Lisa's Way

Chapter 10

That made some sense to her, considering her few encounters with the merchants of Great Junction and Pueblo. “Still,” she replied, “you shouldn’t assume that everyone is like that.”

“Maybe not. But we’ve had to learn how to do things ourselves. We try not to reply on outsiders. Sort of like the tribe, I guess.”

“So you’ve had contact with them. They deal fairly with you?”

“Of course.”

“Then you’re better folks than up in Pueblo.”

Logan didn’t answer. Lisa decided to take a look around, to see if there might be another approach. She’d noticed earlier than almost all the building in Alamosa were made of stone. It occurred to her that they appeared to be in pretty good shape. Some had details carved around their doors and windows. The town hall had columns on either side of the entrance. The church had a little stone cross on the steeple.

“Did these building survive the Rain?”

“Most did.”

“So, some are new?”

“Yep.”

“You have a quarry?”

Logan jerked a thumb behind him. “Don’t get much use, but the masons keep practicing.”

Lisa glanced around again. She couldn’t see too many homes from the center of town. She could see more lawns. On some of those lawns were figures, mainly animals. “Who made those animals and figures?” she asked.

“We do. It’s fun. Makes the town look nice.”

“Have you ever thought of trying to trade those?”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. Anything.”

“We don’t need much.”

“Do it for tokens, and use the tokens when you have to.” A smile crept onto Lisa’s face. “Tell you what, Mister Logan. Let us take a few with us. One or two, as an example of your work. We have to go back to Great Junction to get to Two Forks and on east. I’ll show off those examples to a few people. The town manager, and a few of his friends. If they like them, I’ll tell them to come up here themselves.”

“I don’t know if anyone would want to part with...”

“Then don’t part with them. Make more, on request.”

Logan paused to consider the idea. After a moment he nodded. “I suppose that makes sense.” His face fell a bit. “Does seem odd, though, trading our statues for things we might need.”

Lisa almost agreed with him until something he’d said earlier popped back into her mind. “Well, you said it yourself. They make this town look nice.”

“That’s true.”

“I’ll bet folks don’t choose just any statues. They want ones that... reflect who they are. What they like.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, trust me, those merchants like showy things. They want everyone to know who they are.” Lisa smiled again, but this was a more gleeful smile. “Why not take advantage of that vanity?”

Logan smiled back at her. “Why not, indeed? Maybe then they won’t be so quick to take us for fools.”

“You weren’t taken, Mister Logan. You just didn’t have what they wanted. I think now you do. My father always said, ’A good deal is when everyone comes away happy.’”