Luke & JJ
by Greg Bowden
Chapter Twenty Two
Devil's Shaft
Luke
and J.J. stood, arms touching, watching Mr. Gentry's heavily loaded wagon
disappear into its own cloud of dust as it proceeded up
"Well, J.J., they've gone. I guess it's all ours now." He turned and looked into J.J.'s eyes. "Scared?"
J.J. shivered in the mid-September heat. "Not 'til now. It never seemed real before, not even when we signed those papers and gave her all that money. But now..." He wiped his hands over his eyes as though it might clear some vision of the future. "Yeah, I'm a little sacred. Aren't you?"
"No." He clapped J.J. on the back. "With you running it, we can't fail. Now come on, let's go in and survey our new kingdom."
They stepped through the front door and met Ah Man carrying a large trunk down the stairs.
"Ah Man, what in the world are you doing?" J.J. asked, giving him a hand with the trunk. "Where are you going with this thing?"
"Move things to Madam... Ah... To Masters' Room. Now you own house, must sleep in Masters' Room so we rent other room upstairs."
Neither Luke nor J.J. missed the 'we' and both took it as a sign. They grinned at one another.
Somehow the "Masters' Room" didn't seem quite as desirable as the one they had occupied on the second floor with its tall windows and view of the mountains. The windows here were smaller--although there were three of them--and the view was of the weed choked rear yard where J.J. insisted he was going to plant a garden. The room did have a bigger bed, though, and, without sleeping rooms on either side of it, was more private. At least here they wouldn't wake anyone when Luke had one of his dreams.
Once their things were moved in and put away and the bed made up with fresh linens, they went through the house, making a list of all the changes and improvements they would make.
For the most part, there was little that needed to be done but it gave them a feeling of proprietorship, walking through their domain, touching a door here, a window there, getting used to the idea that all of it belonged to them.
When they got to the little room off the kitchen where the residents took their once weekly baths, Luke shook his head. "We've got to do something about this, J.J. I hate having my bath back here, it's dark and gloomy and it's cold. Besides that, it smells." He wrinkled his nose in distaste.
J.J. looked around the room and agreed with him. "You're right. I'm not sure how, but we have to improve it. Maybe we should talk to Ah Man about it. After all, he's the one who's back here most, bringing the hot water and cleaning out that old tub."
Upstairs
they noted the loose floorboard in the hall and the window that had been
painted shut years before. Luke was pretty sure he could repair both in short order, as soon as he went over to Mr. Davidson's store and
bought a few tools. Mrs. Brown had taken the only tools there were in the
house--a small hammer and a pair of pliers--because, she said, she was afraid
these things might not be available in
While Luke went off to the general store J.J. went into the kitchen to talk with Ah Man about the meals for the rest of the week. He had already decided to let Ah Man continue to do the shopping since he knew all the shopkeepers and always came back with the best of what was available, but J.J. wanted to make some changes in the things that were served and the way they were prepared. Ah Man was a good cook but Mrs. Brown's influence had made him a bit heavy handed.
The other change he wanted to make in the kitchen was breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. Since many of the men slept late on one or the other of those days, especially Sunday, J.J. thought some sort of breakfast should be available whenever it was wanted.
He found Rusty in the kitchen, chipping ice and putting it in a small tub.
"What's the ice for?" J.J. asked, looking closely at Rusty's face. "That cut's healing pretty well, isn't it."
Rusty
gingerly touched the angry red slash on his cheek. "Yea, pretty good. Ah
Man, here, I'd recommend his doctorin' any day."
He went back to chipping the ice. "Thought we should celebrate, you know,
now that the place belongs to you. I brought some wine, champagne from
J.J. looked at the four bottles on the table. "Well, thank you, Rusty. We'll all have a toast before dinner."
"This one?" Rusty picked up one of the bottles. "It's just for you and Luke. It's kind of a special one, real old."
J.J. smiled and put his hand on the other man's shoulder. "Thanks Rusty. You're a good friend."
Ah Man was already polishing the tall glasses that were proper with champagne. Mrs. Brown had left them behind, along with all the other tableware, after the Prince had mentioned that in order to use them in her new home they would have to carry the Kalnikov crest. While engraving and enameling could be done, he considered that somewhat impractical. Besides, he said, he already had crystal, china, linens and silver sufficient to serve fifty at dinner.
J.J. picked up a towel and began to polish one of the glasses. "What will we have for supper, Ah Man?"
Ah Man shrugged. "Chicken. Potatoes. Carrots."
"Can you do them differently?"
"How, different?" Ah Man's eyes narrowed. Was his ability to cook a proper meal being questioned?
"Well,
how would you prepare the chicken if you were at home, in
Ah
Man smiled. "You not like." He stopped,
putting the glass he was polishing down on the table and looked off in space
for a moment, lost in his thoughts. "But, maybe.
Not like
J.J. bowed to him. "I'll help. Just show me what to do."
"No. Not yet. Later, if you like, I teach you. Now, you please finish glasses?"
J.J. nodded and picked up the glass Ah Man had put on the table, wondering what he was getting them all into.
Later that afternoon, as J.J. was just finishing with filling the water jugs in the bedrooms, Rusty came up the stairs with a broad smile on his face. "J.J., Luke wants you out on the porch. He has something to show you."
When he went out, J.J. found Luke standing in the dusty street. "Come here," he called. "See if you like this."
J.J.
walked out and looked back in the direction Luke was pointing. There, above the
porch steps, was a freshly painted sign: The
Williams Brothers -- Fine Lodging for Gentlemen. Below that was the date,
"Oh, Luke." J.J. hugged him, not caring who saw. "It's beautiful. Perfect. Thank you."
"I thought we needed to make our mark on the place right away."
Burt, coming in from the mine, stopped and clapped Luke on the shoulder. "Missed you today. The foreman, he wasn't real happy you took the day off, either." He glanced up at the sign. "Well, you sure didn't waste much time gettin' your name on the place, did you? You gonna' raise the rents?"
J.J. grinned at him. "Maybe just for you, Burt. Would you stay around if we did?"
"Doubt it. Unless the food gets one hell of a lot better." He smiled. "She leave you her dessert recipes?"
"Burning in the cook stove right now. Baking one of my peach pies."
Burt stepped up on the porch. "Guess I'll stay then. At the same rent." He disappeared through the door.
Luke and J.J. burst out laughing. "He'd stay if we doubled his rent," Luke said. "As long as you keep making the desserts. Come on. Let's go wash for supper."
When the men filed in to the dining room that evening, they found things a little out of place. J.J. had taken Mrs. Brown's accustomed place at the head of the table and Luke had displaced Dodge at the other end. The usual large dinner plates were not on the table, each place having only cutlery and a tall glass filled with champagne.
When all of them were seated, J.J. raised his glass and looked around the table. "Welcome to the Williams Brothers--Fine Lodging for Gentlemen." He saluted Luke with his glass and then took a sip of the champagne. The rest of the men, in some confusion, raised their glasses and drank silently.
J.J. grinned. "It's okay. You can talk."
Burt looked aghast. "Here? At the supper table??"
"Sure, why not? Ma always said that quiet conversation made a good meal better. Right Luke?"
Luke smiled and winked at him. "That she did. As long as you watch your language. Curse or swear and you get your knuckles rapped." He picked up a short switch of birch he had brought in with him and looked around the table. "That's my job so you'd better be careful." Everyone laughed but, to a man, they knew he meant it.
The meal, much to everyone's surprise, began with salted fish which Ah Man had soaked, chopped and then mixed with hard cooked egg and spread on toasted bread. The men were not quite sure about it but it turned out to be just right with the cold champagne.
When they were finished with the fish Ah Man, who would not hear of J.J. or Luke helping with the serving, removed the small plates and then served the chicken.
"What's that?" one of the men asked suspiciously, pointing his fork at the platter Ah Man had carried in.
"Chicken,"
J.J. said, helping himself. He looked up at
"Never saw a chicken cut up this way," Dodge said when the platter came to him.
"You should not have to butcher the chicken as you eat it," Ah Man said quietly but firmly.
They found, when they gave it a chance, that the chicken was quite extraordinary. Even the small pieces of vegetable mixed in with it finally drew praise from many of them and all liked the noodles served on the side. By the time Ah Man removed the plates, all of them had been cleared and several had been wiped clean of any stray sauce with J.J.'s special rolls.
There was just enough of the champagne left to fill each glass once more when the peach pie was served.
"Well, that was quite something," Dodge said to Andrew, one of the newer residents, as they pushed back their chairs. "I never had a meal quite like that in my life."
"Nor I," Andrew said, draining the last of the straw colored wine from his glass. "But I'd sure like to have it again."
Burt, on the other side of Andrew, nodded in agreement. "Hey, J.J.," he called. "That was downright edible. How much is it gonna raise the rent, anyway?"
J.J. smiled. "I told you, Burt, only yours gets raised. And that probably won't happen so long as you comport yourself as a gentleman around here."
There was general laughter at this exchange but some relief, too. Everyone had wondered if Luke and J.J. would raise the rents now that they owned the place.
Later that night, in their new room, Luke said to J.J., "Didn't you say Rusty brought us some special champagne?" He pulled off his shirt and let his hand play over the hair on his chest in that negligent way that always seemed to excite J.J. "You suppose we could try some of it?" He began to unbuckle his belt.
J.J.'s mouth went dry watching Luke. He nodded and disappeared through the little office into the kitchen. When he returned a few minutes later Luke was on the bed, naked.
J.J. set the tray he was carrying on a side table and quickly got out of his own clothes. The tray on the table was forgotten for the rest of the night
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To be continued.
Comments, suggestions or criticisms always appreciated and always answered.
Greg Bowden