PIGS DELIGHT

Two Ways Home

Beth busted through the front door of the cottage with an excited look on her face. "They are here Jed!" Jed was putting on the finishing touches before his night out with Ned and Fred. Jed finished combing his hair and grab his coat. Mother stopped him short of the door. "Be careful and don't drink too much. You know you can't hold your own with those two." No truer words have been spoken. Both Ned and friend we're big burly boys in their 20s with a few years of logging timber under their belt. If they ever got let go from logging they could drink as an occupation. Laz would joke they should take their show on the road, "with rhyming names you three would sell out nightly." mother would always walk out onto the stoop and see the trio off telling the elders to take care of my boy tonight. They replied with horny smile's, "yes ma'am". Jed was slightly yet confident with the gift of striking up conversations with about anyone. For this reason Ned and Fred enjoyed having him around, girls don't much like boring, quiet boys with rough hands. Fred had an old but sturdy buckboard wagon that he called the timber chariot. The wagon made the trip to Charlevoix an easier one. Dinner in town was first on the agenda. The boys always sat near the window of the restaurant so they could see the street in case girls would come by. "Slim Pickens in the logging camp compared to town" Fred would say. But it would be the same result every time, no girls to be had. To be honest deep inside they didn't want the kind of girls that shopped at the downtown stores. What they really wanted was the kind of girl that would keep their glasses full, speak in sexual innuendos and fool around with them outside when they left the gambling hall. Fred went for the wagon well Jed and Ted settled the dinner bill. Ted always scarfed at the prices, "$.30 each is robbery" but Jed would remind him that dinner came with pudding or pie and "you sure as hell ain't having pie or pudding in that mess tent, besides we only do this every so often". Ted grumbled under his breath "you're right". The two walked out of the restaurant as Fred pulled up, "your chariot awaits". Jed exclaimed, "Fred someone stole the gold off your chariot!" Fred look down and around playing into the running joke, "well I guess I better go win back my fortune at the card table". They all laughed and rode away headed for the gambling house owned and ran by the former mayor of Charlevoix. Drunkenness and basic rudeness was the downfall of his tenure as mayor. In the eight years as mayor, he had greased a lot of wheels which was why his establishment was so openly operated. The former mayor closely resembled a man of stature but the bulbous nose and pint permanently in hand was a dead giveaway to his current drunken ways. All three boys we're proficient in all manners of cards and games of chance but they gravitated to the same games each time. Jed loved the roulette wheel, while Ned enjoyed poker. Fred was infatuated with dice, in fact it was how he won the money for the wagon. Two months prior Fred walked out with 150 more dollars then when he entered. This allowed him to get a wagon big enough to haul supplies and three best friends. The lumber company owner let Fred use two horses in exchange for picking up supplies for him every other week. Hell of a deal for Fred since it wasn't often he normally would get to go to Petoskey. As the dry goods store would load the wagon he got to walk around and see the new and interesting goods on display. There was a Turkish man who sold rugs and furniture from a far. The Turk was a jolly man with a twisted mustache. For one bit he would serve you Turkish coffee which was thick as mud and even more bitter. Fred thought maybe this is what Two drink to work so hard because it sure made his heart race. Jed liked his odds at the roulette wheel better than at dice and certainly didn't have the bullish attitude to stay long at the poker table. See if you beat a man at poker he was more apt to not get cross with you if you looked like you could fight or handle a gun, Jed was neither of these kinds. Jed liked being able to play the colors on the roulette wheel or if he felt lucky, to play a number or two. That night things were going well for Ned and Fred but not so well for Jed. The more he lost the more he drink which was a recipe for poor judgment on his part. His to counterparts or cashing in their winnings and bartering the price of a nights company with the local talent when they realized the loud drunk across the room was Jed. They attempted to come to his aid but before they could Jed had bet a man $10 against the man's horse that he could drink a jug of the gut rot they called whiskey in under 30 seconds. Jed had a talent for chugging anything fast but keeping his wits about him after was a different story. Upon winning the horse he went outside to see his prize. He started laughing as the sight and thought of riding the old mare was too much to not laugh at. As Jed tried to regain his composure he violently expelled the recently consumed whiskey. Jed stated "well on that note I will take my trusty steed home since I have not the ability to pay for a livery and hotel room". Ned and Fred we're OK with that since the rest of their night appeared to include a couple brunettes in hotel rooms, making Jed a fifth wheel. Jed let out some drunken belches as he mounted the only winnings he had to show that night. As he rode away he preached to his comrades, "save some energy for those saws on Monday boys". As he made his way through town headed north across the sandy dunes separating Round Lake from Pine Lake. Under the bright moonlight Sky his eyes peered to the drop offs on each side. It was that moment the whiskey started making his thoughts fuzzy. Fighting sleep he sat slumped over on the old brown mare. Passing the occasional farm he'd be jolted aware by the farm dog alerting his passing by. Jed fell asleep as he approached the fork in the trail near the Indian church referred to as Greensky Hill after its founder, converted
Indian preacher, Pete Greensky. By this time the sun was rising and kissing the tops of the trees circling the mission. Jet awoke to someone shaking his leg, it was Two. She had been walking to the mission when she came upon the wayward pair. Two recognized the old mare as belonging to Harvey Johnson the restaurant owner from Constantine vacation here in the summer. Harvey lived a mile north of the mission so without a captain to guide the ship, the mare just followed her normal path toward home. Two questioned Jed about the horse as she thought it stolen. He in a drunken stammer proclaimed he had "won her and no crime was committed". Two shook her head in frustration. A couple of laughing Indian boys had appeared from the mission settlement. Two told them she was taking him home and to tell the others in the mission kitchen she would return in a couple hours and help with food preparations. Since it was Sunday morning she didn't have to cook at the logging camp. Two lead her self appointed charges down the dirt road towards Horton Bay. As she passed through the Undine Settlement Jed awoke confused but grateful. Approaching town, Two could see Beth and Maa beating rugs that normally covered the small cottage floor. Two shot a look at Jed and said "you should stand next to those rugs and get your dusting". Jed looked toward her with discuss and anger then she shot him a small smile. Jed new in that smile was grace, mercy and the understanding that we all make mistakes. After all how does the child learn not to touch a hot stove but by touching it. Two looked at Maa and said "found the sack of potatoes on the road". Maa replied "thank you Two". Looking at Jed she said "I don't even want to know do I?" He replied "probably not mother". Then the embarrassed teen looked at Two and whispered "thank you" with his head nodding. "Also, Two would you return the horse to Mr. Harvey? I really don't need a horse nor can I forward to feed one". Two agreed and wrote away chuckling and bouncing to the horse's stride. Maa knew hangovers last a day but this lesson Jed Becker would not soon forget.