As Lucas strolled over the yard the first drips began to fall. Within moments heavy drops slapped on the ground, purifying the dusty air and transforming the dried soil into sludge.

Joe remained under the canopy of the barn and watched the haze disappearing. Lukas managed to join him without getting completely drenched.

"Was about time," he grumbled with a glance up at the clouds. For days they had hung above them, imminent and menacing.

Joe nodded.

Lukas decided not to beat about the withered bush.

"I just ran into Griff."

Joes normally open and friendly face darkened.

"He didn´t want to tell me what happened. Just kept mumbling about falling off a horse."

With his last words Joe gave a cheerless snort.

"That was my fault." he glanced over at Lukas, than he suddenly blurred out.

"A Cougar. Can you imagine? Smack in the corral. I shot it and spooked Griff's horse. He got caught up in the stirrups." Joe interrupted himself and for a couple of seconds stared out at the rain.

"I really thought… "Joe shook his head at the memory.

"He just got up and tried to climb on this damn horse again. We practically had to beat him back here." He breathed deeply and continued.

"With this rain, I hope the matter has resolved itself."

Lukas stifled the urge to rest a hand on Joes shoulder. He could imagine what happened this morning, and understood why it shook Joe to the core.

"He seems to be fine." Lucas said instead. "Oh Crud!"

"What?"

Lucas grinned,

"I seem to have forgotten my towel in the washhouse."

He pulled his leather vest over his head.

"I should go´n get it." He held for a moment and added:" It´ll come out alright."

Joe watched the man running through the rain to the washhouse, and somehow got the feeling that he might even be right

~0~

"Joe, have you given anybody an advance?" Adams voice cut through the spacious living area.

Joe, who let the rain run from his hat shrugged his shoulders.

"Not as far as I recall."

He heard Adam rustling through some papers, a look of frustration crossing his tanned features.

Joe went round the old grandfather clock and came to a stop in front of the great writing desk. His brother was totally swamped in account books, purchase receipts and all kinds of other documents, which stacked around him. Adam had opened the safe and was frowning at a transaction.

"What´s the matter?" asked Joe and pushed some veterinarian reports further into the table, before they could fall down.

"Twenty dollars are missing, unless I miscalculate." Adams voice didn´t leave the slightest hint, that there could be any mistake, not in this or in any other world. He put the transaction back on the table and looked at Joe through grave eyes.

"Who would nick something here?" asked Joe.

~0~

"Griff? I just forgot my towel and – Griff?"

Lucas slid through the door and looked around. Griff´s gear hung over one of the benches to the right, he had eased himself into one of the tubs. Just his knees and his head stuck up over the milky white water. His eyes were closed and his head leaned against the wall of the vat, his nose barely above the water surface.

"Just getting my stuff." Repeated Lucas and made his way over to the water bowl, but stopped, when he didn´t receive an answer

"Griff?"

Again nothing.

"Griff!" louder this time.

A splash and the sound of slopping water followed. Together with Griff´s hectic efforts to right himself, and confusion as to why he was drowning in his bed, and trying not to drown at the same time.

Three quick steps later Lucas gripped Griff´s upper arm. Griff stared somehow disoriented but quickly fixed on Lucas

"I..." he blew water from the tip of his nose.

"Must have dozed off."

"Nearly drowning, that's what you did." Lucas answered and let go of him.

"Rubbish." Griff snapped.

In the following silence the pattering of the rain seemed to grow louder.

"You hear that too?" asked Griff and tried patiently to get some water out of his ear.

"It´s pouring." Lucas answered.

"Aw crap." Again Griff had submerged up to his chin.

"It´s needed."

"Sure, but we won´t get the horses ready in time."

Lucas gave him a severe look

"Enjoy the break."

Griff mumbled something sliding deeper into the water.

"Shall I lend you a hand with those splinters later?" Lucas offered, he had already put up with the inevitable rebuff as Griff very quietly said.

"Thanks."

There was a short break, than Griff asked

"There is one other thing though…"

"Shoot."

"Could you help me up? I don´t know what is in this water, but it's squidgy as hell."

~0~

The train compartment rocked slightly with the rattling rhythm of the rails below it. Two slightly stiff looking gentlemen Ben and Candy sat in the back part of the dining car.

The tables were set up nicely with white linen and silverware, but the food hadn´t arrived yet.

The journey so far had been a pleasant one, the company was informal, even if you could tell that the two gentlemen were used to immobile tables and lengthy after-dinner speeches.

"Mr. Strack, is it true, that this is your very first journey to the west?" Ben asked. He had bought a round of a splendid brand of sherry.

Mr. Strack took a sip from the little bulbous glass and shook his head.

" I have been out here once or twice. Even though I´m in the privileged position of having an excellent overseer occasional inspections are imperative."

Mr. Strack was a middle sized man, with a tidily curled moustache and intelligent eyes. He had already started to go bald, but he took his fate on the chin. He was one of those men who would remind you of neat stacks of goods, a firm handshake and family-run companies in the third generation. This impression was underlined by the matching three-piece suite. Meeting Mr. Strack in a mine was as unlikely, as sighting the loch ness monster in one's morning coffee.

"I see." said Ben.

Candy also took a swing of the sherry. It took all his self-control not to pull a wry face. The taste reminded him of the winter Hop Sing got bored and had a try at his "Bonanza bourbon". Its drinkability was suitable to only a limited extent, but you could start a fire with it anywhere and everywhere, and he had managed to get all the rust of the snaffles. Unfortunately he hadn´t wiped them good enough. The carriage horses had been drunk for days.

Strack´s companion, a tall man named Schmied raised his glass to Candy and self-indulgently closed his eyes while he drank. Candy unobtrusively pushed his glass behind the salt shaker, someone who drank something like that would also likely gorge small children.

Ben emptied his glass and Candy reconsidered his opinion. But he still had to get rid of this stuff somehow. He started to push glass and saltshaker to the table centre.

"How long do we have to travel until we reach your ranch?" Mr. Schmied asked.

"Oh, about two hours with the train, and the same time with the stage coach, towards evening we will arrive in Virginia City. To be honest, I hadn´t counted on proceeding so quickly. My son´s won´t expect us within the next two days. We will have to rent a buggy in the city." He smiled somehow nervous and Candy knew exactly why.

Returning without warning was risky. Returning without warning and bringing guests with them was plain reckless.

The last time Ben came home unexpected a burning carriage had stood in the yard and thirty-two rabbits were on the loose. Thirty-three if you count the one for dinner.

"I must say I´m very much looking forward to getting to know your sons and your ranch. After everything you told us it sounds like a small paradise." mused Mr. Strack and smiled encouragingly at Ben, who had spied Candy´s sherry behind the salt shaker

"Sure, sure, paradisiac." He agreed and emptied the glass at once.

~0~

"Last one." Lucas laid the tweezers aside in triumph.

"You look like you had a fight with a porcupine."

Griff´s laugh was somehow compelled. He had spent the last two hours getting little pieces of fence pulled out of body parts, he would prefer to leave unnamed. They should at least save up the bad jokes.

"Wait, Hops Sing gave me a little...here we are" Lukas got out a can, opened it and held it under Griff´s nose. Aloe, vanilla and chamomile: Griff was able to identify. Into the bargain came around a dozen other scents Griff didn´t know, but would like to keep smelling for a while.

Lucas applied the mixture extensively, not only over the perforated part of Griff´s body, but also very cautiously on the already darkening patches on his back.

Griff flinched involuntarily as Lucas started to gently massage his affected shoulders.

"Sorry." Lucas stopped to view his work," That'll tide you over."

Griff heard him closing the can, he left his eyes closed while Lucas bandaged his thigh.

" I would prefer it if you would see a doctor about this. Especially your neck. I swear I have never seen such colours, and I´m quite sure they should never be seen on a human body."

Griff smirked and carefully turned himself until he laid flat on his stomach.

Although it was only just past two o clock in the afternoon the storm had rendered the sky as dark as night and Griff was feeling dead tired.

The sheets rustled as Lucas pulled them up to his ears.

"Sleep a little. The way I see it, the boys will be back in no time, and after that it will be way too loud in here."

Griff mumbled something, half sunken in his pillow.

"What was that?" Lucas moved closer to the bunk, so he was able to see Griff´s face without having his neck strained.

"I…" Griff seemed to struggle with himself and finally let his head roll back in the pillow.

"Not that important."

"Come on, out with it?"

Griff face became visible once more.

"I just wanted to ask, if you – ah, no it´s dumb."

Lucas remained waiting.

"Would you lend me money?" Griff asked quickly.

"Sure, how much do you need?" Lucas answered without a second thought.

Griff blinked confused by the quick reply.

"Whatever you can spare. Five dollars?"

Lucas chuckled.

"I´ll see what I have lying around."

Griff let his head sink back in the pillow. If he could lay exactly like this for long enough, perhaps his shoulders would forget they were supposed to hurt.

"Dream well." He heard the muffled sound through the blankets.

He answered somehow unclear and the last thing he was aware about was Lucas hand, stroking calmingly over the back of his head.

~0~

As Lucas had foreseen: It took less than two hours till the hands had been driven back by the thunderstorm and it got loud and cramped in the bunkhouse.

"Wait and see." Dusty said, while he shook his coat and immediately got trouble from everyone who had been hit by the drops. He ignored the indignant interjections and calmly proceeded.

" There will be more. I can smell it. This is just a little foretaste. Next week we will be running for our hats, and our horses!" he grinned widely.

Dusty was one of those man, who would like nothing more than to stand in the storm and the rain only to see the lightings dance. With this taste he was pretty lonesome at the moment.

Goliath, the oldest hand and nearly toothless, no not really toothless, he always had them with him, in a sack around his neck. He pushed some more wood in the oven and eyed the thrashing rain through the small window with suspicious looks.

"I like my hat where it is thank you very much."

"That's easy to set up." Dusty answered.

"Somewhere here I have some excellent fishhooks. We attach the rim to your ears and twist everything together neatly."

"I gonna twist you." Goliath growled but joined in on the laughter.

"My old man always said." Jones interrupted. Jones was a huge guy from Texas, who originally was just passing through, meanwhile he passed through for about two years.

"If it´s raining cats and dogs, and won´t stop, you have to hang out something red. At the highest place you can find."

"Something red?" Goliath asked curious.

"A shirt or something. But it has to be red." Jones insisted.

"And that's gonna help?" Dusty asked distrustful.

"Well, it never made it worse." Countered Jones. The discussion continued and got livelier after Jones offered Dusty to pin him on top of the barn so he would be the very first to see the weather swing.

Nobody except Lucas noticed Griff sneaking out of the bunkhouse with not much more than a murmured excuse about looking after Thunder.

Thunder was a Saddlebred, but with his 5´6 foot stick measure and his grey-white marbled fur he was strangely atypical of his breed. Next to this he was an unbelievably devious, shifty beast. Griff had gotten him from the other hands as some joke. They had expected anything but Thunder seeing Griff as the only lovable human on this side of the Rocky Mountains.

Down to the present day he would throw everybody, apart from Griff, within twenty minutes. He already made Goliath climb a tree, after he threw him of course. Goliath had tried to frighten him away by throwing stuff at him. He understood too late that Thunder had chased him up an apple tree for a reason.

In the end Goliath was angry, Thunder ate his own weight in apples and the hands learnt something very important: This carrion of a horse wasn´t only reckless, he was also clever.

In this weather for anybody else to visit Thunders stall would have been suicide. But Griff would have been able to have breakfast on Thunders oats, and get away with it.

~0~

In the interim, Hoss had his own problems. He'd had a funny feeling about the north pasture, and once he and his crew had headed that way, the field was under water up to their knees. The cattle on the meadow were stuck in the sloppy mess and it took them to the early afternoon to free them. On their way to a higher pasture they had been surprised by the storm. One of the horses shied and threw a cursing Jeffrey down a slope and into a huge bush of nettles.

To get him up again Hoss had made his way into the nettles himself.

His oilskin coat had shielded him off against the most, but Jeffrey looked utterly miserable and the rest of the crew were soaked through so Hoss had given up on any thoughts of bringing the cattle to the high plateau. Instead they let them search shelter in the forest.

The fences on the plateau had needed mending all along, and this way no cow would be able to hurt itself on a rusty railing.

Hop Sing had caught them riding in and shooed Jeffrey into his kitchen immediately. As they peeled Jack out of his clothes the real damage showed for the first time. His arms, neck and some spots on his chest where the nettles got into his collar were severely reddened and blistered.

"No Ploblem." Hop Sing had said and started to rub a big lump of curd soaps in his hands.

"What is he up to?" Jeffrey had said beseechingly to Hoss.

"One second!" the cook had smirked and smeared the soap foam on Jeffreys arms.

"Hey, what the ...oh" Jeffrey´s resistant's broke in the instant he felt the burning subside under the cooling foam.

After Jeffrey looked like he robbed the local barbershop Hob Sing had made a fresh pot of coffee, gave both of them a steaming hot cup and made his way to the bunkhouse to: "Stop the pool lads flom fleezing to death."

Jeffrey had sat himself down on the roofed terrace and Hoss had wandered over to the living room where he could hear his brothers discussing

~0~

Thunder was nervous, but who could blame him?

He quieted the moment Griff started stroking his muscular neck. The stallion neighed softly and nibbled at Griff´s shirt.

Griff savored the peace until a sudden sound outside had him on the alert. Straightening himself he said.

"You may come in. I´m alone."

A lean figure slid through the barn window and effortlessly jumped down without causing the slightest noise. The silhouette crossed the barn purposefully, but stopped before Thunders box, as the horse folded back his ears.

"You got it?" the intruder asked.

"Yeah." Griff bit out through clenched teeth.

"I got in real trouble for getting it though." He dipped into his pocket and extracted a bundle of banknotes.

The shadow greedily palmed it and hissed.

"It ain't enough."

"It´s everything I could get a hold of."

"You know what will happen if it´s not enough."

"I know." Griff got louder, but caught himself as Thunder started to scrape.

"I tried alright? With this damn rain we couldn´t finish the horses. We were promised a bonus for every head we make. I counted that in and now I can´t get it."

"There are other possibilities." The silhouette continued.

"I tried. I tried everything." Griff replied.

"Try harder." the figure hissed.

"I´ll come back!" with three fast steps the thug vanished again.

Griff let himself drop on to one of the barrels in Thunders stall. Where should he get this wicked money? Growling unwillingly he pressed the ball of his thumps on his eyes to jam something against that hammering headache. It didn´t really help.

Thunder rubbed his head against Griff´s shoulder and he automatically embraced the stallion´s head.

"You wouldn´t be as dumb as I am."

Thunder snorted.

"But you know, you can always trust them...to come back." Griff leaned his head against the soft fur above Thunder´s nose. The horse stood perfectly still and gently blew in the direction of his human, who seemed somehow dysfunctional today.