Abby and the Outlaws

But we were down to our last can of beans and a few scraps of bacon when we saw a wisp of smoke off on our right. We headed for it, and before long, came over a hill and saw a little town in front of us.

It was only about a dozen houses, a livery, a general store and a church. After a bit of contemplation, I reckoned it would be safe to ride in. We could get food at the store, and just as important, information.

When we rode past the church, the preacher stepped out. He waved and called "Howdy." Luke tipped his hat, cool as a mountain brook, and said, "Mornin' preacher. Lovely day."

The preacher didn't go back inside. He stood there on the church steps and watched us ride by. At the third house down, a woman was hangin' her wash on the clothes line. I wasn't pleased with the kind of look she gave us as we passed.

Maybe I was just nervous, but I was ready to bolt. Still, Luke behaved like we were just any couple out for a ride.

We dismounted in front of the store and tied the horses to the hitchin' post. There was an old man sitting in a rockin' chair on the front porch. He looked too much like Pappy for my likin', but when he spoke, any resemblance disappeared.

"Afternoon, folks," he said, in a warm, friendly voice, "If you've been ridin' far in that hot midday sun, I reckon you could use a cool drink."

He moved a wooden bucket from the far side of his chair over to where we stood.

We each drank a ladle full of water from the bucket, then I asked him, "Beg your pardon, sir, thank you for the drink, but we believe we may have got a little off track in our travels. Could you tell me the name of this town?"

He smiled and said, "Why sure, this here is Hawksville, Nebraska."

We had crossed the state line. It weren't likely anybody in Nebraska was gonna be lookin' for us.

"Thank you, sir. I wonder, what's the nearest town with a railroad station?"

"That would be Walsh City. If you're lookin' to go there, take the road south out of town. I reckon you could be there by supper time."

"Is this your store?" Luke asked him.

"Yes, you could say so, but my son runs it now. This is definitely my porch, though."

We stepped inside and the first thing I noticed was the smell of fresh baked bread. We bought a loaf and a big wedge of farmers cheese, along with some smoked sausages and yep, two more cans of peaches.

Before mountin' up, we sat down on the edge of the porch, tore off chunks of bread and ate it with some cheese. The old man obliged us each with another ladle of water.

"You come out of the west and you're headin' east?' he asked.

"Yes, sir," I told him, "I got kin in Missouri."

I'll be damned if I'd actually go lookin' for any of them, but I still wasn't gonna give out any information about where we was travelin' to.

"Ain't much of anybody goin' east these days," he said. "They all go west. Why, I bet you a hundred years from now, won't be nobody left in the east."

We thanked him for his hospitality and headed south out of town. We went by a few small farms and then come to a place where a barbwire fence ran down the left side of the road. It went on for a mile or more. Inside the enclosure there must've been thousand head of cattle.

"It's mighty different here," Luke said, "All these people and all these fences."

I had to laugh, wonderin' what he was goin' to think when he saw Chicago.

It was that time of day when the light turns gold when we reached the outskirts of Walsh City. First there were a few shacks here and there, more as we got closer, surrounded by busted wagons, piles of firewood, a few chickens pickin' about and at just about every shack, two or three dirty faced children.

"Oh, my word!" Luke exclaimed when we reached the stockyards. Both sides of the road were lined with pens, jammed tight with beef cattle. Here and there, wranglers were movin' them from one enclosure to the next. "What the hell they all doin' here?" he asked.

"I reckon they are loadin' them on the trains and sendin' them off to the slaughterhouses in Kansas City or Chicago," I told him.

"Chicago? Same as us?"

"Yep, but I'm hopin' we are headed towards a happier destiny."

The railroad tracks ran along the edge of the stockyards, and the station was just a short distance to the side.

I reckoned it was safe for me to go inside, and, even though Luke had proved his capabilities on the trail, maneuverin' his way in the civilized world was likely a different matter.

The next scheduled train to Chicago wouldn't depart until 8:05 the next mornin'. I bought two tickets and asked if there was a good hotel in town.

The clerk looked me over and said, "There's a boarding house on Congress Street that may have a room."

"I asked you about a hotel."

He made a sniffin' sound, then gave me directions.

After we crossed the railroad tracks, I thought, we ain't really in the west no more. The streets were straight. The houses looked prim and freshly painted. Some of them had neat flower beds in their yards. Most of the people we saw were wearing fine clothes, like they were strolling in Philadelphia or New York City.

"If we're takin' the train, what are we gonna do with these horses?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. You reckon we could sell them?"

"Would they be able to tell they was stole?"

I didn't think so, but my experience with horse thievery was sparse. We had plenty of money, so I reckoned it made no sense to take a chance.

"Why don't we just board them at the livery stable and not come back to get them? The owner can keep them or sell them as he sees fit."

Luke nodded in agreement. We found a stable as we entered the business area of the town. We boarded the horses and I asked the stablehand if he could lend us some sort of satchel. He rummaged around a minute, then produced a burlap sack. I thanked him and transferred the moneybags and our remainin' food into it.

I was kind of sad to see the last of those horses. They had carried us a long distance to safety. I didn't even blame that one for draggin' me down the trail by my neck.

There was a can of rubbish burnin' in front of the stable. I tossed Ethan's hat into it. Maybe it had brought me some luck, but it surely did not for him.

A sign on the building across the street caught my eye. I made a bee line for it, with Luke nippin' at my heels.

"What's this place?" he asked as we stepped up to the door.

I pointed to the sign. "Bathhouse," I said.

"Abby, I ain't never been in such a place," he said, soundin' nervous.

I don't know what nefariousness he feared to encounter, but I reassured him that he'd be alright, and we went inside. I paid for two baths, including the extra charges for new water and soap.

Luke looked over his shoulder at me as the attendant led him to his bathin' room. He made a face like his pa was takin' him out to the woodshed.

He had his apprehension, but lord, didn't I enjoy my bath? I don't know that I've ever had a fuck that felt so pleasurable. When the attendant banged on the door to tell me my thirty minutes had expired, I nearly told them I'd pay for thirty more.

But there was Luke to consider, and I feared he might have drowned in the tub, so I dried off and clothed myself.

He was waitin' for me by the front door. The look on his face wasn't far off from what it was after the first time I sucked his pecker.

Once bathed, however, the rank condition of our clothes became too obvious to ignore. I inquired of a friendly lookin' passerby and learned that there was both a lady's clothing store and a haberdashery just a few blocks down.

Luke dragged his boot heels, but when I insisted he go into the haberdasher, he did what he was told. He was uncomfortable and squirming like a piglet through the whole ordeal, but when we left that store, he had a new pair of trousers, a fine looking shirt, and what I believe was his first real set of undergarments.

The lady's store was right across the street. I figured that would be a tougher fight, so I agreed that Luke could sit out front while I went inside.

I could have spent half our swag in that store, but I kept my discipline and came out with a brand new dress, bloomers and hat. There's plenty more places to shop in Chicago, I told myself.

The hotel was not grand, but it was finer than I had expected. I wondered if they would have given us a room if we hadn't been wearing our brand new garments. But the clerk smiled and took our money. He pushed the registry across the desk to Luke.

The poor fella looked down at it and his face turned red. I pulled it over in front of me and signed in as Mr. and Mrs. Willow.

Our room was on the second floor, overlookin' the street. Luke stood in the middle of it, looking at every piece of furniture. There was a big brass bed, a nightstand and chamberpot, a chest of drawers and a nice table and set of chairs. It must have looked like the lap of luxury to him. Hell, it even had a carpet and drapes on the windows.

I was reluctant to leave the money in our room, but I trusted the hotel safe even less. I stashed it under the bed, and we went down to the hotel dinin' room for supper, where we finally got our fine chicken dinner, with all the fixin's.

As we ate, I felt for the first time in a while that I could think about the future, beyond the immediate need to just survive. I was mullin' over an idea, but there was one issue that needed addressin' before I could think on it too much.

"Luke," I asked, "What are you thinkin' to do when we get to Chicago?"

He looked thoughtful for a minute, then said, "I don't know what there is I can do."

"Well, are you thinkin' of goin' your own way? Or that you and me will stick together?"

He scratched his head. "Do you really think they hanged Ethan?"

I was surprised by the question. "Well, even if they didn't hang him for the robbery, they had him already as a rustler and a horse thief."

He went quiet for a minute, then said, "Well, then you're the only person I know that ain't dead."

I realized that you could damn near say the same about me. My life in Shoshone had ended, just as surely as if I had dropped through that trap door. I was all he had in the world, and he was all I had.

Well, except we had five thousand dollars in a burlap sack. And I was comin' up with a plan for that money that would require that I have a male partner. There are just too many things a woman can't do in society.

I needed a man I could trust, and that set me to thinkin' about how my life had been in Luke's hands at every step of our journey. He could have buried me on the prairie or just took the money and rode away. I wasn't goin' to find anyone I could trust more.

"Luke," I said, "If we are goin' to stay partners, there is somethin' I need you to do for me."

"Sure, what's that?"

"You're gonna have to learn to read and write."

He scrunched his brow for a few seconds, then asked, "Can you teach me?"

"I reckon I could."

"Alright," he said, pickin' up a chicken wing and gnawin' on it.

I'd bought a bottle of wine to have with our supper. They said it was French, but you could say I was skeptical. It weren't bad though. Luke had imbibed a slug of rotgut now and then with his brother and his crew, but this was his first taste of something that weren't made in some hillbilly's shed. He wrinkled up his nose at the first sip, but after that, he seemed to like it fine. The bottle was still half full when we finished eatin', so when we went to our room, I brought it along.

"Sit down," I told Luke, as soon as I'd shut the door of our room behind us. I figured he'd sit on the bed, but he took one of the chairs instead.

I stood in front of him, turned to face away, then lifted one of his legs up between my knees. I yanked off his boot, then repeated the process with his other leg.

"You know," I said, "Most men would have been grabbin' my ass while I was bent down like that."

Luke blushed. "Well, I'll know to do that next time," he said with a grin.

I stepped away, then stood lookin' down at him with my hands on my hips.

"Take off your shirt," I said.

He fumbled some with the buttons, but he had the shirt off quickly.

"And the undershirt."

He pulled it over his head. I gave him a good lookin' over. He was a bit scrawnier than I preferred, but I reckoned that with a bit of good eatin' and easy city livin', he'd fill out fine.

I unbuttoned my dress and shook it to the floor. I kicked it aside, and sent my undergarments followin', then sat down on the edge of the bed.

Lordy, was that mattress soft!

Luke was fidgetin' in his chair. I looked him square in the eyes, spread my thighs as wide as they go, then slipped my hand down between them and began rubbin' my pussy.

I thought his eyes were goin' to pop clean out of his head.

"Finish undressin'," I told him. His britches and under drawers were on the floor in the blink of an eye. Once naked, he stood there, shiftin' his weight from foot to foot. His pecker was pointin' at me like a hound at a quail.

I took a sip from the wine bottle. "You want some, honey?" I asked him.

He nodded and said yes, so I leaned back, and poured a little at the base of my throat, lettin' it trickle down between my tits.

"There it is, honey, help yourself," I said.

He come over, dropped to his knees and went right to lickin' up the wine. He got his face down in between my tits and slurped away. He tongued my nipples and lapped at my throat and licked all the way up to my ear.

I poured a little more, and he caught it straight with his tongue, then rose up and kissed me while it was still in his mouth. It ran across our lips and down our chins.

He kissed me hard, pushin' his tongue into my mouth. At the same time, I felt his hands on the backs of my thighs. He tipped me back on that mattress and climbed on.

I was sprawled flat on my back. He was on his knees between my thighs, grippin' my ankles and holdin' my legs straight up, pointin' at the ceiling. His hard pecker was laying on my belly. I reached down and took hold of it, figurin' to guide him in.

He pushed my hand away. "I don't need no help," he said. He took aim and slipped right in, up to the hilt, with no hesitation.

I was right proud of him.

He started out fuckin' me with sharp little jerks of his hips. When I rose up to meet them, his strokes got longer and more forceful.

I beckoned for him to get closer, and he leaned forward. When he let go of my legs, I wrapped them around his back and hooked them on his waist. He kissed all over my shoulder and my throat, and nuzzled his face between my tits.

I squeezed my legs tighter, pullin' him in deeper with each plunge. He reached under me and squeezed my ass in his hands.

That bed was squeakin' and the headboard was thumpin' the wall and I reckon I was makin' some raucous sounds myself. Luke was scarcely breathin' hard.

Luke didn't have the broad shoulders and muscular arms that I generally preferred, nor was he danglin' a side of beef like Ethan's, but when he learned about fuckin' he took his lessons to heart.

He flipped me over and pulled up my hips and dove right back in. I buried my face in a big fluffy pillow while he rode me like he was bustin' a bronco. His balls were slappin' my pussy and I reached back under and tugged on them. Well, didn't that make him fuck me harder!

Maybe it was the wine or maybe it was because he'd never fucked in the comfort of a bed before, but I'm tellin' you, that young fella was inspired that night. By the time he finally started to fatigue, I was plum near wore out.

He rallied himself to one last effort, pounding up hard against my backside until he let loose his load. He must have lost his balance in a moment of lightheaded joy, because he sort of fell backwards and his jism splattered all over my back like warm summer raindrops.

He managed not to go headfirst off the bed, and laid down next to me. I turned on my side, facin' away from him, and he hugged me close. I guess that he thought that just because he had expended himself for the evening didn't mean he was through with me. Before I knew it, he was kissing all over my shoulders and the back of my neck, and his fingers were playin in my pussy.

I appreciated the effort, but I was past the point where a gal just can't go on. I let him diddle a bit, then faked a climax, and said, "Oh, Luke, I just can't take no more."

He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his face into my hair. Funny, though, how one hand seemed to find its way to my tit.

I thought he had fallen asleep and was well down that path myself, when he spoke.

"Abby?'

"What is it, honey?"

"I can spell a few words. D-O-G. Dog. Some like that."

"Honey, I ain't gonna abandon you, I promise."

"G-O-O-D. See, there's another one."

I considered askin' if he knew F-U-C-K, but that night get him goin' again, and I needed my sleep.

Despite our exertions, come mornin' we were up and ready well before need be. As long as I was west of the Mississippi, I didn't feel like I was far enough from the Shoshone jail. And Luke, well, he was like a child on Christmas morn, he was so excited about his first ride on a train.

I thought about givin' him a blowjob to settle him down, but I found his agitation just too amusin'.

We still had some cheese and sausages from the store in Hawksville and that served as our breakfast, along with the last few swigs of the wine.

We walked to the station, timin' our arrival so we could board just a few minutes before the train pulled out. I still wasn't takin' no chances of bein' spotted by someone in the know.

We boarded without incident, and took seats near the back of one of the passenger cars. Luke about jumped out of his skin when the train whistle blew, and when we started to chug forward, he gripped my head so tight, I thought he might break it.

He soon settled down to gawkin' out the window and remarkin' again and again about how fast we were travelin'. All I cared about was the miles that we were putting between my neck and Shoshone.

We rode all that day, past fields of wheat and corn and cattle, stoppin' at a dozen little towns that all looked the same. We rode into the night, across Nebraska and into Iowa.

When all the other passengers slept, I figured Luke could get a bit more learnin' on our journey, and damn if that boy didn't squat down between the seats and practice lickin' pussy damn near all the way from Sioux City to Des Moines.

The sun was just comin' up as we pulled into the Chicago station.

Luke asked me, "What are we goin' to do now?" as we stepped down off the train.

"Why, honey, we are goin' to take that money and we are goin' to establish the finest whore house in the city."

And that's just what we done, but I reckon that's a yarn for another time.