Young Indiana Jones: Adventures Out West
Chapter Two
by IndyAnna
By the next day Indy was finding it easier to sit in the uncomfortable
train seat. He shifted his butt forward and slouched down a bit,
extending his legs forward in front of him. In his lap rested a
book on Latin we was supposed to be studying. He kept his hand on the
page and his head lowered hoping his father, who was sitting next to
him, would still think he was reading as he closed his eye for a moment.
Geez, my butt is killing me he thought to himself, I don't know who
designed these seats, but they didn't do a very good job. His mind
focused on the bag of candy in his pocket and he really wanted some, but
so far he'd managed to hide it from his father's attention and didn't
want to remind him of his 'illegal' exit from the train the day before.
He sat up and stretched, maybe a bit too dramatically, and winced as his
weight shifted onto the lower, still sensitive area of his bottom. He
closed his book and put it back in his bag.
"Dad? Do you mind if I stretch my legs a bit?.......Dad?"
"What? Oh, no. Go ahead." His father answered in his
'I'm-deep-in-thought-so-I'm-not-paying-attention' voice.
Indy headed to the platform between the cars. The doors were closed, but
the air was fresher here. He stretched again, his hands coming to rest
on the seat of his pants, rubbing slightly. Geez, I can't believe I'm
still sore. Dad must have been really mad. He pulled the bag of candy
out of his pocket and inspected the contents. The licorice was gone,
darn so he opted for a lemon drop.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the door open and close behind him.
SMAACK!
"Yowch!" Indy spun around, his hand rubbing the sting out of his left
butt cheek. Right in front of him was the porter. He started to back
away 'till he came to a sudden stop as his back hit the wall of the
train car.
"So," the porter spoke as he moved forward with Indy staying right in
his face. "Still a little sore?"
Indy nodded, "Yes, sir." He kept his head down, his face flushed.
"Your old man tanned you pretty good" The porter grabbed Indy's ear,
pulling his head up causing him to wince and forcing him to make eye
contact. "I catch you messin' around on this train again, I'll tan you.
Ya' hear me boy."
"Yesss-s-sir." Indy said through clenched teeth.
The porter released his ear and pushed him toward the door. "Now get
your little butt out of here. It's not safe to stand around between the
cars. You wouldn't want me to tell your Daddy now, would you?"
Indy didn't say anything, he just clenched his teeth, his anger growing
as he heard the porter chuckling behind him. He shoved his hands and the
candy bag in his pockets and strode back to his seat and plopped down.
Without thinking he pulled the bag out and threw another lemon drop in
his mouth.
Prof. Jones cleared his throat loudly, "Junior? Where did you get that?"
He indicated towards the bag.
"Uhmm." Indy faltered. He wanted to say he brought it from home, but
lying now probably wasn't a good idea. "I... uhm... got it at that... that
store." he said quietly.
Prof. Jones extended his hand, palm up in front of Indy, the intention
perfectly clear.
Indy clicked his tongue.
"Now."
Seeing the one eyebrow raised glare his father fixed on him he
reluctantly handed over the bag and watched it disappear into his
father's satchel.
"Junior, that Latin is not going to learn itself."
Indy rolled his eyes and dug the book out of his bag. Well, at least
they'd be in Contention City tomorrow and off this train.
Contention City lay in the valley between the Whetstone Mountains and
the Dragoon Mountains along the San Pedro River about 10 miles north
west of Tombstone, Arizona. Indy had been trying to casually glean
information from the papers his father had been studying for most of the
journey. Apparently some sort of Aztec relics, clay pots and a gold arm
band, had been found by a colleague of his fathers, a Professor Robert
Billings. Prof. Jones had maps and reference materials and had done a
few sketches in his diary that he kept with him at all times. All in
all, Indy was still in the dark about most of the project, but he
planned on fixing that once they were off this stupid train and his
father's mood had lightened.
As the train pulled to a stop in the station Indy was the first person
off. Yes! The train ride from Hell is over! He breathed the warm dry
air in deeply and exhaled, his expression visibly lightening as the pent
up tension left him. He put his bags on a cart and went off to locate
the rest of their luggage. He returned loaded down with five bags and he
spotted his father talking to another man.
"Junior." Prof. Jones waved his hand for Indy to join him. "This is
Professor Billings." Now this man definitely looked like the professor
type.
Indy put down the luggage and shook the offered hand. "Nice to meet you
Sir."
"Nice to meet you... uhm.."
"Indy, sir." Indy looked pointedly at his father, but the intention was
lost as he was busy gathering and checking the luggage.
"Nice to meet you, Indy."
"Ah, good going Junior, you've rounded up all the bags." Prof. Jones
slapped Indy on
the shoulder. "Let's get going, shall we."
They all grabbed a couple bags and headed out of the depot, Prof.
Billings taking the lead. They loaded the bags in the back of an old
Model T pick-up and pilled inside. Indy sat between the two older men
and took in the town as they discussed where they would be staying. The
town itself was not big. It was quite dusty however since none of the
roads were paved. The main street was lined with buildings on both sides.
It was a very 'western'-looking town and Indy felt he'd gone back in
time as he compared it to Princeton. There were a few other cars parked
here and there, but there were just as many horse drawn wagons and
saddled horses. They passed a church, a hotel and various small stores.
At the main cross-road there were two saloons on opposite corners, a
restaurant and large mercantile store. A little further was the bank and
right across the street, the sheriff's office. The post office and
telegraph office were at the far end. A number of small buildings were
along the streets that branched off, down one Indy noticed the town
newspaper. They turned down a small side street and stopped in front of
a white clapboard, large two story house. 'Abbey's Boarding House' the
sign read.
"Here we are!" Billings announced and jumped out of the car. All three
again gathered the bags, went through the front gate and headed up the
walk.
"Tommy! Come back here!" a woman's voice yelled from inside and, at the
same instant, the front screen door burst open and a boy bound down the
steps and directly into Indy. The impact sent them both down with a
thud, bags flying. The boy was up in a second and took off around the
side of the house.
"Tommy, when I catch you..." The woman ran out on the porch. "Oh! Oh my!
Are you all right?" She came down the steps just as Indy was back on his
feet. "Oh honey," she cupped Indy's face in her palms, "are you okay?"
Indy found himself looking into a pair of soft, kind brown eyes. "Y-yes
Ma'am. I'm fine." Abbey Johnson was not a petite woman. 'Pioneer stock'
her husband used to say. And even though she had a kind face, Indy could
see why the boy would run if he was in any kind of trouble with this
woman.
"Oh that boy!" She went on. "He'll be the death of me." She used her
hand to dust off Indy's back, turning him to the side with the other.
"He's in for a good spanking when I get my hands on him. He broke my
good cookie jar." She dusted off the seat of Indy's pants with a slight
more vigor. She turned Indy back to face her and pushed his hair back
off his face.
"You sure you're alright?"
"Yes Ma'am, thank you." Indy blushed from the personal attention.
"Well," she said as she backed up and took in the three men in front of
her. "You must be the new boarders! Well, let's go inside and get you
settled."
She grabbed a bag and started into the house, the three new arrivals
falling in line behind her. Their room was upstairs. A large room
containing two twin size beds, a chest-of-drawers and a night stand on
one side and a closet, small sofa and a table with two straight back
chairs on the other. There was a common bathroom for all the boarders at
the far end of the hall and Indy was just about to go in when he saw
Mrs. Johnson with the elusive Tommy coming up the stairs. He stopped as
she went in the bathroom and quickly exited with something in her hand.
They went by him without really noticing, but he could understand why.
It looked like Tommy was about to get that spanking he was promised and
the object in Mrs. Johnson's hand was a large wooden hairbrush.
"Maaa! Please! Don't!" Tommy pulled, trying to loosen his mother's grip
on his arm. "Ma!"
The determined expression on the woman's face didn't change and she said
nothing as they went into one of the upstairs rooms. Indy moved closer
to the door trying to hear the muffled voices coming from inside. He
knew he really shouldn't eavesdrop, but his curiosity got the best of
him. He couldn't quite make out what Mrs. Johnson was saying, but
Tommy's pleading was very plain. "No, Ma Please!" followed by, "No, not
the hairbrush!" Then he plainly heard the order "Take down your pants or
I'll do it for you!" There were no sounds for a second or two so Indy
moved a little closer. Then...
SMAACK!!
Definitely the sound of a hairbrush hitting bare skin. SMACK! SMACK!
This time followed by oww's and ohh's. The smacks continued and the ow's
grew louder followed by promises to be good. Indy unconsciously rubbed
his hands over his bottom Ow, that's gotta' hurt He wasn't sure how
much time had passed, but suddenly the smacks stopped and Indy's chest
tightened as he thought he might be caught outside the door listening.
As quickly and quietly as possible he went back to the bathroom and just
as he was about to close the door, Tommy's door opened and he heard Mrs.
Johnson warn,
"You keep your nose in that corner young man, and leave those pants
where they are until I call you for supper."
He closed the door and waited till he thought Mrs. Johnson had gone. He
opened the door to find her standing there, her arms crossed and the
hairbrush held tight in her right hand. She moved into the door frame,
blocking Indy's way.
"You weren't eavesdropping, were you?"
"N-no ma'am." Indy stuttered.
She smiled knowingly and turned sideways leaving just enough room for
Indy to get by. He moved quickly, but not quick enough and she couldn't
resist planting a firm swat with the hairbrush to the seat of his pants
as he went by. He somewhat expected it but an 'Ouch!' still escaped his
lips.
Meanwhile, Prof. Jones had emptied his luggage, hung up his clothes and
spread his papers out over the small table.
"Junior, where have you been?" he said as Indy entered the room. "Get
your things unpacked. I'm going to meet Billings in the sitting room and
start going over some details."
"Yes, sir."
A knock on the door startled Indy and he dropped his books on the floor
with a bang.
"Yes. Come in." his father said loudly.
Indy kneeled down to pick up his books and peeked over the top of the
bed as Mrs. Johnson walked into the room. His eyes darted to her hands
and he was greatly relieved that the hairbrush was gone. Not that he
expected her to have it, but he was still a little worried.
"How's the room? Are you both comfortable?"
Prof. Jones stood and adjusted his coat. "Yes, quite nice. Very roomy."
"Good! Supper should be ready in about 40 minutes and hopefully we can
all get better acquainted. Well, I'm off, make yourselves at home."
"I'll go with you, if you don't mind?"
"Not at all."
Prof. Jones picked up a stack of papers and the two of them chatted
as they headed downstairs. Indy shook his head, Geez Dad, you're quite
the flirt when you want to be. He quickly stuffed the rest of his
clothes in the nearest drawer and kicked his suitcase under the bed. He
didn't want to miss out on anything his Dad and Prof. Billings were
discussing. He paused briefly by Tommy's door but heard nothing and
continued downstairs to find the two men already talking through the
details of the dig.
"I've hired five of the locals to help with the digging." Billings
explained. "Of course, I have to watch them constantly. I give them a
trowel and two seconds later I see one getting ready to swing a pick
axe. I'm afraid I haven't gotten across the finer qualities of
archaeology to them yet. I gave them two days off, so it's safe for me
to be here now." He added with a chuckle. "I also have two of my interns
helping me or I really wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the site."
"Have you found anything new?" Indy jumped into the conversation.
Billings smiled at Indy's excitement as he pulled a cloth out of his
jacket.
"He means have you found anything that may confirm this to be a village
and not just some random items." Prof. Jones corrected.
"Not too much yet." He unwrapped the object from the cloth and handed it
to Indy. "You may want to look at this though."
Indy held the gold armband in his hands. "Wow, it's beautiful." He
turned it around looking at the detail work. "It's heavy." He handed it
to his father who also looked it over very carefully.
"We found some human bones. Old bones." Billings opened a drawing of the
site. "Here and here," he pointed to two areas close to each other.
"Good." Prof. Jones nodded. "How far from here is the dig site?"
"It's two hours on horseback. We use horses and wagons mostly because
gasoline is hard to come by. There's a base camp set up there and I
usually come in for supplies on the weekends."
"Do we get our own horse?" Indy questioned, after all, he was helping at
the dig too.
"All the local guys have their own horses, but I'm afraid I only have
three at the moment." Billings smiled at Indy. "But it looks like we'll
have to get at least one more. One of you will have to ride on the wagon
though."
Indy was pretty sure he'd be able to convince his dad to ride on the
wagon. This was getting better and better. The three continued on about
the items that were found and the site and soon enough were interrupted
by Mrs. Johnson.
"Super's all ready."
"Great!" Indy jumped up and headed for the dining room. He was more
hungry than he thought and something sure smelled good. As he went by
Mrs. Johnson grabbed his hand and held it up for inspection.
"Hmm. You may want to wash these first."
"Yes, ma'am." Indy ran up the steps to the bathroom.
"Tommy," she called up the stairs. "You can come down now. Supper's
ready!"
The other boy quickly joined Indy in the bathroom to wash up for supper.
"Hi Tom." Indy said as he handed him the soap. "I'm Indy." he continued
when no response came. The other boy was about the same height, but Indy
guessed he was a couple years younger. He had the same brown eyes as his
mother and brown wavy hair. He was heavier than Indy, but they were
pretty close to the same size.
Tommy splashed water over his face, stood and stuck his hand out and
said, "Hi!". The two fell into conversation easily after that were still
talking as they sat at the table. Tommy showed no reaction as he sat so
Indy figured he was either pretty tough or was hoping no one had heard
what happened earlier. He was pretty sure it was the later of the two.
When supper was over the men headed for the sitting room to talk more
about the dig site. Indy began to follow when his father turned and
said, "Indy, why don't you help Mrs. Johnson with the dishes as thanks
for that wonderful meal."
This stopped Indy in his tracks. He knew he should help, but he didn't
want to miss out on anything either.
"Tommy does the dishes, but you can help him Indy. I'm sure he would
appreciate it." Mrs. Johnson handed him a dish and sent him into the
kitchen.
Great! Just great! He was mumbling to himself as Tommy joined him by
the sink.
"Sorry."
"Oh, that's okay." Indy said as he began filling the sink. "It was a
good meal. Lots better than the food on the train." He smiled at Tommy
and soon they were talking up a storm. He found out that Tommy's father
had left about five years ago and they hadn't heard from him since and
that he and his mother turned their home into a boarding house soon
after to get by. Indy also found out that last boarder had just left the
week before, that Tommy was 14 and that his teacher, Mr. Becker, better
known to the kids as 'Pecker-head' was a jerk. He also new how many kids
were living in town and where the nearest ghost town was. Soon the
dishes were done and the boys went to join the others. The men were
having a smoke and brandy and Indy was a bit disappointed to see all the
maps and papers were put away. After a bit more conversation, they
decided to head upstairs to bed. Prof. Jones and Billings wanted to get
an early start and Indy did have to admit, he was pretty tired and that
bed was calling him after spending five days on the train.