The Fugitive Son (28 page)

“No, it probably wasn’t. But if Cain’s heart had been right, he would have brought the offering that God demanded, a blood sacrifice. Remember, God said without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.”

Andy sat in quiet thought, pondering all he was reading and hearing. “But the Prophet Joseph Smith, and all our other apostles, said Adam never really sinned. God tested him by giving him two conflicting commandments. God told him to be fruitful and multiply but also forbade him to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam figured he had to learn the difference between good and evil so he could obey the important command to multiply and bare children. He made the right choice, our prophets said. One of the first things we learned as children was ‘Adam fell, but he fell upward.’”

Andy stood up and walked around the area, weighing what he had been taught with what Isaac was telling him, his head in a whirl of confusion. If Adam hadn’t actually sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, he reasoned, there was no need of a blood sacrifice. So what good were the blood atonements he had witnessed? And why did the Savior have to die for man’s sins?

Isaac interrupted his thoughts, handing him a tin of fresh coffee. “Here, maybe this will help settle your mind.”

As they sat drinking the delicious brew and listening to the gurgling of the stream, Andy felt a deep peace settle over his soul, the same feeling he had experienced the past few months each time he earnestly considered what God’s Word really said. Then the words of the prophet would come back, stealing that peace. He shared his dilemma with his new mentor.

“Mr. Condit taught me something a long time ago that really helped me understand,” Isaac said. “There are only two religions in the world – man’s way and God’s way. Mr. Condit called it ‘moral religion versus redemptive religion.’ In other words, moral religion, man’s way, is man doing the best he can to get back to God. But God’s way is redemptive, based on the fact that man has turned against God and needs to be redeemed – or bought back with a price, the precious blood of Jesus.”

“So it all boils down to whether we are sinners or innocent sons of God who have been sent to earth to serve our mortal testing,” Andy murmured.

“Mortal testing? What in the world is that?”

“We were all spirits in the pre-existence,” Andy explained. “Millions and millions of us. We lived on Kolob with our Heavenly Father. At a council of the gods, they tried to figure out how we would determine our eternal state. They decided we would have to go to earth so we could have a body and pass our mortal testing, like Father had done. If we remained faithful through that testing, we could progress back to Kolob, where we would become a god in our own right, build our own planet, and people it with our own children.”

Isaac listened politely, then repeated what he thought he had heard. “So God was once a man who became God? He fathered your spirit on Kolob, then sent your spirit to earth to obtain a body so you could be like him? Is that what you said?”

“I’ve been taught that since I was a boy. All I ever wanted was to marry Anne Marie, raise my own children, and work toward godhood by being obedient to the prophet, and the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

Isaac shook his head in disbelief. “And how’s that working for you?” he asked.

Santa Fe Trail near Las Vegas
New Mexico Territory

Secure in their spot on top of the ridge, Trip decided to set up camp right there in the middle of the Santa Fe Trail. “Who knows what we might run into on up the trail in the dark,” he said. “Besides, nobody’s going to make it across that wash for a day or two, so we won’t be in anyone’s way.”

Elsie quickly agreed, having no desire to drive the mules in the gathering darkness. She shivered, a sense of foreboding shaking her. She had never felt safe in the dusk; it was her least favorite time of day. She actually preferred total darkness to this strange, eerie in-between.

Trip gathered mesquite and pinyon for a fire. Then the two of them spent the evening gnawing on jerked beef and dry biscuits. A sheltering buttress of rock lined either side of the trail, topped by a dark fringe of ironwood trees. Elsie sat mesmerized as sparks from their campfire flew upward, reminding her of the fireflies she had often trapped in a fruit jar as a little girl. She sighed – a homesick, weary sound that caught Trip’s attention.

“Feeling blue?” he asked.

“I guess so. I’m missing home and wondering what my new life in Santa Fe is going to be like.”

“I think you’ll like Santa Fe,” he said. “It has a beauty all its own, and the people are friendly.”

She looked at him oddly. “I thought you said you didn’t know many people there.”

Poking at the fire with a long stick, he chuckled. “I didn’t say I didn’t know anyone. I said I didn’t socialize much. There’s a difference, you know. I have to know people for my business.” Becoming more talkative, he added, “Santa Fe is kind of sorted into groups. The Mexicans, the soldiers, and the farmers and ranchers. They get along just fine since the Mexican War a few years back, but each group tends to stick to itself.”

“You never did answer my question a few days ago,” Elsie reminded him. “Have you met my brothers?”

He ignored her for a few seconds, then finally mumbled, “Yes, I’ve met them.”

Eagerly, she jumped at the information. “So tell me all you know about them. Are they happy and healthy? Are they prospering?” She fired the questions rapid-fire, not stopping to give Trip a chance to answer them.

He rose and put out the fire. In that infuriating manner that irked her so, he walked toward his wagon. “Yes to all your questions,” he tossed over his shoulder. Obviously, the discussion was closed.

Elsie’s imagination worked overtime as she tossed and turned in her bedroll. Why wouldn’t he tell her anything about her brothers? Was something wrong? All sorts of possibilities haunted her, robbing her of much-needed rest. In just a few days she would find out for herself, but she certainly wasn’t going to get any information from the tight-lipped Trip. That was for sure!

Just before dawn, she fell into an exhausted sleep and didn’t hear Trip building the fire and cooking breakfast. “Hey, sleepyhead,” he called. “Time to rise and shine!”

She climbed out of her wagon, her hair tousled about her face. She yawned widely. “I might rise but doubt if I’ll do much shining! Is it morning already?”

“’Fraid so. I’d like to pull into Las Vegas and make deliveries there before noon, so we’ll have to get on the road right quick.”

They ate breakfast and cleaned up in record time, both eager to get moving toward the end of their journey. An hour or so later, squinting into the sun rising high in the southern sky, Elsie swerved sharply to avoid colliding with a Mexican arrieros who was coming at her head-on. Her mules jerked so violently they nearly toppled the wagon. The reins cut into her hands as she tried to calm her team and prayed the wagon would stay upright. Finally getting the mules under control, she pulled the wagon to the side of the trail to catch her breath and slather balm on her bleeding hands.

Trip had stopped his rig farther up the trail. “Are you all right?” he asked, startling her. She was so upset, she hadn’t noticed him running back to where she sat.

“I think so,” she told him. “But it sure scared the daylights out of me.” She giggled nervously.

“We’re almost to Las Vegas,” he tried to reassure her. “See those big rounded humps up ahead? That’s Hermit’s Peak – I told you about it. We can’t be that far. When we get there, we’ll stop at the hotel, clean up, and get a good meal. How does that sound?”

“Heavenly!” To enjoy a nice, warm bath instead of trying to clean up in icy streams and muddy rivers, to put on a fresh, clean dress – that would be heavenly, indeed. Elsie eagerly picked up the reins and urged, “Let’s get going!”

As Hermit’s Peak appeared ever closer, Elsie entertained herself figuring out what she would wear. She had a trunk full of lovely dresses. It would be a treat to wear something pretty and clean again, but she wasn’t ready to don the petticoat and hoops yet. She’d save them for when she got to her brothers’ place. She still had a day to travel and wanted to be comfortable. Should she wear the green and silver plaid dress with the ruffled overskirt, or maybe the blue lawn gown that matched her eyes? How feminine it felt to be considering what to wear again!

The trail wound through dome-like hills with a sparse fringe of second-growth timber. The scent of pine filled her nostrils.
Mmmmmm,
she thought.
This reminds me of Christmas trees in Kentucky.
The next few miles went by rapidly as she dreamed of past holidays in the lovely plantation house. Of going out with Isaac and her brothers to select a tree, hauling it home on their wagon, and decorating it with carefully placed candles. No matter how she longed for those wonderful days, she knew they were gone forever. It was time to grow up and accept whatever God had in store for her in her new home.

As they pulled into Las Vegas, Elsie immediately saw the river Trip had said divided the town in half, not only physically, but culturally, as well. One side of the town was made up of Mexican adobes. The other half boasted new plank-style buildings. She followed Trip’s lead and pulled her wagon alongside the main street in front of a large hotel, a false-fronted, two-story building named “Grande Palace.”

“Well, this is it,” Trip remarked. “Do you want to clean up first or eat?”

She looked down at her dress, which showed the stains of days on the trail. “Let’s get civilized first. Then we’ll feel like appearing in fashionable company.”

Trip laughed heartily. “Don’t let the false front or the name fool you. This place isn’t all that grand, and nobody here dresses up. But let’s see if we can line up a bath.”

Much later, after a delightful soak in scented hot water, Elsie emerged from the bathing room, her shining brown curls dangling down her back. She smiled at Trip, who was approaching from the opposite bathing room. “You sure clean up nice,” she told him, taking in his dapper clothing.

“Likewise,” he said. “That dress brings out the lovely blue of your eyes.”

Elsie blushed. It was about the nicest thing she’d heard him say.

They headed for the dining room where they feasted on delicious food, presented on white china arranged beautifully on white tablecloths. “This seems pretty grand to me,” Elsie remarked. “Especially after eating nothing but wild food cooked over an open fire for months.”

“Guess it’s all a matter of relativity,” Trip said, smiling.

Late September 1857
Campsite in southern Utah Territory

T
HE DAYS
passed swiftly as the two new friends exchanged ideas about religion, home, family, and life in general. Neither was eager to leave their idyllic campsite, which had provided a haven for both refugees. But they knew winter’s storms would soon be racing across the high mesas, making their journey even more difficult.

Andy poured water from the river on the breakfast fire, making certain every ember was doused. “Well, Isaac, we’ve rested here for three days and about talked our jaws off. Do you reckon you’re strong enough to start the journey down toward Santa Fe?”