Coulee Down: Part One

 Ready for our latest adventure? Hang on tight, because we're about to do something crazy...

Honestly, I couldn’t figure out why they were so riled up.

            Sure, I’d knocked over the mess tent. Sure, I’d toppled a day…or two…or perhaps it was a week’s worth of work. But that didn’t give them the right to come at me with clubs, wrenches and hammers!

            “Hey mates,” I chuckled as I backed up from the mob of angry workers. It was hard to hear my own voice over the din of shouts and roars. “Look, I’m sure we can work somethin’ out, I’ll fix whatever I broke.”

            “Are you kiddin’?” One man muscled his way forward, his cap shoved far back on his head. “We told you to stay off the support, we’ve been working on that for a week and half! But no, you climbed up there anyways and destroyed a good portion of the dam. You bet you’re going to pay for it!”

            “Yeah, with your life!” Another voice bawled.

            A chorus of deafening agreements confirmed what I already knew. I was in for it.

            But being a man, and a Scottish one at that, I knew that there was only one way to work this out. It was the smart and right thing to do, the solver of every problem I had. I ran.

            It took them off guard at first, but not for long. “Hey, he’s escaping!”

            “Catch the Scot!”

            “I’m gonna tear him limb for limb!”

            “Be nice, be nice!” I yelped as I raced up an incline and away from the massive project of the Grand Coulee Dam. I could hear the harsh footsteps of my pursuers and knew they meant business. This was not looking good. Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have climbed that platform after all. How was I to know the cement hadn’t set? It wasn’t my fault!

            “Get him!”

            The clatter grew louder and I pushed forward as fast as I could. They seriously mean to rip me to pieces. Great. Just ducky. If I didn’t get back to the camp soon…it wasn’t going to be pretty.

            “Guys,” I panted as I stayed ten feet ahead of the mob. Their wrenches clanged against hammers and I winced at the sound, but I couldn’t stop to talk. It was too late for that. “I’ll fix it! I’ll fix it! I can do it!”

            The only response I got was another roar from the men. They weren’t in the mood to negotiate.

            I had begun to wear out, it was too hard a climb up this hill. Our camp was on the other side but I could hardly breathe. When I reached the top of the hill that was it, I tripped and fell flat on my face. Owww. It was too late. They were on me now.

            This is not how I envisioned Trevor Trekker dying. I rolled onto my back and braced myself for the blows I was sure I’d receive.

            That’s when Marin showed up.

            Leave it to her to pick the worst moments to make her entrance, she raced in front of me and put her hands up. “Stop, stop!” she cried out. “Stop, please!”

            There must have been three hundred men in my group of pursuers. And that makes it really hard to stop fast. They tumbled one on top of the other, some dug their heels in to stop them from running into the eleven-year-old girl. Marin remained firm, held her stance and only relaxed a little as the huge crowd came to a halt. I let out a sigh of relief, not even realizing I’d been holding my breath.

            “Get out of the way, kid.” the man who seemed to be the leader stepped forward, the same one who’d challenged my claim that I’d rebuild what I’d broken.

            Marin shook her head. “No, please don’t hurt him,” she begged. “I’m sorry for whatever he’s done, I’m sure we can fix it somehow.”

            “Kid, do you know what yer pal there’s done?” A big, burly man stepped forward, a club in his hand as he smacked it against his left palm. Marin glanced down in embarrassment, for he was shirtless. “He’s gone and ruined a whole week’s worth of hard sweat and labor. He’s gonna pay!”

            “Yeah!”

            “Please, you don’t understand. He’s the only family I have. You kill him and I have no one, please don’t hurt him.” Marin was making her puppy face I knew, and I decided this was the time to join in.

            “She’s right, it wouldn’t be nice to hurt me,” I chimed in.

            “Shut up, we don’t want to talk to you,” the leader snarled.

            I shut up.

            “If you let him go I promise he’ll fix whatever he’s done.” Marin looked the man straight in the eye, her blue eyes meeting his gaze as she tossed a blond braid over her shoulder. What a brave kid, I thought. Marin could be a lifesaver.

            The leader opened his mouth to reply when a new voice rose up. “I say give ‘em a beating, we can’t just let him go because a brat says so!”

            A large chorus of agreements sounded and I gulped.

            “Hold on a minute.” the leader hesitated.

            But the trouble makers were not about to let him chose a different fate other than the one they’d pledged themselves to. The burly man with the club stepped forward and shoved the man in charge out of the way. “Enough of this, I’m gonna get me some revenge!”

            “No!” Marin yelled. She stepped in his way but he only pushed her back as he came at me with that big club of his. Oh, great.

            I rolled out of the way just as the club came down on the ground with a mighty thud! I leapt up and bawled, “Hey, can’t you just accept my apology and leave me alone?” I ducked as the club was swung in the direction of my head. “Okay, so you mean business.”

            “Leave him alone!” Once more Marin tried to interfere, and this time the man shoved her into the ground hard. That did it for me, no one treated Marin that way.

            “Who do ye think ye are?” I grabbed his arm and twisted it the side, and the man howled in pain. Too late, I hadn’t seen his other hand ball up in a fist. Smack! I could have sworn I’d seen the entire galaxy swirl around me as I fell to the ground. Oh, that hurt.

            “Charlie, ease up. Leave the guy alone,” someone called out. “That’s enough.”

            Charlie didn’t listen though as he raised his club again. “Not yet!”

            This was it. The guy was going to kill me. Darn it. This was gonna hurt.

            A blur of movement caused me to blink, and the next instant I sat up as I stared at Charlie. He’d been knocked to the ground and his club thrown far from him, a man in a sailor’s cap standing over him. Charlie scrambled up, his face red and ready to give this new guy a beating. It was then his face showed recognition, and his cheeks grew even more red.

            “Oh, it's you sir,” he stammered.

            Dead silence from the mob. Marin ran over to me and sat down, her eyes full of concern. “Are you okay?” She asked.

            I didn’t answer as I watched the strange confrontation in front of me. This guy obviously had the respect of the worker’s union. They didn’t make a move in my direction as long as he stood there.

            “Why don’t you guys get back to work?” Sailor hat suggested. “I’m sure you’ve got a lot of it.”

            “Yeah, and that Scot has to pay for it somehow,” a short, blond man muttered.

            Sailor hat nodded. “And he will.” He glanced in my direction and hissed, “What can you do? Any talents? Anything?”

            I opened my mouth to reply when Marin cut in.

            “He loves to cook.”

            I shot her a horrid glare to which she respond with a sly grin.

            “He’ll make lunch for you all!” Sailor hat announced.

            Cheers erupted and the previous murderers became my new best friends. “If he can make lunch for all of us then I guess he can accomplish anything,” the leader chuckled. He turned towards his crew. “Alright boys, let’s get back to work.”

            The crowd started to hustle back in a slow herd movement. I waited until they were out of hearing range, then let out a moan.

            “Gosh, thanks Marin,” I said sarcastically. “Just what I wanted. To cook a meal for an entire workers crew! Where am I going to get the ingredients? The food? The money?”

            Marin giggled and pushed back one of her braids. “Dobrota, goodness, I’m sure you’ll think of something. You always do.” She frowned and shot me a dirty look. “Don’t scare me like that, if that man over there,” she waved in the direction of the Sailor hat man who was approaching us as we spoke, “hadn’t shown up I wouldn’t have been able to stop them. You could have been killed!”

            “Yeah, I know. And now I will die, slaving over a huge pot of chili.”

            I turned towards Sailor hat as he reached us and offered me his hand. “Need some help getting up?” He asked.

            I accepted his offer and got up, then shook my head. “That was close, thanks for stepping in there mate.”

“What’s your name, Scot?”

“Trevor Trekker,” I replied. “And this is--my adopted daughter, Marin.” I glanced him over. “And you are?”

            He put his hand out for a handshake. “Woody Guthrie,” he stated. “Nice to meet you Mr. Trekker.”

            I could have sworn I stopped breathing as I realized who I stood in the presence of. That's why the men had stopped.

Come back next week for the final part of the story!