Page 68 of Ask No Tomorrows


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When she went to get the money, she pulled it out of the safe and wrapped it in plain paper that the bank furnished her. There were no problems getting her money and she sighed with relief as she left the bank. She went to the livery stable and bought a horse and looked around for Midnight; he wasn’t there. Why would he be? Sam was long gone by now.

Sam was gone for good this time.

No one to love, no one to kiss, no one to companion, and no one to protect her from the storms. She was at last alone again and she hated it.

She went to the general store and bought coffee, jerky and then she spotted it on the shelf and tears came to her eyes. Peaches. Canned peaches. She bought two cans and stuffed them in a valise she had bought too.

But she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a whining she thought she recognized. It was Nodog standing in an alley as she crossed the boardwalk.

“Nodog, is that you?” she questioned as she walked closer.

The dog whined and came near. She reached out her hand and realized it wasn’t Nodog, but a stray that favored his coloring. He licked her hand.

“Aw…what happened to you?”

She looked about to see if anyone was around, or claiming the dog.

“Don’t you fret, we’ll ride together,” she insisted.

And the dog followed.

“I’ll have to give you a name…how about…Friend. Yeah, I like that.”

The dog wagged his tail and followed along behind her and her horse.

The hollow of her heart ached for Sam like a feste

ring sore that wouldn’t heal, but she had to forget him. He wouldn’t commit to her and that was that. She wouldn’t be his whore, for one thing he wouldn’t let her, for another she wouldn’t let herself.

She wanted more than that with Sam. She wanted a life, a husband, and children. He couldn’t commit to that, so they had to separate, she kept telling herself. She couldn’t go on with him any longer, loving him like she did and not being able to consummate that love. A marriage between them would never be recognized and maybe Sam didn’t want to take her and marry her. That made sense, but she loved him, for God’s sake.

The rain had cleared the air and she rode for a long time without stopping. Friend followed along happily.

Food seemed unimportant to her, but she could tell Friend hadn’t eaten in a while. She would need to find some food. She spotted a rabbit and dismounting long enough to grab a large rock, she aimed and threw a rock at it. It tumbled over head first and she went to retrieve it. It wasn’t dead and she had to bang it’s head against the rock. Tears rushed down her cheek. “Sorry little fella…” Killer! After skinning it, she began cooking it over an open fire as she settled in for the night. Sam had taught her so much about self-survival that she wasn’t afraid any longer. Of course, having Friend by her side made her more confident too.

“What kind of dog are you, anyway?” she asked as she handed Friend a leg and thigh.

“You look sort of like Nodog, only your eyes aren’t as wild. I guess I’ll have to teach you a lot of things too. Definitely no wolf in you now that I get a good look at you.”

She camped by a creek the first night. The next morning, she made coffee and went on. Friend was trotting right alongside of her.

She passed a few people along the way, but she didn’t stop to talk to them or get involved with them. She had been much too involved with Sam. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. Not getting hurt meant not getting involved again.

By the third night, she was only a mile or two from her ranch. She made a camp and decided to go try to dig up the money that very night. She made Friend stay close at her heels and taught him to be quiet. He was easy to teach. There was no reason to wait and she needed to be out of the area by the time Harry came back. She wondered how long it would be before someone kicked him out of there.

She walked for hours before she reached the place her father had buried the money. It was no more than a hundred or so yards from the house. She would have to be quiet, so as not to wake anyone. She went to the barn and felt her way to the tools hung on the back wall. She knew the barn so well she could find anything in the dark there. She felt for each tool until she found a shovel, then she took it and scampered back to where the money had been buried. It was in the family cemetery and under her Uncle Walden’s headstone. She began to dig.

There was enough moonlight so she could read the stones easily. Uncle Walden wasn’t buried there, but her father erected a stone because he’d been killed at Gettysburg. She remembered visiting the grave many times with her father.

She dug for some time before she hit the box her father had buried.

It was a heavy box.

It was sealed and she couldn’t take the chance of waking someone, so she pushed the dirt back into the hole and carried the box a few feet. It was almost dawn and she knew she’d have to be quick about it or someone would hear her.

She ran a few yards and rested in a dark clump of bushes. Friend followed her every step. Then she ran again.

She kept running and resting for a good mile and half and then she began dragging the box.

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