Chapter 10: Christmas in Town

"Wow, I'm glad those two stopped that varmint from hurting poor Julia," Grace said proudly in a weak tone. "Serves him right."

"That it does missy," Lucky Jack agreed. "Folks like that Finch varmint and Mr. Hanks are so full o' themselves that all they know are anger, hate, arrogance, and impatience. Then they take all that negative feelin' out on those who done no wrong to them in the first place. And that's what brought out the inner fighter in both Flower n' Cassidy when they saw how Julia needed help. Those two could care less bout bein' mocked at by them foolish horses or what Mr. Finch might do to them if he ever recovered. But after the fightin', the girls didn't wanna think bout what might happen to Julia travelin' alone without any proper guidance. So they decided to tag along. They didn't know much o' what was out there, but nothin' was gonna stand in the way."

"That's so sweet of them," Grace coughed a bit, covering her mouth. Her throat still tickled and she tried hard not to talk so loud. "Them being together reminds me of how we set out to save our farm."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, now where did I leave off?" Lucky Jack scratched his chin until he finally remembered. "Aha, anyways Julia along with her travelin' partners decided to go wherever the road may take'em."

In her mind personally, Julia wanted to decline having Flower and Cassidy tag along not wanting to drag them into whatever danger might be awaiting her. But the girls insisted that friends stick together and never leave anybody behind. And like Julia, they were prepared to leave the life of living with Mr. Finch behind. It wasn't that they didn't appreciate being fed and groomed, but it turned out that no one in the barn was fond of them or their sense of humor and kindness. The horses in the stables had always thought they were stuck up because of it. That made the two feel like outsiders on the inside ever since the first day they had to live there. In other words, they were not wanted. All the sheep, goats, and pigs in the other barn were alright, but they didn't think much of anything.

"So the stable boys never liked the both o' yah?" Julia asked, walking in between Flower and Cassidy. "I bet it felt lonely bein' different from everyone else."

"It can be," Cassidy admitted with a bit of sadness in her voice. "Those silly boys thought of us as stuck up and weird because o' our fussin' n' chattin' bout how we wished for a change."

"Honestly, who wants to live in a home where no one accepts yah for who yah are?" Flower added in an unsatisfying tone. "Not me for sure."

"And I never realized that there would be a time when Mr. Finch would cross the line like that," Cassidy was mentioning about the whipping. "No other animal, smart or dumb deserves that kind o' treatment." Then she thought about Sparks and Crossfire. Did they deserve it? Certainly not; but due to their arrogant behavior toward Julia, the things those boys did deserve was a good tongue lashing. "But I must confess, I always thought that dastardly Sparks deserved a good tongue lashin' from us. What a brute."

"Thanks for savin' me," Julia almost forgot to mention. She didn't want the girls to think she was rude by not thanking them for helping her out back in the barn. The pain in her wounds caused her to flinch unexpectedly. "Ugh, my back hurts."

"Oh my goodness, we better get those cleaned up," Cassidy looked down on Julia's newly made scars from Mr. Finch. "Hold still." She licked at her wounds to clean them and take away the pain. But with this many, it may need more than a gentle grooming to heal properly. Flower helped out as well. Then an idea popped in her mind.

"Wait, what if there's a town nearby where we could…nah that's impossible," she shook her head doubtfully.

"No, what is it Flower?" Cassidy encouraged, still licking Julia's wounds. "Whatever you're thinkin' might help Julia."

"Well I was wonderin' if there might be a doctor's office in town where he might have somethin' that'll help heal Julia's wounds," Flower confessed. "It's just a suggestion, even if it might sound ridiculous."


"Helpin' a friend isn't ridiculous," Cassidy said sharply, even though she knew Flower had a good point about what the doctor might think if one of them walked up like a normal citizen. "However, you're idea is a good one. If the doctor sees three bovines walk by his office, he'll likely think that we belong to a wagon rider close by. I'm not sure, but if we don't find a town, then we'll clean Julia's hide at a lake if we should see one."

It was a good plan. Now that the girls were loners, their only option was to wander the outside world until they find whatever it is they're looking for. And there was no doubt that anybody back at Mr. Finch's ranch would ever miss having them around. It would be nice to find a new home on a ranch where all the animals accept them and the owners take great care of them until an old age. But where would they ever find a home like that?

Later on

The three bovines stopped to rest at an unfrozen river to drink from and to clean Julia's wounds on her hide. The freezing water at first shook her knees and body, but Julia eventually got used to it when she felt her sore back decrease from the stinging pain. When she was done, Cassidy showed her how to dry herself by shaking every drip of water off her body. This would have to be repeated every few minutes otherwise the cold air might make her sick. The snow on the ground crunched from each step the girls took by walking without a stop.

Soon they were off again on the trail. To their surprise, a town was just up ahead. There didn't seem to be that much folks wandering the streets. Either they were inside the buildings or just not visiting often today. Because the girls had never visited a boomtown, they were unaware that the citizens were inside a few stores doing some holiday shopping for Christmas. That special day was only a week and a half away. Sometimes a stagecoach would come riding on the streets so when that happened; the girls were smart enough to walk along the street where it was safe. Reaching an enormous sign in front of town it was labeled Wheelbarrow Town.

"That's quite an odd name for a town," Flower stated, although neither she or the girls couldn't read, a bird from a tree on their way here gave them advice on where to find the closest town with a big sign. "But it does look rather friendly."

Indeed it was. Standing out in front of store entrances were folks dressed in the warmest winter garments and bonnets singing songs of Christmas, Santa, and Jesus. These groups of singers were called carolers. Beautiful melodies, played on hand bells, chimed through the air. Each bell had a different ring and would play a different order as a song was played.

Immediately Julia grew dream dazed and enchanted when the carolers sang song titles such as Away in a Manger, Go Tell it on the Mountain, The First Noel, We Three Kings, Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, and The Little Drummer Boy. When one of them became stuck in her head, she hummed the tune all the way to the doctor's office.

"You like the carols don'tcha Julia?" Cassidy asked, pleased to see that Julia was taking an interest in the Christmas season. "So do I; although I ain't that much of a singer myself. But its still fun to listen to."

"And to think I've been missin' out on all this every winter," Julia still gazed in awe at the beautifully handmade decorations, hollies, wreaths, and mistletoes hung on a couple of buildings to increase the Christmas spirit. "It's like I'm in some sort o' dream."

"Look at the window," Flower pointed her head toward a shop window where the girls walked over to take a look at the handmade toys, hand-sewn clothes, dolls, puppets, dollhouses, a rocking horse, a miniature zoo, board games, and wind-up toys. Having never visited a town before, she asked. "What are these things? They're so dazzlin'."

"I think the humans call them toys," Cassidy mentioned. "I remember Mark mentionin' that parents wrap these toys as gifts under the tree for their children to open on Christmas mornin'. Once they're opened, the children play with'em for hours till mealtime."

Passing by the toy store window, the girls moved on to the next building which was the book shop. In that window, there stood books with Christmas novels, histories of The Nativity, and the legend of Santa Clause and where he got his name.

"I wish I could learn to read," Julia sighed, staring at the illustration image cover of Saint Nick. "All those books seem wonderful."

"Well I never heard of any human teachin' a cow or horse to read," Flower admitted truthfully. "Only human children are taught that skill. Maybe its cause they think we bovines don't need to learn that stuff."

"But I sure would wanna know more details bout where folks got this idea," argued Julia, although she didn't mean to do so. "Bein' forced to live in confinement had me dreamin' to get a taste o' the outside world to see what its like. The more I see all this, the more I wanna know."

"You, me and Cassidy all have a lifetime to know bout things," Flower said kindly. "Now that we're free, no whip is gonna hold us down while everything goes by without us. What happened before is now in the past, remember that. We should be more focused on what is now."

"You're right," Julia nodded her head, smiling. Flower had an excellent point. "I do miss my foster mother Susannah, but I guess there's nothin' I can do but try to let it go." Deep down, Julia felt it wouldn't be easy, but knowing that she had two friends sticking close to her, she'd give it a try.

"Don't hold on to the past sugar," Cassidy advised, turning from the window. "Its today that matters, not yesterday."

"Oh I almost forgot," Flower changed the subject. "Hate to spoil the fun, but weren't we still on our way to the doctor's office so he could help fix Julia?"

"Uh, oh yeah good thinkin' Flower," replied Cassidy. "Let's go straight ahead."

The girls passed by the joyously streets where some more shoppers and carolers rang. Luckily a friendly carriage horse pointed to a white painted house where the doctor waited inside. He informed the girls that the man treated both humans and animals whenever possible. The folks in this town depended on him. They called him Dr. Hank Rogers or Dr. Rogers for short. If a human took pity on a stray dog or homeless child, then surely one might do the same for a lone bovine. It had to work.

"If that's the doctor's office, then he must be a fabulous painter," murmured Flower, eyeing the whitish color. "But other than that, let's go knock."

Taking a deep breath, the two friends encouraged Julia to stand outside in the front door as she knocked. Inside she thought that she heard footsteps approaching. The door opened to reveal a man in his forties with dirty blond hair dressed in grey pants, a white sleeved shirt and a black vest worn over. Usually in most other towns, a citizen would often become angry when they spot an unwanted animal on their property without an owner. Rather than be angry, the doctor looked at Julia with curiosity.

"Howdy there little girl," he said politely as if she were a human child at his door. "What're yah doin' at my doorstep all by yourself?" He furrowed his brow. "And where's your owner? No cow should be travelin' out all…" that was when he peered over at the scars on Julia's back. "Oh my, who did this to you girl?"

Stepping out, he stood by Julia and placed his hands on her sides to peer deeper. Evidently, these seemed to be done by a whip no doubt. Having treated many patients, he knew these scars needed treatment right away before one of them caused an infection. Although he understood that cattle, pigs, sheep, and chickens were often raised for food, he believed that humans had no right to treat them with cruelty like this.

"Come with me out back," he finally instructed Julia. "My office is too small for you to enter. But there is a large shed there where I can treat yah. Follow me."

Judging by his appearance, Julia secretly thought she and her companions knew better than to trust a human to take care of her. He didn't seem threatening when he looked at her scars and offered to take her to the back where he would tend to them. Hearing this made her feel nervous, especially when the memory of being taken inside the woodshed by Mr. Hanks rang inside. Would this man help or inflict the same cruelty on her like all the other men?

"Come on girl," Dr. Rogers called to her tenderly, opening the door to a large wooden shack. "I ain't gonna hurt yah. I only wanna help. But I can't do it unless yah come forward." He held out some hay from a pile inside the shack. Julia hadn't had anything to eat in some time.

"Go on Julia," encouraged Flower. "Just follow him inside. We'll be waitin' right here."

Again Julia looked at the doctor gesturing her with the hay, unsure if she should trust this man. But his voice seemed calm instead of angry when he called for her again. So she had no choice but to do as he said. She didn't want her friends to think that she was judgmental of every human being, including the kind ones like the doctor. Perhaps this meant she shouldn't judge before knowing. Leading her inside, the doctor had her lie down flat on her stomach to have a better look at the scars. Using a special healing ointment, he spread it all over the visible cuts which made Julia flinch. Still she remained calm as the doctor assured her this was to help her back heal up. This treatment went on for another hour and left Julia feeling better.