The table was full of seated guests, and the food had been brought in before the guests took their seats. Platters of roast beef and and oven
roasted baby red potatoes were passed from person to person. Lucy was seated between her mother and father, and even from her
spot just across the table and down a bit, Charlie could hear her complaints. The meat was too salty, she complained, and she
didn't want so many vegetables. Charlie had been seated next to Johnny, with the neighboring rancher's wife sitting on the other side.
Charlie, who thought that the roast beef was just fine, not too salty at all, ate her meal, answering Mrs. Wilson's frequent questions.
Did Charlie enjoy living at Lancer?
Was she staying busy during her time off of school?
Had she helped to prepare any of the food for the evening meal?
It had been a long, busy day, and Charlie enjoyed her meal immensely. She was finishing her milk when she saw Lucy attempting
to catch her eye from across the table.
Lucy pointed to the front entryway, and Charlie could tell she wanted to go back outside. No one else had risen from their
chairs as yet, as some were still eating, and others, sipping drinks and visiting. She shook her head slightly at Lucy, and
Lucy pouted.
It was a few minutes later, when others were starting to get to their feet, pushing in their chairs, and preparing to head to the sitting
room. Lucy was at Charlie's elbow, impatient.
"Let's go outside," she said.
"I have to help take the dishes to the kitchen," Charlie said.
"I'm sure it's alright if you head on out," Johnny said, as Charlie looked up at him.
"Let's go," Lucy said, tugging on Charlie's arm.
"Okay," Charlie said, feeling that if Johnny said it was alright, then it would be.
"I want to look at that big horse," Lucy was saying, as Charlie scooted up her own chair.
Before Charlie could respond, Johnny said, "No goin' near the horses."
Lucy blinked at him, plainly surprised. "Why not?" she asked.
"Because it's not safe. The horses don't know you," Johnny said, mildly. "And that big one is a stallion that's not all that friendly just yet."
Lucy, being Lucy, continued her objections. "I just want to look at them for a minute. That won't hurt anything."
"The horses are off-limits," Johnny said, his tone still mild, but Charlie heard the steel underneath, and wondered if Lucy
heard it, too.
Lucy took him in, her eyes wide, and then she gave a slight shrug, as if she was unbothered.
"Come on," she said, to Charlie, and turned to flounce away.
Charlie took another peek up at Johnny, who was looking after Lucy with a slightly bemused expression on his face.
"Dios bendito," Johnny said, under his breath.
Charlie wasn't certain what that would translate to in English, but she had a few thoughts on it.
"Lucy's not used to listening very much," Charlie said, quietly.
"Hmm," was all that Johnny said, and then he added, in a low tone, "You hightail it in here to tell me if she goes near that corral, pequeno."
"Yes, okay," Charlie agreed, and went outside, where the dusk was settling in.
Lucy leaped out from the shadows, intent upon frightening Charlie.
Then she reverted to her pouting. "He's mean," she grumbled.
"Who? Johnny?" Charlie asked, instantly on defense. "He's not."
"Yes. I only wanted to look at that stupid horse. That's not going to do any harm, just to look at him."
"He's not gentled yet," Charlie tried to explain.
"So, nobody is even allowed to look at him?" Lucy said, huffily.
"Let's go swing again," Charlie suggested.
"I don't want to-I'm tired of that. Let's do something else."
Charlie searched in her mind for an idea, something to entertain Lucy, though, truthfully, she would just as soon not
have been taxed with the job.
"We can go up to my bedroom, and draw," she suggested. "I have a lot of drawing supplies."
"No," Lucy refused. "Let's-go for a walk."
"Well, okay, but we can't go very far," Charlie said.
So they walked, the pups barking from where they'd been penned, so as to keep them from jumping all over
the guests.
They walked until Charlie, looking backwards, realized how far they'd gone from the house.
"Okay, let's head back," she said.
Lucy, who'd been chattering about the possibility of a new teacher coming, and about how blue Calvin Jenkin's (a boy at school) eyes were,
said, "O, why do we have to? This is the most fun it's been all evening."
"They'll worry, if they look and can't find us right off," Charlie said.
"I don't care," Lucy said, peeved.
"You don't care if your mother is worried?" Charlie asked.
"She's too busy gossiping to worry about me," Lucy said. "Come on." She moved to continue walking, but Charlie stood
still.
"I'm not going any further," Charlie said, stubbornly. "We're already a far ways from the house. We didn't tell them we were
going walking. They wouldn't know where to look."
"So?" Lucy countered. And then, "You're mean, and hateful! I'm your guest and you're supposed to do what I want to do!"
"I'm going back to the house," Charlie said, and turned to start walking back. She was so aggravated with the other girl that at first
she was just stomping, intent on getting back before any adults discovered they weren't nearby. She didn't relish the idea of a scolding.
When she didn't hear Lucy following behind her, Charlie slowed her steps a bit, listening, and then stopped, turning around.
Lucy was, not only not following, but she was nowhere that Charlie could see, at all. Charlie peered down the expanse of road, and then
into the side fields, but the dusk was making it hard to see everywhere.
"Lucy!" Charlie called out.
When there was no response, not even a whisper on the wind, Charlie called out again, furiously.
Still, no answer. No rustling in the fields. Charlie wrinkled her forehead. There were only one or two spots where Lucy might have
gotten to, so quickly. There was the boulders just to the east, and, other than that, lying down on the ground would be the only way
to successfully hide. Charlie was fairly certain that Lucy was too prissy to lay on the ground, getting her dress mussed or dirty. That left
the boulders. Debating on what to do, Charlie made the quick decision and went to the boulders. She tried to keep her steps quiet
as she went, for the element of surprise. But, Lucy was nowhere around the big rocks. Charlie did a second turn around them, just to be
sure.
"Lucy!" she called out, again. "This isn't funny! It's gonna be really dark soon! Come on!"
Nothing.
Charlie gave what would be, to most other kids, the ultimate of threats. "I'm gonna go and tell your folks!"
When there was only stillness as an answer again, Charlie thought that she shouldn't be surprised. After all, Lucy had no reason
to fear that particular threat.
A prickling of unease swept over Charlie. Lucy was being a goose, a pain, but still-
So, she ran back the way they'd come, and stopped, breathless, outside the front door. Thinking of it, she went to look out near
the swing, and also near the corral. No Lucy.
"Well, you brought this on yourself," Charlie muttered, and slipped inside the house. There were folks everywhere, talking, and
holding drinks. Not seeing Lucy's parents right off, Charlie was relieved. She didn't want them asking where their precious princess was
at just yet. She knew who she was scouting for. And, she found him.
He was sitting at one of the tables, talking to Val, a tumbler of amber-colored liquid in his hand.
Charlie clutched at his empty hand. "Come outside. Please."
Instantly, Johnny's expression hardened. "Is she out by the corral?" he demanded.
"No," Charlie said, shaking her head. She leaned closer and whispered in his ear.
Johnny gave her an incredulous look, but got to his feet.
"I'll be back," he said, to Val.
Outside, Johnny pulled the door closed behind them, and said, "Where was she last?"
"Up there," Charlie said, pointing.
"Alright. Show me," Johnny said, with a sigh.
They walked what Charlie thought was the same distance. "Here," she said. "I told her I was going back to the house, and she
said she didn't want to-and so I started walking, and then when I looked for her, she was gone."
"Hmm," Johnny said, looking about, as if in thought. "Should have brought a lantern," he said.
"Do you want me to get one?"
"Not yet. You looked by the boulders, you say?"
"Yes. She wasn't there."
"Well, let's take another look," Johnny said, but after another look around the rocks, and after him calling out to Lucy
himself with no answer, Johnny was still for a long few moments.
Charlie felt the change in his demeanor, in his stance. He was more concerned, she could tell.
"I think she's too much of a priss to lay on the ground. What do you think she's done?" Charlie asked.
"Dunno," he said. "You run on back to the house, and get a lantern, and get Val. Scott, too. And her daddy."
"Do I have to tell her father?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, you do. Why wouldn't you?"
"It's just-it will upset everybody-and her mother gets so worked up-"
"She's gonna get a good bit more worked up if that brat of a daughter of hers isn't found right quick, wherever she's hidin'," Johnny said. "And,
Lucy might answer her daddy when he calls to her. Get goin'."
So Charlie ran, again, back up the same stretch. After all that running, she felt sweaty, and her hair was coming loose from its braid. She went
back into the front entrance, and, since Val was the first one that she saw, she talked with him first.
He was frowning, and he said, "Where are the lanterns?"
Charlie told him, and he nodded, and said, "I'll get them. You go and do as Johnny said."
Reluctant, and nervous, Charlie went to where Scott stood, talking with Mr. Beets, and Miss Lyons. Uncertain of whether to spill the story
in front of Beets and Miss Lyons.
Scott greeted her with a slight smile, as did Mr. Beets, as well. "Hey, kiddo," Scott said, in greeting. He brushed her hair away from her face.
"Have you been running?" he asked.
"Johnny said for me to come and get you," Charlie said, breathless. She briefly told him how Lucy had disappeared and was hiding somewhere.
Immediately, Scott said, "I'll get her father. You go and fetch Murdoch. Wait out front so you can show us where she was."
Charlie nodded, and went to find Murdoch, who was in conversation with a group of the guests.
Murdoch took in Charlie's appearance, and excused himself, and stood, listening, his expression grave.
Outside, again, Mr. Stone was obviously upset, but said, "I'd rather locate Lucy before we worry her mother."
Murdoch nodded. "Of course."
Charlie went with Murdoch, Scott and Mr. Stone, and showed them where it was that Lucy had been. There were lantern lights in the
fields, which was Val and Johnny, obviously.
Mr. Stone called out to Lucy, over and over, as he joined the other men in trooping around the fields. There was no answer.
Charlie began to be frightened. Why wasn't Lucy coming out from hiding? Maybe she'd walked too far, and gotten lost. Maybe she'd fallen and
hurt herself-maybe-
Following along behind the men, Charlie stumbled. In a hole, or on a clump of raised dirt. Something. Murdoch reached out to
steady her.
"Alright?" he asked her.
"Yes," Charlie said, breathless from the pace the men had been walking at.
Murdoch paused. Charlie could see his profile lit by the lantern light.
He turned as if judging something. "I want you to go back to the house. You can see the lights from here. Take this lantern."
"Oh, no, Murdoch! Please. Let me stay with you," Charlie pleaded.
The sound of Lucy's father calling her name, and also Val, and Johnny, as well, rang out across the darkness.
"Please," Charlie said, when Murdoch stood silent.
In answer, Murdoch took her hand in his in a firm grip, and they walked on.
L
It was later, Charlie wasn't certain how long they'd been looking in the fields, calling out to Lucy.
At one point, when the group of men gathered together to talk, Mr. Stone looked at Charlie in the lantern
lights.
"What were you girls doing out here?" he demanded of her, his voice rough.
Charlie caught her breath, but before she could answer, Scott spoke, his voice just as rough. "They weren't out in the fields, Bruce. They were walking on
the road in front of the house. Lucy deciding to hide isn't anything to do with Charlie."
So many thoughts and feelings went thru me right then. Relief that Scott thought that Lucy was only likely hiding, and wasn't harmed. Relief that
he didn't blame her for what Lucy had gotten up to. Warmth at Scott's defense of her.
"Lucy wouldn't just be hiding," Mr. Stone said, and then he seemed to falter somewhat. "She wouldn't-worry us this way."
"I'm sure she's around here," Murdoch said, sounding confident. "Let's get back to looking."
And Lucy was, indeed, around.
L
