The Flim Flam Man

Seedling mutters something about the rock of the great gods, POOF... more gunpowder on the fire. He takes a small cloth bag and pours a bit of its contents into his hand. He turns with the substance in his hand, turning slowly to show his audience... those who are there and those who are there in spirit. He does a little dance on his way around the flickering fire light and we see a flash of gold. On his way around he sees us and for a beat we see the recognition before he continues.

We watch as he throws the gold in the fire and it flashes wildly. He must have had gunpowder in his hand before he dumped the gold dust on top of it. Quite the showman.

Lou moves slowly back to Andy's mount where Mike is still out of it. He whispers something to Andy and they take Mike off the horse and they carry him slowly toward the fire. As they walk by each of us, we join in to carry him up toward the show. I don't know what Lou had planned.

With a slow, almost trance-like movement, we proceed toward Seedling. He sees our approach but doesn't miss a beat. I think it is important that he doesn't let this thing fall apart, so anything we do is going to play into what he is doing. When we are in the cast from light of the fire we can see his audience a little clearer. Indians, the lot of them, covered in ash. By the looks of them they are the elders of whatever tribe Seedling is trying to flim flam.

We lower Mike to the ground near the fire and Seedling moves over his body. There is a look in his eye that questions our presence... and a slight panic at what we want him to do with Mike. As though he had his own part in this production, Lou reaches into the gunpowder bag and grabs a handful. He tosses a whisp of it into the flame and the flash silhouettes our gathering to the ash covered Indians. For a moment Lou looks at me, then the gunpowder he holds in his hand. Then when he holds it over Mike's body I know what he wants to do.

I take the cue and remove Mike's shirt around his wound. While I do this Lou gives Seedling a chance to "bless" the gunpowder in his hand with a couple of with a couple of passes. He tries to sprinkle a little of the gold dust into the mix, but Lou moves it out of the way and the dust falls on his sleeve and on the ground.

The rest of the boys look on, not realizing what is about to happen. The only one among them that has a clue is Ollie, who holds Mike's passive body down. Lou sprinkles the powder in the wound and I grab a nice sized stick from Seedling's little fire. As Seed hovers over Mike like a witch-doctor, chanting and dancing about, I touch the fire to the powder.

Now, I know know what is going to happen and it even scares the shit out of me. Mike howls like a wolf, Seedling nearly jumps the fifty feet to the rim of this box canyon, and the general startling the rest of the crowd leaves the gathering electrified. The acrid smell of burnt flesh is carried away with the whisp of smoke that rises from Mike's body. He is up on his feet now, doing a little dance now that his wound is smoked and sealed. Seems cruel but it will be effective. Unlike my wound in Modoc, his is just a deep graze and this should cauterize it well enough.

The show must go on. As though this was all part of his production Seedling dances over to Mike, who has stopped moving... but is very much awake. He takes the arm on his good side and slowly makes his way around the perimeter... showing Mike to the elders, as though his magic brought him back to life.

Whatever it is he is after with this dog and pony show he must have gotten. It is over. We all file out of the canyon with Seedling in the lead. What was thought to be a box canyon has a hidden exit at its end. The elders left first... seemingly walking through the solid rock. When we finally see this hidden exit, it looks as though the horses will not be able to pass, but they just fit through the short tunnel. I don't know much about horses, but Lou does. He continually talks to his, reassuring it as we make the short walk. We all do the same with our horses and when we see the light of day it seems that they breathe a little easier.

The elders have their ponies waiting with a young brave. They mount up and start down the trail. Ole' Bess is nowhere in sight, but the brave holds one pony for Seedling. We all mount up and follow behind. Not a word is spoken.

It must be a hundred and ten out here. The sweat on my face washes the ash from my skin. Right when I start to worry about the fact that we have no water, I see the river and the Indian's camp. Lou spurs us on so we arrive as one group with the elders. No sense in getting everyone in an uproar thinking that we are total outsiders.

We see Ole' Bess chewing on the long grass near the bank of the river. Seedling's bedroll and gear are all layed out like he had rented a camping space from these guys. There must be twenty some odd teepees, a dozen kids, lots of squaws, and what looks like a shit load of warriors getting painted up for battle.

Once Seedling dismounts, we join him at his little campsite. The elders dismount amidst the warriors and there are looks our way. I am hoping they are approving our presence here.
"What the hell was that about?" Lou asks, scratching his arm as he talks. He takes his hat off, wipes his forehead on his other arm, then replaces the black hat.

"That there was a blessing ceremony that you boys near on ruined for me." Seedling kneels at the river's edge and catches some water in his hands to wash the ash off of his face and arms.
"These Apache are caretakers of the Spirit Mountains down south of my mine. They call 'em Spirit Mountains, we call 'em Superstition Mountains."
"So?"
Seedling looks at me with that untrusting look he showed us when we first met him.
"So I want their blessing... their permission."
"For?"
"You boys are sure a curious lot, ain't ya."

Lou squats down beside him. "What the fuck is going on, Seed?"
He rubs his arm and is about to dip it in the water but Seedling grabs it.
"Hey now, let me get that gold dust off'n ya before you put it back in the river."
"Gold?"
"Yeah, gold, I was trying to sprinkle it in that gunpowder for some effect, but you moved."
"No shit... " Lou looks at me and I pause for a second.
"Do you think?"
Lou shrugs and pulls his arm away from Seedling for the moment. He holds it out to me and I put my arm next to his. Immediately the chip in my arm begins to itch.
"Oh... shit. We found it."

The boys gather around, each taking a turn with Lou's golden arm and then rubbing their own. Smiles all around, smiles and arm rubbing. We might just be going home.
"Where did you get this gold? It wasn't on you when we found you the first time."

"That there is Spirit Mountain gold from the tribe here. I found it in a gulch up in them mountains. It is sacred ground to these Apache. Better to ask first before I end up donating what is left of my scalp."

"So all of this is so you can go after gold on Apache land?" Chris asks.

Seedling gives him a narrowed look, "I want to mine the gold in he Superstition Mountains. That there land belongs to no one by law, but the Apache lay claim to it as a spiritual place. I had to show them I was as spiritual as them... that I can respect their sacred grounds and still look for the gold."

Lou finishes washing the ash from his face and then stands. "Well, my friend, when do we get started?"
"We? Ain't no we no how."
Lou puts a firm grip on his shoulder.
"Oh, there's a we... the six of us need to help you mine that gold. We need to get back to where we came from and you are going to help us do it."