Chapter 12

The next morning the riders were up early to tend to the horses. Lou tended to her horse as Kid tended to his horse, Katie. He looked through the stall wall over at Lou and couldn't help but wonder if they were all suffering from some kind of mass hallucination. Maybe none of it was real and yet, he saw technology he could not explain.

Lou lifted a shovel full of manure and spied Kid gazing at her through the slants in the wall. She huffed as she dumped the waste into a wheel barrow. "What is it, Kid?" She knew he was thinking about her claim of being in the future and about Sam.

"I just can't help but wonder what you saw when you went…" he tailed off.

"To Sam's time?" she figured as she walked over to the wall. She peered through at his youthful face.

"Yeah," he nodded. "It all seems so…like a dream."

"Kind of like what it was like." she admitted. "I first thought I was seeing things. Everything had changed so much it didn't look like Rock Creek anymore." she agreed.

He wondered, "Would you go back if you could?"

She gave a slight smile, "Only if I could take you and everyone with me." She leaned against the handle of the shovel, "I was lonely there. Sam was great. Treated me like her best friend, or even a sister. She knew right away I wasn't a boy." She chuckled a bit, "She was more surprised by my sidearm than me."

Kid agreed, "She could use some practice with that revolver." He stepped closer, "Is there anything about the future you miss?"

She nodded, "Flushing commodes."

"Other than that." he pressed.

"Honestly, the only thing I would have missed is Sam and she's here with me now." she replied.

Shyly he asked, "Did you miss me when you were there?"

"I did," she confessed.

He assured, "I would miss you too." He then thought of his words, "Had I known you were gone for three weeks."

She gave a smile, "I know." She glanced across to the stall that housed Jimmy's horse. It had not been touched. "Now where is Jimmy this morning?" she wondered.

Meanwhile

Jimmy Hickok decided to give Sam some early morning shooting lessons. He wanted some privacy and led her behind the bunkhouse to the shooting range. He placed a few empty tin cans on the fence post as she stood and watched wondering just why he was so determined to teach her to shoot like a pro. He walked up to her with her gun belt in his hand. He held it out for her. "Put this on." he requested.

She complained, "I haven't even had my coffee yet."

He held it before her eyes, "You gotta put this on if your are gonna shoot."

She asked rather tired, "Why do I have to do that now? It's not like Rock Creek has a high crime rate and drug gangs."

He pointed with his free hand, "Out there you are on your own, Doc. You need to know how to defend yourself." In reality Jimmy was scheming for a way to spend some time alone with the good doctor for he fancied her.

"You're impossible." she told him as she took the rig and placed it around her mid section. The contraption hung on her hips and she found it rather heavy and cumbersome.

He gave a grin, "You will like impossible." He went to the instructions, "You remember what I taught you?"

"Draw, aim, fire. Got it teach." she replied unenthused.

He gave a nod, "Let's see." He stepped back to let her shoot the can.

She drew the gun, lined up the sights and blinked as she squeezed the trigger, thus jerking the gun and missing entirely.

Jimmy stated, "Don't blink and don't jerk back. Hold it steady."

"I can't." she complained. "My ears are ringing and I know every time I fire this damn thing it will hurt."

"Ears hurt, huh?" he pondered.

"Yes," she cried.

Upon hearing the shot, Teaspoon emerged from the bunkhouse with a hot cup of coffee. He stood in the doorway watching as Jimmy tried to teach the timid doctor how to shoot.

"Try to not think of ringing." he suggested. "Block it out."

"I can't!" she rebutted. "The gun is going to kick and hurt my ears. It's like a reaction now. I hit the can yesterday but I know it's gonna make my ears ring badly."

Teaspoon casually walked up, "What seems to be the problem, Doc?" he asked her.

"I'm blinking and jerking the gun as I squeeze the trigger. I know it's gonna make my ears ring and I'm dreading it." She kicked herself, "I was able to hit it yesterday. Now, I'm flinching."

"That can happen." he assured. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cotton ball. He pulled it in half and then kneaded it in his fingers. He then reached up and placed the handmade ear plug in each ear. "Try that." he instructed.

She reached up with her finger and felt the plug. She felt stupid for just a moment as she never thought to use cotton to make herself ear plugs. She turned as Teaspoon took a step back, aimed and fired, hitting the can dead on. She found the noise didn't bother her as much. She holstered the gun and turned back to Teaspoon. She removed the plugs, "I should have thought of this myself. Thank you," she gave him a warm smile.

"Some are just more sensitive to the ringing." he agreed. "Besides, least I can do after you fixed my toe." He looked to Jimmy, "Don't you have some chores to tend to, Hickok?"

"I'm getting to 'em." he assured. "Just that Sam here needs to more shooting time. It's dangerous out there."

"I can teach Sam my little bag of tricks. You got some work to do." he replied as he realized Jimmy took a liking to Sam and wanted to spend alone with her.

He gave a heavy sigh, "I'll go do the chores." He marched off a bit peeved but also knew Teaspoon could teach her what she needed to know.

Teaspoon cocked an eye as he watched Jimmy storm away. He gave a heavy sigh and figured, "That boy seems to fancy you a bit too much, Doc."

She gave a cockeyed look, "You mean he likes me…likes me?"

He informed, "He fancies ya. Hickok ain't the kind of man to give private shooting lessons unless he fancies ya."

She drew in a deep breath. James Butler Hickok was a legend. He was still famous even in her time. His name would live on in infamy long after he was gone. She stood in shock as she realized the legend had a crush on her. "This isn't good." she gulped.

"You are a bit older than him." Teaspoon figured for an older woman with a younger man was someone for the town to gossip about.

"No, that's not it." she shook her head. "He's James Butler Hickok."

Teaspoon gave a nod, "That's his full name."

"No," she grew frustrated, "he's like famous. Really famous! He's a legend."

"Hickok?" he asked surprised. "How is Hickok a legend?"

She explained, "He's a famous historical figure. Like George Washington, Banjarmasin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln." she rattled off names that was from a time that Teaspoon would recognize. "He's like Elvis…if Elvis was a gunfighter."

He asked confused, "Who is…Elvis?"

"Never mind," she shook her head. "What do I do? He's a legend. I can't disrupt the timeline. Can I? I mean Marty McFly did it in Back to the Future but that was just a movie."

The man asked even more baffled, "Who is Marty McFly?"

"It doesn't matter." she assured. "Jimmy has a thing for me and I can't change his future. You know what I mean? I'm not part of it."

He replied, "I don't know what Jimmy's future holds."

She winced, "I do know. He's a legend. Heck, in a hundred a sixty years from now he's still a household name. His name is in the history books. Him along with Williamson F. Cody. Those two are legendary." She admitted, "It's weird meeting him in person like this. He's not what I imagined he would be like. Heck, if he wasn't Wild Bill Hickok, I would date him in a heartbeat."

"That dime novel." Teaspoon recalled the name. "It's just a tale."

"He ends up using that name eventually." she insisted. "Though…" she tailed off in thought.

"Though?" he asked.

"He looks a lot different without the mustache." she informed. "Then again the pictures are all black and white so features can look a bit off."

"Mustache?" he asked.

"In all the photos that I have seen of James Butler Hickok he has the long hair and a mustache." she informed. "Of course he's younger now than he was in those photos. Those pictures will be taken in the future when he becomes more famous. They will be placed in text books and online."

"Online?" he asked unsure what she meant.

She let out a deep sigh and hung her head low, "I cannot alter his future. I have to distance myself from him."

"I suppose you have to do what you feel is right, Doc." he replied though a bit confused about the references she made.

Short Time Later

Soon the boys with Lou all gathered in the bunkhouse for breakfast. Buck was due to return from his run and Sam wondered what he knew of the Skinwalker legends. She planned on asking him once he returned through Teaspoon seemed to know much as well. She began to wonder if perhaps there was something to old tales after all.

Jimmy took a seat next to Sam who sat beside Lou out of habit. She found him sitting rather close to her and normally she wouldn't think much of it but Teaspoon had pointed out that he seemed to like her for more than just a friend. She began to feel uncomfortable. She immediately slid closer to Lou and took a few deep breaths to calm herself as she began to worry that she alone would alter history by engaging in a romance with a famous gunfighter.

Jimmy noticed she slid away from him on the bench seat. He didn't like the feeling of rejection and couldn't understand what he did to make her not want to sit by him. He took a whiff of himself to see if he smelled like manure. He didn't. Matter of fact he took extra time with his sponge bath that morning and made sure he smelled better than normal.

Lou noticed Sam was right on top of her. She nudge, "Can I have some room?"

She scooted a little, "Sorry."

Lou whispered, "What is wrong with you this morning?" She knew Sam well enough to know she was acting strange.

"Nothing," she winced again.

"What is it?" Lou pressed.

She shook her head, "It's nothing. Just Jimmy…" she bit lip tight and decided to not say anything else.

Lou looked at Jimmy and wondered just what happened during chores. He tended to his horse late and seemed agitated. She wondered if Jimmy made a pass at Sam for she knew he fancied her. She decided to confront him after breakfast for she wasn't about to let anyone, not even James Butler Hickok make her future granddaughter uncomfortable. Sam was kin for Lou. Jimmy was like family and she adored him but she drew a line with Sam.

Teaspoon sat at the head of the table as Rachel walked in with breakfast for the riders. She immediately started to tend to her job and dish out the biscuits and eggs with gravy. "Morning Teaspoon, boys…" she glanced to Sam, "Doc."

"Morning Rachel," Billy replied with a gleam in his eye and very hungry. He had his fork in his hand and was ready to eat.

Teaspoon greeted, "Good morning, Rachel." His feasted on the food for everyone was hungry after doing chores.

Sam soon found her plate full of very hearty food. She was used to cold cereal in the morning followed by a light snack, then lunch, another light snack, then dinner and a dessert before bed. It was a routine like clockwork for her. Only time her meals got interrupted is for a medical emergency. She looked at the rich food before her. She soured, "I'm not sure I can eat this."

Rachel paused as all eyes fell on Sam. "Is there something wrong with my cooking?"

"No, it's great it's just I'm not use to such a heavy meal." she tried to explain.

Lou recalled the light breakfast of the future. She stated, "You are gonna need that out here, Sam. You won't get another meal until supper time."

"When is supper again?" she asked Lou.

"Seven," she told her. "We don't have that fancy Cheerio's stuff and you won't have time to eat a salad…if you can even find lettuce this time of year. We only eat two times a day, not…all day…" she recalled that in the future it seemed that many people just ate all day long.

"I better force it down then." she figured and pulled the plate closer.

Billy asked, "In the future folks eat all day long?"

Lou nodded, "Like cattle! Never seen much food in all my life. Sam here took me to a grocery store. Nothing but food for as far as the eye could see. All kinds of food too." She began to dig into her breakfast.

Curiously Billy asked, "What kind of food?"

"Food from all over. You walk into this store and you find: bananas, apples, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, asparagus…"

"Brussels sprouts," Sam added for it was her favorite vegetable.

"And all kinds of fruit," Lou recalled. "Then you walk into an area with a huge shelf filled with nothing but bread of all kinds. Fresh bread, bread that was sliced and in bags, muffins, donuts, bagels…which seemed mighty popular." She recalled her experience, "Then we walked into the butcher department in this huge store and there is this big long case that had packages of meat. All kinds of meat. Beef, steaks, roast, pork of every cut, bacon, chicken, some whole and some cut up. Some chicken cut just right with skin and bone removed and ready to be cooked. They had fish and seafood but not as much as the others. And this long open case keeps everything cold. It's called 'refrigerated'. Then you find another long case but this was of meat that was already cooked and they called it 'cold cuts'. There you find cheese and milk in jugs that is cold. There was this section of something called 'yogurt' that is actually very good and then they have an area called the 'freezer' that keeps things frozen. It had ice cream. Not just the ice cream we made but all kinds of ice cream. I like the strawberry ice cream. And in the middle of this huge store are isles of food that is in boxes, cans and jars. Everything imaginable. Sam would buy this box filled with stuff they called cereal. Not the hot cereals you feed babies. They had cereals for grownups and children. Sam would buy bran flakes with raisins, this cereal shaped like an O and flakes of corn. You add cold milk to it and you eat it cold. I would eat the corn flakes with a banana sliced in it with milk and it was good, kind of sweet though. Sometimes we would eat eggs and toast for breakfast too." She pondered, "In the future we ate a light breakfast because you would eat more at noon and then a supper later. Lunch is a popular time to eat in Sam's time. We also would go out for lunch a lot. I had this thing called a burger and fries. It was ground up beef, shaped like a flat meatball and cooked. It was placed hot on a bread roll with a slice of cheese and a pickle slice with this red stuff called 'ketchup' and this yellow stuff they called 'mustard'. Nothing much like what we got but a bit similar. They called it a 'cheeseburger'. The fries were made of potato that was cut into sticks and deep fried. They were real crispy outside but soft inside. Ya dip it in ketchup. Kind of salty."

Sam mentioned, "Don't forget the pizza and wings."

Lou's face lit up as she recalled, "They bring right ya. It's a big round flat bread with tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni. The wings are chicken wings with this sweet tangy sauce called 'barbeque' sauce. That was real good too. And they had thing called Coca-cola. Sam would not let me get too much of that. It was very sweet and filled with bubbles. You drink it!"

Rachel stood perplexed, "You have this food in the future but you don't eat a good, hearty breakfast. You eat cereal! Stuff we feed babies and invalids."

Lou stated, "The cereal in the future is crunch, not mushy. They do have baby cereal that is like what we know. It's comes in a box from a place called Gerber. I saw some in the store. They have a whole section just for babies. They sell diapers that you throw away. The store had everything you can possible think of and then some."

Sam took a bite of the food before her. It was savory and tasted ever so good. "Mmm," she perked up. "This is really good. I thought it would taste real heavy."

Rachel stood pleased, "So you like my cooking."

She nodded and ate some more, "Man this way better than McDonald's."

Lou scolded, "Anything is better than that place. That food was not food. I don't know what it was but it was not food."

She agreed, "Fillers." She took a sip of the coffee and nodded in approval, "Pretty good." She threw Lou a gin, "But you liked McDonald's coffee."

"Only thing that was food." she huffed.

Rachel figured, "So in the future they have all this food, so much food a body can eat all day long but my cooking is better?"

Sam nodded, "This really good! I don't know what it is but it just taste way better. Better than I thought it would taste." She pondered what could be the difference. "The biscuits taste better than what we have in the future. So does the gravy."

Lou had to agree, "The biscuits you get in at the store are not as good as Rachel's."

Sam figured, "It's all made from scratch. No preservatives and stuff. This is real butter in these biscuits."

Rachel stated, "We're running low on tallow. Have a list for the boys to get some thing in town today."

"Tallow is what?" Sam asked.

Lou stated, "Like shortening."

"You mean Crisco?" she asked.

She soured, "But not that stuff."

"Oh," she debated. "You guys eat less food but it taste better than what we eat in the future." she figured.

Rachel stated, "I suppose if a body will graze all day like cattle then you don't need much for good food. Just hay!"

Sam gasped as she sat beside herself, "We're being fed like cattle."

Lou had to agree, "But the ice cream is good though."