Horrible Harvest

We wouldn’t see Piney again ‘til next sunup. He come up on us set atop a big ol’ cream-colored draft horse. He roused us from sleep with a hearty whistle.

“You fellas are on Dakota time. We get up at sunlight’s first piss.”

Douglas set up with one eye closed and a deep frown on his face. “I got no idea what that means.”

“Means you need to get up on your go, or you’re gonna owe me another whole hundred dollars. I wanna get you boys to your final resting spot so I can get on with my trade.”

We all scrambled to gather our things, saddle our horses and hit the trail.

“I call up wind,” Douglas said, as he moved his horse ahead of Piney.

“Well, wind’ll be at our backs – ”

Douglas quickly turnt and cajoled his mount to the back of the pack.

We rode. In silence. With the exception of a nonsensical tune sung by Piney that he repeated from first verse to last over and over again ‘til Tate couldn’t take no more.

“Goddamn it, man. If you don’t stop that cackling, I am going to cut your vocal cords out.”

Piney give a laugh. “Now, I do offer my sorrys for that. I travel on the one – by my lonesome most the time. I sing to pass the time and keep the hungry old bears away. They do not like my singing – Not at all – Kind of like you, nigger-fella.”

“Look, you smelly-shit-cracker, call me Tate or find my boot up your ass.”

“Tate? That’s your name?”

“Of course, it’s my name. Why would I want you to call me Tate if it wasn’t my name?”

“I don’t know. You’re the first nigger I ever spoke to. I didn’t know if they give you names and whatnot.”

“Look here – ”

“Piney,” I said, cutting Tate off. “For shit-saake, call him Tate. Don’t call him nothing else.”

“Sure. That’s fine by me. I’m just saying, I ain’t never had occasion to spend time with a Tate before. Don’t know much about’em. I know they got put free recently, and it’s riled a few folks – Ain’t riled me, Tate-fella. Glad for you and yours. ‘Course you want real freedom, you won’t find that nowhere but here – In the Dakotas.”

“You weren’t in the war?” Douglas asked.

“Nah – Heard about it. A lot of talk on it when I’d do business in one outpost to the other. Wasn’t none of my business. Don’t get me wrong. never understood the whole slave mess. I never needed nobody to make money for me. I done so all on my own. I ain’t rich, but I got my plot of land and food in my belly. What else does a man need?”

“Well, like I said before,” Douglas said. “A bath is something you are in sore need of.”

“Ima look into it. I am. You got me thinking. Maybe I can get ol’ good Kate to snuggle on me if I was all bathed up.”

“Good Kate?”

“Uecker’s sister. He owns the furrier post North of here. I practice in trade with him on the regular. She does his money counting – books, she calls it. Pretty gal. Younger than me by 20 years – I figure, but that don’t make her young. I’m old as shit. She’s got this thick, well-combed hair – straight as a mountain lion’s tooth. Keeps it just neck long. Healthy gal – Holds a good bit of her weight in her bottom – I do like that – I do. Rosy cheeks. Her flesh just sparkles with freckles, too. Got a tattoo visible on her right arm – at the crook. Her and her brother got drunk on sour ale, and he give it to her. Inked her up with the words, “Fill my heart before you fill my loins.” I got no idea what a thing like that means, but I like it. You fellas wouldn’t know, would you? What that means?”

“Means you might have a chance with her if you took a bath,” Douglas said. “I get the sense she’s not that choosy otherwise.”

He hooted. “Well, I’d washed up years ago if I knowed that. I got a glimpse of her in the altogether one time – She was scrubbing herself down in the river, and I’m here to tell you, I’d give up all the years I have left to get a peek at that again. That bottom of hers was nice and plump – I tell you she hides a good bit of weight back there?”

“You did,” I said.

“I like that. Looks good on a gal – And she’s smart, too. She’s always got a joke for me when I visit. She always gives me a good chuckle. She’s got it all, boys – A round bottom, freckles, jokes, combed hair – She’s about all you could want in a woman – I even like that ‘fill my heart’ tattoo of hers. I get a wiggle in my stomach whenever I think of her.”

“Well,” Douglas said. “Keep your wiggles to yourself, and temper that lust of yours. Ain’t none of us interested in the direction this conversation is headed.”

“Lust? You think that’s what I got for her?”

“Sounds like it, yes.”

“And that’s different from love how? ‘Cause I was thinking that’s where I was headed towards her – Love.”

“Well, what gives you more wiggles, her jokes, or her plump behind?”

He give Douglas’s question thought. “I gotta be honest, it’s her all-entire that sets me to wiggling. From her freckles to her pipe.”

“Pipe?”

“She smokes a pipe – I didn’t mention that part? I even traded a pelt for a fancy one at an outpost south of here. Ima gift it to her my next trip north. I don’t want nothing for it ‘cept a smile. I like it when she smiles. That ol’ fat tip of her tongue squeezes out between her teeth just a smidge when she smiles. That’ll get any man going, it will.”

“That’s love,” Tate said.

Piney snapped his fingers. “I knew it. I ain’t surprised, but I wasn’t sure on it. Don’t have much experience with such things. Never had no lessons on it.”

“You want her to love you back, take a bath before you gift her that pipe,” Douglas said.

Piney turnt to me. “You ain’t said, much on the matter, fella. What’s your take?”

“My take? My take is that the only difference between lust and love is that love comes with heartache and woe. You’re better off keeping the pipe and just testing her wild side with that sour ale she likes.”

“Don’t listen to my brother,” Douglas said. “He’s in the wrong frame of mind to give advice on lust or love.”

“You two are brothers?”

“We are,” Douglas said. “By half and by God.”

I rolled my eyes. “We got the same sumbitch for a father.”

Piney give a laugh. “That’s the only way they come, ain’t it? I’m sure I got halfs running around here and there. Hell, rumor is a Lakota or two got my same smile.”

“Most folks that ain’t got teeth have your smile,” I said.

He nodded. “Might be something to that. Daddy hated Indians. Hated Tates. Hated me. Might be why I get along with the Sioux – I don’t know Tates well enough to say I like them or not, but I’m not opposed to your company, Tate-fella.”

Tate sighed. “I’m relieved.”

“Oh, round-bottomed Kate is my love,” he sang. “She come from the angels above. She gives me wiggles and laughs, and I’ll give her my heartbeats last – ”

“What did we say about the singing, Piney,” Tate barked.

“Right. I just felt full and happy. It leaked out of me. I got good Kate on my mind. Ima fill her heart, so’s I can fill her loins – Whatever that means – There – That ridge on the other side of the creek.”

“What about it?” I asked.

“That’s the beginning of it – Miller’s claim.”