Boone's Lick

She offered me her hand and I took it--I didn't know if I was supposed to bow, or what.

"Pleased to meet you--I guess I'm your nephew, besides," I said--it startled Uncle Seth so badly he nearly fell off the steps.

If Rosie was surprised by my remark she didn't show it.

"Why, so you are," she said. "You're my nephew, but how did you know?"

"Ma told me," I informed her. "She said you were her half sister, so that makes me a half nephew, I guess."

"No halves about it, Sherman," Rosie said immediately. "You're my nephew and I'm your aunt. This is better than beating Bill Hickok at cards. Or any of these bumblers around here."

She smiled at me--such a big, open smile--and I felt something lift inside me. Up to then, there had been no one for me but Ma--everything that came from women came from her; but that had just changed. I didn't know how much I'd get to see of my aunt Rosie, but I hoped it would be a lot. Right off I started liking her so much that I began to wish we 43

weren't going on our trip. Of course, I wanted to see Pa, and the wonderful country up-river, but I was hoping we wouldn't have to start too soon, just when I had my new aunt to visit. At least, I hoped I would get to visit her--and I had hardly made the wish before it came true.

" Seth, you run along now--I see you've got whiskey and dominoes on your mind," Aunt Rosie said. "I'm going to take my new nephew Sherman home with me--we've got a lot of lost time to make up."

For some reason Uncle Seth looked discombobu-lated. The vein popped out on top of his nose and his whole face turned red. The news about Aunt Rosie and I being related seemed to have upset him in some way. Of course, it was no trick for Ma to upset him. She was always doing it.

Evidently Aunt Rosie had the same power.

"This boy's been sent on an errand--he'd best not be neglecting his errands," Uncle Seth said.

"Oh, what errand?" Rosie asked.

"Just buying a thimble--Ma lost hers," I said.

"Shucks, I've got twenty thimbles right upstairs here," Aunt Rosie said.

"I'll just give your ma one and save her three cents."

"Okay," I said.

"Now, this is a mighty hasty arrangement," Uncle Seth began.

"So what?" Rosie said, cutting him short. "I finally met my nephew and I want to visit with him. What's wrong with that?"

Uncle Seth didn't answer. It was plain that he didn't approve of my going off with Rosie, but he couldn't think of a quick reason why I shouldn't.

"Just remember you've got that harness to polish--now don't neglect it!"

he said, before stomping off to the saloon.

I didn't know what to make of Uncle Seth's be havior.

"We never polish the harness," I told Rosie. "'. don't even know what I'm supposed to polish r with."

Aunt Rosie just laughed. "Seth's so mad h< could spit," she said, and then she hooked her arn in mine and led me down the street and up th< steps to her room over the saloon. We were only •<. few yards behind Uncle Seth, but he never lookec back.

"Mad--he's blazing!" Aunt Rosie said, anc laughed a deep hearty laugh, like Ma's. If I hac nothing else to go on I would have picked them as sisters just from the sound of their laughter.

Aunt Rosie led me upstairs to her room, whicl was nicer than any other room I had ever been in There was a settee and a chair, and a little table with a mirror on it, and a fine bed with a prettj coverlet--the coverlet might have been satin, Fir not sure. The windows had curtains--

if you looked out one you could see the Missouri River meandering away to the west.

44

"My, my, you're certainly a handsome youth," Aunt Rosie said, letting me look around to m> heart's content. She went to the table, opened up a little sewing box, and handed me two thimbles tc take to Ma.

"One to fulfill your commission, and one tc spare," she said.

I took the thimbles and put them in my pocket. I was thrilled to be talking to Aunt Rosie but I couldn't quite get Uncle Seth out of my mind.

"I don't know what I done to make Uncle Seth get so upset," I said.

"Oh, he's just jealous," Rosie said. "He wanted me to entertain him and here I am entertaining you. So he's having a little fit, as gentlemen will."

That puzzled me--I didn't know what to say.

"Seth Cecil will sulk and pout, if he isn't made over constantly," Aunt Rosie said. "Your pa's even worse in that regard. Do folks tell you you look like your pa?"

"I don't know many people who even know Pa," I admitted. "He's gone so much I can't remember what he looks like myself."

"Yes, Dick's a rover--I told your ma that, before she married him," Aunt Rosie said. "You look just like him, only not so devilish--do you like whiskey?"

"I don't know--I've not been allowed any," I said. "Once Uncle Seth brought home some Rebel beer, but it didn't have much taste."

"I'll pass on Rebel beer," Aunt Rosie said. "My weakness is whiskey."

There was a bottle and a few glasses on the little table by the mirror.

Aunt Rosie poured a glass about half full, for me, and one a little bit fuller for herself.

"I try to limit myself to a glass a day, but sometimes I slip a little,"

she said, handing me a glass. "Don't gulp it down now--just take a sip."

But I was nervous--despite Aunt Rosie's warning I took a full gulp of the whiskey. It felt like scalding lye had just gone down my throat. The heat of it brought tears to my eyes--Aunt Rosie had to pound me on the back so I wouldn't choke.

"That wasn't exactly a sip," she said. "But it was a start."

A little later I felt a heat in my stomach, as if someone had shoveled a few coals inside me. I sipped a little more whiskey, and a little more still, and soon ceased to feel my legs. It was as if my body ended at my belly. Aunt Rosie sat on one end of the settee, and I sat on the other.

She drank and I drank but our glasses never seemed to quite get empty.

Somehow Aunt Rosie managed to refill them without my noticing. At one point I noticed that the bottle was empty, but when I looked again it was full.

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"It ain't often I get this full of family feeling," Aunt Rosie said. "I want you to throw a bottle for me. Seth don't like to admit it but I can shoot as well as he can. Come on--I'll show you."

By then it was nearly sundown. Aunt Rosie took a rifle out of the closet behind her bed. She gave me an empty whiskey bottle and we went out on the little landing behind her room. I threw the bottle as high as I could. Aunt Rosie shot, there was a crack, and little pieces of glass rained into a kind of weedy lot behind the saloon. I looked down and saw Wild Bill Hickok standing below, watching us.

"How's that, Mr. Sureshot?" Aunt Rosie cried out. Mr. Hickok made no comment, or none that I can remember.

Aunt Rosie helped me down the stairs, giggling at how clumsy I had become. On the way home my feet kept wanting to get tangled up with one another. I tried to walk normally but my left foot kept trying to cross over to where my right foot ought to be. My left foot was the bad foot--I got so a

When I finally got to our cabin I tried to walk through the door but missed and bumped my head on the doorsill. Ma and Neva were at the kitchen table, peeling spuds. I had to make three runs at it before I finally got through the door. Ma and Neva just sat there looking at me, as if I were someone they didn't know.