By Kirsten Page
Copyright 1999
Everyone in the room exhaled at the same time that Rachel walked through the door. She noticed the tense atmosphere in the room and the newcomer that had arrived. “Is everything okay?” She directed to Teaspoon.
He looked at her sadly, how do you tell someone that one of the people you care most about has passed on. Worse yet, possibly even killed. “Rachel, come sit down next to me,” he said softly.
The others in the room sat in silence not knowing how to react. Kid and Jimmy sat staring at each other, in an emotionless and wordless state of shock.
Rachel reluctantly sat down, not sure that she wanted to hear whatever it was that was about to be told to her. It wasn’t going to be pleasant, that much she knew. “What is it?” She asked.
Teaspoon cleared his throat and placed a hand on her’s. “Rachel, Lou is dead.”
The words piercing his heart for the second time triggered a response in Kid, and he went revengefully after the boy that had been the bearer of bad news. He was screaming and crying at the same time. His face was red and his eyes glistened with rising tears that he refused to release yet. “YOU’RE LYING!” He lunged at the boy, knocking him to the ground. “Lou isn’t dead!” Kid screamed the aching pain in his heart outweighing all rational behavior, “Tell me she isn’t dead!”
He grabbed the youth’s shirt and violently let his head hit the ground, “Tell me!”
The man reached to peel Kid’s fingers from his shirt. At the same time Jimmy and Buck came over, calmly trying to pull Kid away. He battled against their strong arms. His adrenaline was rushing with every pulse.
“Kid, sit down, now!” Jimmy ordered, his own eyes watery and his voice trembled. “Do it!” He yelled shoving him down on the bench, and then stepping back to wipe his running nose. His strength was not much better than Kid’s at this point.
Kid lost his composure and his upper body fell to the table. He buried his head in his hands and cried miserably. It was no longer the cry of a man, but the tears of a helpless individual, who for once in his life wished that he could be shot right there. Anything would have been better than the sting in his heart. He clenched his fingers into tight fists, not caring that his nails cut into the palms of his hands.
Buck sat down beside Rachel who’s tears were not concealed. Her head was bowed and her sobs were loud. Noah and Cody stepped over to help the frightened man to his feet. Then, they too sat next to their beloved stationmistress and shed sorrowful tears at the loss of their fellow rider.
Jimmy turned his back to all of them. He hated crying more than anything in the world. Grabbing his clothes, he put them on as fast as he could and strapped on his gunbelt. Anger seething in every movement that he made. Stopping only for a brief moment, he placed a reassuring hand on Kid’s shoulder before bolting out the door.
Teaspoon’s tearless face didn’t fail to reflect the sadness in his heart. He made sure that Rachel was going to be seen to, and then he rose to his feet. He had to take a walk to get away from the depressing sobs and tears of his family around him. “Come out with me,” he ordered the young man who readily agreed.
Before stepping outside, the boy looked to Kid, who’s head was still down, “I’m sorry. I realize how much he must have meant to you,” he motioned to the others around the room, “To you all.”
There was one fleeting moment when they all looked up at him, their tear-stained faces and red cheeks full of grief, that Stetson Cole wished that he wasn’t in this line of work. It was shameful to see grown men cry like this. Inwardly he shrugged his shoulders, Oh well, that’s the name of the business. He thought to himself before following Teaspoon Hunter outside.
Outside, Teaspoon could hear the sounds of breaking glass, and he knew that Jimmy must be trying to run from his pain by shooting at targets. Hickok reminded him so much of what he used to be like. He often thought that a bullet would solve all his problems......emotional and personal.
Cole took a seat next to Teaspoon and couldn’t help but admire the man’s strength. Here he had just brought him bad news, and the older man had taken it so well.
Teaspoon stared into the horizon, “Where’d it happen?” He asked, almost not wanting to know if Louise had died slowly and miserably somewhere. Most of all, he wanted be sure that whatever he had to pass on to the others about what had happened to her, was as filtered and comforting as possible.
“Well Mr. Hunter, maybe I should introduce myself first,” he extended his hand and Teaspoon shook it quickly, gesturing for him to continue. “It’s Stetson Cole.”
Teaspoon was not in the mood for a social conversation, which completely threw Cole somewhat off guard. If his plan was going to work, he’d have to be accepted right away, otherwise killing off the other rider and working as hard as he had to get here would have been in vain.
“Would you mind telling me what happened?” Teaspoon probed once again, his patience wearing thin.
Cole then went into a long story of how Lou McCloud had appeared at the station shortly before dusk. He went on to tell that he was tending to the horses when he saw it happen. A rider had appeared from nowhere, spooked Lou’s horse, and then shot him. Shortly after killing him, he had then proceeded to steal whatever it was that he was carrying in his saddle bags.
He did his best acting job when he told Teaspoon that he had tried desperately to save Lou, and that he did his utmost to stop the man who had murdered him.
Yes, it was an extreme stretch of the truth, and Cole only hoped that his story sounded convincing. He knew very well that he had been the one to strike those merciless blows to the young rider. The trickiest part of this mission was going to be getting them to believe his story, and getting them to trust him with everything.
Finally in his closing remark of, “I’m sorry Mr. Hunter,” he stood up to leave.
Teaspoon rose to his feet and quickly jumped out of the way of the figure that now hastily emerged from the bunkhouse. Kid tightened his gunbelt with one last tug. His face was as cold as stone, and aggression powered his stride. He took off from the porch in the general direction of the shots that were obviously being fired from Jimmy.
“Kid, you going somewhere?” Teaspoon asked as he marched down the steps.
Kid didn’t respond, but continued on his way not giving either of the two men on the porch a second look. He had shed all the tears that he possibly could for one day, and now he was just flat angry. Why her? Why was it her? Why couldn’t he have been the one to be killed, or Buck, or Cody, or Noah, even Jimmy!
He increased his pace with each step. He watched mindlessly as Jimmy’s shot broke a bottle, and then a can, and then a bottle again. Kid, without really being aware of it, began firing shots in the air and splitting the fragments that were being shot out. Jimmy, didn’t turn to see who it was that joined him, he knew. There would only be one other man that would be experiencing the same pain that he was.
Without speaking to each other, the two men continuously fired shots, one after the other, only stopping to reload their weapons. Then, finally after the seventh round, Jimmy looked back at Kid, “She’s not dead, Kid.” The statement almost sounded as if he were trying to convince himself, yet at the same time he truly believed it to be so.
Kid looked over at Jimmy, his eyes still reddened by his earlier tears. He looked at his friend in a confused manner, “What’s that suppose to mean?” He said, somewhat irritated, yet hopeful at the same time.
Jimmy continued to reload, more determined this time that his statement was true. “Just what I said Kid, she isn’t dead.”
A few moments later, Teaspoon came around to the back of the barn to find the two boys. His last parting words with Cole were as pleasant as could be under the circumstances, although there was something that caused him to seriously distrust the man. He needed to discuss it with all of the riders. “Jimmy, Kid, come into the bunkhouse, I need to talk to you.”
Reluctantly they followed him into the room where Rachel had somewhat pulled herself together, and the boys had composed themselves enough to quietly remain in a state of shock.
Glancing up at the approach of Teaspoon, Jimmy, and Kid, they looked for some word of comfort or good news to arrive with them. None of them wanted to believe that she was really gone. So the hope of any good news of her safety remained in their hearts.
“Boys, Rachel,” Teaspoon called their attention as he sat down at the table. “I know how hard this is on all of us, more of us than others,” he referred to Kid and Jimmy who sat side by side, “But we’re going to have to stick together and get through this together.” The older man’s eyes glistened with tears for the first time since the news was brought forth, “I also feel that I should tell you how it was that she died.”
Everyone in the room stiffened.....afraid, no, terrified to know what it was that had happened to her. The hope for any of them to be able to dry their tears in the near future was gone, in fact, once Teaspoon told how she was knocked from her horse, only to be shot by a thief, made the horror of the news rekindled. Their beloved Louise had been murdered. It was not just a mochila full of mail that had been stolen, it was also the precious life of a young woman who deserved so much more.
On to Chapter Three
