In an America that might have been, two war orphans from a divided nation, one in the north and one in the south, meet across a vast battlefield, striking out to forge a future together in the west. It's 1892, the fourth and bloodiest year of the Ci...
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Jukes was every bit the flirt he seemed he seemed and very secretive about his writing. His attention for the women never wavered. When Deke asked him about it in a rare moment where they were alone, Jukes said, "Honest single women may be as common as apples on trees back east, but out here they're a rare event and I don't intend to let two gems like these just walk by."
That left Deke a little worried. This man had a university education and a job with the government. He'd be tough competition.
Joe had asked them out for a horse ride picnic the next day, his official day off. They met, at Joe's suggestion, for breakfast at a bakery that had a little shop with tables. It smelled like heaven. The shop sold tea, which pleased Kay a lot.
"It comes over the mountains from San Francisco. They ship it compressed into black bricks. We should ask. It's an interesting process to see. The bricks get broken up into chunks and get put it in a grinder. Then they put some in a tin cup filled with holes, pour hot water over it until it's submerged. Then it steeps," Jukes said.
The baker himself was behind the counter and Kay heard an accent when he talked that kind of rang a bell. When she asked it turned out the baker was Italian! Kay asked if he knew how to make spaghetti and the baker smiled and said yes, he made it for his family.
"I make it in big batches. We dry the noodles and can the sauce so we can store them at home. Tomatoes are hard to find, so we make a lot of it when we can. Shipments have to come over the mountains. I could make some for you sometime, but not today. We're a bit busy."
She instead had bun with a spicy sausage and gravy inside it. It was heaven too.
"Bread strings?" Joe said. "Sounds interesting. We'll have to have dinner together."
Deke was quiet through the meal while Joe expounded on the wonders of the local mountains.
"We're going to see the Forest Queen mine. It's close by and owned by a local, Lou Blonger," he said. "It's a large established operation, both placer and hard rock, so you should be able to see just about all the facets of mining."
Before they left they bought more meat buns for lunch and apples at a market on the way out. Deke handed both the women apples. "Give them to your horses. Let them know you're friends."
"Nonsense. Horses come and go. Spoil them and they'll give you trouble," Joe said. Deke just shook his head and said nothing.
They rode out of town and up a rutted road that wound through stream filled grey rock canyons. The sun was hot and the air dry and there was no shade. Kay could see patches of color speckling the rocks and even on some of the scrubby little trees that worked their way out of cracks in the rock.
She asked Deke what the colored patches were, but he shook his head. "I don't know an English word for it. Most Indians around here would call it, in the general sense, utsaleta."
