The king’s command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it. Those who obey him will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right.” –Ecclesiastes 8:4-5 (NLT)
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“Have you spent all your money?” I asked jokingly. “Bought enough for me to need to rent a baggage car to get it all back to Durango?”
“Hush, but yes, I’ve got gifts for everyone,” Molly replied, then stopped. I almost could see her going through her list in her mind. She looked at me and smiled, “And I’m ready to get out of Denver.”
I chuckled and received a strange smile. “What are you grinning at?” she inquired.
“Oh that first day when you walked in the room. The first thing you said was that it was so dark in here. I laughed, and told you to turn on the lights, and saw you get frustrated when you couldn’t find any oil lamps. I pointed to the switch by the door.”
Molly began shaking her head, and started to laugh. “I’d never seen such a thing. You said it was called electric lighting.” She walked over to the window then and pointed. “That’s the purpose of all those hideous wires draping over the city,” she acknowledged, shaking her head. “What will be next?”
Pulling on the tip of my moustache, I answered, “I’ve heard tell of a person back East who has invented something you can talk into and someone in another house, or town can hear you and answer.”
“No! I don’t believe it.”
“It’s a speaking telegraph. Some are calling it a telephone.”
She was still shaking her head. “Does that mean more wires?”
“I would assume so,” I replied.
“Lord help us,” she murmured. “We’ll be covered with a jungle of wires. We already have one in Durango, the telegraph, isn’t that enough?”
“Molly, I’m afraid that’s the future. Progress they call it,” I replied with a sigh.
She looked at me with a frown, “They’ll be coming to Durango?”
I nodded…
Changing the subject, she asked, “Your meetings with Governor Eaton went all right?”
We had already discussed the meetings and the purpose of them. So far I was impressed with the Governor. He was doing his best to fulfill his campaign promises. It was hard, since he was pushing agriculture as the number one item on his agenda. That didn’t sit well with many who saw Colorado as a treasure chest of gold and silver.
Molly plopped herself in a chair. She looked depressed, then looked up at me, “Do we have to attend the Governor’s ball tonight? I know how you detest those things, and I don’t care for them either.” She paused, sighed, and said, “I would rather be back home with friends. I enjoyed the time with Dave Cook and Mr. McBride, but…Miles…please…”