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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2823611" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Twenty-nine, “Kate’s Conversations”, Saturday May 27th, 1882, 1030 A.M.Kate replies, "Thank you, Dorita. I hope it's nothing serious. Your grandfather certainly doesn't like to stay still, does he?"   She replies "He was very determined. He left right after he saw yesterday's newspaper."   Kate says, "I'll have to take a look at yesterday's paper. I've been so busy I haven't had a chance." Kate's parents return to the El Parador while Kate is talking to Dorita. Her mother exclaims, "This is a very interesting town, not at all how I pictured it." Frederick says, "I, on the other hand, thought it would be just like this. I ran into an old friend while we were out, a General from Germany named Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who had I met in the war. He was an observer with the Union army. He says that he's planning to soon build a manufacturing facility on the outskirts of this town.Kate says, "Really? I had no idea. It seems a bit of an odd place to be doing manufacturing but then I'm no expert on business. I'm curious, both of you," Kate said, sitting down with her parents, "What did you expect?"Kate's mother says, "I expected to see grasslands and green fields but it is mostly desert and rocks. I am told that the land south and west of here has green fertile lands, fed by the runoff of the mountains, but you wouldn't know if from around here."  Frederick says, "I pictured a wild west town, this place lives up to that. Phillip must be beside himself with happiness, that's just what he wanted to see too.""Phil is beside himself," Kate laughed. "And apparently Mr. Booth and I both already warned him that he'd better still go to college and not think moving here would be more fun. Which he assured me he is not going to do.  It is very dry here, Maman, which is why the doctor thought it would be better for Tom. But after a rainstorm it comes alive with colors. I do miss the sound of rain though, and feeling of grass and hearing branches slap against my windows in the wind.  Where did the two of you go this morning?"She says, "We went shopping. Lacey's Store, Wainwright's Store, Cook's General Store, Hammer's Jewelry and Watch-making, lunch at the Silver Dollar Restaurant, and then your father bought some of those awful cigars at Boyd's Cigar Store." "Which I will enjoy tonight," Frederick replies "I will be joining Mr. Lacey, Count von Zeppelin, and Michael Seawell to exchange old war stories."Kate replies, "You have been busy. And here I was worried about leaving you to your own devices. You'll know the town better than I do by the time you leave. Mrs. Wainwright is a friend of mine, Maman. I'm glad you stopped by their store." Ginnie stumbles in from the kitchen with a huge basket in her arms.  "Dorita you should see all the stuff I was able to gather up! Are there any cookies? I got you some really early clover blossoms and some really nice cactus that had broken off that makes a great spiced jelly. And I even found some mint too. Hi Ma'am Kate!Kate got up and divested Ginnie of her basket by taking it and setting it on the table. Then she hugged the girl and kissed her forehead. "Good morning sweetheart. I haven't seen you yet today. Did you eat?"  Ginnie replies, “Ma'am I'm a better cook than you are and I don't leave a mess in the kitchen yes I ate but I still would like a cookie if I can hunt one up or maybe one of the sugar donuts that were frying up?”Kate says, "Go ahead you hungry thing, but then come back here please. Something happened this morning I need to tell you about."  Ginnie heads into the kitchen fills a plate full of leftovers and hot sugar donuts grabs a pitcher of milk and a glass and plunks herself down at a table near Kate. As she begins to eat she looks at Kate expectantlyKate stole a donut from Ginnie's plate at nibbled at it. "I took Mr. Pickering to see the schoolroom this morning; he wants to use it to give his students a lecture this afternoon. Which we are invited to, by the way," she said address her parents as well. Kate's face darkened as she went on. "When we got there a sign had been nailed to the door saying 'Condemned! Condemnations to those who would use this building to corrupt the minds of innocent youth with falsehoods!' or some such nonsense. We should both keep our eyes open and be careful. I doubt anyone means us any physical harm, but better safe than sorry."Ginnie nodded a far away look on her face between bites. "We'll need to make sure that there is some security for the lecture a problem during it could make for a messy scene. where's the sign? any misspelled words or hairs from the brush that was used to make it in the paint? We might be able to have the priest "find" the rest of the brush and there by it's owner with it and although I'm betting on the Vigilance Committee I'd like to know who in this town is gunning for us. I'll check with my sources and see what I can find out."I have a good idea who it was. Last night Ashley King warned me that his mother, Doctor Eaton, and that tutor Ichabod Shackelton had been scheming. He hadn't heard their plans, but he thought our school might be one of their targets. I'm not sure accusing them is the way to go. It will only bring attention to them. The sign is in our kitchen at the moment so you can get a look at it if you like. I would like to know how far they're willing to go. My real fear is they will get someone worked up whose prejudice would lead them to violence."Frederick gets noticeably angry at hearing of the sign. Kate's mother says, "That's dreadful. Whoever put it there obviously knows nothing about you and what you believe."   Ginnie looks directly into Fredrick's eyes and says quietly "Angry people make mistakes, you enemies mistake is your advantage. The goal of the sign is to make people angry enought to talk about it and make the well maybe their right thought happen, and it's working.”  "You're right Ginnie, that anger must be well-managed. Our enemies did make a mistake today, we will not."Kate says, "Actually Maman, they do. They know I believe that children of all races deserve an education. They don't agree. There was an outbreak of measles last week, and the Doctor would not treat any non-human children. And while I have no proof, I understand one of the reasons the town has been slow about starting a public school is that Mrs. King is upset that her grandson lives too far out of town to attend, thereby robbing her of influence in it. Papa, I knew something like this would happen. Frankly I'm surprised it took this long."Frederick says, "I will discuss this with the men I spending tonight with. I believe that a quartet of war veterans can help put our minds to see what ideas we can come up with to help turn the tide of this situation. In the meanwhile let's round up your brothers and Mr. Booth to attend this lecture of Pickerings."  "Thank you, Papa. This is all new to me and I don't want to make any mistakes. Dorita interrupts Kate, saying "I found newspaper". She hands Kate the sixteen page Promise City Mirror. The main stories are a short piece about the Tombstone fire and a much longer piece about the death and funeral of Warren Earp. She points to a related story on Page three with the headline "Wyatt Earp Alive" which tells of his rescue of Henry Seagram from the burning Brown's Hotel. Dorita says, "That the story that got him all worked up. He went upstairs, packed a travel bag, he came down stairs and left saying he be back today or Sunday."Kate's brow furrowed as she looked over the story. "Obviously there are a lot of things going on I don't know about. None of us has much reason to like the Earps but I don't know why this would send him running off. I'll have to have a talk with him when he gets back. Perhaps it has to do with this message."Kate asks her parents, “Any idea where Henry is? I haven't seen him yet this morning, nor Mr. Booth."  Dorita interjects that Booth and Phillip shared a quick bite a short while ago and then headed back to Conrad's house. She thinks that Henry is upstairs in his room, having gone back there after breakfast.  Kate said, "Papa, Mr. Booth lives right next door. Why don't you go fetch he and Phil, and I'll go get Henry." Kate went quickly up the stairs on knocked on the door to the room her brothers were sharing. "Henry? It's Jacqueline."  "Come in," Henry states. She finds him seated on the bed writing a letter on the desk beside it. He appears to now be on the third page, but from the pile of crumpled up papers stacked on the other end of the bed he has been through multiple drafts before getting this far.She sat down on the bed next to him, careful not to read what he was writing. "Want to talk about it? I doubt you're having that much trouble writing a letter to Elaine."  Henry says with anguish in his voice, "How do I tell her and the girls that I almost died? And that my life was saved by one of Tom's killers?"  Kate put her arms around her brother and drew his head down to her shoulder, waiting several long moments to speak. "You tell them that you were trying to save a pregnant woman's life. That the building was coming down around your ears and you were struck, and that a man got you out. It won't be easy for them to hear, but they know you are alive and well and will come home to them." She leaned back so she could look him in the eyes. "Wyatt Earp did not kill Tom. Morgan Earp did. Wyatt helped to hide it, but he was nowhere near the alley where Tom died," she said, her voice breaking a bit. "So you tell them that the man who wronged your sister remembered a bit of his humanity. That through his action in saving you he admitted he had wronged her. That he took the responsibility for his family that has been your sister's only desire since she learned the truth. Henry, we owe Wyatt Earp nothing. He owed us. Saving you was only a start at paying back that debt."He nods and says, "Thank you." He gestures to the letter and says, "Maybe I should just set this aside and try again later. Perhaps tomorrow after the worship service."  She replies, "That might be better. I know that... uh, services help you to feel more certain.  Mr. Pickering has invited us to sit in on a lecture to his students this afternoon. It's why I came looking for you. Would you like to come?""Absolutely" he replies. The two of them head over to the school building. It is not yet 2:00 P.M. but the students have already gathered there. The three Seagrams along with Conrad Booth soon arrive.  Also present is the newspaper reporter Angela Young, who was selling newspapers when she heard of the lecture and decided to attend. She walks up to both Conrad and Henry, kisses them each on the cheek and says, "Thank you both for saving my life.""Most of those thanks belong to Mr. Booth here," Henry said. "My good intentions notwithstanding. But far be it from me to refuse a kiss from a pretty girl."   Kate approached them after a moment. "I'm so glad you're alright, Mrs. Young," Kate said. "Seems bring a reporter is a dangerous business. Exciting though. Shall we all have a seat?"   She led them over to the benches at the back of the room, taking a seat next to Conrad. "So what were you and Phil up to?"  "Just showing him what I do for a living," Conrad replies. He then says in a much lower voice, "What is this I hear about you sharing drinks and chatting with Ashley King?""He was there with Mr. Shaw and Mr. Oldfield. They are starting a Cattleman's Association and wanted to speak to me about it. Mr. King took the opportunity to warn me that his mother, Doctor Eaton, and Ichabod Shackelton have been conspiring and he suspects the school is one of their targets." Kate said in an equally low voice. She then explained about the sign on the schoolhouse door earlier. "So apparently he wasn't wrong.  And where did you hear I was speaking with him?"Conrad says, "Word gets around. Heard that you and he were acting mighty friendly with each other. Be careful around him, he may act charming but he's a very dangerous man."   "Conrad Booth are you jealous?" she whispered. "I assure you, nothing more happened than about five minutes of conversation sitting at a table, and I don't expect or desire the experience to be repeated.  Why do you think he's dangerous? I know very little of him."Conrad lowers his voice and says, "He murdered his wife. She had given him an ultimatum, either her or his mother. That was his answer. He got away with it too, paid off Marshall Hollister who then declared it a suicide."   The color drained from Kate's face. "That's horrible. Conrad, you're certain? How do you know? You think his warning was purposeful, meant to draw me into conflict with his mother?"Conrad replies, "No, he was probably sincere. Rumor is that he and his mother are having differences of opinion on a few things, the main one being who he should remarry to give his little Troy a new mother.  And how do I know....by keeping my eyes and ears open and my mouth shut. Do you really think things happen out at that ranch without at least some of the ranch hands knowing?"  She says, "I suppose not, I just.... I know things like that happen but it makes me sick to think of it. And you seem angry with me. I'm just... I'm a little thrown."Conrad replies, "Oh, I'm angry, but not at you. At myself for not giving you more advanced warning about Ashley, and at his mother and her freinds. Helen told me about that sign on your door."   Kate lightly brushed her fingers across his hand. "There's no harm done. Why would you imagine he'd speak to me at all? I've been working all morning at not being angry. I'm not going to rise to their bait. I just hope... is it foolish to be concerned about real violence? Maybe I've just been shot at too many times."   Conrad replies, "On that point I totally agree."  "And yet you keep coming around," Kate teased. On that subject Ginnie is outside talking to two of the neighborhood children. She comes inside and tells Kate and Conrad "Manny Tolucca saw the sign being nailed up. He says it was Kirby Watkins who did it."  Kate says, "Related to Peg and Bill Watkins, I take it. Our list of enemies grows longer.”   Conrad says, "He's their son. He's had some trouble with the law before, which meant he would be the fall guy if caught. Either that or he did it on his own to get back into his father's good graces.""That would imply he was out of it," Kate said as Ginnie wiggled onto the bench next to her. "He must have done something truly awful, like say something nice about a non-human," she said without humor.   He says, "What he did was give Great Western keys to the Cowboy Gang, and they set the Earp's possessions on fire and shot at the Marshall's Office. That was on that back in March that day when Nanuet was shot and almost killed."Any number of very ugly things to say came to mind, but Kate pushed those away. Instead she spent a moment being grateful that Nanuet had not died that day. "Well, we know one thing that Watkins considers going too far, at least. Too bad I could never get him to believe I had anything to do with the Cowboy Gang's poor fortune not long after that. So it's possible Rebecca King and her cohorts haven't really made their first move yet. You know, starting a school should not be this complicated."Kate turns to her ward and asks, “Did you find out anything else, Ginnie? And are the kids excited for school to start? I certainly don't want them involved in any of this, but their excitement can go a long way toward keeping their parents well disposed to the school. And the sad faces of disappointed children can melt a lot of hard hearts." Silence fell on the bench as they waited for Mr. Pickering to begin his lecture. It was a bit uncomfortable with the unusual, dark feeling coming from Conrad on one side and the nervous energy from Ginnie on the other. The room was busy with pleasant conversations and the familiar voices of her family talking comforted her and soothed her mind a bit. "Oh!" She said suddenly. "I was supposed to meet the Caudells at noon to see a house. All this business this morning completely threw it out of my mind. And it's too late to even send a note." Her shoulders slumped. "I think maybe I should have just stayed in bed this morning."</blockquote>

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