Whoa!! " Look at this," I said as the little chipmunk sat on my hand. Cute little guy, looked at me with his tail flipping all over the place. Jeb reached over with a finger and rubbed it down the critter's back. " Take it easy there Chester, he didn't scream like a girl and flip you half way across the room, so he must have a soft spot for critters". " Chester! Chester! You call this critter Chester?" "Well yeah, That's his name".Jeb said after a mump or two. Chester looked at me, tail twitching, then he rubbed his little paws down his face from his ears to the end of his nose. I couldn't believe it, he carries a chipmunk around in his pocket. " Chester goes with me most everywhere, not like sister Suzy, who would rather stay at home." Jeb said while he pointed his pipe stem at Chester. " you have two of them" I said. " Yep! Right friendly little critters they are . And great company too." Well to each his own, I'm thinking.
Shriek! Shriek! Good grief what is going on? Poor Chester was flipping all over the place. Shriek! again, and then, " Look mommy, a skirl, a skirl, " screamed a little girl about four years old or so as she raced with hands out toward Chester. Poor Chester jumped from my hand and dove into Jeb's pocket, as the girl stopped just short of bumping into Jeb. She looked up at him and said, "You got a skirl and I want to play with him". Jeb took his pipe out of his mouth and pointed it at the end of the girl's nose. " Don't know what yer talkin about girl. I don't know what a skirl is." " Yes you do, you got one in your pocket, and I want to play with him." She said as she stomped her foot. Jeb looked over at me and asked, " Have you seen a skirl?" I mustered as straight a face as I could and replied, " No! Don't even know what a skirl is." The little girl stomped her foot again and said, I want that skirl". This time Jeb stuck the stem of his pipe on the end of the little girls nose and said, Little girl, go tell your mommy she wants you, scat now." She stomped over to a couple of women sitting on a bench across from us. Yanked a few times on her Mothers pant leg and screamed that she wanted the skirl we had. after a a few more tugs her Mom and friend got up and started to walk away. Mom said lets get out of here before Tabitha , drives me crazy. Mummp goes Jeb. He pointed his pipe at the Mother and mumbled, " Lady, with a kid like that, it wouldn't be a drive, be just a short putt." Then he looks at me and said, " That's the reason I never got married" as he pointed his pipe at the women again.
"This is not going right" he said as he transferred the pipe back and forth in his mouth. " I wanted to talk about you maybe coming in with me up at my claim." " Been thinkin about it for some time now.. Not gettin any younger, and can't stop mining, tho god know I don't need the money. Darn gold bug bit me about 40 years ago and the fever is still ragin in me. I can't do it alone any more, I need help." "But! But! why me? I asked. " You don't know a thing about me, I might be a claim jumper for all you know." He took the pipe out of his mouth and said, " Sonny, I got a 6th sense when it comes to people and critters. I can tell all I need to know about them by their color halo." "You mean to tell me that you can tell about people by their aura. You believe in that," I asked.
"Yep! Sonny, I surely do. Never failed me yet, and you have a gold color sure as shootin." Well I had to stop and think about this a bit. Never was picked out by my color before. Wonder why my old Boss didn't see my color, if I'm so good. Well! Well! Hope he finds out what he's missing now that I'm gone. I'm thinking I might as well go with the old dude since I had nothing better to do right now. I could always look for a job later if things don't work out. I turned to Jeb and said, " All right. I'll try it your way. What do I do now?" Jeb reached in another pocket and came out with a card. He said, as he handed me the card. " Bring your equipment, clothes and bedding. There's a cabin at the claim. with a bed for you. I provide everything else. Meet me here on Monday and I'll take you from there to the claim." I looked at the card, and it read, Blue Mountain Mining Company, Blue Mountain, Montana "Oh boy! Now I've done it."
To be continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment