Lorenzo defied Miller by covering his horses

 Page 9.

Lorenzo defied Miller by covering his horses with a length of canvas. The horses turned and looked toward Lorenzo who reached up and touched their foreheads and then gave each horse a sliver of dried apple he kept for such an occasion. This act of kindness infuriated Miller who raised his tomahawk at Lorenzo and cursed at him screaming, “ You’ll be my first Spanish Bullfighter”. Lorenzo replied with his own quick wit telling Miller where the group believed he was born and the name they used while answering the call of nature. A brown gooey slime started to run from Miller’s mouth and suddenly he began to choke. Miller coughed and gagged as his putrid breath turned to a yellow colored steam. The yellow steam made Miller’s face glow like a fresh meadow muffin or a just planted road apple. “ I hope your not dinning on outhouse leftovers tonight”, laughed Lorenzo as he watched Miller crawl back into his wagon like a spider and quickly disappear. A small smoky fire began to light up the approaching evening as the entire party with the exception of Miller gathered together.

While the children stood closes to the fire for warmth the group held hands and circled the fire with their heads bowed in prayer. As Lorenzo joined them they all recited out loud, “ In the name of Jesus, we believe in the goodness of God, the Lord will clear our way”. Sparks from the fire spit and crackled shooting high into the silent evening sky as silver slivers of thick grey smoke streamed skyward and spiraled into the darkness in all directions. Without warning a bolt of lighting exploded near a snow covered granite mountain top followed by a thunderous boom. The blast spooked Coffee who tried to bust through the newly constructed corral catching her leg between a wagon wheel. Lorenzo rushed toward the terrified cow as her big brown eyes bugged out like two small moons. Freeing her leg that appeared uninjured Lorenzo moved Coffee next to Doris and she seemed to settle down right away. Coffee belonged to the oldest member of the party and Coffee was no spring chicken.

Granny McBride owned Coffee and she was a slight of  body woman with a dark complexion and long silver hair. Granny’s eyes were as blue as the Kansas City sky in spring and she still had all her teeth. Granny told everyone she wanted to join her son in California who had left her money to do so when she was ready. She was a very agile woman for her age and smoked a pipe when she couldn’t get cigars that were her favorite. She would smoke cigars down to the nub then chew them up while still lit blowing the smoke out of her nose. Granny told everyone her mother was a Indian princess and her father was a grizzly bear. Her body was rock hard and she handled a team of horses like a muleskinner. Her small hands were elegant and youthful as well as her mind and soul but she was tough as buffalo leather wearing her hair fashioned in the style of Indian braids intertwined with turquoise beads. While on the trail Granny wore buckskin bridges and black pointy toed boots. She also wore a woolen vast made from a Indian blanket with a inside pocket where she kept a silver flask.