Heart of Gold

Chapter 1 Finding Ta

All my survival skills hadn't prepared me. I'd moved away from the rest during this exercise on purpose. The more people the less chance for finding the natural resources to survive. In a group you not only had to find more resources, you had to worry about each other using them up.

 

It's why Paiutes could live for centuries in Death Valley, where everyone else usually died off. They could live in small family groups because they knew where to hunt. They had group rules. During pine nut hunting season, they'd bury the pine nuts in clay containers under their cooking fires. This prevented stealing as well as providing future food storage.

 

If you know what to look for, you can still see some of the ancient trails of America's early ancestors. I thought I'd found one. I was keeping an eye out for natural herbs, nuts, berries and anything else the path honored life with. I wasn't in Death Valley but my stomach was telling me it was having second thoughts on how I was treating it. It was growling at me.

 

The cabin rose out of the mist as I turned between two old monarch trees. Firelight coming from the cabin winked at me in warning. Anyone this far out wasn't here for the weekend. They might not want to be disturbed.

 

I made a lot of noise as I approached, whistling off key when I saw the shape the cabin was in. Windows glared back from broken shards of glass. Animals had nested in rotted timbers. The voice singing out from inside was female which meant extra care in making myself known.

 

I called out but got no answer. The sound of her voice disappeared. Warily, I still went on. Sometimes I'm too curious for my own good.

 

She was feeding wood from the cabin into the rock fireplace as I entered. "You won't need that." Dark brown eyes surrounded by a head full of black hair stared at the survival knife in my hand. She dropped the hand sized rock she'd been holding behind her as I slide the knife inside my rawhide belt.

 

"You in trouble? If not, I'll let you be." My voice sounded rough. I hadn't talked to anyone in days and it showed.

 

"You a mountain man?" she wondered.

 

"Only in the mountains." My answer was one I always used to make light of my passion.

 

"You can sit if you want. My names Yaw ta he. means hello and goodbye in Navajo. It was the first word I said so they stuck it on me. Gets confusing when my people are around so they shortened it to Ta."

 

"Cornstarch." I said, pointing to her fire. "Long way to carry that in. People call me Lazy. Maybe I am, but they don't have to always remind me." I winked, trying to put her at ease, as she was obviously doing toward me.

 

"I'm making only enough food for one, or I'd offer." Ta continued working over the fire. I nodded, munching on some berries I'd picked a while back. She nodded without talking as I offered her the bag of them.

 

"You made a find about two mile back. I was going to get some later. Nothing like wild strawberries. Small but sweet. You been on the trail a while then."

 

"Yep." We both were feeling each other out. I worried about a woman living alone out here and wanted to reassure myself she'd have the staying power she needed to make it back out.

 

"We're high enough, usually storms each afternoon." She went on. "You thinking of staying here as shelter? Doesn't pay to be solid wet comes the shiver of night."

 

"Wouldn't want to trouble you. I can make do."

 

"You look like you could. Just curious about me, I guess."

 

I nodded, wiping berry juice on my plaid shirt. "You got people looking after you?" I hazarded a guess.

 

"I'm all the people I need."

 

"Guess I'm kinda' like that myself. I'll be on my way, then."

 

Clouds had bumped hard into the mountain we were on. As if being told to do so the downpour began. Rain didn't just start in drops. It fell in sheets. I moved out from under a hole in the roof. It had become a miniature waterfall.

 

"Guess I'll be staying a little, after all." I proffered.

 

"It's OK. I'm a little curious about you, myself. Come sit by the fire if you want. Warms the heart and eases the soul."

 

I moved slow. I didn't want to startle her. I eased down on my haunches across from her making sure to leave room between us.

 

"Mighty welcome. Thanks."

 

I listened to her hum some tune I didn't recognize and watched her finish her preparations. Rain added a rhythmic counterpoint to the scene. I felt my muscles ease. I realized she wasn't setting me up by trying to distract me while her partner came in from behind. Anything can happen.

 

She watched as I slid a hand inside a pants pocket and came out with a harmonica. "Keeps me company when I've a need for some." She nodded. I began playing a little background to her humming.

 

***

 

She ate in silence, watching me as I played. We finished about the same time the rain did. I rose to check the trail. It had become a muddy stream.

 

"I'm easy with you. You can stay. I see you know how to keep to yourself. You enjoy your own company." She packed up her food and stretched out by the fire. "Ever had anyone with you?" Ta asked.

 

My eyes stared out into the drizzle falling from branches. "Had a thought or two, like most men, but never got up the nerve to ask."

 

"Shy, huh?"

 

"Yep. That and figured no woman wanted the life."

 

"I had me a man once. Lived the life. Bear took him from me. I hunted a year before I got the bear back for it. Bear left his mark. See?"

 

She pulled her shirt down over her shoulders. The firelight revealed a lengthy set of claw marks scarred into her skin.

 

"Make a good weather tester?"

 

She chuckled deep in her throat. "It does. Everything has an up side if you look." She let the shirt slip further. My heart started thudding like a drum. Silence grew into an awareness of each other that closed us away from the world around us. She finally spoke. "I think we both could use some comforting. It's been a long while, though."

 

I sighed as deep as sighs go. "You're a vision I've never had before. Just seeing you will warm many a night."

 

"Come on, then. Nothing has to happen. We can warm each other on a cold night." She moved to me, her clothing whispering promises as she slide out of what she had on. I stood still not wanting to change the moment as she helped me do like wise. Fire crackled an spit an ember shooting up into the dark sky. "Make a wish." I whispered, sliding my hand through her long hair.

 

"I did. Isn't that why you came?" Ta chuckled.

 

We slid into an easy embrace, learning the ways of each other. It was the first time I'd felt a woman's heart beating against my own. She seemed to know it and helped me learn her pleasure. She seemed to already know mine.

 

The evening slid into night. "Are you staying long?" Ta's voice was hesitant.

 

"If you'll have me. The only bare you'll have to worry about is bare naked."

 

"Oh, I think I can handle you." She did. Time flows at different speeds depending on how life unfolds. That night seemed to go on forever yet last only moments.

 

***

We spoke little upon rising. We just started doing things that fit together like a hand in a glove. One thing led to another. What talk there was focused on building the dream that shaped us.

 

The cabin needed rebuilding almost from ground up, but we had the season to do it in. I'd made tools before. It wasn't as hard as it might be for others. Most nights we spooned together, sometimes pleasing one or the other of us. We talked about the mountain and about selves. Love grew between us like the fire when we first met. It warmed and comforted.

 

I'd seen most couples fight over the most harmless things. We didn't. We helped each other without asking and found our personal boundaries without harm's way. It gladdened my heart. Staying was never mentioned again. We both knew what we shared.

 

***

 

A while later we finally needed some things only a store offered. I wasn't much surprised to see my own face staring at me from the post board. It announced I was lost and presumed dead.

 

The gold nuggets harvested from our mountain was enough to quiet the storekeeper and give me the supplies. "A wildcat got me, son." I replied when he wanted my story for himself.

 

"Takes a special sort to survive that kind of treatment." He smiled. "Been a little worried about not seeing Ta lately. Good to know she just caught some wildlife worth keeping."

Chapter 2 Gold Hill

Living high on the mountain didn't stop the occasional, hard core, out door freak. Ta was the one thought of setting out the sound traps. Tin cans with rocks and string mostly. Sometimes we got the stray person. We never got more than one at a time. It surprised us both when a group of four stumbled across our cabin. I'd posted the usual stay off signs and had clear homesteading title. Ta had made me see to that when I went to town.

 

It was too cold to grow Marijuana or the like. We hadn't had to deal with that like the ones living at a lower elevation. I went around the men, coming up from behind. They were hunting something, mumbling about it as they made their noise.

 

"Hunting trouble for sure." I spoke loudly to get their attention. The sound of me cocking the shotgun brought them up short.

 

"Hey, now!" The one must be their leader made hushing motions at me. "We kind of lost our way I guess." He winked.

 

"Just back track and you'll be doing fine." I pointed the way with the barrel.

 

"You the one with the gold, mister?" The sandy haired one behind the leader spoke up.

 

"Shut up, Harvey. None of our business." The leader sounded mad.

 

But you said..." Harvey stammered.

 

"Shut yourself!"

 

That was it then. Word had gotten out from the store. "Fortune seekers." I muttered, raising the barrel in their direction again.

 

"Look man. It's not like we're the only ones. You're going to have to deal with someone. Might as well be us." Prodded Sandy hair.

 

Ta spoke from the shadow of the trees. "We're dealing with you right now. Get."

 

Sandy looked more interested. He licked his lips. "That's a woman, Cy. That's a woman and she sounds young."

 

Cy looked uneasy, staring back at me. "He's just a loud mouth. Don't take him no mind."

 

"That's about the worst kind. Those that got no mind worth using." I aimed at Sandy hair. "Him first. Plenty of burying space up here as you might have noticed." Ta let out a yell and fired off a round from the thirty ought six. It spooked them into a run. We watched the dust settle behind them, making sure they didn't stop until they were out of sight and then some.

 

"We got trouble, don't we?" Ta sighed.

 

"Yep. They were right about one thing. When gold fever spreads, so does trouble with it."

 

"We didn't exactly plan for this."

 

"I know. We been lulled into maybe too much happiness."

 

"Rather have it that way." Ta murmured, moving up beside me to gather in an arm. "You think news of where we're at will spread, right? Maybe how the tin cans work, too. I'd best be making some man traps now." She busied herself thinking what she might do and where.

 

There was more noise from the bushes. We both moved silently into shadows. A deer poked her head up to watch the action. They have uncanny hearing. It eased the tension between the two of us, watching nature unfold like that. It always did. "Better than TV." I broke the silence. "Sure is." whispered Ta, pointing at the fawn following mom into the clearing.

 

***

 

That night, our love had a special flavor to it. We both knew leaving the cabin might have to happen. It was too easy to spot. We both were restless. Talking and making plans wore us down. The only legal protection was a ranger who had thousands of acres to cover. Doing things on our own might risk legal reprisal.

 

Talk came to a slow stop. I knew that look coming from Ta. She slipped jeans and T-shirt off revealing a worn pair of cotton panties. I smiled and knelt before her, thick fingers restless until they revealed her pleasure to my eyes. I nibbled and teased until she groaned and knelt with me, helping shed my clothing. Our eyes devoured each other. Our bodies danced together. We became our own world, lost to all worry and foreboding. Sleep came easy.

 

We both seemed to awaken at the same time. The moon cast dark shadows around us. It was the sound of breaking, dry twigs Ta had lain across the path. A muttered oath escaped as someone tripped. Another man gave out a startled gasp as he fell over the first. Ta and I moved in well practiced unison. The fire had died to coals near us making our night vision work. I slipped out a window with my knife and bow. Ta followed with her own, the low familiar hum dying on her lips. I felt her whispered movement away from me. She could move as silently as a cat. I stayed low, where I was, waiting.

 

It was the same group of men. The one I called Sandy had opened a flashlight with one palm to hide the light. "It's just wood, guys, some twigs and stuff." He yelped as the flashlight was struck from his hand. "Leave that fool thing off, dude." They might be city dwellers but none the less deadly. Each held a rifle and looked ready to use them. This time we had to do more than scare them away.

 

As was her way, Ta made them make the first fatal move. She let out a scream like a screech owl. The arrow from her bow thudded between the first two men. They answered with bullets tearing leaves off where she'd been. Another arrow thudded into a thigh and I knew she was moving again. If I didn't hurry, she'd have done it all. Ta was a worrier and hated harming any living thing. She wouldn't worry about it now but afterwards tonight would hit her hard.

 

Bullets flew in all directions now. They couldn't have many left at this rate. I notched my own arrow and let it fly. A rifle dropped as blood burst out from a shoulder. The shooting stuttered to a stop as the men hurriedly retreated. We'd been lucky. No-one had been killed. I hoped the lesson was good enough to keep them or anyone else from coming back.

 

The next day I left Ta to find the ranger. We knew each other pretty well. We traded meat for supplies from my private range often enough for him to work with me when I explained what had happened. I watched as he made out the documentation to deputize Ta and I. He'd spread the word among law enforcement. It was a two edged sword. The word about the gold in the mountain would also spread.

 

***

 

"White

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 22.05.2016
ISBN: 978-3-7396-5633-5

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