Chapter VII
By Cheryl
Dmitriv might have been angry as hell but he did exactly as Chancy had asked and taught Noah, Lou and Ike how to use the blaster pistols. And he was at least civil about it. The more Dmitriv shot that blaster and the more he explained and taught the calmer he got. The anger was still there but it wasn't boiling over the surface anymore, at least for the moment. The riders just wondered when the next blow up would come. And even though Chancy wasn't scared of him like that they all wondered if next time Dmitriv would fight with more than his fists.
Lou was learning how to turn the sight on and off. She turned it on and the little red dot appeared on the tin can that was sitting on the fence.
"So how far can this sight be used?" Lou asked.
"As long as you can see the little red dot it still works," Dmitriv replied. "You put that little red dot on a man's forehead," Dmitriv said as he motioned to the center of his own forehead with his index finger, "and pull the trigger, good way to kill a man from a distance."
"Why on his forehead?" Cody asked.
"He can't see it," Dmitriv answered, "and from a distance the head's the best place to shoot a man."
"How many men you shot like that?" Lou asked.
Dmitriv shrugged his shoulders, "Not that many."
"So, how many men have you killed?" Jimmy asked.
Dmitriv smiled and said, "I have a rule in life, I don't keep count of the women that I sleep with and I don't keep count of the people that I've killed."
"Why?" Kid asked.
"After the first person you kill do the rest really matter?" Dmitriv asked. Kid remembered that first man that he killed and shook his head. Dmitriv smiled at him and knew that Kid agreed with him.
"I thought that the running total was 21?" Chancy said as she walked around the corner and joined the group. Dmitriv laughed.
"You shot 21 men?!" Cody exclaimed.
"No," Dmitriv said causally.
"He's slept with 21 women," Chancy answered.
"Oh, no he hasn't," Cody said.
"It was just an estimate, Chance," Dmitriv said.
"And I know of a half dozen you've slept with since that total was estimated," Chancy continued.
"Half dozen?" Dmitriv asked.
"I know of a couple for sure," Chancy answered.
"You really haven't slept with that many women, right?" Cody asked.
To change the subject Lou handed the blaster to Chancy and asked, "Do you need to practice too?"
"No," Chancy replied, "I'm just fine at using a blaster."
"You know you should do a little practicing with that six-shooter," Dmitriv said, "Just to get the feel of it."
"You don't need no practice?" Jimmy asked Dmitriv.
"No," Dmitriv said, "I've been shooting guns like that since I was knee high. I could do it in my sleep."
"Yeah, why don't you show us," Jimmy said, challenging Dmitriv.
Dmitriv looked at Jimmy then nodded his head. With one quick move he drew the gun from the holster at his side, he held the gun odd, his arm held straight out in front of him, his palm faced toward the ground. Six shots rang out one right after the other. He shot the three cans in the row then shot each one more time as they fell to the ground. He then spun the gun around his finger. Stopped it and held it so the barrel was right by his mouth and blew the smoke off the gun. Then he spun the gun again as he put it back in its holster.
The riders all stared in amazement.
"Not bad," Cody said.
Dmitriv laughed. He stared at Jimmy making sure Hickok knew that he was just as good with a gun. Dmitriv then turned and began to walk away. "Not bad huh?" Dmitriv said as he walked past Cody. "You should try doing that yourself some time Code-man."
"Take a ten minute break then met back in the bunkhouse to get aquatinted with the safety vests," Dmitriv ordered, his back turned to the riders as he walked toward the bunkhouse himself.
"Does he ever take more than a ten minute break?" Noah asked Chancy.
"When he's on duty?" Chancy said with a smile on her face, "You're glad you got the ten minutes."
Dmitriv taught the riders about the safety vests. When he wanted to be he was definitely all business. He didn't seem like some angry 17 year old hothead, but like a grown man with authority and responsibility. He kind of reminded the riders of Teaspoon on those first days of the Pony Express. Buck came back from his ride after lunch and the riders spent the rest of the day having Dmitriv and Chancy cram every last bit of knowledge they could about the mission into their heads. Teaspoon let them all get out of doing chores for the day. He figured that the more Dmitriv taught them the more chance they had of not getting hurt out there.
Dmitriv was still teaching the riders stuff as Rachel prepared dinner. The table was covered with various charts, pictures and the map of the area. Dmitriv was partitioning the map into parts to be surveyed.
"So who's up next on the duty roster?" Dmitriv asked.
"That would be Jimmy," Noah answered him.
"Ok then, me and Jimmy leave out first thing tomorrow morning," Dmitriv said. "Be ready to go at first light," he then said to Jimmy.
"So is this what these aliens look like?" Cody asked as he held up a sketched picture of a Furlon.
"Yeah," Chancy said.
"Don't look all that bad to me," Jimmy said.
"They're a lot worst in person," Chancy said in response.
"Doesn't even have a gun," Jimmy said.
"There are lots of things other than guns that can kill you," Dmitriv said.
"Why don't you clean off this table so we can eat dinner?" Rachel asked.
"Certainly," Cody said as he started to pick up the various maps and charts, excited that dinner was ready.
"Are you ever not hungry?" Chancy asked Cody
"A man can always eat," Cody said.
"Since when are you a man," Chancy said jokingly. The rest of the riders laughed.
"And her mean streak finally shows through," Dmitriv commented.
"Chancy has a mean streak?" Noah said with a smile on his face, "who would've thought."
" '…find out what happens … when people stop being polite …and start getting real, The Real World'", Dmitriv said.
"What?" Cody asked.
"Did you ever see any of those shows, Chance?" Dmitriv asked ignoring Lou's question.
"You've watched too much of that 20th century Hollywood crap already, kid," Chancy said.
"That was a good one though," Dmitriv said, "They threw 7 complete strangers into a New York City apartment and hoped that everyone would come out alive."
"Sounds like lots of fun," Lou commented sarcastically.
"Sounds like that Arizona Project you did back when you were younger," Chancy said.
"Yeah," Dmitriv said, "Except there was only six of us and we were crammed into a metal sardine can floating in space."
"Arizona Project?" Teaspoon asked.
"Oh it was just this thing that I did a couple of years ago," Dmitriv said. "It was this poorly funded engineering project that turned out to be an important turning point for the war."
"And you were part of it?" Jimmy said sarcastically.
"Don't sound so surprised," Dmitriv said. "Just because I was a damn Russian street urchin didn't mean that I didn't care about the war."
"What I don't get is what you could ever do that was all that useful on some big scientific project," Chancy said.
"They needed a mechanic," Dmitriv said.
Chancy started to laugh.
"Don't be laughing I'm a good mechanic," Dmitriv said, "Can fix anything."
"Anything?" Cody asked.
"Yeah," Dmitriv answered getting defensive.
"Like what?" Kid asked.
"Like those blasters," Dmitriv said. "Used to make revolvers on the streets when I was younger."
"You made guns?" Chancy asked, "Now that sounds appropriate."
"How do you make guns?" Kid asked.
"Very carefully," Dmitriv answered.
The next morning Jimmy and Dmitriv rode out as soon as it was light enough. Dmitriv had given Teaspoon an odd look when he had told him to "ride safe". That left Chancy there at the way station by herself.
"So did Dmitriv give you some huge list of things that you need to do while he was gone?" Noah asked Chancy at breakfast.
"Not really," she answered. "I just have to figure out how to use a compass."
"Doesn't sound that bad," Lou commented.
"It isn't," Chancy said, "at least not compared to all the chores and stuff that you have to do around here."
"The chores aren't that bad," Kid said.
"If you say so," Chancy said. "All I know is I never realized just how much work people had to do in the past. Not that I don't enjoy being here, but I'm going to be glad when I get back to modern technology."
"That modern technology of yours must be somethin'," Teaspoon said.
"It is," Chancy said. "It'll also be nice to get back to someplace where things aren't so big. Makes me feel so small"
"Being up among the stars must make you feel smaller?" Buck asked.
"Yeah," Chancy replied, "but that's different. You're never really out in space. It's so big it just isn't the same thing. Don't think that I'll ever really get used to living on the Earth."
"Don't you like it here?" Lou asked.
"Well," Chancy said, "It really is very beautiful. It just all feels slightly wrong. My dad hates it that I never really feel at home on planet."
"Now where is your father from?" Rachel asked.
"America," Chancy answered, "Brooklyn in New York City actually."
"But your mother is from some colony thing on the moon, though?" Cody asked.
"Yeah, she's from Armstrong this real big lunar colony," Chancy replied.
"So your parents decided to live on the moon instead of America?" Kid asked.
"No," Chancy said, "My father still lives in America."
"Must be a hard marriage with your father in America and your mother on the moon," Rachel commented.
"My parents aren't married," Chancy stated.
"Why not?" Kid asked.
"Why do they have to be?" Chancy asked back.
"Well they…" Kid started.
"You don't have to be married to have a child," Chancy said.
"So your father ran out on her?" Jimmy asked.
"No!" Chancy said. " It was nothing like that. He loved her. It's a real long story."
Chancy looked around the room at all the looks of anticipation on the faces. "You want me to tell it?" she asked.
"Sounds like a mighty interestin' story," Teaspoon commented.
"Okay, here goes," Chancy started. "My parents met while my father was temporarily stationed at Armstrong. He was doing some stuff or whatever for the Army up there. Well they started dating and fell in love and did all the things that people do when they're young and in love, if you catch my drift."
Teaspoon nodded his head.
"Well then my mom got pregnant," Chancy continued. "They loved each other but, my mother was a spacer. She didn't want to live in some crowded US city with pollution and radiation and all of that stuff. She definitely didn't want her child to grow up there."
"Isn't that an insult to your father?" Lou asked.
"Well, yeah," Chancy said. "But my dad felt exactly the opposite. He was an earther, a person raised on Earth. He didn't want to live under some bubble on the moon for the rest of his life. There's a lot more to it than just that. The culture of spacers and earthers are really different. It's really confusing and complicated and I don't think that I could explain it to you right anyway. My father's fight was down on the planet not in the colonies."
"So he just left?" Cody asked.
"No, not exactly," Chancy said. "He wasn't really ready to be a father. He was young, in his early 20's. My mom, she was ready. So when my father was transferred back to the planet, he didn't request to stay in the colonies with her."
"He could have requested to stay?" Lou asked.
"Yeah," Chancy answered. "They would have let him too."
"Did he even ask to marry her?" Jimmy asked.
"I don't think so," Chancy said. "She wouldn't have said 'yes'. My dad was raised catholic though and I'm sure that he believed that the right thing to do was to marry her. But I'm also sure that he knew that my mother didn't believe in marriage and wouldn't have ever married him."
"Now not believing in marriage, that's a peculiar thing," Teaspoon commented.
"Why?" Chancy asked. "Two people don't need a piece of paper and a ring to love each other. They just need two hearts."
"Got a point there, but it's still mighty peculiar," Teaspoon said.
"So do you believe in marriage?" Lou asked.
Chancy thought about that one for a moment then answered, "No, I guess I don't."
"Do lots of spacers not believe in marriage?" Buck asked.
"Yeah," Chancy said. "They believe in so many different things. They believe that love is free. That just because you love one person doesn't mean that you can't fall in love with a second. That men can love men and women can love women. That you can love someone of any race, color or religion. They believe that love is liquid and ever changing, not permanent and written in stone like marriage."
"All that still don't change the fact that your pa went off and left your mother expecting his child and didn't do a thing about making it all right," Jimmy said.
"There wasn't anything to make right and he had a choice not to stay." Chancy said.
"What they did still wasn't right," Kid added.
"All they did was fall in love, life chose the rest for them," Chancy started. "My mother didn't plan on getting pregnant with me, but the second she found out she was she knew that that was what life had planned for her. She might have wanted my father to stay and help raise me, but she also knew that it wasn't her right to keep him there against his will. His fight was elsewhere so she let him go. It's not like he hasn't been a part of my life. He sent cards and letters and visited whenever he had a chance. And when my mother died I knew that he would make sure that I was taken care of. Maybe life took him a little by surprise but he is a good man and a good father."
"Suppose people have a right to deal with their lives as they see fit," Teaspoon said.
"Still don't mean that it was right," Kid said.
Teaspoon looked like he was about to respond to that one when Chancy spoke up, "Kid, I'm not going to ask what all is between you and Lou, and what all you have or haven't done about it. I just hope you're not being a hypocrite about the whole thing."
"Well, don't you boys have more important things to be doin' than sittin' 'round here and talkin'?" Teaspoon asked to end the conversation.
"Like what?" Cody asked.
"Maybe chores," Rachel said.
"And it started out being such a nice morning," Cody said, as he, the rest of the riders and Chancy left the bunkhouse to get to doing all the stuff that needed to be done around the station.
To Be continued...Chapter VIII
Copyright 1998--May not be reproduced without written permission from the author
Let the author know what you think! Send Feedback
The Way Station
Campfire Tales