3 Jack helps Adam deal with a broken leg
Jack will be referred to as either he or she depending on the characters perspective. I.E. Ben and Jack think of her as she, but Adam, Hoss, and Joe think of her as he.
Adam was not thrilled. Not only was he going to be laid up for at least 3 months, but his family was going to go on the spring roundup, leaving him in the care of a practical stranger. Unfortunately, he knew it was the only way, which he had acknowledged to his family. However, that didn't mean he had to like it. He also hated being sick. All of which combined to make him extremely irritable, which in turn made his brothers start avoiding him. Which was not what he wanted which in turn made him more irritable. By the time his family was ready to leave for the roundup he was ready to bite everybody and anybody's head off.
Hoss knocked on Adam's door. "Can I come in?"
"I can't stop you." Adam grumbled as Hoss opened the door.
"Dad-burnit Adam!" Hoss glared at him. "I declare you're as touchy as a bear with a thorn in his hind end!" Adam glared back at Hoss, knowing he was right. "We're fixin' ta head out and I jest wanted to talk to you about Jack afore we did." Hoss sat down on Adam's bed.
"What about him?" Now Adam was puzzled.
"Well… I dunno, just sort of a feelin' I have I guess." Adam was trying his best to be patient.
"Yes?"
"I guess I get the same feelin' I do around some of them real skittish colts. Like if you spook 'em they're gonna run fer the hills as fast and as far as they can."
Adam frowned mentally comparing Hoss's image with what he'd seen of Jack's behavior. "I suppose so."
"So what I'm tryin' ta say is, you be nice to that little feller, or I'm gonna pound ya when I get back, busted leg or no busted leg, ya hear me?"
Adam nodded. "I hear you."
"Alright then. You get to feelin' better big brother."
"Come back in one piece." Adam gave Hoss a lopsided grin. Hoss grinned back clapped Adam on the shoulder and headed out to join Ben and Joe for the roundup.
Bored, bored, bored. Adam almost threw his book across the room. Normally he loved reading, but he'd been stuck in his room for a week now and he was throughly sick of it. It didn't help that his back was starting to hurt, and he couldn't seem to get comfortable no matter what he did. Just as Adam was again contemplating throwing something, Jack came in carrying a tray with a couple of sandwiches. Sighing with irritation Adam scooted to sit completely upright and tried yet again to get comfortable. After a few frustrating moments he hurled a pillow across the room. Adam heard a sound in between a cough and a snort. Adam glared at Jack who was doing his best not to laugh. "Trouble getting comfortable?" Jack's eyes were sparkling though he was doing pretty well at keeping a straight face.
"Yeah." Adam shifted around again.
"Back hurting?" Jack had set the sandwich tray down on the dresser. Adam just nodded in response.
"Aches or muscle spasms?"
"Aches" Adam sighed in frustration again.
"I have an idea that might help, if you want?" Adam stopped shifting and payed attention. "Why not?"
"I'll be right back then." Jack ducked back out of the room. After a few minutes Jack came back carrying his bedroll and a large roll of bandages.
"Lay down flat on your back." Jack waited until Adam had tossed the pillows aside and scooted down before explaining. "I'm going to put the bedroll under the small of your back and this roll of bandages under your neck."
Adam nodded, and cooperated with Jack so he was laying on the bedroll and bandage roll. He was surprised at how quickly the aches in his back eased. "Better?" Jack grabbed the pillows from the floor and propped Adam's broken leg up.
"Much."
"Ok." Jack handed him a sandwich. "You stay like that for awhile. I have another idea I think you'll like."
"Going to be a bit difficult for me to go anywhere isn't it?" Adam tried to relax as he ate his sandwich. As he laid there listening, he wished Jack wore boots instead of moccasins, it would be easier to figure out what the little man was doing. Adam had finished his sandwich and was starting to doze off when Jack came back in the room. A thump of something hitting the floor made Adam turn his head towards the door, Jack was propping a pair of crutches up next to it. "Where are we going?" Adam sat up and flipped the covers back, scooting to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Just next door to Hoss's room." Jack was smiling as he helped Adam stand and handed him the crutches.
"I thought I was going to be stuck in my room for the next 3 weeks."
"You should be fine to use crutches as long as you don't put any weight on your leg." Jack walked ahead and opened Hoss's door for Adam. Inside the room Adam saw the bathtub, with a wooden stool, and a couple buckets of water inside the bathtub. A clean cloth, towel and bar of soap sat on the end table next to the tub. Adam turned to look at Jack in surprise. "Hoss mentioned you like being clean, and he helped me bring the tub upstairs before he left."
"Thank you." Adam thumped over to the tub, turning so he could sit on the stool. Jack followed behind, taking the crutches and leaning them carefully against the tub. "Just drop your nightshirt on the floor, and I'll get you a clean one. I'm gonna go change your bedsheets, holler if you need me. And don't get that cast wet!" Jack ducked out as Adam's nightshirt hit the floor.
Once Adam was back in bed, Jack sat back in the chair and finally ate his sandwich. Adam found that having eased the aches in his back, the bath, a clean nightshirt, plus clean linens, had improved his mood immensely. Jack finished his sandwich and noticed Adam hadn't continued reading.
"You want a different book?"
"Actually I was hoping we could talk. You're supposed to be taking care of me and Uh… I don't really know anything about you." Adam scratched the back of his neck.
"And it would be less akward if we were better aquaintances." Jack narrowed his eyes and studied Adam for a moment, before leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees. "What do want to know?"
"Where did you get your nursing certification?"
"Back in indiana. I apprenticed to the doctor in town for five years."
"How old were you?"
"Fifteen. Doc gave me the certificate when I turned twenty."
"Mind if I ask what tribe?"
"Ma was Cherokee, and Pa was French-Canadian. He bought her with some food during a real hard winter." Jack smiled and leaned back in the chair. "Ma always liked to remind Pa that she was the best trade he'd ever made, and Pa'd always tease her that she'd better behave or he'd take her back, she'd always say he wouldn't dare…" Jack's voice trailed off and he stood abruptly and walked to the window with his back to Adam. Adam was quiet for a few minutes, he'd seen the tears in Jack's eyes before he'd turned away to face the window.
"You must miss them very much." Jack nodded not turning around.
"What happened to them?" Adam pretended not to notice as Jack sniffed and scrubbed his face with his sleeve. Jack turned and sat back down in the chair before answering.
"Ma wasn't real strong, she caught a cough during the winter, it kept getting worse and worse, finally spring came and she just couldn't fight it anymore, and Pa…" Jack sighed. "Well when Ma died it was like the light went out of him. Oh he tried, for me, he made sure I had a plan in place for when he died. But after Ma died it was like all the hard work of a lifetime just came down and crushed the life out of him, he just sorta wasted away."
"Pa said you had a farm. Why didn't you keep it?"
"I couldn't." Jack sighed at Adam's puzzled expression. "After Pa died I was told I had a week to clear out, or they'd come burn me out."
"So you sold it before they could."
"The farm, the animals, and everything of value that I couldn't carry." Jack's smile had an edge to it.
"Why didn't you just move into town with the doctor?"
"Same reason I moved back to the farm after I got my certification." Jack looked away and shifted, clearly uncomfortable.
"If you don't want to tell me that's fine."
"No, it's just I don't like talking about it, but I told your Pa, I might as well tell you."
"I'm listening." Adam watched as Jack stood and paced a bit.
"There was one night, towards the end of it all, I had to make a late house call because the doc was out of town. A group of drunks started following me. They grabbed me and dragged me into an alley." Jack stood up and walked around the chair, leaning on the back of it as he stood. He took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. "They told me they were gonna kill me, slowly, in all kinds of different ways." Adam noticed Jack was white knuckling the back of the chair.
"How'd you get away?" Adam's voice broke Jack free of the memories. He looked up and gave Adam a thin smile. "They underestimated me. I had a knife on me and I fought back and got away. Kinda soured me on towns though."
"Understandable." Adam sensed there was more to the story, but decided against prying into such an obviously disturbing memory.
"Mind if I ask one more thing?"
Jack shrugged. "Why not?"
"Why don't you cut your hair? You could pass for a white man if you did."
"That's a fair question." Jack sat back in the chair, leaned back and considered for a few moments. "I wear my hair like this to honor my Ma. And maybe my life would be easier if I cut my hair, but this way I generally know who I can trust pretty quickly. Also I figure a true friend won't care."
"You're right." Adam nodded. "A true friend won't."
"My turn." Jack's smile was back.
"Fair enough."
"Why all the poetry?"
"I suppose I developed a taste for it in college."
"You went to college?" Jack leaned forward.
"Uh huh. I studied engineering and architecture."
"Wow." Jack sat back in the chair. "Do you like learning new things?"
"Yes, very much." Adam couldn't help being amused by the line of questioning.
"Why didn't your brothers go?" Jack shook his head slightly, re-evaluating his question. "I don't mean Hoss, more Little Joe?"
Frowning Adam snapped. "Hoss isn't slow or stupid, he could've gone if he'd wanted too."
"Of course." Jack looked surprised at Adam's tone. "I meant he's a man of the earth, like one of the wild things that hate to be caged."
"Oh." Adam sat back. "Well… you're right about Hoss. Actually I've never heard a better description of him." Adam realized he had a newfound respect for Jack's observational skills. "Little Joe just wasn't interested. He wanted to learn the ranch instead."
"Makes sense."
"Did you like it back east?"
"Some, but it wasn't home, and Pa needed me."
"Your family is very close." Jack's smile was almost shy. "You've all been very kind to me, I want you to know I appreciate it very much."
"Sure. You know you'd've been welcome to stay for a while even if we hadn't needed your skills."
"I like taking care of people. I like helping to heal, I actually never shot anybody before I shot that thief."
Adam's eyebrows rose at that. "You didn't kill him, did you?"
"Shot him in his gun arm, he won't be robbing anyone for a long time."
"You still saved my life, and now you're nursing me back to health, I owe you big time." Adam's lopsided grin made Jack smile back.
"I have a roof over my head, a job, and you treat me like a human being. You don't owe me a thing." Jack paused. "Do you play chess?"
"Yes."
"Teach me to play chess and we're even." Jack's grin was infectious.
"Alright. Go get the board." Adam could feel a grin of his own stretching across his face as Jack left the room.
The next day Jack asked Adam if he felt up to going downstairs. While Adam was definitely excited by the idea he wasn't overly thrilled at having to wear his night shirt and robe downstairs. He discovered Jack was good at picking up on his discomfort. Once Adam told Jack what he was thinking Jack offered him a solution. It turned out Jack had altered Adam's pants with the cut off leg by adding buttons and button holes to the shortened side seam. Which to Adam's pleasant surprise allowed him not only to wear the pants but to be able to dress and undress himself. Jack also taught him how to go up and down the stairs without crutches and without the risk of falling. While scooting up and down on his backside wasn't dignified, Adam found the added independence quickly outweighed any indignity. He also found Jack was skilled at keeping him occupied, and that there were a number of things he could do while sitting down. Such as darning socks, or patching clothes, and Jack was a patient teacher. One thing he discovered which was not as pleasant, was that Jack, while skilled in many other things, was at best a mediocre cook. Although the meals weren't bad, they were definitely simple, and desserts were far beyond Jack's skills. As the weeks went on Adam and Jack formed a solid friendship. Adam found Jack to be an excellent storyteller, and to his surprise, a musician. Adam had been playing his guitar one night when Jack had produced a flute like instrument with deep mellow tones. They had spent a very enjoyable evening playing various songs together. Adam also learned very quickly not to play poker with Jack, as he had an excellent poker face, and could apparently read Adam like an open book. They discussed many things, from philosophy, to literature, to religion. Adam discovered Jack had a firm faith in God, a faith tempered by logic and experience. Jack also spoke frequently of his parents. His mother, a rather frail, educated cherokee woman, who had taught Jack many, many skills and had imparted her faith and love of God to him. His father, a wiry french Canadian fur trapper turned farmer, who loved his family above all else, had taught Jack to hunt and survive. It was clear to Adam that Jack missed his family and the sense of belonging which came with them. The more time they spent together, the more Adam became determined to make sure Ben kept Jack on past his recovery. With Jack's care and company Adam found his recovery to be almost enjoyable, and far from the tedious ordeal he had expected.