Ch 5

Jesse walked back beside the bunkhouse that afternoon. He put his sack on the ground beside the porch and walked over to the room that he shared with Teaspoon. Cody came out and sat on the porch. He watched Jesse go into the tack room. He saw Noah finishing up in the barn. Cody picked up the sack and walked to the wash house.

Noah came and went inside the bunkhouse to get his clothes. He gathered his things and went to wash up. Cody met him coming across the yard. He saw Cody look at him as he passed. He shook his head and went on to clean up. He stepped into the small outdoor wash house. He pulled the handle and started washing with the lye soap. He stepped on something that didn't feel right. He rinsed his eyes and looked down. Noah let out a horrible scream as he stumbled backwards. Teaspoon, Buck, Ike, and the others ran over to where the sound came from. Noah fell backwards against the door. It popped open and he dumped out onto the dirt in front of everyone butt naked. Rachel and Lou spun around. Cody and Jesse laughed. Kid ran over and tossed him a towel.

"What the hell is goin on?!" Exclaimed Teaspoon.

"Snake! There's a snake in there!" Yelled Noah.

Buck walked into the shower and pulled the lever to shut off the water. He looked around and found a long black snake. He caught it and held it up.

"I got it! Here it is!" He said.

"Lordy Lord. Probably just looking for water like everything else around here." Said Teaspoon.

"I'll take him to the trees." Said Buck carrying the snake away.

"Are you covered?" Asked Rachel.

"Yeah." Said Noah looking around embarrassed.

"That was interestin." Said Jesse causing the others to smile.

"Sorry Noah. It's not funny. We know you don't like snakes." Said Rachel.

Noah smiled.

"It's ok. I would have laughed at me too." Noah watched as Cody left. He cleaned the dirt off and quickly dressed.

Lou walked off with Kid. She looked at him and whispered.

"This is gonna get out of hand."

"You think Cody did that? It was only in there for water."

"Sure. That's what it was." Lou said walking off.

Cody met Jesse by the barn.

"One down, one to go."