Curiouser and Curiouser

“Johnny has offered to take me to San Francisco...but only with your consent.”

“I see.” Feeling the need for further confirmation, Scott inquired, “Johnny? My brother?”

“Honestly, Scott. How many Johnnys do you know?”

“Well…” He kept his teasing barely hidden below the surface of serious pondering. “There’s Johnny who works at the livery stable. Then there’s the fella who helps Henry at the saloon.”

“Scott.”

“I believe the Remingtons named their youngest son Johnny…” A slight upward turn of his cousin’s mouth suggested she appreciated his humor but her patience was waning. “All right. Johnny, my brother, is willing to escort you to a Women’s Rights Rally -”

“Lecture. It’s a lec-churrrr.”

“Listen. If Lucy Stone’s talking then it’s a ral-leeeee. I don’t care what your newspaper calls it.” Scott began gathering his scattered letters on the desk.

“I think it’s rather extraordinary Johnny's asking for your permission.”

“Extraordinary.” He closed the ledger and placed it in the desk’s top drawer. His eyebrow raised for emphasis. “Not the word I would use.”

“Well, what word would you use?”

“Curious.” Scott stood. “And I’m certain the conversation I’m about to have with my brother regarding your trip to San Francisco will become...curiouser and curiouser.”

Kinsey clapped her hands together. “You’re giving us your consent!”

“No. Wait.” Scott pointed his finger. “I said there will be a conversation. The judge has yet to rule on the permission.” Before searching out Johnny, he offered his little cousin some advice. “And you best get down from there, young lady.”

“Why? This is where you told me to sit.”

“I did. But now I’m leaving. If Murdoch catches your backside on his desk…” Scott grinned as his index finger slashed across his throat. “Off with your head.”

He found his brother out at the corral working with one of Lancer’s recently purchased horses. Scott frowned slightly at the sight of Jelly leaning on the fence. The man did a lot of leaning. Standing back for a minute, Scott observed Jelly shouting out his opinions to Johnny. The man did a lot of that too - giving his opinion - mostly when it wasn’t requested.

Resting his arms on the top rail, Scott did his own quiet leaning as he caught a sideways glance from his nosey companion.

“Scott.”

“Jellifer.”

“You come to watch Johnny?”

“Thought I’d see if he’s making any progress.”

Placing his hands on either side of his mouth, Jelly made an announcement. “Hey, Johnny! Scott’s come here to see if yer makin’ any progress!

The vague grin appearing on his little brother’s face indicated he was aware of Scott’s presence.

“Yer wantin’ to talk to Johnny?”

Not making eye contact with Jelly helped Scott keep his frustration level to a minimum. “Eventually. I'm in no hurry.”

“Johnny! Scott’s needin’ to talk to ye but he ain’t in no hurry! Didn't say what it's about!”

Keeping his focus on the horse, Johnny’s grin grew ever so slightly. Scott mentally commended his brother for having bottomless patience with this man. He himself certainly did not.

“If everybody minded their own business, the world would go round a great deal faster than it does.” Scott adjusted his hat. “Good rule of thumb, wouldn’t you say?”

“Those yer words yer spoutin’ off?” Jelly sounded suspicious.

“Nope. Read it in a book a while back. A duchess said it during a game of croquet.”

“Crow what?” Jelly sputtered. “Oh, forgit-it. Ain’t important. Mindin’ my own business? Why, I git the feelin’ yer askin’ me to vamoose on outta here.”

Scott smiled. “Why, I believe you're right.”

“Ha!” The hired hand let out a snort. “Yer not needin’ to be tellin’ me twice when my company ain't wanted.”

“Well, Jelly, that works out mighty fine considering I hate repeating myself.”

Scott maintained his friendly demeanor as he watched the indignant man huff and stomp off - no doubt in search of Murdoch to complain about his oldest son’s rudeness.

Johnny unhooked the training rope to let the horse have some freedom within the corral. Sauntering over to where Scott stood, he made an observation. “Looks to me like you got Jelly’s dander up.”

“Doesn’t take much, brother. All I need to do is open my mouth.”

Johnny’s grin widened. “Let me guess. It’s a gift…”

Knowing his younger brother would wait for the expected ending to the familiar statement, Scott willingly obliged. “And I hate to brag.”

His attention shifted to Johnny’s latest project. So...how's the filly?” Scott meant what he’d said to Jelly - he was in no hurry. Getting to fully understand his brother continued to be a slow process - conversations included.

Johnny absently fiddled with the rope while watching the horse trot around the corral. “Oh, she’s a bit stubborn but I think she’ll eventually come around.”

Scott nodded. “True. Kinsey can be a bit stubborn.”

“I tell ya, brother...that girl -” Johnny caught himself. His grin outshone the Cheshire Cat’s as he stared at the rope in his hands. “Ah...dammit.”

Scott let the silence hang for a moment as he watched the horse continue to enjoy her freedom within the safe environment of the corral. Joshing his younger brother had led to a fairly accurate analogy between Kinsey and the filly - freedom while being protected.

“I understand you offered to accompany her to San Francisco.” Scott reached out and flipped his little brother’s hat forward over his eyes. “Just to be clear, we’re talking about Kinsey…not the horse.”

With a smiling nod, Johnny repositioned his hat as he placed his looped training rope over a nearby fence post and crossed his arms. “Well...I heard Murdoch tell her he’d be in Sacramento and I knew you'd be leavin’ for Boston...she looked damn disappointed...I told her she needed your permission…” His voice trailed off.

“I appreciate that. I've got to admit, brother - I was rather surprised.” Scott rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve read these Lucy Stone rallies can get boisterous -”

“I'll keep her safe. That goes without sayin’.”

“Well…seems to me if my little brother is brave enough to walk into a room full of females, I shouldn't stand in his way.” Scott slapped Johnny on his shoulder. “Go tell Kinsey she has an escort.”

“Nah. She should hear it from you.”

Scott nodded and turned to head back to the hacienda.

“Appreciate you givin’ me another chance, brother.”

Confused, Scott took a few steps back to the corral. “Another chance?”

“To prove myself.”

“You have nothing to prove to me, Johnny.”

“Yeah. I’m thinkin’ I do.”

“I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole—and yet—and yet—it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life!” - Lewis Carroll

San Joaquin Valley, Lancer Ranch

My thoughts have been dancing around a few “what-ifs” lately. I usually don’t debate myself on past decisions. Why bother? There’s no going back and changing what has already taken place.

I leave for Boston in two weeks. Perhaps this is the reason my thinking is traveling down -

Scott stared at his incomplete sentence. “Ah, Alice. You're not ready to let go.”

- yet another rabbit hole. What if my curiosity regarding my father hadn’t prevailed the night Pinkerton’s man approached me. What if I had stayed in Boston? Hell, what if Pinkerton had been five minutes later finding Johnny. He’d be dead and chances are a shallow grave would not have been offered. What if Murdoch had never written his letter to Kinsey? What if we’d turned her over to The Good Sisters of Mercy in Sacramento?

Scott laughed out loud at the thought of his cousin joining a convent. His laughter soon dissolved while reading over his last paragraph. “What am I doing? Enough second-guessing.”

While I’m in Boston, Johnny will be escorting Kinsey to a Lucy Stone lecture -

Scott stopped and rolled his eyes. “Now she’s got me doing it.” He drew a line through his last written word.

rally in San Francisco. Johnny said he needed to “prove himself” yet, I couldn’t get him to tell me what needed to be proved or why it should happen. I watched the curtain come down over his face and I knew I would get no further with my little brother. And he accuses me of building a wall!

Without the other’s knowledge, I have asked Kinsey and Johnny to send me telegrams while I'm in Boston. I look forward to sipping a good brandy and comparing their stories. Of course, I have concerns. I think I always will when it comes to Johnny. And now, Kinsey.

Frowning, Scott placed his pen down. He had come to the last page of his journal - a journal he started almost a year ago. Sighing, he closed the book and tapped his fingers on the well-worn brown leather cover. So much had changed over the last year. He was grateful for the memories - good and bad - captured on the pages. Scott stood and walked to a small shelf to place the book beside his mother’s 1st edition of Emerson. Turning, he reached for a recently purchased journal lying in the middle of his bed, sat and opened to the first page.

San Joaquin Valley, Lancer Ranch

“Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” ~ Lewis Carroll