Gypsy

Cody filled his shovel with another load of manure then dumped it onto the pile. He was beginning to appreciate the work, it was something to keep him busy and not notice how dull things were around here now that the gypsies had moved on. The down side of it was that although his body was busy, his mind still had time to flick back to the long black plait and vivid blue eyes that flew with sparks like none he'd ever seen before. He paused half out of breath and wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his sleeve.

"Cody, I'd have finished before you even if I was using a spoon!" Jimmy teased as he entered the barn.

"When did you get back?" Cody struggled to recall the sound of horse hooves and found he couldn't.

"Just now" replied Jimmy.

"Did you see any sign of...."

"Gypsy caravans?" Jimmy completed for him with a sigh of exasperation. "Nope, I came from the other way"

"It must have been Kid that rode out in that direction then" Cody said vaguely.

"Cody! She's gone, get yourself together will ya!" Jimmy threw up his hands and headed outside. Cody followed him, shovel still in-hand, his knuckles becoming white from the strength of his grip on it.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand Hickok!"

Jimmy paused to frown at him in question "What's that s'pose to mean Cody?"

"You'd much rather go for the sport of someone else's girl, even if she is with one of your best friends! That's right isn't it Noah? We've all seen the way you look at Lou when Kid's not here!"

Jimmy spun around ready to launch himself at Cody but Noah stepped between them and nodded in the direction of the Bunkhouse where Lou could be seen disappearing through the door at a fairly rapid pace. Cody immediately felt angry with himself and everyone else, he threw down the shovel and stormed off in the direction of the gypsies former campsite. He paused when he came to the tree where he had watched Natalia teaching a little over a week ago, remembering the sound of her voice, soft and encouraging as she helped the children to discover new skills. She was like no one he had ever met before, so strong and yet so vulnerable too. She loved living but hated her life, loved her family but not her people. He realised that he needed her, her strength helped him to believe in things and her weakness allowed him to protect and comfort her, it was a role he cherished but he admitted to himself that right now she needed him a lot less than what he needed her.

Cody had no idea how long he sat under the tree, his next conscious realization was that the sun had left him and he had missed dinner. He wasn't hungry but he was tired, however he couldn't go back to the Bunkhouse now, not after the things he had said to Jimmy this afternoon. He felt his color rise when he thought about Lou overhearing him, she must have felt awful he reckoned.

"Cody?"

He looked up to see the whites of Noah's eyes gleaming in an almost sinister way in the moon light.

"We all know you're missing Lia but you've no right to try and make everyone else feel miserable too!"

"I know" murmured Cody.

"Right now you need your friends to be around you, helping you get over her, not pushing them away. It is only going to be harder to move on if you have to do it alone" Noah warned.

"I'm not sure I want to move on".

"Come on Cody, be reasonable. Natalia has got a lot of things to get over and I'm not so sure you're that high on the list. You were her friend, she appreciated that but she's not going to come back for you".

Cody sighed, he already knew that. He'd lost Natalia and if he wasn't careful he was going to lose the rest of his friends too. Noah was right, he had to try to move on. He stood slowly then moved away from the tree a short distance before stopping again to look back at it.

"Now what?" asked Noah.

"I was just thinking how much easier it would be to move on if I could cut down that damn tree" he said.

Noah laughed "Next you'll be wanting to burn down Rachel's place because she sat on her porch!"

Cody tilted his head to one side, "No..." he said slowly "Teaspoon's jail has stronger memories than Rachel's house. And I don't think many people would object to me burning that down" he mused.

"I imagine Teaspoon would though! He'd have you riding double runs for the rest of your life and building a new jail on your days off! Come on, you have some humble pie to eat."

Her mother had been frantic when there was still no sign of Natalia by the first lunchtime. When the family had awoken, all had assumed that Natalia had beaten them up and gone for a walk but as the sun rose higher, fear started to creep in. Some of the men hunted nearby for her but when Nicholai discovered his horse missing, her Father began to get other ideas. He had checked the caravan noting that most of Natalia's things were still in place, on impulse he checked behind a panel in the wagon where the money was hidden. On finding one pouch missing he was under no illusion that Natalia was lost, he ran outside to his wife.

"But where she go? My Natalia have no friends" the distraught woman cried.

"She have boyfriend in Sweetwater" came Nicholai's gruff voice.

"Cody" her father nodded in agreement, "We must go back, she be with him"

"Oh my Natalia run away with that bad boy. It all his fault" Mrs Rodnina moaned.

*******

"I am telling you Cody is on a run and Natalia has not been back here" Teaspoon insisted.

"Ah well that is that! Your boy no return from run ever Mr Teaspoon, he gone with my Natalia!" Mr Rodnina fumed.

"Rider coming" called Rachel "Looks like he's back ... alone!"

Cody swung off his horse, his feet barely made contact with the ground before he was catapulted into the horse trough.

"What the...what are you doing back here" Cody glared at Nicholai as he rubbed his chin.

"Where Natalia? What you do with her?" demanded Nicholai.

"Nicholai what are you on about?" Cody was tired and sore and the sight of Nicholai impressed him about as much as that rattler had a few hours earlier.

Just then Teaspoon approached "It seems that Natalia ran off yesterday morning and they think she has come back here to see you".

"I should be so lucky" grumbled Cody. "I haven't seen her since you all left here"

"Do you have any idea where she might have gone Cody?" asked Rachel.

"Nope" the reality was beginning to sink in.

"She took horse and money and go" said Mr Rodnina

"Did you track her?" asked Buck.

The gypsy men looked at each other "No, we thought she come to Sweetwater for him".

"When did you last see her?" Cody asked.

"She go to bed at night then gone yesterday morning" Mr Rodnina explained.

Cody closed his eyes, that was almost two days ago, why hadn't these stupid people looked for her tracks? They would be long gone by now after the rain last night, he want to scream, to hit somebody, fear grabbed him as he mounted his horse.

"Cody where are you going?" Buck called after him, he knew Cody didn't have the answer to that other than to look for Natalia so he grabbed the nearest horse and rode out after his friend leaving the bewildered gypsies behind him.

They had been on the trail for three days and she had disappeared two days prior to that, Cody glanced down at his fingers that he had been slowly uncurling subconsciously to tally the figures. Five days he sighed to himself, slightly more since it was the morning of their fourth day out here.

Buck rolled over and yawned "My left side is numb" he greeted Cody.

"Try rolling over in your sleep" Cody said unhelpfully.

Buck slowly sat up stretching his arms above him as he rolled his head from side to side listening to the creeks of his bones being roused from their slumber. "If I sound like this at my young age I wonder what I'll sound like when I reach Teaspoon's years".

"A winey old crow most probably"

"And you, a coyote with bellyache" Buck returned reaching for his gunbelt.

"The bellyache would be from lack of food" Cody followed Buck's example and strapped on his gunbelt before reaching into his pack for the last of the food that remained there from his run a few days ago.

"How much longer Cody?" Buck caught the piece of jerky Cody tossed to him.

"Till what?"

"Till you admit that she doesn't want to be found"

"Till I find her and she tells me herself" Cody replied firmly.

"You might never find her. You planning on spending the rest of your life chasing this girl Cody? She's a gypsy, she'd never stay still long enough for you to get near her".

Cody stood up, brushing the biscuit crumbs from his buck skins. "Quit jawing and finish eating, I want to get going".

Buck sighed then stuffed the remainer of his breakfast into his mouth, thankful that Rachel was no-where near to see him.

****

Cody almost rode into the back of Buck. "What is it?" he asked.

"Over there" he pointed to an area of darker soil, suggesting that it had only been moved in the last day or so.

Flies were thick in the air finishing off the job left by the vultures and other scavengers. Cody swished them away with his hat and bent to examine what appeared to be a leg bone. Buck ran his fingers over it indicating the teeth marks to Cody.

"Wolves?" he asked.

"Probably" nodded Buck, "they dug up the grave" he pointed to the small mound of dirt that had alerted them from the road. "It hasn't been here long, look at the bone's color, its only been out about a day and not buried much before that".

"But there's no clothes or anything else around ... just bits of bones".

"I'd guess murder, look" he held up a palm-sized bit of bone, "this is a bit of skull".

"Who'd do this to a child?" Cody shook his head in disbelief.

"A child? This is no child Cody. This was probably a woman, this is the leg bone and it's too big for a child but not big enough for a man. I guess it could have been a young boy but I doubt it. Cody?" Buck rushed over to where Cody was standing with an ashen face trembling as he looked at the ground.

"Oh no" Buck bent to pick up the tangled hair at Cody's feet revealing a long black plait, a leather thong fell to the ground.

Suddenly Cody spun around as though hit by a bolt of lightening and grabbed a nearby stick then began digging in the hole from where the body had come. "We have to dig a deeper hole so they can rest in peace". Buck nodded and began to help his friend.

After the burial was finished Buck returned with some small pieces of wood. "I thought you might like to make a cross for her."

Cody nodded and began to tie the wood together.

"Shouldn't we write her name on first" suggested Buck.

"We can't. We don't know who she is" Cody replied solemnly.

To Be Continued...