Chapter 36

Over the next few days Jess surprised Daisy and Slim with his willingness to adhere to all Doc's instructions. Daisy thought it could only be Jess's determination to be pronounced fit for the trip to Cheyenne but even so, it was unusual enough to provoke a comment from Slim.

"Are you feelin' OK Jess?" he asked at supper on Sunday evening.

Jess paused, a portion of Daisy's delectable chicken halfway to his mouth. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked defensively.

"No particular reason but we're just not used to you followin' Doc's orders. Me and Daisy wondered if you were sickenin' for somethin'." He ducked the mock swipe that Jess took at him and grinned back at his partner. "Well, I guess you're OK at that."

Jess consumed the forkful of chicken with enthusiasm. "Sure I'm OK. I just wanna get that trial out of the way and enjoy a few days in Cheyenne with Millie."

"Jess? Mike asked with a thoughtful frown. "Will they hang those two men?"

Jess looked a little concerned at the question. "No Tiger. They might go to jail for a long time but they won't hang. What made you ask that?"

Mikes frown deepened as he pushed the one remaining piece of chicken around his plate. "Johnny Browne's Pa said they woulda killed you if the posse hadn't got there in time. He told Johnny attempted murder was just as bad as murder and they should hang 'em for it."

"But the posse did get there in time Tiger and I wasn't killed. I ain't never heard of anyone being sentenced to hang for attempted murder by a proper court of law." Jess could see that something was still worrying Mike. "What's really on your mind Tiger? Come on, you can tell us. What's troublin' ya?" Jess urged.

"Well, that other man… the one that got killed… when he got out of prison with Billy Aiken, they all came after you. Won't the two men on trial come after you again? When they get outta prison next time?"

Jess got up and went around to where Mike was sitting. He knelt down on the floor next to him and put his arm around Mike's shoulders. "The man that got killed wasn't right in the head Tiger and he won't be hurtin' anyone ever again. Those two men on trial are real sorry for what they done and they helped Slim and Mort get me out. They won't be comin' after me, I promise you Tiger. It'll be all over and done with once the trial's ended."

"Honest Jess?"

"Honest Tiger. Are you OK now?" Jess hoped he was right about Abe and Billy and that they wouldn't be coming after him but Mike looked a little happier and that was the important thing.

Mike gave the piece of chicken another poke. "Yeah, I guess. But why can't I go to the trial?"

"They won't allow you in under a certain age Mike, unless you have to testify." Slim explained. "That means to give evidence" he added, seeing the puzzled frown on Mike's face.

"Well, I'd sure like to tesi… t-testi… tesifly against 'em after what they did to Jess and Millie." Mike said fiercely.

Daisy hid her smile at Mike's mispronunciation. Jess got up hurriedly from where he was kneeling on the floor, turning his back on Mike to hide his amusement. He went back to his seat, avoiding looking at Daisy's quivering lips. Only Slim managed to keep a straight face.

"The word is testify Mike. And you can't do that unless you actually witnessed what happened."

"I guess I can't testify against 'em then." Mike finished off the last of the chicken on his plate and his face brightened suddenly. "Have you finished that chicken yet Jess? We got apple pie for desert!"

Jess laughed at the mercurial change of subject. "Sure I've finished Tiger and I can't wait for a slice of Daisy's apple pie. What are we waitin' for Daisy?"

"It would do you both good to wait awhile and let the chicken and dumplings settle before you start on desert" Daisy scolded but she was already collecting the dirty plates. "Take these out to the kitchen for me Mike and I'll fetch the pie."

When the apple pie had been disposed of, Mike helped clear the dishes and then went to collect his school books together so that Daisy could check the homework he'd been given. While Daisy was occupied with Mike's schoolbooks Jess and Slim washed and dried the dishes and stacked them away.

Slim came back into the living room and placed a tray of coffee and a glass of hot milk on the table. Closing the last of the schoolbooks and stacking them together Daisy handed them back to Mike. "Well, your homework looks just fine Mike. Drink your milk and then it's time you got to bed."

"Aw, can't I stay up a little while longer Aunt Daisy? That apple pie hasn't gone down yet."

Jess was standing in front of the fireplace. "Nice try Mike but it's past your bed time and if that apple pie ain't gone down by the time you've drunk your milk, you'll just have to sleep sittin' up tonight. Now you do as your Aunt Daisy says."

Mike had the grace to look a little sheepish. "All right Jess. Can we have a game of checkers while I drink my milk?"

Jess got up from the rocking chair and taking the checker board from the chest of drawers he put it on the table and sat down across from Mike.

"Come on then, Tiger. Best of three…"

Mike won two of the games and went to bed feeling pleased with himself. Jess went to tuck him in and then he and Slim sat out on the porch talking for a while until Slim admitted to feeling tired and turned in for the night. Jess went out to the barn for his usual visit with the horses. He was looking forward to riding Trav again and hoped it wouldn't be too long before Doc pronounced him fit.

By the time Jess returned to the cabin and finished locking up, Slim was asleep. Jess stripped down to his shorts and climbed wearily into bed but despite being tired, he lay awake for some time worrying about the trial. He wasn't looking forward to having his personal life raked over in public but there was no way to avoid it. The defence was bound to try and make something of his former reputation. They always did. But there was nothing that could excuse what Abe and Billy had done, whatever Jess's reputation had been in the past. He just hoped they weren't going to try the same approach with Millie. He could maybe keep his temper if it was just him under fire, but if the defence attacked Millie…

When Jess woke in the morning, Slim had already had breakfast and gone to help Will and Jim with the stock and to leave his instructions for the next couple of days. Jess had his usual shot of coffee and then got himself washed and shaved before packing what he needed for his trip to Cheyenne. He packed his Sunday best as carefully as he could to avoid creasing it too much. He'd need it for the trial as well as the trip to Cheyenne but he decided he could always get it pressed in Laramie, after he'd seen Doc Ellis.

Jess's appointment with Doc Ellis was for the early afternoon and Jess, Slim and Daisy were to have dinner in town. Daisy reminded Mike that morning that he was to go to the hotel after school instead of taking the stage back to the relay station. She had prepared all that was needed for Ben and the Jackson boys to cook their own meals over the next couple of days and when Slim returned, they set out for Laramie, Daisy driving Jess in the buckboard, while Slim rode beside them on Alamo.

Slim had booked rooms for them at the hotel when he and Jess had been in town on the previous Saturday. As soon as they arrived Daisy unpacked their clothes for the trial and after checking them to make sure they hadn't become creased she hung them up ready for the morning. To her surprise, Jess had elected to stay at the hotel, he and Millie having decided it might be prudent to exercise a little discretion the night before the trial. Further, as the trial was due to begin by 9 o'clock, they could breakfast together early, get Mike off to school and meet Millie at the courthouse in good time for the trial. It had been a real treat for Daisy to sit down for dinner with Slim and Jess without having to cook it first and she was able to enjoy a long chat with Deirdre Robison at the hotel while Slim and Jess went over to see Mort.

By 2 o'clock, Jess was sitting alone in Doc's outer office having refused to allow Slim or Daisy to accompany him. He could hear the muffled tones of Doc's voice talking to one of his patients. After a few minutes his ears were assaulted by the high-pitched shrieks of a small child suffering from either severe pain, abject terror or possibly just a temper tantrum. The shrieks issued from Doc's treatment room and were accompanied by a woman's voice, scolding loud enough to be heard over the screams. Every now and again Doc's calm voice broke through the fracas. Suddenly, the screams reached a crescendo and then abruptly ceased but the scolding continued. Shortly after the cessation of the screams the door to Doc's treatment room burst open and a large and extremely angry-looking woman sailed forth dragging a small, red-faced and equally angry-looking child by the hand. Doc appeared in the doorway to his treatment room looking somewhat harassed.

"What the heck was all that caterwauling about Doc?" Jess asked as the door slammed behind the departing woman and child.

"Come in Jess." Doc stood to one side as Jess walked into the treatment room. "And I thought you were my most difficult patient" he said as he closed the door of the treatment room. "Promise me Jess… that if you should have children of your own, don't ever let them get hold of dried peas, or anything of a similar size or shape. I have just spent over an hour extracting not just one, but three dried peas from that child's nasal passages. Just what the fascination is with sticking peas up one's own nostrils I cannot begin to imagine."

The image conjured up in Jess's mind by Doc's words was so utterly ridiculous that he was seized by a sudden fit of uncontrollable laughter. He leaned against the wall, tears streaming down his face while he clutched at his sore ribs and tried to catch his breath. Doc looked on amused as Jess slid gracefully down the wall until he was sitting on the floor gasping for breath. Doc rarely laughed at jokes finding most of them as puerile as the people that told them but he found the sight of Jess Harper, a man with a reputation as a dangerous gunfighter, helpless in the throes of hysterical laughter so irresistibly funny that before long both men were hooting with laughter.

After several minutes, they began to calm down. Jess wiped his streaming eyes with the back of his hand. "I read somethin' once… someone said somethin' about laughter bein' good medicine…"

Doc took a deep breath. "Henry Ward Beecher… Mirth is God's best medicine… And it is… But not if you happen to have a bad heart… or a weak bladder." Doc began to chuckle again.

Jess hugged his right arm around his sore ribs and gave a grimace of pain. "Well… it ain't true… not if ya got cracked ribs… Please… don't start me off again, Doc."

Gradually sanity began to reassert itself in both men. Doc began picking up the instruments of torture he'd used earlier, putting them in a pan to await sterilisation and breaking into an occasional chuckle. "Would you like some coffee Jess?"

"Nah Doc, I just had a cup of Mort's brew. That'll hold me for a while."

"As you like son." Doc heaved a shaky sigh and forced himself to be serious. "Now… let us get down to business… How have you been? Have you had much pain?"

Jess flexed his injured shoulder experimentally. "Some, but it's easin' off a little every day now. My shoulder's still real stiff though and the scar's a mite painful."

"Take off your jacket and shirt Jess and let me have a look at your shoulder. Have you been doing the exercises I gave you?"

"Sure Doc. Daisy makes certain of that." Jess removed both articles of clothing and Doc began to probe the area around the scar with deft fingers. "Ouch!"

"Sorry son. Hmmm, that scar is still very tender, isn't it? It's a little tight too. We could do with some of Jonesy's special ointment here. That scar needs to be stretched a little more but it also needs to have some softening oil rubbed into it on a regular basis. Jonesy's concoction didn't smell too good but it did wonders for scars."

"Don't ask me to rub anything too foul into it Doc. I'm off to Cheyenne with Millie on Wednesday. We're stayin' for a week and I don't wanna smell of anythin' like Jonesy's ointment for a whole week. Millie's likely to lock me out."

Doc chuckled again. "I can see that would be a problem. That scar needs a little massaging with some sort of emollient though. I'll give you a light cream that I make up for the ladies' dry skin problems. It has rose water in it and smells very nice. I don't think Millie will object to that. But perhaps it would be better if you didn't use it until after the trial. We don't want you wafting rose water around when you take the stand." Another burst of wheezy chuckles escaped him.

Jess hoped he'd have forgotten about this by the time the trial started tomorrow. He had a sudden vision of catching Doc's eye and breaking down in front of the judge.

"When can I get back to ridin' Trav and normal work Doc?"

Doc puffed out his cheeks and fixed Jess with a long and thoughtful stare. "Well now Jess. If you rub the cream in regularly and keep on with those exercises, it'll help to stretch the scar. But if you overstretch it you could tear it and the resulting scar tissue will be even thicker and harder to flex. I think a lot of the stiffness you're experiencing is caused by the scarring. There's probably a lot of internal scar tissue around the muscle too and that is always weaker and less flexible than the actual muscle. It's going to require a lot of patience on your part. Get Millie to massage the scar and that shoulder muscle while you're away. You can use most light oils. I'd recommend almond oil, or the emollient cream I'll give you. Do plenty of light exercise, but don't lift anything heavy. Let someone else carry your bags and no saddling up Trav yet. Come and see me when you get back and I'll have another look at it then. You can leave the sling off now but keep it handy in case that shoulder gives you trouble. I'd recommend you wear the sling for the trial though. It won't make much difference to your shoulder but it'll look good in front of the judge."

"Thanks Doc. I reckon I'll have to be patient a while longer. It ain't easy for me. I've had worse injuries than this in the past but none of them took as long to heal."

"It was the twisting of the knife as it was pulled out that did the worst damage. It created a rather messy tear in the muscle. It will heal but it's going to take time and you may or may not regain as much strength in that shoulder as you had before. Sorry I can't give you better news Jess. Be assured I shall include this in my professional testimony tomorrow."

"Doc, this was the work of Cal Danby, not the two on trial tomorrow."

Doc raised his eyebrows in a questioning look. "And did they try to stop him?"

"Well no, they didn't. Cal made sure Abe and Billy gave me a good beatin' and then after I went for Danby with the knife I keep in my boot, Abe crushed my wrist under his foot so I couldn't hold the knife in my right hand when Danby forced me into a fight with him."

"While you were recovering from the surgery Millie told us something of what had happened but I don't remember hearing about that. I think you should let Sheriff Cory know."

"He already knows Doc. I reckon I've taken up enough of your time. Thanks for all your help. I'll see you in court tomorrow."

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Supper that evening was a very sociable affair requiring two tables to be put together in order to accommodate everyone. Millie, as a major witness was required to testify at the trial the next day but Lucy as well as Tom and the other two girls had also been ordered to attend having made statements relating to the attack in the alley. Monday was usually a quiet night at the Stockman's Palace and Tom had decided to close the saloon early that evening until after the trial had finished. He'd also given Millie and Lucy the afternoon and evening off and Jess and Slim took advantage of the opportunity to spend the evening in the company of their girls. They'd invited Millie and Lucy to join them all for supper that night and Molly had just finished arranging the tables for them when Mort came in for his supper and was persuaded to join the party.

After supper, Jess took a great deal of delight in relating his visit to Doc Ellis's surgery that afternoon. He described the rather large and florid woman and the very vocal child he'd seen coming out of Doc's treatment room.

"That sounds like Mrs. Baines and her five-year old son" Daisy said. "They call him Sonny but I don't know if that's his real name. He is a very noisy child."

"Well, this one sure was noisy." Jess continued with his story and was in danger of succumbing to another session of uncontrolled mirth.

His laughter was so infectious that everyone at the table was in fits of laughter over the incident and they attracted considerable attention from the rest of the diners.

Mike was storing up the details to share at school the next day. "How did Doc get the dried peas out of his nose, Jess?"

Jess pulled a wry face. "I ain't got no idea Mike and I sure don't wanna think about it too much. Doc had some pretty grim-lookin' instruments on his table when I went in. And don't you go tryin' it just so's you can find out."

Mike wrinkled his nose. "Aw Jess… I wouldn't do anythin' as stupid as that."

"You'd better not Tiger. You're on your own if you do…"

Slim was still chuckling over the story. "I can't remember seein' Doc even laughin' at a joke. Are you sure you aren't exaggeratin' Jess?"

Jess shook his head. "I ain't exaggeratin' Slim. If you don't believe me, you can ask Doc when you see him tomorrow. I was laughin' so much I couldn't stand up and Doc wasn't much better'n I was."

"It certainly is hard to picture Doctor Ellis in that state. He's always such a dignified man." Daisy glanced up at the clock on the wall behind the counter. "Goodness! It's way past Mike's bedtime! I'd better get you to bed Mike or you won't wake up in time for school tomorrow and we have to be at the hall for the trial by 9 o'clock." Daisy got up from the table and stood waiting for a reluctant Mike. "Come on Mike…"

Mort got up from his own chair. "I'll see you back to the hotel Daisy. Why don't you all come over to the jail in the morning, say about 8:30. I'd like to get you all over at the hall by 8:45 so I can make sure you get settled in the right seats before the crowd comes in."

Daisy thanked him. "I'll make sure we're all up in time Mort. Goodnight girls. I'll see you all in the morning. It will be a relief to get this trial out of the way so we can forget about the whole miserable business."

Mort hesitated. "Now, don't you four stay up too late. You'll need your wits about you tomorrow. I hear Samuel Lowell is the public defence. He's an ambitious young lawyer from Cheyenne who's fresh out of law school and looking to build a reputation for himself."

"I was wonderin' whether the defence might try and make somethin' of my reputation" Jess said. "I don't reckon there's anythin' he can gain by it though. It ain't me an' Millie that's on trial tomorrow."

"Let's hope Samuel Lowell remembers that…" Picking up his hat, Mort jammed it on his head and tipping it to Millie and Lucy he escorted Daisy and Mike back to the hotel.