Dream Car

"It is probably just as well, Alice, because we'd be completely surrounded by Injuns if he tried to arrest them!" Caroline smiled at the thought.

"Ah never thought o' that Miss Caroline, but then Ah never thought it wus the Injuns in the fust place, Cottonwood Pines is too far away from here. If any Injun wus hungry enough to rustle cows, he would have tried the Lazy C first, or Old Man Pickles' Reclining Bee spread, which is just to the south, or teke mutton from Wick Chandlers' sheep farm to the north. I mean, it's only just over the ridge, and it's easier to bundle up and disguise wool in pillows or lining the inside o' tepees than it is ta hide cow hides, which have to be scrapped and stretched out in the open air fer all ter see."

"So who do you think stole the fifty cows, it was fifty wasn't it?"

"Yeh, Ma said it was exactly fifty cows. It took a few days ta git that number cos the drifts were so high. It started at a dozen an' grew from there. Ah reckon them rustlers, well they have to be from outside the territ'ry, an' they would a driven them directly ta the railhead at Colby Flats. But Ah don't think that Uncle Tom ever gave that thought any due consideration, Ma'am."

Mmm, that gave Caroline something to think about while she ate the porridge, at least that's what the Injun breakfast tasted like. After breakfast, she sought out her mother again.

Alice was being shown around the camp and nearby places of interest by Sam and his grandfather Hiding Fox, who seemed to approve of the girl, although his expression never seemed to change much, either just grumpy or a little less grumpy. They strode off to explore together, leaving Caroline and Dove Feather behind.

"We'll ride out of the camp and talk," Dove Feather said, seeing the determined look on Caroline's face and knowing she wanted some answers.

Caroline saddled up her pony, while her mother leapt onto a painted pony with just a blanket thrown on its back rather than a saddle. Once a little way out of the Indian village, they dismounted and gently walked the horses along the river bank.

"Tell me about moving here permanently, Mum." Caroline opened, "What do I have to do?"

"First of all you have to be certain in your mind that you want to leave the world you know behind, because you cannot be conscious in both at the same time."

"There's nothing keeping me there, Mum, nothing."

"Nothing? Are you sure? What about your boys?"

"They think I am a joke. They don't seem to like me much. I mean, for years they used me as a bank, simple a source of free funds, until their father Robert cut me off without much spare money. Now I hardly ever see them. Robert made them partners in the business, then made it appear on the books as though he was semi-retired. He'd ferreted money abroad over the years, and remortgaged our house, so when the house was sold and the mortgage repaid, I had barely enough to buy a tiny place of my own with my half-share. I was left as an ex-housewife with no qualifications or work experience and very little money in the divorce settlement. The boys just laughed at me when I said I was the one who now needed their help."

"Surely, those boys can't have been that bad."

"You don't even know them, Mum, Adam was only two when you died and I was still carrying Robert junior."

"Jed told me a bit about the boys over the years. They seemed fine as youngsters but in the past five years Jed thought they'd changed for the worse. But they are still your boys. What about their future lives? They may settle down and make you a grandmother yet."

"And pigs might fly, Mum."

"Hey, look, Carrie, there's the Marshal, poking about by that bluff canyon."

"He's probably checking it out for cattle, while nobody's looking."

"Huh! Carrie, my dear we're in Injun country, and there's nobody sneakier or nosier than an Injun. The Marshal's got Limping Whippet checking him out from behind that stunted tree by the entrance to the bluff, while Cross Eyed Eagle is on top of the canyon wall on the right, just by that overhang."

"Yes, I can see them now you've pointed them out. Shall we go over and see what he's up to?"

"Why not?"

"Well, Marshal, have you snooped around long enough?" Caroline smiled at the tall, handsome Marshal.

"Yeah, Miss Caroline, Ah've looked all over, but there ain't no sign of ma sister's steers, hereabouts anyways. Ah might ride off when we leave camp an' check some o' the canyons on the other side o' the river, see if'n Ah kin find some tracks."

"Well, good luck with that, Marshal."

***

Back at the Lazy C, Caroline reflected on some of the things that Dove Feather had said, particularly about reconnecting with her boys back home in the real world. As much as she felt they had cut her off, maybe it was true that she had consciously distanced herself from them. She resolved that she should give them another chance, especially at this time of year, being Christmas.

And the name of the ranch, was this a pointed message from her father? Was she the Lazy Caroline, that had allowed life to flow by her, leaving her too dependant on the others in her life? Did she marry so young because it was a way of avoiding working at a career, settling early for being a housewife and mother; then when the kids left school enjoying the leisure of shopping, coffee mornings and playing golf with her so-called friends, who were keeping her occupied while they were taking it in turns to have affairs with her oversexed husband? How they must have laughed at her behind her back! Was she any better here in Sweetwater Valley, still living an idle and pointless life, off the wealth of her father, and now the hard work of her 16-year-old brother?

It wasn't right. She wasn't totally happy with either of her twin existences, either in fantasy or reality. As Dove Feather had whispered in her ear as they said their goodbyes at the Injun Reservation, "Don't forget the empty schoolhouse".

Her father had built that schoolhouse in Sweetwater township two years ago, probably at a time when his health was failing at home, perhaps knowing that his life in reality was coming to an end. Did he build that schoolhouse to provide her with a purpose in life, at least in this fantasy life?

If she brought her children, Adam and Robert, here on the Stagecoach, would they arrive as small boys, who could be explained away as the children of the marriage ended by widowhood, that the folk of Sweetwater believed she had 'Back East'? Would she have to get both of them magic Stetsons, or would they get left behind in the dream car? So many questions, that her mother was leaving unanswered for her to figure out for herself.

She could still come here as regular as she could manage to get away to Sweetwater Valley in the meantime and, while she slept here, try and rebuild those broken bridges back at home. Perhaps even confront Robert Senior and find out if their marriage failure was really her fault. She laughed, here in Sweetwater, for the present and foreseeable future at any rate, she couldn't even sleep on these considerations without waking up in the dream car.

"Sam," she asked after supper, "do you know what Dad's plans for building the schoolhouse were?"

A pained expression momentarily crossed his open face.

"Pa told me only to mention this if you asked about it, Caroline," he said slowly. "He wasn't expecting you to run it, but he dang sure hoped that you would. I thought at the outset that it was because he wanted all his family living here in Sweetwater together, but now I think it was more to do with him having a premonition of his life here coming to an end."

She gave her brother a long comforting hug. It's hard enough losing a parent at any time, it comes hardest when you're a kid trying your utmost to be a grown up rancher all on your own in the Wild West.

Caroline retired to bed, her mind chock full of thoughts for the coming days.

***

Saturday morning shopping this close to Christmas, Caroline determined, was an absolute nightmare. Every single parking space was full, Caroline was convinced, even though the blasted car park entry machine had raised the barrier and let her in. She had been driving up and down ramps for twenty minutes. She would see a space on another level and by the time she got there, someone was reversing in or already parked and putting coats on their kids ready to take on the Christmas crowds.

'I've already got all my Christmas shopping. I did it early in order to avoid all this!' she muttered to herself, as she gripped the wheel, following a couple of early birds who were wheeling a full trolley back towards their car. She drummed the steering wheel with her fingers as she waited for the couple to finish loading up their car, trying to get a quart into a pint-sized hatchback, while a queue of cars formed up behind her, one car continually tooting his horn at her in protest. The thought cross her mind that it was a good thing that the front seat of the Dream Car to Stagecoach was just one way for goods and presents, otherwise she might have been tempted to bring back a pair of pearl-handled Navy Colt revolvers, for just such an occasion as this!

Caroline parked up once the couple drove off and glared pointedly at the horn hooter as he drove past, although he stared straight ahead to avoid eye contact. Then she marched off to catch her sons at work in their store. It wasn't quite high noon yet, but she was more than ready for that showdown.

Chapter 7

Caroline's ex-husband owned a hardware store, selling pretty well everything for do-it-yourself enthusiasts and household goods, including cookery hardware, gardening tools, camping equipment and outdoor wear. It had long been a successful business, after a shaky start nearly forty years earlier, but her ex-husband Robert Bradshaw had recently sold half the store's shares to a private company he had formed abroad, based in a tax haven, about which Caroline was unable to get any information. Then he had split the other half with Caroline's two boys, making it appear that he had retired on a modest pension, with few actual assets to his name. This affected Caroline's divorce settlement, which was significantly reduced from her earlier expectations.

The boys' connivance with their father hadn't helped relationships with their mother. She had been too demoralised, powerless, timid even, to put much fight into clawing anything back. But that wasn't the concern here. Today she wanted to build bridges to see if there was any chance of either improving her relationship with her boys in her life here, or possibly taking them with her to a new life in Sweetwater Valley.

Determinedly, she marched into the store. As soon as she entered and looked around at the staff in their distinctive uniform tops, she realised with a start that the staff would hardly recognise her. She had rarely stepped into her ex-husband's place of business in recent years, even while they were still married. Before, she had always been intimidated by the macho atmosphere of power tools, nuts and bolts, ladders, consumables and spare parts. Now there soft furnishings, curtains, summer room furniture, and carpets.

She had to laugh at herself. Here she was in what she used to regard as an intimidating male domain, while she was considering a permanent move to a ranch, dominated by cowboys who roped monstrous steers and branded them, close by Injuns who had attacked her stagecoach, a town that had just had a double hanging, and had occasional gunfights, with a Town Marshal who was trying to track down and hang a gang of cattle rustlers!

She was actually chuckling to herself when she bumped into her youngest son, Robert Junior. He was looking more and more like his father every time she saw him: overweight, losing his hair to the point where he now shaved it all off. He had a sour, harassed look, in a store packed to overflowing with shoppers.

"What are you doing here, Mum?"

"A mother can't speak to one of her children when she needs to, Robbie?"

"Not when it's the busiest shopping weekend of the year, Mum. Why don't you come in Tuesday?"

"I've got the plumbers coming on Tuesday."

"You got a leak? Adam's boys could've fixed that."

Caroline remembered that Adam had followed his father into the plumbing trade, but that was long after Robert Senior had opened the store all those years ago. It had certainly branched out and grown since then.

"Not had a leak or anything, just having some additional work done. I wanted to talk to you and Adam today, if possible, as I may not be around at Christmas."

"What?!" he spluttered, "but you always do our Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings!"

"That was last year, dear, remember? That was when I had a proper kitchen to cook festive meals in. You've seen the galley I've got in my little house. The nearest thing to a turkey dinner I can cook in there is a Spanish Omelette!"

"But I've got a fantastic fitted kitchen in my place, that the boys from our kitchen fitters here put in last spring."

"I didn't know you could cook, Robbie?"

"I can't, but you could come over and—"

"Oh, no, I'm not cooking Christmas turkey this year, at least I don't think so. No, I will most probably be having roast beef rib."

"Beef's my favourite, Mum, better than dried up old turkey, any day."

"Are you saying that my turkey was—"

"No, Mum, look, let's continue this conversation in the office, shall we? Hey, Kyle, can you take over this till for me? ... Thanks. OK, Mum, let's go."

The offices were in a portacabin in the yard out the back of the store, surrounded by stacks of fencing panels and stacked pallets of bags of garden compost. They walked quickly across the yard to the offices in the far corner of the back yard, as it had started raining hard again.

In the open plan half of the offices, a couple of female clerks were beavering away at whatever they were working on, while Caroline's oldest son Adam was sitting at his otherwise empty desk, drinking coffee and reading an opened tabloid newspaper.

"What are you doing here, Mum?" Adam asked, looking up, "You never come to the store."

"Exactly what I said," Robert Junior said, "and Mum says she's not cooking Christmas dinner this year."

"What? But you always cook Christmas dinner! What are we going to do? My new girlfriend Tanya could burn a boiled egg! At home we either eat out or it all comes in hot and steaming, delivered in a box."

"Mum says she hasn't got a decent kitchen in that pokey little house."

"But Mum, Robbie's got a fabulous kitchen —"

"I've tried that, but she's thinking of going away for Christmas."

"But you never go away other than visit Pops, and now he's gone..."

"Look, I'm not here to have an argument with you boys, I just want to talk to you about your recent attitude towards me."

The door leading into the final third of the cabin opened up and her ex-husband Robert joined in the conversation."

"I thought I could hear your voice, Carrie. What the hell are you doing here?"

"If only I had a pound for every time I was asked that!" Caroline laughed, "I just wanted a word with my sons to find out where we went wrong in our relationships and whether we could rebuild bridges. It is that time of year, you know, Christmas."

"OK, Denise, Jackie," Robert Senior said to the two office staff, "can you leave us for a few minutes while we have a family discussion—"

"Ex-family!" Caroline said, somewhat surprised that she said it with a smile on her face.

"Yes, but we still have the boys, Carrie, where we can meet halfway."

"We never met halfway, it was always YOUR way, Robert. You cheated and lied through our marriage and robbed me of the fruits of it ... and I guess I just let it happen."

"Yes, you did. A few home truths, Carrie, you never helped me with this business, you were too busy spending my money to bother to help me make it, so I was damned if I was going to share any of this with you."

Robert stormed off purple with rage, the boys taking his side.

"He's right, Mum," Adam said, "you never took part in what we were doing."

"No, I only kept house for you and saw that you all had clean clothes on your backs and good food inside you. I took you to school and collected you, I took you to all the extra activities, like football, scouts, swimming and days out entertaining you, while your father never lifted a finger to help. Even as adults and you had your own places, in between wives and girlfriends, you were always coming home for food —"

Her mobile phone chirped with an oncoming call. She answered it, observing with a little satisfaction that both boys looked somewhat chastened by her words.

"Hello ... Yes, hello Mr Jones? ... You want to come round and measure ... Yes, I can be home in twenty minutes ... see you then."

She turned back to the boys. "That was a message from my plumbers, so I must be off. I'll sort out something on Wednesday and leave you a message about when and where we should meet."

She turned on her heels and bustled out of the offices and headed home, but not before she heard Adam ask his brother, "Her plumbers?"

It was early afternoon when she got home. Mr Jones from the plumbers agreed that what she wanted was a simple job, and that they could take the hot water feed from the bathroom, but advised putting the radiator on the inner rather than the outer wall to reduce the pipe work. He recommended fitting a carbon monoxide detector and thought that her wish to fit adequate insulation to the garage door, would be effective in evening out the temperature variations in the garage during summer and winter. He priced it up then and there, and Caroline agreed to the having the work done, even though it would blow most of her savings. They could work their way around the old car, Mr Jones said, and they would be back on Tuesday 8 am, with a plumber to do the radiator and another chap to insulate the door.

It was Saturday afternoon by the time Mr Jones left, and Caroline was still upset about the unresolved issues with her selfish boys. Time to wrap up warm and put on the Stetson, she thought. She moved the urn containing her father's ashes, from the boot into the front seat, although she thought she would probably need to leave on the stagecoach to fetch them from "Back East".

It occurred to her that she should visit Jed's plot in the Sweetwater graveyard, not that she knew where that was, yet. She felt no guilt over not visiting her fantasy father's grave, after all she had never even met him in that place.

All her memories of her father, her real father, were based in England, in Yorkshire. Perhaps the reason he left his ashes to his friends at the Wild West reenactment society was to preserve them. He had belonged to the Society all those years, even after his stroke and could no longer participate in something he had clearly enjoyed so much. Caroline spoke to some of those old cowboys during the funeral, finding that he had not only stayed in contact with them right up to the end, but they used to collect him and take him to all the monthly meetings. He had served as an active and useful President for many years and had only recently stepped down to become a life Vice President.

Her Mum wanted the ashes, so Mum and Dad had probably discussed what to do with them. By involving the Society, rather than leave them directly to her, Caroline wouldn't have been able to scatter them in the garden of remembrance.

Presumably, her Mum wanted to scatter them in Sweetwater, the place where for so many years, they had made their happy new home together.

***

Caroline wasn't too upset that her father's ashes didn't transfer with her to Sweetwater Valley while she slept. She woke up in her bed on the Lazy C Ranch wearing the nineteenth century bedclothes that she had retired in the night before. No man-made fibres, no blanket against the cold of the garage, and no Stetson. She had now accepted that she needed to leave Sweetwater on the Stagecoach, out to the very edge of this fantasy world, in order to bring anything on the passenger seat of the dream car back with her. That wasn't a problem, she thought, the Stagecoach runs daily, she could do that later today or tomorrow.