Journey Days of Henry McAlister
                                 CHAPTER TWENTYTWO
                             Chapter twenty-two-part four

     “I thought I’d find you here,’ said Henry to Isaiah, who was sitting behind the bar.
     “Nowhere in particular to go, this is my post. Can I get you a drink sir?”
     “No thank you Isaiah, I just came here to give you this,” Henry said unwrapping a fist sized hunk of meat from its cloth cover.
     “Lordy, that’s, that’s real meat sir,” smiled Isaiah, taking the meat and smelling its flavorful aroma. “But sir, what about…?
     “Never you mind, Katherine and I are fine, we wanted you to have this. Maybe it will help.”
     “It surely will sir Henry, how can I ever thank you,” Isaiah said, biting off a piece of meat and slowing savoring it’s taste. “Lordy, I thought I’d never taste meat again. Can I get you something? How about some coffee? Can I make you and the misses some coffee?”
     “No, no Isaiah, we’re fine,” Henry said, raising his palm to quiet Isaiah’s excitement. “Where’s Vinton?”
     “Oh, I haven’t see Mr. Wright since that day when he found Mr. Bridgewater’s body missing. I suspect he’s in one of the cabins.”
     “I’ll go see if I can find him, I have some meat for him too.”
     “Thank you sir, thank you,” Isaiah said pressing the meat to his lips and inhaling all he could of its meaty flavor.
     Henry found Vinton in a drunken sleep in cabin number 5, an empty whiskey bottle clinched in his hand.
     “Vinton, wake up,” shouted Henry, shaking Vinton’s shoulder. “Wake up, I brought you some food.”
     “Uggg…”
     “Wake up, wake up, will you?”
     Henry waited for any reaction, shook his head and left the meat on the bench opposite the snoring Vinton.
     “Well I think we have a friend for life in Isaiah,” said Henry to Katherine when he returned to their remodeled cabin.
     “I certainly do hope it helps them. What about Mr. Wright?”
     “I found him passed out in a cabin and left the meat for him. He’ll find it when he wakes up.”
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     “Your beard is getting long again Henry.”
     “Oh, oh yes,” replied Henry, scratching his facial growth. “Do you like it?”
     “Well I’m not sure, it’s very unkempt and makes you look so much different.”
     “I can try and shave it if you’d like.”
     “No it will be all right…for now.”
     “I had a curious dream last night,” said Henry. “Do you want to hear about it.”
     “Hmm…”
     “My dream, do you want to hear it?”
     “Oh yes, of course, go ahead Henry.”
     “I dreamt I was back in the Yukon, digging for gold again, and everywhere I dug I would always find one of those hardtack biscuits I told you about. The curious thing is that when I ate one, they where filled with jam and cream.”
     “Henry, I think you’re hungrier than you’ll admit, hardtack biscuit filled with cream,” laughed Katherine.
     “Well, that’s what I remember anyway. What about you?”
     “I must admit I dream about food too, only it’s Thanksgiving time and all the family is seating around a giant table. Everyone is laughing and having a great time. The table is filed with turkeys, and hams, corn and cakes, fresh baked bread. Just about anything you could imagine.”
     “Stop it, stop it,” replied Henry. “You’re making me hungry, now all I’ll think about is eating turkey and ham. Mother always used to make the sweetest baked ham, when we could afford it.”
     “Well, you’re the one who brought it up, serves you right. There were mountains of potatoes with gravy too,” laughed Katherine.
     “Stop it, or I’ll…or I’ll come over there and kiss you with my scratchy beard.”
     “Turkey, turkey, turkey.”
     “Yes I think you’ll definitely have to shave that beard when we get out of here. It scratched.”
     Henry smiled, holding Katherine close and looking at the bright sunshine that entered through the small crack above the wooden slats on the windows.
     “It looks like it mite be a sunny day today, would you like to get out and walk around the train for a while, just to get out and stretch your legs?”
     “That sounds wonderful Henry.”
     “You bundle up and I’ll go see what it’s like outside,” said Henry donning his hide coat.
Henry returned a few minutes later and said, “Come along Miss turkey, turkey, turkey.”
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To be continued...