When Sarah’s husband Josh loses his job, he and his friend Victor decide to take their wives on a wagon train, heading west to make their fortunes. Sarah isn’t so sure it’s a good idea.
Fortune is an elusive goal, and for men like these two, even more so.
The wagon train is filled with horny, single men, and Victor sees that as an opportunity to make money with his obedient wife, Kate.
Josh doesn’t go along with putting his wife to work whoring, but he tempts fate and loses control over their lives and their future in a card game.
Once she is introduced to it, Sarah finds that she likes pleasing men better than dealing with a single unsatisfactory husband. And a rich man offers her a chance to make the most of what her life has to offer.
~~~~~ PG Excerpt ~~~~~
Ten Conestoga wagons, all more or less looking the same — heavy wagons made of hickory, oak, or maple sat in a rough circle.
A wooden tongue made from hickory stuck out from the front of each wagon.
When they were moving, the tongue connected to the yoke of the oxen. Five big wooden hoops, called bows, bent from side to side supported a canvas that kept out the rain, wind, and sun. Rubbing oil on the canvas made it waterproof.
Sort of.
A wagon like that could haul about two thousand pounds of goods. That included people and provisions.
The wagon master, Hackman, had called a halt to the day’s run on an open plain. He made his camp off to one side and the others settled in around in that circle, trying to leave enough space for a little privacy — something the wagons offered little of.
We had camped closer than I would’ve liked to other people, but I didn’t get a choice. After all, the people next to us were Victor and Kate. Still, I didn’t think we needed to be quite so jammed together.
Being camped so close is okay at dinner time. It meant that Kate and I could share the tasks of hauling water, cooking, and then washing things up afterwards.
And it was nice to have a woman to talk to.
Not that she talked much. Kate mostly spoke when spoken to. An obedient wife.
But she’s company and Josh isn’t worth a damn in terms of being sociable with me. His idea of company tends to be hanging out with other men. Like with Victor, he is a bit of a puppy dog around older men, chatting with them, hoping to get their approval.
The problem I had with camping close to people was mostly at night.
Josh might not like talking to me, and he sure don’t discuss much with me, but he didn’t marry me for that, he said.