11/07/2025
"You're going to have s.e.x with us," said the three giant women who lived on the farm he bought.
The House That Wasn't Empty
Bon Wigmore had ridden for three days following a trail of nameless roads, his writing scroll tucked tightly into his saddlebag like a talisman. When the cabin finally appeared—a gray wooden rectangle lying across from a dilapidated corral and a ruined orchard—he felt the world was repaying him a debt. Land of his own, isolation, a clean slate. That's what he had bought.
Until he saw the three women on the porch.
They weren't visitors. They stood like sentinels, shoulder to shoulder, occupying the space with a calm that asked no permission. The eldest—tall, with arms sculpted like beams and blue eyes that never quite smiled—took a step forward. The other two framed her gesture: one, dark-haired, with broad shoulders and the gait of a weary predator; The other one, a redhead, with freckles on her shoulders like constellations and a low laugh, closer to iron than glass.
"He must be the new owner," said the blue-eyed woman. The word "owner" curled in her mouth like a private joke
Bon held the deed to his chest. The territorial seal was fresh, crisp, cold. Up close, the paper seemed lighter than his hope.
"There's no confusion," he replied, careful not to let his voice betray him. "The property is mine."
The redhead let out a short, humorless sound.
"We know who you are, Bon. And we were expecting you."
The sound of his name on someone else's lips pierced the back of his neck. How did they know? How much? The brunette spoke, gravely:
"We've been here a long time. We took care of the land. We kept it going when the previous… 'owner'… decided to leave."
The "owner." Marcus Bance, who introduced himself as Mark. The salesman who talked about pastures “that no one knew how to use” and about “good neighborliness.” Bon took a deep breath.
“Whatever he arranged… it doesn’t bind me. There’s law in this territory.” He held up the deed. “And there are signatures.”
The blue-eyed woman stepped down. When she was a couple of paces away, her shadow fell over Bon’s. She was bigger than him. Not just in height.
“The law, here, takes three days to arrive on horseback,” she said gently. “And when it does, it doesn’t ask many questions.”
The redhead pulled a folded piece of paper from her jacket pocket. It had a seal, letterhead, signature, and, above all, a clause written with that dryness that leaves little room for interpretation: “transfer of obligations to any future owner of the property.” Bon didn’t need to read it all to feel the punch in his gut. The paper could be genuine, or it could be a trap better crafted than his own. What was most unsettling was that, even if it were a lie, they believed him.
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve,” he said honestly. “I bought a cabin. Not a fight. Not a… personal settlement.”
The brunette placed her hands on the railing, leaning just enough for Bon to smell the leather and resin clinging to her sleeves.
We want you to be different from Marcus,” she said. “Not to make promises and run away. To work this land with us. To learn that, three days from the sheriff, survival is a team sport.”
The redhead added, her tone tinged with weariness:
“And to listen to us before you judge.”
The blue-eyed woman took a breath. She straightened up and, for the first time, gave their names:
“I’m Elena,” she said, touching her chest with two fingers. “This is Ruth,” she said, gesturing to the brunette. And Magdalene—the redhead raised her hand in a casual greeting—Marcus said the next person to walk through this door would be different. He described you in detail. If he lied again… we'll find out soon enough.
This wasn't your typical threat. It was a test. Bon suddenly understood that on this porch, he wasn't negotiating ownership, but belonging. And that the three "giants"—as he would later call them in his mind—knew enough about loss, hunger, and broken promises not to believe in words.
He clenched his jaw.
"I'm not Marcus," he said, with a firmness that surprised him. "I don't promise anything I can't back up. If I stay, I'll work. If not, I'm leaving today. But you're not going to bend me to your will with papers I didn't sign or customs I don't agree with."
The ensuing silence carried weight. Elena held it with an appraising gaze, like someone testing a plank before stepping on it. Then she barely inclined her head.
“Then come in,” she said. “And have breakfast. Decisions are made with bread on the table and the sun high in the sky.”
Bon crossed the threshold, his heart still pounding in his chest. The house smelled of coffee, clean wood, and humanity. There were blankets, a sink with soap scum, and a map nailed to the wall: the valley, the stream, the line of fir trees, the path north. There was also a cot set up in a corner. “For the owner,” Magdalene said, with an irony that didn’t quite sting.
Papers, Debts, and a Story Longer Than Writing
Between bites of bread and sips of coffee, the story unfolded as it usually does.👇👇