A Winter's Tale

(with most humble apologies to William Shakespeare)

A Winter's Tale

The warped wooden door whipped open, and a blast of frigid air swept into the U. S. Marshal's Office. "Marshal Dillon?" The muffled voice of what appeared to be a young boy came from beneath a heavy woolen scarf wrapped around the speaker's lower face. A wool cap was pulled down over his head so that only his eyes were visible.

"Yes. How can I help you?"

The speaker laughed and began to unwrap the scarf and reveal himself. "You can't recognize me, can you, Marshal? It's Johnny Ronniger. I said I didn't need all these clothes, but you know Ma." He rolled his eyes as he pulled the cap from his head.

Matt stood to welcome the eldest of the male Ronniger children into his office. "What are you doing in town, Johnny? Everything all right out at the farm?"

"Oh, yes, sir. Everything's fine. Pa had to come in for supplies, so Ma sent Mary and me along to invite you and Miss Kitty and Mr. Noonan to come out to the farm tomorrow evening." He dug into his shirt pocket and pulled out three folded slips of paper, each addressed in neatly printed capitals to the individuals he had just named. "Our pond's frozen over real hard, and we're gonna have a skating party. My sister's up at Doctor Adams' office right now, inviting him. And we have a couple other stops to make, too." He handed the papers to the marshal, adding, "Ma said to give Miss Kitty's and Mr. Noonan's to you because…well…"

"Because she doesn't want you and Mary going into the Long Branch." Matt smiled as he finished the explanation for him. "And she's right. A saloon is no place for children." Matt opened the note with his name on it and scanned the few lines. "Well, this is mighty nice, Johnny."

The youngster grinned proudly. "Ma wrote it out—said everyone needed proper invites—and then Constance and Maria copied it for each person. You will come, won't you, Marshal?"

"Well, now, Johnny, there is a small problem—I don't know how to skate."

"Anybody can skate, Marshal. We'll teach you. Please say you'll come—you and Miss Kitty." This came from the doorway as pretty Mary Ronniger entered the office, her blond curls escaping from the brown woolen triangle scarf that covered her head. To her brother she whispered, "C'mon, Johnny, we have to keep going."

"We'll see, kids. If I can get away from here, I'll be there."

"Good. And don't forget Miss Kitty," Mary reminded, always eager to spend time in the company of the woman she considered to be the most beautiful person in the entire world.

Matt chuckled, "Don't worry, Mary. I won't forget Miss Kitty."

x

Kitty re-read the invitation Matt had handed her a few minutes earlier. Hmmm…tomorrow's Sunday. That's always a slow night in here. I think Red and the girls can take care of things for a few hours. Can you get someone to keep an eye on the town for you?"

He shook his head. "It's not just a matter of getting someone to watch the town, Kitty. I don't know how to skate." They were alone in the office behind the bar, and he tipped her face up to his. "This might come as a surprise to you, but we didn't have a lot of snow and ice down along the Texas border."

"But, Matt, this sounds like so much fun," she coaxed. "I haven't been skating in ages—not since Spring Creek froze over and the entire town went out there for a big bonfire and party. You were off some place, so I went with Doc and Chester."

"Yeah, sorry I missed that," the big man muttered half under his breath. "And just where did a New Orleans girl learn to skate, anyway?"

"Well," her blue eyes danced saucily, "I have lived a few other places, you know. For your information, the winter I spent up in Abilene was the worst weather ever! Cold, snow, ice for weeks and weeks— and I learned there. Even bought a pair of skates, and I'm pretty good if I do say so myself. Or at least I was," she lamented. "Sure would be nice to find out if I still am."

"That's another thing." Matt looked dubiously down at his huge boots. "Skates. I doubt there's a pair in Dodge that would fit me."

Kitty jumped at the challenge. "If I can find you a pair of skates, will you go with me?" She batted her long lashes coquettishly. "Please?"

"Sure, Kitty, if you can find me skates by tomorrow evening, I'll go with you." He dropped a light kiss on her lips, then turned and walked cockily out the door.

Kitty's sapphire eyes followed that swaggering walk, and she set her jaw. "He thinks I can't do it," she informed the empty room. "The gauntlet has been thrown, Cowboy."

x

Kitty needed to find men's skates—very large skates—and she needed to find them within twenty-four hours. Donning her old brown cloak, she ran across the alley to the General Store, fairly certain she had never seen ice skates among the assortment of requisite and frivolous items Wilbur Jonas stocked, but it was an obvious first stop.

"Sorry, Miss Kitty. I might have a pair of those double-bladed children's skates in the back some place, but…" Jonas shook his head in response to her inquiry.

Thinking to herself that double blades might not be such a bad idea, she thanked him and hurried out of the store.

If she couldn't buy him skates, maybe someone could make them. She ran up the stairs to her room, rummaged in the bottom of her old trunk, took out her own skates and hurried back out into the cold and down the street to the blacksmith shop.

"Kitty, I'd like to help you out, but I've never made a pair of skates in my life. Maybe if I used yours for a model, I could figure it out, but not by tomorrow. Something like that takes time, and we don't have it."

Reading the disappointment on her face, Quint Asper patted her shoulder. "Hey, cheer up. It's not like he can't go—he just won't be able to skate. No harm in going just to enjoy the party, is there? That's what I intend to do."

"I know, but I wanted…." Her voice trailed off. "Oh, you're going, too?"

"Sure. So tell Matt he'll have a friend to sit and talk with." The blacksmith winked.

"Big help you are," she pouted.

Quint smiled again. "Don't worry, Kitty. I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Kitty smiled her thanks and walked away, more determined than ever to find a pair of skates for Matt.

If she couldn't buy them, if she couldn't have them made, maybe she could borrow them. Next to Matt, Percy Crump was the tallest man in town. She hurried up the other side of Front Street to a large building emblazoned with signs proclaiming both UNDERTAKER and FURNITURE.

"Why, yes, ma'am. I do have skates. In fact, I'm planning on using them tomorrow night." Percy Crump answered her inquiry with a slight smile on his usually dour face.

"You don't by any chance have an extra pair, do you?"

He shook his head. "Can't say that I do, Miss Kitty, but if you can't find anything else, maybe the marshal and I could take turns wearing mine."

"Oh, that's wonderful, Percy. If you do that, your drinks at the Long Branch are on the house for…for the rest of the winter. I'm not giving up though, so I'll let you know."

"Good luck to you, Miss Kitty."

Kitty stood on the boardwalk in front of the undertaker's establishment, her breath making little puffs in the cold air. As she tucked her hands inside her cloak, a thought came to her mind: I need to find me some men—big men.

She didn't realize she had spoken the words aloud until a scruffy face poked around the corner of the building. "I know where ya kin find lotsa men, Miz Kitty. And they's in all sizes, too." Festus Haggen rounded the corner to stand in front of her. "But why fer you need these big men?"

"Oh, Festus, I don't have time to explain it to you right now. Just tell me where I might find these men."

Festus puffed out his chest. "I tell you, they be a-plenty of 'em, Miz Kitty, from all over—big strappin' men. And they be all spiffied up…."

"And in uniforms!" Kitty finished as she caught his drift. "Fort Dodge, of course! Oh, Festus, that's positively brilliant. Can you ride out there with me right now, and I'll tell you all about it on the way?"

x

The big red, white and blue flag that flew over the United States military post was flapping in the wind as the buggy drew up in front of the commandant's office. A cold and rigid young sentry stopped them, bayonet at the ready, and then relaxed when he recognized the stunning proprietress of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City. "Good day, Miss Russell. To what does the fort owe this honor?"

"At ease, Kells," Kitty smiled and turned to the man accompanying her. "This is Festus Haggen. Festus, this is Corporal Kellen Murphy, United States Army."

Corporal Murphy ushered the two civilians inside, indicating to the young private warming himself in front of the fire that it was his turn for guard duty. Murphy poured three steaming cups of coffee while Kitty seated herself, and Festus stretched his own gloveless hands toward the hearth. "I presume, Miss Russell, that you have business with Captain Bernard?" he asked as he handed her a cup. "He's in a staff meeting right now, but I can let him know you're here."

"That might not be necessary, Kells. Let me tell you what I need, and you might be able to help me yourself." She liked the handsome young soldier who was keeping company with Hester Ann, one of the Long Branch hostesses.

Quickly she explained about the skating party and the marshal's lack of skates. "So, do you think any of the men here—maybe from some place up north or, or even from back east might have brought skates with them?"

"I don't know about that, ma'am, but I do know about two years ago several of us were posted at Fort Union up in Dakota Territory, and we did a lot of skating up there—so much that I got tired of borrowing them and bought a pair myself—played some ice hockey, too," the young man added proudly.

"Then you have skates?"

"I do, but I'm thinking Corporal Madison's skates might be better for the marshal."

Struggling to control her excitement, Kitty asked, "Is Corporal Madison around? I'd like to talk to him."

"No, ma'am, we were up at Union together, but when I was sent here, he was posted to Camp Huachuca for the Mexican border detail—figured he wouldn't be needin' his skates out there, so he left them with me."

By now Kitty was fairly jumping out of her chair in anticipation. "Do you still have them?"

The young man nodded. "I sure do. You and Mr. Haggen make yourselves comfortable, and I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, Kellen Murphy returned with two army issue rucksacks. He placed one on the floor and opened the other. "Mine are fairly new, so they're shoe skates." He lifted out a pair of black lace-up boots with a blade attached to the sole of each shoe. "I'm not so sure…."

Kitty's spirits fell as she realized Matt's feet would never squeeze into the smaller man's boots.

But Murphy continued speaking. "These are Jack Madison's skates. He's one of those big Minnesota farm boys—been skating all his life so these are kind of old," he said as he reached into the second rucksack and pulled a pair of solid iron clamp-on skates from the bag. There was no shoe, just a footplate, blade and a few rawhide straps. "See why I think these would be better for the marshal? They probably won't be a perfect fit, but I think they might work."

Kitty brightened again as she looked at the skates. "I think you're right. What do you think, Festus—could Matt wear these?"

Festus took one of the skates into his hand and worked the side clamps, which would tighten the blade to the skater's own boot like a vise. "Golly bill, Miz Kitty, I think ol' Matthew's done got hisself a pair of skates. 'Course I'm a-thinkin' it might be best iffen he doan know it wuz me what brung ya out here."

She laughed. "Don't worry, Festus. It'll be our little secret." She looked again at the corporal. "Are you sure it's all right for me to borrow these?"

"I'm sure Jack would be honored to have the marshal wearing his skates," he replied as he shoved them back into the rucksack and tied it shut.

Kitty stood and smiled. "We'll take good care of them for him. And, you know, my invitation from Mrs. Ronniger specifically says that I'm to invite anyone else I think might enjoy a skating party. Would you and Hester Ann like to go? And you, too, Festus."

"Well…I'm off duty tomorrow, so sure. Will you fill Hester Ann in on the plans and tell her I'll be there with a buggy at sixteen hundred…I mean, about four? We'll need directions to the farm, too."

"I'll take care of everything. Thanks again, and we'll see you tomorrow."

x

With Kitty seated close beside him in the buggy, Matt was having second thoughts about his rash promise and admitted, "I really didn't think you'd find skates for me, Kitty. Guess I should never underestimate the power of a redheaded woman."

"Especially not a redheaded woman who sees a chance to get you out in the country on a moonlight date." She laughed and snuggled closer. "But...you won't go back on your word, will you?"

"We're on our way, aren't we? I'm just not so sure about the skating part."

"You promised, Matt."

"But I told you, I've never done it."

Kitty persisted. "It's not all that difficult." She patted his thigh where it rested against hers beneath the woolen lap robe. "I'll teach you."

x

When Matt and Kitty and the other guests from town arrived at the Ronniger place, they found the neighboring farm families already there, the adults milling about talking and sipping hot cider in the cold air, the children either on the pond or spilling across the frozen ground, engaged in loud and lively games of tag and crack the whip.

Kitty took Matt by the hand and led him to one of the many tightly bound bales of hay that served as seats around the rim of the pond. She sat and pulled him down beside her. "Okay, Cowboy, put these on and let's see what you can do."

"Uh, Kitty, I…I'm really not so sure about this."

"Anybody can skate, Matt. Look at all those little ones doing it."

"Yeah, well, they're a lot closer to the ground than I am. It's a long way down from up here where I am, ya know."

"It's not as far as from atop a horse," she countered.

"Maybe not, but I grew up in the saddle, not on skates."

"Then it's high time you developed a new skill. C'mon…lace up my skates, and then we'll get you fixed up."

Still the big marshal hedged as he knelt in front of her and worked the grommets and laces of first one boot and then the other. "Suppose I fall and break…uh…something? I can't very well go chasing after bad guys on crutches, can I?"

"You won't fall. I'll hold on to you." She nodded toward the pond. "Look at Percy and Melicent out there. Look at Kells and Hester Ann. That's how it's done," she said as both couples glided by, arms wrapped around each other.

"How can I be sure you know what you're doing? I've never seen you skate, ya know."

"Oh, now you're asking for it, mister," she teased. Matt pulled the last loop tight, and Kitty stood. "I haven't done this for a while, so give me a few turns to get my legs under me and then I'll show you what I can do." She stepped onto the ice and glided away, dark blue wool skirt swirling about her white-booted legs, matching jacket trimmed in white fur hugging her slender waist, hands tucked inside a fluffy white muff. As she skated and twirled to the center of the pond, Doc and young Mary Ronniger skated out to her, and the three did a most respectable job of twisting and turning and etching circles and figure eights into the ice.

With cheeks as red as the curls escaping from beneath her trim little bonnet, she skated back to the edge and extended her hand to Matt, who pulled her up onto the ground. Mary skated away to join her own friends, and Doc sat down on the bale. "So, Matt, you gonna join us out there, or are you just gonna sit here like a bump on a hay bale?"

"Well, now, Doc, as a man of medicine, just how dangerous to the body do you think this skating business is?"

"Not dangerous at all. It's good for the circulation." He nodded at Kitty's glowing face. "Puts color in your cheeks."

"I shoulda known better than to look to you for support," the big man groused as he gave the clamp of the left skate a final twist and resigned himself to his fate on the ice. Hand clasped tightly in Kitty's, he stepped off the frozen earth and onto the icy pond, legs stiff, knees locked tight.

"No, no…you need to loosen up, Matt. Relax your legs, bend your knees." He did as she instructed and, although shaky, was pleasantly surprised to find himself standing upright on the ice.

Kitty handed her muff to a passing skater and moved in front of Matt, grasping his hands in both of hers. "Now move with me. I'll skate backwards and you skate toward me. Okay?"

Mouth dry, he nodded. "But don't let go." He turned to Doc, "And maybe you better not go too far away, either."

Kitty smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I won't let go."

She glided slowly backwards, holding his gloved hands in hers. He shuffled toward her. "Relax," she encouraged. "Keep your knees bent. Kinda like you're marching. Right foot, bend, left foot, bend. Glide. It's a pattern, Matt—over and over."

Chuckling to himself and swiping his mustache, Doc skated along beside them.

Halfway around the pond, and with his confidence growing just a bit, Matt managed to stop muttering 'Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, bend knees, glide,' long enough to ask, "Where'd you learn to skate, Doc?"

"Can't recall the time I didn't know how. Didn't you ever live any place where there was ice?"

"Well, yeah, I guess…sure, I did. We had ice out in…oooh, stop me, Kitty. I'm goin' too fast!"

Kitty tried, but it was too late. Suddenly the big man was gliding forward faster than she was gliding backward.

"Release his hands, Kitty, get out of the way." This from Doc.

"I can't. I promised I wouldn't let go," she shouted back.

With a panicked look on his face, Matt yelled, "It's all right, Kitty. Save yourself!" as the world sped by and momentum propelled him across the pond and onto the opposite bank where his skate blades caught on some twisted brush and sent him tumbling to the frozen ground in an inglorious heap.

Quint and Festus were first on the scene, having been standing nearby flirting with some of the young farm girls. "You all right, Matt?" Quint asked as he bent over his friend.

"Goll-ee, Matthew, I ain't never see'd no one skate that fast a-fore. Ar' you hurt?"

Matt worked to get his breath back and shook his head. "Only my pride, I think. Where's Kitty? Is she all right?"

"I'm fine, Matt, and I'm so sorry." Kitty climbed onto the bank and knelt beside him. "You sure you're all right?"

Doc skated up and extended his hand to be helped onto the bank. "Let me take a look at you," he said and began examining Matt's head.

"Uh, Doc…it wasn't my head that hit the ground."

"Oh, well, in that case…." Doc grinned and skated off to the other side of the pond.

x

It was full dark now, and all of the children were herded inside, leaving the blazing bonfire and the glistening moonlit night to the couples, both married and courting. As Sam tuned up his fiddle and roamed along the pond bank, filling the night air with romantic tunes, Kitty left the other skaters and sat down beside a very subdued marshal.

"I'm so sorry, Matt." She inched closer beside him on the hay bale and slipped an arm around him. "I guess I forgot to tell you the most important rule of skating."

"Apparently," was all he said.

They sat in silence for several long minutes. Then he spoke into the darkness, "If a fella wanted to try again, what's the most important rule of skating that he needs to know?"

"Never lose your concentration." And then, "Oh, Matt—are you serious? You really want to try again?"

He nodded. "I do, but this time I want to do that side by side thing, arms around each other."

He caught on quickly, seemingly inspired by the nearness of her body, and his long legs followed her sure strokes as they glided across the pond together. All too soon, the soft strains of the slow and haunting "Red River Valley," announced the end of the evening, and the lovers paired off for one final moment of romance in the frosty moonlight.

Come and sit by my side if you love me, do not hasten to bid me adieu.
But remember the Red River Valley, and the cowboy that loves you so true.

The End