Chapter VIII
By Cheryl
Jimmy and Dmitriv slowed their horses to a walk so that Dmitriv could look at the map.
"I should've been a cowboy, should've learned to rope and ride, wearing my six-shooter, ridin' my pony on a cattle drive," Dmitriv sang. "Stealing the young girls hearts, just like Gene and Roy. Singin' those campfire songs. Oh I should've been a cowboy."
"You really need to be doin' that?" Jimmy asked hoping that Dmitriv would stop singing.
"I might've had a side kick, with a funny name, running wild through the hills chasin' Jesse James, endin' up on the brink of danger, ridin' shotgun for the Texas Rangers." Dmitrv continued as he danced to his own singing in his saddle. "Go west young man, haven't you been told, California's full of whiskey, women and gold. Sleeping out all night beneath the desert stars, with a dream in my eye, and a prayer in my heart."
"You really don't need to be doin' that," Jimmy said getting angry.
"Should've been a cowboy," Dmitriv continued singing partially because he wanted to and partially because he knew it was driving Jimmy crazy. "Should've learned to rope and ride, wearing my six-shooter, ridin' my pony on a cattle drive, Stealing the young girls hearts, just like Gene and Roy. Singing those campfire songs, Oh I should've been a cowboy."
Dmitriv hummed along during the song's music break. Jimmy gave Dmitriv a curious look and asked, "You really getting' into all this aren't you?"
Dmitriv still dancing in his saddle to the music in his head said, "Wild West has always sounded like the kind of place for me."
"You know there's more to it than they write in those history books," Jimmy commented.
"Oh, I'm sure there's a hell of a lot more to it," Dmitriv said smiling. "Hickok, believe me, the Wild West can't dish out any crap I haven't already seen." Dmitriv put away the map and turned his horse to the right. "Need to be headed this direction," he said.
"Should've been a cowboy, should've learned to rope and ride," Dmitriv started singing again as he kicked his horse to go faster.
"You ain't goin' be singin' that all day, are you?!" Jimmy yelled after him as he pushed his horse to catch up with Dmitriv's.
"I'd be wearing my six-shooter, ridin' my pony on a cattle drive, stealing a young girl's heart" Dmitriv continued to sing. "It's a good song Jimmy," Dmitriv said quickly before he started to sing again, "just like Gene and Roy, singin' those campfire songs. Oh, I should've been a cowboy."
Jimmy shook his head knowing it was going to be a long day.
"Rider coming," Kid yelled, "Cody you're up!"
Cody came running out of the bunkhouse and jumped on his horse. With skill and practice he mounted his horse, took the outstretched mailbag and rode off.
"That's one way to get some quiet around here," Chancy commented as she watched Cody ride away from the station.
"You got a problem with Cody's conversation?" Noah asked.
"No," Chancy said, "I could just do with less."
"You know Cody was begging me to swap rides with him so that he could ride with you once Dmitriv and Jimmy got back," Kid told Chancy.
"Really?" Chancy said. She then turned to Lou and said, "Women might get treated like dirt in the Wild West, but at least we get our pick of the men."
"You don't already have someone back home," Buck asked.
"Well," Chancy said and shrugged her shoulders. "There is this one guy, but I don't really know where the whole thing is going."
"What's his name?" Lou asked.
"Hamilton," Chancy said.
"Is that his first or last name?" Kid asked.
"Last," Chancy replied, "His first name's Bernard, but he really hates that."
"So you really like him?" Buck asked.
"I like him," Chancy said, "I'm just not sure how serious he's taking the whole thing so I don't want to go falling head over heels just to fall flat on my face."
Ike signed something. "What does he want to know?" Chancy asked Buck.
"Want's to know if he's kissed you yet," Buck said.
"We've done a lot more than kiss," Chancy answered.
"Is he white?" Noah asked.
"Well," Chancy started, "Actually he's not really 'white' at all. His mother is this petite, little women, half Japanese and half Australian. She's got the most beautiful, long, black hair. His father was this big, stocky African American from Philly."
"So he's black?" Kid said.
"If you're saying 'black' meaning African American," Chancy said. "He's half 'black'."
Kid gave Chancy an odd look and Chancy shook her head at him.
"Sorry Kid I guess I shouldn't blame you for your opinions," Chancy said.
"What opinions?" Kid asked.
"That it's wrong for me to be romantically interested in a man who is half 'black'," Chancy responded. "The thing is you're not the problem just the product."
"Have you thought about what your children would look like?" Kid asked,
"I haven't even decided to love Hamilton, much less considered having children with him," Chancy said. "Of course it wouldn't matter the difference between a 'white' man and a 'black' man is only skin deep."
"A child who was half black would have the problem of living in two worlds though," Buck commented.
"Are you half white Buck?" Chancy asked.
Buck nodded his head.
"That difference between 'white' and 'black' is more of a cultural thing," Chancy said then looked at Buck and added. "And I thought I had it bad. At least the earthers and spacers aren't at war with each other."
"So are lots of spacers like Hamilton?" Noah asked.
"You mean part this and part that," Chancy said. "Yeah. Spacers believe that there is one race, the human race. It's kind of like white Americans now. They're part English, Scottish, German, Irish, French, Dutch, Spanish, and eventually Italian, Polish, Swedish, Russian, Greek, etc. etc. etc. Spacers are the same way except with the world instead of just Europeans."
"But you're white?" Kid said.
"Well, not really," Chancy said, "I look 'white' that's why I was sent on this mission. People wouldn't be able to tell the difference between me and somebody of European descent."
"So why aren't you white?" Lou asked.
"Well my father is mainly European, catholic, immigrant stock; Irish, Italian, a little Polish," Chancy answered. "My mother's father was half African American and half Caucasian American, her mother was a Canadian that was half Japanese. So I'm 1/8 African American, 1/8 Japanese and ¾ European mutt."
"So you look white?" Noah said.
"Yeah," Chancy said, "but I'm not really 'white'."
Jimmy took off the protective safety vest. He was glad to finally get it off. It made everything a lot hotter.
"Why we have to be wearing this thing, anyway?" Jimmy asked Dmitriv as he threw the vest to the ground.
Dmitriv gave Jimmy a stern glance. "You mind treating that with a little more care? Believe it or not it is an expensive piece of equipment," Dmitriv said as he lit the fire he had just built, with his lighter.
It had been a long and tiring day. Dmitriv and Jimmy had spent the day riding, stopped to investigate a spot that the Furlons had been and still might be, marking points on the map, figuring other places to try, then getting back on the horses and doing the whole thing over again. They had just stopped for the night, even though it had been dark for awhile. Jimmy had dealt with the horses while Dmitriv made the fire.
"And if you don't want a huge gash through your chest so that you can see your own heart beating I'd wear the vest." Dmitriv answered Jimmy's question as he warmed himself by the fire.
Jimmy joined Dmitriv at the fire. "That's actually a good fire," Jimmy said surprised.
"What you think people in the future don't build fires?" Dmitriv said.
"Well, I don't know…," Jimmy started to explain.
Dmitriv laughed. "They don't," he said then smiled. "I grew up in Siberia. It's damn cold up there. How do you think I lost the finger?" Dmitriv asked as he held his right hand up. In the soft glow of the fire Jimmy noticed that the tip of Dmitriv's little finger was missing. He wondered how he hadn't noticed before.
"How?" Jimmy asked knowing that it was probably a stupid question.
"Frostbite," Dmitriv answered. "Lost two toes on my left foot too. Probably should be glad I still have both of my ears."
"So that's where you learned how to make a good fire?" Jimmy asked.
"Good way to keep warm," Dmitriv said. "Speaking of good ways to keep warm," Dmitriv grabbed a flask out of his bedroll and took off the lid. "Want some?" Dmitriv asked Jimmy as he handed the flask over to him.
Jimmy gave him an odd look.
"Don't worry I'm not going to tell. Besides a sip isn't going to hurt anyone," Dmitriv said. He lit up a cigarette.
Jimmy took a sip from the flask and kept a straight face even though the liquor felt like it was burning a path towards his belly. "So that's what vodka tastes like," Jimmy said as he handed to flask back to Dmitriv.
Dmitriv took a good swallow them said, "Now this it the life." He handed the pack of cigarettes and lighter to Jimmy.
Jimmy took out a cigarette and used the lighter to light it.
Both men sat in silent mediation for a while. Enjoying the calm night air and the bright fire in front of them.
"So tell me," Jimmy asked breaking the silence, "why do you keep calling this the Wild West?"
"It's the western part of the U.S.," Dmitriv started, "and for quite a while it was wild. Untamed, unsettled, full of outlaws and indians, cowboys, gamblers, saloons."
"So that's why you call the Wild West," Jimmy said.
"I'm not the one who called it the Wild West. The people who write about history called it that." Dmitriv said.
"So you think that all there is out here is outlaws and indians?" Jimmy asked.
"No, Hickok," Dmitriv said. "The Wild West is more a state of mind. A time when the U.S. was young and everything was new. There was this huge expanse of land to explore and discover called the American west. And it was large and wild and exciting and dangerous. A lot of great men were made out here. Men whose legends, whether they're correct or not, will live on until the end of time."
Dmitriv looked at the fire and then continued, "It's the idea that something is utterly magnificent. That anything can be accomplished. That life is bigger than you are. That things deserve to be wild and free. And there's a hell of a lot more to it. More than I could even begin to say."
Jimmy just looked at Dmitriv for awhile. Dmitriv watched the fire burning in front of him.
"Those history people of yours ever think that maybe they were romanticizin' things a little much?" Jimmy asked.
"See that's the really amazing thing." Dmitriv said. "For you this is just life, nothing extra-ordinary to it. But the ideals and the spirit of the way people out here live those ordinary lives today will live forever." Dmitriv looked Jimmy in the eyes and smiles, "You're part of something really big Jimmy, whether you know it or not."
"Maybe you're just full of it," Jimmy stated.
"Oh, come on man, I'm not just making this all up," Dmitriv said. "Two hundred years from now people will probably think similar things about the time I live in. They're going to wonder how we were able to deal with the hardships and horrors, and I'd say it was just life. Things seem lots bigger when you're looking back on them."
"I still think you're full of it," Jimmy commented.
"You're entitled to your opinions, Jimmy," Dmitriv said.
The riders were all sitting around the table eating dinner.
"You know boys," Teaspoon said. "I was thinkin' that maybe we'd go into town for the church service tomorrow."
"That'd be a good idea?" Rachel said.
"Is Chancy coming along?" Lou asked.
"Sure, I'll say that she's my cousin visiting from back east," Rachel said.
"Now wait a minute," Chancy said, "I didn't think that making me a Christian was part of the agreement."
"You're not already a Christian?" Kid asked.
"No, I'm an agnostic," Chancy said. "Means I don't personally think God exists but you never know."
"How can you not believe in God?" Lou asked.
"Well the way I see it. Religion was created to give people strength in life, and whatever comes after it." Chancy answered. "I myself don't want to believe in something that is purely a creation of human fear of death and the world."
"So does that mean that you're not going to be joining us for church tomorrow?" Rachel asked.
"Oh, I don't have anything against going to church," Chancy said. "It's not something that I really want to do. But if you promise me you'll drag Dmitriv there sometime, I guess I'll go."
"Know you'll have to be wearing a dress," Teaspoon told Chancy.
"I don't have anything against wearing dresses," Chancy said. "I just don't think that a women must wear one."
"So you've never been to church?" Noah asked.
"No I've been before," Chancy answered. 'My father's catholic, a bit lapsed, but he has taken me along a couple of times. Easter and Christmas are about the only days you'll find him in a church though."
"But your mother's not religious," Buck said.
"No," Chancy answered. "My father did insist that I be christened though. My father has never been a very religious man. But when I less than a year old he was wounded really bad. He thought that he was going to die. The only thing he could think of was that I was born in sin and that when I died I'd go to hell. After he got better, they set him a priest to confess his sins. He probably wasn't making that much sense. The priest told him that he should have me christened. So as soon as my dad got out of the hospital he went directly to my mom and told her that I needed to be christened to cleanse me of their sins. My mother thought that he was crazy. She thought that religion in general is kind of crazy. But he was so adamant about it that she let him do it."
"So you were christened," Rachel said.
"But your father didn't insist that you learn anything about his religion?" Buck asked.
"No," Chancy said. "I think that he might like it if I took an interest in it. But I also think that he thinks religion causes more problems for people than good."
"How?" Kid asked.
"Well he's a catholic and they go about the whole thing a little differently," Chancy said.
"So you will be going to church with us?" Lou asked.
"Yeah," Chancy said.
"Ike says that he'd like seeing you in a dress," Buck said.
"Is not all that different," Chancy commented. Ike slightly blushed
"Too bad Cody will miss it," Noah said with a smile.
"Poor guy," Chancy said sarcastically with a sad face.
To Be continued...Chapter IX
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