Depression by cmsix

Chapter 6

The sun was just sending a little light through the window that faced my bed when I woke. The sound of George's pickup coming down my gravel road was the first thing I heard. There was no mistaking it. I knew it was George, but I'd have been happy to hear any truck or even anything I thought was modern.

I dragged yesterday's Levis up to my waist, strapped on my web belt, and headed for the door. I was almost beside myself waiting for him to get stopped and into the house, and I'd completely forgotten about Meka for a minute.

George had the funniest look on his face as he came toward the door; it was almost like he was afraid of what I might say to him. I, on the other hand, was shickled titless to see my new old friend.

"Come in this house and let me get some coffee on," I said, as he reached the door.

I turned toward the kitchen and the first thing I noticed was Meka, sitting up in bed in the smallest T-shirt I'd been able to find. It was hideously large on her but eminently more suitable for nightwear than her buckskin dress. Her expression was priceless though, because she could not believe it when George walked in.

It surprised George so much that he actually took off his felt cowboy hat like Ethel always made him do in his own house. I could see that Meka was trying to hold back a smile and I turned around to look at George.

He was even more surprised than Meka had been, and I finally heard her lose it and giggle. George did look funny with his hat in his hand and his mouth hanging open.

Meka hopped out of bed and scampered toward the bathroom. It was always her first move after she woke. I hadn't figured out yet whether she really needed to pee first thing in the morning, or if she just did it because it was her first chance to play with the toilet for the day.

George had reeled his hanging jaw back into place by now, so I hoped he could pay attention.

"Tell me George, why does it seem like you may know more about what just happened to me than I do?" I asked.

"Because I do know a little bit about it, but before you tear a strip off me, I couldn't tell you about it even though I wanted to," he said.

"You might have been able to. Now that I know some of it at least, I'm not sure I didn't like it. I don't think you had to trick me into it," I said.

"It isn't like that, John. I'd never have tricked you into anything if I could have helped it. It's kind of a long story but though the details are always different every time it's basically the same.

"For some reason, none of us can say a peep about it before the new one's first trip. We simply can't get anything out of our mouths about it," he said.

"Wow, that is big. Do you mean you can't even speak if you try?" I asked.

"Not exactly. It's like we can't even think up anything to say about it," he said.

"Then why did you looked so surprised when you saw Meka was here with me now. If you know something about where I've been," I said.

"The most I know, or think I know, is that you've been back in time from now. I don't know where, I don't know when, I don't know why, and I don't know how. If Meka is the little girl's name, I'm surprised because - from the first - no one extra has ever come back.

"There have been a couple of times that no one at all came back, but there's never been anyone to come back that didn't leave," George said.

I could tell that he was trying to answer my questions now without bothering me with any of his own yet. I guess that was polite, but though there was a lot I wanted to know, I was too happy about being back where I belonged to think about questions just now.

Meka came out of the bathroom then, with her buckskin dress on, still smiling. I'm not sure whether she was still delighted to see George or was just happy that she'd been able to flush the toilet six times without me protesting.

"Meka, this is George," I said, pointing to him.

"George," she said, getting it right on the first try.

"George, this is Meka," I said, finishing the introduction.

"I'm pleased to meet you, ma'am," George said.

Meka must have thought George had misheard me, because she repeated, "Meka."

George looked slightly puzzled and then looked at me.

"Say her name, George. She thinks you can't pronounce it right. She doesn't know who ma'am is and she doesn't speak English, yet?" I said.

"Meka," he said, smiling at her.

"Why can't she speak English?" George asked, before thinking it through, I'm sure.

"I'm pretty sure Meka is a Caddo Indian, and none of them could speak any English. Not while I was with them at least," I said, teasing him just a little.

"Well, if you'd put your time travelin' shirt on, me and Meka might let you go to breakfast up at the house with us," George said, getting his own shot in.

I did as he asked, and was happy to, then the three of us headed outside. George came with us to feed Joe Bob and the boys and then we went to his pickup.

It was new and wonderful for Meka, since I'd never even shown her my pickup. It just hadn't come up during the afternoon we spent after all the others left. She was thrilled with George's fifty-six Chevy though, and thunderstruck when we pulled up behind his house.

Meka didn't know which way to look first. I'm sure all the buildings were exciting for her, but when we headed into the house she got a little timid, probably from hearing the strange voices inside.

I can tell you now that Sprint doesn't know shit about a pin dropping. Meka brought utter silence to the room and the whole crowd was there for breakfast, except Chris. He still hadn't made it to a breakfast yet. He'd probably been a slow learner in school too.

"Don't let nothin' burn while you're a gawkin', Ethel," George said, after a few seconds.

She gave him a dirty look and then checked the stove in spite of herself. When she turned back to face us, I started the introductions.

"Ethel," I said, pointing to her, "This is Meka."

I always knew women were smarter than men. Ethel repeated Meka's name without prompting.

And so it went. I hoped it wasn't too many names for Meka to remember but I was sure it probably was.

"What's the matter with her arm? Is she hurt?" Ethel asked, when we were done introducing.

"Her arm was broken by some French explorers, I think, and several others were hurt too. I set Meka's arm but that lath and the horse wrap were all I had to immobilize it. I don't know how to make a cast and didn't have anything to make it with anyway," I said, explaining.

"Are you sure you set it right?" Wanda asked.

"No, I'm not sure. I did the best I could at the time. Now that she's here, we should probably take her to the hospital, but I'm sure it will be frightening for her."

"I'll bet it won't. I'll call Doctor James and give him a piece of my mind from the first, and then have him come out. He can mind his manners if you make him," Ethel said.

For one, I couldn't believe something Ethel said, but he probably was the best of bad choices. He also knew how to keep a secret if he needed to.

We finally got calmed down enough to eat breakfast, and Meka was the star of the show whether she wanted to be or not. Ethel became her next best friend, after me, when she put down Meka's plate of pancakes.

Ethel slathered them in butter and then did her best to drown them in Maple syrup. She had to show Meka how to use a fork but the girl was a fast learner and she gave the pancakes hell after she got started. When Ethel produced a big glass of milk for her, I'm afraid my stock might have slipped a bit. I wasn't worried though, I knew Coca-Cola would make everything right again.

Of course everyone tried to talk to Meka, and she was very polite about it. Whatever they asked or said, she listened patiently and then repeated their name as a reply. I was surprised that she got them all correct.

"Did I mention that Meka doesn't speak or understand English?" I finally asked the table at large.

They were not deterred and neither was Meka. She even knew not to talk with her mouth full and it made her an even bigger hit with Wanda. Hell, Chuck and Dave weren't fully comfortable with that process yet.

After breakfast, Ethel was on the horn to Doctor James right away. I don't know what she told him, but when she hung up, she said he and his long time nurse would be coming out to look Meka over.

"Won't he need to X-ray her arm?" George asked.

"I asked him, but he said if it was just a simple break, whatever that means, that it would be hard to foul up setting it. And he said that if it isn't, it won't be hard to tell," she said.

"I don't mean to pry, but what did you tell him to get him out here instead of us having to take Meka to his clinic?" I asked.

"I told him she was a young Mexican orphan that we'd been able to adopt, kinda," she said, grinning.

"That'll work," George said, "He's always thought he 'as too good to learn Spanish. It's finally come in handy, besides, he's probably got over fifty Mexican citizens - still wearing wet clothes - working on his ranches. I'm sure more than a few of them don't have all their paperwork ducks in a row."

"He probably won't think to ask any questions anyway," Ethel said, and she seemed pretty sure of herself.

I was a little worried, but not too much, and it turned out that Ethel had hit it on the head. Neither Doctor James nor his old nurse asked any questions. Everything seemed normal about them except their lack of curiosity, but that surely wasn't normal for the Doctor I knew.

I couldn't gripe. He was gentle with Meka and when she gave him a smile he returned an even bigger one, and gave her a short laugh that sounded like it had come from a big friendly bear, if there is such a thing.

He'd even brought all the fixings for a cast and didn't bully Ethel much when he made her let the nurse prepare things using the stove to boil the water. Before they were gone, Meka was proud of the bright white cast she was sporting, even if it did cover her elbow now too.

She adored the sling Ethel made for her from several bright red bandanas George was never going to get to use anymore. I don't think I've seen or even heard of a child so happy about a broken arm.

After the doctor left, Ethel and Wanda took Meka into the bathroom for a bath and a shampoo, wrapping a trash bag around her new cast first. Occasionally George and I could hear her squealing with delight. Everyone else - except Carolyn and Geneva who were working in the kitchen - was off taking care of business.

"Well George, did you and Bob get the new printer here and working?" I asked.

"Not yet, we barely got it ordered yesterday?" he said.

"Oh, you were working on that over a week ago. I'm not complaining or anything, it was Ethel that had to have it, but it seemed like it was closer to the front burner when I was here last," I said.

"That's another thing that'll be strange for ya," he said.

"What is?"

"For us, it was last night that we were down to your house and Ethel was teaching ya to make biscuits," he said.

I just stared at him.

"Believe me, that's how it always is. You didn't have no way of knowing, and we couldn't tell ya, but we waited around out at the county road 'til ya was gone. One minute the house was there and the next there was a big circle of giant yellow pines where you'd been. We knowed they'd be gone and you'd be back afore morning though," he said.

"That's as strange as everything else, stranger even. I was there for more than a week," I said.

"That's the way it's always been though, and I don't think the house will come back without you, if you're still alive. Unless you just don't intend to come back. They have ways of letting you know when it's time," he said.

"I'm just wondering who they is," I said.

"I did for a while, but I'm glad I don't know now. Ain't nothin' I can do about it anyway," he said.

"I guess you've talked to others that have been and come back then?" I asked.

"Yep. And most of 'em haven't been none the worse for wear. One guy was plumb loco when he got back after his first trip, and he never did get over it. We had to call the law, and they came and kept him from doing anything too stupid until an ambulance got here after him and hauled him away.

"The only other one that got fouled up was barely alive when he came back, he'd been scalped, but I was afraid something like that was going to happen to him.

"He was dead set against guns or any type of weapons. He liked to go on about always being able to talk things over and come to an understandin' - I think whoever he ran into understood without any talking.

"We just gave him a nice burial out in the woods and damned little was ever asked about him disappearing. The sheriff didn't ask as many questions as I'd a figured he would have.

"Two different men didn't come back at all. I don't know if they got killed, captured, or just didn't want to come back," George said.

"Was it during their first trip?" I asked.

"No, one had been off three times before, and he loved it. The other one had been once before and when he came back it seemed he was put out that he had, he didn't come back from his next trip," George said.

"I'm not mad or anything, but why did you pick me this time?" I asked.

"I didn't. You called me about the land remember. It was already priced and on the market. It's like I said, we can't even think about saying anything about t'other until after someone's been on one trip. Most of 'em can't ever figure that out, but the ones that hang around after the first time all seem to get it straight," he said.

"Well I'm going to stay put, if you'll let me," I said.

"If we'll let you? It's your land now and even if it wasn't we're happy as hell that you're here. That girl comin' back with ya shows that whoever's runnin' this thing must like ya.

"I know something else too, bout the girl that is, Ethel'd run me off before she'd let you get away now. She's always wanted a little girl and damned if you didn't bring one back, and on the first trip too. Your stock ain't only high with her now, I think it's split three for one," he said, laughing.

"Well I didn't really have much choice," I said.

"I know that probably better'n you, and don't think I'm not glad about the girl. I just hope you'll let Ethel spend some time with her," he said, sounding hopeful.

"Ethel can spend all the time with her that Meka will put up with. I don't know a thing about raising a child and especially a girl. I think the two of them, or from the look of it with Wanda, the three of them are gonna be thick as fleas on a stray dog in no time."

"You're probably right about that," George said.

"Hey, is Bob real busy this morning?" I asked.

"Not too bad I don't think. What'cha got in mind?" he asked.

"I've got a lot of pictures from my vacation, both of the memory cards are practically full, and I'd like to get a better look at 'em," I said.

"I forgot all about that. Let me go tell Ethel and then we'll find Bob after we fetch the camera," George said, excited now.

Ethel said for us to go ahead and get the camera, and that she'd take care of everything else. George and I took off, back to my house and while I was gathering up the camera and the spare memory card I came up with a couple of brain cells firing off of at the same time and grabbed the jar I'd put the musket ball in.

When we got back to the house, Meka came running over to me, showing off her blue jeans and a T-shirt that fit her a lot more closely than any of mine had.

"Those are some of Chuck's and Dave's old clothes they grew out of years ago," Ethel said.

Meka surprised us all by showing she knew how to unbutton and unzip her jeans and then pushing them down around her ankles to show off her cotton briefs. Of course they were boy's, but since she had nothing to compare them to, she was proud of them.

I gave her a big hug and then she pulled her pants back up, smiling as wide as I'd ever seen her, even if she did have to struggle getting them up with one arm in a cast.

"I hope it was all right, but I called a professor at Centenary College while you were gone. He claims to be an expert on Caddo Indians and their culture, and he says he can speak their language.

"I told him that if he'd come for a visit I'd show him some Caddo artifacts he wouldn't believe. He sounded like he didn't believe me, but he's coming down tomorrow anyway," Ethel told me.

"I don't mind and I'm sure he'll be amazed. He might not be so happy when he finds out he probably can't tell anybody though. At least that's what I figure from what George's told me about all this," I said.

"He won't be able to say a word unless everything's changed, but it probably won't bother him too much," George said.

"That's fine for tomorrow, but I'm dying to see the pictures now, if we can," Bob said.

I gave him the camera and the extra memory card and then we all, Meka included, followed him into the office. The card in the camera now was the second one, and the first picture that came up was the one of the Frenchman and his jailhouse tattoo.

Meka was not pleased to see him again, even just the picture on the computer screen. She said something we were probably better off not understanding.

I had to explain the tattoo to the rest of them, and they sat still for the whole story, but finally George spoke up.

"But what does it say?" he asked.

"If I remembered my high school French right, that says do not return."

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," George said, laughing, "You sent him off like a no-deposit Coke bottle,"

It was funny, to me anyway, but Meka latched on tight to the only word George said that she understood. She looked right at me and smiled so politely.

"Ethel, I think George has said Meka's magic word," I said.

"He has? What is it?" she asked.

"Coke. If you'd like to have a friend for life, all it'll take is a Coke for Meka," I said.

Meka's Coke was back in a few seconds, but it confused her at first. Ethel had them in the plastic bottles instead of cans, and she had to show Meka how to get at it. Meka was fascinated with the screw cap too, and she barely had time for sips between screwing and unscrewing the top. She was supremely happy with the first taste though.

Meka glanced at the rest of the pictures some, and I think she was telling us the names of the people as they showed up, but they were long and we couldn't really understand them. We were glued to the images though, even me, and I took them.

After the show was over, Ethel wanted Bob and George to call the printer people again, but then she relented. Bob promised to make her the best prints he could with the printer he had and said he'd save the files to disc anyway, since he always did.

"Since I found and deleted Chuck's and Dave's stash of naked Pamela Anderson pictures we've got plenty of disc space again," he said.

We kept going over the images until it was time for lunch. Carolyn and Geneva had done fine without Ethel, and Meka got her first hamburger and fries. She seemed to think they were perfectly wonderful even though she'd looked askance at them at first, and of course, her Coca-Cola was the perfect wine selection.

After lunch, Ethel and Wanda wanted to take Meka shopping and it was more than fine with me. I was surprised that they were gone until right before supper, and I thought we'd never get all the packages in the house, even with all the hands pressed into service.

After supper it was time for a mini fashion show and Meka put on a brave face while showing off the normal girl clothes. She shined when it came time to show her own jeans that fit her right though, and her favorite shirts seemed to be the Wrangler blue cotton western styled ones that look just like the jeans. They aren't really denim, they're normal cotton cloth, but they're dyed to match.

But the cowboy boots and the straw cowboy hat were the coup de grâce, and it was obvious that she loved them. I noticed that the boots looked a lot like mine and the hat was probably as close as she could find to one like George's.

"I can see right now that we need to load up and go to Austin," George said.

"What on earth for?" Ethel said.

"We have to let Manny make her a hat or two for one thing, and we should probably order her a few pairs of boots," he said.

"Well, it is late in the year for her to be wearing a straw hat, but don't you think she'll outgrow the boots too fast?" Ethel asked.

"We can do 'em just like we did for Chuck and Dave, and still do for a matter of fact. We'll just get 'em to make her up a few sizes ahead - they can make a good guess about how here feet will grow - and if they get too small before she wears 'em out - we'll have more keepsakes from when she was little," George said, looking straight at Ethel.

They both nearly teared up for a second but the moment passed. It was only later that George told me they still had every pair of boots that Bob had worn when he was a child, and all of Chuck's and Dave's too.

I wondered if Ethel would want Meka to stay with them overnight, but Meka didn't let that discussion get started. When George got up to run me back to the house, she seemed to know exactly what was going on and she was up to follow him before I was.

When we went out to feed I decided that the world revolves around little girls. Joe Bob, Jasper, and Jeffry were as bad, in their own way, as Ethel and Wanda had been. Even when I put oats in their trough they kept standing by the wall and leaning their heads over it so Meka could pet their muzzles any time she wanted to.

After we were done and in the house, I gave Meka another Coke and left her to her own devices while I took a quick shower. When I came out she was still sitting at the table, waiting for me, and I decided that I needed a TV or at least a radio for her.

I woke the next morning before sunrise and Meka woke when I rolled out. I had to be sure I beat her to the restroom this morning, not so much because I just had to go, but because I knew I'd have to cut her quality flushing time short after I heard the first one if I didn't. She didn't seem to mind and when I was done she reclaimed her domain.

I knew that some people would think it was wrong to let her play with the crapper. All I can say to that is, fuck off. If she likes to play with it, that's fine with me. If she wears it completely out, I can afford another one. If she fills up the septic tank, well backhoes don't really charge that much when you consider all they do for you.

Seems like there's always somebody that wants to tell somebody else just where they're going wrong and what they should be doing. Birth control and abortions are just plain sinful. Fine, then you figure out where all those extra people are going to shit and get a drink of water. Meanwhile, Meka can flush the toilet until the cows come home, and I don't even have any cows.

She must be getting tired of it anyway, because she only flushed it four times this morning. The coffee was just about done when she came out, smiling at me as she watched like a hawk while I poured myself a mug.

It looked like she was getting set to try letting me know she wanted to try it too, so I found a small insulated plastic mug for her and fixed her up. I made sure to tell her it was hot about fourteen times, knowing she couldn't understand. Finally I held her good hand next to the pot until I knew she understood.

Her first sip was careful and I don't think she really got a taste of the flavor over being so careful not to burn her tongue. She did get enough the next time though, and she screwed up her face at it. Her tongue was bloody but unbowed, and she fought right on through to the end. I think it had grown on her by the last.

We heard George coming up the drive before we could drink another, but I poured our mugs full and found the snap-on tops. I went ahead and fixed George a mug too, just in case.

Meka rushed out the door to give George his coffee mug before he even got his door open. He traded her a big smile for it and took a sip while she watched, smacking his lips to let her know he thought it was perfect. I came on out with my mug and hers and locked the door behind me.

"That college man called and said he'd be here by ten AM," George said, as soon as I had my door closed.

"I hope he doesn't ask too many questions," I said.

"He might ask a lot of 'em, but don't worry about what you say to him. Probably nothin' that matters will even occur to ya, but it's even more likely that he won't be able to tell a soul. We've never worried too much about that. They seem to take care of that end completely," he said.

We had a big breakfast, as usual, and Meka got to try waffles this morning. She was pleased with the little squares and she made sure to get every one of them full of butter and then refilled with syrup after the butter melted. Then she made it all disappear.

She seemed at least mostly confident about sausage, but the bacon was obviously totally new to her. That didn't stop her from doing some real damage to it after she tried a slice.

Ethel told me I should be ashamed of myself for starting her on coffee.

"What do you think you'd have done if you were drinking a cup and she looked those big brown eyes at you?" I asked.

"I guess it won't hurt her," Ethel said, not wanting to admit she'd have done the exact same thing I did.

After breakfast was over and the hands had gone off about their business, Bob brought out the pictures he'd printed and we all ooed and awed over them again. Meka was much more interested in them this time and I figured it was because they were something she could hold in her hand.

We were still looking at them when Doctor Jorgenson, the Caddo Indian expert drove up. Ethel went outside to meet him while Bob hid all the pictures, for a while anyway.

I had brought Meka's Indian clothes down with us this morning and I sent her into the bathroom to flush a few times and change.

Ethel introduced us all to Doctor Jorge Jorgenson when they came in and we were done with 'pleased to meet you' by the time Meka came back after changing.

At first I thought Jorge Jorgenson would faint dead away and I know he got weak in the knees and swayed around for a second. When Ethel introduced him to Meka, his mouth dropped even lower than George's had.

Meka repeated his name but the poor professor couldn't get a word out with his mouth hanging open like that.

"Meka is a Caddo Indian, Doctor, she's just come here from sixteen twenty. She can't speak any English," I told him.

He didn't seem any more shook up by that than he had from seeing her. It was obvious that he'd known she was a Caddo all along. He said something to Meka then, and it must have been in her language, or close anyway. She cocked her head looking at him at first, and then she replied, as if it had taken her a few seconds to figure out just what he said.

It must have been something special for him, and he sank to his knees almost like he was going to pray to her or something. At least he recovered enough to speak to her again now that he was eye level with her. Meka took it in stride and Jorge looked like he was coming to grips with the whole thing.

Ethel got him a cup of coffee and Meka a Coke and took them to another room where they could talk a little. They faded from our attention then because a truck pulled up, towing a forklift on a trailer behind it.

"It must be the new printer," Bob said, clearly excited.

It was.

Lunch was delayed until one PM today, mostly because of the printer and the technician that had come up in a rent-a-car, not twenty seconds behind the truck.

I think the delay was mostly for Bob's sake. The printer was up and working by then and Bob was dying to get his first print.

Meka came out of the room where she and the professor had been talking and hurried over to me.

"Daddy," she said, when she hopped into my lap while I sat on a couch. It nearly broke me up and I hugged her tight.

"My name is Meka," she said, smiling proudly.

"I know baby, and I'm so glad you're here," I said, eyes dripping by now.

"I'm very glad to meet you, Daddy," she said.

In a note from a reader after this chapter was posted, I learned that Marvin Emmanuel Gammage, Jr. (Manny) died of cancer on December 30, 1995.

You can get the whole story of Texas Hatters at their website.

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