Boys Become Men: Book One ~ The Beginning

Robby then told Gus about the bombs and the news reports. Gus asked, Mr. Robert, "I got two nephews that got no parents, theys living up in White River with my cousin, but he don't take much care of them. Could theys come live here with me? I would see about theys extra food an' all." Robby asked, "How old are they?" Gus replied, "Theys be 9 and 13." Robby responded, "Sure, bring'em down here, they can help in the garden and such. It was a decision that would result in great changes to life on the Robinson Ranch.

Two days later Gus Yellowfeather brought his two nephews to meet the Robinsons. He had fixed up the spare bedroom in his quarters up in the barn and they were to stay with him at night.

They were quiet children and Robby got more than a little upset when he discovered abuse marks on the back of John, the older boy. Gus said very quietly to Robby, "Theys was bein' sex abused by my cousin. He a no good man,"

Robby about hit the roof, he had both boys come into the house and he drew a hot water bath and poured some bleach in the water as a disinfectant. He told the boys to undress and get in the tub, he walked out of the room so as to not embarrass the boys, or make them think they were in for more of the same. After they had soaked in the hot water, Robby handed them wash cloths and soap and told them to "clean everything" and to call him when they were done.

Both boys were crying and the older one asked, "Yous ain't gonna hurt us none, is ya?" Robby knelt down and say, "Boys, I am gay, that means I love another man, not a wife. My man, Buddy, is all I want, you boys are perfectly safe and both Buddy and I will go to war to keep you both safe, if need be."

Sometime later, two sparkling clean Indian boys came out to the living room, wrapped in bath towels. Robby had gotten some clean clothes out of the storeroom for them and he turned his back while they dressed.

John walked up to Robby and said, "Howcum you didn't ask us to do sex things with you while we was nekkid?"

Robby's face looked like it was ready to explode, or catch on fire, maybe both! He was so angry, he was shaking! He knelt down beside John and said, "John, I already told ya' that ain't gonna happen here, not now and not ever. Anybody asks you to do somethin' like that, you come hollerin' fer me and I will take care of it, right quick and permanent like!"

Robby's face was bright red from anger and he promised himself that, whoever had hurt these boys was going to pay dearly if he ever came around Robinson Ranch, EVER!

John put his arms around Robby's waist and cried. Robby picked the sobbing boy up and sat on the couch, soon he had another little boy on his lap, little Carl wanted some of the safe loving, too!

Ever after that, those boys loved and respected their Uncle Gus, but they adored Mr. Robby and would head for his lap at every opportunity. When they reached adulthood, they would remain with Robby and his family and, in time of need, they would be found carrying a rifle to defend the Ranch and Mr. Robby and the folk he cared about!

The days of summer began to heat up, it came a little later than it did down in the low country, and the boys had the vegetable garden going, the small root vegetables, like radishes, carrots and beets, were beginning to show up on the supper table. Lettuce was next and Roger said one day, "I never thought I would see the day that I would truly like lettuce! I may even like Brussels Sprouts!" He did!

Later that same spring, they started some Brussels Sprout seedlings in the kitchen window and planted them as soon as there was no danger of frost. They did well in the cool nights of the high mountains. All the boys loved them with a little cider vinegar over them.

Robby tried several times to raise the Tucson Headquarters of the Highway Patrol on Jake's radio and could not get a reply. Several times he spoke with Dan Green in Show Low and he had been unable to get any information about Jake either.

Dan would also call The Ranch occasionally, just to make sure his friend's boys were doing alright and that they were not having any problems.

One day, while Robby had Dan on the radio, Dan asked, "Robert, have you got some room for a couple of boys, they were involved in an automobile accident and both their folks were killed. We don't know what to do with them here. They are white boys and the kids around here are kinda giving them a hard time."

Robby replied, "Sure, I guess so. How old are they?"

Dan said, "Donald is 12 and Jasper is 10. We would bring them down to you and the County would supply food and clothing for them. They have a few clothes that we were able to save from the accident but theys ain't got much"

Robby replied, "OK, we can clear out the old bedroom down in the basement for them. We have two other boys here already, they are Indian boys who are about that same age, so they will have some buddies here. I am sure we can scrounge up some clothes for them in the storeroom. Don't worry about food, though, if the County kin come up with some things like sugar and breakfast cereal, we could sure welcome the help."

A woman from CPS brought the two boys down, they looked kind of bewildered and the youngest one, Jasper, was beginning to cry. The woman roughly shoved the boys at Robby, along with a sheaf of papers to sign. She drove off, after throwing a sack of dry cereal and a five pound bag of sugar at Robby, without even saying good bye to the little boys.
 
An angry Robby picked up Jasper and cuddled him, before placing the boy on his shoulder. He took Donald's hand and led them into the house and they sat down on the couch.

Buddy was in the kitchen, getting himself a cup of coffee, he had been outside fixing a cage for some chickens that Gus Yellowfeather had brought to them from White River.

Buddy came in the living room and the two boys cringed closer to Robby. Buddy noticed, so he put a big smile on his face and said, "Hi guys, I'm Buddy, Robby's partner. Ya wanna come outside and see the chickens we just got?"
 
Jason replied, "Partner, this is a business?"

Buddy said, "No, partner as in we are boyfriends."

Jason thought for a bit and then said, "You guys are gay?"

Buddy replied, "Yup and we are very happy with each other."

Jason looked down at the floor and scuffed his shoes a bit before he said, "I think I might be gay, but my daddy said that was evil and nasty and he whupped me for it."

Buddy got down on his knees and looked the boy straight in the eyes, "Is God evil and nasty? 'Cause God made us as we are." He continued, "Now, lets all go out and look at those chickens"

Robby and Buddy took the two boys out to the barn, where Buddy had Gus build a stout building between the barn and the implement shed. Running around in the wire fenced yard were a half dozen red chickens, scratching and pecking at the grain Buddy had thrown out for them.
 
Buddy turned to Robby and said, "There is one more hen, she is in the house and has gone broody. That old rooster is struttin' around like he is the BIG MAN!"

Jason asked, "What is broody?"

Robby said, "That means she is sitting on eggs to hatch them into baby chicks. It takes 27 days for eggs to hatch, so in a little less than a month, there will be little yellow baby chicks running around."

The new boys settled in quickly and they became one family. The two new boys were assigned chores and they also helped Georgie and Roger around the small farm. They pulled weeds and held the basket when the two older boys were harvesting the vegetables.

Their eyes got big when Roger was pulling long carrots out of the ground and they both said, eeeugh, when he pinched off some baby cabbages (Brussels Sprouts). When Buddy had cooked them up with butter in the frying pan, neither boy ever refused them after the first taste!

One day a bit later, Roger said at breakfast that something strange was going on, the window on the storeroom had been pried open and some canned goods were missing. Robby asked, "Are you sure?" Roger replied, "Yeah, there was a can of pineapple slices and some apple sauce that I put there for our breakfast and they were gone this morning."

All the boys swore they hadn't snitched the canned pineapple, in fact, both John and Carl Yellowfeather asked what pineapple was! They had never known pine trees to have apples on them! Robby had to explain that pineapple was a tropical fruit that was very sweet and tasty.

Robby told Roger to get the hammer and some nails and nail the window shut and they would all keep a lookout for who was snitching food.

Two days later, Roger and Georgie goose-stepped two young teen boys into the kitchen at breakfast time. The boys were grimy and dirty and looked to be about 15 years old. One boy was white and the other was obviously Negro. Neither boy looked like he had been eating well for some time and their ribs showed plainly through their grubby and torn shirts.

Robby sat them down and said, "OK boys, now why are you snitching food? If you were hungry, we would have invited you to our table."

Both boys were sniffing, trying manfully not to cry in fear of what these people would do to them. One said finally, "Wes was hungry and wes gots our brothers and a sister to feed."

Robby and Buddy screamed together, "WHAT?" "Where are they, let's go get them and get them fed and taken care of!"

The older of the two boys, Joseph, said, "We gots a camp over that way, in an old Forest Service campground. Wes gots six boys and one girl back there."

Robby glanced at Buddy, who had a determined look on his face before saying, "Guys, let's go get your brothers and sister, you guys can't stay out there all alone. It ain't safe! We have room here, you all can live with us."
 
The Negro boy looked at Robby and stammered, "But we's black...."

Robby cut the boy off, "I don't give a damn if you are green with pretty pink polka-dots, you are cold, hungry and have no safe place to sleep at night. There are bears out there and who knows what else!"
 
Roger and Buddy went with the boys and left Robby in charge to watch over the house as they headed out for Rocky Hill Campground. It was a long hike and when they got there, the children had all gone in hiding, the two boys called out, "These guys are good guys and have offered us a place to stay. They gived us brek'fist an' everything, even a big ol' glass of milk!"
 
A young girl's voice called out, "What does they wants us to do in return?"

Roger said in a loud voice, "You have to keep your room clean, take regular baths and maybe help with a few chores around the place. Like picking carrots or bringing in a bunch of eggs from the hen house."

A young girl, perhaps about 12 years old peeked from around a tree and asked, "That's all?"

Roger was pretty sure what the girl wasn't saying so he hollered out, "NO durned way, we ain't bad folk! There is not any sexy stuff goin' on at our house, lessin you are mates with somebody, like my big brother n' Buddy!"

About that time, six young boys, from about 6 years old to 11 or 12 years old came rushing from the surrounding bushes and hugged Roger and Buddy. They were cold, dirty and very frightened. They had walked all the way from Phoenix, living off what they could find or steal. Their clothes were in tatters, their shoes were totally destroyed and they all were so skinny that their ribs could be counted from thirty paces!

They learned that the Negro boy, Ned, was brother to the girl, Carla and the rest of them were all neighbors and friends. They had all lived in Phoenix and, after the bombs started to fall, they had taken refuge in the basement of one of the homes.

After the food ran out and their parents never came home, Ned and his friend Delbert had led the other children up into the hills. They had been preyed upon by roving gangs and had been abused by all of them. In their fear, they climbed further into the high mountains until they found the old campground.

They had nothing to eat and Ned and Del had discovered the ranch, but were afraid to ask for food, thinking the folk there were the same as the gangs that had abused them.

Robby was watching for them with the binoculars and saw how tattered and skinny the children were as they came down the trail. He went down and got a box of apples out of the cold storage and met the group as they came through the pasture gate. He said, "Hi, Guys, I'm Robby, could ya use a fresh apple?"

It was obvious that the children wanted an apple, but they were afraid, so Georgie gathered up some apples in his arms and started passing them out to each new child. There was hardly any core left around the seeds, fortunately, Rog had enough apples to give each child a second one and those, also, disappeared rapidly.

The sugar in the apples gave the children a little boost and they were smiling when they came trooping into The Ranch yard.

Robby had lit the burner on the hot water boiler when he went to get more apples, so there was something they could munch on while the water was getting hot water in the tank.

Their supplies of clothing in the smaller sizes, was rapidly becoming depleted, some of the shelves in the clothing storeroom were already bare, but each child came out of the bathing room dressed in clean clothes and new shoes!
 
The two older boys, Ned and Del said, "Mr. Robby, wes kin work fer ours keep."

Robby smiled and replied, "Sure, you can help with the chores, maybe bring in the eggs and help pick the apples when they get ripe, BUT, you do NOT have to work for your keep! There are enough of us big guys to keep this place going and, if we can't, then we will ask Mr. Gus if some of his friends can come over from White River to help us."

Del said, "But, ain't theys Indians?"

Robby laughed, "Sure, with two arms and legs and a head, just like you and me. Besides there are two boys around here, somewhere, their names are John and Carl and they are Indian Boys! They both live with us and are just like sons to Buddy n' me!" Just then, the two aforementioned boys came whooping and hollering from around the corner of the barn, like they were Wild Indians out of the old West!

Soon, everyone was laughing like they were old friends and Robby and Buddy went into the house to figure out how to feed ten hungry boys and one girl.

Buddy whipped up a huge pot of chili beans and he had made some bread the day before, so he cut the loaves into slices and buttered each slice, along with a glass of milk and set them at each place around the table. When the children sat down, there was only the sound of hungry kids eating their lunch.

Each child brought his or her empty plate to the sink, although, when Buddy looked at them, there was no evidence that food had ever been on any plate! They had even cleaned out the chili bean pot for second helpings!

When Gus Yellowfeather saw all the kids, he asked Robby, "Mr. Robby, ya' got kid seeds around here and you bin a growin' them?"

Robby shook his head and replied, "Where are we gonna put them all?

Gus said, "Well, for summer, the older boys could sleep in the hayloft, maybe with Mr. Roger n' Mr. George stayin' with them." He continued, "Looks like I need to get us some help, there be some youngins in White River what would be happy to help here for they's meals n' a roof over they's head."

Both Robby and Buddy agreed and Gus left the next morning on his horse to go up to White River and get them some help. The older boys were drooling as they watched a REAL Indian ride off on a REAL horse! They had visions of "Cowboys and Injuns" like they had seen on the television!

Little did they know that the boys who would be brought back had no idea even how to go about scalping anyone, and why would they bother? A baseball was a whole lot better than a nasty old hair piece!

Two days later, Gus returned with eight young Indian men still in their teen years, from White River, they were hardly older than Robby and Buddy. They set about scavenging lumber from abandoned houses in the nearby community of Greer. Each day they brought the wagon back piled so high with lumber, the two horses could hardly pull it.

In their spare time, they got the abandoned boys together and started a baseball game out in the feedlot. Sometimes, there were two games going at the same time, one for the older boys and one for the younger boys. Buddy and Robby moved several large picnic tables onto the patio and started serving meals outside. The weather was nice and it was too early for gnat season, so it worked out just great.

The young men from White River were astounded at the meals they were served, their first supper was more food than they had been getting back home for a whole day!

A couple of the older boys talked some of the Indian Boys into showing them how to ride a horse, and every afternoon, after they had knocked off, there was a stream of boys learning how to stay ON TOP of a horse. The Indian Boys did not use saddles and their reins consisted of a single bridle.
 
Robby was saying to Buddy, "We need to get some more horses, the boys are having a great time."

Gus was right behind them and said, "All taken care of, Mr. Robby. Next time wes goin' in to' White River, wes bringin' some more ponies back with us."

Robby said, "Gus, we can't pay for any horses, all we have are the gold coins that Dad put in the safe."

Gus replied, "Don' ya' worry none about that, Mr. Robby. The folks in White River have a stake in this here place. Yas tooked in my nephews what was hurtin' n' woulda' gone wild. It didn't matter ta' ya' that theys was Indian Boys. Ya' didn' even makem' stay with me, yas tooked them inta' yer own house ta' live with yous! Iffin' yous don' watch out, yous' gonna' be made inta' White River Indians yous own selfs!"
 
Both Robby and Buddy turned to the older man and said, "We would be proud to be made White River Apache Indians!"

The Indian men worked all summer, they created two bunkhouses and a meeting house with the lumber they had scavenged. They built bunks in the bunkhouses for twenty-five boys in each bunkhouse and a central showering room for the good weather. During the winter, they would need to use the shower or bath in the Big House.
 
The old bedroom in the basement, they converted to a girl's bedroom that would accommodate ten girls. They had only one girl so far, but Carla was happy to have the privacy and she said she wasn't scared to sleep alone in the basement as long as Mr. Robby and Mr. Buddy were living upstairs. She shyly looked at Rog and George and then included them also.

Robby was a little concerned about food supplies and worried about how many feeder calves had been dropped up in the high pasture. One warm morning, he and Buddy saddled up two horses, telling Roger and George to "hold down the fort" while they checked out the herd up at High Pasture.

It was a pleasant ride, Buddy was not as an accomplished rider as Robby, but he soon got the "hang" of it and enjoyed the outing, even if he was bouncing in the saddle a bit.

They rode up through the forest and came out on open rangeland, covered in lush grass and a herd of about two hundred cattle grazing on the plentiful grass. There was a small cabin with smoke coming out of the chimney, Robby rode up to the cabin and hollered, "Hey, Billy, ya home?"

A young Indian man in his late teens or early twenties stepped out and his eyes lit up when he spotted Robby, "I wondered when ya' was gonna' come up ta' see me Robby!"

He saw Buddy and looked knowingly at Robby. Robby shook his head in a "yes" and Billy walked over to Buddy and said, "You take care of Mr. Robby, ya' hear, iffin' I hears ya' been mean ta' my little buddy, ya' best high tail it outta the country!"

Buddy smiled and replied, "There ain't no chance of that happenin', we are together for life!"

Billy just harrumphed and said, "Good!"
 
Robby asked Billy, "How many feeders we got this year?"

Billy replied, "We gots about forty, nears as I can count. Gus tells me ya' gots a bunch of mouths ta' feed down at tha' ranch."

Robby replied, "Yes n' maybe even more kids will show up. We can't turn any of em' away."

Billy said, "Yeah, I heared about the bombs n' such down in Tucson and Phoenix. I's be sorry ta' hear about Mr. Jake n' I's be prayin' he shows up sometime soon."

Robby had moisture in his eyes, "Thanks Billy, we are prayin' ourselves, too." He continued, "I guess along about October, we oughtta have a cullin' n' killin'. We got a lot of kids to feed."

Billy replied, "Yessir, Mr. Robby, me n' the boys will bring tha' herd down to the low pasture along about first frost n' stay to help with tha' butcherin'. You gonna hang em' in the cold room under the house like we used ta'?"

Robby said, "We might as well, there won't be any place in Greer that will have a cold room anymore."

Billy agreed with him and then asked, "Mr. Robby, I done married my girlfriend, Jessie n' she be stayin' back in White Mountain. That be a long ride, iffin ya knows what I mean."

Robby laughed, "OK, Billy, hit me with it."

Billy sat up straight in his saddle and said, "Mr. Robby, sir, Jessie be a helluva good cook, she could cook for you n' the kids an' she would be only an hour ride for me ta' aaah uuuh, socialize with her."

Robby raised his eyebrows and looked at Billy, "Socialize?"

Billy's face went beet red and he began to stammer and choke.

Robby laughed, "OK, Billy. I like the idea and, since the herd has gotten so large, why don't you get a helper n' ya' can spend the night in Miz Jessie's apartment!"

Billy squeaked, "Helper.... Apartment?"

Robby laughed and said, "GOTTCHA! We will build Jessie an apartment in the basement. She can kinda watch after any girls we have and do our cooking. I don't know how much we can pay her, but...."

Billy hurried to say, "Don't you worry none about pay. Ya is payin me n' you would be providing a home and feeding her. We appreciate that Mr. Robby, you is good people, jus' like yore Papa! That be a fact!"

Robby was chuckling all the way down the trail back to the ranch house. He said to Buddy, "I have been trying to get one up on that guy ever since I was a little boy. It took all this time, but, for once, Billy Yellowfeather was speechless!"

Buddy asked, "Yellowfeather?"

Robby replied, "Yes, he is Gus' younger brother. The Yellowfeather Family has worked for us since the time of my Great Grand Father. There is some kind of story that Great Grand Papa found a wounded Indian Boy lying on the trail from Flagstaff. He brought him here, to the ranch, and my Great Grandma nursed the boy back to health. They raised him alongside their own sons and even sent him to school. You know, despite the way they talk, both Gus and Billy have been to Northern Arizona University and graduated high in their classes. If this Jessie is Billy's choice, I'll bet she has been to the Uni as well! They only talk that way so they don't sound any different from anyone else who lives around here."

He thought for a few moments and continued, "I've been know'in Gus n' Billy ever since I were a little boy. They are good folk and have'n them on the place will be a big plus. I know Jessie just by reputation, but, if she becomes the school teacher, you are gonna see some straight A students! She be tough!"

They rode further down the trail with Robby deep in thought. Buddy said, "A penny for your thoughts?"

Robby replied, "Yes, I wonder if Miz Jessie would like to teach school?"

Buddy replied, "Yeah maybe we could go too and finish high school?"

Robby said, "Maybe could."

Robby went ahead with his plans and had the construction crew strip out the walls of the basement bedroom, the storeroom and the long area across the front of the building that was partially under the living room and the front porch. He chalked out an area for a private apartment that had an outside door, a long bunkroom that had floor to ceiling partitions with room for four bunks each and an area for a shower and toilet facilities, where they could have hot water from the boiler.

The carpenters had to go back into the abandoned town for more lumber and they started looking for doors, windows and hardware.

Jessie Yelllowfeather was delighted with her apartment and took the job without hesitation.

It was not long before Billy Yellowfeather was seen, trying to walk in the outside door without being seen. Every time Robby caught him at it, Robby beat on an old pail he had stored just inside the front door. Billy would suddenly come down with an intense case of blazing red face and shake his fist at Robby.

Robby made sure that Billy was included at supper whenever he was down from the high pasture but he never said a word about Billy sneaking in the back door. He would just smile and BOTH Jessie and Billy would have red faces and a coughing fit!

The carpenters finished up the girls bunkroom and started work installing bunks and rooms in the two Boy's Dorms. They had to scavenge pipe to run hot and cold water to the shower and toilet rooms and they ran propane piping in for the gas lighting.

Since propane lighting was quite common in the area, they had no difficulty finding sufficient lighting fixtures for the Boy's and the Girl's bunk rooms. They were a bit dangerous and Miss Jessie said she would make sure they were all turned off before she went to sleep each night. They also added some heat to the rooms during the cold winter, when the snow was "belly deep to a giraffe!" They had to explain to a couple of the boys just what a giraffe was.

In both rooms, they used the traditional Indian rope supports for the bunks, even if they could not find enough mattresses, a sack full of leaves would suffice for a mattress. The leaves would have to be changed each year, but leaves in a forest were an easy matter, especially if they looked for them down along the creek bottoms, where the Mountain Laurel grew. They would make the beds smell of bay!

The new rooms were hardly finished when, one cool autumn morning, there was a knock on the door. Jessie went to answer the door and the whole house was aroused by her screams.

Buddy was the first to get to the door, standing there were three little boys, none more than 6 years old. Their clothes were in tatters and covered with old blood. The littlest, had his arm bound up in bloody rags and was using a curved stick as a crutch!

Poor Jessie was beside herself, she knelt by the little boy with the crutch and held him to her breast. Robby, Rog and George came thundering down the hall, ready to do their best against intruders. The oldest boy said, "Please Missus, wes hungry and wes not et since day before yesterday. Gots yous any spare foods?"

Jessie could hardly speak, her tears had let loose and she wouldn't let loose of the smallest child to wipe her eyes. Buddy was in no better shape, but he picked up the other two children and carried them inside. They rushed them into the kitchen and turned on all the propane lights in the room so they could see.
 
The hot water boiler was still hot from breakfast and Rog drew a pan of warm water and brought clean rags and soap. Robby began cleaning one child and Buddy the other, Jessie would let nobody but herself tend the smallest child. They got the children cleaned up, it was clear the smallest little boy had a broken arm. Jessie grabbed her brother-in-law, Gus, and sent him galloping to White River for the Medicine Man.

The other two boys were filthy with crusted dirt and blood. When they drew the shirts off the boys, they had been beaten enough to draw blood. The rage in that room was enough to set fire to the place! Robby was so angry, he refused to speak, in fear that he would frightened the children.

They finally got the children reasonably cleaned up when the heard the distinctive "whup,whup, whup" of a helicopter. A helicopter with the insignia of the State Highway Patrol on its side had just sat down and Gus was leaping out, helping his Uncle, the Medicine Man from the back seat.

Simon Yellowfeather was more than just a native medicine man, he had been a Navy Corpsman in Viet Nam and he was as good as most doctors or surgeons. He rushed in and got the particulars from Robby and Jessie, he looked up and saw Robby standing there and he said, "Don't just stand there, go get washed up. You gonna assist me!"

Robby gulped and squeaked out, "Me?"

Simon just harrumphed and pointed to the sink, saying, "Use plenty soap and hot water!" Roger stepped over and relit the fire in the sidecar on the hot-water boiler to make sure there was plenty of hot water.

The Medicine man said, "Sure could use one of them portable x-ray machines they got now, but we got here is a radial fracture. I can set it, but I'm gonna have to put the boy under." He turned to Buddy, "Go get me my red bag out of the bird and bring it here, snap, snap!"

Buddy lit out the back door at a dead run and retrieved the red bag. The Doctor opened up a surgical pack and took out a syringe and grabbed a box of vials from the red bag and found what he was looking for, he drew an amount into the syringe and injected it in the boy. They waited a few minutes, until the boy was fast asleep. The Medicine Man said, these new meds are sure better than what I had to work with in 'Nam!"

He told Robby to hold the boy tight and to not let him move, he then pulled the child's arm out straight and approximated the position of the bones, muttering, "Sure wish I had a portable x-ray machine for this." When he was satisfied, he put two plastic splints along the arm and snapped them into place. He then asked for a pot of luke-warm water that he poured into a plastic bag of powder and zipped it up. He handed it to Georgie and told him to start squeezing it to mix everything up and not to stop until he told him to.

He the padded the boy's palm with cotton bats and wrapped some special strong gauze around the boy's arm. He then took the bag from Georgie and scooped out a handful of the mixture that looked like wet plaster. It was and it even smelled like wet plaster!

He spread a light coating over the gauze and wrapped another layer of gauze and another layer of plaster until the layers made a coating about one and a half inches thick. He then plastered an extra coating on the top and smoothed it off. He smiled and said, "That last surface is for all his girlfriends to write their telephone numbers on!"
 
He turned to Jessie and said, "The boy will sleep, probably for the rest of the night. Keep him with you, Niece, and watch over him. Let him eat what he wants in the morning, you will have to help him because he is right-handed, just make sure he doesn't bang his arm or try to do too much."

He then looked the other two boys over, his anger growling in the back of his throat. He sat down in a chair and lifted the oldest boy onto his lap. He said, "Son, tell me what happened to you boys."

The boy said, slowly as if he feared someone would hit him, "We was living at Poor John's Star Mission at Luna. We tried to be good, honest, but they hit us for everything. Finally, we couldna stand it no more. Little Joey is my brother, I am Lowell and this is Clyde, he is our cousin. All our last names is Davis. Anyways, wes ran and wes been running fer more than a week. A couple of folks wanted to pick us up, but we didn't trust them none. We finally came to this ravine and there was a car coming, so's we hid. The car comed too close and we jumped into the ravine, that's when Joey busted his arm."

He had to stop while the Medicine Man wiped his nose for him, before he could continue. "Wes took this dirt road and, when we came over the hill, we could see this place. Wes could see kids playin' and they wasn't in no pens (there was a noticeable growl from those hearing the boy's story at this point.) and the kids was laughing. We hid and watched all day and nothing bad happened, so's we decided to take a chance." He then continued, "Now, please sirs, kin we have something to eat"

George and Robby emptied the refrigerator of soft food so they wouldn't overload the boys' stomachs and the two boys went to town, gobbling everything that was set before them.

The Medicine Man got back in the helicopter and told Robby, "If you have any more problems, you call Sim372A. That's me, Simon Yellowfeather and I have a radio in my house now. The 'copter stays at White River now, since the troubles, it wasn't safe to leave it in Show Low. The pilot lives with me, its kinda nice to have someone to play poker with in my old age!"

He hugged Robby and Buddy and he said to the two of them, "I knows about you two, hell, I knowed 'bout Robby from the time he could barely walk! It were writ all over his face! I also knows what you two are doing here. You are making a difference, you will find kids and young adults making their way to you, word is getting out that there is a safe haven here in Greer. You watch, you will be getting kids in here nearly every day. Mark my words."

They both noticed that the Medicine Man spoke differently when it was just them he was speaking with!

The next day, they held a council of war. Robby opened the discussion to everyone as he told them what the Medicine Man had told them. He said, "If we are gonna get kids here, we gotta have food, clothing, bedding, medicines and above all, enough beds for them. The first thing I think we need to do is scavenge all of Greer and bring anything that is even remotely useful here. Another thing, Buddy, The old bell up in the tower of the old Presbyterian Church, we need to get that and bring it down here. That way, if there is a problem, all anyone needs to do is pull on the bell rope. Gus, how about you and a bunch of your guys take the wagon and team and go down to Eager and see what you can scavenge. I'll bet they all took off, like those in Greer did. We need clothing, blankets, bedding, sheets, towels, shoes, anything you can think of, grab it. If what Doc says is true, kids are gonna bury us if we don't get stuff to take care of them."

He continued, "Are we all agreed that we are gonna take in any kid that needs a place to bed down and have a good meal in his or her belly?" There were no dissents and everyone agreed that they would take in anybody, any time for however long they needed to stay with them. It would be unlikely, but they would even find a place for adults if they happened by.

So it was that Buddy took a work crew into Greer, and Gus took the wagon and team, with six carpenters and their tools, along with axes if they had to break in. They figured Buddy and his crew would be back each night but Gus and his bunch might be gone several days, maybe even a week.

The first night, one of the things Buddy brought back was the church bell. They mounted it on the roof and ran the rope down an old, unused plumbing vent.

They began to stack up old windows and their frames, doors and door frames, beds, tables, a chamber pot, shower heads and plumbing, several propane and wood stoves, a wood-fired room heater and its sheet iron chimney, mattresses, furniture and bedroom chests of drawers, filled with clothing. They made one day of nothing but pots and pans, dishes, silverware, cooking utensils and even a huge laminated butcher's block. Buddy figured they were going to have to slaughter some beeves, and they would have to be cut up!

They weren't ready when the first bunch of child refugees arrived at their door. Jessie opened the door and saw what was standing there. She rushed to the rope pull and started clanging that old church bell for all she was worth. She then brought the four children standing there, into the house. Fortunately, they didn't appear to be hurt, just dirty and starving.

She fixed sandwiches for them of their homemade bread and slabs of beef roast they had for supper the night before. Two cows were fresh, so there was plenty of milk, and she refilled their glasses several times before the children slowed down.

Robby and Buddy were up at the high pasture, helping the cowboys bring the herd down for the winter. Rog and George were there and all the farm hands and kids living there showed up when Jessie started ringing the bell. They could hear the bell up at High Meadow, and Buddy and Robby debated running home, but the bell didn't continue to ring, so they HOPED everything was being taken care of.
 
Rog and George took charge, they fired up the hot water boiler and ran the boys through the shower, giving them all clean clothes and shoes, if they needed them. They did.

They got the first bunch bedded down for a nap, praying that would be all there were for this first day.

I have the feeling it is going to get worse before it gets better!