Stone

Chapter 39 – Back to Greenstone

The next morning Cass peeked out the front window to see a dozen children waiting on the steps. She headed back to the kitchen to make more porridge for the school breakfast.

When Rayla opened the door, there were a dozen students, and four more appeared before breakfast was over. With 16 students today, she had to do a comprehensive review, since nearly half the class had not been in the prior day. Never the less she managed to have a productive class with the children, and was proud to see some progress before they broke at noon for sandwiches that Cass had made for the lunch. A few kids took their sandwiches home with them, making Rayla consider that some of them would be sharing with younger siblings or a parent. She told Jason and the three boys who had been eating supper at the house that they were to stay after all the others left.

When the schoolroom was finally empty, except for the four, Rayla told them to come with her, and led the four boys into town. She stopped at the shoemaker’s shop, and ordered shoes for each of them. The man had some children’s shoes ready made in various sizes. The two brothers had no shoes, and their friend was wearing a tattered pair that was at least two sizes too small. The cobbler was able to fit all three with acceptable shoes. Jason was a little too large for the pre-made shoes, and the pair he was wearing was still in good shape, so he was measured and the cobbler promised to have new shoes for him in a week.

Next Rayla led the boys to the fabric store. She bought a bolt of heavy denim, and a lighter bolt of material suitable for t-shirts. Jason carried the denim and one of the other boys carried the other roll of fabric.

As the boys walked, Rayla quizzed Kinn about his aunt Joli as they walked to her house. She was a widow with four children, whose father never returned from a whaling trip when no survivors returned to town. She was Kinn’s mother’s sister. Both of Kinn’s parents had died: his father was on the same whaling ship and his mother died of a broken heart during a mild epidemic that struck the town several months later. Kinn had been living on his own since then, and had joined up with the Broyson brothers: another pair of orphans. Kinn was eight, Konce Broyson was nine and his brother Keyne was seven.

Rayla led the boys to Joli’s house, with her four children playing in the yard. Two girls seemed older, perhaps early teens, and the two boys were about the ages of the boys Rayla was with.

Joli invited Rayla in, and the white woman told the boys to set down their bundles and run out to play with the others. “I understand you do sewing,” Rayla stated.

“I do. That is nice material,” she noted looking at the bolts of fabric.

“Yes, the boys all need new clothes. Three of them are in little better than rags,” Rayla said.

Joli looked embarrassed. “Kinn is my nephew. I should have made something for him. But my boys are younger, so hand-me-downs wouldn’t work. I have the time that I could make something, but not the money for fabric. I have fed the three of them occasionally, when I had money, but most days there isn’t enough to feed my four.”

“Well, I want jeans for the four of them. Three pairs each. I bought the material myself so you could get right on it. After the jeans are done, they each need new t-shirts. Five each, I think. I saw that jeans in the store were a silver each, and shirts are three pence. I know that custom clothes sewn by a professional are worth more, but I am supplying material. Are those rates okay?”

“More than enough,” Joli said. 12 pairs of jeans were 12 silvers, and 20 shirts would be several more silvers. Plus the work would keep her busy for several weeks, even if no other work came in.

“Here is a gold as advance payment,” Rayla said, watching the huge smile spread across the woman’s face. As Rayla had guessed, this was probably one of the days when the children were not expecting to be fed.

“Bless you, madam,” Joli gasped. “The money will go to a good cause: the cupboards are pretty bare right now.

“I want to tell you about the new school I teach at. All four of the boys attend, and will learn to read and write, as well as learning their numbers. You might want to send your four. The children all get fed a bowl of oatmeal each morning. Little brains work better if they are fueled up beforehand. And they get a sandwich for lunch after class is over.”

Joli’s smile just got wider. That would mean her little ones would be fed two meals at the school five days a week, stretching her meager grocery budget. “They will definitely come tomorrow,” she said.

“Okay, I will expect them,” Rayla said, taking a deep breath. “This bit is kind of sensitive. Do you have room here for three more boys: your nephew and his friends? I know you can’t afford to feed them. Stone and I will pay you for their meals and clothes. But do you have room?”

“I do have a spare room,” the woman said hesitantly. “It should be big enough for three, if the brothers were in bunk beds like my boys are.”

Rayla handed over another gold. This should buy meals for them for the next two months. I will make sure you get another in eight weeks. Joli stared at the coin. It would be enough to feed her entire family for two months, with better food than they were used to. There could be meat in their diets again. “You are an angel sent from the sun god,” Joli said. “I love my nephew and you don’t know how much it hurts me to see him running wild. And I’m sure that I can love the brothers as well, given some time. They are both good boys.”

“We think so,” Rayla said. “My husband is all in favor of supporting them, but feels that we cannot adopt them. You will need to get beds made and purchase some warm blankets. In fact, get new blankets for the whole family. If the merchant’s are worried about payment, send them to me and I will pay them in whole or a deposit, depending on what they need.”

Joli was in tears. All the struggles of the past four years seemed to be over. Rayla took her into her arms and let her sob it out. Finally the black woman stood and took a deep breath then led Rayla to the door. On the stoop she shouted, and all the children stopped their games. “Come on you lot,” she said. “We are going to the grocery market to get some food for dinner tonight, and a bit more. You three boys come along. You are having dinner here tonight, and I have a room upstairs for you. You’ll be sleeping on the floor tonight, but we’ll get you beds soon enough.”

Kinn rushed up to his aunt and wrapped his arms around her legs. “Are you going to look after us, Auntie?” he said. “Really and truly?”

“Yes I am,” Joli said. “And your friends too. You can call me Momma if you want.”

The brothers came over slowly, but joined Kinn in hugging the woman, who had some tears in her eyes as Rayla took Jason by the hand and led him towards their house.

When they got back home, they found a bustle of activity in the stables at the rear of the house. Stone had decided to return to Greenstone as quickly as possible, and this meant that all the wagoneers were busy loading the wagons: mostly with barrels of whale oil, the main export of the town. There were seven wagons, and one of the caravans going north. The soldiers, who had been doing little actual work since the family got to Westport weeks ago, were now sharpening their tools and drilling in anticipation of the trip north. Kalosun was busy ordering the men about, but he was not going north. He was staying in Westport to look after the family and act as Stone’s temporary southern agent. He would keep an eye on the construction of the ship, as well as making contact with the Kithren sailors, trying to build up a crew for when the ship was ready to sail.

Stone walked up to Rayla and gave her a mighty hug. He was going to be gone for about a month, the longest the two had been apart since they arrived in this world. It was going to be difficult for both of them, although Rayla had her school to look after, and Stone would be busy with the wagon train.

At the family meal at the end of the day Stone announced that everything was ready for the train to leave at first light. He did warn Cass that she would need an early breakfast for the men, but thereafter she would be able to slow down a bit, with many fewer mouths to feed as the wagoneers and soldiers would no longer need to be fed. Future trips south would be a much quicker turnaround, with only a day for two to repair wagons and tack and reload for the trip north.

The next morning Stone hugged and kissed Rayla, held a sobbing Emily, and shook hands with Jason, telling the boy that he was now the man of the house. It wasn’t true: Kalosun would be around. But the young lad put on a stoic face even though there were tears in the corners of his eyes at the thought of the man who he had grown to think of as his father leaving.

The train didn’t actually get moving until near 9 a.m.: two hours late. There were a half-dozen youngsters from the town chasing it down the main street, mainly white boys, since most of the Kithreen boys were in Rayla’s school.

The trip north went as planned. There was no stop in Golden: a local merchant bought a single barrel of whale oil, and the train barely had to stop. In Sarn there were more sales, with a full wagon of barrels sold. Stone was pleased with the progress in the town. Without onerous taxation the commercial base of the town was re-establishing itself, and most shop windows were full. There were fewer derelict looking buildings as well.

Another wagon was emptied in Greenford, where Sarn made a side trip to the hatchery and found that it was also thriving. The empty wagons from Sarn and Greenford were filled with bolts of material from the fabric mills. Stone had worried that without Rayla along he would have trouble deciding what to buy, but there was a young Kithren woman in the store and she took over, merely asking how much he wanted to spend. Then she chose a variety of bolts to load the two wagons. She was much more useful than the bigoted man who had kicked Kalosun out of the shop on their last visit.

Four days later they arrived in Greenstone after a quick stop in Greenwood to sell more oil. In the once familiar town Stone found the seamstresses loved his choices of fabric, and the rest of the oil was off-loaded. The men were only given two days off while bags of coal were loaded onto the empty wagons. O’Breyne was given the caravan, and it was parked at Stone’s home. On the ride north Stone had decided that Rayla and Stone would give the house to O’Breyne if and when he married, but until then he was to live in the caravan. The house would be the northern depot, saving Stone from having to sell it.

Stone spent the next few days visiting various friends in the town, and letting them know he was going to be in Westport for the next two years, and then overseas for a time. He didn’t expect to be back for four or five years. However his transport business was going to continue, sending a train of eight wagons of coal every week and returning with whale oil and textiles.

When the new train south left, Stone started thinking about the business he had seemingly fallen into. The first night on the road to Greenwood the train stopped at a spot where there appeared to have been used before: there were well used fire pits on the site.

As the men set up the camp, Stone realized that this was a lot of wasted effort. Why not have a permanent camp here, with dorms for the men, stables for the livestock, and an eating-place. There could also be relief horses kept here, so that if one was injured or worn out from the trip, they could be changed out. This would mean that relief horses would no longer have to accompany the train.

The main inputs would be the cost of buildings, plus at least two staff: possibly a husband and wife. This would be offset by the benefits of having a regular place to overnight, without the effort of setting up a camp each time. There was a train going each way once a week, two stops. During the other times the staff could be doing maintenance and tending a garden to provide some of the food.

He looked in either direction. In each case there was a rise about a mile off, so wagon trains could be seen coming 20 to 30 minutes before they arrived. This would allow the staff to start preparing meals, heating the barracks to take the chill off in colder weather, and heating water for baths. Normally the men arrived at the end points of the trip smelling pretty ripe. With baths they would be able to clean up, especially on the last leg before coming home to their wifes or girlfriends.

And there were five or six other companies that used the route. They could pay to stay in the new facilities. And in this location, the land was wild: there would be no cost for the land. In the other locations further south Stone may have to buy land, although it was possible that one of the landowners in the area might want to be the camp staff and sell.

The longer he thought about it, the more he liked the plan. He even wondered if it was possible to use the camps as a way of setting up an express transport system. It takes a wagon six days at best to get from Three Rivers/Sarn to Greenstone. But if the riders rode at a faster pace, knowing that they and the horses would only have to go to the next stop the trip could be made in a day. Both driver and horse would stop at a camp and hand over the parcel to another rider, making a non-stop service for messages and small packages. If nothing else it would allow Stone to rapidly communicate with his station agents.

He resolved to do so, and arranged for a builder in Greenwood to start working as soon as possible. He then chose a location for a site south of Greenwood, and hired a crew of Kithrens to build a facility there once he got to Greenford. He took a young Kithren boy with him as they headed south and selected a site between that town and Golden. The boy walked back and informed the buildings in Greenford where to build another camp.

The final camp was a day north of Westport, so builders from there were hired. By chance it was quite near the site of Stone’s dreams about dragons, so he hesitatingly took Doug there while the men were setting up.