by dcat
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
“I don’t want another brother,” twelve-year-old Nick
shouted at his Mother.
“Nicholas Jonathon Barkley, how dare you raise your voice
to me,” Victoria scolded the stubborn boy.
Nick averted his glance away from her, hoping that showing
disinterest would remove the offending new seven-year-old arrival.
Victoria came up right next to him and took hold of his
chin and turned his face to look at hers.
As she did this, Nick clenched his jaw and let a look of superiority
wash over his face. “Nick, you don’t
have a choice in the matter, he is your brother and you will treat him
accordingly, do I make myself clear?”
He refused to answer. She held firm and wouldn’t let him
get away from the hold she had on him.
“Nick, I asked you a question!”
He knew he wouldn’t get away till he agreed. “Yes, it’s clear.” And he jerked his head and ran out the door.
Sixteen-year-old Jarrod came in from the dining room where
he had just finished breakfast. “Don’t
worry Mother, he’ll come around.” He
had heard part of the conversation.
Victoria still stood in the same spot, watching the closed
door. She took a deep breath, “I hope
you’re right Jarrod.”
“I’m always right Mother, you know that by now, that’s why
I’m going to be a perfect lawyer,” he teased her. It brought a smile to her face.
“Where is Heath?” she asked him.
“He scooted out the kitchen door, I told him I’d meet him
out by the stable. He can’t seem to get
enough of the horses. I’m gonna show
him how to saddle one up and let him ride it around the corral. He’s getting old enough to ride.”
“Thank you Jarrod,” Victoria said, walking over to him and
giving him a kiss.
“My pleasure,” he said, giving her a wink and out the door
he headed.
Out in the stable, the trouble was already brewing, when
Nick walked in and saw Heath petting his horse.
“Get away from him,” Nick shouted at the doorway of the
stable.
Heath shook with fear when he heard Nick call out and he
pulled his hand back to his side and tried to take a step away from the horse.
“Whatta ya think you’re doing there?” Nick hollered at him
again. “I could kill you for touching
him.”
“Nnnuthin’” said Heath, “I’m just petting him.”
“That’s my horse and I don’t want you to ever touch him,
do you understand?” Nick said, hovering right over Heath.
Heath nodded.
Nick decided some payback was due at this point and he
grabbed the younger boys chin, just like his mother had just done to him
moments earlier. “I asked if you
understand.”
Heath’s fear turned into anger and his fists balled up,
unbeknownst to Nick and in an instant later, Heath started pounding his hands
against the older, larger and stronger Nick.
For a second, Nick was stunned and lost his balance, as Heath pummeled
him with everything he had. As he fell
backwards, Heath came running after him and the two of them began wrestling on
the ground. Now that Nick had his
bearings back, he quickly rolled over on top of Heath and pinned him to the
ground and started to punch back. Heath
wriggled out for a second and got in another shot, and then Nick grabbed both
his arms and locked him down tight and hit him several times in the face.
Just then Jarrod walked in and saw the commotion between
the two and raced over and pulled Nick off of Heath.
“Nick, stop it,” Jarrod said, pushing him away. Nick was ready to attack. “I said, cool down.”
“He started it Jarrod,” Nick shouted, pointing a finger in
Heath’s direction.
Heath sat up on his elbows and used his tongue to taste
the blood that oozed from his lip.
“Is that true Heath?”
Jarrod asked him, still holding out his arm to keep Nick at bay.
“Maybe,” Heath said.
“There’s no maybe here Heath, did you start fighting
first? Yes or no?” Jarrod asked.
Nick stood back calmly now, knowing that Heath had taken
the first punch.
“Yes,” Heath said.
He offered no reason or explanation.
No one ever believed him anyway.
“Nick, take your horse out to the corral and saddle him up
out there,” Jarrod said, still looking at Heath.
Nick wasn’t about to press his luck. He knew if the kid admitted to punching
first and wouldn’t explain himself, he’d get off Scot-free. He quickly went and did as Jarrod asked.
That left Jarrod and Heath out in the barn.
“What happened Heath?”
Jarrod continued.
Heath finally stood up off the ground and now he wore a
look of defiance. Jarrod wasn’t going
to get any information out of him.
“Alright, you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. But no riding for you today then. We don’t fight around here and get rewarded
for it. You best get on up to the house
and have Mother take a look at that lip.”
“She’s not my mother,” Heath said and off he ran, away
from the house.
Jarrod watched him dash off and knew he wouldn’t get too
far. Nick also watched from the corral
and saw the little blonde trot off.
Jarrod noticed Nick watching him and caught Nick’s eye. Nick suddenly went back to saddling up his
horse, trying to act as if he didn’t care what happened to the kid. Jarrod walked back into the barn to saddle
up his own horse and when he came out Nick and his horse were gone.
Nick easily spotted his ‘so-called’ brother’s boot prints
in the dusty trail that led away from the main house, but somewhere along the
way, the kid must have left the main trail and Nick pulled up and tried to see
him. No one was in sight. How could he just disappear like that?
Nick decided that maybe he’d run for a well-hidden
area. That’s what he’d do. He rode toward a big standing of trees and
forest area, which was pretty close to the house. If he were in there, it’d be like trying to find a needle in a
haystack.
There was a small creek that ran through the wooded
area. Heath found it easily and dropped
down to his knees and cupped some of the cool water and held it to his swollen
lip and drank some of it down. He’d run
at a full out gait just to get away from all of them. Now that he had stopped, his small body shook with fear and anger
and resentment and pain. “I shoulda
just told Jarrod,” he said aloud to no one.
“Maybe he would have believed me.”
He sat down in the tall grass and wondered what he should do. He saw and heard Nick ride by once, but he
was so quiet that Nick didn’t notice him.
He realized he couldn’t stay in that spot, he’d have to keep
moving. So he got up and started
running again.
In a matter of moments, Nick was onto him. He heard the rustling and saw the movement
and he came riding right up him, blocking him from running.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” Nick said,
using his horse to keep the boy from running.
“Just let me go, none of you want me around here anyway,
especially you.”
“You’re right about that,” Nick said, still teasing him by
using his horse to circle around him.
It was making Heath very angry. “Quit it, cut it out,” he shouted.
“Some cowboy you are, afraid of a horse! Ha,” Nick
laughed.
“I ain’t afraid of horses and I ain’t afraid of you Nick
Barkley.”
Now that made Nick mad.
“Oh yeah? Well, maybe I ought to
just finish what I started?” He began
to dismount and as he did, Heath slapped at the horse to get it out of his way
and the horse reared up and threw Nick for a loop. The horse trotted off a few steps and simmered down. But Nick lay in a heap, not moving.
Heath took it all in and started to run away again. Fear that Nick was dead was the only thing
that crossed his mind and who would believe him.
He didn’t run very far, he turned back and saw Nick still
lying there. He ran back and took a
closer look.
“Nick? Nick, get up,” he said, not touching him, not
wanting to turn him over and see his dead face, like he’d seen his mother’s
dead face. Nick still didn’t move.
He spotted the horse and went over to it and petted him
gently. “I’m sorry Nick,” he said
softly, looking at his brother. He led
the horse over near a rock and jumped up on the rock and shimmied his way into
the saddle and rode off back toward the house.
Off in the distance he saw Jarrod heading in his direction.
He screamed and drove his legs into the horse, “Jarrod,
quick, it’s Nick, I killed him.”
Jarrod, likewise, kicked his horse and met up with
Heath. “What, what happened? Where is
he?”
“Back here,” he spun around and led Jarrod back to where
Nick was.
Nick wasn’t dead, but he was still unconscious when Jarrod
arrived, but in his haste, he didn’t tell Heath that he was all right. Jarrod told Heath to ride back to the ranch
and have a man bring out a wagon. Heath
listened attentively and rode hard to get help.
As Jarrod waited with Nick, Nick began to come
around. “Nick, hey, don’t move around,
we’re getting help.”
“Where is he?” Nick asked.
“Heath went to get help.”
“Not him, my horse,” Nick said.
“He’s on your horse, and he’s getting help.”
“How’d he get on my horse, he’s too little to ride.”
“Good thing he can, cuz he saved your life,” Jarrod said.
“Ah, the whole thing was my fault anyway,” Nick started,
“I’m just angry over all of it.”
“I figured it was.
And you’re taking it out on a 7-year-old, that’s real smart Nick.”
Nick went on to explain the whole situation. Two of the hands came back with a wagon and
they loaded Nick in and drove him back to the ranch. Heath was surprisingly scarce again.
Jarrod rode his horse back to the ranch, behind the
wagon. The men took Nick into the house
while Jarrod went to put up his horse.
When he walked in, he spotted Heath sitting in the corner of the stall
with Nick’s horse. The horse was
unsaddled, fed and neatly groomed.
“Well, there you are,” Jarrod began, “and who did all
this?”
“I did,” Heath said.
“When did you learn all this?”
“Been doing it for about a year now, worked in the livery
in Strawberry every Saturday and Sunday.”
“Well, I’ll be.
Why didn’t you say so?” Jarrod
paused, “You know Heath, you need to start speaking up, there’s no harm in
telling the truth, do you understand?”
“Nobody ever believes a kid like me,” he said.
“You’ll be surprised who does,” Jarrod answered. “Let’s go up to the house and see Nick.”
“He’s not dead?
You mean I didn’t kill him?” Heath said.
“Nope, you didn’t kill him and I got a feeling he’s got
something he wants to tell you too.”
“Yell at me for taking his horse and then he’s likely to
kill me for riding his horse,” Heath said, following Jarrod toward the house.
“I think he might start with an apology, let’s go find
out,” Jarrod said.
“Yeah, and then he’ll kill me,” Heath replied.
Jarrod laughed, “No he won’t do that.”
“Yeah, he’ll get the sheriff to arrest me for stealing his
horse, and you know what they do to horse thieves?”
“I’m afraid to ask,” Jarrod said.
“They kill ‘em,” he said, “string ‘em up by their necks
and hang ‘em.”
“I don’t think that’s gonna happen to you.”
“Too bad, you’re not a lawyer yet, maybe you could get me
off.”
“I wish I could figure out your secret, one minute you’re
as quiet as a church mouse and the next minute you won’t shut up,” Jarrod said.
“Everyone talks a lot when they know they’re gonna get
killed.”
Jarrod laughed again.
“No one is getting killed.”
They opened the door to the house and as they did, they
both heard Nick shout, “He better bring my horse back or I swear I’ll kill
him.”
Heath started to run, but Jarrod grabbed him by the shirt
collar and ushered him into the house.
“He’s just kidding.”
“I don’t think Nick jokes about killing people,” Heath
said in all earnestness.
“Trust me ok?” Jarrod said.
“Ok, I’ll believe you,” Heath answered, following him in
to see Nick. “But if the Sheriff’s in
there, trust me, I’m leaving.”
THE END