Have you ever heard of the talking hills? It seems to me there was a poem or story about them. Also I read a story about traveling hills. Why do I mention them? Well my dreams this night were sort of like that.
I was camped in a valley with running water that was surrounded by hills. But when I camped there, one of hills seemed to be whispering to me. Of course I ignored it.
Thinking it was just the wind in the trees. But as I banked the campfire for the night, the ground shook, I thought, Oh Great, an earthquake.
I heard boulders rolling down the side of the hill closest to me, trees falling, a rush of air. The moonlight was bright. I could see the hill moving, heaving it’s great mass. It was rising into the starry night sky!
I always believed that the hills were alive, but not this alive. The hill stood up, it was in the shape of a giant man; two hundred feet tall. He looked down at me, a rumble of thunder came from his mouth: “Clay Bronson,” the thunder said.
In my dream, I answered, “Yes, I’m here.” Just like it was natural to talk to the hills. The hill said, “Are you lost Clay?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I answered. “I don’t know where I’m at, but I don’t believe I’m lost.”
“Ha, Ha,” his laughter rang out, “spoken like a true son of the earth,” he said, then, “yes, you will never be lost as long as you listen.”
“Listen? Listen to what?” I said.
“To the sky above, to the earth below, to the wind in the trees, to the flight of the Eagle. To the mouse as it burrow’s in the leaves of autumn. To the blood coursing through your veins. To creation itself. Listen Clay and it will save your life, not only yours but your family as well. Listen well Clay and creation will tell you the path to take.”
His rolling thunder was still in my ears as I awoke to a summer time thunder storm going on outside of our window. Faith was wrapped around me, or me around her, whichever. Faith had her face buried up against my chest, I could hear her whimper a little in her sleep, as the thunder rolled across the night sky.
Rosie came in with Alita in her arms. “Can we get in bed with you, Alita’s scared,” Rosie said. In a flash of lighting, I could see Rosie’s face, it was chalk white.
Faith had woken when Rosie spoke, “Of course, here get in beside me,” she said, as we both scooted over to make room.
A clap of thunder shook the room. Alita whimpered and buried her face in her mother’s bosom. Rosie scrunched up tight against them both.
“Wow! That’s sure a humdinger out there, isn’t it?” Rosie said, in a high falsetto.
“Nothing to worry about,” I said. “I was just talking to him, he’s just trying to make a point.”
Faith turned her head and said to me, “What in the world are you talking about?”
“I just had a dream is all, it must have been due to the thunder, my dream that is. Nothing important, you know how dreams are?”
“Well I know how mine are, but yours must be something else, talking to the thunder!” Faith said.
“Well I really wasn’t talking to the thunder, I was talking to a hill, his voice was like thunder.” I said.
“Talking to a hill, are you sure it wasn’t’ a mountain, that thunder sounds a lot louder than just a hill talking.” Rosie said.
“Oh, you believe me then?” I said.
“Of course I do, Dad.” She said, “I know you could never lie.”
I thought to myself, she called me Dad! That sounded sort of nice. “You’re right Rosie, I wasn’t lying; in my dream I was talking to a hill that stood up. He was about two hundred feet tall, he called me by name, it was quite life like,” I said.
“I talked to a hill once,” Rosie said, “only it wasn’t in a dream, it was an actual hill, it was whispering to me, only thing was I couldn’t make out what it was saying, I asked it to repeat what it said, but it wouldn’t.”
“That’s strange, the hill spoke to me in a whisper first, I thought it was the wind, so I ignored it, but then it shook itself and stood up and called me by name.” I said.
“You two are getting weird,” Faith said, “go to sleep both of you. Alita is already back to sleep.”
“Okay, I see you don’t believe us, next time I talk to him you can join me.” I said.
“Oh yeah, right, I can join you in your dream? I have never known two people to share a dream at the same time, have you?” Faith said.
Rosie said, “Oh,Oh,Oh, I want to join you both, don’t forget me please, next time take me too?”
“You got it, Rosie,” I said, “let’s go to sleep, before Mom spanks us both.”
Faith whispered in my ear, “You wish.”
Yeah, I did wish, but when you have two children in bed with you, wishing didn’t amount to a hill of beans. But I did cuddle up tight against my wife, that was nice.
The next morning as we were eating breakfast in the Café, Cort came in and sat down with us. “Boy that was quite a storm last night, the lighting hit a church steeple over on Oak Street. Burnt the whole church down. And Oh yeah, that Dipper Tick and his friend made bail early this morning. So that’s twice they have made bail. But I think they just jumped that bail; I seen them fogging it out of town just now. I didn’t follow them, I could care less. Did put out an APB on them though.”
“Did you see which way they went?” I asked.
“Yeah, north, I don’t think they were heading for L.A., but I could be wrong.” Cort said.
“I think you’re right. They weren’t going back to California; wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t heading for Montana.” I said.
“Montana? Why in the world would they go there?” Cort asked.
“Because that’s where Charles and Edith Hester are from, I think old Dipper is still after those mineral rights to his Spanish Land Grant.”
“Have the Hesters left for home yet?” Cort asked.
“Nope, not since I see them setting over there in the corner.” I said.
“Perhaps one of us should warn them” Cort said.
“Well, I reckon one of us should. But since I’ve already told them to watch their backs, perhaps you should take on that task?” I said. “And if I were you I would emphasize that Dipper and Delbert aren’t above committing murder to get what they want.” Cort got up and went over to do his duty.
The Hesters packed and left that day. Now me, I’m a worrier, if there’s nothing to worry about, well I’ll just poke around till I find something. I got to worrying about the Hesters. Damn, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Now I knew old Dipper wouldn’t be able to get on a plane, not with that APB out on him, but he could just drive. Of course it would take him a couple of days to get there; probably have to detour around some towns and such. So I figured I had about two to three days to get there myself.
We also left for home that same afternoon. We called and let them know we was coming. Felicia was real glad when she heard about Rosie, said she’d have an extra room made up for her. But I told her that Rosie would bunk in with Alita. Faith was driving while I was on the cell phone, I added, “Would you have Miguel service and check over my plane, I have a flight to make.” Felicia said she would and she didn’t even ask where I was going. But my wife did, as she looked at me sharply and swerved the Durango a little.
“Where in the hell do you think you’re going? And wherever it is, you’re not going without us!”
I thought fast and changed one little thing about my plans, “Of course I wouldn’t go anywhere without you, or the children. But as to where, the Hesters. I think they might need a little help, they’re a nice old couple. I would hate to see them murdered.”
“You didn’t say where, I forgot where they were from?” Faith said.
“In the middle of Montana; the Judith Basin. I think the nearest airport is in Lewistown.” I said.
“You know of course, that it is none of your business?” Faith said.
“Yeah, I know, but what about you, what would you do?” I said.
She thought about it, I could almost see her gears turning over, “I would do,.. the same as you,… of course.” And she paused at each one of the commas.
“Good, I have Charles’ cell phone number, I’m going to call him and tell him to meet us. I’m not sure that Lewistown has rental cars or not. I think they do, but I was a little kid the last time I was there.” I called them, they must have been in a dead zone, I got his answer recording. Told him to call me when they got home.
It was just coming on to supper time when we pulled into the ranch yard. Dad and Felicia were rocking on the front veranda. Jake and Alona were still out doing the evening chores. But Miguel and Ester came out of the house, along with some of their children.
Rosie’s eyes were sparkling. It didn’t take long before Rosie was running around with the other children. Alita tried to get down to join them.
My cell phone rang, it was Charles Hester. I told him the whole story and then: “I was planning on flying up there and give you a hand on this.”
His answer: “We would be glad to see you, but I think we can handle this. But what you could do is send me a picture of those two yahoos. The Sheriff is a friend of mine. Also, the hands on my ranch are always packing, if you know what I mean. If they show up out here we take care of our own problems. Again, if you know what I mean.”
I did. After I got off the phone with him, I called Cort. Cort e-mailed the Fergus County Sheriff pictures of Dipper and Delbert.
I hoped Charles knew what he was doing. I also hoped we knew what we were doing; but really does anyone know the right thing to do all of the time? I didn’t think so.
Most of the time we make decisions and hope for the best.
After supper that night, the whole family was setting around drinking their coffee and discussing the happenings of the last week or so.
Jake came up with an idea, that none of us had thought of: “Why don’t we just drill for oil ourselves?” He said.
That took everyone by surprise a little bit. Alona added. “Yes, you know I learned in school that drilling for oil doesn’t have to harm the environment. If it is done in the proper way and care is taken. And what is disturbed is restored.”
“Yes,” Jake said. “Most of the damage that is done, is done because of greed and speed.”
I think I had been underestimating my little brother, as well as Alona. Faith spoke up, “We could start our own oil company, drilling company anyway?” She sort put it out there like a question. Felicia picked it up.
“Where could we find people who know how to drill for oil, without damage?”
“What about at the College’s? Dad said, “You know everyone, well not everyone, but a lot of the university’s are thinking ‘green’ these days.”
“Yeah the Geologists, but what about the ‘roughnecks’, the guys who actually do the work? Where do we find those who have experience and also who think ‘green’.” I said.
“We talk to them.” Faith said. “I mean we go where they are drilling for oil and scout them out. I’m sure there are some who don’t like sloppy drilling practices.”
I said, “I think I know where there is a lot of drilling going on, and a lot more to be done. That’s on the Oil Shale deposits in eastern Montana and western North Dakota.
“Yes,” Dad said, “I heard on the news just the other day that they have developed new technologies to recover that oil. And in order to get to that oil, they have to do it economically, that means they can’t be sloppy and wasteful.”
“Okay then, we are all agreed; we’re going to beat the big oil company’s at their own game?” I said. The vote went around the room, everyone raised their hands, even Rosie and Alita.
Alona raised her hand again, “but one thing; just us alone won’t be able to get this going like it should. We need to get the other Spanish Land Grants on board, anyway those who haven’t sold their saddles.”
“Uh, one other thing,” Felicia said, “how do we know there is oil under our land?”
“That is a good question,” I said, “I don’t think these oil company’s would be so hot to get these mineral rights, if they didn’t already believe there is oil here.” I looked at Felicia, “Have you ever noticed anybody strange on your land?”
“I don’t think so, wait, there was some college people that wanted to check all of our ponds and streams for some endangered species. I told them they could go ahead and look and I did see them all over the place. That was about six months ago.”
“Well there you go, that was oil people, I bet. Did they ever do any seismic readings? Did you hear any explosions, or anything? I said.
“No, not really.” Felicia said.
Jake spoke up, “Maybe they have some other way of doing that now, dynamite is a little archaic isn’t it?”
“I don’t know, I’m not a seismologist or a geologist. They probably do.” I said.
Dad said, “So, you haven’t told us the details on all of your adventures since you two went to Santa Fe?” Why he changed the subject, I don’t know.
“Well, you’ve been watching the news I take it? Anyway, you seen what happened on the highway up there. We got there just at the right time, for Officer Holden anyway. And then of course, it seems they liked the way I handled that, they made me a Special Agent for the state. Here, see the badge and I.D.” I passed it around, and then went on, “And, we stopped a pickpocket team. As a result of that the pickpockets had it in for me and they tried to kill me, but ended up killing themselves.” I raised my shirt to show the bandage, “but they did manage to ventilate my hide, but my beautiful wife saved my life. That’s about it,” I said.
“He just hit the highlights,” Faith said, “I’ll fill you all in on the details in the morning, the children are tired and I have to change that dressing on Clay’s side, I don’t want it to get infected.” With that the meeting broke up, Faith picked up Alita and Rosie came over and put her arm around me, we excused ourselves.
The next morning when I woke up I was alone in bed. I looked at the bedside clock, it was past ten. I must have been tired. My feet had just hit the floor when Faith came in. “How are you feeling this morning, does your side hurt?” She said.
“Not as much as my bladder, stand back, if you don’t want to see Niagara Falls.” I said, as I padded to the bathroom, she was right behind me, I lifted the seat and cut loose. “It’s a good thing that I don’t have a shy kidney,” I said, glancing at my wife standing there smiling.
“Well, be that as it may, but you had better be careful with your aim, or you’ll be mopping the floor.” She said, as she put her hand on mine and corrected the aim. I was more than a little bit embarrassed. But grateful too, because I sure didn’t want to mop the floor. When I finished she said,
“Stand there, I want to change your bandage again,” then she jerked the old one off. “Owe!” I said, she poked around on it, “There’s a little red area here, stand in the tub, I’m going to pour Hydrogen Peroxide on it.” And she did….. when I stopped yelling she said, “Oh, quit being a big baby, come on, get dressed, I saved some breakfast for you.”
She went back in the bedroom and laid my clothes out. I came up beside her, she turned and bumped into me, I grabbed her, my breakfast really got cold.
We let the idea of starting our own oil company jell for a few days. A lot of time an idea might sound pretty good one day and not the next. For one thing it sounded like it would be a hell of a lot of work, did we want to get tied up like that?
Dad and I were working with a couple of colts, getting them used to having something on their backs, when Dad said, “Clay, I’m not too sure about this oil thing. Felicia and I were talking last night. We wouldn’t mind finding out if there is oil here. But we don’t want to get tied up with our own oil company. If we could get some wildcat operator to work with us on shares, we’d probably do that.”
“I think you’re right Dad, Faith and I were of the same mind. Even though we don’t have a stake in this ranch, we sort of feel like we’re part of it.”
“Well, you do have a stake in this place, Felicia redid her will, we’re all part of it. I wanted her to wait awhile before she done it, to make sure that’s the way she felt, but she said she was sure. She said as iffy as life was these days, she didn’t want to put it off.
I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted.”
“Yeah, some people might think we were taking advantage of her, and that sure ain’t the case. But it sure looks that way don’t it?” I said.
“Yes, it does. And that bothers me. Shit, a little over a month ago, we didn’t even know this place existed. Felicia and I have been doing a lot of talking. Turns out, she said that she had been praying for a miracle, and then in we flew, three men for three lonely women. Don’t that beat all!” Dad said.
“Yeah, just like that engine acting up, and then we couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Could be some higher power had a hand in it. One never knows.” I said.
“So,” I added, “Does she want us to look for an independent driller?”
“I think so, I told her I would talk to you, to find out what you thought. I’ll tell her what you said, and let you know in the morning. I suppose I had better talk to Alona and Jake, they’re part of this deal too.”
Dad left me to deal with the Colts, one was sure a handful. I snubbed him uptight to the hitching post in the middle of the round corral. Then I talked real slow and easy to him, he started to quiet down. I rubbed him all over; to get him used to being touched. Now horses are a lot like people, you approach them the right way and you can do most anything with them. I told him I wouldn’t get physical with him if he wouldn’t get physical with me. We came to an amicable agreement: I’d go slow in getting that saddle on him and he wouldn’t kick my lights out. Besides, I didn’t want that wound in my side to start bleeding again, Faith would have my hide.
I turned around, Faith, Rosie and little Alita were setting on the corral rails watching me. Alita was sitting up there a big as you please, between Rosie and Faith, of course Faith had one arm around her. Rosie said,
“Can I help, I like horses, I think they like me too.”
“Sure, hop on down here, and I’ll introduce the two of you.” Rosie got down, I loosed the rope a little to give the colt a little breathing room, he seemed quiet enough. As Rosie came up the colt turned his head and sniffed her, then he nickered softly. Rosie held the back of her hand to his nose. I seen the expression in his eyes soften. I gave him more slack.
Rosie was rubbing behind his ears, the next thing I knew she grabbed a hunk of mane and swung up on his back; he just danced a little. Rosie leaned forward over his neck and whispered something to him. I’ll be damned if it didn’t look like he smiled.
I took my rope off of him, Rosie gave him a little knee pressure and they were walking around the corral. I reckon Rosie had herself a horse.
Rosie said, “Can we go for a ride?”
“We, who’s we?” I said.
“Wind Walker and me?”
“Oh, you’ve already named him?” I said.
“Well, he is an Appaloosa and he said he can run as fast as the wind.” Rosie said.
I looked over at Faith, she nodded. “Okay, but don’t go too far, lunch is about ready,” she said.
I opened the corral gate, they trotted out. Rosie still had a hold of his mane, otherwise she was just guiding him with knee pressure. Where she learned to do that, I wouldn’t know. I didn’t think she had ever been around horses before.
Felicia had come up to the corral as all of this was going on, she said, “She is a Caballo Espiritu Jinete. My Father told me that my Great Grandmother was one, also.”
“A what?” I said.
“A horse spirit rider. Or just a spirit rider. They call them a spirit rider, because their spirit and the horse’s spirit are one. They are very rare, you a very fortunate to have her as a daughter.”
Rosie came trotting back, “Can Alita come with me?” She asked.
Faith looked at Felicia, Felicia nodded. “Yes, I guess so, just be careful.” Faith said.
“I will be, she can sit in front of me, I will hold onto her. Windy is the one that thought of taking her along, he likes kids.” Rosie said.
I looked at Faith, she looked back at me. She said, “One never knows what one gets when the bones are tossed, do they?” I just nodded. Bones? I’ve heard of tossing dice, but wait, Oh yeah, in the Bible they tossed ‘bones’. I didn’t know my wife was a Bible reader.
It was two hours later when they came back, Faith heard them coming, she went out on the veranda, “You missed lunch, aren’t you hungry?” Faith said.
“Oh, we found an apple tree, and a wild plum bush, Alita liked the plums, they were soft, I had to chew the apple a little bit for her.” Rosie said.
Alita had plum juice down the front of her, but she had a big smile. Rosie handed her down to Faith, then Rosie took Wind Walker back to the barn and grained him. At least she didn’t have any tack to mess with, nothing to take off of the horse, cause he didn’t have any on.
As Rosie came back, I asked her, “How did you know what was safe to eat?”
“Oh, that was easy, Windy ate some first, he even pawed up some root stuff, some kind of tuber, I think, he ate some first, so I tried it, it was good. I didn’t give any to Alita though.”
Alita wasn’t that full, she reached into Faith’s blouse, she wanted some milk. Faith was only too happy to oblige, she was getting a little full. It wouldn’t be too long till she would start to wean her. Faith popped one out, and Alita latched on. There was a shawl on one of the veranda chairs, I draped it around Faiths shoulder’s.
Faith smiled up at me, and mouthed the words, ‘you big prude.’ Yeah, I suppose I was. Faith and Rosie winked at each other.
When Alita had had her fill, she sat up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and reached her arms out to me. I took her, she pointed to her bottom. Sure, save the dirty jobs for me, that’s just like a woman. I took her in the house and changed her. Faith followed us in, “You need a bath young lady, would you like to go swimming?”
All four us went to that swimming hole where Faith and I first made love, I made sure though that the women brought their swimming suits. And I brought something else, I never went anywhere, anymore without my gun, one never knows, does one?
I said they brought their swimming suits, and they had them on when they got in the water, but the next thing I knew they were tossing them on the bank. I got out and went and laid in the sun on the bank and went to sleep. Let the nymphs play, I didn’t have to watch.
I was glad they didn’t let me sleep too long, Faith woke me up, said I had better move to the shade or I would get a bad burn. She stood over me with water dripping down her thighs. “Where are the kids?” I asked. One big drop fell from her right breast and hit me between the eyes. “They went back to the house,” Faith said, as she pulled my trunks down.
When we got back to the house, both kids were taking a nap. After that work out, I think we needed one also. But Dad and Felicia wanted to talk.
“Well, we talked to Jake and Alona, I guess we’re all in consensus, to try and get an independent driller to drill for oil on our place.” Dad said.
“Okay then, what do you want us to do?” I asked.
“Well we thought that you and Faith could hunt one up for us.” Felicia said.
“Alright, Faith what would you say to a little trip to Montana?” I said, looking at my lovely wife.
“What about the children? Are they going with us?” Faith asked.
“That’s up to you, I don’t think it will be too dangerous. But then again we didn’t think our trip to Santa Fe would be either.” I said.
“Well, you could leave them here,” Felicia said. “Just leave some breast milk in the Fridge. Since Rosie is with us now, she and Alita are together most of the time.”
“Miguel has already checked and serviced the plane, so you could leave tomorrow.” Dad said.
“I guess so. But let me give all of you some advice,” I said, looking back and forth between them. “I think everyone on the ranch, the adults that is, should go armed.”
Felicia said, “Goodness why?”
“Trust me on this, it’s just a feeling I have. Times are changing, people have no natural affection. Also, this land grant thing, greed overcomes common sense. Just be prepared. As far as Rosie goes, you can consider her an adult and trust her the same.”
Just then Rosie came in the room, carrying Alita, “What are we talking about?” she asked.
“I’m glad you’re here, Rosie.” Faith said, then she filled her in on our plans. Rosie said, “Don’t underestimate the kids on this ranch, they can handle themselves. Did you know that Juan can kill a rabbit on the run at fifty yards with his sling?”
“No, I did not know that. But I tell you what, Rosie. You’re in charge of organizing them. You’re right most adults underestimate what kids can do. Let’s hope the bad people do anyway. Along that line of thought, do you remember the movie ‘Cowboys’ with John Wayne? They were all kids, but they beat older men, because the men underestimated the boys.”
“No, I never seen that movie, but I do understand what you’re saying, that’s why I was so good at pick pocketing, people never expected a kid to pick their pocket.”
Dad and Felicia looked at each other, “What’s this?” Dad said.
“Uh, I didn’t fully explain about Rosie, she was taken against her will by those pickpocket couple we told you about. They had trained her to pick pockets. And oh yeah Dad, while we’re gone, I was wondering if you would contact the ranch’s lawyer and start making arrangements for us to legally adopt Rosie?”
“Sure, no problem. Is that what you want Rosie?” Dad asked her.
“Yes, oh yes, of course I do! This is what I’ve wanted all of my life.” Rosie said, as she came over and gave Faith and I a big hug.
“Are you going to check in on the home place in Wyoming, as long as you’ll be flying over it?” Dad asked.
“Yes, I thought I would. I know we don’t have to worry about it, I’m sure Red and Daisy are running the place Okay.” I said. Faith spoke up;
“Who are Red and Daisy?”
“Cousins of my Mother. We run about 500 Cow and Calf pairs. Red is the Foreman for us. Daisy his wife cooks for the hands and keeps the books. They are very competent.” I said.
“How come you never mentioned them before?” Faith said.
“I don’t know. Really the ranch belongs to Dad, I just didn’t think it was important.” I said.
“Felicia,” Faith said, turning to her, “did you know about that?”
“Yes, of course, Karl told me all about it. Don’t be mad at Clay. He’s right, the Big Horn Basin Ranch is in Karl’s and my name, now. As is this ranch. But we have already had a new will drawn up, all of you kids are in it.”
“Oh, I wasn’t worried about that, I was just upset that he didn’t tell me all about it, you know how noisy I am.” Faith said.
“And it’s well that you should be sweetheart,” I said, “don’t worry, from now on you’ll know everything. I guess it’s just that so much has been happening, so fast. That our home place didn’t seem important.”
With that, the confab broke up. It was about an hour till supper time. So, we used the time to pack for our trip. I checked my guns over. It seems we had gathered guns like a ditch does tumbleweeds. But they were all standard size. Faith wanted something a little smaller. “I know,” Faith said,
“In the hall closet, where we keep all the guns, Teddy had bought me a little .32 Auto. But he said he reloaded the shells. He took out the lead and shaved some of it off of the butt end. That way there was more room for extra powder, he said he changed it into a magnum.”
“Well why don’t you go get it, make sure you bring the ammo with it. I’ll finish packing. That was one thing the Navy taught me, is how to fold and pack clothes.”
We only took one suitcase a piece. We wouldn’t be gone that long. Faith came back with the pistol, along with four extra clips for it and a box of shells. We laid out our clothes for the morrow. Jeans, boots, western shirts and overall jackets. With the needed hats by Stetson. I made sure the jackets were loose enough to accommodate the guns and extra clips.