I awoke in the morning in warm sunshine. Audrey was in my arms. I kissed her before slipping away and thought I’d made a clean get away when Audrey said, “Don’t go.”
“I have to,” I said. I really did. I had to pee so badly. She got up and took my hand and led me to a door and inside was a urinal and a toilet. I didn’t even wait for her to close the door before I started to drain the dragon. She hadn’t left but was peering over my shoulder. I reached for her hand and let her guide the stream. She laughed but I finished up and she pushed me out of the way and squatted slightly over the urinal.
Her hands were on her knees and her breasts swung attractively in the dim light I stooped over and cupped one and kissed her while she pee’d. She squirted a few times then stood up into my arms and we kissed for a long time. She finally pulled back and said, “Oh Josh, you have duty and I have to castrate more goats today.”
“I don’t really want to go.” I said.
Audrey kissed me and said, “Nevertheless we have duty and I am Bahia now and duty comes first.” She backed up over the urinal and began to pour water on her bush, using her other hand to rinse herself. She smiled at me reached down and I saw her wince and I asked, “What’s wrong,”
She smiled and said. “I’m just a little sore.”
“Here I’ll check,” She let me fondle her pussy and only winced again as my fingers examined her opening. She was just a little chafed but nothing major. I patted it and kissed her, “You’ll be all right with a few days rest.” I said.
She put her hand on mine and pressed it to her. She was giggling and said, “What if I don’t want a few days rest?”
I kept my hand on her rubbing her lightly, “I’ll have to rest, I have duty at the bath house tomorrow or the next day and I have to save up a load for then.” I kissed her, “Besides,” I said, “You need to convales and wait your turn.”
We made our way out and found our clothes. Audrey asked my help with her dress so I helped her and she buttoned my shirt for me after taking liberties with my chest.
Finally dressed, she took up her shawl and we left. Only one woman was at the desk and she just smiled and waved as Audrey and I walked past her. Audrey stopped at the front door and ran her hands through my hair and straightened up my shirt and fixed my collar. Then she reached up and kissed me, “You go on and get to breakfast,” she said with her arms around my neck. “I’m going out the back door and change out of this dress. “I’ll see you later.” I kissed her again and turned to walk out the door.
I found that I was lost and asked two girls about 9 or 10 where the mess hall was. They both looked at me and each other and shook their heads. “The Dinning hall?” I asked.
They both smiled and pointed down the hill. “We are going to eat, could we walk with you?” one of them said.
“Sure, I’m Josh Perkins. What are your names?”
“I’m Emily and this is Margret.” We shook hands and the two girls each took one of my hands and led me down to the dining hall. Emily kept up a skipping constant chatter while Margret practiced her proto-go-fer girl marching.
The girls didn’t let go of my fingers until we were in the Dinning hall. They made sure that everyone saw them with me and then said good-bye and ran into the rapidly thinning crowd.
I Saw Able and Steve setting with a few women and went over and sat down across from them. “Josh, Sarge is looking for you.” Able said as he finished up his eggs and sopped the yoke off his plate with a tortilla.
“Did he say why?” I asked suspiciously.
“Didn’t say but he looked like he was just making a headcount.” Able said.
About this time a motherly type came up to me and said, “Oh Josh, and giggled a little before she continued, “We can only make you some eggs, the corn mush is all gone. You‘ll have to get here earlier next time.”
I looked at her, she was smiling and waiting, “Some eggs would be fine, ma’am.”
“My name is Winifred Desoto, call me Wini,” she said putting out her hand.
“Pleased to meet you.” I said shaking it, “Are you kin to Astral then?”
“Josh everybody is kin in Barney, except you all,” she waved off-handedly at Steve and Able but I knew she meant the whole team. “I’ll see if I can find some ham to go with those eggs.”
A woman came over and herded the girls that hovered around Steve and Able away saying, “Girls go get to work. These men need their strength and you are just getting in the way.”
Able watched the last of them who had kissed him good bye leave and turned back to me and smiled. “Maidens, don’t you just love ‘em.”
I said, “I’m surprised at the reception we gotten. I expected everyone to be, well I don’t know not as friendly. But everyone has been mostly smiling.”
“I’m not surprised,” Able said. “It seems that there has been a feud going on for the last hundred years between the men and the women here. When we showed up, we broke the log jam and it seems everybody is happy. How long that will last I don’t know.”
Steve spoke up, “You can keep everybody happy some of the time and some of them happy all the time but you can’t keep everybody happy all the time.” He grinned as if he had just thought that up.
Wini came out and brought my eggs and a small piece of meat. “We only had venison, Josh is that all right?” She said putting the plate in front of me along with a plate of warm tortillas.
I looked up at her and said, “Fine Wini I like venison. Thank you.”
Able and Steve kept me company telling me about their exploits last night at the bath house.
“We got to the Kiva after dinner last night and started to sort out our gear when about an hour later Sarge told us to go down and take a bath. I thought he was commenting on Steve’s hygiene but he said to give out a couple of freebee’s and generally recon the area.” Able began.
“You‘d a thought that we had thrown a wild cat into the dressing area when we came in. Women were runnin’ and throwing on their clothes, taken off their clothes and generally screamin’, laughing or squawking like geese.
Steve and I got the hell out of the way and waited for it to settle down and let me tell you, it became calm and peaceful, a mandolin started to play and our clothes were off in no time, they plucked us clean and didn’t hardly fondle our privates. Civilized people here.”
“The women undressed you?” I asked looking up from my plate.
“Oh yeah, they were all so polite and helpful, weren’t they Steve?”
“Oh very, very polite people,” Steve said smiling and nodding.
“When we came in there were a lot of women and kids and a couple of teenies that strutted around later, but by the time we got into our robes and went into the baths proper, there were ten or so. Well Steve and I didn’t want to start a scene so I sat down on the pedestal and a woman offered me a pipe and another a beer and things settled down.
There were a couple of women washing kids in the back and we weren’t there long when a couple of Bahia came in those fancy robes of their’s and everybody got up and welcomed them. They both bowed and opened their robes to expose their breasts. Then everyone, Steve and I included, caressed their breasts gently touched their face and blessed them for their service. Now I understand some more about the Bahia.” Able said.
Steve piped up, “yeah we learned that they’re Bahia for a year then they put on the uniform and focus on their jobs. They can have children, it seems, but they leave them in the nursery at six months, and then only see them once in a while after that.”
“So it is kind of like joinein’ the Corps?” I said pulling a tortilla over.
“Yeah,” he said slowly, “but there’s somethin’ else,” I just can’t see it yet. But anyway, we sat down on the pedestal and the Bahia sat with their breasts exposed, almost posing for the audience, wouldn’t you’d say that Steve?”
“Well we passed the pipe again and drank a beer with the women when I stood up and walked into the bath area and took a leak, you know in that urinal thing.”
“Well when I got back I noticed that everyone was laughing at me. Not real loud. Well I tried to ignore it and asked a woman what I had done wrong she smiled and said, 'Your Robe.”
"I looked down and my dick was sticking out. I tucked it back in and helped her take back the empties and hand out the fresh beers around. When I noticed a little dark woman drying off a girl about 3-4 years old. She was really built. Strong woman about 30 and she had her robe off as she dried her girl. I watched her a second and turned back to watch as Steve discussed the Adoration of the Goddess with some of the women."
“Well the Bahia asked me to explain it and everyone was so interested.” Steve said as I smiled at him.
“Well I turned around and saw the little girl coming at me. She was dressed in her robe and her mother was just putting her own robe on so I snuck a look at her. When she saw me looking she gave me a wave and closed her robe when I feel the little girls hand reach in and pull out my dick. She gave it a couple of squeezes and turned back to her mother pointed to it and said “See!”
Able and Steve both broke up laughing and I was choking on my tortilla. When we stopped laughing Steve said, “Tell him about the Bahia and the girl.
Able nodded. “ Anyway, The Mother came over all embarrassed and I told her no problem and I got down and asked the little girl her name, Gloria it was, so I got down on one knee and told her. ‘Gloria it’s not nice to touch someone without asking first.’ She hid in her mothers robe and her mother made her apologize and I patted her on the head. Then her mother told her to go and welcome the Bahia. Gloria got all excited and was looking around for them. I lifted her upon the pedestal and when she saw them she ran over and kissed one of ‘em. And then all serious like touched her breasts and had a little conversation with her. Then she went to the second Bahia,” Able looked at Steve, What was her name?”
“Joyce or maybe Joslin,” Steve replied.
“So Gloria comes up to Joyce and says something to her and Joyce nodded and little Gloria kissed her tit and then sucked her nipple really hard. It made Joyce wince but Gloria looked over at her mother and clamped her hand on Joyce’s tit and said “Pretty” and then she sat in Joyce’s lap and was rubbing Joyce’s titties all over her face and sucking the nipples. Well Amelia, got up and brought Gloria back and sat Gloria in her lap.
“Amelia?” I asked
“Yeah she told me her name was Amelia. Gloria, it turns out, is her ‘niece’ and Amelia was just watching her until her mother got off shift at the Dinning hall. Well about that time the Bahia had been adored enough and got up to bathe. All the women went to help and Steve followed and watched so Amelia and I kept Gloria busy and let them go do their thing.”
Able smiled, “She was a pretty little thing.”
“Gloria?” I asked
He looked at me and said,” No, Amelia, Oh Gloria is cute as bug’s ear but Amelia is just plain womanly attractive. She has real dark skin and almost no hair at all. Her skin is smooth and soft...” We lost him as he drifted off to a memory that was sure to be different from reality.
“Anyway Amelia is working for the Hydrology Administration so she is coming to pick me up and show me how they level and fill in new pasture areas.”
“They are riding out in the country, you see.” Steve said.
“Hey I’m a student of Hydrology! And she is doing some interesting work. They level the fields by moving rocks she said. Apparently they have been doing it since they set up here way back when. Anyway they have a lot of improved pasture and, Amelia said she thought that they might have a pasture or two that would be good for the oats.”
Wini came out and ask me if I’d had enough. I wiped my mouth and handed her the plate and utensils. “Thank You, it was delicious.” She wasn’t phased a bit but called a girl over to take them into the Kitchen.
She smiled at all of us and handed us each a package wrapped in a clean napkin. “I made some biscuits this morning and we had some left over. You boys need to put on some weight after that long ride out here. Oh and I stuffed some bacon in to them so they wouldn’t be too dry. So take them with you and enjoy.” She patted me on the arm and said, “Josh thank you for taking care of Astral the other night. She is so happy, thank you.” She started to bawl then turned and walked quickly back into the kitchen wiping her eyes on her apron.
“I better go see what Sarge wanted.” I said and Steve stood up with me but Able stayed in his seat. He waved good bye, waiting for Amelia of the dark smooth skin.
Steve was going back to the Kiva, he and Sarge were working the back room at the post today and he told me Bob and Raule were off today. He and Able would be off tomorrow he said.
When I got to the Kiva Steve pointed out my alcove, “I put your saddle bags and pack in there. It has a bed and a cupboard thing. I’m on the other side.” He indicated with his thumb.
We found Sarge in the back; He had taken the rear most Alcove for himself and designated the two alcoves next to his as stores, leaving only two for visiting elders or poker games.
“Perkins, glad to see you’re back. How did it go last night?” Sarge said in seeming sincerity.
“Real good Sarge,” I said. “Dinner was real good and the company was very interesting.”
“I understand you got to meet Irene Black?” He asked.
“I met the woman and she is very interesting, beautiful with the whitest skin I ever saw.”
Sarge nodded “Redheads are like that, Like Ginny all freckles in the sun but snow white where they’re covered.”
“If you say so Sarge I never even look at Ginny unless I have to.” Steve said.
“Anyway you boffed her?”
“No it was very nice and polite, she was Audrey’s escort and she had to stay with Audrey I guess, and Audrey talked her into letting her Inner Goddess out.”
“Is that when she took off her robe?” Sarge asked intently.
“Yeah that was when she said,’ Josh I hope you don’t mind me letting my Goddess out and ...” I stopped and looked at them. Both of them were leaning in to me as I sat in the chair.
Sarge stopped me, “She was your escort, or you were hers, I’m not sure how that worked out. Anyway Mercer told me to put you on the detail because Irene wanted to try out the goods.”
“You didn’t tell me.” I said
Sarge hit Steve on the arm, “See I was right.
“We watched with binoculars.” Steve said.
“With binoculars?” I was surprised. Binoculars were hard to find and impossible to reproduce yet. Sarge made do with a half a binocular and my dad had given his set to my older brother when he had joined the Corps. Jacob still had the Nikon 8x35’s and might pass them down to one of his sons if he ever stopped running around Socal.
Sarge reached into the cupboard and pulled out a worn leather pouch and extracted a pair of Schmitt and Bender 8x50’s I had heard of S&B’s but never thought I’d get a chance to see a pair.
“Wow!” I said, understatement being my long suite.
Sarge took them from my greedy hands and rewrapped them in a soft Angora wrap saying, “And the compass still works. I think we are on to something here men. Alice tells me that the Administration used to issue them to just about everybody in the Security Administration but there is still a warehouse full of these somewhere.”
“Who’s Alice? Anyway how did you guys see us?” I asked.
Sarge said,” Well I was talking to Alice about another glass of beer in the dinning hall and she wanted to trade so I talked turkey with her for a while and jollied her around after one of the go-fer girls just went and gave me a beer. Anyway she said that a scout might need a pair of binoculars, she figured and might I be interested in observing the merchandise. So I followed her up to her place with Steve.
Well we inspected a pair of Bushnell’s and they were pretty sad, then she brought out the Schmitt and Benders and I almost shit!” “I shouted ‘Holy Mother on a Shining Shingle,’ and she knew she had me.”
Sarge was even tempered when he was trading, nothing fazes him and he generally gets a good bargain when he is motivated to trade. For him to do that, and admit it, was only a measure of the respect he had for fine trade goods like the S&B’s. Besides they were doing more good in Sarge’s hands than if they were stored in Alice’s closet.
“So you saw us from Alice’s place what did you see?” I asked.
“Well everything until you lay the little one down and then I quit looking. I saw every hair on her through the lenses; they have never been touched with anything but a brush.” Sarge said.
“Anyway the deal I made was once a month for a year, or as long as I’m here and if I’m on the trail Steve has to stand in. She was trying for twice a month but I said the she deserved a chance to inspect the merchandise and we went up stairs. We were just getting started when Alice looked up and said “The Spider returns to her Web” or something like that and I stopped what I was doing because she was looking out the window.”
“Anyway we ended up watching you thru the window in her bedroom. When I started watching, Alice handed me the Schmitt and Benders and pulled out a set of Nikon 8x12 variables and a tripod.”
I was aghast, Nikons and Schmitt and Benders too, Wow!
“So we watched for a while and she was beautiful but Alice said Irene was only taking her ten percent off the top like the rest of the Bahia.”
“Really, she seemed like she just wanted to watch.” I said.
“I noticed you watched her really closely. I noticed you sucked the goddess plum out of her too. But that gave Alice an idea and we went back to negotiating the deal after you lay the little one, Audrey, down. So I was able to convince her to part with the Schmitt and Benders for once a month because she said she didn’t think she could take me twice a month and still walk.” Sarge laughed and of course Steve and I laughed along with him.
“But she wanted more; she said that she heard we had brought oat seed and wants us to deliver 200 kilos of the oats we grow for the mules to her in the mess hall. She said she wanted to try oat meal, all they get here is cornmeal mush.”
“200 kilos,” I said, “that is a lot of oats.”
Sarge reached into his cupboard and pulled out a small angora wrapped package. “I got her to sweeten the deal a little,” he said and handed me the package I unwrapped it a saw a set of small binoculars. The finish was hardly worn but was flaking off a little, they were very light but the engraving was still on them and I made out the script “Leica 7x42mm” on the shoulder boss. They still had their spring loaded lens covers on the objectives but the rubber eye cups were long lost and had been replaced with leather cups.
I looked up at Sarge and said, “For me?”
“He took them from my hands and said, “Only if you can get me 200 Kilos of Oats.”
“Next Spring?” I asked.
“Done” he said and handed me back the Leica’s.
“Now Able found a lady who is going to take him out to look at land for oat fields today. I want you to go with them and pick out your fields. We’ve got ten mule loads of seed and we only need 200 Kilos extra so we should be able to put in a couple of extra meters to do this, right Josh?”
I looked up at him and said, “Yes indeed, Can do, Sarge.”
“Well Able was going to bring the horses around as soon as his lady friend picked him up at the Mess hall. So go out and get started.”
I got up and went for my field coat and hat. I decided not to take my saddle bags along and put the Leica’s in the inside pocket of my field coat. They fit perfectly.
When I got outside Able was waiting with the horses. He was talking to a small dark woman and she was laughing. “You must be Amelia,” I said, “I’m Josh Perkins.”
She took off her glove and shook my hand saying “Amelia De Soto.” It was a firm handshake; I could tell she wasn’t squeezing as hard as she could. Then she stood on her toes and kissed my cheek, putting one hand around my back then hugging me and sniffed my chest as she patted my back.
“That was from Rachel, she said to give you a hug for her.” She said.
“Rachael?” I asked.
“Rachael De Soto, I haven’t talked to Astral but Rachael is sure that Astral is carrying twins. She is already stared weaving twin blankets for the Nursery. She thinks Astral will surely win the “Black prize.”
“Black Prize?” I said as Amelia turned to mount her horse.
She swung up on her horse and, Able mounted so I mounted up and rode beside Amelia, Able on her left side. She pointed out the high lights of Barney, which amounted to a paper mill, vegetable plots, the chicken coops and about a hundred goat pens. When we got to the edge of town, I finally was able to ask her, “What is the Black Prize?”
She looked at me quizzically for a second then shook her head and said, “Silly me, Of course you don’t know.” She smiled, “Well long ago a Black, I think it was Arnold Black, put up a prize for any woman that could bear twins or triplets. It has never been won and the $10,000 dollars has been in the bank compounding its interest. Last I heard they stopped counting when it got to three million and it has been waiting for twins to be born for, oh, a hundred years. If you did put twins into Astral she will win the prize.”
Three million sounded like a lot of money to me even though I didn’t know what a Barney dollar was worth. “How much would say that Abel’s gelding would be worth?” Trying to get a gauge I could really appreciate.
She looked at me and then at the flashy black gelding Able was riding.
Able led him out and spun him in a circle and got him prancing a little and Amelia laughed. “Oh I’d bet you could get a thousand or twelve hundred for him. He is too light for heavy work and seems a bit flighty for a saddle horse.”
Able now had his hands full, the black was eager to run having been cooped up in the corral. He pulled the gelding around beside Amelia and said, “How far are we going?”
“About 10 kilometers or so well passed the pasture where all those mules are.” Amelia said.
“Well let’s put on some speed then, blackie here is eager.” Able said.
Amelia kicked her mount up to an easy canter and Able waved me back and caught up to her. I was low man on the pole, so I rode in their dust, a little up wind and enjoyed the ride.
Able had given me the grey, because Able wanted to get Amelia alone the grey was a little too old and a lot too stupid to be a trail horse, the high mountain air was dry and smelled sweetly of spring. The road was very wide and we passed a couple of wagons drawn by two horse teams carrying poles cut for the new mule corrals. Everybody waved and some of the girls had enough energy, after cutting poles, to call out to Amelia.
Barney lies at the west end of a broad East-West valley. The sun was high off the horizon and had yet to meet the meridian when we pulled up at the pasture where they had my mules. We led our horses up to where the Sunshine Girls had a camp under the trees along side the pasture. They had a small fire and were heating lunch when we came in. There were three or four of them and when they saw Amelia they all started running around and one jumped on a horse bare backed and rode off shouting.
Gloria came up and welcomed Amelia; Able left me to tie the horses so I had to catch up to what Gloria and Amelia were talking about.
“…cause we are just about to change shifts and get cleaned up.”
Amelia pushed back Gloria’s disheveled hair over her ear and said, “You really need to get cleaned up, dear.” Then she stepped back and said, “Get the girls in here and in formation and we’ll call the roll.”
Gloria saluted ran off to the edge of the pasture where the Girls had already started to line up some.
Amelia explained as we waited for the girls to get all lined up according to some complex rules that amounted to Tallest first. Amelia said, “Ginny agreed to pay the Sunshine Corps a Dollar a day. All these girls had been goat herders and earned nothing before so it is a big deal to them. Excuse me I’ll be just a few minutes.”
I had sympathy for the last one in line; I had been there many times.
Amelia placed herself in the middle of the line about five paces from the line of girls and addressed the ten of them. “You members of the Sunshine Corps have done you duty and are entitled to not only your pay but the thanks of our whole community. You may, or may not choose, as I have, to become Bahia, but the understanding of duty and teamwork that you will gain in your service, as an upright and vigilant Sunshine girl will give you an understanding of what we stand for in Bahia.”
She looked at Gloria, “Gloria call the roll.”
Gloria called each girls name and Amelia wrote it down in a small notebook. And when the girl reached Amelia, Amelia handed her a chit upon which she had filled in an amount with a slim pen she also produced from her pocket. These were simple pink chits of the trading post. Ginny no doubt had provided them. We used them for small transactions and punched the ones redeemed at the Post or took them in as change.
Now a pen is a useful item if you have paper. I never carry the stuff except in the few notebooks I carry in my saddle bags. But a pen takes ink and the bottles are too big to carry and they spill, making a mess, so I only keep my pens in my bags. I was interested in the pen Amelia took out of her pocket.
Able and I stood at parade rest as the girls came up and Amelia took a look at each them, brushed some hair back to check their temperature and spoke to each of them briefly.
Amelia got to the last scrawny girl and put her notebook and pen away as the girl marched back and took her place in line.
Gloria called them to Attention and Amelia said, “Girls, Ginny has said that shirts have been tailored to your sizes and will be available to you after lunch. Those of you who have altered your uniform are advised to let out those seams as it is much more comfortable if it is a little loose. I will provide a chit to Gloria for new shirts to be issued to these four,” she said indicating the four smallest girls. You others are advised to see Ms. Trudy at the sewing center this afternoon and have your shirts fitted. Dismissed!”
The girls all turned about and ran to get their horses.
While the Sunshine Girls cut out ten of the mules and brought them up for my inspection Able and Amelia walked down to the river to water the horses. I checked out the mules as Gloria sat on her horse and watched me.
“These mules are different than horses aren’t they.” she said.
“Oh yes,’ I said as I waited for the mules to recognize me. “They have a whole different outlook on things. But most of them know me and they are all pretty gentle if you don’t confront them.” I was just checking them for general health and to make a head count so as they meandered around me I watched how they moved and saw that they all had filled their bellies with good grass and were a little sluggish. I waved to the girls and they moved in the next ten.
The girls had tried to get the mules to canter around in a circle so I could check for lameness, but the mules were not having any of it and merely singled footed away and came closer to me, who had fed them every day since they had joined the caravan in Bakersfield.
The mules watched me carefully and a few came up to see if I had oats or corn but most of them just allowed themselves to be moved around and appeared more interested in the grass.
We went through all eighty of the mules then the girls brought up our remaining horses. They all looked pretty scrawny but I didn’t see any problems. I moved among them slowly and they settled down and watched me.
Barb, my horse from Davis came over and nuzzled me. I gave her half of the biscuit Ms. Desoto had given me and she followed me around trying to mooch the rest of it. I ignored her and checked a few hooves and patted necks looking into their eyes. They were all pretty thin after the long weeks on the trail but were all alert and rested.
I waved away the rest of the horses holding Barb by the forelock and the girls just let them wander off.
Gloria called out to a couple of Yellow shirts, “Take Willy and Jane and you two run the mules off the beach. We’ll have mule shit all over if they get down to the beach again. Then you take a swim and come back and I’ll send the rest down.”
“Gloria Have you got a rope?” I asked.
She dismounted and walked slowly with her lariat in her hand and handed it to me. She moved smoothly so as not to spook Barb who was tugging at my hand and nickered.
“She is really pretty, I saw her this morning about dawn. I had ridden down to check the river side when I saw her laying down but her head was up and there was just enough light to see her face well. She watched me ride past She watched me so alert but relaxed. She’s Arab isn’t she?”
I put the rope around her neck and folded a loop over into a hackamore and said “Yes, My mom gave her to me when I graduated the Academy. She said I’d need a good horse. She wasn’t wrong. Barb is a little skinny now but she is tough as boot leather and can run with the wind, Can’t you girl?”
I swung up on her back, “I’ll go down and find Able and Amelia and let the grey I was riding rest down here ok? I’d rather ride my own horse.”
“I don’t blame you,” Gloria said. “I’m going to go check out the canyon before the shift change. It was good to see you again.”
I rode Barb slowly down to the river and found Amelia and Able seated on a log in the shade, the Yellow shirts were flying off as the girls shed their clothes for a cool dip in the shallows of the river.
Amelia saw me ride up and came to look at Barb. “Now there is a horse I might give you money for.”
I swung off her and came up and held her head for Amelia to admire.
I said, “I’m going to saddle Barb and let ol’Dobbin get some rest. He doesn’t have 20 clicks in him,” looking at Able.
“Don’t blame me he was the last horse left. Mercer and Ginny rode out just before us on the two best ones.” Able said.
“Well Barb is rested up and she won’t mind a good ride today.” I said and started to unsaddle Dobbin. Able and Amelia went back to the log and ignored me completely.
I got the saddle off him and pulled off the halter and waved him away, but he just stood there in the shade and put his head down and dozed off.
I shook my head at him and took the bridal over to Amelia. “Can you take this down and wash off the bit. Barb likes a clean bit. And I don’t want to spook your fillies while they’re naked.”
“Sure, Amelia said and walked down to the stream with the halter. Able slapped me and said, “Well what you think of her?”
I watched Amelia walk down to the river, thinking that Able was in love. “She is real nice. I like the way she handled the girls.”
Able looked over his shoulder at her and turned to me. “Josh let us have some room later, OK?”
I patted him on the shoulder and said. “I’ll keep out of your way after we see the pastures. I have to get the oats in the ground or we’ll have a lot of hungry mules.”
Able smiled and looked back at Amelia who was talking to one of the older girls who had come over to talk to her at the river. The girl was naked and I guess didn’t realize that she had gone out beyond where the bushes shielded her from our gaze. Amelia stood up shaking her head and the girl turned and looked at us and saw we were looking. The she turned smiling and gave us a look at her just budding breasts and hairless pussy, and then she waved at us, laughed and ran back behind the bushes.
Amelia came back up and handed me the bridle, “You fellows are a distraction even to our girls. They wanted me to talk you two into a swim with them but I said no. We need to get on the trail if we are going to see the farthest fields.”
I took the bridle and put it on Barb who perked up and so I swung up on her and waited until Amelia and Able mounted up. Amelia led the way and we followed her along the river until we got out of the trees and then we could ride side by side.
Barb had no trouble keeping up with them but I pulled her up some and rode drag to look at the country. We passed several smaller pastures where one or two shepardesses were watching flocks of goats. The Goats were in the brush and dogs came out barking as we rode past.
After a half hour or so Amelia led us up over a ridge and we saw the pasture she had been talking about. It was about 40-50 hectares and was watered by a small stream that ran down one side of the field where four or five women were working loading rocks onto stone boat pulled by two heavy horses. We rode down to them and they stopped work when we rode up.
Amelia got down and started introductions. Able and I dismounted and shook hands all around. These women were all mid twenties or so and wore straw hats with large brims, unlike Amelia’s cloth cap. They were all dressed in twill cargo pants and grey twill shirts. Some of the women had been working with their shirts unbuttoned and I noticed that they wore brassieres as they buttoned up their shirts and wiped the sweat off their faces with kerchiefs.
Amelia told us that they had started work on this pasture a couple of years ago but it was just now that they had decided to build a cabin for the Sunshine girls who would be stationed out here to keep the deer and elk out of the oats when they started to grow.
They were just going to load one more stone on the boat and have lunch so Able took off his field coat and shirt and helped them maneuver a large stone on to the boat and one of the women drove the team who were straining with the heavy load slowly down to the mouth of the stream and they dumped the stone at the mouth of the creek.
We saw how they had diverted the creek causing it to flood out into the field to deposit its silt in the field rather than dumping it in the river. The creek ran under the rocks now but Amelia assured me that when the rains came in winter and early spring the creek would flood the field and deposit its silt on the field.
We rode up to the head of the field and found three more women working on a sandstone cabin. They had gotten the walls up to about a meter and a half and were sliding stone up a wooden ramp to place on the wall as a woman mixed concrete for mortar in a shallow tub.
We got down and made our introductions. These women were older than the field crew but not much. They said that they would have the cabin ready for a roof in the next couple of days then they would bring in timber for the roof structure and it should be completed before the oats were coming up.
They invited us to lunch with them, “Doris knocked over three rabbits this morning and we made a stew, we’ve got enough for everyone.” The field crew came up and started dishing up the stew. But the cabin crew just kept working as we ate the stew and biscuits they had baked in a Dutch oven.
Amelia and Able took our bowls down to the stream to rinse them out so that the cabin builders could eat and I sat and talked to the women getting field measurements and making calculations in my head.
Able and Amelia came back and handed out the plates and I walked out and paced off the field. A woman, one of the field crew went with me and we talked about crops and grass, but she was eyeing me and smiling all the time. June was her name and she had been Bahia two years ago, she said. “I'm sorry I wasn't picked this year,” she said shaking her head.
“Well you are still Bahia aren’t you?” I asked.
“Yes, but it’s different now that you all are here.” She said. “I was inseminated, but it didn’t take, and I guess I’m still sorry.”
”Are you on Ginny schedule?” I asked.
“Oh yes everybody is, even some of the old grannies.” She said laughing.
“Well when your time is right come see me and I’ll try to put twins in you.” I said.
“Twins,” she asked.
“Yes, I’ve had three sets of twins, all girls.” I said and she brightened up quit a bit.
“Oh Josh do you think…” she trailed off looking at me.
“Well we can try but the odds are good. Or perhaps you’ll have a boy.”
That got her going and she was quiet as we made our way back to the campfire where Amelia and Able were just saying good bye. I said good bye to the women and joined Able and Amelia who were saddling up. I mounted Barb and waved at June, “Come see me when you’re ready.” June just smiled and waved.
Amelia took us down river a ways and pointed out another potential field then she said, “It’s hot maybe we should have a swim to cool down before we go back to town?”
Able looked at me and I said, “Why don’t you two take a dip, I want to look around some more.” Able smiled at me and said, “Ok but don’t get yourself lost.” I knew he really didn’t mean it.
I kicked Barb into a canter and rode down river a way. They rode to the river got lost in the trees along its banks.
I crossed the river letting the barb pick her way among the rocks. I saw a few areas where I thought we should plant some alfalfa to draw the deer away from the oats and circled back up river until I saw Amelia and Able. They were just getting undressed when I got in a position where Barb would be hidden from them and I dismounted and tied her to a bush and found a spot where I could watch in the shade of the bushes. Then I took out the Leica’s and found out how good they were.
I could see Amelia as she took off her shirt, she still had her hair up and she laughed at Able, or with him I couldn’t tell. Well Amelia left her Bra and panties on and waded out into the shallows while Able finished undressing. He kept on his shorts and went to the stream and joined her.
Now the glasses were a little dirty but I wasn’t going to wipe them, not even with the Angora wrapping they came in. No I needed a brush, or a feather.
Able tried to kiss Amelia but she ducked out from under his arms and ran through the shallows and turned laughing. He chased after her and Amelia dodged him every time he got close. Finally he grabbed her wrist and she just stopped and looked at him. He tried to pull her closer and she just flipped him over into the shallow water and ran laughing away. Able got up and shook himself off and said something and ran after her again and ended up sprawled on the sand bar again. He came up all covered in sand. He chased her again every time he had a hand on her she would flip him into the river. Finally he gave up and waded deeper in to the stream and took his shorts off to rinse out the sand and wash off his balls.
She watched and they talked a while as Able waded out of the river. He didn’t get too close to her but hung his wet shorts on a branch. Amelia looked all around very carefully and then reached up and opened her bra. She had a lovely rack. Able sat on a tree log and watched her as she hung the bra and then her panties on the bushes and joined Able on the log. She stroked his hair and kissed him sweetly then sat back and let the sun dry her.
I watched long enough to understand what Able meant about her being down right attractive. Her face was nice but not beautiful, but her body was beautiful. She was strong I could see the muscles working under her skin as she had run Able around but with her being naked now I was able to see what Able had said, she wasn’t too hairy, her legs had some hair on the lower part and her muff was sparse and trimmed.
Able leaned over and kissed her and she let him, but she only let him caress her breast for a little while before she reached down and took his penis in her hand.
I figured I’d let them have their privacy and rolled over on my back using the Leica’s to survey the country side. I figured that Able needed at least 30 minutes to worship and so I got back on the barb and rode slowly back crossing the river out of their sight.
I got to a point where I could see their horses and waited letting Barb graze as I watched an eagle drift high above the peaks with my Leica’s. After a few minutes the black raised his head as Able came into view and I got on Barb and rode down to meet them.
“Have a nice swim?” I asked them as they were mounting up.
“Water’s a little cold but most refreshing,” Able answered smiling.
“Did you see what you wanted to see?” Amelia asked as she adjusted her cap.
“Yeah,” I said looking at Able, “there are some places along the river where I thought we could plant alfalfa to lure the deer away from the oats and make the Sunshine Girls jobs a little easier. The field you are clearing should be big enough to take all the oats but I’d like to find another field so if something happens to the crop we wouldn’t loose all our seed.” I said.
Amelia said, “We’ve been working another field on the other side of town and it was too small for what Ginny was wanting. If we hurry we can get back with time enough I can show you the maps.”