I shoulda knowed better than to be out. It had looked like snow all day yesterday. When none fell I went on out to check the fence. Runnin' the line was the job I had over the winter. It was about the only job a cowboy could find in the winter. That is if he was a drifter like me.


All that was of no importance at the moment. I was trying like hell to get back to the cabin. I knew when the first big flake fell I needed to be on my way. The snow had already covered my hat and was piling up on my shoulders as well as the ground. It didn't make no difference on my shoulder, but it was gonna be a pure d bitch on the ground. I couldn't hurry old Buck none atall. If'n I did. He was likely to step in a hole and leave me afoot and him with a broke leg. Snow made all the ground seem flat to the horse. He was pickin' his way along and I knew it. Before I got home, I was likely to look like one of them snow creatures town kids make.

After thirty more minutes in the snow, I was beginning to think that I wouldn't make it home atall. It had begun to snow so hard, I couldn't tell my right from my left. There was not even a patch of sunlight behind the clouds. I was about to get lost and I knew it.

I began looking for a place to hold up, at least until the snow stopped. Problem was, on the prairie there ain't much shelter.

It wasn't deadly at that moment, but it was gonna be soon enough. My breath had already begun to freeze on my moustache and beard. I had them little icey things hangin from my face hairs.

I kept on afollowin' that fence cause I knowed it would lead me to the ranch house if nothing else. I didn't spect I could find the line shack. It was a long way into the ranch house and I wasn't sure atall that I could make it afore I froze up completely.

I came to the top of this here little rise. When I did, I seed smoke off to my left. The smoke trail weren't wide like it woulda been in a house fire. It was thin and more grey than black. It was more like the smoke comin' from a chimney. I tried to remember what was over there but I had never seen nuthin' atall. Course I wouldn't have, ridin' line like I was. I was always on my side of the fence. Still I shoulda seen smoke on the cold days that I traveled over the same ground.

I urged Buck closer to the wire. He resisted some but he did as I wanted eventually. I got my cutters out then cut the wire. Buck and I passed through the break I had made in the wire. If I lived, I would have to fix that hole first thing. It was a thought I must have had in my confusion. At that moment, I didn't give a happy damn what happened to the xxx ranch's damn smelly old cows.

Me and Buck rode a straight line toward the smoke. It took another half hour to get to the source of it. I didn't believe what I saw from the top of the next rise so I just kept riding. Sure 'nuff when I got to the source of the smoke it was not a house or cabin but a wagon. The wagon wasn't fitted out with canvas like most wagons. That wagon was all wood on the back. It was one of them medicine show wagons. The stove pipe went through the wall then turned up a couple of feet from the wall. I guessed the pipe was taken down while the wagon was on the move. It didn't matter none to me. There was heat inside that wagon and it was where I was headed.

I was still afraid to hurry Buck since there was no road leading to the wagon. For some reason the wagon had left the road and was travelin through the prairie. After what seemed like forever, me and old Buck reached the black wagon. I lean over in the saddle to knock on the wall. The answer to my knock was a Greener pushed through the curtains behind the driver\rquote s seat.

"Hold on there pardner, can't you see the snow out here. I don't mean you no harm, but I mean to share that fire with you." I didn't pull the three pounds of iron strapped to my hip. I didn't want to start a war. I just wanted to survive the snow storm.

The shotgun withdrew without a word. I rode Buck around to the side of the wagon so that he would get some protection from the snow. I tied him to the wagon first, then removed the saddle. I took out all the grain I had in the saddlebags. I let Buck eat from my hat while I shivered in the cold. When he had eaten it all, I patted his neck before I swung up on the wagon seat. I pushed my way through the curtain not sure at all what kind of greeting I would get.

The space was filled with wooden boxes. There was hardly any room to move about atall. It was also dark inside the tiny room. I had managed to knock most of the snow off my clothes while I worked with Buck. Still I was wet and cold. I was hunched over as I waited for my eyes to become accustomed to the gloom. The first thing I noticed as they began to register my surroundings was a woman.

Even if she had been beautiful, which she wasn't, I would have cut her a wide trail. She still had the short greener shotgun pointed at me.

"Take off the pistol," she demanded in a harsh voice.

"Yes Ma'am, you just take it easy with that scattergun." I didn't mind giving up the pistol. I had no use for it at all. All I wanted was to get warm.

I pushed the pistol belt the small distance between us. The heat started me shivering. I didn't think that I was sick. I just thought the heat was doing it to me.

"What you doing out here?" The woman rasped.

I could see pretty well in the gloom by that time. I realized she was ten to fifteen years older than me. She looked as though she had lived a hard life. Then a woman over forty in those parts had lived a hard life.

"I am riding line for the xxx ranch," I replied. "Snow caught me by surprise."

"Me too," she said lowering the shotgun.

I didn't know quite how to ask so I settled on, "You travelin' alone?"

"Didn't start out that way but it is ending that way." She saw the question in my eyes. "Husband ran off and left me. Had to take me a thousand miles before he found a whore. Damn men."

"Sounds tough but don't take it out on me please." I tried to smile when I said it.

"If I was gonna do that, you would still be out in the snow. I ain\rquote t much of one, but I am a Christian woman."

"Well I sure am glad, cause I probably would have died out there without this shelter." I looked around at all the boxes. "What kind of work did your husband do?"

"Nothing much at all," she replied. She noticed the look I gave her. "Oh the boxes, they belong to me. My daddy was a photographer back east. He set this wagon up after the war. He wanted to come west to make pictures of the mountains and Indians. Daddy died last year. I was gonna do what he dreamed about."

"I see, and your old man?" I asked it even though I was still shivering some.

"He was gonna help me make the trip. Instead he took care of my money, and the whore in Dunnville. I managed to get away from there before they turned me into a whore too."

It was a story that interested me, but I was way too cold to pursue it. I figured, as long as there was nobody with a gun chasing her, to hell with them all. Even if there was a man with a gun, he wouldn't be out in that kind of weather. I turned my mind to the practical.

"How you fixed for fire wood?" I asked it because I didn't see none around.

"I ran out this morning, right after the wagon got stranded here. What is burning now is the last of it."

"Well, the stove is small that is a help. Problem is there ain't nothing around here to burn. Snow done covered the buffalo chips, if there was any."

"That's what I figured too," she admitted.

"So, what did you figure to do?"

"I figure to get you warm then get under all the blankets we got and try to stay warm. It will probably stop snowing sometime today."

"That would be my guess too. I need to rearrange some of these boxes. We are probably going to have to burn some of them tomorrow."

She looked at me seriously. "That will be my decision to make not yours." She was making it quite plain who was in charge of her wagon.

"Yes, I suppose that is only fair." I didn't mind agreeing with her. When she realized how cold it would be without the stove, she would make the right decision.

"Is that coffee on the stove?" I asked it because I needed something to warm the core of me. I was still shivering.

"Yes it is. Here let me get you some."

While she filled the one coffee cup that I saw, I took a better look at her. Her face was wrinkled especially around the eyes and mouth. Her shin was brown from being exposed to the sun. I expected that she had spent some time outdoors even before the trip began. If she had any breasts at all, they were small ones. I couldn't tell about the rest of her under the heavy wool dress. I could tell she had hair that seemed to stick out like straw. I didn't expect she had bothered with combing it during the last couple of days.

Her hair was brown it was the color most women seemed to have. At least some shade of brown seemed to adorn the heads of most women. She was, all in all, a plain woman. I suppose the most outstanding thing about here was her size. She was small even by the standards of the day. I had not seen her standing but I would guess she was no more than five feet tall at the very most.

I finished the coffee. It had helped the shivering only slightly. I pulled my blanket roll from the wagon seat just outside the heavy curtains. I wrapped myself in the blanket and oil cloth ground sheet.

"What do they call you?" she asked.

"Rafe," I replied. "How about you?"

"Edna," she said simply.

"Well Edna, seems I got a little colder than I thought. When that fire goes out I am gonna need to be under the covers."

"Yes, I can see that. Best we make as warm a bed as possible." With that she pushed me aside while she laid a blanket in the small space in the middle of the wagon. Even without the stove the wagon provided shelter from the wind and the snow. The inside walls showed trails of ice where the roof leaked a little. Even so, it was a thousand times better than being outside.

I slipped between the blankets which Edna had spread on the floor. It wasn't warm at first but it began to get better with every passing moment. It was only a moment later that Edna joined me.

"Take off your clothes down to your union suit," she demanded. Put them on top of the blankets." I was
surprised to hear it though I knew she was right. The clothes on top wouldn't help all that much but our body heat needed to fill the space under the blankets so that we could share it. I finished before she began. Her heavy wool dress covered my clothes.

Her body was covered only in her underwear as she pressed hard into me. It wasn't a sexy move it was one caused by the cramped conditions and the cold. Even with all the blankets and her body to keep me warm, it took several minutes before the shaking stopped. When it did, I was grateful. My muscles had become sore from the constant motion.

With the warmth also came an awareness of her body. I had been forced to open my arms to hold her in the cramped space. She had turned her back to me so that her bottom pressed against my groin. The obvious and natural thing happened. I got an erection. Even though it embarrassed me I was forced to move about to fit it between the cheeks of her butt to minimize the discomfort.

If she noticed, she didn't seem to mind. I hoped I hadn't misread her acceptance of the situation. Even so I moved slowly forward. I moved my arms which encircled her so that here small breasts were in my hands. I noticed immediately that her nipples were hard. I also noticed that they were long. I began slowly to manipulate them. I pinched and rubbed just the tips of her nipples. Once in a while I massaged her complete breasts.

As a reward I got a moan and wiggle of her hips. I was naturally inclined to move even farther. To my unsophisticated mind the next step was to make love to her. It seemed impossible in the cramped space to do so without a definite commitment from her. It would require a lot of cooperation from her. I was about to whisper instructions into her ear when she took my hand.

I thought at first that it was her intention to stop me. I could have easily over powered her and I might have done just that. It proved to be unnecessary. She moved my hand slowly down her body. The hand trapped under her head continued to massage her nipple while the hand on top was positioned by her. She raised the hem of here own slip to allow me access to her pubic hair.

At the age of thirty-two I was exploring my first woman. I had made love with whores before but I had never explored their bodies. With Edna I moved my fingers down her hair forest to the spot where her legs joined her body. I felt the valley of flesh just beneath her thick body hair. I felt the folds of loose skin inside them.

Edna gasped as my finger worked over the folds. I enjoyed the movement of her butt against me so I continued to move my finger over her.

"Gently," she demanded breathlessly. It seemed that I had stroked her too hard. Instead of answering I eased the pressure on my finger. I was rewarded by her hips pumping against me again.
Instead of being content with her moaning and movements I wanted more. I didn't have any idea what more was but I wanted it. I slipped my finger lower between her legs. I felt the warm slippery lips of her sex. I moved my fingers up and down the opening as far as they would reach.

Edna reacted with an even greater moan. I slipped a finger inside her. I began to move it in and out. I felt her muscles tense as she pressed even harder against my erection. Without warning she got very stiff, then she relaxed completely.

I had no idea what had happened. Not even after she whispered, "Thank you."

I held her wondering what I should do next. My body was screaming for release but Edna seemed to be satisfied somehow. Somehow intuitively I knew she had orgasmed. I felt left out and somehow angry by it all. \\

Suddenly without warning her hand was between us. She worked me through the opening in my drawers. Her hand encircled my penis. She stroked it up and down for a long time. My body was jerking convulsively just seconds before I came all over her slip and my drawers. The hot semen quickly became cold but I wasn't sorry a bit. I fell into an exhausted sleep.

The next morning I ripped the cover off a packing case to burn. We had a fire long enough and hot enough to make coffee. I had some hard bread from the line shack stove. We had that with hot coffee for breakfast. Neither of us mentioned the night before. We also did not try to enlarge the encounter.

I helped her hitch the horses. With the snow no longer falling, I was able to give her direction to the next town. She sat on the wagon seat while I saddled up old Buck.

"Rafe, thank you for last night." She smiled then added. "I would have frozen without you."

"It was my pleasure Edna. I was already 'bout half froze up," I replied.

I watched the wagon pull away. She was out of sight before I even gave the wire I had cut any thought.

the end


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