By Cheryl
Watching Chancy and Dmitriv learn to ride a horse was very entertaining. The riders had sat on the fence of the coral, neglecting their chores and laughing all afternoon. Chancy was scared to death of horses and it took her much of the afternoon to just get used to sitting in the saddle. She did really try and even if the riders did spend the afternoon laughing at her they admired her determination to learn. Dmitriv seemed to know a little more about horses. But he still spent the afternoon cussing under his breath about stupid horses and Teaspoon. The riders did find his angry approach to learning hilarious to watch, especially since he wasn't mad at any of them. By the end of the day Chancy and Dmitriv weren't experts but they were at least fair riders.
The riders, Chancy, Dmitriv and Teaspoon were all sitting on the porch recuperating from the excitement of the afternoon.
"Now, there's some more stuff I need to tell the two of you," Teaspoon said addressing Chancy and Dmitriv. "This here pony express station does have some rules, and since you'll be staying on with us I will expect you to follow them."
"Certainly," Chancy said.
"What kind of rules?" Dmitriv asked.
"I don't allow my riders to drink. That's the company policy now. And I don't want them to be messin' around with no saloon girls or playin' too much poker." Teaspoon said.
Chancy nodded her head in agreement. Dmitriv on the other hand with a look of surprise on his face said, "Who-who-who-who-whoa, wait a second here. You're telling me I am in the Wild West, the WILD WEST, and I can't have women, whiskey or even gambling."
Chancy laughed, "No women, no alcohol, bet you can't even last 24 hours." Dmitriv glared at her.
"My money would be on less than 20 hours," Jimmy said.
"This isn't something to be bet on," Dmitriv said with anger.
"I thought there wasn't anything that couldn't be bet on," Chancy said totally calm.
"You don't want to play hard ball with me tonight Chance, because you're beginning to make me mad." Dmitriv said furious. "You'd lose," he added, the words dripping with anger. Chancy just stared back at him not about to back down.
"Listen Hunter," Dmitriv said turning to Teaspoon the anger gone from his voice. "I know that you're trying to protect these boys from developing bad habits. But you see I already have bad habits."
"Aren't you a might young to be havin' bad habits son," Teaspoon said.
"I might be young in years, but I've seen just as much of life as you have. And from what I gather you've lived a fairly full, eventful life." Dmitriv said in response.
Teaspoon looked hard at the young man before him, sizing him up. "Just how old are you son?" he asked.
"17," Dmitriv answered.
"17 years isn't a lot of time to develop bad habits like whiskey and women, much less see a lot of life." Teaspoon said.
Dmitriv looked Teaspoon dead in the eyes and said, "I've been on my own since I was three years old. Nobody ever cared about me. I had my first drink when I was six or seven years old. Got drunk for the first time when I was nine or ten. I was six the first time I killed someone. Thirteen the first time I was with a woman. You don't know anything about the world I grew up in. It was grow up fast or not grow up at all. I grew up fast. Don't tell me I don't know anything about life because I do. I do."
The riders all sat in silence. "Oh, and by the way Hunter, don't call me son. I've never had a father. I've never needed a father. And you certainly aren't my father, so don't call me son." Dmitriv said and then got up and walked away.
The riders all sat in silence. Teaspoon eyed followed Dmitriv as he walked away. "Sounds like the boy's had a hard life," Teaspoon said.
"He's right. You probably don't even know the half of it," Chancy said to Teaspoon.
"You do?" Kid said.
"I've never actually heard him say it himself, but word gets around," Chancy answered.
"So he wasn't lying about any of that?" Cody asked.
"Maybe you haven't figured something out about the Lt.. He doesn't lie, he doesn't exaggerate." Chancy said. "Now, I'm not saying he's never told a lie. I'm sure he's spun a few when he needed to. But when it comes to his past your getting the truth. You can count on that."
"So what's the story about his past?" Jimmy asked.
"I can't tell you. It's his past. I have no right to tell you about it," Chancy said in response. "Besides you get him in the right mood he'll tell you himself."
"So you know him pretty well?" Lou asked.
"I know him a little better than most people." Chancy said. "I don't think the Lt. even knows himself. I'll tell you what I do know about Dmitriv," Chancy said. "The only person that he really trusts is himself, the only thing he believes in is himself. That doesn't mean that he's selfish. He's probably the most selfless person I've met. He hasn't even known any of you for two days and he'd take a bullet for any one of you."
"You mean he'd risk his life for ours?" Lou asked.
"No," Chancy answered, "You see that's the thing with Dmitriv. He's walked that line between life and death so often he knows it like the back of his hand. I said he'd take a bullet for you, and if you consider standing in front of a gun and getting shot risking his life, he'd do it. But you see Dmitriv would know before he stepped in front of that gun that he wouldn't die, so in his mind he wasn't risking his life at all."
Chancy paused for a minute and then continued. "You know when he actually lets his guard down you can see that he really is a great guy."
"Don't you boys have chores to do?" Teaspoon said. The riders all moaned and protested, but eventually got up to tend to the chores that they had been neglecting all day. "Chancy …"
"I'll see what I can do to help out," Chancy said interrupting. She started to follow the riders then turned back around to Teaspoon and said, "Oh, and Teaspoon, he really isn't dangerous. At least not in that way."
The riders did their chores, grateful for Chancy's help. Eventually even Dmitriv showed up to lend a hand. Dmitriv was once again in a good mood and his humorous comments seemed to make the work go by faster. He goodheartedly harassed Chancy about her lack of knowledge on American history. It turned out that Chancy's father was an American, which made her half American. She seemed to know little about the history of her own country though. Dmitriv on the other hand knew quite a bit about American history. He said that he learned it through something called "movies", which he had explained to the riders were sort of like live plays in a funny little box, not that that made any sense to the riders.
Dmitriv seemed to love to tell stories. But unlike Cody who didn't seem able to talk and work at the same time Dmitriv was a very hard worker. And the riders liked hearing his stories. He knew a lot of interesting people and had done a lot of interesting things. By the time nightfall had come the riders, Dmitriv and Chancy were all very tired from a very full day. They were sitting around the bunkhouse still talking and laughing after dinner.
"Hey kid, why don't you show them that whole thing you do about telling people their life story." Chancy said. "Oh, sorry Kid I was referring to Dmitriv," she then said to the Kid.
"You know that is really beginning to make me mad, Virginia," Dmitriv said to Kid.
"Virginia?" Kid said back to Dmitriv.
"That's where you said you were from, right?" Dmitriv asked.
"Yeah," Kid said remembering that he had mentioned that earlier in the day.
Cody started to laugh, "But Virginia's a girls name."
"Pretty Boy, you really don't have much to be laughing at," Dmitriv said.
"So what is this thing that Dmitriv can do?" Noah asked Chancy to change the subject.
"He can tell you all these secrets about your past that you have never even hinted to him about," Chancy said. "It really is kind of amazing."
"You can tell everything about a person's past?" Lou asked.
"No, not really," Dmitriv answered. "She's bragging a little."
"Why don't you do it then," Jimmy said.
"Need a volunteer," Dmitriv said.
"How about Teaspoon?" Cody asked.
"Hunter?" Dmitriv said. He then turned to Teaspoon and asked, "Is that okay with you?"
"Fine with me son," Teaspoon said. "Tell you the truth I'd kinda like to see this thing myself."
Dmitriv looked at Teaspoon for a minute, then turned to Cody and said, "You had to pick the oldest person in the room, didn't you Pretty Boy?"
Dmitriv looked back at Teaspoon, "Okay, Hunter," he said and then paused for a second. "Let's see, you're from the South, not deep south, more like maybe… Texas?" Dmitriv then nodded his head, "Texas it is. Probably means that you fought in the Mexican-American war. So you're a soldier. You know about war, good with a gun. You're a lawman, so you believe in justice."
"None of that's really very hard," Cody commented.
Dmitriv ignored the comment and continued. "You've lost some close friends, but then that's part of war. You like women, imagine you know a good deal about them, know a good deal about love too. Probably been married before. Being a good Christian, or at least being a Christian, the right thing to do when you love a woman would be to marry her. You've probably been married several times. I can't see you really being the one women type."
Teaspoon nodded his head to say that Dmitriv was right on target so far. "Now comes the hard part, deep dark secrets," Dmitriv said. He then looked really hard at Teaspoon and once again continued. "There was a woman, long time ago, and you loved her, still do. Bet you she was the first wife, the love of your life. 'The one' if you believe in all that fate and destiny garbage. You went off to war, and she died. You never really recover from that sort of broken heart. Your soul mate's gone and you have to live out the rest of your life without her. I'm not saying you're bitter about the whole thing. You're not. You wouldn't have gone on and married all those other women if you were. But no one is ever going to be able to truly replace her." Dmitriv paused for a minute and then said, "So is that good enough?"
"Do you want to know her name son?" Teaspoon asked.
"That's all right you can tell me all about her some other day," Dmitriv answered with a smile on his face.
"How did you know about Teaspoon's first wife," Lou asked.
"That's the amazing part," Dmitriv said.
"So how did you do it?" Jimmy asked.
"Hell. Like I know. I just do it," Dmitriv said. Dmitriv paused then added, "You know I could go around the room, but I figure that most of you want to keep those secrets to yourselves."
"How do you know that what you're thinkin' is right?" Jimmy asked.
"I don't until I say it," Dmitriv said. "Changing the subject. Am I allowed to have a smoke, Hunter?"
"Another bad habit a man your age shouldn't have," Teaspoon said in response.
"I am well aware of the health implications, Hunter," Dmitriv said. "But I'm sitting around talking with the guys, since I can't have a drink, I thought at least you'd allow me a smoke."
Teaspoon did not say a word. "That mean yes?" Dmitriv asked.
Teaspoon nodded his head.
"Thanks," Dmitriv said. He took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one of them. "You want one Chance?" Dmitriv asked.
"No thanks," Chancy said.
"Those some fancy kinda French cigars?" Teaspoon asked.
"No, just cheap cigs," Dmitriv replied. He then passed Teaspoon a cigarette and his lighter.
Teaspoon took both and lit the cigarette with the lighter just as he had seen Dmitriv do. "Now that there is an amazin' invention," Teaspoon said as he watched the flame of the lighter.
"Hunter maybe I should ask you about these rules of yours," Dmitriv said. "Make sure I'm getting them right." He then continued, "Whiskey, women, out. Gambling and smoking frowned upon. I assume fighting is also frowned upon."
Teaspoon nodded his head and said, "And while you're here I 'spect both a' you to be doin' your share a' the chores."
"Of course," Dmitriv said. He then stopped talking and it seemed like the conversation was over. "What's your policy on your riders getting 'involved' with each other?" he asked. Teaspoon gave him a curious look and Chancy shot him a stern glance.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Dmitriv said to Chancy with a childish grin on his face. "Ah, Come on Chance. I was just testing the waters for you," he said.
"Your sure you're not thinking of someone for yourself," Chancy said.
Dmitriv laughed at that. "You know I gotta tell you the truth," Dmitriv said. Kid, thinking Dmitriv was talking about Lou, looked like he wanted to leap across the table and strangle Dmitriv. Dmitriv ignored Kid and continued, "I find Jimmy terribly attractive. A couple more days of this and I don't know if I can keep my hands off him," Dmitriv said with a feminine manner.
Chancy broke out laughing. The riders all looked at Dmitriv with surprised faces, except Jimmy who had a worried look on his face.
"I agree Jimmy's a fairly good looking man, but you know Pretty Boy is the real looker of the group," Chancy said. Cody smiled.
"You're right Cody definitely is cute, could just eat him up like candy," Dmitriv said. Cody's smile faded into a worried look to match Jimmy's. "Then there's Noah, tall, dark, handsome, ooooh," Dmitriv said acting like he was some saloon girl.
Chancy, who had been trying to keep a straight face, started laughing. "You crack me up, kid," Chancy said to Dmitriv as she laughed so hard she almost fell off her chair.
Dmitriv who had keep a totally straight face the whole time started laughing too. He then looked around the room at all the surprised and worried faces and said, "Oh, I was just joking."
Chancy who was still laughing managed to say, "They don't believe you." She laughed some more then said, "They think that you really like guys." She laughed more, slapping her hand on her leg, then said, "Now that's hilarious!" Chancy laughed even harder. Tears ran down her face, she put her head on the table and pounded it with her fist.
"It's not that funny," Dmitriv said, no longer laughing. "Seriously. I don't really like men, not like that," Dmitriv said to the room. They did not believe him and Chancy kept on laughing. "Really. It was just a joke," Dmitriv said.
Chancy finally got control of her laughter. "You know when we get back, I know some guys that would love to met you," Chancy said. "Cute, charming, sexy, you're every man's dream."
Dmitriv laughed and then said, "Well I'm probably never going to get the whole woman thing right, maybe I should switch teams."
"You mean you only like women now, but you might start thinkin' of likin' men?" Lou asked.
"It's a thought," Dmitriv said. Lou and the rest of the riders got worried looks on their faces. "Not a serious one," he added. "Hell, men don't so a thing for me, not a thing." Dmitriv commented.
"So you really only like women?" Noah asked.
"Never met a woman I didn't like," Dmitriv said. "Young, old, married, available, the suits, the soldiers, strippers, all of them are just fine with me. They certainly are the better half of the species."
"You're probably right there son," Teaspoon said.
"So you don't really… ," Cody started to say.
Dmitriv interrupted him and said, "Pretty Boy you might be cute, but you're not really my type."
Cody breathed a sign of relief.
Chapter VI
The next morning at breakfast things for the young riders were basically back to normal. Their guests weren't really family but they were friends. Cody was telling some tall tale and Dmitriv kept calling him on it. The riders believed that Cody might have actually found his match. Of course most of Cody's stories weren't even half-true and most of Dmitriv's stories were almost all true. Well maybe part legend. Both Cody and Dmitriv were joking with each other and the riders were glad that Cody only spent half of breakfast talking. Dmitriv was talking for the other half.
"Ah, come on Cody where do you get this garbage?" Dmitriv asked.
"What do you mean were do I get this?" Cody asked back, "This is the truth."
"Pretty Boy you wouldn't know what the truth is if it came up and bit you on the butt," Dmitriv said.
"Oh, and I suppose you do, shorty," Cody said to Dmitriv.
Cody didn't really like his new nickname. But seeing that he couldn't get Dmitriv to stop using it he had started to call Dmitriv 'shorty'. Not that this was really a misnomer. Dmitriv was short. He was shorter than any on the riders except Lou, who he wasn't much taller than. Cody had started that one last night when he had seen Dmitriv standing next to Rachel, who was slightly taller than him. Dmitriv didn't seem to mind the nickname though. In fact he seemed to like Cody calling him 'shorty' better than Rachel calling him by 'Vladimir' his real name.
Chancy stopped the bickering between Cody and Dmitriv by asking, "So, Lt., what's on the agenda for today?"
Dmitriv, who was suddenly all business, said, "Well, I thought that we would start by showing everyone how to use the blasters and put on the safety vests. Then maybe do a little strategy talking about the mission."
"Don't you ever take a break and relax?" Cody asked.
"Oh, Cody, Cody, Cody," Dmitriv said shaking his head. "A soldier's work is never done."
"Ah, come on, maybe you're takin' this whole thing too seriously," Jimmy said.
"There's a damn war going on. I'm probably not taking the whole thing seriously enough," Dmitriv answered.
"Whoa, since when is this thing a war?" Kid asked.
"This is a mission," Dmitriv said quite seriously. "The big picture is war."
Teaspoon had walked over to the porch where the riders were talking. "Now I hear you right son? You sayin' in the future there's a war?" Teaspoon asked.
"There's lots of wars in the future." Dmitriv said looking Teaspoon right in the eyes. "You know people, they'll fight over just about anything."
"Where we come from there's a war," Chancy stated solemnly. All the riders turned to look at her. "A war to end all wars," she added gravely.
"That's putting it lightly," Dmitriv said. "They say that about every war 'it's the war to end all wars'. No this is THE WAR."
"War seems might big when you're in the middle of it," Teaspoon commented.
Dmitriv just stared back at Teaspoon. Chancy glanced at Teaspoon and then back at Dmitriv. She nodded her head at him, let out a deep sigh then bowed her head and stared at the ground.
Dmitriv glanced at Chancy then took a deep breath and said, "I guess it doesn't really jeopardize anything. Sooner or later," he stopped, paused while he collected his thought. Unconsciously he took out a cigarette and lit it. He inhaled deeply, let out the smoke and then started to speak. "World's never seen a war like this before. I doubt it will ever see one like it again. I don't think that the human race could live to see a war bigger than this one." Dmitriv paused took another swig of the cigarette. All eyes stared intensely at Dmitriv, except for Chancy's, whose eyes still stared at the ground.
"Two thirds…" Dmitriv started then paused. "Two thirds… two thirds of the human race is dead. When the war started more than two decades ago there were 10 billion humans. Then one day the war started. Four billion people died that day, vaporized into dust. Couple billion more died of starvation, disease, radiation. The rest died fighting."
Dmitriv paused again, "There are now 3 billion humans. And that's counting people like me and Chancy, who weren't even alive that first day. You know how when Christ was born the clocks were all set back to zero? The world was never the same after that, at least for Christians. Well that first day was day number one. The world that existed before that day died with those 4 billion souls."
Dmitriv stopped and for minutes no one spoke.
"How could people do that to each other?" Kid asked.
Dmitriv stared at Kid with a quizzical look, his brow furrowed. "We didn't do that to each other," Dmitriv said. "We aren't fighting ourselves."
The riders all looked at him confused. "We're fighting people up there," Dmitriv answered as he pointed to the sky. The riders turned and looked at the blue sky above them. Confused looks still graced their faces.
"Aliens," Chancy said to answer their silent questions. She looked up to the sky, her eyes moist with tears. Dmitriv stared at Chancy, compassion filling those dark brown eyes.
"You mean like them aliens we're lookin' for," Cody said, his voice although not cheerful, too joyful for the conversation. The rest of the riders wondered if the whole conversation's meaning had gone right over his head.
Dmitriv kept staring at Chancy as if his eyes could comfort her. He then turned back to the riders and said, "No, those are the Furlons. Nasty little things, but like I said mercenaries."
"The aliens that hired the Furlons," Kid said.
Dmitriv smiled. "Yeah, you're quick. Good thinking Virginia," Dmitriv said. "Kru-La, that's what they're called."
"So what are the Kru-La like?" Noah asked.
"They're aliens," Dmitriv answered. "Their planet got destroyed or something like that. They're looking for a surrogate planet."
"A new home." Lou said.
Dmitriv nodded his head then said, "They just didn't like the 10 billion humans that came with the deal. So they figured they'd get rid of us. 'Come on it's just 10 billion humans. They're puny, with their primitive weapons and backwards cultures.' How hard could it be?"
"So are we winning?" Cody asked.
"It's not about winning and losing," Dmitriv said. "It's about living and dying. The only way we're losing is if everybody is dead."
"And if you win?" Noah asked.
"We get the right to live," Dmitriv said.
Everyone was silent for awhile.
Dmitriv finished his cigarette, threw it to the ground and stepped on it. "Come on we got work to do," Dmitriv said as he stood up. "Chancy get the vests. I'll show everyone who doesn't know yet how to work the blasters. After a little shooting practice, we'll show them how to put on the vests then give them a crash course in the Furlons."
"You can't be serious!" Kid exclaimed.
"What!?" Dmitriv said surprised.
"You just told us that 6 billion people are dead and then you just shrug it off like its no big deal," Jimmy said.
"Sitting around and thinking about it all day is not going to help any of those 6 billion people," Dmitriv answered. "You want to help those people get off your butts and get to work," Dmitriv stated firmly he then turned to Chancy and said in a gentler tone, "Ensign."
Chancy stood up and started to go get the vests from the pile of gear that Dmitriv and Chancy had stored in the barn. She still seemed down from the earlier conversation though. As she passed Dmitriv he stopped her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He then seemed to ask, without words, if she was all right. Chancy sighed deeply then nodded her head to say that she was all right.
Chancy then leaned closer to Dmitriv so that her face was just inches from his face, she then gave him a small smile and said very softly, "You know you shouldn't let people know that you actually have a heart under that hard exterior. Might ruin your rep."
"I'll keep that in mind Delany," Dmitriv said in response.
"You do that," Chancy said as she rather intimately patted Dmitriv on the cheek and smiled again. She then walked toward the barn. Dmitriv turned and watched her walk away and then gave a half grin. When he turned back to the porch the riders were all staring intently at him.
"What are you all looking at?" Dmitriv said angrily. "Get up we have target practice to attend."
"Just friends, huh," Jimmy said to Dmitriv smiling.
"Not unless he goes around kissing all his friends," Noah added.
"Maybe I do," Dmitriv said in defense. "Target practice, NOW. Next person with a word on the subject gets their lights punched out." Dmitriv said his voice filled with anger and his fist ready to hit.
Cody laughed and then said, "Oh yeah, there's nothin' going on between the two of you."
Dmitriv turned around and punched Cody square in the face, hard. Cody surprised by the sudden punch fell to the ground.
"Why, you!" Jimmy screamed and then lunged towards Dmitriv. Noah and Ike quickly held him back.
"You want a piece of me too, Jimmy?" Dmitriv asked. "I told him that I'd hit him and I did."
Rachel and Teaspoon who had gone back inside came out to see what the commotion was about.
"What's goin' on out here, boys," Teaspoon asked.
"Just teaching Cody here that there are times in life that he should keep his mouth shut," Dmitriv answered.
"Maybe you should just admit that you have a thing for Chancy," Cody said with a smile as he stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants.
"You want more Pretty Boy. I can hit you again," Dmitriv said as he raised his fist.
"Now violence doesn't solve anything, son," Teaspoon said to Dmitriv.
Dmitriv gave Teaspoon a hard look. "Personally I think a good fist fight goes a long way towards solving problems," he said.
Chancy came out of the barn and began to walk toward the riders.
Jimmy took a step toward Dmitriv so that he was standing right in front of him. "You want a fight. I'll give you a fight," Jimmy said his face in Dmitriv's.
Dmitriv looked back at Jimmy and said, "Sure thing. Kicking your butt would be a pleasure."
With one swift move Chancy somehow got between the two angry young men and pushed the two of them apart. She then turned toward Dmitriv and gave him a hard punch to the face. Dmitriv stood his ground and barely even moved.
Chancy then said, with more authority than the riders would have ever thought that she possessed, "Lt. these people are giving us their help. You are not to go around hitting them, insulting them, or starting fights with them. You are to stick to business. If you want to fight someone, fight yourself!"
Dmitriv just coldly stared at her.
"The scheduled agenda for today is target practice, vests, briefing. That is what you are supposed to do. And that is all that you're supposed to do. Do you understand me, Dmitriv?" Chancy ordered.
"Target practice, vests, briefing. Got it," Dmitriv said with anger still in his voice. "And Ensign remember who gives the orders around here." He then walked off still angry.
Chancy let out a sigh and then turned to the rest of the riders. "And as for all of you. Have you ever heard of the golden rule, 'Do unto others as you would have done unto you'. Maybe you should try following it more or next time any of you take a good look at a girl I'll be mocking you," Chancy said sternly. "Now I believe that you have target practice to attend."
"Yes, ma'am," Cody said. The riders all walked in the same direction as Dmitriv. None of them really relishing the idea of target practice with an angry and violent Dmitriv, but they had no choice.
Rachel and Teaspoon, who had watched the whole thing, gave Chancy approving looks.
"You handled that situation just fine," Rachel said.
"Thanks," Chancy said. "I figured that you could use some help controlling Dmitriv."
"Now that there is one of the angriest young men I've ever meet. And I've known some real hotheads in my time," Teaspoon commented.
"He do that very often," Rachel asked.
"Depends," Chancy answered. Shots from the target practice had started. "Maybe taking some of that violent anger out on those tin cans will help."
"I hope so," Rachel asked. "All we need around here is another Jimmy."
"You know letting the two of them punch it out might not really be such a bad idea," Chancy said. "They'd beat each other up. Get rid of all that anger and probably be really peaceful, for awhile al least."
Teaspoon gave Chancy a stern look.
"It was just an idea," Chancy said.
To Be continued...Chapter VII
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The Way Station
Campfire Tales