JC: Ed Biggers
Part 2: Equilibrant
Chapter 12
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

With a smile, Ed handed over the carton of cigarettes and shook 
hands with Chief Daniels to seal the deal. The Chief said, "We 
keep one of every three samples and you travel with two of our 
people."

Nodding, Ed said, "We appreciate being able to go on your lands."

The Chief had a long history of dealing with Ed, going back to 
when Ed was a bigot and a bully. Despite his reputation, Ed had 
always treated him fairly. He smiled and said, "The last time you 
were here, we made several thousand dollars off the rocks you 
brought back."

Ed said, "I make no promises about what we'll find."

A young man dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans came over to 
the Chief. He looked at Ed and then glanced down at Tiger. He 
said, "I hear that John Carter is going to take a walk after you 
return home."

Looking at the man, Ed was surprised by his knowledge about 
what was going on. John's trip to visit William Redman was 
associated with a separate tribe. Ed said, "Yes."

"The animal spirits are active of late. Medicine men from many 
tribes are waiting to see what comes from this walk of his." The 
young man looked out at the horizon as though seeing something 
beyond the sight of normal men. He added, "It takes power to 
attract spirits such as the Bobcat that is with you."

Ed answered, "He serves the Gods and Goddesses. The cats are a 
gift from them."

The young man said, "You carry with you a talisman of great 
power."

"I serve the Gods and Goddesses," replied Ed.

"May I see it?"

Ed brought the medallion out from his shirt and showed it to the 
man. The man read the words 'To Find A Truth' on one side and on 
the other side, 'A Lie To Find.' Surprised, he looked at Ed and said, 
"You serve truth."

Nodding, Ed answered, "Yes, I do."

The young man turned to the Chief and said, "You do not need to 
have him watched. He will be honest with you."

At the look on the Chief's face, Ed interrupted, "Sometimes, there 
is more than one reason for doing something. I might suggest that 
the Grandmothers of the tribe selected a couple to go with us for 
reasons that have nothing to do with our visit."

Surprised at the insight, Chief Daniels said, "You see more than 
you let on."

Watching as Tiger started stalking a jackrabbit, Ed said, "It comes 
of serving truth."

When Tiger burst forth to catch the rabbit, the younger man said, 
"This John Carter. Is he a good man?"

A disgruntled Tiger returned having missed the rabbit. Looking 
down at the cat, Ed replied, "He is a better man than me, but he is 
still a man."

"You are modest."

"I am honest," replied Ed. The cat wandered around bored and 
ready to be moving.

The Chief, after observing the cat, said, "They will meet you at the 
base of the Butte tomorrow morning. They left this morning. You 
can drive most of the way, but will have to ride your horses or hike 
the rest of the way."

After the appropriate farewells, Ed, Kim, and the cat returned to 
the two trucks. On the way, Kim asked, "I don't understand what 
went on there. Could you explain?"

Sighing, Ed said, "I'll explain when we have a little more privacy."

Looking around, Kim realized that Ed was probably correct. A 
number of people were looking at them with interests that ranged 
from curiosity to outright dislike. She got into her truck and waited 
for him to reach his. 

They drove off, with her following him toward the area that Ed 
wanted to search. He had been to many sites within this 
reservation, but never this particular area. This particular tribe 
tended to have much more control over the reservation and it was 
rare that they let people wander around looking for rocks. Ed had 
come here several times in the past and always shared his finds 
with the tribe. It was one of the reasons why they allowed him on 
their land.

They reached the end of a dirt road, forced to a stop by a large 
gully that cut across it.  Pulling off the road, they parked their 
trucks side by side. Both of them went to the trailers they were 
towing and led the horses out. It took some time to saddle them 
and load the pack horses. Kim's movements were natural, as 
though she had years of experience doing this. He asked, "It looks 
like you have a bit of experience with horses."

"I was a barrel rider in high school," replied Kim. It was a common 
enough activity for teenage girls growing up in the country. 
Almost all of them had a horse growing up. She had actually gone 
on to compete, but had never really succeeded. The fact was, she 
was happy riding the horse, but not going around the barrels. 

They mounted up and headed towards the butte. Kim rode along 
beside Ed with Tiger leading the way. When the horses had settled 
to a nice pace and the ride had become easier, Kim asked, "So 
what was all of that with the Chief and the other guy?"

Ed replied, "The Chief doesn't like whites roaming around the 
reservation on their own. They've had too much trouble in the past. 
I agreed that we would give a third of our finds to the tribe. Since 
we are white, he wants someone to accompany us. I agreed to 
allow a couple to come with us."

Kim asked, "Why a couple?"

Laughing, Ed said, "Occasionally you have a couple that is having 
problems and the old women of the tribe will find something like 
this for them to do. It forces them to confront each other in the 
openness of the desert where nothing can hide."

 As understanding washed over her, Kim said, "Ah, so that is why 
you talked about the Grandmothers to the young Indian. So who 
was the young Indian?"

Smiling, Ed said, "He is the tribe's Medicine Man and is very 
important. He has a different kind of power within the tribe."

They rode on as Tiger disappeared within the scrub grass. From 
atop the horses, they could tell that he was stalking something, but 
could not see what had interested the cat. Rather than disturb the 
hunt, they rode on. Kim asked, "What was all of that talk about 
animal spirits and you serving truth?"

"John and I are Druids. We are in the service of the Gods and 
Goddesses. John serves the God and the Goddess. I serve the Two-
Sided One. His service is to help people that are in danger and to 
fight the strong that prey upon the weak. My service is to the 
truth," replied Ed. He paused to look for Tiger and saw that cat 
bounding through the scrub. He continued, "The Medicine Man is 
involved with the animal spirits. To him, Tiger, Rover, and 
Shadow are signs of great power. When John goes on his walk, he 
is expected to meet with Robert White Feather's grandfather. He is 
a Medicine Man of a different tribe. It would appear that this 
meeting involves much more than I knew about since the Medicine 
Men of many different tribes are awaiting the outcome."

Kim asked, "So what about the medallion?"

Amused at her curiosity, Ed replied, "It was a gift from the Two-
Sided One that I serve. It was put around my neck by him and can 
only by a God or a Goddess. It is a medallion of great power. The 
Medicine Man recognized it for what it was."

"Wow, that's amazing," replied Kim. She looked at Ed and thought 
about all that she knew about him. She asked, "Does your service 
have anything to do with the raid against the criminal 
organizations?"

Nodding, Ed answered, "Everything to do with it. Our service 
demanded that we do something, but the scale and scope wasn't 
fixed. After the attempts on John's life, a Druid was dispatched to 
warn them away from accepting any contracts against any Druid. 
They tortured and killed the Druid. At that point, we decided that 
they all had to go. It took us a year to put it all together."

"A year?" asked Kim. She couldn't imagine planning anything out 
that long in advance. 

Laughing, Ed replied, "Yes, a year. This is my first vacation since 
that effort started and I'm going to enjoy it."

As they rode, Kim asked all kinds of questions about the family 
and the type of relations that they had with each other. She had 
been shocked at how easily his wives had accepted that he might 
have a girlfriend on the side. It was a matter of curiosity that drove 
her to ask everything she could about Kelly and Beth. As 
surprising as Ed's willingness to answer the questions, the answers 
confused her more. 

After a while, they settled down to a nice relaxing ride. Tiger 
returned with quail feathers around his mouth. Smiling at the cat, 
Ed was amazed at how easily the cats took care of themselves in 
the field. He knew that the cat would probably want to nap and 
digest his food. He said, "Kim, let's rest the horses here for about 
thirty minutes. The cat has just eaten and will want to rest for a 
bit."

They stopped and climbed off their horses. Watching Kim get off 
her horse, he appreciated the sight of her heart shaped ass 
packaged in tight fitting blue jeans. She caught him watching and 
shook her head while wearing a crooked smile. Dismounting, Ed 
tied the horse to a scrub brush and walked around the horses 
stretching his back. 

Looking around, he said, "It is grand out here, isn't it?"

She looked up at the sky and said, "The desert is the only place I 
ever see a sky that particular blue."

"I know what you mean. It is so large out here that it makes you 
feel insignificant. Yet the sky seems to shrink in town, blocked out 
by the buildings," replied Ed. Frowning, he said, "Maybe that is 
why I dislike towns so much, it tends to distort our sense of our 
place in the universe."

"You've got the soul of a poet," remarked Kim. 

"I don't know about that. I do know that I love it out here and that 
seeing it from horseback seems to open up the land around me that 
just doesn't happen when I walk," replied Ed. 

It bothered her that Kelly and Beth were correct about Ed. His 
charm and manner was hard to resist. She could understand how it 
was that they expected something to happen on this trip. She also 
knew that Ed loved his wives with his whole heart and wondered if 
there was room in it for her as well. Perhaps she hoped for more 
from this trip than was reasonable.

When Tiger started pacing around, they mounted up and headed 
towards the Butte. The Butte would be a good site to look at for a 
day or two, but there were other, more interesting, geological 
structures in the area. The ride was pleasant as the two companions 
joked back and forth.

It was a couple of hours before sunset when they reached the 
Butte. Ed stood up in his stirrups and looked around for a good 
camping spot. A little way around the Butte was a small hill. 
Pointing to it, he said, "We'll camp there tonight. Our fire should 
be visible for quite a distance and the couple will know where to 
meet us in the morning."

Looking at where Ed had pointed, she replied, "Good idea."

They rode over to the spot that Ed had pointed out. Reaching it, 
they noticed signs of an earlier fire. Frowning, Ed said, "They 
should have buried that."

The first business at hand was taking care of the horses. 
Unsaddling them, watering and feeding them took thirty minutes. 
When it came time to set up camp, Ed was pleased to see that she 
camped without a tent in the same way that he did. It was then time 
to collect material to burn for a fire. Out here, that meant lots of 
branches from scrub brush and dried cactus. When he judged that 
he had enough for the night, he sat down and took a big drink of 
water. He noticed Kim doing the same thing.

They sat there for a while and then Ed said, "I'll start dinner if you 
want to relax a bit."

Laughing, Kim replied, "How about I start dinner and you start to 
work on the toilet?"

"Pardon?" asked Ed. He had never really worried about setting up 
a camp toilet, usually going a little way out of camp to piss and 
squatting over a hole when he needed to shit. 

Shaking her head, she led him to her pack and removed a number 
of posts, a toilet seat, and a square of canvas. He looked at them 
and asked, "What am I supposed to do with this stuff?"

Amazed that he had never seen anything like this, she decided to 
show him. She inserted four of the posts into holes in the bottom of 
the toilet seat. It sat there like a simple chair. She set two of the 
posts in the pockets of the canvas. Walking a slight distance from 
the camp, she pushed the ends of the post into the ground. 
Realizing that she had just erected a simple privacy curtain, Ed 
carried the chair over to the site. She said, "You can dig the pit 
while I start the fire."

Ed returned to his pack and removed a folding shovel from it. 
Going back to the toilet, he dug a shallow trench. When someone 
used the chair, they could move the chair a little ways down the 
trench and cover the waste with dirt. It would be sanitary and easy 
to use. He left the shovel stuck in the ground next to the chair.

In camp, Kim had just finished lighting the fire. Walking over to it, 
Ed stopped at his pack and removed the grill along with some food 
and cooking equipment. Kim looked at his supplies and said, "I 
usually travel with aluminum pots and pans. They're lighter."

Laughing Ed said, "Never could cook with that stuff. I like the 
taste of food cooked in cast iron."

"You and most men," replied Kim. She remembered back to the 
evening that she had spent on the stairs listening to the men talk. 
Kelly and Beth had been right that their conversations tended to be 
very boring. At least he could hold a conversation with her out 
here.

Kneeling down by the fire, he said, "I brought a two steaks to cook 
over the fire. We have a can of fruit and some corn on the cob. For 
desert, I have some biscuit mix and pie filling for a field cobbler."

She laughed and said, "I can tell who is going to be doing the 
cooking out here. I brought mostly canned food so that I wouldn't 
have to cook much."

"I like to eat well when I'm out here."

They waited for the coals to burn down. Once they had a good bed 
of coals, Ed started cooking. They sat on their bedrolls around the 
fire as the food slowly cooked. After the ride, it was nice to just sit. 
Kim continued to ask questions about the family relations. 

Thirty minutes before sunset, the food was finished cooking. Ed 
put the steaks on two plates and fished out an ear of corn for each 
of them. With his can opener, Kim opened the canned fruit and 
divided the contents onto the two plates. They sat back and ate as 
the sun set. For a change, Kim was quiet and just enjoyed watching 
the sky above them darken while the western horizon glowed with 
hundreds of colors. 

Once the dinner had been finished, Ed unburied the Dutch Oven 
and served up two large helpings of desert. Kim looked at the 
mound of food on her plate and groaned. Ed asked, "What's the 
matter?"

"I was just saying goodbye to this figure that I've worked so hard 
to achieve."

Chuckling at her vanity, Ed replied, "Tomorrow, you'll work it all 
off."

Laughing at how much work she expected to do, she had to agree. 
Tomorrow they would be climbing over rocks and digging in the 
surface of the Butte. The cobbler was outstanding and they both 
finished it without further discussion. Sighing, Kim laid back and 
said, "Why is it that food always tastes better outdoors?"

"The appetite is much stronger out here," replied Ed. He looked 
over at her as she reclined. The outline of her breasts was clear as 
the fabric of her shirt pulled taut over them. He licked his lips and 
lay back in an attempt to distance himself from the effect her body 
had on him.

After a half an hour of letting the food settle, Ed sat up and started 
cleaning up the camp. He washed the Dutch Over and plates using 
the sand. Kim watched him work amazed at how he used the sand 
to clean the plates. He noticed and said, "You'd be surprised at how 
clean this gets them."

Once they were done, he poured a small amount of water on each 
and then dried them off. Everything was spotless. He packed 
everything except the grill back in his pack. In the morning they'd 
have eggs and toast. Standing up, he looked around the darkened 
landscape eventually spotting a camp fire about a two hour ride 
away. Pointing, he said, "I think our chaperones are over there."

She looked in the direction that he had identified and saw the very 
faint flicker of a fire, but the small plume of smoke reaching into 
the sky was far easier to spot. Nodding, she said, "I wonder what 
they'll be like."

"Don't worry, they'll probably argue most of the time they are with 
us," replied Ed. 

"They'll argue with us?"

Laughing, Ed replied, "No, with each other. That is a reason they 
were chosen."

Making a face as if she had swallowed something that tasted bad, 
Kim said, "That's all that I need."

Ed lay back on his bedroll and stared up at the sky. Before he knew 
it, he was asleep as the work load of the past year caught up to 
him. Shocked, Kim stared at him as he slept. Her plans had not 
exactly included love making that night, but at least a little 
attention from him. Frustrated, she undressed and, lying on her 
back, brought herself to an orgasm using her fingers.

Ed woke in the morning, surprised to see that the sun had risen 
quite a while ago. For a change, he wasn't all that groggy and 
looked around taking in his surroundings. He spotted Kim 
squatting by the fire preparing coffee. She had changed her clothes, 
the pants weren't quite so tight and she was wearing a tee-shirt. 
The coffee was starting to perk and the aroma was only now 
spreading on the air. He said, "Good Morning."

She looked over her shoulder at him. The look she gave him wasn't 
inviting. She said, "You fell asleep last night."

The undercurrent of hostility in her greeting surprised Ed. He 
replied, "I'm sorry. I guess a year of overtime finally caught up 
with me."

She said, "I didn't sleep all that well last night, so pardon me if I'm 
a little grumpy today."

"Did I snore?" asked Ed hoping that he wasn't the reason for her 
lack of sleep.

"No, you didn't snore," answered Kim. She felt like adding that he 
didn't try to sleep with her. She bit her tongue instead of saying 
more.

Ed stood up and stretched while examining his environment. The 
horses had grazed through the night on the scrub grass. It was 
enough to keep them alive, but he'd feed them some oats later. He 
looked down and said, "I can't believe that I fell asleep with my 
boots on."

"I can't believe that you fell asleep," said Kim.

Ed went to his pack and called over to her, "Would you mind 
turning your back while I change?"

Kim purposely turned so that she could watch him change. After 
glancing at her, he decided to change anyway. Not quite sure why 
she was angry with him, he shrugged it off as being tired. He took 
off his shirt and put on a clean one. After emptying his pockets, he 
took his boots, pants, and briefs off. Once he had replaced his 
briefs and pants, he asked, "Did you enjoy the show?"

She didn't answer, having caught sight of the bullet wound in his 
leg. She asked, "How did you get shot?"

"Trying to get to John during a gunfight," replied Ed. He looked 
out and noticed that a couple of horses were headed their way. He 
said, "It looks like our chaperones are on their way."

Kim grumbled, "Like we need chaperones."

Ed didn't quite catch what she said, but understood the sentiment 
behind it. He realized that he had camped overnight with a very 
attractive young woman and had fallen asleep without  paying the 
least attention to her. It reminded him of the second date with 
Kelly where they had fallen asleep on the couch. He started 
laughing at the memory.

Kim asked, "What's so funny?"

Smiling at her, he said, "You're in good company. The second date 
with Kelly ended up with us sound asleep on her couch. You might 
say that the first time her and I slept together there wasn't any sex."

Shaking her head, she said, "How can you be interested in a 
woman and not stay awake long enough to see if she'll sleep with 
you?"

Ed answered, "If I'm interested in a woman, I want to get to know 
her before I make love with her."

That was an argument that Kim could not contest. She looked at 
the horizon and saw that their chaperones were much closer. 
They'd be there within an hour. Ed put on his boots and walked 
over to the coffee pot. Kneeling down, he poured two cups offering 
one to Kim. She accepted it and blew across the hot liquid in a 
futile attempt to cool it down. He took a small sip letting it burn his 
mouth, but helping him to wake up. 

Setting the cup down, he went to his pack and retrieved a bag of 
bacon and four eggs. He carried it over in his cast iron skillet. Kim 
watched and said, "Wow, you really travel heavy."

Laughing, Ed replied, "Why do you think I have a pack horse? It 
can carry over two hundred pounds of gear."

"So what else do you have in there?"

"Mostly food and water for the horses. Then some food and water 
for us, cooking gear, and my rock hunting gear," answered Ed. 
Thinking twice, he added, "And some clothes for me."

While Ed prepared breakfast, Kim went out to the toilet. Her head 
was above the top of the canvas. She watched him creating their 
breakfast.

At the fire, Ed unwrapped the bacon and used his knife to cut four 
slices of bacon off the side. With care, he laid the bacon out in the 
skillet and put the skillet on the grill. The bacon didn't take long to 
cook. He poured off most of the grease into the coals causing a 
sudden flare up as it caught fire. Cracking the eggs, he scrambled 
them in the remainder of the bacon grease. 

Kim came back cleaning her hands with a baby wipe. Once back at 
the fire, she dropped the soiled sheet in the fire watching as it dried 
and then caught fire. She noticed him watching her and said, "Hey, 
they're perfect for camping. Pre-moistened, antibacterial, and 
easily disposable."

Ed laughed and said, "And here I thought a couple of tablespoons 
of water and drying my hands on my pants was good."

She frowned as she asked, "You didn't?"

He laughed and held up his box of baby wipes. If he hadn't handed 
her a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, she would have hit him. 
He set the skillet next to the fire to cool down a little. They ate in 
relative quiet enjoying the noises of the desert in the morning. 

When Tiger returned to camp, he headed directly to the skillet and 
licked it clean enjoying the bacon grease. When Ed noticed, he was 
half tempted to scold the cat. Instead he waited until the cat was 
finished. After pouring a little water in the skillet, he set it over the 
fire to heat. He went to his backpack and pulled out a paper 
napkin. When the water reached a boil in the skillet, he poured it 
out a little ways from camp. With a flourish, he then wiped out the 
skillet with the napkin. The skillet was returned to his pack and the 
paper thrown in the fire.

Kim went over and brought the horses back to camp. She went to 
her pack and pulled out a container of water. It didn't take her long 
to water the horses. Ed saddled their horses while she took care of 
their other needs. When they were done, they tied the horses to 
scrub brush and waited for their chaperones.

They could hear the couple bickering when they were a mile away. 
Ed and Kim looked at each other in disgust. This was going to be a 
long trip unless they managed to do something to end the arguing.  
Ed said, "I'll take him and you take her. We'll look at some 
different spots. Try to find out what is the matter with them."

The couple rode up on separate horses. She was carrying the lead 
for the pack horse. Both of them were overweight, suffering from a 
problem that was common among most of the tribes. Odds were 
good that they would both be suffering from diabetes by the time 
they were forty. 

Ed knelt down at the fire and waited for them to approach. Kim, 
after the experience the other day, followed his lead and knelt next 
to him. When she looked at him, he winked and pointed to the 
saddlebag by the fire. Handing it to him, she watched as he set it 
on the ground next to him. The couple waited on their horses and 
then finally dismounted. They finally got quiet, their argument 
forgotten in light of the treatment they were receiving. Ed 
whispered, "I'll get him away from camp."

Picking up the saddle bag, Ed stood up and approached them. He 
stopped about ten feet away and said, "Chief Daniels sent you?"

The man said, "Yes."

"I am Ed Biggers and this is Kim Nolan," said Ed.

"I am Harry and this is Susan," replied Harry with a slur in his 
voice. He looked over at Ed as he swayed on his feet, trying to 
keep his eyes on the man. 

It didn't take a doctor to recognize that Harry was already very 
drunk and on the verge of passing out. Handing a cartoon of 
cigarettes to Harry, Ed said, "You'll ride with me today. Susan will 
ride with Kim."

Winking at Kim, he went to his horse and mounted up. He grabbed 
the rope for the pack horse and rode off towards the Butte. The 
action even took Tiger by surprise and he had to run to catch up to 
Ed. With a little difficulty staying in his saddle, Harry rode after 
him. When they were a good distance away from camp, Ed slowed 
down and waited for Harry to catch up with him. Angry, Harry 
asked, "What's your hurry white man?"

Ed answered, "I was tired of hearing you two argue."

Harry shot him a dirty look, but Ed ignored it. He rode on to his 
destination and started looking at the ground around the Butte. His 
plan was to hunt rocks until Harry passed out. When he finally 
located a site that looked interesting, he climbed off the horse and 
went to the rock face. Tiger, shooting him a dirty look, sat down 
and watched Harry.

All afternoon, Ed worked around the Butte extracting various 
samples of minerals. He made sure to get three of each. One for 
him, one for Kim, and one for the tribe. Watching Harry out of the 
corner of his eye, he noticed the man taking swigs out of a bottle. 

As Ed worked, Harry began a continuous tirade of insults. First it 
was basic insults about how he was a prissy jerk that liked digging 
in the dirt after rocks. The insults increased in seriousness as he 
started calling Ed a thief and how his presence had forced a good 
honest couple out into the desert to make sure that he didn't steal 
things. 

When the man started making statements that if he had his way, 
he'd just kill Ed to send a message to other thieves that would 
make their way on the reservation. On several occasions, he stood 
and waved his knife around in the air while making the threat. This 
action prompted Tiger to respond with a low growl. The lack of 
response from Ed was adding fuel to the man's tirade. He wanted 
to get some reaction out of the cowboy, preferably fear, but he 
would have settled for anger. 

At one point, the man threw an empty bottle at Ed. It smashed into 
a hundred pieces less than a yard away from him. Despite his 
disgust at the man, Ed was neither afraid of nor angry with him. 
The man was being driven in by an inner demon that was leading 
him to self destruction. It wasn't the man that Ed disliked, but 
knew he had to destroy that inner demon. The medallion on his 
chest felt warm, directing Ed to act.

It wasn't until the time had come for them to return to camp, that 
Harry finally passed out. Working quickly, Ed removed all of the 
knives off Harry and then bound his wrists and feet. Struggling 
under the weight of the fat man, he wrestled him over the saddle of 
the pinto Harry had been riding. Mounting his horse, he took the 
leads to the pinto and the rope to the pack horse and headed back 
to camp. Tiger followed behind, occasionally taking a swat at 
Harry's boots as they bounced teasingly just about his head.

In camp, Ed threw Harry to the ground and spent the next hour 
constructing a shelter from the tarp that was part of his bedroll. 
The shelter would keep the sun off Harry while he went through 
withdrawal. Once the shelter was done, he stripped Harry and 
staked him face down on the ground under the tarp. At least this 
way, when he threw up he wouldn't drown in his own vomit.

Ed went through the Harry's possessions and found several bottles 
of whiskey. He poured the contents out on the sand. Susan had left 
the pack horse in camp and Harry went through it. There were 
several more bottles of whiskey and he poured them out in the sand 
as well. 

After taking care of the booze, Ed then concentrated on taking care 
of the horses. Once that was done, he went through the business of 
gathering materials for the fire. Tiger went out into the desert to 
search for game.

Everything was ready when Kim and Susan returned to camp. 
There was a nice pot of beans cooking over the fire, some 
cornbread in the Dutch oven, and corned beef hash cooking in the 
skillet. Susan looked over at Harry and asked, "What happened to 
him?"

In the kind of matter of fact voice that allowed no arguments, Ed 
answered, "He passed out and is now going through detox with 
me."

Frowning, Susan asked, "What does that mean?"

With the full power of his truth sense active, Ed asked, "Are you a 
drunk?"

The intensity of his look forced both women back. Susan 
answered, "No."

Her words were true, but there was a hint that it was only a matter 
of time. Ed said, "You'll have to take care of him. He's going to be 
seeing things, vomiting, shitting all over himself, and begging for 
something to drink. For the next three days, he's going to be lying 
there in his own shit and vomit until he comes out of it."

Afraid of Ed and fearful that he was going to get her husband 
killed, Susan said, "You can't do that to him."

Rather than answering immediately, Ed walked over to her and 
faced her. In a voice that rang with authority, he said, "I am a 
Druid. We live by a rule that says if it harms none, then do it. 
Harry broke that rule today by passing out drunk. Having a drunk 
member of a group in the desert can get all of us hurt or killed."

Susan stepped back and said, "He didn't mean anything by it."

Ed stepped forward with his eyes drilling into hers. He said, "If it 
harms none, then do it is all about consequences and not intent. He 
broke the rule."

Stunned into submission, Susan answered, "Yes, sir."

Ed said, "Now, I have prepared a good meal. Let's eat. By the time 
we get done, he should be coming around."

Kim sat down next to Ed while Susan went off to look at Harry. 
She whispered, "She was saying earlier that he hits her when he 
gets drunk."

Ed asked, "Did you see her drink anything?"

Kim shook her head to indicate a no. Dinner was a tasty, but Harry 
had come awake and demanded something to drink. He was 
screaming threats at Ed nonstop. Susan went to the pack horse to 
get something for him to drink and froze when she saw all of the 
empty bottles. She looked at Ed and said, "This is going to kill 
him."

Shaking his head, Ed replied, "No it won't. It will save him."

Susan went to sit by her husband, putting up with insult after insult 
as he tried to get her to give him a drink. Although she explained 
several times that Ed had poured out every bottle, he continued to 
blame her for his current misery. When she went to remove the 
bonds holding him there, she found herself facing Tiger. She 
backed off and left Harry tied to the ground.

After dinner, Kim came to him and asked, "Is this your idea of a 
vacation?"
