Traveller - L.W. Samuelson (free e books to read online TXT) 📗

melting snow as they left the outcropping. Sliding down the slope, everyone tried to keep their balance. Willy fell causing the cot to tip, but Lori grabbed his pole preventing it from hitting the ground. She held it until he recovered. When he grabbed the pole again, she noticed the scars on the back of his hands. They were round and deep, burn marks. She didn’t say anything even though her curiosity prompted her to ask about them, she didn’t want to embarrass him.
The going was rough and strenuous as they made their way through the trees, oftentimes having to wade in the snow until they got to the lower reaches of the mountain. The snow gave way to mud making the descent more difficult.
Willy was the first to call for a break, he could see Lori flagging. “Man dis be hard,” he said wiping the sweat from his brow. Lori looked exhausted, her flushed face dripped with sweat, she breathed heavily. They sat Traveller down in the shade of a juniper where the snow hadn’t melted.
“You gonna make it Sis?” Jesse asked.
“I’ll make it if it kills me,” she said with determination.
“Let me take a turn by my lonesome. I be feelin’ da need for some exercise,” Willy said. “We get down da mountain a ways, you can spell me.”
“Here you can carry my rifle,” Tim suggested.
Lori took it and slung it over her shoulder. “Thanks Willy,” she said gratefully.
They descended rapidly until they reached the part of the mountain covered with shale. “Man, my arms are numb,” Jesse complained. “We better rest for a while.”
“Good idea. I done lost da feelin’ in my arms long time ago,” Willy confessed.
Lori passed her canteen around. The water soothed and refreshed the men. She handed each of them a synthowafer. They crunched the food and washed it down with more water. The wafers invigorated the stretcher bearers.
“Dat ole alien best be makin’ it. I don’t ever wanna put dis much effort into someone who up and die on me,” said Willy.
Lori checked Traveller’s pulse. “He’s still alive. It worries me that he hasn’t so much as moved for over twenty hours.”
“Maybe his body’s putting all its effort into fighting the infection,” Tim suggested.
“Maybe he fakin’ it to get a free ride down de mountain,” Willy joked.
“We ready? I’ll take a corner,” Lori said.
They resumed their journey skirting the top of the shale until they found the game trail. Once on it, they wound their way down to the lower reaches of the mountain where the slope lessened into a more gradual decline. They were exhausted, muscles burned and cramped.
“I be for settin’ dis lead alien down,” Willy suggested.
“Amen,” said Tim.
“Far out,” said Jesse.
Exhausted, Lori didn’t say anything. They sat him down in a grassy spot. She took his pulse on the side of the neck. “Faint but there,” she replied to their questioning looks. She dispersed the remaining synthowafers before passing around her canteen. The four of them ate the crackers, drank some water, and then laid back on the grass to rest.
The deep exhaustion that plagued them extended their break to over thirty minutes. Jesse finally became impatient and suggested that they move on.
“Man my muscles already be sore,” complained Willy. His legs felt weak despite the effects of the synthowafers.
When Lori got up, she promptly sat down again, grimacing. With her calves cramped in knots, she massaged them as the men waited. “What time is it?” she asked.
Tim checked his watch. “Twelve-thirty. I just missed all my classes.”
“Is there a down side to that?” asked Jesse.
“Yeah,” Willy said. “I be all missin’ a good nap sittin’ in my math class.”
“I didn’t know you attended classes,” joked Jesse.
“Wonsa week whetha I need to or not. Shoot, someone’s gotta check the chicks out.”
“You guys are stupid. No wonder you’re on probation,” said Lori directing her remarks to Jesse and Willy.
Willy laughed. “Man girl, I resemble dat remark, but somebody got ta make you book heads look good.”
Lori smiled. “You’re all right Willy. I hear you and Jesse have been studying together. Nothing like the blind leading the blind.”
“You ‘bout got ‘doze cramps rubbed out? I think you might be givin’ me one, in da neck,” Willy rubbed the back of his neck as he and the other two males laughed.
“Yeah Sis, we study every day. I study shooting the basketball, Willy studies rebounding and dunking it. I think we’re both getting A’s,” Jesse said reaching down for his corner of the cot.
“You sure can shoot dat ball good for a whitey,” Willy laughed grabbing both ends of the back of the stretcher. He looked at Lori, “You take a break. Let ‘dose cramps work ‘deselves out.”
Lori noticed the burn marks again as he grabbed the poles. “Thanks,” she said.
“Last push for the van,” Jesse said.
As the end of their ordeal neared, everyone stepped lighter. With renewed energy, they came off the mountain onto the flat part of the journey.
Lori took her end of the stretcher. Willy glanced at her gratefully.
“I guess you not such a pain afder all,” he said.
It took over forty-five minutes of non-stop walking to get to the van.
“Get him in the back. We can rest on the way down,” said Lori shaking the kinks out of her arms. She opened the doors before Tim and Jesse placed their end on the tailgate and Willy shoved the stretcher inside. “I ride with him,” he said crawling in alongside Traveller.
Lori headed the van toward Cassia Creek with Tim and Jesse following her in the VW. Once underway, she glanced back. Willy was watching Traveller with concern. His sincerity prompted her into a confession, “You know Willy, I didn’t want you to be involved in this. I was wrong; we never would have got him down the mountain without you.”
“Dat’s okay. Lotsa people don’t trust me ‘til they get ta know me, ‘specially honkies.”
“Why did you want to help? Is it better than going to school?”
“I neva’ bin very good at school. No one eva’ make me study. My mom, she work all the time. My ole’ man just come home long enuff to eat and take her money, rough me up a little bit. So yeah, dis be better than school, but that’s not the reason.”
“Then why Willy?”
“’Cause Travis shook my hand when we be playing your brother’s team. I didn’t think about it at the time, but that night when I be lying in bed, I remembered the sensation, it was like everything gonna be alright. For da first time in my life, I feel like I gonna be alright.”
“He has that effect on people, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah man. I never had much growin’ up. Spent most of my time playin’ basketball. But I learned to play, it kept me in school. If it wasn’t for dat I be in prison or some such. Never had anyone to look after me but myself. My old lady try, but she be workin’ all the time.”
Despite herself, Lori had to ask, “What happened to your hands?”
A long silence ensued. Finally, Willy answered, “Ole man come home one night, I be crying, only five years old. He keep telling’ me to shut up, I keep crying, hungry, wantin’ my mom. Finally, he grab my hand, hold a burning cigarette on it. He say I give you sumpin’ to cry ‘bout. Man, it hurt so damn bad, I cry even louder.
“‘I tole you to shut up’, he screamed, grabbed de other hand, burn it too. I keep cryin’ so finally he shove me down, kick me in the gut, and leave. He slam the door so hard, it break a window. She never seen him since. Good thing too, my old lady keep a gun in de house after dat. She say if he come back, she kill him. She practiced holdin’ dat gun every day case he did come back. She take all de bullets out, practice pulling da trigger, too. She’da shot him in his sleep, he ever come back. I be afraid of guns ever since.”
“Did you ever see him again?”
“Once a ‘bout a year ago, I be home for Christmas. Me and a frien’ went to Charlie’s for a drink. There he be, looked right at me, never said a word. I didn’t say anythin’ either, don’t think he even recognized me.”
“Didn’t you want to hit him or something?”
“Naw man, he be old, drunker’n hell. What’s the use? We just turn around an’ left.”
Lori came to the highway. She turned left with a new perspective on Willy as they accelerated down the highway.

An hour later, she turned right at the Donnard Bridge and followed the road along the Snake River until it made an abrupt L turn back to the east. She followed it past the Turner house then up a small hill. She passed her parent’s house, a small two-bedroom home painted white with red trim, before turning right and parking to the side of the small house designated for the hired hand. With its flat roof and greenish-blue paint, it looked small, even quaint.
Tim turned in at the home place so Jesse could get the key. The dirt road curved in front of the milk barn then back around to the side of the other house. Tim drove the VW around to where Lori waited and handed her the key.
“You get the door open, we’ll bring him in. The bed should be ready. I even made it the last time I was here,” Jesse said.
“Man, you all live in da middle of nowhere. Only neighbor be the house ‘cross da street.”
“Isn’t it great? It used to keep Jesse out of trouble till he learned how to drive,” said Lori.
“Man Sis, I got in plenty of trouble. Remember when I accidentally shot that milk cow?’’ he said as they carried Traveller into the bunk house. “You’d better go fetch the doctor. I’ll be surprised if he comes.”
“He’ll come. I’ll tell him it’s you that’s hurt.”

Chapter 25 - Mixed Blood

Lori did try to convince Dr. Graham to make a house call. She knocked on the door of his white brick house. It was five-thirty in the afternoon, he’d just returned from the office. His wife answered the door. “Hi Lori,” she asked. “What can I do for you?”
“I need to talk to Dr. G. for a minute. Is he available?”
“Just a minute, I’ll get him.”
Surprise filled Dr. Graham’s face when he saw Lori. “Hi Lori. Why aren’t you in school?”
“Hi Dr. G. We went hiking. Jesse’s hurt himself. I was wondering if you could come and take a look at him.”
“Why didn’t you take him to the hospital? Or better yet, call an ambulance? What’s going on?” Dr. Graham asked.
“We, I was afraid to move him.”
“What? Why didn’t you call an ambulance? Do you want me to call one for you? Where’s he at?”
Lori thought quickly. “Doctor please, we need your help. Our friend is a Russian illegal. If we take him to the hospital, he’ll be deported. The KGB is looking for him. If he gets sent back to Russia, he could be killed.” I hate lying to Dr. G. she thought.
“An illegal alien huh? How did you get mixed up with him?”
“Yes, he’s an alien. He’s our friend Doctor. We met him when we were hang gliding at Pomerelle,” Lori said before her voice changed into a plaintive tone. “Please, please Doctor, you have to help