A Glibertarians Exclusive: Mystical Child Part XII
From the diary of Robert “Cairo Bob” Allen, 1841-1928
December 4, 1886 –Clear Creek Valley, Nevada
Something’s going to happen here in a few moments, so I stopped to organize my thoughts, like, before riding on ahead. I can see her there, standing on the edge of the truck garden. Looks like she’s seen me and is waiting. Morning sun’s behind me, so I reckon all she sees is outline of a horse and rider. It’s almost like when we were courting, I’m all nervous, like. She looks like she’s been out pulling up the last potatoes. Place looks good. She looks good, dirty hands and all. Reckon I’ll ride on ahead.
***
December 4, 1886
Bob put the pencil in his diary, closed it and stuffed it in his jacket pocket. He picked up the reins and clucked to the horse.
The moment’s stop to jot down his thoughts had managed to let his heart slow back down, if not quite to normal.
He rode up the trail, into the lane, and up to the cabin, where Isis had walked to greet him.
“Bob,” she smiled at him. “Where have you been?”
“Around,” Bob said, still on his horse, suddenly tongue-tied. “Here and there. Carson City, Boise, was up in Canada a spell.”
“Canada?”
“Yup,” Bob confirmed.
Isis narrowed her gaze at him. “Something’s happened to you. You’re… different.”
“That’s what you sent me away for, I reckon,” Bob replied. “And you’re right. Reckon I am different. Changed. Not as much as the war changed me, not as much as Egypt changed me, but hell, everything a body does changes ‘em in one way or another.”
“Different good? Or different… bad?” Isis was frowning.
“Different, different, I guess. I ain’t turned mean if that’s what you’re after.”
“So, you were gone a while. What happened?”
And then the whole story spilled out. Bob talked for a good half-hour, still on the back of his horse: The idle months in Carson City, drinking more than was good for him, sleeping in the stable and sometimes in the gutter. Then the rumor, the ride north, and finding Sam Evans. Sneaking across the border, the blizzard, the tomb, Sam’s death. The disappointment, the ice, the cold that crept into a man’s soul. Then, finally, the long ride home, and the growing warmth along the way, until that morning, when he arrived, there in the lane, in the morning sun.
“And that’s how she went,” Bob concluded at last.
He noticed that the horses, having grown bored, were cropping at the grass alongside the lane. Embarrassed at his own uncharacteristic loquacity, Bob dismounted. “And here I am. Come home.”
“Come home,” Isis repeated. She stepped closer, looked into Bob’s eyes. He flushed. She smelled like creek water, dirt, and fresh bread, somehow all mixed up together. “You have changed,” she observed. A slow smile spread across her face. “You ain’t stale anymore. Makes sense, what you been through.”
“Reckon I ain’t,” Bob said. “Oh,” he said, remembering, “and I ain’t come home skint, either.” He pulled out his wallet, displayed the bills. “Did manage something out of that trip north. Little over eighty dollars here. Ain’t a fortune, but it ain’t nothing.”
“That’s good, but Bob, none of this was about money.”
“I know,” Bob said, “but hell, money never hurt nothing, either. Cabin could use another room, couldn’t it? And with two horses, maybe I can break another field, grow some truck for sale, actually get us ahead a little.”
Isis nodded. She looked thoughtful. “Well,” she said, “Come on inside. There’s coffee, and I’ll fry you up some bacon.” She smiled. “It is your house, after all.”
When Bob had a cup of coffee and a plate of pork and biscuits in front of him, Isis excused herself – “got to clean up from morning chores,” she said, and disappeared into the cabin’s tiny bedroom. As Bob ate, he heard the water pitcher clanking against the basin they used for washing.
Home at last, he thought as he chewed. Home at last. Wonder if she’ll turn me out again? Don’t hardly seem like she’s of a mind to.
Outside, he could hear chickens clucking. Out behind the homestead’s small shed, in the pen, he could faintly hear the pigs grunting as they worked through their morning ration.
He finished up. Of a mind to help, he stuck his plate and cup in the cabin’s tiny tin sink and poured some water out of the bucket into them to soak.
Maybe could get a well drilled, he thought. Hate to have to go to the creek every morning and evening for water. Make everything easier to just have a pump handle here. Should take a look at the door on that shed, too, damn thing never was set quite right. Ought to have a proper barn, instead of just a corral and lean-to for the horses.
He smiled at himself. Thinking like a homesteader again, he realized, almost like a proper husband. Careful, Cairo Bob, you’re in peril of turnin’ respectable.
“Bob,” he heard her voice. He turned.
Isis?
Isis had brushed out her long, black hair and put on the deep blue linen dress she’d worn the day they were married. Bob suddenly remembered the cold rain that had fallen that day, and then he remembered other things.
“Sorry,” Isis said. “Takes a while, to do myself up proper.”
“You look fine,” Bob breathed. “But…” He still had that last, nagging trace of doubt.
“Are you going to stay, Bob?” Isis asked. “You are gonna stay, right?”
Bob grinned. “If you want me to,” he said. “Hell yes!”
Isis smiled, and held out her hand.
***
She said “Where ya been?” I said, “No place special.”
She said, “You look different” I said, “Well, I guess.”
She said, “You been gone” I said, “That’s only natural.”
She said “You gonna stay?” I said, “If you want me to, yes.”
And yet more to come? Auspicious timing if this had been the end.
One more.
Twist ending? No, don’t tell me.
*cues the Barry White music*
He had a better homecoming than some I had.
Good story, Animal
We’re gonna need some Alaska adventures of your own, though. Meet some of your local friends/characters
I’ve been thinking about that – that and the Allamakee County Chronicles could form a set of bookends, so to speak.
The suspense is killing me, great story Animal, lunchtime favorite!
Enjoyable read. Looking forward to the finale. I hope there will be explosions or aliens.
Or exploding aliens?
Oh noes, border-crossing suicide bombers!
I say Isis knows where the real Spaniard treasure is
Now that’s a euphemism.
Salma Hayek ?
Mexican, but I’ll accept it.
Excellent.
Lucky Bob.
OT:
‘Just get off’: Incessant kindergarten questions halted school bus hijack, driver says
Been there, man.
No Yelling on the bus!!
+1 Ransom of Red Chief
https://youtu.be/j68OwILte3c
Sit down and shut up!
Libertarian anarchy
The Art of Fieri-Fu
The eating sounds are the best part.
That had me laughing really hard
Assuming you’ve seen the NYT’s snarky takedown.
As Not Seen on TV
In typical NYT fashion they not only takedown Fieri, but themselves as well.
Really enjoying this series, Animal. Good job.
I have been lurking more than commenting lately but I have to say fantastic job Animal. I love these. Write more.
I was listening to this while reading…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTDUDRIEifQ
https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2021/05/judge-gives-15-year-old-olivia-moultrie-opportunity-to-compete-for-a-spot-to-play-on-national-womens-soccer-league.html
Fuck you Trump. This is the quality of judicial picks you put on the bench?
A lifetime ago I asked my father, who was politically active, why can’t we get someone good. He snorted and asked me ” like who? Name someone.”
Good luck with that.
I don’t see the problem here.
Boys under 18 can play for money. Girls under 18 can’t. That seems to be discriminatory.
Judge said they can’t block girls from playing for money.
Seems reasonable to me.
I’m not clear on why one organization’s decision to let players under 18 get paid requires a different organization to also pay players under 18.
The judge’s logic is generally nuts:
The order prevents the women’s soccer league from enforcing its age rule against Moultrie, unless the rule is adopted in a collective bargaining agreement. The order will expire in 14 days, unless extended by a further order of the court.
Somehow it is wrong for the private league of teams to agree to not hire minors, but it will be OK for the teams negotiate with the current players to agree to not hire minors.
The NLRA looms large here, unconstitutional dreck that it is.
Yeah, that caught my eye.
Not sure how the monopoly on teams agreeing with the monopoly on players, to ban players under 18 from competing for jobs against the members of the monopoly on players, solves (rather than creates) an antitrust problem.
It’s not the same organization in both cases. It’s as retarded as arguing that because football has a 53 man roster, MLB’s 40 man roster is an unlawful practice.
“Defendants have offered no legitimate procompetitive justification for treating young women who want an opportunity to play professional soccer differently than young men,” the judge wrote.
Except the men’s league had nothing to do with the decision to bar under 18 girls. That was a decision made by the USWSL teams…
Correction NWSL*
Looked up the judge’s bio. Another piece of shit carpetbagger. Government and government agencies in this state are overrun by these out of state assholes. Gov Kunt is another one. So is the state House Speaker Tizzy Kotex.
If 15 yo boys are good enough to play for the Womens National team, 15 yo girls should be able to try too!
I believe there’s two things standing between Plaintiff and and her aspiration to be a professional soccer player:
(1) She’s not good enough to get on the roster of a Major League Soccer team.
(2) The only teams she is good enough to get on have a rule against hiring minors.
I think one of the things that bothers me about this decision is the embrace of immaturity in sports and society in general. Raw talent doesn’t confer judgement or experience. Instant gratification and avoidance of putting in your time first.
. . . . is the embrace of immaturity in sports and society in general.
Female athletes mature younger than men. That’s why you get teenaged girls that are world class gymnasts and tennis pros.
That doesn’t mean that this girl should be a pro. But she well could be, and if she is this league is preventing her from making money during some of the peak performance years for females.
I’m fine with critiques of legal reasoning, but if you just don’t like the decision because you don’t like the outcome, then I’m going to have to object. It aint the courts job to make sure athletes put in their dues. And the individual teams can still decide they want no part of a minor on their teams.
I’m reading about all the outraged governments over the Ryanair flight. I understand why they aren’t happy, but am reminded of Korean Air Lines Flight 007.
Greenwald has a good take on this incident; comparing the recent outrage by Western governments to the actions they took in diverting Evo Morales’ flight in 2013 when they though he had Edward Snowden on board.
That’s different!
It’s assholes all the way down.
Just listened to the Horton/Sarwark “debate” on May 15th.
Sarwark is a Grade A USDA Prime asshole. It’s actually kind of amazing he got to where he did within the party.
I wasn’t surprised to find out that Sarawak is a used car salesman when he first started getting attention.
That’s actually surprising.
I don’t think he could sell toilet paper to panicking Costco customers.
His family’s company. I doubt he would last a month if it wasn’t.
https://sarwark.org/2014/10/the-next-chapter-in-my-career/
The very 1st comment:
“I don’t want to rain on your parade but your last 3 jobs are lawyer, politician, and used car sales men. You may have made some bad life choices ?”
LOL
My last three jobs were lawyer, lawyer, and . . . lawyer.
If we’re looking at kinds of work, it would be lawyer, construction, and plant maintenance.
That’s the guy who says North Korea is freer than the US?
There is a good reason the Libertarian party is bottom shelf. Take one look at that lunatic and you can see why.
There is a good reason the Libertarian party is bottom shelf.
I think you’re right. And I think that, when push comes to shove, the leadership of the Libertarian party and much of libertarianism, is happy to be bottom shelf. They’re big fish in small ponds. They get a significant amount of media exposure and don’t have to worry about winning elections. And they have relatively modest competition for their particular roles.
The example I think of is this – what would happen if, tomorrow morning, space aliens fired some ray that turned the whole GOP (and the conservative movement) libertarian. Such that, say, a Rand Paul was in the middle of GOP politics. Sure, it would be great for libertarianism. But, for the libertarian leadership, it would be an unmitigated disaster. Reason, for example, is a big deal in libertarianism. In a hypothetical GOP libertarian world, they’d be a bit player. Cato is where everyone goes to get the libertarian take on policy. In GOP libertarian world, they’d be totally eclipsed by the Heritage Foundation. How many actual-world Libertarian candidates would ever get the party nod competing against the amount of resources that would be in play in hypothetical GOP libertarian world?
I think that’s why so much of the libertarian leadership is at odds with so many rank-and-file libertarians. For them, even accomplishing libertarian goals is subordinate to making sure they keep their particular position. And that probably includes doing everything to ensure that libertarianism never gets overrun by conservatism.
I think you described Sarwark to a tee.
He desperately wants to be in charge. That is obvious.
I’m putting some money and effort behind the Mises Caucus. It would be good to have a principled third option.
There’s been several like that locally. Use the LP to gain recognition then move over to Team Elephant to win an election and never show any hint of libertarian principles.
I haven’t listened to the Scott Horton debate but Dave Smith handed him is ass a while ago. The man oozes slime and condescension and the big and little L libertarians would be better off if he’d just go away.
Scott was trying to be nice. Sarwark was being a little bitch.
I’m not going to listen because I find Sarwark so distasteful. I assume Horton mopped the floor with him?
Horton didn’t have to. Sarwark made an ass of himself.
IOW, public choice theory confirmed again.
“How many actual-world Libertarian candidates would ever get the party nod competing against the amount of resources”
and think of how interesting the cocktail parties would be….
Topics such as shooting a gun in a crowded theater and pineapple pizza would be discussed
He ran for Hillsborough County (NH) Attorney and lost. Then the Mises Caucus prevented him from getting any type of leadership position in the LPNH.
I don’t know if he has left NH yet.
Thanks Animal, these are a good read. I like the photo you included. She’s pretty, but looks like she’d kick your ass if you got on her wrong side.
He smiled at himself. Thinking like a homesteader again, he realized, almost like a proper husband. Careful, Cairo Bob, you’re in peril of turnin’ respectable.
Domesticated even.
I like the story though I wonder if this is a set-up to something… unsavory.
The woman in the picture is a beauty.
This would be a perfectly good ending to the story.
The fact that there is one more entry makes me wonder . . . .
Well, you’ll just have to tune in for the next exciting episode. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
POW!
?