As they entered in Stockton, Heath looked around in wonder he saw buildings all around him and people in all shapes and sizes. He was used to Strawberry a small mining town, with only a main street with some houses and tents scattered around, but here it was completely different; so far he had seen four saloons and several shops. There were so many wagons on the street that at a certain point, Walter stopped the wagon to let pass a stagecoach. He didn't realized that he had his mouth open till Walter pointed it out.
"Keep it closed or you will catch flies." He jokingly said. "Pretty big compared to Strawberry, ain't it. If you go in this direction you will stumble in the river and the piers. I must go there, Mrs. Datton ordered some fancy stuff directly from New York and I must deliver from here to Strawberry"
"Is this New York far from here?" "Pretty far…it's on the other side of the country, if you go by land, it will take months"
After several minutes they stopped in front a big building.
"I'm here. I will talk about you with Mr. Silver. If you have any problems come here and ask for him. He will give you board and meal till I come back next month. Remember his name"
"Yes and thank you"
They shook their hands. Walter was tempted to hug Heath, but he feared that he would be spooked by it.
Heath grabbed his sack and with some ropes he was able to fashion a sort of backpack. He slowly walked in the direction of the main street after waving goodbye to Walter.
"I hope everything will turn all right," murmured Walter aloud.
For several minutes, Heath walked in total amazement. There were too many thing to see. He spent several minutes observing the window of different shops, there were so many items exposed that the couldn't identify. The people bumped in him and some of them told him to move away from the passage only then he realized that he stood in the middle of the boardwalk. From his past experience in Strawberry, he was a little tense to approach an adult for direction. He wasn't sure that the person would know Thomas Barkley. He tried to stop several people, but with no success; they seemed too busy to care about a little boy. Finally he was able to stop a tall man in his early twenties.
"Excuse me sir…do you know Mr. Thomas Barkley?" he politely asked.
"Yep. Everyone here knows him." "Where I can find him"
"You are new, aren't you? Mr. Barkley lives just outside Stockton kid, about one hour ride, just take the north road and you will stumble on the ranch, difficult to miss that fancy house"
"Thank you sir"
"You're welcome kid…but right now he ain't there." The man added.
Heath's shoulder slumped. He came all the way here and Thomas Barkley wasn't at home.
"He's in Sacramento, I reckon he will be back in one week give or take. Hey kid where are your parents? And why are you looking for him? You know you look familiar." The man motioned to grab Heath's arm but the boy was too quick and was able to escape. He could hear on the background the man yelling at him to stop.
He wandered aimless for some minutes, at a certain point he sat on the boardwalk to collect his thought. He had to wait one week, he was tempted to go back and ask for help to Mr. Keller, but he didn't want to overstep his generosity and he wasn't able to trust him completely. Walter Keller have done too many things, without asking for nothing, and for Heath it was too strange.
He could live on the street, it wouldn't be the first time, several times in the past his uncle for some reason had thrown him out of the hotel, and Heath was forced to live on the streets. He knew he could easily find gaps under the boardwalks and squeeze under them and find a refuge for the night, he could always dug in the garbage in the back alleys of the hotels and saloon he had done several times in the past when he was hungry.
He strolled Stockton, it was a novelty to have so much time. He decided to start exploring Stockton, after all he was going to live here. In one hour he had wandered through the main street. He stopped at every shop window to peek inside but he didn't dare to go inside, he was well aware that shop owners didn't welcome his kind inside their shops.
Suddenly he heard the strangest sound, something like a whistle but much louder. He looked around but to his astonishment the people around him weren't startled by that sound. After awhile the sound was repeated louder this time. Only at the third whistle he dared to ask someone about the strange sound.