A Family Story

     More Letters From Paradise

         A Family Story

The wheel came off of the wagon sometime in the morning. The man drove the wagon off to the side of the trail. He and the woman climbed down from the wagon to inspect the damage. Several of the spokes had given way. It was decided that the man would take the broken wheel back on the trail to the last settlement they had passed through yesterday.There was probably a wheel wright to be found there, as so many wagon trains passed by almost daily.
The man removed the harness and picked up the wheel and tied it to one horse, the other he would ride. He told her not to worry, he might be back later that night. He didn't worry because he gave her their Winchester rifle, and he knew that she was an excellent shot. The Colt revolver he would take for himself. The man and the woman embraced briefly, then he mounted one horse, and leading the other, rode back down the trail.
The woman watched him disappear, and began to think about how best she could  use the time just given her. She had washed her husband's shirts the day before, and they were tied to the side of the wagon. They were all wrinkled from the many twists she had done in wringing them dry. She had always been a woman who prided herself in keeping her man in clean clothes.
On both sides of the trail were small stands of brush. Some of which she gathered into a pile and built a small fire. People looked from wagons as they passed, with sympathy. When the fire had burned down to coals, she put her iron trivet over them. She then took out the ironing board from the wagon. Next, she returned to the wagon and brought with her two heavy cast irons. These she placed on the trivet to heat. When ironing, when one iron cooled, she would replace it with the hot iron from the trivet. She had finished with one shirt, and was about to begin another, when she saw three Indians, and they were riding hard. The Winchester was in the  wagon. It was but a minute when they came to a halt in front of her. One of the three men made signs that they wanted food. The woman knew that if she gave them some food, they would only demand other things as well. She made signs that she would not give them any food. Angry, one of the young men dismounted and quickly grabbed the woman by her hair.She reached down and took one of the hot irons, and planted it on the center of the man's chest. He howled in pain and released her hair. The other two young Indians, howled with laughter. The branded Indian and his two companions, mounted their horses and rode away.
The man returned very late that night. They both had a laugh over how she had won in the encounter with the Indians. After that, they went to bed under the wagon.
The following morning after a brief breakfast of biscuits and coffee, the man
proceeded to put the wheel on the wagon. The method was simple. A rope was tied to the side of the wagon, and tossed across to the woman, who guided the horse as the wagon was lifted from the ground, The man quickly placed the wheel on the axle.
A day or two later, a lone young Indian was seen riding beside the trail and peering in at the people driving. And,finding at last the woman who had branded him with her flat iron, without leaving his horse, he passed across to the woman a hind quarter of a fresh-killed deer, and rode away.  

           Aloha
           Grant