Action Adventure / We Made it to St. Jo
February 20, 1847
St. Joseph, Mo.
We arrived in St. Joseph a few days ago. The train ride was uneventful. Papa rented two rooms in the hotel, it is very expensive. We will be living out of the wagon papa is having made. I had a most pleasant surprise, I saw my best friend. I met some new ones. Best of all, Jack McMenomy is here. Adena Barton.
Chapter 5
We Made it to St. Jo
Adena and William picked their way along the wooden sidewalks. Men and women were bustling from here and there, everyone seemed to have something important to do. Some of the women were elegantly attired in store-bought stay and shift dresses while most wore plain scalloped blouses and skirts and still others wore clothes made at home. Most of the men had a firearm holstered on their hips with the new arriving over landers being the only exception.
Adena looked in the various shop windows and browsed through several other shops knowing this was the last time in a very long time she would be able to look at and touch fine clothes. She entered the largest general store and this brought back memories of her uncle she was trying to forget. She shopped around and noticed the store had nearly everything an emigrant needed for going west. There were heavy coats, fancy clothes, traveling clothing , food stuffs, and items she had no idea what it was or what it was used. The store even had a section for artist supplies and she purchased several sketching pads, pencils, and charcoal.
“You’ll be able to do yer sketching,” William said as he looked at a riffle.
“I know,” Adena agreed. ”I have so much time on my hands now.”
Adena heard a familiar woman’s voice as she stepped from the mercantile, “Adena! Adena Barton!”
Turning around Adena’s blue eyes widened in surprise when she realized with astonishment it was her best friend.
“Beth!” Adena cried out. She ran through the crowd and threw her arms around her. ”I thought y’all were on a wagon train to California and I wouldn’t ever see ya again.”
“We were delayed. Mr. Reed and Mr. Donner left without us so we had to hold over until the Spring thaw.”
“We’ll be goin’ in the Spring too!” Adena squealed, her eyes danced with excitement. ”Whatcha been doin’ since I last saw you?”
“Remember Reynard Lance?”
Adena nodded. ”He’s the handsome butcher that was callin’ on you.”
Beth’s smile broaden as she spoke. ”We were married shortly after we left Portsmouth.”
“That’s wonderful. Where’s Reynard now?”
Beth brushed a few strands of her long dark hair from her forehead. ”He’s back at camp with the wagon.” She paused for a moment then asked, “Did all of your family come with you?”
Adena shook her head. ”Eric will be headin’ a second wagon after we get settled in California. With him, he’ll bring Alison, Jacob, and mama.”
“Do you have any gentleman callers yet? I remember how worried you were.” Beth said just as William stepped from the store.
Adena’s smile lighted her from the inside, like a candle in a pumpkin. ”Yes! I have one, I think, his name is Jack McMenomy. He’s Irish and I just love his brogue.”
“Oh Adena, I am so happy for you,” she said. ”I was gettin’ kinda worried. Yer were the last gal in Mr. Edward’s class that wasn’t married yet.”
“Y’all were gettin’ worried! I hadn’t had a gentleman caller since that Northerner went back home to his mama.”
The two young women stopped in front of a bakery and were admiring the goods on display in the window.
“I do declare,” Adena said. ”Never had anything like this back home.”
“His breads, pies, cakes, and everything else he makes is so good,” Beth said. ”We bought an apple pie last week an’ it was almost as good as mine.”
William caught up with the girls and saw what they were looking at, he just slowly shook his head. ”Ain’t never seen anything like this before. Before long, the woman folk won’t be doing any baking at home.”
Beth hugged William and placed a friendly kiss on his cheek. ”It is so good to see you again.”
William returned the hug and kiss. ”I didn’t ‘pect to see you here. Thought y’all be in California by now.”
“So did we.”
“We?” William asked.
“She and Mr. Lance were married a while back,” Adena informed her younger brother.
“Well congratulations are in order,” William said as he tipped his hat.
“Thank you,” she replied. ”I understand that you just may have a new brother-in-law in the family.”
William chuckled. ”Perhaps so. Jack is very nice. He’s been calling on her fer a spell.”
“Where are you staying?” Beth asked.
William shoved his hands into his coat pockets. ”In the hotel until we take delivery of our wagon. Pa ordered a right nice one to be made by the wainwright.”
“We’re staying along side the river, ‘bout a mile west of town, with the other over Landers. The wilderness is just across the river,” Beth volunteered, then asked, “Will y’all be staying with us?”
Adena pulled the wool cape tighter around her shoulders as a cold winter breeze nipped at her neck. ”Papa said we would be in the encampment once we took possession of our wagon. The hotel is too expensive to stay there very long. Besides, the room isn’t much better than a hog’s sty.”
“I know,” Beth said. ”We stayed there too. The room we had was a joke! There were gaps in the boards. The wind and light came right through the walls.”
“Our room is that way,” William confirmed.
“Are y’all warm enough staying by the river? There is so much snow on the ground,” Adena said as they walked towards the hotel.
Beth nodded. ”The men folk make sure there’s a good size fire goin’ all the time and I drink lots of hot, strong coffee. At night I have a good heavy quilt and we sleep on cots in a tent. The canvass keeps the wind and the moisture out.” She hesitated a moment and asked, “Are you still sketching?”
Adena watched a hoodlum wagon go by heading towards the encampment before answering. ”Not as much as I wanted to ‘cause I was always busy helping mama. But now I have more time. I just bought this sketch pad and pencils in the mercantile.”
Walking close behind the two women, William asked, “What ever happened to Mr. Jeffry?”
Beth thought a minute before answering. ”He and his family arrived just before we did. They left with the Donner Company. I remember there was an argument between Mr. Donner and the Mormon guide.”
“What was the disagreement about?”
Beth looked back over her shoulder at him. ”The guide wanted to wait until this spring so the grass would be ready for the animals and the Donner’s left anyway.”
“Will we be traveling with a bunch of Mormons?” William asked.
“No. They travel by themselves and they are going only to Mormon town.”
William’s attention was caught by a young shapely saloon girl clad in nothing more than garters, silk stockings, and a red chemisette. She was crossing the muddy street and he was unaware that the two women were watching him as his eyes were dilating with sudden ecstasy. Adena cleared her throat shocking her brother back to the present.
Beth laughed. ”He has grown up. I’m walking and I’d better get back to our wagon before Reynard worries. I hope y’all come and visit us. Bring Jack with you, I’d like to meet him.”
The snow began to fall lightly as Adena answered, “We will.” She then opened the heavy wooden door to the hotel.
- * * *
Martha’s Kitchen was a large open room was filled with tables covered with red and white checkered table cloths and hard back chairs. To the left was a good sized sitting room with a large gray stone fireplace. In a corner of the dinning area was a large pot belly stove. Through an archway Adena could see a plumpish, middle aged woman cooking over a wood burning stove.
After dinner, Adena entered the large sitting room adjacent to the dinning area of Martha’s Restaurant. A warm, crackling fire radiated heat from the fireplace. On the extensive mantel sat a replica of a Conestoga wagon, complete with oxen. To her left she noticed three women, two were sitting in a mohair sofa and the third was in an over stuffed chair. She guessed they were about her age.
With the exception of Beth, Adena never really had any female friends, but now she had a chance to make three new friends. ”May I join y’all?”
”Please do set a spell,” said one of the three women wearing a pair of wire framed glasses. ”Becky Goodridge be my name.”
”Evenin’, might nice to meet y’all. I be Adena Barton,” she said as she sat in a straight backed chair.
A woman with her hair fixed in a bun smiled and said, “I be Elizabeth Drake. Please call me Liz, my friends. I must say I just love the way you talk, you must be from the South.”
Adena felt self-conscience and her cheeks warmed. ”Nice to meet ya.”
The blond young woman obviously with child smiled warmly. ”I be Daphnie Fink. I too just love your southern drawl, I’ve never known a Southerner before.”
Adena smiled with warm spontaneity. ”I’m so happy to meet y’all. My father, brother, and myself are going to California.”
Liz returned Adena’s smile with a warm one of her own. ”You ain’t married?”
Adena shook her head. ”But I do have a gentleman caller that is going to California.”
”We ain’t sure if we’re goin’ to California or to Oregon country.” Liz said. ”We don’t have to make that decision for a while yet.”
The door to Martha’s restaurant opened allowing a gust of cold air to chill the sitting area. Adena turned to see who came in, hoping it might be Jack. Instead it was only an older man seeking to have a meal. Disappointed, she resumed her conversation with her new found friends.
Daphnie placed a shawl around her shoulders. ”Why did your family decide to go west?”
Adena hesitated before answering. She wondered if she should be truthful, it was so embarrassing. Her up bringing had taught her to be honest, besides, what harm would it do?
”We lost our farm to the bank. There was the terrible draught, our crops wouldn’t grow…...” Adena said, stopping in mid sentence.
”I know how hard that is,” Becky said. ”We lost our home to the bank too. We want a new start.”
”We lost everything,” Daphnie said. ”The bank auctioned off everything we owned. Then they gave us back money after all our debts were paid. Thank the Lord we had enough to go west.”
The front door opened a second time and once again Adena turned around. She felt a tinge of disappointment, once again it wasn’t Jack. A handsome young man came over and kissed Becky on her forehead. Adena guessed that he was about ten years older than Becky.
”Sure dis cold out vere,” the man said, his voice was thick with a German accent.
Becky took his hand into hers. ”This is my husband, Bret.”
Bret tipped his hat. ”Nice to meet du.”
”Where are you from?” Liz asked.
Adena folded her hands on her lap. ”Our farm was northeast of Portsmouth, Virginy.”
”We’re from Baltimore,” Becky offered then quickly added, “Bret’s been here now come four years from Germany.”
Brushing her hair from her eyes Daphnie added, “Liz and myself are from Boston. My husband is Silas. He‘s with the wagon down by the river.”
”Liz, are you married?” Adena inquired.
She lowered her head and swallowed hard. ”My husband was killed last year in an accident on the farm.”
”I’m so sorry,” Adena said.
Liz feigned a smile. ”Thank you. I hope to start over again in California.”
”Adena, are du married?” Bret asked.
Adena shook her head. ”No.”
”Bet du and Liz vill marry before du reach California,” Bret said.
”Pay no mind to him,” Becky said.
”How could someone get married in the wilderness?” Liz asked.
Adena quickly added, “I thought only a minister could marry couples.”
”The wagon master of a wagon train can marry folks,” Becky said.
”If there are military billeted at the forts, there should be a chaplain with them. Certainly they can marry folks too.” Daphnie added.
The thought of marrying Jack intrigued her. Wanting to change the subject, Adena asked, “Do y’all know where I could take a hot bath?”
Liz had an odd mingling of wariness and amusement in her eyes. ”There’s only one place in town. The large bathing room in the rear of the River Saloon.”
”A bath costs five cents, but it ain’t like back home.” Daphnie quickly added.
Adena’s brow furrowed questioningly. ”What y’all mean it ain’t like back home?”
”You’ll see when you take your first bath,” Becky said with an impish giggle.
”Vhat she means,” Bret said. He paused a moment as his mind floundered trying to find the proper words in English, “dere is no privacy. Yah, men and women bathe in the same room together. Vey have good beer.”
Adena cleared her throat. ”I see.”
Becky tugged on her husband’s arm. ”C’mon, we’re going back to camp. You’ve said too much and embarrassed our new friend.”
Shortly after Becky and her husband left, Daphnie’s husband arrived and escorted her and Liz back to camp. Adena remained in the sitting area, thinking about the new friends she had just made and enjoying the warmth of the fire. When the fire died down to a bed of coals, her father and brother escorted her back to the hotel.
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I really enjoyed this. I thought it was very well written, and your descriptions were very evocative of time and place, which really made me feel as though I was immersed in the story. Also, I thought your dialogue was quite realistic for the sorts of characters present in the story. On the whole, I think there’s some good stuff here and I’d like to see more.
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You are right there isn’t a lot of Action or Adventure in this chapter but I’ll bet that is to come. This is a comfortable easy read and you put in a lot of period details that make it nostalgic and interesting. I was amused at your reference to the Donner Party. That might make for some interesting Action and Adventure. Bret’s German accent could use some work. I spent a couple years in Germany and never heard one like it.
I really enjoy this read and hope you post more. Good luck to you.
Dogfish
Hmmm, I rather enjoyed this write, an entertaining read and I can see that you took a lot of time with this, no major errors errors to really detract from my reading of this piece and overall your writing style was easy to get into without THAT much awkwardness of form or speech though there were some problems.
It’s interesting, there’s plenty of nice dialogue, and despite some possible historical discrepancies in flavor, it’s a solid chapter.
As for your goals, I think it evident that while “Publishable – Overall”, “Publish a Book”, “Publishable – A book of my own writings”, “Attract an Agent and/or Publisher”, “Attract an agent or publisher for first time publishing”, “Agent – I need an agent”, and “To be seen by Agents/Publishers” say nearly the same thing and are exceedingly difficult to achieve, you certainly have the talent and potential to reach them if not with this particular story you’ve been writing chapters for, maybe some other piece, overall though I think you’ll get there, you’ve got talent.
Anyway, I obviously reviewed and enjoyed reading this, so “to be reviewed by readers”, and “Amuse / Entertain / Warm a few hearts” are evident. As for your overall ratings, I think I gave a seven in “Action Adventure – Overall” which is rather impressive overall, I think. And if I remember right I gave an eight for “Old West Genre” since I haven’t seen so many of those specifically and this is a solid write in that general theme and atmosphere.
Anyway, thanks for the read, good luck with more chapters and more writing, I look forward to them.
Hi there. I really enjoyed this. This is quite origional and you seem to know where you are going with this. You have a nice writing style and I thought the dialogue was quite entertaining I look forward to reading more of your work. Good job. Keep up the good work
Again I enjoyed reading the chanpters. I am on my way to class but I had to read to see what was going to happen next. This is a very good book so far. The wording , the visuals I can almost place myself in the book. This is amazing. I would like to know though, how many more chapters are there?
The only problem I see is, one: the way adena talks varies from modern good english to southern drawl and it just doesn’t fit the time period on occasion.
The next problem I have has to do with names you selected for the time period.
Bret is not a german name, it is french and although it was popular in America in 1850’s it was not used in Germany.
I like the story overall it really does interest me. Thanks for sharing.
Sparow
I liked the fact that you added old west genre to the ratings. I think we needed that one however you might consider backing away from having so many rating catagories.(just a thought)
I loved the story,and have always been a fan of westerns. You have either read a lot of westerns yourself or you did a lot of research for this story.
The story flows well and kept my attention. I will be looking forward to reading more of your work. Good Job.
Wow…well…if this isn’t about the busiest story segment I have ever read…I believe there is too much put into spoken words…Give some thought to descriptive actions…Describe and detail what is occurring as it occurs…Very nice story-line…This is a loveable story that I believe will be easily connectable for many readers…wonderful job!
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