AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow to all the readers in the USA! It's one of my favorite holidays.

In addition to tomorrow, today is a noteworthy day in my personal realm. Today marks exactly ONE YEAR since I published the first chapter of this tale, The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier.

I know I haven't regularly updated this cowboy story, but I do promise to finish it at some point. To those of you who are authors as well as readers: don't your stories feel almost like they are your children? You struggle and sweat to raise/write them, and when they are grown/completed, you simultaneously feel satisfied and sad? I kinda feel like that with my stories, so rest assured that I'm gonna keep going with this one, too!

I wish to extend a shoutout to ShinyShiny9, who this week is marking the one-year anniversary of her story, The Fantastic Mr. Walker.

A big howdy goes to janeabigail01, who recently faved me as an author and who also faved my first cowboy yarn, The Fire Within a Ninjago Cowboy. Thank you so much!

And I am thankful to StoryMaker7, MasterofCupcakes, lovesgod12, MMM, Naruby7, and WalrusWins257 for your Chapter 31 comments. I love them all!

In the chapter below, readers of my story The Fire Within: The Fire Witch Incident may recognize that I included a whiff of that story's Chapter 4, in which Sam learns that Kai is missing and Lloyd comforts her.

As you can tell from the chapter title below, the mood of the Garmadon Ranch residents is not an upbeat one by the chapter's end...


Chapter 32 - November Sorrow

The third week in November...

As had been done for the last few weekly errand runs, the Garmadon Ranch's housekeeper, Miss Gayle, had driven herself and Mr. Wu into Ninjago Town today using the carriage.

Sam remained at the ranch, not only to keep the pregnant and bedridden Nya company, but also because her own pregnancy was causing her to constantly feel fatigued.

Miss Gayle had dropped off Mr. Wu at Doc Julien's red brick bungalow on the corner of Main and First, where the kind doctor practiced medicine on the lower level and lived on the upper level with his wife of one year, the former Misako Garmadon. Doc was going to take a look at the ranch owner's broken ankle, to see how the healing process was progressing.

Mr. Wu planned to stay at the physician's office until Miss Gayle returned from her shopping to retrieve him there, after which they would go to the telegraph office to obtain any telegrams for Garmadon Ranch residents, as well as to learn the latest news regarding the war.

The housekeeper finished up her shopping at Ninjago Town's general store. After loading her packages in the back of the carriage, she adjusted her scarf to keep warm against the blustery breeze of the gray, cloudy afternoon. She climbed up into the carriage and urged Mr. Wu's horse toward the physician's office.

As she rode along, she silently noted that the yellow bunting on the Main Street storefronts, which had hung proudly and cheerily in the spring, now flapped like torn and dirty rags in the chilly wind.

But the most disturbing sight awaited the housekeeper as she passed the McAllister Saloon. She spotted Mr. Wu sitting on the curb with his crutches scattered around him. And he was drinking out of a whiskey bottle.

Immediately she halted the horse and practically fell out of the carriage in her haste to reach her boss. "Yerra, Mr. Wu! What ye be doing, sittin' out here in the cold and drinkin' whiskey?!" she exclaimed.

So far, the whiskey had only had a small effect on the white-bearded rancher. "Miss Gayle," he announced after taking a swig from the bottle, "when I tell you why I'm drinking, you'll want to be drinking, too."

"What happened?" she cried out, sitting down next to him and placing her hand on his shoulder.

Mr. Wu reached into an inner pocket of his coat for another bottle of whiskey, and he handed it to her. "While Doc Julien was looking at my ankle," he explained, "one of Theodore Grant's apprentices from the telegraph office burst in. The young man said that Grant had seen me go into the bungalow and thought I should see a telegram from Captain Noonan right away."

"And what did it say, Mr. Wu?" the housekeeper asked, alarmed. Mr. Wu was indeed acting very strangely today.

Mr. Wu sighed. "Jay and Kai are believed to have been captured by the Purples," he said lifelessly. He handed her the telegram and drank once more from the bottle.

Her mouth agape, Miss Gayle read the telegram. According to Captain Noonan, the two soldiers from Garmadon Ranch never returned from a recent regular nightly reconnaissance mission. The next night, under cover of darkness, the Captain sent Rusty McKanna from the Double S Ranch and another soldier on the reconnaissance route. Outside the abandoned farmhouse, they located the missing cowboys' hats, inscribed with their names. Inside, they found bits of rope to indicate they were no doubt trussed up when they were taken away.

Captain Noonan concluded the telegram by extending condolences to all the residents of Garmadon Ranch, especially the soldiers' wives.

"Mo Dhia!" she whispered in a low voice. She knew that the Purples did not treat their prisoners very well. She feared what the boys might be going through right now - if they were still alive at this point.

And then she thought about their wives.

"It's Robert's fate, all over again!" she quietly uttered, her eyes filling with tears at the remembrance of her beloved fiance, who perished years ago while fighting for their home country far away. The young women back at the ranch, still blissfully unaware of their husbands' dire situation, were no doubt chatting at this very moment in Nya's bedroom, cautiously discussing plans and hopes for their future families after the war. Daring to be hopeful that their men would one day return home and begin to teach their children to be fine, upstanding citizens of Ninjago.

She looked at Mr. Wu with watery eyes, and he looked back at her with his piercing blue eyes. "There's more bad news," he said in the same monotone voice.

"What is it?" she choked, wondering what news could possibly make this day any worse.

"Our Yellows keep getting pushed westward from Ouroborus by the advancing Purples. The enemy's next objective is the area of Camp Goldland. But instead of defending it, the Yellow boys are going to make a circuit around the north side of Ouroborus and defend eastern Ninjago and Sasnak City. They're abandoning western Ninjago." Mr. Wu took an extra large swig from his whiskey bottle.

Miss Gayle's eyes widened. "Yerra! Does that mean -"

"Yep," he interrupted. "No one's defending Ninjago Town from the Purples."

Miss Gayle opened the whiskey bottle she was holding and took a large swig.


Late that night…

Alone in the dark of her bedroom, Sam huddled in her bed under several blankets, but she still felt the chill from the November night's weather. She wondered if she'd ever feel warm again. The night felt cold, and so did the whole world.

The evening had started out a bit strangely. Miss Gayle and Mr. Wu had come home from Ninjago Town with liquor on their breath. They acted a bit drunk, for they exhibited a demeanor of false cheeriness. They informed the young women that Doc Julien, his wife Misako, and Misako's son Sheriff Lloyd Garmadon would be joining them for supper in a few short hours.

As always, it was nice to see the Juliens and Sheriff Lloyd, but it seemed odd for them to come for supper on just a few hours' notice, and for them to travel 45 minutes from town on such a chilly, breezy night. And when they arrived, they also seemed to pretend at lightheartedness.

After supper, the underlying reason for the visit became apparent as they all relocated from the dining room to Nya's bedroom under the guise of enjoying a dessert with the bedridden young woman. Sam was instructed to sit in the bedroom guest chair while they all partook of the apple pie. Then, with Misako seated on the double bed next to Nya, and Miss Gayle's hand on Sam's shoulder, Mr. Wu and Doc Julien told the young women the news of their husbands' disappearance at the hands of the Purple Army.

Nya had immediately fainted. Doc hurriedly reached into his medical bag for the smelling salts. It had suddenly became clear to Sam that Doc had been invited tonight to manage any medical emergency that the pregnant women might suffer as a consequence of learning the terrible news about their loved ones.

Sam had felt a sensation of paralysis begin in her chest and flow down to her feet.

She reckoned her face must have turned pale, for she remembered Lloyd's admonition. "Breathe, Sam," he urged.

Sam then took a deep breath. It had helped, but not much.

Now here she was in her own room, hours later, with her world turned upside down.

Am I a widow? she wondered. She felt frustrated at being deprived of the merciful closure she could be experiencing had her dearest Kai been killed outright on the battlefield.

She held her hand to her abdomen. Will our baby never know its father?

Sam thought about Jenny, whom she and Nya and Brooke knew from working together during their days as saloon girls. Jenny and Michael Donlan from the Double S Ranch had just become sweethearts right as the war broke out, and they had written to each other up until the Battle of Jamanakai Village occurred, when Michael disappeared.

Though Michael's fate was unknown, Jenny felt in her heart that Michael was dead, and she grieved for the cowboy. When Jenny was not serving drinks at McAllister's, she dressed herself in black.

Sam searched her heart. She felt that somewhere out there, her beloved Kai was still alive. But for how long?

The tears flowed into her pillow as she cried herself to sleep.