D I V O R C E by cmsix

Chapter 10

A big ball of radiation shines on the earth killing uncountable numbers of germs every day. I don't know why people think that it is cleaner inside their houses where they shut it out.

When they finally decided that I wasn't letting him back in the hut for now, they built up a fire near us and then someone brought me some type of thick soup in a wooden bowl. It tasted good, so I dipped out half a mug and thinned it down with water and made the boy drink it.

I didn't even really have to make him, and after he finished I could tell he wanted more. I yelled for Louise, who'd wandered off, visiting I guess. She came right away and Rega was by her warm side. I pointed to my soup and then to his cup, said half and then showed her with my finger how full I wanted the cup.

They were back with it in less than a minute and I made them watch me thin it with water before I handed it to the boy. He demolished it at once and I handed the cup back to Louise. It came back suitably thinned this time and before we were done the boy had done away with four more cups. He was sleeping restfully twenty minutes later.

I've always hated it when people woke me up to take medicine, but I wasn't about to loose forward motion on this boy. Lucky for him I stretched out the aspirin's time to match the twelfth hour from the time I gave him the penicillin. His other asscheek got a good scrubbing and then I gave him two ccs this time. I'd always started horses out with a double dose, myself too for that matter, and I didn't see any reason to do differently now. I did at least switch him to three hours per aspirin so that the shot times would coincide from now on.

I lay down on the bare ground near him after his shot and George, who was still with me, started speaking firmly and loudly to someone as soon as I did. Louise, Helen, and Nancy appeared with furs right away, spreading them out for me to lie on. When I did, Louise lay down in front of me and wiggled back against my front. The other two stood around for a minute until the chief spoke to them and then they lay down with one, I don't know which one, snuggling up against my back.

I'd told myself to wake in two and a half hours, and as I expected, I did - almost to the minute. The others woke as I was getting up and they were on their feet helping as I put more wood on the fire. I waited for the right time and then woke the boy, giving him an aspirin and making him drink four more mugs of water. He needed to pee again and so I helped him away from the area, let him bleed his lizard, and then took him back to his pallet.

By the time he needed another shot he looked remarkably better. The swelling was much reduced and the red streaking up his leg was gone. I cleaned the wound with peroxide again and wrapped it lightly in gauze this time. I had to call for Rega for some masking tape; I'd forgotten to bring any. She was not distressed to be helping and I held the gauze in place and indicated where she should do her thing.

I'd actually seen the old geezer who'd given me shit yesterday, he was squatting near a small fire, and someone had brought him some breakfast. He didn't come around me though and I wasn't sorry.

So much had been happening that I'd forgotten bringing the coffee pot and the makings. Right after the boy's shot, I motioned to Louise and then to the pot. She perked up at once and got going on it. She must have watched me closer than I'd thought the last time I made it, because she had no trouble. When it was ready she brought me the potholder.

Sensing this was something I needed to do right, I opened the box of cups and took one to George, bringing the pot with me. I handed him the cup and then put my hand on the pot, jerking it away at once and pantomiming that it hurt. He put his hand close enough to feel the heat, but I could tell that he must have already heard the burned tongue story.

I poured him the first cup and took Rega the next one. Thinking of the future for once, I took a cup to the medicine man next, pantomiming the touch again and letting him hold his hand close to see that it was indeed hot. I can't tell you how his attitude changed when I did that.

I was plainly acknowledging his important position in the tribe and his look almost dripped gratitude. All at once we were just colleagues that had disagreed over a specific diagnosis and treatment regimen.

Sky was up beside Rega by now so I took him a cup and poured. Louise didn't seem to know what to do, so I pointed to the box of cups and waved my hand out over the camp. Nancy, Helen, and Louise then grabbed the box and began dispensing the cups.

George made some type of announcement and before I knew it the whole group was lined up from Sky and I suppose it was in order of rank. I didn't give the hot demonstration anymore, figuring if they hadn't been paying attention already it was their tough luck. I did cut back to only about three quarters of a cup to stretch the coffee so that everyone could have some without having to wait for another pot.

I saved Louise, Nancy, and Helen until I'd served the boy and then poured for us basically at the same time. This whole production went very well and I could tell that Indians, or these at least, were very fond of ceremony.

That night I moved the boy's shot up by two hours and did the same thing the next day until I gave him one at sunset that would hold until the sun was back up. I kept him on the stew but let them quit thinning it and I made sure that he drank all the water we could get down him. By the forth day he was so improved that I quit pestering him about water, but he was in the habit now and he must have felt it helped because he kept drinking a lot.

Personally, I thought he was as good as cured by the forth day, but I wasn't taking any chances and I kept him on the shots for a full week, staying mostly right there with him. George had stopped staying with us every minute after two days but he still spent a lot of time close by.

On the third day Sky and a few others had gone hunting again and Rega went along with her equipment. I noticed when they left that the first sheets of visqueen I'd used had been cleaned and were folded up inside when she folded the tarp. Waste not want not.

They came back into camp right at sunset. They hadn't gotten a bear and I doubt they'd expected to, but it looked like they'd killed two deer. After Rega unwrapped the meat, other women started cutting it up into strips and hanging them on some racks that were erected. Several fires were built so that the smoke drifted over the racks.

On the seventh day, I rested. Not really. I headed home, pronouncing the boy, who I'd now christened Junior in my tongue, healed. There was a nice healthy looking scab over his wound and his fever had been gone for the last two days.

I had Louise fix one more pot of coffee, but after the little ceremony was done, I started gathering things up. George came over and said something to me and of course I had no idea what it was, but I took it as a thank you. I stuck out my hand toward him to shake before I thought, but even though I'm sure it was a first for him he stuck his right back at me and he caught on when I gave it a good firm shake.

Ever alert, Sky was in line next and Rega was there before I finished with him. Medicine man was next and I gave him a good firm grip. Before I was done the rest of the village was lined up in order again. Surprisingly, Junior was in line right after medicine man.

As Louise was closing the lid on the remaining unused cups people started drifting toward her to return the ones they'd been using. I dashed over and sent them back, trying to let them know the cups were theirs to keep. Louise finally caught on and I guess she made it understood, since they smiled and left with them.

I got a shock of my own shortly, albeit a pleasant and welcome one. Helen and Nancy showed up to leave with us. Apparently they had been assigned to help us carry our things. Sky and one of the other braves were going with us too, no doubt to make sure the girls were safe on the way back.

It took us nearly an hour to get back to my trailer. Nearly ten minutes of that time had been with me insisting that I was going to carry some of the load. Louise had also come up with things that she was taking back too, and I wasn't about to walk back carrying only the Marlin while the girls struggled with everything else. I ended up having to give them an I have spoken look.

Back at the ranch Nancy and Helen helped Louise get our things in the trailer, even if they were nervous about going inside. They got over that pretty quickly and Louise gave them a tour. Soon enough we sent them on their way home.

We'd had a little to eat before we left but I was hungry now and I knew there were still four of the steak dinners left in the fridge. I opened it, took out two, and warmed Louise and I a meal.

We drank milk with our lunch since I was running short on tea. I could have made some but didn't want to wait on it to eat and the milk wouldn't last forever anyway.

I'm a man, OK, and when the meal was over I didn't say a word as Louise took over to wash the dishes and clean off the table. She seemed happy about how easy it was with the bottle of liquid soap I had and I was glad that I always kept a couple of extra bottles in the trailer. It would have to last forever now, cause I didn't know shit about making soap.

I sat at the table watching and thinking, as if it was my job, while Louise took care of the mess. Mostly I was cussing myself for things I hadn't bought at Wal-Mart or someplace else while I'd had the chance.

After the dishes were done I got the notion that Louise wanted me to take her back to the bedroom and give her a good fucking. I don't know what exactly gave me the idea, but it might have been the way she seemed to have to bend over and flash me with her naked ass every now and then.

I wasn't opposed to sharing a good hosing but it wasn't even noon yet and we'd have a long night to get with the program on that. I grabbed the Marlin up, and let her know we were going outside.

I might be a dumb red neck, but I can figure out some things sometime. The last bad job of getting fresh meat had disappeared when Louise joined me. She already knew exactly how to take care of game. We were going hunting.

Even though I hadn't thought that far ahead, a hunting trip turned out to be a stroke of genius on my part. When Louise understood what we were doing she basically took over.

It didn't take her any time to know what direction the wind was blowing and nearly faster than I could keep up she was hunting. Hell, it seemed all I was going to have to do was follow along and down whatever she came up with. Turns out that's exactly what happened.

We made it maybe a mile or so from the trailer when she seemed to freeze in place. I'd been following about a hundred yards back, at her insistence, and she'd gone ahead even though I made sure to keep her in sight.

Louise had stopped because she'd spotted a doe and two good size fawns. They were browsing along but not doing so for any purpose but finding and eating whatever they came upon.

Louise seemed to melt back toward me in silence and I knelt beside a big old oak, took a rest against it, and waited.

The doe and her fawns kept on keeping on, slowly at first and then seemingly even more slowly, but finally they were within a hundred yards and I let the doe have it, jacking a fresh round in as that one was leaving.

The doe fell at once and the fawns didn't know whether to shit or go blind, so they didn't do anything but jump and then start looking around. I shot one of them next and then the other a few seconds later. Neither of the fawns had ever decided which way to run.

Louise was thrilled, and when the last fawn fell she was off like a shot. She had the three throats cut and the deer bleeding out before I even got there. I just watched and waited to see what she'd get up to next.

About twenty minutes later it was evident that Louise was trying to figure out how she could haul the doe and both fawns back by herself. I might be a lazy bastard but I wasn't about to put up with that. Custom or no custom, I wasn't going to stand for it.

The doe wasn't a big one and I knew she didn't weigh over a hundred and fifty pounds at most. I grabbed her neck and slung her over my shoulder leaving the fawns for Louise to deal with. She was surprised but did the thing she was best at, she minded, as in obeyed.

I might have been acting the he-man but I wasn't stupid about it. Halfway back I set the doe down to take a breather. I wasn't winded by any stretch and I didn't intend to get that way.

Of course Louise wasn't tired in the least and I could tell she wondered what the hold up was. She'd just have to keep wondering until I worked myself into better shape.

In my former time I'd considered myself in excellent physical shape. At six two and only two-fifty-five I wasn't really fat by any stretch. Well maybe I did have a little extra about the middle, but still.

My first look at Sky had let me know that he didn't have any fat to spare on him anywhere and since none of them had a car or pickup to waste away in, they were all in pretty much the same boat, as in able to run all day and probably a lot of the night without getting winded. I wasn't up to that kind of abuse, yet.

A ten-minute breather put me back in gear though and we made it the rest of the way to the trailer with no problem.

Louise was a little lost about what came next when we got back. I figured it was because of what I'd given Rega. I'm sure if it hadn't been for that she'd have gone about things the way she always had, but she hesitated a couple of minutes before getting started.

I went to the U-Haul and opened the back. I hadn't been a complete dumbass while I was shopping and I had been in a damned big hardware store right off the bat. I brought out another of the twenty rolls of visqueen I had left, one of the eleven twelve by twelve canvas tarps and a rolls of masking tape out of God only knows how many that were in the four cases I'd bought.

Louise was thrilled again when she realized she was getting her own complete setup like I'd given Rega. I wasn't through yet though. I dug out a six-inch drop point hunter, complete with sheath, an Arkansas oilstone, and a honing steel for the care and feeding of her knife. Of course I'd have to show her how to sharpen it with the stone and finish with the steel, but we could take care of that later.

Louise didn't realize what the knife was when I handed it to her, but it only took a few minutes to get the message across. She was thrilled with it and she immediately put it to its best use on the doe and the two fawns. I was a little miffed that she had all three gutted, skinned, and cut up in a little over two hours. She was so quick about it I had to stop her while she was about it up so I could introduce her to the small meat saw I had. She thought it was wonderful too.