-

              Although Clay and Christine did their best to contain their two younger brothers, little Jodi Larchmont, a tom boy from birth her mother complained tenderly, was using the wheel of the wagon as a resting place for her little feet as soon as it stopped turning. Leaping to the ground with a magnificent war whoop, she headed straight for the Hollenbeck wagon and its mules. 

            “  Hello Walt! Jimmy Joe! DJ’s here!  “  She called in a loud eager voice, taking up their interrupted friendship as if they’d just parted company yesterday.

            “  We can see that!  “  Laura Hollenbeck said primly, ever mindful of her role as the oldest girl in the family, but Jodi just stuck out her tongue at her disrespectfully as the Walt and Jimmy Joe jumped off the back of the family wagon, ready to go play. Laura was proudly smug when their mother’s weary voice reminded them they had to say ‘ howdy do’ first before the could go see the new puppies or chase the chickens, but after that, the thin, pretty girl seemed lost in her mother’s shadow, helping to take care of younger sister Lettie Anne and the yearling twins, Shirley and Job Bob. He half hoped she and Becka would strike up a friendship this time, but she was too accustomed to being obeyed when she bossed her younger siblings around, he noted sadly as a table was brought out under the Chestnut tree and a faded tablecloth secured, as if pulled out of this air to hold all of the covered dishes and napkin covered mounds with their delicious smells. By the time they had the three wagons placed side by side where the shadow of the barn would protect them under the lean too, and the mules and horses groomed and turned loose to rest for the remainder of the Sabbath rest, the women had sorted themselves out, had the younger children playing quietly under a three-sided canvas Paul forgot that he had, and six oldest boys were already out of sight, doing whatever it was boys that age did when released from the constant vigilance of worried adults. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. What mischief one boy couldn’t think of, the others would! He could hear Clara’s voice in the mix, down by the stream and it caused him to smile in a way that caught Anita Ernesto’s attention as she walked up.

            Forever polite, in the way of Old Mexico, she was one of the few people he honestly admired, and he felt himself bending forward slightly, so as not to dominate her by the difference in their height.

            “  We heard that you were injured. I’m pleased to see that it wasn’t as bad as it sounded, Paul Lee. “

            He pulled on the brim of his hat respectfully.

            “  Thank you M’am.  “

            “  It makes you wonder that there isn’t enough cruelty in the world that some folks got to go out of their way to make more? We lost two of our best horses. Miguel had to shoot the two they left behind, wind broke. We thought perhaps a time for us to get together for a fiesta would help all of us, but if we have imposed I’ve been assigned the task of giving the other women a signal so we can leave gracefully at dusk and camp by the Lake?  “

            “  I’d be purely honored to have you all stay the night, Senora. As you can hear the child have took thee noise far enough away it won’t bother even an old grump like me.  “  He added with a laugh.

            She sighed deeply.  “  I know, I never thought I would fear the silence. But it usually means they’re up to something. But how else are they to learn? Excuse me for changing the subject, but I understand you plan to go to the Coast in Autumn? Would you be returning before winter?  “

            “  I’m purely going to try, M’am. “  He agreed, taking her elbow as they walked gracefully toward the chairs where the others were already seated in the shade.

            “  I have not been to confession in over a year and we thought we might travel with you for safety.  “

            “  You’d be very welcomed too, of course. But at Massacre Rock I plan to swing

north and see about doing some trading with the Indians at the British Fort. I’d hate to take you that far out of your way. “

            “  Oh!  “

            He felt bad at her obvious disappointment, especially as she attempted to hide it for his sake.  The conversation veered away to his injury, to stock and the growing dryness of the heat despite the elevation before the conversation returned to them.

            “  I was speaking with Padre Lamellas at Crucible?  He was saying he’s expecting a young Jesuit priest from Spain soon, who is expected to set up a circuit of parishioners in some of these outlaying ranches?  “

            “   Lucille is so far, almost two days ride there, and back. And if he is young he will have the strength, but after he’s been shot at and frightened by the Hostiles, will he have the will?  “

            “  Someone brave enough to leave his home forever and live in a foreign land, I don’t think he’ll be scared off by a little war paint and war grease.  “

            “  I hope you’re right.  “  She agreed, but he tone wasn’t encouraging. One of the four babies cried and one by one the mothers laid down with them, covering their shoulders and waist with thin clothes to protect them while they were nursing and then to add shaded as the sun overhead drove everything to a stand still.

            When it became too hot to stay out of doors, they drifted down to the barn where Mollok, Manolito, Clay Larchmont and Davie Fontaine’s oldest boys had taken the time to clean and sprinkle with dried sage and lilac powder in anticipation of tonight’s music and dance. The bed in the house was nearly as hard as the ground, so placing his bear hide with the fur side down on the fresh layer of straw, Paul McWhorter stretched out to his fullest length against the deceptive softness and slept away the heat of the day with his friends. More at peace with his life than he had been at any time since he impulsively rode away from his father’s house at twenty-one, expecting to return in ‘just two or three years’.

-

            The sounds of voices woke him hazily and he struggled to remember where he was and why he was immobilized on the ground.

            “  Uncle Paul? You all right?  “  Becka called in concern, unwilling to leave the women who seemed to enjoy her company.

            “  I will be in a minute, don’t stress yourself, Miha.  “  He called in a low voice, attempting to will himself to rise, but his muscles were slow to respond and the side of his face where he’d been pressed down on the cured hide was puffy and slightly swollen to the touch. Luke Cole ‘wandered’ over to causally give him help getting to his feet, but with a quick hand squeeze, he ‘drifted’ back to his argument with Bernie Larchmont and Walt Hollenbeck. As he returned to the deeply shadowed building, the warmth of the day seemed to linger to his hair and clothes even though the light around them was slowly dimming in anticipation of a knife-thrust dusk.

            “  Marshall, you got a minute?  “

            Paul moved his weight from the hip, which had supported him while he leaned against the pole corral and pushed his Stetson back from his eyes, unaware how much of his dreamlike state remained in his eyes. 

            “  I’ve got several of them, Mrs. Fontaine. Take as many of them as you want, they’re small.  “

            Anna Bella Fontaine smiled, a little self-conscious at being off to one side speaking with a man other than her husband. Life here was so very different from her genteel upbringing that she enjoyed the Virginian’s company as a kid of guilty pleasure.

            “  My DJ and Babs can’t talk about anything but your girl Becka. Are you still planning on going back home when she turns eighteen?  “ 

            He nodded.

            “  Gave her Pa my word on it. “

            She nodded. Caught her breath, then forced her shoulders square.

            “  I hope you don’t think we’ve been gossiping behind your back, but Mrs. O’Donnell isn’t happy here. It takes a woman whose content with her own company to make a life out here. Most of the time I’m too busy to notice how isolated it is, especially with eight children underfoot, a husband and two hired hands… “  She blushed and then sighed, managing to make it sound like an apology. But whether for complaining or for speaking about him behind his back the quiet giant couldn’t be sure, and he wasn’t one to pry.  “  But I know…I know of…my cousin is….  “

            He turned and gave her his full attention, even though she blushed darker.

            “  I understand you preferring to be alone and not want to be pestered with a wife and family, but I…of dear! I’m making a mess of this, aren’t I?  “

            “  Why don’t you just say it? I promise not to get angry if I disagree?  “

            She glowed with relief and placed her hand on his arm for support as she sighed.

            “  I have an unmarried cousin who’s in the family way. She takes people at face value, and they don’t always face up to their consequences…She…you need a lady to help teach Becka how to make it in our world, what remains of it, and I assure you, she’s learned from her mistakes. “

            “  Becka or your cousin?  “

            “  Paul Lee! You said you wouldn’t do it!  “

            “  My apologies. Pray proceed. “

            “  Well, you’re a man of the world, I’m sure you can guess the rest of it. She wouldn’t be imposing on you…and Davie refuses to allow me to give her shelter after I said she could. I never thought he’d be so unkind to a woman poorly used, but he’s afraid our girls will see it and think that compromise is acceptable. But if she was your housekeeper, they’d see that people deal with their mistakes and go on to make a good life. I already have a husband in mind for her, but since I’d be asking you to take on three people…well, I thought I’d better ask you …before I expected you to …take on three new people.  “

            “  Because you would if your husband would allow you. “  He said in a low tone, looking over her head.

            “  The Judge says I have a habit of picking up strays from the main herd of life. “  He agreed, ruefully.

            “  Generosity is learned at home and I fear my Davie’s never gotten to see any of it in his, and I won’t be able to teach my children about it directly. But your girl Becka, it’s a part of her as natural as breathing because of you and her Pa, and I’d like to see her get support as well as Melinda get to ease her burden, and with the structure you give Becka, she’ll only be the better for it.  “

            “  I hope you aren’t offended, but I have to mind Becka. What’s she going to think if I do this, Missus?

            Anna Bella Fontaine smiled through her tears.

            “  That forgiveness exists, no matter how terrible the mistakes we make in the heat of passion. I wish someone had shown me….  “   Her voice trailed off and he had too much tact to pursue the obvious. “ But I think you should know, when I told my Davie what I was going to do, your little roan mare you set such store by disappeared while he was away on a hunting trip. “

            “  I wish you hadn’t told me that. “

            “  It’s been eating me up on the inside. But there’s nothing I can do about it. “

            “  Or did you tell me because you want me to say no but you don’t want to seem to be the one to do so? Are you sure you want your children to see this?  “

            “  No, I’m not. But life happens and often repeats itself. “

            “  I’m not sure what to say. Can I have a little time to think about it?  “

            “  Take as many as you need, they’re small.  “  She attempted to tease, but the look pf pain never left her face.

            “  Becka? Do you have a moment?  “

            “  Always for you, Uncle Paul?  What is it?  “  She asked quietly over the shrill hum of trilling insects.

            “  I’ve been told Mrs. O’Donnell is unhappy here.  “

            The lithe teen shrugged and then looked away, biting her lower lip.

            “  And you’re going to tell me that I have to try harder?  “

            He slipped his arm across her shoulder companionably, shocked at how much she’d grown over the winter and spring when he’d been too busy to notice.

            “  People have to make themselves happy or comfortable, we can only do what we can not to deliberately provoke them. “

            “  Tell that to her! She wants to push us out!  “

            “  Would you go?  “

            “  Now? No, Uncle Paul! Not even if you made me!  “

            “ It’s goo to know where you stand, but why do you sound angry?  “

            “ I sound angry because I am angry, Uncle Paul! You never think to ask me what I want, or what I feel about it?  “

            “  It’s my life, Honey Childe. “

            “  But since my Pa died, it’s my life too, Uncle Paul! And you act like you don’t seem to know that!  “

            “  I guess I really didn’t, until you told me. “

            “  You’re not angry at me?  “

            “  You were born with a brain. Why shouldn’t I expect you to use it?  “

            “  I…I don’t know…  “  She stammered.

            “  But you weren’t born with manners, those are things that are taught to us by example, and that’s been what’s weighing on my mind lately, Girl. You’ll be going to live with your Pa’s folks when you turn eighteen, but life there is very different.  “

            “  Are we going to visit there?  “

            “  No. That a…isn’t what I’m trying to say. Although its one of the reasons I considered wintering in San Francisco, so you could get a glimpse of the less harsh side of life. I hoped you and Mrs. O’Donnell would tolerate and learn from one another, but you’re right, it was cruel for me to make decisions without even asking how you felt.  “

            “  It wasn’t that bad, I just…then what are you trying to tell me, Uncle Paul? Did the Judge give you a new assignment and you’re going to leave without me?  “

            The fear in her voice frightened and reassured him.

            “  I gave my word I’d watch over Red Hand’s youngest daughter and the thought of her hasn’t even cross my mind in nearly four weeks!  A man who don’t keep his word, ain’t no kind of man a ‘tall! There’s been two men dogging my trail since I left Utah in May and the only reason they’d still be there is because they’re waiting to bushwhack me.

            “  Kill’m.  “  She said simply.

            “  Now see, that’s the kind of attitude I’m talking about! You didn’t give’m life, you can’t just take it away from them on a whim, Childe!  “

            “  Then I’ll kill them before they can hurt you! I’ve already lost one pa!  “ She collapsed against his chest in tears, while he patted her shoulder helplessly.

            “  Girl, you knew I was old when I took you in. You know that you can go to the Judge and he’ll make sure you get home. You got Luke Cole and Manolito, and now Mollok, to care for you like blood kin. Don’t go making me look like I’m the only reason you’re strong, and safe, and beautiful. On the inside and the outside, you hear?  “  He pushed back the hair from her face tenderly, feeling a depth of emotion he never thought to experience without children of his own blood.

            She tried to dry the tears from her cheeks but the salty flow seemed only to increase as she looked up at the broad, familiar face pressed so close to hers.

            “  Pa?  “

            “  Yes, Childe?  “

            “  I’ll try to hold my temper when I get around Mary O’Donnell, you go do what you got to do, all right?  “

            “  I don’t want to leave you, Rebecka!  “

            “  I know that. Neither did my Pa. Maybe Mrs. Fontaine is right?  “

            “  In what way, Dear?  “

            “  When you chose the act, you chose to shoulder the consequences of it. I thought you were just going to ask me if I minded about her cousin Melinda and the new baby coming to live with us!  “

            “  I haven’t decided about that.  “

            “  I thought you’d say yes!  “  The fourteen year old demanded in shock, wise beyond her years.

            “  I just got reminded that my life impacts the people I love around me. “

            “  Oh.  “  She answered, in a low voice, without giving him any clue as to what she was thinking.

            The lanterns were lit as soon as the night’s chill put the insects to bed and the women put the babies to sleep in the various mangers in the open box stalls, then they tuned up the fiddle and swept the straw away in a large circle in the center of the barn, dancing and clapping as if there were no tomorrows only this night and this time in celebration of Life.

            The house and yard seemed empty as the last of the wagons rolled out, so they could be at least halfway home before the heat of the day pulled them aside. Luke Cole looked up from his attempts to ingratiate himself with the scarred black stallion.

            “  I can ride with you?  “ 

            Paul just shook his head no for fear that if he spoke all of his mixed emotions would spill out.

            “  Capt’n? “  The lean, young lawman demanded as Paul McWhorter put his foot in the stirrup, groaning with pain at the bent muscles. “  Mano and Mollok could take the Judge back to the train depot and I could go with you?  “ 

            Paul McWhorter took a step back from the stall door. The black was standing near as he munched the freshly crimped oats hungrily but careful to keep out of touching distance.  For the first time he realized how much his actions mirrored the wounded beast but as hard as he fought to let his friend near, the wall remained intact between them.

            “  I know you could. But I fear the weights and the measures of what you get from the store would come up short if we just sent the boys in for supplied. You know that some men will only steal if the opportunity presents itself.  “

            “  I know, Capt’n.  “ Luke Cole agreed, looking down at the tuff of black horse hair caught in a splinter at the narrow opening between the stall and the door. “  But what if you don’t come back? The Macalister boys were crude and rough when their grandpappy had control of them. Ain’t nothing in place in life like it was before the War, Paul Lee. “

            ‘  And won’t never be again. “ The tall man said with a lonely sigh, leaning all the harder on his elbows. The heat of the day was already creeping in, pushing the shadows indoors as it claimed the brightening air.  “  I’ll be all right, son. The girl’s got sharp eyes, she can keep the babies in the house safe. If there’s two of us they’ll take notice. If’fn I don’t get back, you know where all the papers are, and you know how to clickity-clack that brass key….”

            “  You need to learn, Captain. “   Luke Cole said loyally, running his fingers through his hair.

            “  Should have done it before I took a notion to confront them. Brain’s too old! Too full of things that happened long before you were even born. Take care of the young’ns …till I get back. Maybe we can’t change the past son, but we can put an end to its harm here and now!  “

            They embraced quietly. Then Paul forced his full weight back on his aching hips and walked toward the patient dun. Taking a moment to stop and rub the gelding’s forelock and pull it straight over the bridle headband before he mounted, as if the weight of the world was pushing down on his shoulders.

            Luke Cole saluted smartly and waited for the burly man on horseback to return the salute, then the dun turned, as if on his own and Paul McWhorter rode toward the cottonwood trees that he planted twenty years ago as wind break even before he had anything but a vague idea of the two story house he wanted to build. From there he could chose which direction he would ride and anyone following him by spyglass would be unable to be certain which of the three he choose. But he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and he knew he wasn’t riding alone!

-

              Speckled Bird looked around the cliff overhang with a sharp pang of regret. The mud of her small oval U’macha had been broken down and wet until it returned to its original shape and color, she’d burned the remainder of the dried branches and she looked around in grim determination to leave everything as she had found it except for the scratches she’d made on the rock during her ‘dream time’. She wasn’t sure of their full meaning now that she’d eaten and rested, but as she looked at them, she felt a sense of satisfaction in the fact that she had left so much of herself in this place. Her mother had taught her that you leave nothing on the land but the footprints of your passing, but that seemed so transitory and illusionary, given the number of nighttime fires in the sky whose name and memory would never be spoken of again with their passing, but in her trance like state she’d been driven by a sense of urgency to capture what the Spirit World thrust on her, and only she would know that the tiny sage hen etched into one corner of the sacred mural was more than a visualization of the component of her dream, it was also her! A part of her would be here for her daughter and her daughter’s descents to touch and know, for they were already linked in the passing of her childhood at this sacred place. As she straightened and looked back at the blue green sage beginning to take form under the awakening sun she felt as if she were a part of the wind, the sand, the plants, the sky, that she blew through the clouds and with them as they stretched languidly in promise of another hot day.

            She intended to confront the two white eyes following her so clumsily and she had no fear of being harmed, her daughter waited at least four years from his way for she had only aged twelve summers to this point, for as old as her heart felt at this moment. She hated confrontation but Anglos were Indians, they didn’t understand subtleness or implication. Her desire to rejoin her family was sharp, but she couldn’t lead these two to the high summer camp, they would bring others and there would be no safe place to hide. She’d already made up her mind what she was going to do although no one in her family must ever find out. Stealing horses wasn’t something a woman should do. But she had no choice. Without horses, they would die by their own hand and she could return home. By releasing them with the wild herd she might be condemning them to the same death as their inept masters, but that too was out of her hands. She had to get home before she was mistaken for dead, and she had to convince her father that allowing her to go with That One would be permissible. The one she knew how to do, but not the other. That too was out of her hands so she gathered what supplies of food and weapons she wanted to use for the next three days, and she set off in an easy lope. With any luck they would be busying themselves with the things of nature on rising and she could have the horses gone before the heat of the day began in earnest! 

            Black Cloud By The Sacred Leaning Rock watched her, his brow furrowing in dismay as he saw her move swiftly with only a portion of the things she’d collected during her moon’s journey of isolation. Nothing he’d done had worked yet. Leaving the goods of Paul McWhorter at the cave where the girl was staying apparently had gone noticed by Red Hand! None of his subtle lies about the white haired giant had stirred anything but further contempt from the two Bannock women he was married too these many years. Nothing had provoked the old peace child’s anger against the White Eyes or ignited his will to kill him! Only one thing would do that, he told himself grimly. Kill the girl himself and blame Paul McWhorter! For her actions, even at this distance, showed a mannish lack of concern for female matters that already forbid his desire to take her as his wife any longer. Her only use to him now was to destroy both enemies. Red Hand would kill McWhorter, the White Eyes would kill Red Cloud, and hopefully his entire extended family in their blind lust for revenge and he would have his honor returned to him. When he tried to stand, he gave a small yip of pain. His genitals were swollen with blood and stiff to the point of pain. By the time he could will himself whole, she was gone. When he returned to his horse. It was gone! With only the marks of shod horses to account for its disappearance.  He crouched, angry beyond control as he scanned the near horizon but apparently they had content to steal his horse. He followed the tracks cautiously, wondering why they took no pains to hide their direction. Was it a trap?

-

            Arthur Reinbeck shivered in the cold as a new breeze whipped around the spindly tree and raced uphill, carrying the smells of tar, of salt water and fishing commerce up the steep row of  palely colored housed all pressed shoulder to shoulder like silent soldier’s uniforms placed on mute dummies of straw to fool the eye of an attacker. The one he wanted dominated the top of the crest although from the face of the house the only thing visible was an adjoining row of stucco and paint houses, while the sea lay behind them at the bottom of the hill. Waiting.

            His heart pounded with excitement at his moment of supreme revenge. No doubt the woman would remain on the second floor pacing, her time to deliver was near, one of the reasons he was so confident he would find them home. No doubt making the boy fetch and carry for her the way she did in that rotting hulk in the middle of nowhere! He pictured himself dressed in fine clothing like the aristocratic men he saw around him and servants waiting breathlessly for his command to run and fetch something for him. Until now the number of gold pieces was his joy but here, seeing them translated into a luxury he had never craved until he came to the decadence and ease of San Francisco and the possibility of having too many to count by his association with the oddly mannered dwarf became an intoxicating possibility and therefore, his reality, he was ready to forgive her the terrible insult that had pushed him into the sunlight of great wealth, but his cunning mind was already thinking of ways to keep the new coins away from her greedy and grasping fingers! 

            At first, the odd absence of fresh marks of carriage travel didn’t sink into him, he was accustomed to living where neighbors shouted out the windows at one another in filthy, crowded tenement houses or living so far away the sound of a bird made one pause, but when he banged futility at the massive front door, his blood began to boil in fresh rage. How dare she instruct the servants to refuse him entrance! Avoiding the muddy places where the sun never shined long enough to seal more than a crust over the damp muck he edged his way to the back of the house where sheets were hanging out in the slight breeze, stirring gently at his approach but giving no alarm at his approach as chickens or a dog would have done, and he sneered at their complacent ease. It must be nice to live where you don’t have to fear every shadow that moves or an unexpected attack by armed hostiles at the first moment of inattention! ‘They didn’t realize how lucky they were to live in civilization!’  He mocked as his palm slid on the worn brass knob offered to peddlers and the servant’s use. It yielded easily and he stood on the threshold, his guns pulling back from his teeth in a sneer. They must have glimpsed his head from one of the first floor windows and now they were cowering in fear before his rage. ‘And rightly so!’

            He strode boldly into the kitchen, the hum of the house like the queen bee was the center of the hive, but only the starched white curtains at the window over the zinc and porcelain sink jumped back in surprise. The massive, scarred table was empty. One of the doors to the cabin hung open, revealing its precisely arranged layer of ceramic plates and bowls. ‘They had fled to the front of the house! ‘  He thought in fresh courage, straightening his shoulders in pride and slapping his hand against his pant’s leg as his body stiffened in the delight of meting out appropriate punishment to so many submissives at the same time!

            He glories in the echo of his boot heel march toward the narrow green door reserved for servant use as silence came down behind his back from the narrow curved staircase they were required to use to go upstairs and serve their master’s needs!  He flung open the door, expecting it to be heavier and winced when the slight bang of it slamming into a heavy wood cabinet to the right drew his attention to a man standing there, his face red with umbrage. Only to realize he was looking in a mirror and his chest swelled at the fine face of proper authority and disdain he was carrying as naturally as breathing.

            “  Viola! Viola!  Come down here at once! I command you! Don’t make me come up there to get you! You’ll severely regret it, I promise you!   “  He trumpeted and his image of her swollen grotesque body easing its way down as she clung to the brightly polished handrail was so real, he pulled back in repugnance from her. Only to hear the silence that followed the brief scurry of rat’s feet.

            The drapes were drawn in each room, blocking out the light that would fade the expensive items thrust into every quarter of the heavily ornate room so it took him a moment to realize they were all covered with sheets merely mimicking the expected shapes. Even the cloth-covered tables were covered in canvas and linen! As he looked around it slowly dawned on him-the house was empty, his quarry had fled! The only color was a single sheet of pink stationary folded in half and left waiting on the foyer table in its ghastly shroud and he was drawn to it even as its mere scent repulsed him with the memory of her scented body talc.  He reached out to it as if for an angry venous snake.

            “  Thanks, Art. Sorry I missed you. Gone to the Klondike with my new husband. You keep the boy and the brat! With deep affection, your humble and obedient servant, Viola Last name is never you mind! “   She bore down on the word ‘you’ with added insult, even in her absence.

            He looked at the large, round gold fifteen-cent piece and his jaw fell open. But he dared not throw it away. It was all the money he had. Racing back to Carl the Lute’s commodious apartment house he was blind to everything but his plans for revenge and his rage only to run back into a second house to find it empty. It’s human contents sucked into the great blue void, leaving only the household objects without any human occupation. His rage became fear and he smashed blindly anything within reach, his veins purpling and his face lined with sweat. But when he had no breath left, he crumbled to the ground in the midst of shredded papers and broken ceramics, bereft of his senses as night crept in around him on silent feet allowing the hungry wharf rats the means to gather in silent droves to the left and the right of him, to the front and the back, held at bay only by his soft sobbing as he wept himself to sleep. And then only the soft in and out of his breath until a strong sense of rot and musk partially woke him to unimaginable pain and terror. Human voices followed the endless night of terror, strong bands that strapped his arms and ankles immobile as he was carried in a horse drawn ambulance to the asylum; then thick, barren walls of cream and peeling paint and the terrible silence that followed his screams of help, calling his wife and children’s name within John Doe’s padded and soundproofed room.

            Nor was Carl the Lute ever heard from again in polite society; neither in any of San Francisco’s egregious, less esteemed society as he and his heavily pregnant wife moved to the Klondike where he struck a vein of gold so wide he was forever known for his endless philanthropic ventures as Mister Lutemann.

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