Cody felt the spontaneous change in the air’s temperature and mood. It was thick enough to cut through with a knife, and to make matters worse, the wind was now pounding on him from everywhere at once.

There was no way that he could go any further. If he continued on this path, he knew it would just be a matter of time before he, along with his horse, were swept off of the ground and carried away to some forsaken place...never to be found again. Okay, so that was a slight exaggeration in his mind, but it was the writer mentality (churning inside of him), that made him create this horrific scenario.

Trying to put some common sense into what he was doing, Cody realized that he needed to find a place of secure refuge, and he needed to have found it 10 minutes ago. The delivery to Rock Creek could wait, after all, what good would it have been to anyone if he, along with the message, were blown away?

Bringing his horse to a sudden stop, he searched for anything that might provide some sort of shelter. He could at least wait out this storm for a while, until he saw what it had decided to do.

Brushing the dark curls away from her face, Marisa applied the little make-up that she needed to enhance her tender features. She looked at herself in the mirror, glad that she had inherited her mother’s beauty, rather than her father’s saggy blood shot eyes and drunken appearance. In school all of the girls had been jealous of her, and in fact there wasn’t one of the boys that she couldn’t get to fall helplessly in love with her. Marisa just hoped that today her luck would be just as good as it had been back then.

Smoothing out the wrinkles from her rich green dress, she took one last second to wipe the excess lip rouge from the corners of her mouth. “Here goes,” she said, smiling at herself. “Just remember, I’m doing this for both of us,” Marisa placed a kiss on her finger, which she transferred to the picture she had set on the dresser.

She never went anywhere without the photograph that Thompson had given her...actually, to be more specific, it was a sketch, one that he had done of she and her sister, shortly before her sister disappeared. “I miss you, my lovely Claire,” Marisa added before she turned around and headed for the door. Her sister would have been proud of her now, she knew it.

As she stepped outside, she noticed that the sky was just as dark as it had been an hour ago. “Ah, I love storms,” she said aloud, not caring that the few people passing her on the streets glared at her questioningly. Of course she liked storms, now that she was in a place which had staunch buildings and secure shelter. If there was anything Marisa was...it was a muddle of contradictions.

Kid sat down at the table, unable to resist the magnetic personality of Mark Twain. He had stories to tell, and many of them took place in his childhood.

There was something trustworthy and fun about the man...whether it was the manner in which his eyes sparkled, or the way he raised his left eyebrow for expression...Kid couldn’t be sure. He did know that this was the sort of man that needed to come to the station. If nothing else, he would certainly lighten the mood of even the grimmest of circumstances.

“You really said that to him?” Jimmy asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. He too was quite mesmerized by Mark’s charm. Although they had only been in the same room for a short time, he felt as if they could have been best friends, reunited after a long separation.

Mark laughed, aware of the interest that he was now drawing. He had often times thought of being a story-teller, or narrator for a play...of course that was just one more of his many desires. So, it felt good to know that he could capture the full attention of his audience. “Of course! I said to him, ‘look, you honestly don’t know what you’re missing here! This painting project is the greatest of fun, here, give it a try.’ Then, before I knew it, I had successfully lured several other boys over to do the painting, and once they got into it, I left without being noticed. It was the greatest trick I’d ever played on anyone.”

Lou laughed. That was just like the man that she had remembered, full of wisecracks and different ways to disentangle himself out of any situation. She had to admit though, getting someone else to do his work had been brilliant. “You know, they ought to lock you up for something like that.”

“That sounds like something Cody would do,” Kid said, gravely picturing the day that his friend had so generously passed off all of his daily chores to help keep him from fretting over Lou.

Buck opened the door and knocked his muddy boots against the floor before stepping in. The scene before him was quite bewildering. After he had met Kid on the trail and passed the infamous message, he knew that it would be something which would disturb him greatly. That’s why seeing him laugh as if nothing had happened, came as much of a surprise.

It wasn’t long, however, before Buck discovered why it was that he had forgotten the days earlier events. As he listened to the conversations...he found himself laughing, even though he had only picked up on the last part of the discussion. It was like being sucked into a room full of cheerful tale-telling clowns...how could you not stand there without feeling the lively ambiance in some way? Whoever this man was sitting at their table, definitely appeared to be a person with stories to share!

Marisa covered her nose with her handkerchief, hoping that the perfume she had drenched it with would stifle the stench that seemed to hang around the Pony Express Station. She tried to convince herself that she’d come too far to be swayed by the rancid smell of dirty humans and nasty animals. It will pay off, I know it, she reminded herself.

Upon reaching the bunkhouse...she pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper from the pocket of her dress. On it were the specific directions, which she double checked for accuracy. Marisa couldn’t afford to make any mistakes, because this was an acting performance that she knew could only be truly convincing once.

Taking a deep breath, she rubbed under her eyes several times, making them watery and irritated. Her lips were still a perfect red, her cheeks pink, and therefore she knew that the contrast would be excellent.

Slowly and solemnly, she climbed up the steps and knocked lightly on the door. The sounds of laugher echoed through the room, and it was all she could do to maintain her somber appearance. She was about to turn around and give up on anyone answering, but then a young man opened the door...his eyes were teary from laughing, and he quickly straightened himself up when he saw the beautiful woman. “Can I help you, miss?” Buck asked cautiously, wondering what such a lady would be doing here.

She dabbed her nose and acted as if she were pulling herself together. “Yes, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for Kid.”

Upon hearing his name, he stood up and walked over to Buck’s side after giving Lou a ‘I honestly don’t know who she is’ look. However, once he saw her, Kid was taken back by the grace and loveliness of the lady before him. It was hard to suppress a smile, but he could feel a pair of eyes piercing him from behind, so he refrained and kept his face serious. “That’s me. Is there something I can help you with, ma’am?”

Marisa began crying, and then instantly apologized, “Oh I’m so sorry! It’s just that I’ve come so far, and oh, I’m so tired,” she brought her hand to her forehead and feigned weakness.

“Here, let us help you,” Buck and Kid offered at the same time. They helped her to the nearest chair and eased her down.

“Thank you,” she replied, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief. She looked into Kid’s eyes and smiled inwardly. He was going to be perfect, and he wasn’t all that bad looking either...what a bonus! “I hate to bring you this news,” she sniffled, “But you see I...I mean my husband, sent you a message shortly before he died.”

He didn’t have to ask, because he knew who it was. Kid stared at her, disbelieving. “Seth?”

Mark went over to the wash basin and picked up a rag which he submerged into the water and then brought over to her. She thanked him and placed it on her head before responding, “Yes, you see he wanted so much to see you...and then well, after his accident, I didn’t know what else to do! I have nothing left, and since you were his friend, I thought...oh, but it’s too much to ask,” she turned her head away and refused to look at any of them.

“What is?”

She turned back to him, “Kid, I hardly know you...but I feel as if we’ve been friends a long time. He used to talk about you constantly. I know I’ve got no right asking this, so answer truthfully...will you help me find the men that killed him?”

On to Chapter Five

Feedback is welcome!

Fan Fiction

Main Page