When Charlie rode up beside the barn at the ranch, she could see Teresa, hanging clothes on the line to dry. Charlie left
Gurth, tied for the moment, and ran over to Teresa.
She told Teresa about what had happened, the words tumbling over one another in her hurry.
Teresa paused with hanging of the wet clothes, and looked concerned.
"That doesn't sound good at all," she said.
"Did Murdoch go and visit Burl this morning?" Charlie asked.
"I thought he did, but I haven't seen him. He must have come home and gone right out onto the range somewhere to work."
"Val said he would get the doctor if he needed to."
"Well, that's good," Teresa said. "Come on in now, and have your lunch."
"Have you eaten?"
"No, I was waiting for you. It's just going to be you and I. Maria's aunt is ill, so I thought we'd just have
sandwiches. It's so hot to heat up the kitchen," Teresa said.
"I have to untack Gurth and rub him down," Charlie said.
"Go do that, and then come inside," Teresa said.
Charlie went to tend to her horse, taking care to make sure Gurth was cooled down before she let him head to the water.
Inside the kitchen, there was a breeze blowing thru the open window. Charlie and Teresa sat at the table, eating
their sandwiches, and when she'd eaten that, Charlie went to get a biscuit, and slathered it with peach jelly.
As they were finishing, Charlie asked Teresa where she thought Scott or Murdoch might be.
"You know that it's basically impossible to say where they are," Teresa said. "They might start out in one spot, and then
go to several more." She gave Charlie a 'sisterly' eye.
"Don't you get any ideas about going to look for them, either," she warned Charlie.
"I'm not thinking that," Charlie denied.
She went then to change her clothes, and breathing a sigh at the comfort of the denim pants and cotton blouse, she went
back downstairs. After she'd fed the cats some of the remaining milk, she went to find Teresa, who was sitting in the library, reading
from a thick book.
"I wish Scott would come," Charlie said, walking around the room and running her fingers over the books on the shelves.
"Why don't you do your homework?"
"I don't feel like it," Charlie protested.
"Well, go find something to do. You're making me nervous, pacing around here," Teresa said.
Charlie went to sit out by the corral, holding one of the kittens, and keeping an eye on the horizon.
When she finally saw the group of men riding in, Charlie set the kitten down, and crawled over the corral fence.
She began walking out towards them. As they got closer she saw that neither Scott, nor Murdoch was among the group.
Johnny was, though, and he greeted her as he rode up. "Hey there, pequeno."
"Hi, Johnny!"
"Want a ride up?" he offered.
"Yes," Charlie said, and Johnny reached down, and pulled her up onto the saddle behind him, without even coming to a
complete halt.
"We're gettin' better at that," Johnny said.
"Where is Scott?" Charlie asked him.
"He and Murdoch had some business to do at the Bostwick's," Johnny said, naming a nearby rancher. "They'll likely take supper over
there."
Charlie began to tell Johnny then, all about what had happened in town, with Burl, and Alice, and then with Val.
"Can we go and check on Burl?" Charlie pleaded.
"I've been in the saddle all afternoon, pequeno," Johnny told her. "First thing I'm gonna do, is wash up and get somethin' to
eat."
"I'll fix you the biggest sandwich ever," Charlie coaxed. "Then can we go?"
"We'll see," he said.
Charlie bit her lip to keep from prodding him into a promise. As he went to put his horse away, she ran to the kitchen,
and washed her hands, and then began assembling a sandwich fit for a king.
Roast beef slices, cheese, slices of tomato, and a slice of onion. She layered the sandwich ingredients nearly twice each, except
for the onion. As Johnny came stomping into the kitchen, he went to wash his hands, and Charlie set the plate on the table.
"Here's your sandwich," Charlie told him, and as he sat down, she scurried to get a glass and filled it with cold milk.
She set the glass in front of him, and then went to cut a slice of blackberry pie.
After that, she sat in the chair next to him, while he ate, resting her arms on the table.
"It was really scary," Charlie confided.
"Burl bein' sick, ya mean?" Johnny asked her, pushing back his empty sandwich plate, and pulling the pie over in front
of him.
At Charlie's nod, Johnny said, "Well, Val might have gotten the doc for him. I imagine he's feelin' better now."
"He didn't know who I was, Johnny!" Charlie confided, her eyes wide with worry.
"Maybe he got too hot, or somethin'," Johnny suggested.
"Can getting too hot make someone forget that they know somebody else?"
Johnny regarded her small, worried face, and took a drink of the milk, setting the glass down.
"The heat can do a lot of things to a person," he said, slowly. "Especially somebody as up-in-years as Burl is."
Teresa came into the kitchen then, greeting Johnny, and going to pour herself a glass of lemonade.
Johnny relayed to Teresa about Murdoch and Scott having gone to the neighboring ranch for the foreseeable portion of
the evening ahead.
Teresa sat down across from Charlie. "Let's have supper in town," she suggested.
"I'm eatin' right now," Johnny said, motioning to the empty plate and the half-eaten pie before him.
"I know you. You'll be ready to eat again in an hour," Teresa said, breezily.
"Could we, Johnny?" Charlie asked. "Then we can check on Burl, too."
"Good idea," Teresa said, as if the decision was made already. "I could take another dozen eggs to him."
"And some cookies?" Charlie suggested.
"Sure," Teresa said.
"Just a minute, you two," Johnny interrupted, and both girls fell quiet, looking at him.
"I've had a long day-I just wanna have a drink, and then go to bed-" he began.
"If we just checked on him, really quickly, and then we came right home again, then you could go to bed," Charlie
said. Her eyes pleading, Charlie said, "Please, Johnny?"
Johnny sighed, and looked to Teresa, and then back at Charlie. "Alright," he said.
Charlie gave him a grateful, dimpled smile, and Teresa got up to start packing cookies.
Instead of taking the buggy, or a wagon into town, the three rode horseback.
"Do you think we should go out to Burl's place, or go to Val's office?" Charlie inquired, looking to her right, where Teresa rode
in the middle between Charlie and Johnny.
"I'll bet he's back home by now," Johnny said. "We'll check out there first."
When they reached the shack, two of the dogs were sleeping on the front stoop. Dismounting from the horses, they
walked up to the front door. Charlie reached down to rub the dog's heads, and they both got to their feet.
Johnny had gone to knock on the door to the shack, while Teresa peered into the dirty window.
"I don't see him inside," Teresa said, when there was no reply to Johnny's knocking.
"Maybe he went huntin'," Johnny said.
"He was too sick to go hunting," Charlie contradicted.
"He might have been feelin' better," Johnny said.
Johnny turned the knob on the door, and, unlocked, it opened.
He stepped in, and both girls followed him. A look around the inside of the shack proved limited. Teresa went to the
stove, where an iron pot sat. She touched the pot, and declared it cold, and then lifted the top.
With a swiftness Teresa dropped the lid back onto the top, and stepped away. "Oh," she said, in a breathy tone.
"What?" Johnny asked.
"I don't know what that is, but whatever it is, should have been thrown out."
Johnny came over and lifted the lid, and then raised his eyebrows, and replaced it. "Whoo whee," he declared.
Charlie, who'd been close enough to get a sniff of the contents of the pot, covered her mouth and nose.
"Was he going to still eat that?" Charlie asked, horrified.
"Let's hope not," Teresa said. She asked Johnny to take it out and feed it to the dogs, and as he did that,
Charlie went over to sit on the floor by the mother dog, who was nursing her pups.
"I'll go take a look 'round outside," Johnny said, when he came back inside. "See if I hear him firin' his rifle."
"We'll clean up in here a bit," Teresa said, and when Johnny had gone, she promptly went into cleaning mode, picking up
dirty dishes from the table and stacking them. She set Charlie to go fetch a bucket of water to bring in, so that the table could
be wiped down.
Charlie went obediently to do that, lugging in one, and then another, bucket of water. After she'd helped Teresa tidy up, Johnny
had come back, saying he hadn't seen or heard Burl.
"Maybe he's still at Val's office, huh?" Charlie asked him. "Or at the doctor's?"
"Maybe."
"Can we go and see?" Charlie asked.
"I just want to finish up a couple of things," Teresa said. "I thought I'd change the sheets if I can find any others. The ones on the bed
are filthy."
"Okay," Johnny said, and when he went back outside, Charlie took her opportunity and slipped out after him, scooping up her favorite pup
and carrying it along with her.
"Do you want to look in the trunks?" Charlie asked him, hopefully.
"No, I don't need to look."
Charlie, who'd been wishing for another chance to look over the trunk's vast contents, was disappointed in his lack of curiousity. She followed
Johnny as he walked around behind the shack.
He bent his knee to climb, and then stood on a old shaky-looking table that leaned against the back of the shack.
"What are you doing?" Charlie asked him.
"Just takin' a look at the roof," Johnny said.
"Sometimes it leaks inside," Charlie offered helpfully. "When Scott and I were here that time, in the storm, it was leaking then-"
"I don't doubt it," Johnny said, hopping to the ground, and rubbing his hands on his pants.
"I wish Burl didn't have to live here," Charlie said, as they stood there.
"Let's go," Johnny said, in answer, and Charlie again tagged after him, as he went to the front door, and back inside.
"Ready?" he asked Teresa, who was just finishing smoothing sheets on the bed.
"Come and take a look," Teresa said, and motioned to him and Charlie.
There was a tiny, makeshift cabinet, and Teresa opened it. "I found a clean pair of sheets in here. Well, cleaner, anyway," she amended.
"Anyway, look."
She moved a raggedy looking blanket aside, and pulled out a photo, in an ornate frame.
Johnny held it, while he and Charlie looked at it.
In the photo was a woman, and she was wearing a necklace and bracelets, and had her hair swept up in a bun at the back
of her neck. The dress she was wearing looked familiar to Charlie.
"Pretty lady," Johnny said.
"Isn't she?" Teresa said, in agreement. "It was all tucked away under the sheets and things."
"Isn't that the dress that we saw in the trunk?" Charlie asked her.
"I thought the same thing," Teresa agreed.
"Who is she, do you think?" Charlie mused.
"Maybe his wife, or his mother?" Teresa suggested.
Johnny handed the frame back off to Teresa. "We'd better get goin'," he said.
Charlie took another look at the picture in Teresa's hand.
"I think she's a princess, or something," she said.
"Oh, you do?" Teresa asked, looking amused. She replaced the photo where it had been when she'd discovered it.
Johnny was at the door, tapping his foot impatiently. "Come on, you two," he ordered.
"Alright, we're coming," Teresa said.
"Come on, pequeno," Johnny said, holding the door open, as Teresa passed by.
"I hate to leave the pups like this," Charlie said, nuzzling the puppy with her chin.
"They have their mother. They'll be fine."
Charlie reluctantly went to put the puppy back with the others, and then went out in front of Johnny, as he pulled the
door shut behind them.
L