When the Sun Sets

26

I was dreaming again. I was back in my homelands, staring at the sun. In the distance, I saw a coyote and a wolf walking away together. Then I was at the altar in my first wedding dress but instead of seeing the coyote and hawk fight, I saw that wolf and coyote touching noses. That's very strange, considering they hate each other.

"Rose. Rose." I feel someone shaking me awake. I had fallen asleep on the wagon. Desiree looks up at me.

"What's wrong?" I ask. We were moving to another safe house. We didn't want anyone that might have been watching Marshal Lewis seeing us there.

"Look." She pointed at a charred building. It was our home. I recognized the pine trees and the red maple that was on the right side. They burned down our house. I felt rage at seeing my hard work gone. The stables weren't charred so they probably took the horses for themselves.

I took a deep breath. Part of me wanted to cry and the other part of me wanted to scream out of rage. We continued and I noticed Desiree was hunched over, staring at the floor of the wagon. Kelly lights a cigarette and offers one to Willow who accepts. I notice Kieran looking at me.

"You okay? Sorry, that's a really stupid question." He looks back down, scratching his neck.

"It's fine." I look at him. "It's just that it took a bit to build. After our adoptive parents died, we had bought it from some trappers when people started settling around here. We had added rooms, bought furniture, and cleaned it up. And it's all gone."

"I'm sorry. I know that must be hard for you guys." Kieran looks at me again. We pass by a fancy stagecoach, a wagon full of hogs and a few men on horses.

"Where is this next place?" Ethan asked Beth Ann, who was sitting besides Martin.

"It's a bit up the road from here. Rocky Flats to be exact. One of my good friends has a house here by Gary's Pond." She responded. "It's yours for now."

I notice a bunch of lawmen riding by on their horses. I hope they didn't notice any of us. Then again, we're concealed by boxes and junk.

"Morning." One says to Martin.

"Good morning." They continue to ride away. I sigh in relief. From what I can see, we're getting closer to the drier plains of Rocky Flats. We ride into a shallow creek and continue. I lay back against the canvas of the upper part of the wagon and close my eyes. I could use a nap just about now. My clothes are sticking to me and I really need a bath.

"You're just full of energy today, aren't you?" Kieran chuckled as he took a tamale out of my bag.

"Leave me alone, I'm trying to sleep." I smile at him, lifting my head up.

"We're almost there so don't sleep for too long." Beth Ann chuckles to herself.

"You said that two hours ago." Ethan slumps on his seat.

"I'm going as fast as I can, Monsieur Blackwood." Martin hollered. Ethan looks at me.

"Can I have a tamale?" He asked.

"Go for it, there's plenty." I made some last night for the trip.

"So which one is your favorite?" Aiyanna was chowing down on an uchepo, a fluffy corn tamale.

"I like the uchepos." Desiree responded. "The red pork are really good too but the uchepos are really sweet."

"I like the green ones better." Willow was halfway through one.

"Red." Aiyanna responded.

"Same." Daven responded. "The green ones don't have as much flavor."

"You don't really like chicken,do you?" Kelly asked him, peeling a green one.

"Nah, it just doesn't have a lot of flavor." Daven was halfway through one.

"You don't have a lot of flavor, Mr. Barely Eats Anything."

"I have money to be picky. Or at least I used to." Daven sighed. "Not that it bothers me that much."

"At least we're together, not in county jail, hanging from a gallow, or stuck somewhere in the woods." Aiyanna looks at them.

"We'll get through this." Elise looked back at us. "You just have to have faith."

"I guess so." Ethan leaned back. "My leg's almost back to normal."

"I'm glad it is." Elise looked at him, gently rubbing his forearm. "I can't believe you're all grown now. I still remember when you were all little and running around your grandparent's house."

"It feels like forever. Whatever happened to that house?" Kieran looked at his mom.

"Government took that and our land." Kieran's grandmother says sadly. The wagon stops. We reach a bigger ranch home with a barn in the back and what looks like a small shed on the side. There's a windmill and there's a few cows grazing in a pen nearby.

"Where are we?" I ask Beth Ann.

"We're at my house." She chuckled. "Well, it was my ex husband's. He gave it to me after the divorce since he moved back to New York."

"A New Yorker? Yuck." Ethan says jokingly.

We get out of the wagon. Oh thank the Gods, my feet and legs were killing me from sitting all day. The house is made from dark wood and the porch has two rocking chairs on it. We enter the house. There's a staircase in the back of the house and there's a dining room to the right with a big kitchen to the left. There's a huge chandelier made from deer antlers and iron.

"We made that when he went hunting with one of his brothers to the mountains way back. He wanted to do elk antlers but he couldn't find enough elk to do it with." Beth Ann sighed.

"Thank you for everything, Beth Ann." I smiled at her.

"You're welcome." She pats my back. "We brought food and booze. Also help yourself to any clothes you find."

We say goodbye and she leaves the house with Martin. This should be fun.