Nick and Heath had a specific method for withdrawing the ranches money from the bank. They would get the bank to give them a small room for privacy and sit down with a bank officer for a witness. Then Nick would carefully count the money he was withdrawing, afterwards Heath would have a second count to verify the amount withdrawn. Nick might seem careless about money to other people, Heath thought, but the fact is he didn't waste the ranches' money. If Nick didn't know where a dollar was going, he didn't withdraw it.
This process generally took around 20 to 30 minutes, which was fine by Heath, particularly since they were supposed to pay for and pick up a shipment of oats today, and the hands could load the wagon while Nick and Heath picked up the withdrawal. They expected the loading to be well underway by the time they got back to the store and were surprised to see the wagons standing empty while the hands stood uneasily nearby.
"What's going on? Why aren't the wagons loaded?" Nick demanded.
Wordlessly, one of the men pointed to a nearly full wagon nearby being loaded by the Jacob Twins.
"We were just starting to load up when those two pulled up and grabbed the supplies." Eddie complained. "We told them they were for the Barkley Ranch and showed our order slip and they just tore it up and kept going.
Nick nodded. The Thompson twins were hellraisers and, as a pair, bullies. To decide to claim rights to supplies that someone else had ordered no matter how much it inconvenienced others was entirely typical of them. What's more they would quite cheerfully jump into a brawl at the drop of a hat. Any hat.
Nick sighed and walked over to the nearly full wagon. One of the twins-it was impossible to tell if it was Jimmy or Johnny-nudged the other and the both got identical smirks.
"Fellas, those are our supplies."
"I don't see no name on it." One of the twins said. "Hey Jimmy, you see Barkley's name on it?"
Jimmy made a great show of examining the supplies.
"Nope. Don't see the name Barkley anywhere. Shame about that."
"It has our order number written on." Nick pointed out, holding up the order slip. "9470."
One of the twins looked at the clearly marked bags.
"Oh, well that ain't these then." One of them said. "You can tell that's order 947 OH not 947- zero. These are our supplies."
The other twin laughed out loud.
"We ordered these supplies a month ago."
The twins smirks grew bigger.
"Then ain't it a shame these aren't them? 'Course if you'd like to come and get them...I mean if you think you're man enough."
The store owner, who had been watching the exchange nervously, bolted into his store and locked the door.
The invitation to a fight hung in the air. Nick felt his temper rise.
ride it like a bronc
he remembered and knocked his knuckles on the horse hitch next to him. There was a quick stab of pain and he took a deep breath, stepping back from his-Jonathon's-frustration.
First question: Is someone trying to make you angry on purpose?
The answer came quickly enough: absolutely. These two were spoiling for a fight.
Second question: Why?
Much to his surprise, Nick found the answer easy to reason out. The twins had likely been sent into town by their father, no doubt given instructions to return with supplies for the ranch or else. And their father was a notoriously heavy-handed man known to cuff his sons freely for any failure, real or imagined. The boys were probably afraid to return without the supplies and thus perfectly ready to brawl for them. And if Nick threw the first punch, then their father would be pleased and bragging about how his boys "stood up for themselves against Nick Barkley."
Abruptly Nick decided not to play.
"Heath? Would you go get the sheriff, please?"
The twins blinked.
"Sure thing, Nick." Heath said, looking only slightly less surprised than the Jacobs.
The twins exchanged alarmed looks.
"Sheriff's not gonna arrest someone over supplies." Said one of them. "Not if we go in an pay for 'em."
"We'll see, won't we?" Nick said. Now that he'd decided not to pulled into their game, he felt remarkably relaxed. Behind him he could feel his men exchanging puzzled glances. One of his men stepped closer.
"Nick, you know we'll back you up if you decide to fight 'em for it." He whispered.
"Thanks fellas, but we're just gonna wait for the sheriff."
The hands behind him shifted uneasily, as if they found his behavior unnerving. The twins looked even more unhappy. Abruptly one them -Jimmy? Johnny? - push himself an inch away from Nick's face.
"You want these supplies? You're gonna hafta fight for 'em!"
"There's not going to be any fighting here." The Sheriff hurried across the street, followed by Heath, who looked relieved at the absence of fisticuffs. "Want to tell me what's going on?"
"We seem to have a misunderstanding about these supplies." Nick said. "As you can see, this is our order," he handed over the torn order slip. "The Thomopsons apparently believe it isn't spoken for."
The Sheriff examined the torn order slip suspiciously.
"How did this get ripped?" He demanded.
"I don't recall Sheriff. If you could just check with Bob and verify with him the supplies are ours?"
The Sheriff gave the twins a dirty look and knocked on the locked door of the feed store.
"Bob, come one out here."
Bob, looking distinctly relieved, unlocked the door and stepped outside.
"Is this the Barkley's shipment?"
"Yes Sir. Nick just left to get the payment. His men were supposed to load it."
"Doesn't belong to the Thompsons?"
"No Sheriff."
The Sheriff turned back to the tense group on the sidewalk.
"It seems pretty clear whose supplies those are. You two," A nod in the direction of the Thompson twins "need to unload that wagon. Now."
The twins had flushed a dark crimson and climbed on their wagon.
"Thanks Fred." Nick said.
The Sheriff nodded.
"I appreciate you calling me before there was trouble, Nick."
Nick went inside the store to pay and returned to see the transfer of supplies moving along nicely. He helped get the Thompsons wagon unloaded, then paused.
"Chuck Temple asked me last week if I needed about a thousand pounds of oats. Seems someone ordered 'em then had to back out. If he still has them that would give you something to take home today while ordering more for next month."
The twins looked at him in surprise. "Why are you telling us?" One of them asked suspiciously.
"Because if you go someplace else for your supplies we won't have any more...misunderstandings."
They stared at him blankly for a moment, then climbed on their wagon and headed in the direction of Temples Feed and General Store. Nick and Heath quickly finished loading up the wagon.
"Fellas, head on home. Nick and I will be right after you."
The reigns slapped against the horses and the wagon moved out.
Nick was puzzled.
"Are we supposed to pick up something else?"
Heath smiled.
"I just wanna buy my big brother a drink."