I don’t see Lewis in the Library right away so I take some newspapers over to a table. As usual news about the election. And a lot about Grid now.

Fightin’ Bubba suggests barges in The Region can use the rivers to pick up cars and other junk that has been left so it all can be used again for other purposes. Not right to waste anything. Clean up the countryside. Comments about how innovative this idea his. How it shows thought and leadership.   

The High Court will hear a case on human sacrifice. Religious freedom and so on.

Concern for labor shortage. Fewer Workers outside the walls and temporary workers. Grid thought to be responsible. 

Concern voiced over ‘unauthorized’ growth of Grid. Grid growing out towards Fruitbaugh.

Concern voiced over brewery in Grid.

Brightly Dawn calls for ‘crack down’ on Grid; ‘get tough’ with Grid.

Someone ate the pancake with Brightly’s image on it. Grid suspected.

After a few minutes Lewis sits down across from me at the other side of the table. Unusual for him to sit. He must want to talk about something. “You are not at the University now.” I say I go back after next break. He tells me he goes over there now to see a friend and that he might see me there sometime. Then after a short pause “Willson would you like to drive up to Rasinbaugh with me the next time we both have a few days off. I have to see my family and we could stop on our way back and see your uncle.” That is a good idea. If I stop and see my uncle on my way back I don’t have to stay for very long. I haven’t been to Ag Valley since I went back to Nation’s Capital when I stopped to visit Lewis. And this is a chance to see my old hometown of Cottonbaugh. And go over to Oilbaugh where I worked to get money for college. I tell Lewis yes I would like to do this. It will be an interesting trip. We will go through some of the towns and areas in Ag Valley. The largest city in the central part of the Valley and the home town for Lewis is Rasinbaugh. Two other important areas Almondbaugh and Lettucebaugh are on up in the northern part. And in the southern part of the Valley it is my Cottonbaugh with its neighbor Oilbaugh. The Cottonbaugh area was first known for its large number of deaths due to personal disputes. And so it is considered a very good place to be polite. A sign at the entrance of the city reads “Never Miss an Opportunity to be Silent.”  [We thought ‘be Silent’ to be more polite that the way the original saying translates. Editors.]

By the time we both had days off to drive to Rasinbaugh I had been through my journals of the time in Alta. I also looked through my ‘history’ again and brought along a copy for Lewis. He took the papers from me but I think he has studied the matter of Alta all for himself. During our trip we talked off and on about our time there. It helped my memory to talk with him. Lewis says that Brightly complained about the banner. I will tell more about all this later. We started our drive very early in the morning because we have a long way to travel across the northern part of The Basin and then up over the mountains. We see fewer and fewer houses and more farms that grow fruits as we drive. As we turn away from The Basin to go up into the mountains there are herds of cows and sheep in the fields in the distance. As we drive higher we start to see snow by the side of the road. At times people have stopped to let their children play in the snow. It is a very clear day. At the very top of the mountain pass there is a welcome place to stop called Baugh. Most everyone traveling between The Basin and Ag Valley will stop at Baugh. In the early days there was a military fortification called Fort Baugh at the place and you can still visit the military buildings there. Some say the fortification was to protect the Southern part of Coast from Indigenous peoples or from any invasion from Sonora. Others say it was to keep peace between The Basin and Ag Valley. Still others say it was a force to make sure the coast stayed a part of The Nation. Since there were never very many soldiers there Ft. Baugh probably could not have done any of these things.

 We are happy to get to Baugh where we can walk around to get some exercise out of the car and get something to eat. It is late morning by this time. There are restaurants of all kinds. Celestial. Descendant. Sonoran. And large groups of picnic tables. Motorized chairs the large people can rent to drive around for exercise. There are some hiking trails in the hills behind Baugh. These go over into valleys beyond. Rooms to rent for people who want to stay for a while. Garages to fix broken cars. Trucks to bring the broken cars in from the highway. Since people here don’t have guns like they do in The Region and in LoneStar I don’t think there will any danger to anyone. I thought that until we hear some yelling between two sections of picnic tables. Several large people are standing up trying to hit one another. They can only stumble around breathing very hard. No damage was done. It did not take much time to find out what the trouble was about. An area of benches was taken by people who want Fightin’ Bubba for President. Another section wanted Brightly Dawn. After the commotion stopped we found out that someone tried to sit in the wrong section. There is another small section with fewer people. I think they either don’t care about the election or they support Singh. I see behind the row of buildings there is a line of cows quietly going up one of the hiking trails that goes between two hills. They don’t have any people with them so I wonder how they know to go that way. Lewis and I go over to one of the Sonoran restaurants. 

As we leave Baugh and come over the mountains and down into Ag Valley we soon reach Cottonbaugh. We drive down the main street under the huge Cottonbaugh sign and the Never Miss an Opportunity motto just under it. I feel bad driving past the road that goes to where my uncle is but I know I will see him on the way back. And then it’s on through the city and past it out into the open Valley. There are fields of cotton and more fields of cotton. And some oil wells. After an hour or so there is the first bridge that takes us over the Grand Canal. At times there are lines of cows walking back in the direction of the mountains. The only town of any size before we get to Rasinbaugh will be Cowpaugh.

[The Grand Canal is the most important geographical and economic part of Ag Valley. The National Government built the Canal to bring water from the northern rivers to the major growing regions so that local rivers were not drained dry for irrigation. The Canal first goes to Almondbaugh and continues down through Rasinbaugh and ends in the agricultural areas around Cottonbaugh. Smaller channels go from the Canal go to other agricultural area like Lettucebaugh. The National Government asks a low fee for the water. They charge just enough to maintain the structure and they allow each farmer one and a half times the amount they report they need each year for irrigation. Editors.]

Cowpaugh is a place where the Cockh Bros. built fences to bring all cows together into one feeding place. To save money. These pens would be much like some of the places I saw in LoneStar. There has been much trouble here though because the cows keep getting out and walking away. Sometimes there would be breaks in the fences. Other times no ways to escape could be found. Nobody knew who to blame. So the Cockh Bros. would blame people from Grid. Or workers outside the walls who travel between cities looking for work. Or Sonorans. The Indigenous people would quietly tell you that the cows escaped with the help of ‘the people who have always been here.’ Cows don’t go anyplace by themselves. For miles coming towards Cowpaugh we see what looks like signs facing the highway on the fence posts by the side of the road. As we drive closer by them we see that they are posters. We can only read the word Missing as we drive. It looks like there is a picture on every poster. We pull over by the side of the road when we find space to stop and get out so we can see what they say. Every poster has a picture of a cow. Underneath each is written something like ‘If you find this cow return it to Cockh Bros. in Cowpaugh.’ The posters continue on the fence posts several miles on the other side of Cowpaugh. We watch for cows in the road now.

We reached Lewis’ family lands near Raisinbaugh in the later afternoon. The family welcomed me and remembered me from the time I stopped before to visit Lewis on my way east to Nation’s Capital. At that time he was getting well from his injuries in Alta.

The first time his mother saw me back then she hugged me like I was an old friend. When I first saw his father I thought he was one of the farm workers. Long sleeved shirt even in hot weather. A large scarf that covered his neck and much of his face. A broad brimmed hat. All covered with dust. He grabbed my hand and took me inside the house where he handed me a glass of wine and showed me into a paneled Library room. There sitting across from him with the colors from the stained glass window showing on the top of his ornate desk he questioned me closely and long about Alta. Later back outside Lewis’ younger brother wanted to wrestle with me. His little sister said I had a big head. Lewis spent most of his time outside at the back of the large house resting and recovering near where the rows of vines began. After talking with him a while I asked some workmen nearby how they make raisins. One showed me a little wooden mold they said they used to squeeze each raisin in to get the wrinkles on the sides. I looked over at a large truck loaded with raisins. I could tell they were kidding. All laughed and then they told me that the raisins were dried grapes. I asked when they get the grapes off the vines to dry them for raisins. They exchanged looks and one asked me to follow them. Lewis grinned and said he would see me later. It was harvest time for some fields. After five or so hours I knew a little how to pick grapes off the vines and would have known more if it hadn’t gotten dark. I was off the next morning after a very large breakfast and sad goodbyes. And sore hands. Lewis’ mother packed enough lunch for me to take along that I had plenty enough to eat through the next three states.

A little after we arrived this time the same hug from Lewis’ mother and the same crushing handshake from his father. We had dinner and a lot of wine and talked into the evening. Like old friends. His younger brother and sister are away at school now. The next day Lewis wanted to spend time with his parents and older sisters. So I asked if there was anything I could do to help in the vineyards. Yes there was. I had brought along some old work clothes as Lewis suggested. And a large scarf and a broad brimmed hat. And so starting at sunrise I had a full day. Part of it was picking some grapes in rows that had taken longer to get ready. Then I learned how to repair the structures that support the grape vines as they grow. And which parts of a grape vine to cut off and then how to put in its place a new part that had been growing in a small pot. And I learned again how to brush spider webs off my clothing. And remembered what I had learned on my first visit about being sure my neck arms and head were covered from the sun and the spiders. And I had a cloth over my face because of the dust that covered everything. A few of the workers remembered me. I said to some of them that there was ‘no such thing as unimportant work.’ They laughed. As it started to get towards dark we all went to the other side of a storage building and got out of our clothes. We took turns washing off under a water storage tank with a large hose attached. Lewis came out with my clean clothes. As I got dressed he thanked the workers. I said ‘until next time’ and went back with Lewis to the house for dinner.

(continued on Page 3)

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Thomas McDonald, Arroyo Country, 2016 © 
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