All Roads Lead Home

�Tired?� Slim asked as he and Jess sat on the front porch quietly drinking coffee and watching the pinks and purples of the western sunset fade to dark. It had been a long hot day and both were glad for the opportunity to sit for a spell.

 

�Nah,� Jess replied. �Jes� thinkin�.�

 

�Anything particular on yer mind? Somethin� you wanna talk about?� Slim inquired softly.

 

�Now that you mention it � well, yeah,� Jess responded thoughtfully.

 

�This wouldn�t have anything to do with that old crumpled up letter you keep readin� whenever you think I�m not lookin� would it?�

 

Jess chuckled in the darkness. He and Slim held few secrets from each other and it was a relief to be finally discussing this.

 

�Mose gave it to me last week. The postmark�s darned near two years old. Guess it took its sweet time catchin� up with me.�

 

�Who�s it from?� Slim asked; his curiosity peaked.

 

�You remember me mentionin� Thad Davis?�

 

�That fella you rode with right after the war?�

 

�That�s the one. He and I first met up just before we mustered out. We were a lot alike back then. Both of us kinda wild and not real good at takin� orders.�

 

�Not you!� Slim exclaimed in mock amazement.

 

�You wanna hear this or don�tcha?�

 

�Sorry,� Slim said contritely as he sat back expectantly in his chair, boots up on the porch railing. �Go on.�

 

�Well, Thad�s family had this big spread up Bozeman way. His pa, feller by the name of Buck Davis, had built it from the ground up. Somethin� like three thousand deeded acres � that�s not includin� grazin� land - and eight thousand head of cattle and growin� all the time. Probably bigger now. Thad was the only son and his pa was countin� on him to take it over.�

 

Slim whistled softly. �Fella�d be mighty proud to be in the way of inheritin� somethin� like that.�

 

�Well, that�s the rub. Thad hated ranchin�. I mean not like some days when nothin�s goin� right and guys like us, we bitch and complain and say we hate it but we just hate it for the moment and wouldn�t give it up for nothin�. I mean he hated it all the time an� saw nothin� good in it. Claimed his whole growin� up his pa just shoved it down his throat until he felt if he had to look at the backside of one more cow he�d about die. He ran away a bunch of times but his pa always sent his hands out after him to bring him back. It wasn�t until he joined up with the army and went east to fight that his pa�s long arms couldn�t reach him any more.�

 

�What�d he want to do if it wasn�t ranchin�?�

 

�Thad loved the great wild open. He�d get all nervous like if he had to spend more than a day or two in town. He�d often disappear for weeks at a time just explorin� and learnin� all he could. There wasn�t much he didn�t know about plants an� trees an� animals. He could speak with most Indians in their own way. An� this is goin� to sound really strange to you but that fella could draw things like nobody�s business. It came as natural to him as breathin�. Some of the paintin�s he did looked so real you felt you could reach right in side them. An� the way he had with animals � well, I never knew anyone else like him.

 

�One time � it couldn�t have been more than a few months after the war ended. We were breakin� some broncs for a fellow in Colorado to earn us a grubstake. Well, this one stud managed to get me on the ground and then went after me. I thought that was it but Thad, he comes walking over cool as you please and just spoke kinda low to that crazy horse. That horse stopped poundin� on me right then and there and just ambled over to where Thad was standin�. He sort of leaned his head up against Thad�s shoulder and Thad patted his neck. Then he opened the gate to the corral, gave that old stud a smack on the ass, and told him to head for the high country and not to let anyone ever get a rope on him again. Oh, Thad and me we had us a lot of adventures,� Jess smiled. �Sometimes he was savin� my hide an� sometimes I was savin� his. Those were good times, Slim.�

 

Slim nodded. �So what finally happened? How�d you two split up?�

 

�Thad read in a newspaper about a group of folks in St Louis who were fixin� to travel west to homestead and needed someone to guide them. I told Thad that there was a small problem in that he hadn�t ever done no guidin� before and even though he knew all sorts of useful stuff there was a whole lot he didn�t know. Well, this wasn�t what he wanted to hear and next thing I knew he�d wired them to say he�d do the job and was on his way.

 

�It was a long time before I heard any news of him and when I did, it wasn�t good. Seems he�d accidentally - cause he didn�t know any better - led them north right into Sioux country. They traveled in there eighty strong. Men, women and children. When the smoke cleared, there warn�t more than a handful left alive and most of those not alive by much. Thad lost a hunk of his left leg and a bigger part of his soul.

 

�When I finally found him, he wasn�t the Thad I knew. He was a stranger like. He was angry and bitter and was tryin� his best to lose himself inside a whiskey bottle. I didn�t know what else to do so I wired his paw and the last thing I knew his paw had arranged for him to be sent back home. That is until last week when I got this here letter.�

 

The two men sat companionably in the darkness for a while, neither speaking. Jess, remembering with fondness and pain, his old friend and Slim amazed as he often was at the strength of Jess� loyalties.

 

It was Jess who finally broke the silence. �In his letter, Thad said he�d forgiven me for callin� in his pa and that he and his pa had made their peace. Then he said he�d gotten in some kind of trouble with a fella by the name of Dreb Farley over in a town called Ruby Creek and was worried that this trouble might spread to his family. He said he planned to be leaving soon to take what he called �one last long ride� and was hopin� that by doin� that he�d also be leadin� Farley away from the ranch an� his family. He was askin� if I could see my way to ride up that there and make sure his family was okay. To not worry about him.�

 

�Jess, it�s been two years since he wrote that. Whatever was going to happen probably already happened a long time ago. What do you think you can do by goin� now?�

 

�Probably nothin�,� Jess admitted. �But I gotta know, Slim. I gotta know what happened.�

 

Slim stared out into the darkness for a long moment; his heart heavy with what he knew was to come. �When where you thinkin� of leavin�?�

 

�Day after tomorrow,� Jess replied sadly. �I want to spend some time with Andy first. Want to make sure he understands why I�m goin� and that I�m comin� back.�

 

He then looked towards Slim and said, �You understand don�tcha?�

 

�I�m fine and Andy understands a lot better�n you think. After all, we�ve both had some practice.� Slim gave what he dearly hoped was a good-natured laugh. �Just the same, let�s take the day off tomorrow and get some fishin� in. No tellin� when we�ll get another chance.�

 

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Chapter Three