Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Chapter 15 August 19, 1847 As I lay there looking at Elizabeth's smoking pistol, I wondered what was going on. Until then I must have been in shock because I was only thinking about the shot. I heard a low noise behind me and turned around. There was a wolf laying not 5 feet behind me. He must have thought I was another animal about to steal his meal. At the same time I heard Elizabeth cry out, "Alex! Are you all right?" I started to shake in reaction. For just a second, my mind had run wild, half believing that I was going to be executed to hide any knowledge of what I was teaching the women. I was glad that this was just that; a fantasy. It illustrated to me that I still had reservations about teaching the "group" unarmed combat. Troubled in my mind about my reaction I was slow in answering. Elizabeth gave a wail and the next thing I knew I had her clinging to me looking for some injury. She was bewildered when she didn't find any blood and started talking to me, "Alex, answer me!. Are you all right!" I managed to finally talk and after assuring her that I was still in one piece and uninjured, I got up and we field dressed the antelopes and put them behind the saddles to take back to the wagon train. I began to talk to her as we rode back, "Elizabeth, what exactly is the "group" planning to do with this knowledge of unarmed combat? Is it just going to be self-defense or are you planning something else?" She gave me a strange look, "As far as I know we're only planning how to protect women from abuse." "I guess I'm still rattled at how easily Louise killed that Indian this morning. It bothers me that the first use of what I am teaching led to a killing." Elizabeth became annoyed at me, "Would you have rather had the Indian live and Louise die? You're just being silly now! Like you said she's just doing as she was trained, and by you, to do when she was attacked." When she spoke like that I felt that I was overreacting to the events. It was just, I didn't know. Something about this whole thing bothered me at some level. I guess it was a matter of trust. I trusted my wives to use this training wisely, but I didn't even know what the "group" had as goals. I realized that equality might mean something different to them than it did to me. Suddenly it hit me. That was it! I had been surprised by the different meaning that the people from this period gave to words before when I heard them talking to each other. I needed to know exactly what Corrie meant when she said equality. I wanted to know more members of this group so that I could judge their intentions. I didn't know if Corrie could do this but I was determined that come what may I would learn more about the "group". We returned to the wagon train where our hunting prowess was praised and the antelope was quickly cut up and prepared for dinner. I came near Corrie and spoke to her about my concerns. She agreed that we needed to talk and told me that she would ride in our wagon tomorrow and talk to me then. I lay awake late that night with wild thoughts running through my mind. I imagined all sorts of possible events that became more and more outlandish as I lay there. Finally I realized that I was just being ridiculous and fell asleep, hoping that I would learn exactly what I needed. August 20, 1847 After we got going the next morning Corrie began questioning me about what rights I thought women had. I had to admit that I didn't know. Corrie asked, "What would you do if you couldn't own anything?" "What do you mean?" "What would you do if you couldn't own anything? If you couldn't buy property or own livestock or anything except the clothes on your back? When you die, everything you own goes to any son or if you had none, to some other male relative, regardless if your wife was living or how many daughters you had. If you had a son, he could be 5 years old and still inherit everything." "I wouldn't stand for it." "Then why should we?" she bluntly answered. She then became more agitated, "We can't work in many jobs because they are reserved for men. We can't ask to divorce abusive husbands but they can get a divorce from us because we can't bear children. The law doesn't require that we receive an education and when we do get one, we're often taught to barely read, sign our name and simple arithmetic. That's what we want. The same things you would want in our circumstances." "Settle down! I wasn't aware of half of this. But that's it? Nothing else?" "Many other groups would argue for the abolition of slavery or of strong drink, since it causes so many problems, but everyone agrees about those." I continued to walk by the wagon, thinking. I could agree to these goals but I worried about the other groups: how would they use the training? I decided that I needed to add some of the philosophy my sensei gave us before he would teach us anything. Still I wanted to meet some more of the women. "Corrie, could you arrange to have me meet some of the other women so that we could talk?" Corrie hesitated, "I don't know how their menfolk would react to that." I forgot that doctors of this era never saw women except in the company of someone else, usually a male. I had to think about something they could do without causing outrage in the male population that would allow me to talk to them. "Do you think that any of the women would like to start doing Tai Chi with us?" She gave me a questioning look, "Tai Chi?" "You've seen us standing around moving slowly after dinner?" "Yes, everyone's been wondering about that. We thought it was some kind of strange dancing." "It's called Tai Chi and is a form of exercise that is also a basis for unarmed combat. It's the motions of the moves slowed down. By learning the movements in slow motion you start programming the moves into your reflexes." She game me another look of puzzlement, "Programming?" "That means that you learn it so that you react without thinking when you face a situation that your body recognizes." Corrie just shook her head, " I don't understand and it doesn't really matter. If one of your wives would teach it maybe. But with you teaching it?" She shook her head. Then Louise spoke up, "How about a quilting bee?" This time it was me who gave the questioning look. "That's when a group of women get together to make a quilt. Most men wouldn't be caught dead around a quilting circle. You could pretend to be under the weather and stay in the wagon and talk to the women as they quilted outside." I looked at Corrie and she nodded as she thought, "That could work. It'll have to wait until we have more time though. There's no time with us traveling every day." I acquiesced to the superior female logic, "How about when we get to Oregon City, while we're waiting to file our claims?" Corrie hesitated and then agreed, "That should be possible. We'll tell the men that we're making a quilt for Louise and her baby." Then she looked at Louise, "Since we were going to do that anyway, this is just a good excuse for the women to talk to Alex." Then they began to talk about babies and raising children and other items about which I had little interest. That was fine with me since Corrie had given me a lot to think about. I had no idea that women had so few legal rights in this period. They were almost as badly off as slaves, who were regarded as property. I had wondered why their uncle had encouraged Claire and Elizabeth to go west by themselves. Now I realized that they hadn't owned their farm. By law it belonged to their uncle. He had been incredibly generous for a man of this period in outfitting them for their trip to Oregon. As I was walking I realized that if I died there was nothing my wives could do by themselves. If I died the property would go to any son that was born or to the state if there were only girls. No matter how much work they put in to improve the property it would never belong to them. "That sucks!" I thought to myself. We pulled into the circle that night and I walked around noticing how much work the women were doing. We men were busy taking care of the animals and repairing items that had broken on the trip or needed repair to avoid breaking. The women were preparing the meals for everyone, taking care of the children, getting water for the oxen and men, and setting up the meals for tomorrow. Some were cutting wood and others were preparing game that had been brought in by the men. Some men had only minor chores and some had a bit more, but the women were always busy even after walking the same distance as the men. Tonight when I go to bed I intend to show my wives how much I appreciate their help. We have gone about 35 miles the last two days and should arrive at the Umatilla River tomorrow. Everybody is looking forward to having a ready source of water available. We will be following the foothills west until we hit the Columbia River. August 21, 1847 We spent last night cuddling and kissing. Elizabeth wanted to cuddle tonight after we went to bed. After that we simply slept. We began by crossing the Umatilla River today without any problems. The river is about 30 feet wide and perhaps knee deep at the midpoint. The landscape is a desolate one with nothing to distinguish one spot from another. We have made good time today, traveling about 20 miles altogether. We made a dry camp tonight but expect to reach another crossing at Butter Creek by the time we camp tomorrow. We tried the trick with the red bandanna again today but it didn't work. I hope someone has better luck than we did. Made love to Louise tonight. She had me feel her stomach and I think I felt a flutter. She got so excited that she had the other women try to feel it as well. I ended up giving her a lashing with my tongue and fingers while Claire gave me a blow job. Elizabeth was tired and just watched tonight. August 22-23, 1847 We have been going through some of the most uninteresting country I have seen since the desert. Literally nothing to write about. We crossed several streams and have continued our journey. The guide has promised us a sight tomorrow, though. We are supposed to reach Emigrant Hill where we are promised a sight of Mount Hood, our last obstacle before we reach Oregon City. I have continued the lessons in Krav Magen and Tai Chi for my wives and have added the idea that unarmed combat skills should only be used for self protection, never for an aggressive purpose. I hope this attitude becomes part of the training. It will reduce the uneasiness I still feel at times about doing this. August 24, 1847 We took a short time to gaze at the snow covered peak of Mount Hood. It is an awesome sight. The last crossing over Butter Creek is visible and we should be arriving at the Columbia River in two days. Then we will follow a slow but good road to The Dalles. Everyone will be glad to get out of this depressing landscape. I am worried about Elizabeth. She doesn't seem to be enjoying herself for the last couple of days. She has stopped throwing up and is showing no signs of discomfort, but seems to be a little depressed. She is showing less interest in things and is taking less care of her appearance. Claire also agrees that she is not acting like the 'old' Elizabeth. I will attempt to talk to her tonight. After we stopped for the night I asked Elizabeth to walk with me. "Elizabeth, is something bothering you?" "Nothing is bothering me! Leave me alone!" We walked a bit longer and I found a rock and pulling Elizabeth toward me sat her in my lap. I just held her and after a while she began to speak, "I wish we could do this more often. We seem to be busy all the time and never have time to just hold each other except in bed." "It won't be long before we get to our claim. Then we'll have more time to just relax together." "Will we? Or will we get involved in something else? We can't save the world by ourselves!" I continued to hold her, "I don't want to save the world. Just Oregon." I paused and hugged her tighter. "Most of all, I want to save us as a family." She turned and faced me, "Just remember what has priority! I'm afraid we'll lose you to your passions. And if that happens, I'll die. Maybe the body will still exist but everything that makes life worth living will be gone." She started crying, "What will happen to us? What will happen to our baby?" I held her closely and kissed her, "I will always put you three first. If I had to choose between you and everything else, you'd win immediately. I love you all and I love you especially. You were the first person I met here and though you're a scheming witch sometimes, I never forgot the first sight I had of you awake. You were more concerned about your sister than yourself and you were beautiful. I think I fell in love with you at that time." She sniffed and wiped her nose on my sleeve, "Really?" "Don't you remember what I told you that day? You'll never be alone again. I'm going to be there for you and will handle everything." She gave a hug and we walked back to the wagon train together. We talked about how we could feel the baby start to become a real thing now as her body changed. I realized that she was right, we had become so busy training when we weren't on the trail that we had all but stopped talking,except when we were in bed. I promised myself that this would not happen again. That night I didn't make love to Elizabeth, I wooed her. I brought her her plate for dinner and sat next to her. We kissed and hugged each other during the meal and fed each other from our plates. We went for a walk by ourselves away from everyone else and stroked each other sensually. When we rejoined our other wives, we included them in our group and talked about nothing of significance, just about some of the silly or odd things we had seen during the day. We totally blew off any training and just acted like a group of friends talking. When we retired for the night I think for the first time in weeks we were ale to relax. I made gentle love to Elizabeth and managed to include Louise and Claire before I came. We didn't hurry our lovemaking and that made it so much sweeter. We fell asleep with smiles on our faces. One unforeseen consequence of this night I later found out was that Claire and Louise demanded similar nights. August 25, 1847 We have arrived at the Columbia River and have decided to take a day off to allow the women to wash clothes and let the oxen rest before we go through the Cascade Range. Our oxen are showing the stress of the journey and many are in poor shape. They need grain, but of course there is none to give them. All we can do is let them rest for a day and graze. We have a two day journey to get to the start of the Cascades so that should help the animals recover somewhat We are meeting people now traveling along the road besides us. One party who left St. Louis a week after this one has arrived here but their animals are in such poor condition that I'm not sure they will make it to The Dalles. When we spoke to them we found that they were planning to leave their oxen and wagons with the local Indians for boats and guides and boat down the river to The Dalles then go from there to Oregon City. They have offered promissory notes if we will transport their items that they would have to leave behind. The wagon master told the people of the wagon train that we could do so, but anyone doing it could get their own wagon across the Cascades, as he saw no reason everyone should be delayed because of them. This of course put an end to any idea of overloading our wagons. I spent the day observing the women at their work and was glad I didn't have to do it. Boiling water and hot clothes made this a hard, dangerous task. Most of the men sat around the fire or attempted to spear some of the numerous salmon we saw swimming in the various eddies of the river. I attempted to cook something for lunch and was promptly chased away from the fire by Louise, who told me to keep out of her area. I don't believe that she thinks men are capable of anything in the kitchen. I gave up and joined the men trying to spear the salmon in the eddies. I ended up getting two fish and was amazed at how big they were. I guess they must have caught all the big ones back in this time, because I don't think I saw a fish smaller than 20 pounds brought in all day. When I handed them to Louise she got a big smile on her face. I guess she was as sick of meat or dried cod at every meal as I was. We went to bed early that night in order to get a quick start tomorrow. The women were exhausted from doing the wash and wanted nothing but hugs and cuddling. We did no training this night either. August 26-27, 1847 We have been traveling in a relatively flat area along side of the Columbia River. The road is quite good and we have made good progress. The oxen look much better for the three days of good grazing they have had and we are now ready to tackle the Cascade Range. From the reports of the guide and the occasional people we are passing they have assured us the road remains in good condition all the way to The Dalles. We have been eating salmon every day since we got to the Columbia River and have learned that one fish is sufficient to feed a family of all but the largest. Any more just spoils before it can be eaten. The fatty fish meat is having a beneficial effect on the people. They seem to be in better shape physically and mentally as well. Everyone is looking forward to reaching the Dalles where we hope to be able to replenish our flour. I have had no serious accidents so far, and hopefully won't in the future. I twisted my ankle and had to sit in the wagon for the entire day to let it rest. I think I would have been better walking on it. I can't believe that anyone can get any rest or heal while being bounced around in an unsprung wagon. One good thing was that Elizabeth and I spent the entire day talking about little things and just observing the landscape. One problem we are having is the lack of forage on the trail for the cattle. We have had to send them off the trail to find any at all, as the grass on the trail has been cropped to the ground. We are having a similar problem with firewood. All readily available firewood has been cut and we are having to send the gatherers out with the cattle to find any. We have had to make up travois for the horses to let them bring back a sufficient amount for the fires. We have begun restricting our lovemaking as my wives's pregnancies have progressed. Louise is really starting to show and she is showing the typical need to pee every hour or less. I have begun to walk next to her during the day to assist her over the difficult areas. We have resumed our Tai Chi exercises and Krav Magen training but have reduced it greatly as we don't wish to hurt the babies. We have all felt the baby kick and have imagined what it will look like when it is born. Louise doesn't know if she is pregnant from one of the slavers or the enslaved blacks so it is a guessing game that will last until it is born. I have had to reassure her several times that I don't care if I didn't father the baby, it's mine anyway. We have begun running into several people who have shown racist attitudes towards Louise assuming that she is a slave. One man offered to buy "the black slut" and it took the wagon captain and several of the other men to hold me when I tried to show my opinion of the offer. That's when I twisted my ankle. I only got one kick in and would have probably killed the SOB if they hadn't held me. He acted like he wanted satisfaction, but several of the men talked to him and I saw him turn pale and quickly leave. None of them would tell me what they said, but I felt better about being a part of the wagon train afterwards. August 28, 1847 We had two children die today. One young girl got too close to the river and fell in. One of Corrie"s boys, Jacob, dived in to save her and got caught up in an undertow. Neither body was recovered. Corrie is totally broken up about it and it is the turn of my wives to comfort her and the mother of the drowned girl. Sometimes I think there is a totally separate civilization existing parallel to the men's with secret customs and rituals. As soon as it happened a group of women descended on them and surrounded them to offer comfort. They have been surrounded the entire day by women. The men have been going up to her husband, Marvin, individually or in groups of two or three to offer their sympathies. The young father of the drowned girl was killed before I joined the train and the mother is now alone except for a young son of 6. Everyone is depressed about the deaths happening so close to the end of our journey. We were unable to remain and had to continue our journey into the Cascades toward The Dalles. We will be having a service tonight for both victims. The road is good but involves a lot of up and down hill travel. None of it has required us to get a drag to go down but it is still dangerous as can be seen by the smashed wagons laying to the side of the trail. The wagon master has determined that it is better to take our time and be safe than to hurry and possibly lose a wagon. We have made about 14 miles today and we expect to need about 6 more to reach The Dalles. We had the service for both of the children tonight. Both women were in tears by the end and Marvin wasn't much better. Although I didn't know the young victims other than to recognize them, I felt sorrow that they lost their lives after going through so much before. Saddened by the loss, we went to bed and talked while we cuddled. August 29, 1847 We had a problem with one of the wagons today. It lost a wheel coming down a slope and slid off the trail. We were didn't know if it could be recovered safely and finally decided it was worth the trouble. We lowered a man on a rope to hook on to both sides and using two teams on each rope managed to bring it back to the trail. Many of the unsecured items were lost but at least the family still has a wagon. Many of the families have offered to help them and have donated food and other items they needed. We had two riders go back to the last slope and retrieve two wheels from a smashed wagon we saw there to replace the destroyed wheels. We have decided to find a turn off and remain here until the wagon can be fixed. The wagon train is more like a small town now where everyone knows everyone else and provides help unasked if it is needed. The driver of the wagon was hurt when he jumped. I treated him for a broken arm and several bumps and scrapes. Luckily he has a 15 year old son who will be able to drive the wagon for him until he recovers. We are waiting for the riders to return with the wheels to see if we need to trim the axle to fit. Several of the boys have taken advantage of this stop to go hunting and have been told to catch up with us if we are not here when they return. The riders returned and the wheels fit with only minimal adjustments to the axle. We placed them on the front and it looks somewhat strange as they are at least 10 inches shorter that the others. It gives the wagon a definite forward tilt. After repairing the wagon we only managed to make 10 miles today. Several of the boys had success with their hunting and we made a meal of the game. No one has a taste for salmon after the drownings. We went on a walk after we stopped and talked between us about where we wanted to live and if we wanted to remain with the people of the wagon train. It was a consensus between us that we would remain with the wagon train, as my wives had made many friends and had found acceptance with the other women. We decided that we would take the gold and have it exchanged for coins when we got to Oregon City and arrange to buy the remaining items we needed to set up our farm. I looked at my wives and thought how beautiful they were and how lucky I was to have them. We returned to the wagon talking about the little things men and women have been talking about since they started living together. I love these women and hope to spend the rest of my life with them.