Number Five

Chapter 5-XXXXX

         Nate walked into the kitchen and was greeted by the delicious aromas of a home cooked meal that reminded him of home.  Josephine was not there, just the old woman and the girl.  They looked like they had spent the afternoon bathing and arranging their hair.  They were wearing, what, he was sure, their Sunday best. He wondered how they had found time to finish cooking and clean up at the same time. Both women glanced up as he entered the room, their eyes shining, cheeks rosy (from the heat of the room, he thought).  The older Mrs. Young spoke first, “We’re eating in the dining room Brother Ephraim, Josephine insisted. It is on the opposite corner of the house from the front parlor.”  Nate nodded, “I ‘d be glad to help Sister.  Anything for me to do?”  She shook her head and turned back to her work, Nate turned and strolled up the hall.

         Nate was greeted by a polished dark wood table. It was dressed with a snowy white lace cloth, large plates, fragile glass goblets, and silver knives and forks. He stood and looked in wonder at the richness of the spread. Just how had a young woman like Josephine garnered such a collection of valuable furnishings. “My father was a lucky miner, he worked hard and saved his money.” Josephine answered his unspoken question. Nate turned to see her standing in the doorway leading from the hall.  His eyes widened at the vision standing there.  She had spent some time cleaning up. Nate had a hard time not ogling her from her pretty feet to the top of her glistening head. Her hair was brushed until it gleamed and fixed in a very fetching way with a Spanish comb sweeping it back from her ear. “I see that supper is ready, please wait while I get Mother and Carmen.” Josephine swept off to the kitchen the skirts of her sky blue gown swishing lightly across the waxed wooden floor.

         A trio of females came bearing the fruits of their afternoon labor, one behind the other.  In their hands were bowls of green beans and ‘taters and carrots in a creamy sauce, a plate of sizzling steaks, and hot bread rolls steaming from the oven. Nate jumped to seat them like a gentleman each in their turn.  Carmen started to back away when he went to her chair and slid it back, Josephine nodded at her and said, “It is alright, he don’t bite.” He smiled at Carmen and drew a shy smile in return.  When he made to help the older Mrs. Young, she curtsied and gave him a bold look as she sat in the offered chair.  That left the lady of the house to attend to.  He faced her and bowed as gallantly as he ever had in the ballrooms of the east, she blushed prettily again, but curtsied as properly as he and waited for him to draw the chair back.  She settled into the chair on the opposite side of the table and thanked him. And waved him to his seat at the head of the table. “Will you say grace, Ephraim?” Josephine asked. Nate agreed and proceeded, “Dear Lord, we thank you for the day, bless this house, bless this food that it may do us good, bless the hands that prepared it. This, we say in the name of the Lord, Amen. Please pass the ‘taters Miss Carmen, it has been a long day.”

         Josephine directed the platters of food like a general on the battlefields he had so recently left.  The dishes and platters kept passing to him and he labored to sample all of the savory food that came his way.  Once, twice, a third time, his plate was filled with ‘taters, and tender vegetables.  Tasty, hot beef, that he could actually chew unlike the tough, stringy, salted, barreled beef in the Army camps. And the bread rolls, warm enough to melt the sweet butter into golden streams that threatened to stain his clean shirt as it dripped onto his chin.  “Ma’am, do you do this every day?” he managed to say between bites.  Josephine just stared at the performance that he was giving them.  Old Mrs. Young and Carmen were mesmerized by the amount of food that he was consuming.  “Ma’am?” he waited for her reply.  She smiled broadly at him, “No, Ephraim, a little bird told us that you would be here today, so we made ready. Expecting that you would be hungry…You are, aren’t you?” she wondered, barely restraining a laugh at her own jest. That bit of information stunned him, freezing his jaws, in mid-chew. “Really? You knew that I would be here today?” he couldn’t believe it.  “I didn’t know it myself. There was a big chance that I wouldn’t even come here.”  Before she could respond, his eyes darted left and right at the other dinner guests, realizing that he should keep some things to himself until he could be sure of their allegiance.  Josephine caught the sudden reluctance that showed in his face, so she winked at her mother and asked her to take Carmen and prepare the sweet that had been made for dessert. “Mother, if the coffee is fresh enough, could you bring us some of that too?” The older Mrs. Young looked at Josephine with indignation and replied, “Oh course it is fresh I made it for us to have with the pie. Humphh, do you think I wouldn’t have decent coffee? Ephraim, do you like cream with your coffee?” she asked him.  “Yes Ma’am, I do, no sugar though” he answered.

         Josephine waited until the other women had left the room before she began to speak.  “You have been watched since you left Salt Lake City, news of you has been sent along ahead of you.  We knew that you would go to the Bucket of Blood, and after that, Wally was only going to recommend that you come here.  So there you are, we knew that you would be a guest for dinner.”  “Who is we?” Nate asked.  “Your friends… you have seen the symbols on the note, your selection of ‘Ephraim’ as your cover name was brilliant.  It diverted attention from your real name and challenged Brother Wally with a password.” She continued.  Nate was getting angry at the control that was being exerted on him.  He had made his own plans the instant that he read the note telling him that the Colonel was in the area. Now he found that his every move was being scripted from Salt Lake.  Even this woman, make that, these women knew what he was to do next.  “Why was there a mis-spelling on the note?” Nate asked.  Josephine smiled, “Another code word, ‘not our enemy’, n-o-e.”  Nate rolled his eyes. She went on, “Even though we had the on-going reports we couldn’t be sure that someone hadn’t replaced you along the way.  Until Wally recognized you from an image sent from the Prophet, we had to be ready for anything.”

         Carmen and the older Mrs. Young made a point to make a noisy entrance. They brought two trays one with an ornate coffee pot and delicate small cups and the other with a fresh apple pie.  Josephine ended the discussion about the mission, “We’ll talk about this some more later, tomorrow, before you go with young Wally to find a horse.  If you do find one, please feel free to bring it here.  You can use the neighbors’ stable, it has been arranged.”   Nate nodded in agreement, his eyes on the pie. It had been some time since he had been fed so well. The food at Brother Taylor’s farm where he had recuperated from the beating had been well prepared and tasty.  But it had been late winter when he was there and the food was from the last growing season and had come from the root cellars and the salted barrels of meat.  This dinner had been fresh and varied and he intended to enjoy every bit of it, even if he was miserable from overeating.  “Could I have a bigger piece of that pie, Mrs. Young?” Nate asked as she divided the sweet.  She grinned broadly, pleased that her work was being enjoyed. “Carmen could you go and find a bigger cup for Brother Ephraim, I think he’ll want more than a demi-tasse to wash this down.” Carmen hurried to do as she was asked.