After his muttered comment about the 'crazy old coot', Johnny was quiet. It seemed to Charlie as though he was thinking hard
about something. To break the silence, Charlie said, "I hope he'll be alright. With that bump on his head, and all, I mean."
Johnny flicked the buggy reins. "He'll be alright," he said.
After a moment or so, Johnny added, "I figure that's he been thru a considerable amount in his time. He'll make it alright."
Johnny seemed to be certain about what he was saying, and Charlie found herself taking him at his word.
Charlie scooted closer to him on the buggy seat. "Do you think he's interesting?" she asked.
"He is for sure interesting," Johnny said.
After another moment or so of silence, Johnny said, "Have Maria look at your arm soon as we get home. Make sure it's alright."
Charlie rubbed her arm, in remembrance. "It's not so sore now."
"Well, have her look at it, just the same."
Charlie hesitated, and then studied Johnny's profile, curious. "Can I ask you something, Johnny?"
"You can ask me."
"He was saying strange things to you-I mean, sometimes he does talk sort of strange, like in riddles. But, it was almost as though
he knew things about you. Like, about how a door wouldn't open, and you weren't meant to see?"
"What's your question, pequeno?" Johnny asked.
There was an edge of impatience to his tone, and Charlie hesitated. "Do you know what he meant?"
Johnny sighed a little, and looked straight ahead. "I don't know how he would know anything about me. What's not already
common knowledge, anyway."
That wasn't a real answer at all. But, Charlie could tell he was done discussing it. His expression turned harder.
"I'm gonna take you home, and then I figure that Scott and I'll be makin' a visit to see the daddy of those boys."
"Oh," Charlie said, thinking that he sounded ominous.
When they came driving up to the house, Murdoch, who had been standing, and talking to Cip, came walking towards
the buggy.
"I was wondering about the two of you," Murdoch said, in greeting. "I thought maybe you'd run off to San Francisco, you were gone
such a long time."
"We stayed to visit with the old man," Johnny said, in response, hopping out of the buggy.
Charlie jumped to the ground on the other side, near to where Murdoch stood.
"Well, that's fine," Murdoch said. "Did he seem to like the food that you took?"
Johnny was coming around the front of the horse, and so Charlie answered, "I think he did. He never really says
much about it." Quickly, she added, "I'm sure he does appreciate it, though." She didn't want Murdoch to think the old
man was ungrateful.
"I'm sure he does," Murdoch said, giving Charlie a smile.
"Had a bit of a situation," Johnny said, standing now beside his father.
"What's that?"
"Those boys-" Johnny hesitated, looking at Charlie. "What's their names, pequeno?"
"Monte and John," Charlie supplied.
"They hit Charlie in the arm with a rock, and that was after they'd zonked the old man in the head with one. Gave him a heck
of a knot," Johnny went on.
Immediately, Murdoch's eyebrows drew together, and he looked furious.
"I gave a run after 'em," Johnny said. "But they were long gone. I didn't wanna leave Charlie to keep chasin' 'em."
"Chasing who?" Scott asked, coming up from behind them, and hearing only the last bits of the conversation.
Briefly, Johnny explained about Monte and John, and the rocks delivered via sling-shot.
Looking up at Scott, Charlie could see that the muscles in the side of his jaw were working in and out. He looked so angry that
Charlie felt a shiver go down her back. She was glad, immensely glad, that she wasn't the cause of that look of fury.
"Let me see your arm," Scott said, and began to push up the sleeve of her blouse. When he saw the reddened spot, now
already bruising, he began to touch it, and Charlie winced, though she tried not to.
All three of the men were inspecting it by now, and Scott said, "It's going to be painful for a couple of days." His fingers
were still gently rubbing back and forth over the bruise.
"Put some ice on it when you go into the house," Murdoch instructed.
Charlie nodded.
"They do this sort of thing to the man all the time," she felt bound to point out. This was her opportunity to show what
those boys were capable of doing to the old man.
"Go on along into the house, and put some ice on your arm," Scott told her.
"I'll unhitch the buggy," Murdoch was saying. "If you two want to get started over to the Johnson's house."
"Yep," Johnny said, and Scott nodded.
Charlie had walked a few feet towards the house, but had paused at Murdoch's words.
"Their father probably won't believe it," she ventured to say.
"That's not your worry," Murdoch told her, beginning to unhitch the buggy. "We'll see you two when
you get back home," he added, looking at Johnny and Scott.
"We'll get somethin' done," Johnny said, again sounding ominous.
L
Sitting in the kitchen a few minutes later, on a tall stool, Charlie was holding a pack of ice on her arm. Maria had
looked it over, as had Scott, and then instructed Charlie to hold the ice on until she said to take it off again.
Then she busied herself preparing something, handing the steaming cup to Charlie as she sat there on the stool.
Charlie, hoping it was hot chocolate, sniffed, and knew immediately it was not. What it was, she was not certain.
She looked at Maria questioningly, her nose wrinkled. It smelled strange.
"Te de la corteza del sauce," Maria said. Willow Bark Tea.
Charlie took a tentative sip of the hot brew, and made a face. She shook her head at Maria. "It's bitter," she said.
"For pain," Maria said, in English. Then she gave a wave of her hand towards the cup, which was understandable in any
language. Clearly it meant, 'drink it'.
Charlie knew the Spanish word for sugar, and looked at Maria hopefully. "Azucar?" she asked.
Maria shook her head in a 'no' response, and waved her hand at the cup again. The room began to fill with the good smells
of the dinner cooking in the oven. Maria paused, wiping her hands on her apron, and came over, taking the ice from
Charlie, and inspecting her arm again. Maria nodded in approval, and took the ice pack away.
Charlie finished the bitter drink, and set her cup on the counter. She smiled at Maria, and went outside to do
her afternoon chores. Feeding the chickens, and gathering the eggs, and then she went to feed Gurth an apple. After
that, she went to swing on her birthday swing. Pumping the swing should only have used her legs, but Charlie found that
her arm hurt a bit while she was doing it, so she slowed the swing, and just sat in it, swinging her feet back and forth.
After a bit longer, she went to look for Murdoch. She found in his library, sitting at his big mahogany desk.
She went to stand beside the desk quietly, until he took notice of her, raising his head from his paperwork.
"Have you been on your swing?" he asked.
Charlie nodded.
As Murdoch bent back over his writing and numbers, Charlie stood quietly until he put his pen down.
"Would you like to read for a bit?" he asked her, and when Charlie nodded, they went to sit together on the settee,
while Murdoch read to her from the large geography book.
Maria came to the library door, and from the conversation between she and Murdoch, Charlie surmised that Maria
was going home to her own family, and that supper was done, and warming in the oven.
After that, they sat together, in the quiet.
"It's taking Scott and Johnny a long time," Charlie said, looking up at Murdoch.
"It seems that way. It really hasn't been that long," Murdoch told her.
He patted Charlie's leg. "Fetch some paper and pencils. We'll have a few games of Tic Tac Toe while we wait."
They were on their fourth game, when they heard the front door opening, and boots scraping.
"They're home!" Charlie said, leaping up from the settee, and, as she would have run to the door, Murdoch caught at
her wrist. "They'll come in here, just sit and wait," he said.
So Charlie sat back down, and then, got to her feet again as Scott came into the library, taking off his hat as he walked.
Charlie went to take his hand, looking up at him. She thought he still looked grim.
"Did you get things settled?" Murdoch asked Scott.
"I think we did," Scott said, going to the desk, and pouring himself a finger of whiskey.
Charlie, who'd let go of his hand while he poured the whiskey, now took it again in her own.
"Did their father believe you?" she asked.
"He believed us."
"That's good," Murdoch said, getting to his feet. "Supper's ready. Let's go to the table."
The table hadn't been laid yet, and Murdoch gave Charlie's shoulder a pat. "Let's set the table. You get the plates and I'll get
the silverware and napkins."
Since it was only the four of them, with Teresa gone visiting a friend overnight, it was decided to eat at the table in the kitchen.
The meal was tasty, with beef stew and Maria's cinnamon buns. Charlie was full of wondering about what had taken place
when Scott and Johnny went to visit Monte and John's father. But, the Lancer men's conversation didn't stray to that subject.
Finally she could stand it no longer. "What did Mr. Johnson say?" she asked.
"He's going to tend to the situation," Scott said. Which, to Charlie, was a very unsatisfactory answer.
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"It means that it's likely both of those boys will be gettin' a good tanning," Johnny said, reaching for his second cinnamon bun.
"Oh," Charlie said, taking that in for a moment. She decided she was glad, if the boys got a whipping from their father. It
was terrible cruel what they had done today to the old man. Not to mention all the other times they'd teased and tortured the man.
Such a punishment was what they deserved.
She made a few more comments about the boys, and what bullies they were, until Johnny asked Scott to pass him
the tabasco sauce. Scott handed the bottle to Charlie, for her to pass it on to Johnny, and then he said, "We're done talking
about the boys for now, Charlie."
"That's right," Murdoch said, in agreement, getting to his feet, and beginning to stack the dishes. "There's other, more pleasant things
to talk about."
"Okay," Charlie said, as she began to help clear the table. "But, we can take the box of groceries to him again next Saturday,
can't we?"
"That's our arrangement," Murdoch said.
"Maybe we should go again, in the middle of the week, to check on him," Charlie suggested. "Do you think so?" she asked, looking
at all three of the Lancer men.
They exchanged glances between them, and then Scott came over, carrying several plates. "We'll see," he said, in answer
to Charlie's request.
Charlie wanted to persist, to wheedle, but, after this length of time in the Lancer household, she knew better. So, she sighed, and
dried the dishes as Murdoch washed them.
L
That night, after Scott had read a chapter and a half in the 'Eight Cousins' book, and then closed it, Charlie kept her
spot beside him.
"How does your arm feel now?" he asked her. "Better?"
"It's a little sore. Not bad," Charlie said.
"Well, let me see," Scott said, and Charlie pushed up the sleeve of her nightgown so he could view the bruised area. He ran his
fingers over it softly.
"It's going to be a real pretty purple by tomorrow," Scott said, with a teasing smile at Charlie.
After he'd released her arm, Charlie pressed against his side again.
"I hope Monte and John do get punished," she confided.
Scott reached out and laid the book on the nearby night stand. "It's out of our hands now, Charlie," he said. "It's between Mr.
Johnson and his boys."
"Why do they want to be mean like that, anyhow?" she asked Scott. "There's lots of things they could do for fun. Why would
they do something like that?"
"Only they know the answer to that," Scott said. He patted her knee. "Come on. Get under the blankets."
Charlie turned, reluctantly, and crawled under the blankets and quilt. She gave Scott a tight hug, and, though she thought she
wouldn't sleep, she did. A deep sleep. Just before she drifted off, Charlie wondered if Monte and John would be at church the
next morning.
L