"What's that you're reading, Cody?" Jimmy Hickok asked sitting down on the step by the blond rider who once again had his nose in a book instead of doing his assigned chores. "It's a tale about brave knights who did great deeds and wondrous feats of valor. See Jimmy," Cody explained seeing himself as a sort of authority on such things, "Knights were known for their acts of courage, skill, endurance and ingenuity." Jimmy just listened to what Cody was saying and pointed to a picture in the book. "What's that they are doin?" Cody looked at the picture and got a big grin. "Why that there is called jousting. It was a contest to see who could remain upon their horse and knock their opponent out of the competition by knocking them off their horse or hitting them in the chest or head." Sitting back after looking at the illustration, Jimmy wondered what the fuss was about men in metal suits on horses trying to hit each other. "Don't look too hard to me," Jimmy stated, eyeing the other man. "You don't say. But it took a certain amount of skill to joust," Cody admitted, thinking that he had such a skill. "Don't seem like they'd have to do more than hold that there stick and stay on their horse." Cody was never one to pass on what he saw as a challenge and an opportunity to show off to his fellow riders. "So, you're trying to tell me that you could joust?" Cody couldn't help but goad Jimmy into action with his words. "Why don't we just see who's better at jousting. You go get the horses and I'll grab them poles that Emma uses to hold up her clothes line," Jimmy challenged his bunk mate, as he headed towards Emma's to grab the poles that were keeping the mornings clean sheets off the ground. "Well, alright Hickok! You got yourself a deal!" Cody called out as he ran to the barn for their horses. Leading the horses from the barn, Cody called over to Lou who was helping Buck with the corral fence that had gotten busted by a horse they'd been trying to break for the last two days. "Now, Lou," Cody explained as Jimmy joined them in the middle of the yard. "When we tell you we are ready, you raise your arm, count to three and drop it so we know to start charging towards each other." Lou looked doubtful as she handed both men the wooden poles but muttered, "If you say so Cody." Buck sat on the top rail of the fence, knowing that nothing good would come from this, when Teaspoon came out of the tack room where he'd been working, another word everyone knew meant napping. "What are those two doing now, Buck?" Teaspoon asked tilting his hat back as Lou raised her arm and started to count. "They're jousting," Buck told the man, not taking his eye from the spectacle unfolding before his eyes. "What?!" Teaspoon practically yelled, not sure if he heard Buck correctly just as Lou yelled, "Three!" and dropped her arm running back to the safety of the bunkhouse porch. "Cody! Jimmy!" Teaspoon shouted, running towards the two but the men could not hear him with the noise of the horses galloping towards each other. Teaspoon grasped his hat and closed his eyes just as the poles the jousters held made contact with each others chests, sending the riders flying backwards off the horses and through the air, to land with a bone jarring 'thud' upon the ground. Lou had closed her eyes as soon as she saw the riders airborne and opened them as soon as the horses stopped, signaling the end of the 'match', only to see her friends laying prone, not moving. "Jimmy!" she yelled as she dashed off the porch and over to her friend's side. From across the yard, Buck had jumped down from his perch and ran with Teaspoon to where Cody lay, gasping for breath. "Of all the foolish things you two have done, this takes the cake," Teaspoon spat out, motioning for Buck to take Cody's right arm as he lifted the left so they could help the rider up. "No...no...don't," Cody managed to gasped moaning in pain, "leave...me..." Lou tried to get her arm under Jimmy's head but he batted her away, not able to speak, the pain was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. For a moment, he'd thought he'd died, but then figured death wouldn't hurt this bad and grabbed at his chest. Teaspoon straightened up and stood looking at the two injured riders, shaking his head in disbelief. "Just leave 'em where they are for now," Teaspoon mentioned to Buck and Lou who were at a loss of what to do for their fallen friends. "Buck, you go get them horses into the barn. Lou, you'd best get those poles back to Emma's wash before Ike brings her back from town or she'll have what's left of these two." The two hurried to do as they were told as Teaspoon glanced at the two riders still moaning on the ground. "As for you two, if you hadn't knocked any sense you may have had into next week already, I'd march you to the sweat lodge!" With that said, he marched towards the tack room once more. With tears in his eyes, Cody rolled over and was able to make it onto his hands and knees. The steps to the bunkhouse looked to be miles away as he started to crawl towards it. Jimmy slowly rolled onto his side and was able to stand and walk with a great deal of pain. "You and your damn ideas Cody...why I should just shoot you and put you out of my misery!" Jimmy growled as he grasped one of the posts on the porch, clutching at his chest as another stab of pain radiated through his body. Cody was having similar pains of his own but with a devilish grin, he asked, "Ready for round two?" All pain was forgotten as Jimmy lunged towards Cody who flew off the porch and to the safety of the barn. So went the only jousting match that was ever held in Sweetwater. Drop me a note and let me know what you thought!