Promises of the Lost

I don't own the characters-I just like to hang out with them

Chapter one

Rain fell from the Kansas sky with a ferocity that hadn't been seen in the region in a long time. Wind blew the raindrops, stinging unprotected faces and causing the people unlucky enough to be caught outside to hurry to their destinations. Scurrying across the mud filled Dodge City street, a few determined souls glared up at the sky in disgust before entering the Long Branch Saloon, pausing to shake the wetness from their coats before strolling to the bar and liquid refreshment.

"Phew! I swar I don't remember a storm like this'n in many a day!" said Deputy Festus Haggen as he entered the saloon and strode to the table occupied solely by Kitty Russell, owner of the saloon. He paused to remove his slicker, being careful to not allow any of the moisture to land on his friend, and sat at the table with a satisfied sigh.

"Well sit down, Festus," she said with a slight smirk. Truth be told, she was glad the deputy had stopped by as she was getting rather lonely with Matt Dillon out of town till later and Doc Adams out on a call.

"Obliged, Miss Kitty."

"Sam! Bring Festus a beer would ya?" she called to the bartender.

"Oh, obliged again. Sure is a wet one out thar tonight. I hear tell the Arkansas River's a floodin' out by Cimarron and Garden City. "'Fraid it's gonna git a lot worse 'fore it gits better."

Kitty looked up in concern. "Do you think Matt will have any trouble getting back to town tonight?"

Festus took a long swallow of the beer Sam had brought and paused to wipe his face. "Matthew? Shoot, Miss Kitty he won't have no trouble a'tall. I reckon he prob'ly already left. He'll be home 'fore ya know it," he said, trying to put Kitty at ease.

Looking about, he noticed the absence of his friend, Doc Adams. "So where's ole Doc tonight? He holed up at his place afraid he'll git wet and melt?"

Kitty laughed and shook her head. "No, he went out on a call to the Benson's. Tommy fell out of the hay loft and broke his arm."

"Again? Don't that boy know ta stay outta that hay loft? Or at least stay away from the edge? How many times it bin Doc's had ta go out there ta set somethin' of that boy's?"

"I don't know, Festus. At least…oh, four times in the past two years. His ma says 'he's just a boy and boys get broken bones'." She looked at Festus in speculation. "Uh, how many times did you break a bone when you were a boy?" she asked, propping her head on her hand and looking at her friend with a smile.

Festus glanced up and shrugged, squinting his eyes in thought. "I reckon a time or two. I remember one time I tried ta fly. My brother Jeff tolt me that if I jumped from the hay loft and flapped ma arms real hard I could sail to the ground jes pretty as ya please."

"And did you?"

"Wall, a course I did! Fer about a second. Then I fell the rest of the way and broke ma arm and tore ma best britches," he said laughing as he remembered. He shook his head. "As I recollect, ma arm weren't the only thing hurtin' that night."

Kitty laughed, wondering what the young Festus Haggen had been like; convinced his mother must have had gray hair long before she was due.

Her amusement was interrupted when the saloon doors flew open and a man ran through, looking frantically about him. "Where is he?" he yelled, coming to a stop by the table the two friends occupied.

"Simmer down, Jim. What's wrong with ya?" Festus asked, laying a hand on the distraught man's arm.

"It's Becky. She…she's gone into labor. She…she's hurtin' somethin' awful. Somethin's wrong. I know it!"

"Now calm down, Jim," Kitty said. "This is yours and Becky's first child. Things don't move too fast with the first one. How long's she been in labor?"

"I…I don't know. She started right after supper I reckon. Thought we had time! Then they just seemed to take off. I didn't want to leave her alone but I was afraid to bring her all the way into town with this weather and we ain't got no nearby neighbors that coulda stayed with her. I didn't know what to do! She's awful scared, Miss Kitty. Where's Doc?"

"He's not here right now, Jim. He went out to the Benson place. He should be back soon though."

"But soon ain't now! She needs him! She's sure somethin's wrong."

Kitty looked to Festus, who turned his gaze to hers, raising an eyebrow in her direction. "Well, I guess I could go on out and help her till Doc comes," she said, thinking quickly of what all that would entail.

"Could you? Oh, that would help a lot!"

"Miss Kitty, I'll go harness up yer buggy and git 'er ready. Then I'll saddle up ole Ruth and head on out to the Benson's and let Doc know. I'll tell Newly we'll be gone and ask him to look after the town till Matthew gets back. We'll be there 'fore ya know it, Jim."

"Thank you, Festus. I sure do appreciate it."

"Shoot, think nothin' of it. Ya jes make sure ya take good care a Miss Kitty on the way out there."

"I will, Festus."

The deputy put on his slicker and raced out the door to the livery. A short time later, Miss Kitty's buggy was splashing through the streets of Dodge towards the Kelly's and Festus was racing Ruth as hard as he dared to the Benson's.