Follow The North Star

It seemed winter had blown in quickly this year for the town of Sweetwater. Some were saying that this year was going to be the worst ever. The riders out at the Pony Express station had one and only obligation, and that was to deliver the mail from St. Joseph, Missouri all the way to Sacramento, California.

Christmas was just around the corner and this year was especially important to everyone. Most of the riders hadn't spent a single holiday with anyone who they would call a "loved one." And for those who had shared their blessings with family it was too long ago for them to remember.

Leading up to Christmas was the most hectic time of year for the riders. People with families on different sides of the country were sending greetings and gifts to their kin. It made thier job twice as difficult, but also twice as important as usual.

Since it was the first Christmas the riders would spend together as a "family", Rachel was planning on trying to make it special for them all. She had grown to love the express family in the short time she had been with them. In a sense, the boys and Lou were like her children, and Teaspoon and herself were like parents to them. At least that's how she thought of her new family. It was pretty certain that her sentiments were shared by everyone.

Rachel had organized a tree for the bunkhouse to make the festivities all the more special. As a gift to everyone the tree had hand made ornaments to enhance its beauty. Each one of the porcelin figures had a name of one of the riders painted on it, and she had hoped that it would become the starting of a tradition within their family.

But as usual, things were anything but routine around the station. In a season that stands for peace on earth, and goodwill towards men...it seemed to be everything but that. Working what seemed to be long and excruciating days in unbearable cold weather did not make any of the riders appreciate what they all took for granted. Instead they often were at each others throats trying to exchange their scheduled runs.

The moods were often intense and some of the riders weren't even talking to each other. Yes, instead of a wonderful Christmas of togetherness...the riders had been striken by a bad case of the holiday blues.

"Jimmy, please, you gotta do this for me. When do I ever ask you to change rides with me?" Kid pleaded. "I promised Lou we'd go out today, and then when the runs got shifted I ended up being scheduled."

Hickok tossed his hat off and set his gloves down. He had things to do with his time too. It was freezing outside and the run that he would be taking, were he to take Kid's place, would force him cross near the mountains. He was tired, as they had been working on repairing the corral outside all afternoon, and he desperately wanted to get some sleep. "Kid, why can't you just tell Lou what's happened. I'm sure she'll understand."

"So that's 'no'?"

"I'm sorry Kid, I've been out all day. And I haven't gotten a good night of sleep in days." Jimmy said nothing else but turned and walked towards his bunk. He felt sorry that he couldn't help his best friend out, but he couldn't risk being careless from exhaustion when delivering the mail either.

"Yeah, everybody's sorry this Christmas." Kid grumbled as he reached for his jacket, and pulled on his gloves. "Did you ever think that I've been getting the same amount of sleep as you?" He said as he slammed the door behind him.

Jimmy sighed, plopped on his bed, and crossed his arms under his head to stare at the ceiling. This really wasn't the jolly holiday season that he'd been familiar with. In fact, he was almost starting to wish that they could skip presents, singing, and any celebrating all together.

*~*~*~* "What do you mean she hasn't come back and nobody knows where she's at?" Kid cried out after Buck gave him the news.

He stepped back, shocked by the sudden outburst that was so uncommon of Kid. "All she said was that she was going Christmas shopping." Buck went back to tossing hay in the stalls, and Kid turned and left. He couldn't figure out why Lou would just run off like that.

Now, even more than just a few moments ago, he was determined to find out where she was, or what had happened to her. But then, as he was about to find Rachel and see if she knew where the young woman had gone, a rider began to approach off the horizon.