And sometime during all that, Andrew had evidently gone from being one of the students to being my daughter’s boyfriend. It had happened under my very nose, and I’d been completely oblivious.
I sighed and rubbed Zach’s head affectionately. “Well, your sister’s growing up. You’ll be better off staying out of her business.”
He furrowed his brows and turned to look up at me. “Is she gonna get married and move away?”
“I’m sure she will, eventually. But probably not for a while yet.”
He grinned. “When she does, can I have her room?”
I laughed aloud. “We’ll see about that later.”
“When?”
“Later.”
“Later when?”
“When she moves out. For now, though, we have more shopping to do.”
We shouldered through the crowd and eventually made our way to a darkened shop with an open front door. Walking in, I heard the methodical sharp tinging of metal on metal from the back room, and I shouted, “Travis, you here?” The tinging stopped, and a shuffling took its place. Seconds later, a white-haired, bespectacled head peered around the doorframe.
“That you, Leeland?”
“Yep.”
“Gimme a sec, an’ I’ll get your order.”
I heard more shuffling, and Travis came limping out of the back carrying several items. He casually tossed me a pair of hand-tooled goatskin boots. They were loosely cut, and gusseted to adapt for wear under or over pants. I looked at the bottom and laughed aloud. “Tire treads? Really?”
Travis nodded. “Plenty of it around, and it’s made to last with two tons of metal ridin’ on it. Figured it’d last with yer ornery ass walkin’ on it for a while.”
I held one boot to the bottom of my foot to check the size. “Looks perfect.”
“Well, that ain’t no way to check it. Put th’ damn thangs on. I wanna see how they fit, too.”
I wasted no time skinning off my worn out tennis shoes. I was embarrassed by the condition of my socks, but didn’t let it stop me as I slid my legs into the calf-high leather boots. I wove the leather thong through the grommets on either side of the folded gusset and tied it over my pant legs. Standing tentatively, I took a few steps.
“Well? How do they fit?”
After walking around the room, I finally turned back to him. “They’re a little stiff, but they’ll wear in soon enough. I think they’ll do, Travis.”
He harrumphed at me. “’Course they’ll do. I don’t make crap. That’s why you come to me.”
“That’s true enough. You have the rest of it?”
He pointed to the bench, and I walked my new boots over to see the other items. Travis glanced over at Zachary. “Yer daddy made you a knife yet, son?”
Zachary mumbled something.
“Sorry, son, but ah couldn’t hear ya.”
“Yes sir, but I lost it.” He hung his head as he said it.
Travis looked at me, and I nodded.
“Well, mebbe this’ll help ya keep track better.” He tossed something to Zachary. The boy caught it and yelped in delight when he realized what he held. I had made him a pair of throwing knives that Travis had fitted with arm sheaths.
“Whoa!” He immediately began strapping the left sheath on his forearm.
“Zach, what do you say?”
The boy never even paused. “Thanks, Mr. Travis. This is wicked cool!”
Travis smiled. “Yer welcome. ’Course it was yer daddy what made them knives fer ya.”
Zach grinned at me. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You’re welcome. But I need you to listen to me a second.” He stopped and turned his attention to me. “You leave those blades in their sheaths while we’re at market. You only take them out when you’re completely alone and practicing, or if Megan or I are teaching you. You understand me?”
“Yes, sir!”
“All right. And you know what happens if you disobey?”
“You’ll spank me?”
“
“I won’t, I promise.”
I held his eye for a minute to make sure he understood how serious I was, then turned back to Travis and winked. He stifled a smile. “I’ll wrap Megan’s set in with the rest of the stuff.”
“Thanks. So, you want to see what I brought you?” I pushed the bundle of tanned goatskins across the counter, then started rummaging through the leather goods Travis had made. There were three leather aprons with various pouches and loops, designed for working the forges, and another pair of throwing knives in arm sheaths for Megan.
Travis ran his hands over the cured goat skins. “Kelley tanned ’em?”
“He did.”
Travis harrumphed. “Man does good work.”
“Yep.
“Lordy, lordy. These look like they’ll fit th’ bill jus’ fine.” At that moment, I was struck by how much the leatherworker’s expression resembled Zachary’s from just a few minutes earlier. “You ain’t got no idea how much easier you jus’ made my work.”
“Glad to hear it. So we’re square?”
“Ah believe so.” He stuck out his hand, and we closed the transaction with a handshake.
“Good. Then we’ll see you next time we’re in town. I know Ken will probably want a pair of boots like these when he sees mine.”
“Well, send ’im on over, an’ I’ll give ’im a good deal.”
“I’ll do that.” I saw Zachary trying to strap the right-hand sheath on his arm. “Here, Zach.” I helped him lock it in place. “Now, let’s go. There’s more to do.”
The next few stops were pretty straightforward. At the first, I traded a pair of razor-sharp eight-inch combat knives with staghorn handles for four automobile leaf springs and made arrangements to pick them up on my way out. Each spring was nearly four feet long, and they would be too heavy to lug around the market. At the second stop, a meat cleaver got me two solid walnut table legs. I figured each leg would yield enough wood to make at least five or six knife handles, maybe more if I could split them straight enough. Without a power saw, that was never guaranteed.
Finally, we got to Sarah’s shop. She greeted me as we walked in. “Heya, Sensei, what can I do for you?”
Sarah was another one of my students. A tiny slip of a girl, she moved like a tiger on amphetamines in a fight. She was also head of the scavenging committee and, as such, was often able to find items that others couldn’t.
“Debra wanted me to see if you have any more of that condensed milk.”
“Yessiree. I have three cans left. Four, if you don’t mind going past the expiration date.”
“How far past?”
She pulled the fourth can out and checked the label. “What is this, March?”
“April.”
She thought for a second. “Looks like four months over then. You feeling lucky?”
“What do you want for them?”
