Under the Distant Sky by Al Lacy

for in the Cibil War.”
    “That’s wonderful, honey,” Bateman said. “Major Crawley and I fought for General Grant, too.”
    “Oh,” she said, adjusting Ulysses in her arm. “Did you and Major Crawley help Papa when he won the Cibil War?”
    Solomon’s face turned pink. “Honey, Papa didn’t win the War.”
    “I heard B. J. tell Tommy Nelson that you won the Cibil War almos’ all by yourself.”
    Everyone was in on the conversation now. Solomon sent a sharp glance at his second son, who gave him a blank look and shrugged his shoulders.
    “Dinner’s ready,” Hannah said, eager to change the subject. “Let’s eat.”
    The guests laughed and followed the family to the dining room.
    B. J. took the opportunity to lean close to his little sister and whisper, “Blabbermouth!”
    Patty Ruth gave him an innocent look. “I jis’ tol’ ’em what you tol’ Tommy.”
    It was Mary Beth’s job to show the guests where they wouldsit at the big dining table. When everyone was seated, Solomon led in thanking the Lord for His bounties, and the meal began.
    Hannah had prepared roast beef, succulent and tender, with thick gravy, golden-brown roasted potatoes, and green peas and baby onions in a creamy white sauce. There was applesauce with cinnamon and yeasty homemade dinner rolls with freshly churned butter. There was steaming hot coffee for the adults, and milk for the children. And for dessert, they would all enjoy her scrumptious pies, both cherry and apple.
    Everyone was eating with gusto when Colonel Bateman looked across the table and said, “So, tell me, Sol, how’s the store doing?”
    “Very well, sir. Especially right now. It’s wagon train season. You saw a little of what it’s like in the store, although it had slowed some by the time you came in.”
    “Lots of people moving west, eh?”
    “Yes, sir.” Solomon glanced at Hannah.
    “We’re maybe gonna go out west, too,” Patty Ruth blurted.
    The guests looked at her, then at Solomon and Hannah. Solomon shifted uneasily on his chair.
    “That so?” Bateman asked.
    Solomon glanced at Hannah again. “Well, we’ve been talking some about it. Kind of caught the ‘go west’ fever. The lure of the frontier is strong.”
    Hannah laughed, “The lure is stronger for Sol than it is for me. But, then, I guess it’s that way with all husbands.”
    “If I might speak, here,” Christopher said, “I sure would like to go west.”
    “Me, too,” B. J. said.
    Mary Beth and Patty Ruth just looked at their mother without speaking.
    “What part of the West are you considering, Sol?” Bateman asked.
    “We’ve talked about California, but then we agreed that ifwe do it, maybe Oregon would be better. We could make a good living up there on a hundred and sixty acres of free land.”
    “You just want to farm, eh?” Crawley asked.
    “Well, they tell me Oregon is a virtual paradise. Beautiful valleys of rich black soil, plenty of water, and heavy with timber. One old wagon master who came through here last year told me that in Oregon the cattle feed on such thick green grass that they run around fat and already cooked, with knives and forks sticking out of them so you can cut off a slice whenever you’re hungry.”
    Patty Ruth giggled. “O Papa, that’s silly!”
    There was a round of laughter, then Bateman said, “Sol, are you wanting to get out of the general store business? I mean, you think you’d like farming better?”
    “I love the general store business, but Hannah and I have talked farming because of the Homestead Act and all that free land. I don’t know how the business would do out there. Maybe in a few more years, when the population grows, we could get back into it.”
    “Would you be interested in going west and bypassing the free land in order to do a powerful lot of business with a general store?”
    Hannah looked at Bateman, then at her husband. Solomon quickly swallowed a mouthful of potatoes. “Would you run that by me once more,