him immediately, the man gave her a little push of encouragement, and she came up haltingly.
“Mr. Stewart there has made me...”she coughed lighly, and shrugged her shoulders a few times, trying to undo the knot of tension that had formed there. She was nervous about the fact that she would be sharing the house with him and hs wife. SHe had traveled enough of the country to know that campingout could be a possiblity because about 80% of the places they had traveled to wouldn’t allow her to stay in their hotels. But there had never been someone to keep that from happening and the sheriff had suprised her with an offer to stay at his house. Her worry was about how his wife mightfeel about her staying with them. A stranger who was a woman was bad enough to set a sane woman crazy, but a negro woman would make her go ballistic! “That is, he made me realize that i would be...grateful... to accept your offer.” SHe turned back to lok at the big gentle looking man behind her and then turned back to him. “So thank you, I would be honored.”
She had said it in a voice that spoke of a middle class education, which made Matt even more curious about her. He gave her a smile that crinkled the sides of his eyes. They were some kind of light color, but she couldn’t tell in the dim light what the exact color was.
“It’s my pleasure,” He said warmly.
She turned around and waved to Stewart. “He said it was alright,” she called. Stewart came down from the porch and shook his hand.
“Stewart McGovern,”he introduced himself.
“Matt Gardener.” He noticed that Stewart squeezed his hand a little more forcefully than necessary. Matt liked him right away.
“Take good care of her,” Stewart said. “She’s a handful.”
“Stewart!” she said like a petulant child.
“Where do you live, sheriff?” Stewart gave Matt an easy smile. He seemed to relax once they had shaken hands, and that made Lily wonder about the kind of man this Matt Gardener must be. Stewart was inherently distrustful of most people, especially where she was concerned.
“At the north end of town,” Matt said easily.
“Which house at the north end?” Lily asked. It wasn’t as if they had been in town for a long time. It seemed presumptuous that he would think they would know which house he lived in.
“There is only one house, so it’s not hard to find. If your friend needs us you aren’t too far from here. The walk isn’t far, but since I have my horse right here...” he let his voice trail off with the implications. Lily gave a nod to let him know that she understood that they would be riding together.
“Bye, Stewart,” she said with a wave. She watched him twist his hat in his hand.
“I’ll come get you in the morning,” he promised.
“It makes more sense for me to come back here, then we can go on to Denver, alright?”
“Are you alright with this?” Stewart nodded his head in the sheriff’s direction as he put on his hat. Lily grinned and shrugged.
“I’m certain that I’ll be fine. He seems lke a decent human being. And it is better than sleeping outside. Don’t worry about me, I can handle myself,” she said .
“It’s not you that I’m worried about.” He tipped his hat to Lily and then looked over her shoulder to Matt who had stepped away from them to give them privacy. “Goodnight,” he called out.
“‘Night, Mr. McGovern. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Lily walked toward Matt, her little head held high. He let her get right up to him then he put his hands on her waist. She gasped in surprise, and he chuckled.
“I thought you might need a hand getting up here,” he said, his voice low.
“Thank you, Sheriff. I appreciate it.” He lifted her easily onto the saddle, then swung up behind her and clicked his tongue when they were ready to go. the horse started off at a trot, and Matt bit his lip to keep from laughing at the way she held her back ramrod straight. She was funny, this little woman with a big attitude and the pretty heart shaped face.
“So what kind of man invites a woman he doesn’t know to his house to spend the night?” she asked, but the question was whipped away on the wind that was starting to pick up. He thought he saw a snowflake fly past them.
“I’m sorry, what?” He asked. She turned her face toward him, her cheek brushing the rough wool of his coat. the warmth of him made her want to keep her face there, but she only kept it in place as long as was necessary.
“I asked what kind of a man invites a woman he doesn’t know to his home. I could be a robber.” The feel of him was unnerving her. He was all hard muscle and soapy smells. It wasn’t a stretch to say that she was attracted to him.
“You’re not a robber,” he said confidently. He pulled the reigns to steer the horse to the right, letting a buggy pass by. There was something right about the way his arms felt around her. “I get paid to figure out what kind of person someone is. I’m pretty good at it too.”
“Are you?”
“Yup. That’s why I have been the sheriff for so long.”
Lily let that information sink in while they rode along in silence. Though she would have been unwilling to say so, she was glad Matt had invited her along to stay in his house. It was freezing outside. SHe had heard that the weather in Colorado could change on a dime, but she didn’t realize how true that was.
“What makes you come to Excellence?” He asked after a few minutes. They had passed through the heart of town and he made a right at the cross street that was lined by pretty little cottages. The town wasn’t big, but the people obviously took pride in where they lived.
“Business,” she said shortly.
“And what kind of business are you in exactly?” He guided the horse a quarter mile down the road, and Lilly watched as the houses grew fewer and farther between them. A two story house stood at the top of a hill, and the way he spurred the horse toward it led her to believe that this was the sheriff’s house. There was a light in the window, and Lilly thought that the warmth of the house would be welcomed now. Her toes had lost feeling back before they had left town.
“I find things and I find people,” she said finally.
“So what are you finding on this trip?” they arrived in front of a barn, and Matt swung a leg off his horse, being careful not to kick Lilly, and then he helped her slide off.
“A person,” she answered simply. She followed him into the barn and while he put away the horse he called Cass, she settled onto a bale of hay and held her coat around her to ward off the chill from the opened barn doors. She was sure that it would warm up once he shut them.
“What person?” He put away the tack, and saddle, then turned to her and saw that she was gazing at him drowsily.
“Someone in Denver,” She said with a yawn. “Could you close the door on your way out?” She slumped back into the grassy smelling hay. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
“You want to sleep in the barn?” His brows furrowed and he shook his head. “I have a perfectly good guest bed in the house. You will be warmer in there.”
Lilly stood up and stretched. “I don’t get invited into houses very often as you can imagine, so I never presume that I will be invited inside. Most of the time a barn is as good as any place, and certainly better than outside. Especially on a night like tonight.”
“Well, you are a guest in my house, and you will stay in the guest room,” Matt said with finality.
“I appreciate it, Sheriff. It is mighty cold tonight, and the thought of sleeping outside in a barn or a tent seems less than appealing. Thank you.” She said shyly. They stood facing one another, and for a few heartbeats neither said a word, but they didn’t have to. An understanding passed between the two of them, and she gave him a little nod.
“There aren’t too many decent folks out there. If you don’t mind me saying so,” Matt said easily.
“But the ones who are turn up when you need them most,” she said quietly.
Matt cleared his throat with a nod, and asked her to follow him to the house so that he could get her something to eat, and introduce her to Susan and Sarah.
Lilly’s heart stilled for a moment thinking that she may be put into the barn after all, but she shook the thoughts away. At the very least she was going to get a good meal out of the night and that was enough to be thankful for.

NaNoWriMo

So I am writing a new story, and I am trying to squeeze out a few pages a day. Who know that it was going to be this difficult for me. I think I may have ADD. I get distracted with the internets and by the TV (I have started working where there is absolutely no television...but I can't give up my NPR!), and then my mind starts to wander. I swear, I wonder sometimes how I got through school with this lack of attention span.

So far, I like the story I am writing. There is lots of dialogue and the characters have been coming along pretty organically. I like when it is this easy. I have gotten 12 pages done so far and I am feeling pretty proud of myself.

Forgive me, but the folksy "one-of-us" vibe that is supposed to waft off of Sarah Palin is a little too much for me. I WANT the president to be smarter than me. I want them to be an expert in law and The Constitution, and the way to schmoose the people they will have to work with. It is one thing to have a disagreement with a neighbor on the personal level, and it is another thing entirely to have a disagreement with a country that can hurt your citizens.

I want a president that knows the history of the other countries he/she is dealing with. I want them to be open minded enough to accept cultural differences and not react out of fear and misunderstanding, to know that they are intelligent enough to seek out knowledge rather than listen to their gut alone.

I want someone who can inspire me with words and deeds and can be someone that I look up too for their humanity and intelligence.

It was AWESOME to see Joey the Shark outwit her and talk straight while she talked around the issues. Well, all the issues but gay marriage. She was to the point about that. To use her "facts" against her, and to have the sprited debate that I had been hoping the presidential debate would be last week, and what I hope it will be next week.

Did I think Sarah Palin did well? Of course I did. She was much better spoken than I dreamed she would be and the debate was hugely entertaining, but she didn't change my mind about her on anything that may have swayed me. I am still firmly in the Obama camp and I can't wait until he paints the white house black.

My one year challenge

so, with the sate of the economy and all the money stuff that I have been reading, i have decided that to get the family out of debt (not that we have that much, but any debt makes me uncomfortable) i will spend a year shopping at only Target. I know that I could probably cut our bills down further by going to Walmart, but to be frank, I hate that place. No matter how clean and friendly it looks on the commercials, I have yet to visit one where there weren't babies running around in nothing but a diaper, and where the greeters actually greeted.A little low rent for my taste.

This has formed the decision to shop at Target. I figure it has literally everything, and if it isn't there then I probably don't need it. Also, it seems like I am always there, so I will take advatage of something that has been in my repetoire all along. This should be an interesting little experiment, I'm not quite certain of my goals, beyond money saving, but I am sure they will be revealed as I go along.

anyone want to see the next installment of

Excellence, CO? just let me know. otherwise, i won't indulge myself. please say something

Lindsay Lohan is our generation's Liz Taylor

Think about it, she is a pretty good actress who has a few substance abuse issues, and her weight fluctuates wildly. I just hope she makes it to the ripe old age that Liz has.

a story i am working on

i'm pretty positive that i am the only person who reads my own blog, but i'll just keep on posting little details i notice that i might want keep in my memory to use for future stories. or to post bits and peices of the stories i am working on.

this story is part of a scene i am working on, tentatively titled "Excellence, CO"

Her toes were frozen by the time they made it to the little town that the coach had passed more than an hour before. The town was called Excellence though she really couldn’t see why. It was just a bit bigger than the town before it, but it at least boasted a rooming house where that one didn’t. Not that it mattered, she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be staying there. That was one of the hazards of being a negro.
“What is the plan for tonight?” Stewart asked in a low voice. He had dropped back a few steps to keep pace with her, and she appreciated it. The walk in her little heeled boots had been killing her feet. She wasn’t certain why Stewart had insisted on her wearing a dress and boots instead of the trousers and work shirt she usually wore, but she had gone along with his hunch.
“You stay at the boarding house tonight and see if you can dig up any information about Kerr Stevens, I guess I’ll be camping outside.”
“It’s too cold,” Stewart shook his head. “Maybe they’ll let you stay in the kitchen--”
“Lily Therrieux does not sleep on a kitchen floor!” she hissed a little too loudly. The driver of the coach stopped to listen and she dropped her voice back down to a whisper. “It’s alright, Stew. I’ve slept outside dozens of times.”
“It looks like it is going to get nasty out here,” Stewart lifted his head straight into the wind and gasped from the cold. “It’s windy enough to steal your breath and cold enough to freeze a duck to pond water.”
“Silly old man,” Lily said fondly. She and Stewart had been traveling together for a little over a year and the longer he was with her the more she grew to love him. They were physically mismatched: he was six foot to her five foot; he was white to her black; he was male to her female. but somewhere, deep inside, they were kindred spirits and they fit. There was nothing romantic between them, he had never made an advance, and a few evenings in New Orleans had shown her why, but that made their partnership that much more convenient. She knew that she was safe with him around.
“I’m not old,” he sniffed daintily. He wasn’t old at all, he was just a year older, but still she liked to tease.
“No, you aren’t.” she bent to adjust the laces of her boot for what seemed the thousandth time, and when she straightened she calculated tha the town was less than a half mile away. “Thank the Lord!” she whispered under her breath. The lightly boned corset had been digging into her ribcage since they had left Burlington that morning, and all she longed to do was get alone so she could pull it off.
“Aren’t you even a little disappointed that we didn’t make it all the way to Denver? There is probably a colored boarding house for you to stay in there.”
“A little,” she acknowleged breathlessly. “But we will get there tomorrow, and Kerr Stevens will still be there. I don’t think he’s going to leave the city just yet. He still has all that money he stole in Monterey.”
The continued on in silence, walking behind the half giant of a man who had grunted that his name was Matt Jones when they had gotten on the coach the morning before. It took another twenty minutes to make it to the town square of the little town that was optimistically called Excellence.
Stewart and Lily followed the burly man to the stairs of the yellow house that was the biggest structure on the main street and located next to a restaurant advertising the best chicken fried steak in town. As far as Lily could tell, there was nowhere else to buy another chicken fried steak, so she wondered where the comparison came in.
“You’ll have to stop here,” Matt Jones said gruffly.
“Perhaps they will let her--” Stewart began to say, but he was cut off not unkindly by the driver.
“They don’t allow her kind in there.” he said matter of factly.
“What kind is that?” Stewart demanded.
“Niggers.”
Lily gave a terse nod, she wasn’t suprised in the least.
“She is a respectable young woman!” Stewart’s eyes blazed with an indignace that Lily didn’t feel.
“It ain’t her, it’s her kind. Sorry, Miss,” he finally spoke in her direction.
“The truth can’t be helped,” She shrugged. “Really, Stew, I don’t mind camping out. Like I said, I’ve done it dozens of times. You go ahead. You have a more delicate constitution,” she teased.
“I’ll be back, Lily. I’ll make some kind of arrangment for you,” he followed Matt up the stairs and the two of them disappeared into the cozy looking foyer of the house.
Lily stared up and down the eerily deserted main street of town, she named the buildings in her head. The bank, the dry goods store, the barbershop, the school and the church all marched up one side of the dirt road. On the other was the saloon, a post office, a mill and the restaurant. It was like a lot of other prairie towns that she had been through, so she wondered silently who had thought to name such an unremarkable town Excellence.
Her thoughts were broken by a group of rowdy men who tumbled out the door of the restaurant.
“Time to visit Madame Margo’s bee-you-ti-ful girls,” One of them whooped.
“Been waiting all week to go there,” A shorter blond man yelled.
“Can’t wait!” another agreed.
“Well, lookee here,” the one who seemed to be the ringleader said. “What have we here?” He regarded Lily with steely eyes that should have burned a hole through her clothes.
“Ain’t never seen her before,” the short one spoke. Lily lifted her chin a little higher.
“She’s pretty,” one of the men said.
“For a nigger,” said the short one.
“My daddy always said you weren’t a man till you fucked one of ‘em.” They all moved toward her and stood around her, daring each other to be the first to touch her.
“Move away from me,” she said in a steely voice. She didn’t dare move or show the fear she was feeling.
“Look a that!” the little blond one cackled. “She’s got little claws.” The others laughed and she felt the hair stand up on her neck. The big one, the leader stepped up to her and stood toe to toe with her.
“She’s tiny. She could never hurt any of us.” He spoke to his friends, but kept his eyes on her, daring her to show fear. “You wouldn’t do nothing to us, now would you, darlin’?” he chuckled and slid a finger over her breast.
“Move away,” she warned again.
“Or what?” he threatened. “How about if we go and have a little party, you, me and my boys here.” He grabbed her arm painfully, but she didn’t wince.
“I suggest, Sir, that you let me go and move back,” She repeated for the third time. That made the big man angry. He pulled her close to him, and squeezed her arm.
He turned his head to look at his friends and that was all the time Lily needed to grab his crotch and twist. The man yelped in pain but let go of her arm. He reached down to protect himself, but it was too late. She gave a yank and he cried out again.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” the small blond man cried. He started toward them to save his friend, but she shook her small head. “No,” she said softly.
“I asked you nicely to leave me alone, but you insisted. Now I will let you go if you leave me. Will you?” The tall man nodded eagerly, tears in his eyes. “Your friends too.”
“Is there a problem, Travis?” a voice Lily didn’t recognize said. When she looked up it was into the eyes of a tall, ruggedly handsome white man. Her breath caught in her throat, and she reflexively pulled the man’s privates again. The man screamed. Lily was mesmerized by the man in the long tan coat.
A frown settled on the handsome man’s lips as he took in the scene in front of him. He had walked out of the restaurant after he had seen Travis and his friends stop in front of the window. On an ordinary day they were trouble, but today was payday and they always caused trouble on payday. Matt could almost set a watch by them.
“Are you alright, Miss?” His voice sent shivers racing down her spine. And she stared dazedly at the stranger. “These men aren’t giving you trouble are they?”
“Not anymore,” she said with a shake of her head. “In fact, they were just leaving. Right, boys?”
“Yes,” they all mumbled inaudibly. embarrassed that a woman had shamed their leader.
“Get out of here,” Matt said. “If I see anymore trouble, I will put you in jail. Go!” Lily let the one named Travis go, and they all scampered off, tumbling over each other like puppies trying to run away.
“Do they always travel like that?” she asked the man who had moved to stand next to her.
“Like what?” he asked puzzled. He had never seen this woman in his life, and he wondered what she was doing here and how she had handled four big men all by herself.
“Like a litter of puppies.” she looked up in time to see the corners of his mouth turn up in a tiny smile.
“I never thought about them that way, but yeah, i suppose they do.” he looked down at her, taking quick stock of her, looking to see if she had been hurt. She seemed fine, but she kept tugging at her ear. “Did they hurt you?”
“No,” she said grimly. “But they were going to.”
“They are generally harmless, but on payday they go a little crazy. I’m sorry.”
Lily only had time to shrug before Stewart came out huffing. “They won’t let you stay, Lily.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I figured. It’s alright. I’ll camp out for the night back at the coach.”
“It’s too cold!” Stewart protested at the same time the stranger said: “Not with Travis Baker out and about to night!”
“It looks as if there isn’t much choice” Lily said pointedly to the stranger.
“It looks like snow out here, Lily. Be sensible.” As if to make his point, the wind blew through her petticoats making her shiver.
“you can stay with me,” The man said suddenly taking all three of them by surpise.
“I can’t stay with you, I don’t even know your name!” Lily said prissily. Stewart laughed and she swung her head toward him. “Hush!”
“As you said, you don’t have any other options. If the weather doesn’t freeze you, Travis and his boys will come looking for revenge. You’ll be safe in my house, and it is plain but warm.”
“You must be crazy!” she said. WHy would I be any safer with you than camping out?”
“Because, Miss, Im the sheriff of Excellence, Colorado.”

my daughter got a lookee

we were at lunch the other day, and my little baby, who i gave birth to almost 9 years ago was sitting at the table and a little boy who was about her age (maybe a little older) did a double take when he looked at her. it was funny on one hand, but it also made me think...she isn't a baby anymore and she is growing up to look like a really beautiful little lady.

it's hard to think about her being a tween, sometimes it seems to me that she is still a little girl, but everyday she gets older and funnier and more beautiful. I am such a lucky mom. i get all that and she is smart too.

WELCOME TO MY MIND jan. 27

I just found this nifty little feature, and since i was going to ask my dh for a humble site of my own, this worked out just fine.
there are so many things i want to get out of my brain and onto the screen, but i am afraid that i won't get them all out. i have brainfarts sometimes and then i can't remember what it was that i went to find or say. oh well.