Blue!
Charlie showed the mad king to the pumphouse on the Krengel farm. The shack was ancient, but the foundation was new. Apparently, after the well driller sank the new well and installed the pump, Lars built a foundation from block and moved his original pumphouse on top.
The drill tailings were left in a muddy mound behind the shack. I told King George the minimum I had to. “I think the driller found something and didn’t tell Krengel about it. There’s been some funny business about the property for a while. I want you to tell me if there’s evidence of anything valuable here.”
He crowed and laughed with a teehee while he bounced from one foot to the next. “VIRGIN GROUND! I ain’t had a new strike in a coon’s age! Git outta my way! Old George is gonna make us rich!”
He peeled the tarpaulin back on the bed of his truck and dragged at the paraphernalia underneath. Charlie offered to help, but the mad king growled and chased him away. He took out a shovel and a pick and several wooden frames with screens in the bottom. He also took out a broad metal pan that looked like it was once the body of a wheelbarrow.
He set up the pan and the framed screens in an unstable pile and filled the top screen with dirt from the tailing mound. He started the gasoline engine of the water pump and washed the dirt through the screens into the pan and onto the ground. He left the water run as he washed and shoveled and washed some more. I guessed he was doing a form of panning. I wondered what he might find, if anything.
My knees hurt, so I looked for a place to sit. The Jeep was nearby, but I didn’t want to clamber into the seat. The front bumper would have been fine, except for the tow bar which blocked access to it. The flat fenders were the right height, but I didn’t want to bend them with my weight. I gave up on the Jeep and stalked around the front of the burned house to sit on the steps. Charlie came with me but didn’t sit. He lit a smoke and offered one to me. I refused.
He blew smoke into the sky. “What do you think he’ll find?”
“No idea. I don’t know what there is to find. What do they mine around here?”
“All kinds of stuff. There’s some gold and silver, quartz, gems like agate, sapphire, and even some diamonds. There’s some coal and copper, gypsum and lead, all kinds of stuff.”
“What’s worth killing for?”
“Gold and silver definitely. Some of the gems are worth a lot. The diamonds aren’t worth much.”
I’d never heard of a diamond that wasn’t worth much. I asked about it.
“Diamonds for jewelry are worth a lot, but most of the diamonds around here are industrial. They use them for abrasives and for cutting things like stone. They’re hard, but they’re not pretty. You wouldn’t make a wedding ring from a Montana diamond.”
“I had no idea they used diamonds for stuff like that.”
“We learned about it in school. There’s only a few good jobs around here. You can be a farmer, a rancher, or a miner. I guess you could also work for the railroad or drive a truck. There aren’t many factories and we’ve got no call for a lot of fancy folks who go to work in suits.”
I smiled in spite of the implied insult. I never considered myself ‘fancy,’ but I guess I was. Even the lawyers in Montana dressed like farmers. I hadn’t seen a man in a suit since David picked us up from the airport in Billings. I liked elegance, but I saw the beauty of earthy simplicity as well. Everyone I met was exactly what they seemed. “What do you want to do?”
He finished his cigarette and crushed it under his boot. “I’m doing it. I love this farm. I don’t ever want to leave. I’ve been wantin’ to talk to Dad about helpin’ more. He works so hard all the time. I’m a man now. I’m done my schooling. I want to do my part and earn my livin’ right here.”
“What do you think about what your dad said this morning, about you and him and Mitch being a team?”
He smiled again. “It’s exactly what I wanted!”
“I’m glad. You should talk to your dad. You and him might be thinking along the same lines. It would be good to tell him what you want.”
“You think? Maybe I will.” His face brightened as a thought struck him. “Hey, what were you laughin’ at this morning when I came in the kitchen? You said you were jealous of my mom.”
I waved the question away like I was fanning smoke. “Just a tasteless joke. Nothing for you to worry about.”
He scowled at my dismissal. “I’m not a child!”
I stared at him in amazement. “You are your father’s son. He said that to me, more than once. Your brother Larry did too. I can’t believe how alike you are.”
My words did nothing to smooth his raised hackles. “Why do you treat us like kids? Just ‘cause we’re farmers doesn’t make us less than you big city folks!”
His bluster made me mad, but I didn’t shout. “Fair enough, young man. I’ll tell you what the joke was, and it will be up to you to handle it like the adult you claim to be. What do you think your father did to your mother last night?”
“They had relations.”
I corrected his Sunday school language. “They spent last night fucking. Your dad did the fucking and your mother got fucked. This morning, I joked that I was jealous of your mother.”
He scrunched his face with revulsion. “How would that even work with two guys?”
“It works just like it does with women except they get to pick the roles they prefer. Men only have one less hole than women.”
He shook his head incredulously. “You mean you take it in the…in the…?”
I nodded. “In the ass.”
“That’s disgusting!”
“Not to me. What the fuck do you think queer men do?”
“I guess I didn’t think.”
I pointed at him in anger. “I have never treated you like a child and I have never talked down to you. I called you a boy once and I corrected myself. I’ve known your father since he was your age, that’s forty fucking years. We can say stuff to each other that I wouldn’t say to anyone else. What’s more, we can joke about almost anything without worrying about offending each other. That’s what it means to be friends for a long time.”
“Are you hot for my dad?”
I rubbed my face in frustration. The conversation had taken a turn I wasn’t ready for. I almost refused to say another word, but Charlie wouldn’t have stood for that. I tried to navigate carefully and responded with a question. “What do you like about women?”
“I dunno.”
“Like hell. You asked a question and demanded an answer even though the answer made me uncomfortable. If we are going to have this talk, you don’t get to set all the terms. You want to know something? Fine, I’ll tell you, but I’m going to tell you in my own way. Part of my way is asking some questions. Be a man and answer.”
He tried to punish me with a vulgar answer. “Tits and ass!”
“What else?”
“What else is there?”
“What about the way they sound when they laugh, or the quiet way they sigh when they’re happy? What about blonde hair, or brown or black? What about the way they smell? What about their soft skin? What about the way they move? Tell me what you’re attracted to.”
His bluster left him and he quieted down. “I never thought of any of that.”
“You’re so young.” His face darkened with anger until I explained my comment. “That’s not an attack, it’s an observation. Youth knows nothing of nuance. You see perky titties or a soft, round ass and you’re ready to go. You need some experience to season you. I don’t mean sex. I mean you need to spend time with women to find out what you’re attracted to. Sample their shapes and scents and sounds until you find out what you like.”
I shifted the subject to answer his question. “As for me, I love men. I like broad shoulders and prominent jaws. I like deep chests. I like deep voices. I like the way my husband moves. He’s graceful. I stomp around like a foam rubber monster from a B-movie. Walt moves like gravity doesn’t mean anything to him. He can dance like you wouldn’t believe. Just watching him cross a room is poetry.
“Your dad is an attractive man.” I pointed to my temple. “In here, he’s a rugged youth like I knew him forty years ago. I desired him, but I never pursued him because I knew we were wrong for each other. And just to put one more item to rest before you ask or even think about it, you are also an attractive man. Even though you are attractive, I am not attracted to you. You’re the son of a dear and valued friend, and I am many times your age. I could never look upon you with lust. I only see you as living art, a statue of flesh. Beautiful to look at, but I have no desire to do anything more. Do you understand?”
He obviously wasn’t sure if he understood or not. He lit a cigarette to delay his answer. I held my hand out and asked for one. He stuck one between my fingers and lit it for me. We drew smoke in and blew it at the sky. He nodded his head. “I understand. I think I do, anyway. Thanks for talking to me about it. Thanks for not treating me like a kid.”
“Sure, Charlie. Thanks for being man enough to deal with everything I said.”
A shriek from behind me split the pause in conversation. I got up from the steps to see Mad King George dancing around his screens. “IT’S BLUE!” He shouted. Charlie ran over to check on him. I followed as fast as I could. George had a dark blue pebble in his hand. He shoved it in my face. “LOOK! LOOK AT THE BLUE!” He shoved it under Charlie’s nose and shouted at him as well.
I asked the obvious question. “What is it?”
Charlie answered. “It’s a blue sapphire.”
“Is that good?”
“The blue ones are the most valuable. Even one that small might be worth twenty dollars.”
“Who cares about twenty bucks?”
He explained. “You never find just one. The ground is probably full of them. There could be a fortune under our feet.”
The mad king shouted some more. “LOOK AT THE BLUE!”
I drew on my cigarette and blew out the smoke. “Charlie, go find your dad. I’ll keep an eye on the king.”
He dashed off to do as I said.
* * * *
David and Mitch were covered in mud from feet to waist and elbows to fingertips. I couldn’t understand how they got so dirty. “What the hell have you been doing?”
David explained. “The dyke the boys rebuilt yesterday was only part of the job. There’s a lot more to do. What’s going on?”
Mad King George ran over and shoved a half-dozen deep-blue sapphires under David’s nose. David goggled at them. “OH MY! You found them here?” He selected one of the stones from George’s hand and held it up. “Look at the blue! This could be a hundred-dollar gem! The other ones are twenty or thirty dollars a piece, easy!”
I didn’t understand. “How do you know about sapphires?”
“They’re a Montana mineral. Good ones are rare, but I’ve seen enough of them to know good from bad. The children learned about them in school. They teach about the local resources.”
“Why is everyone so excited about the color?”
George shook his head like I was an imbecile. Charlie explained. “Sapphires come in all sorts of colors, pink, orange, green, turquoise, but the blue ones are the most valuable. I don’t know who decided that, but that’s how it is. The deep blue is very valuable and rare. Once that stone is cut and polished, it could sell for five, six, seven hundred dollars or more.”
“Wow! You’ve got a gold mine here.”
George screamed at me. “IT’S A SAPPHIRE MINE, PEA BRAIN!” Having put me in my place, he went back to his celebration. “It’s a strike! A real strike! Whooo hooo hooo hooo!”
Suddenly the sabotage and murder and everything else made sense. “Now we know why the bad guys were willing to do all they did to get a hold of the land.” I stuffed my hands in my pockets. “I’ve got no idea what we do about it. Just because we know what they were after doesn’t mean we know who they are or how to stop them.”
George sidled over to the group. “What’s that? You got trouble? Is it claim jumpers?”
“Something like that.”
He threw his arms in the air. “SHOOT ‘EM AND STRING ‘EM UP! You gotta hang ‘em up high for all to see! That’ll show the rest of ‘em that you’re not to be trifled with. THAT’S HOW WE USED TO DO IT!”
The mad king went back to his panning and I admitted he had a good idea. David cocked his head like I’d been in the sun too long. I elaborated. “I don’t mean we should really shoot someone and string them up. Maybe we post a guard. The trouble up here isn’t going to stop. They’re going to keep trying. I don’t know what their next move will be, but it’s coming. Maybe if we catch one of them in the act and turn him over to the state police, he’ll sing to save his skin. I don’t think that’s all we should do, but it’s something we can do.”
David checked his watch and swore. “I don’t have time for this shit! We got rain coming tomorrow, the next day at the latest. I’ve got to get the irrigation ditches reinforced or the fields will flood and I’ll lose acres of wheat.”
“Do you need Charlie?”
“YES! I mean, no. I mean, you can’t do this on your own, can you?”
“I can’t.”
“If I leave him with you, can you do the rest? Can I put the trouble in your hands?”
“You trust me that much?”
“I trust you completely.”
“Then go do your work and we’ll handle this.”
He hesitated. “I hate to dump this on you when you’re a guest in my house.”
“Tell you a secret, my friend; I’m having fun.”
He laughed. “You’ve got a strange idea of fun.”
“What about guards? I assume you can’t spare the men, right?”
He shook his head. “I just can’t.”
“If I can find some help, can I spend a little money?”
“I leave it to you.”
“I accept the responsibility.”
David thanked me and addressed Charlie. “Be safe, son. Listen to Law. Keep your head down and don’t go anywhere without your sidearm. Carry one in the chamber like Law says. If the choice ever comes between you or the other guy, I want you to draw your gun and fire it with a clean conscience. Nobody is more important to me than my children.”
“Not even me.” I said to finish David’s speech.
David agreed that was so. “Not even him. I care a great deal about Law, but you are my son. You and your sisters and brothers and your mother will always come before anyone else. Look after yourself because I can’t do it for you. Clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good boy!” David hugged Charlie and hurried off with Mitch.
I took command once he was gone. “King George!” He stopped his panning and came to see what I wanted. “Are you really ninety-one years old?”
“Every bit of it, sonny.”
“We’ve got trouble with claim jumpers. I want to hire some men to guard this place, but I don’t know who to trust. Do you?”
He searched his pockets until he found a hunk of plug-tobacco and a pocketknife that had been sharpened so many times, the blade looked like an ice pick. He carved a piece of tobacco and chewed it into his face. “I got friends, old-uns like me. They ain’t much good for heavy work no more, but they can watch and they can shoot.”
“Do you know enough of them to keep at least two men here twenty-four hours a day?”
“Yep.”
“We’ll take care of their food. What will it cost in dollars and cents?”
“Ten dollars a day a man, plus a bottle of whiskey between us.”
I shook my head. “I don’t feel right about whiskey while you’re working, but I’ll make sure there’s plenty of beer. How’s that?”
He grimaced but agreed. “We’ll make do with beer.”
“How many men?”
“Three plus yours truly.”
I held my hand out to seal the deal. “You look after the place around the clock for forty dollars a day, plus food and beer. I’ll pay you and you take care of the others.”
He shook and the deal was done. He turned his tobacco over in his mouth and spat on the ground. “What about this here?” He asked and nodded at the spoil pile behind the pumphouse.
“What about it?”
“How much does old George get?”
I balked. “Old George is already in for fifty bucks plus whatever rake-off he takes from the forty bucks a day I just agreed to. What else does Old George want?”
“Lemme keep some-a the stones. Please, Mister. I ain’t been in on a new strike since I can’t rightly remember. Lemme keep some.”
I called Charlie over. “What do you think is fair?”
He mulled the question. “Let him keep half.”
George crowed in celebration for Charlie’s generosity. I put my hand up to clamp a lid on his joy. “You listen to me, Old George, a lot of folks think you’re crazy, but I don’t. I think you’re smart. You get away with a lot because you act like a nut. Here’s what I say. You wash out the stones and hang onto them. Once all this is over, you turn them over. We’ll sit across from each other and pick them one at a time until they’re all divvied up. If I think for one second that you’re holding out, I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.” I held my hand out to shake. “Deal?”
He shook with an iron grip that made me wince. “Deal, sonny!”
“You gather your troops and Charlie and me will set you up with a cooler for food and beer. You’ve got the well head for water. The electricity is out up here and I’d rather you didn’t have any campfires. I want this place protected, but I really want to catch one of the bad guys and scare some truth out of him.”
He saluted with his palm forward like the limeys used to and set to work gathering up his panning screens. “I’ll have the boys in place in a couple-a hours.”
Charlie and I went to the house to gather provisions.
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