Lisa's Way

Chapter 9

“So that’s my plan.”

Lisa leaned back in her chair, trying to keep calm. Major McCall shifted in his chair. The chair squeaked. Lisa struggled to prevent the noises from unnerving her. After a long moment of thoughtful silence, McCall spoke.

“Not bad for an untried girl,” he said.

“Untried?”

He smiled. “You haven’t exactly gone through a lifetime of ordeal, Lisa. Do this, and you might get a bit closer to ’tried.’”

“Fair enough.” She couldn’t help but mirror his smile.

“Now that you have your plan, how do you intend to carry it out?”

“Well, Major, that’s one of the reasons why I’m here. I didn’t come here with anything to trade, except for what’s in my notebook. I’ve been trying to think up some way to fill up a wagon or two. As you folks here say, I’m stumped.”

“I see.”

“Is there anything your Rangers can offer? Something to get me started?”

McCall shook his head. “I’m not sure. I won’t let any of my Rangers go. I don’t want to impose on the kindness of the people we protect.”

“That’s okay, I didn’t mean that. What about spare clothes or shoes? Extra tents?”

“I don’t think we have any extra.” His head bobbed up. “Wait. We do have plenty of extra weapons. Mostly bows and crossbows, taken from outlaws. Some are pretty old,...”

Lisa shook her head. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to use weapons as trade goods, not right now. That could be dangerous.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But you will need weapons if you’re to stop those towns from feuding. You might find men, but maybe not armed men.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess as long as we keep them secure until we need them, it’ll be okay to take them along.”

“I’ll scrape them together before you leave. I’ll toss out any that are too poor to use.”

“Save anything you can salvage, Major. If a bow’s bad but the wood is good enough, we could make arrows.”

“Sure.”

“Is that all?”

McCall paused to think. “You know we got two portal manuals.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I could let you take one, as a good will gift. If you think such a gift would be properly appreciated.”

“I think so.” Good will gift, she thought. Who would need our... “White Rocks.”

“What?”

“It just occurred to me. If we’re trading on White Rocks, we might need some good will. I could give your manual to the town manager at Great Junction. That might allow him to persuade people there that we weren’t going to take their business away from them.”

“That might work.”

“Is that all you have, Major?”

“Pretty much.”

“Then I’ll still need to figure out how to get more goods.”

“You thought about just asking, rather than trading?”

“Would that work?”

McCall nodded slightly. “I think if you ask nicely enough, tell folks that a little extra will help others in need, you might get something. And since you’re not looking to fill more than two wagons...” His voice trailed off.