During the night, tucked into the smaller bed in Teresa's bedroom, Charlie was awakened by noises. At first, when she was
startled awake, she wasn't sure just from what. There were a few moments of silence, and then she heard scuffling, and low
voices. Coming from the hallway and beyond.
Charlie slipped from the bed, the floor cool beneath her bare feet. She went to the door, and opened it just slightly,
peeking out. She could hear the voices again, coming from her own bedroom, it seemed.
"What is it?" Teresa asked, now standing behind Charlie.
"I think it's Burl," Charlie said.
Teresa stepped up to look out into the hallway.
At that moment, there was a hollering. "Ya foul dryshite!" came the scream.
"It is!" Charlie said, and would have hustled out of the doorway and down the hall, but for Teresa's hand
on her arm.
"Wait," Teresa said. "Murdoch's with him."
Johnny's bedroom door opened the next door down, and he appeared, shirtless, his pants pulled on, and running
a hand thru his dark hair.
"It's Burl," Teresa offered in explanation.
Johnny sighed heavily and went past them, as Burl screeched, "Take ur flamin' dirty hands off!"
"You just settle down!" Murdoch could be heard replying.
Johnny disappeared into Charlie's bedroom, where his voice joined Murdoch's.
Charlie pulled her arm free of Teresa and went to the doorway of her room. The sight of Murdoch and Scott holding
onto Burl, as he laid on the bed, made Charlie gasp.
"I'll not drink it!" Burl was yelling.
"Hold it up, Johnny," Murdoch was saying.
Johnny, a glass in his hand, lifted it to Burl's mouth, as Scott said, "Sit him up a bit," to Murdoch.
"You ornery codger," Johnny accused, as Burl tried to turn his mouth away from the glass.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Charlie burst out, stepping to the foot of the bed, and watching the scene with
horror.
Teresa was there, standing to the side.
Murdoch's grip slipped, and Burl's fist swept up to connect in the vicinity of Murdoch's eye.
Murdoch regripped the old man's offending arm, and Johnny tried again to get Burl to drink from the glass.
"Is it his medicine?" Teresa asked, pressing closer.
"Sleeping powders, from the doctor," Murdoch verified.
"I can try," Teresa said. "Maybe he'll take it from a female-"
"No. I don't want you being hurt," Murdoch refused, sounding a bit out of breath from the tussle.
Finally, within the next few minutes, Johnny managed to get at least of portion of the liquid into Burl's mouth.
"There. That's enough," Murdoch was saying.
"I don't know how much actually went in," Johnny said. "And how much went on."
"It's alright," Murdoch said, and Johnny stepped back a bit from the bed, the mostly empty glass in his hand.
Burl was still struggling, and thrashing around.
Johnny's patience had clearly come to a near end. He leaned closer, and said, "You settle down, old man-you hear me?"
Burl seemed to take in Johnny's tone, and seemed to calm somewhat.
"Turn me loose," Burl said.
"Not just yet, I don't think," Murdoch said.
"I'll take over," Johnny said, and exchanged places with Murdoch.
Burl laid down, against the plump pillows. He seemed to see Charlie, then. There was a slight smile on his
lined face. "Ya came, did ya?" he said.
It was apparent, to everyone then, that Burl thought it was Lettie standing at the foot of the bed.
"Yes. I came," Charlie said.
"Come sit with me," Burl said, calm now.
Charlie would have gone, immediately, to sit on the bed beside Burl. It was obvious, though, that none of the adults
in the room were in favor of such.
"She can't, right now," Scott told Burl. His tone was kind, but firm.
"Just for a minute," Burl said, his voice sounding weaker.
Charlie gave Scott a look of questioning. "Can't I?" she asked, quietly.
Scott shook his head in refusal. "Got it, Johnny?" he asked, and Johnny nodded. Scott straightened up, and
came around to where Charlie stood. A hand on her shoulder, and he guided Charlie from the room.
"Alright?" Murdoch asked Johnny.
"Yeah. Seems he's near asleep now," Johnny said.
Murdoch and Teresa joined Scott and Charlie in the hallway outside of the bedroom.
Murdoch blew out a breath. "Whew," he said.
"What happened?" Teresa asked. "He wouldn't go to sleep?"
"He seemed to, and then he started in-prowling about, and hollering. Seemed to think I was somebody named
McCune," Murdoch related.
"Not a person that he seemed pleased with," Scott said, wryly.
"No," Murdoch agreed. "Definitely not pleased with Mr. McCune, whoever he is."
Teresa reached up to touch Murdoch's eye, where he'd been pummeled.
"Come down to the kitchen," she urged him. "We should put something on your eye."
"He packs a punch for an old fellow," Murdoch said.
"I'll make some coffee, and then tend to your eye," Teresa offered.
"Probably shouldn't have coffee this late, but I will," Murdoch said, with a sigh, and turned to Scott. "Scott?"
"I'll be down in a couple of minutes," Scott said. "I'll make sure Johnny doesn't need any more help first."
Murdoch nodded and he and Teresa began down the stairs.
Scott looked down at Charlie. "Back to bed, kiddo," he told her.
"Can't I stay up with everyone for awhile?" Charlie pleaded. "And make sure Burl's alright?"
"Burl's going to be alright. He'll be asleep any time now," Scott said.
Charlie gave him a pleading look from her big brown eyes, and Scott paused, and then said, "Alright. For a few minutes."
Scott went back to the doorway of Charlie's bedroom, with her following along behind him.
Johnny was standing now, beside the bed, in which Burl's slight form appeared to be still, and quiet.
"Asleep?" Scott asked him.
Johnny turned slightly and nodded. "Think so," he said, softly.
"Coffee downstairs," Scott said, just as softly, and then he motioned Charlie out of the doorway, and they
headed downstairs. Walking down the stairs with Scott, Charlie could feel the familiar knot in her stomach. The one
that arose every time that Burl showed this side of himself.
"Burl doesn't mean to act so badly," Charlie said, looking up and trying to read Scott's expression.
"We know that, Charlie."
Johnny was coming along behind them, and they went into the kitchen together. Murdoch was already seated at the table
there, while Teresa was standing next to him, dabbing witch hazel on a compress and placing the compress on his eye.
Scott gave Murdoch's shoulder a pat. "Doing alright?" he asked.
"He sure caught me by surprise," Murdoch said.
Johnny paused, and lifted the compress away to examine Murdoch's eye, and then let Teresa put it back on again. "He surely did
nail ya, didn't he?"
"I still think he might not have reacted that way with a female," Teresa said.
"We won't know that, because I won't have you testing your theory," Murdoch said, with authority.
"That's right," Johnny said. "Anytime the old fella's like that, you steer clear, Teresa." He tapped Charlie on the nose. "You too, pequeno."
"He thinks I'm Lettie, though," Charlie protested. "When he thinks I'm her, he would never hurt me."
"Charlie," Scott said, abruptly.
Charlie turned to look at him, startled. Scott sat down in the chair across from Murdoch, and eyed Charlie.
"You heard what was said," he told her, sternly. "You'll mind what you were told."
Charlie felt her face get warm, and then they, the adults, went on talking. Johnny stepped over to touch the coffee pot on
the stove, lightly, with one finger. He poured the warmed up coffee, setting cups in front of Murdoch and Scott.
"Teresa?" he offered.
"No. Thank you," Teresa said.
"Pequeno?"
Charlie looked to Johnny, surprised. And pleased. She very rarely was allowed to have coffee.
She glanced at Scott, thinking he might curtail Johnny's offer. But, Scott said nothing, and Charlie
looked back to Johnny, and nodded eagerly. "Yes, please," she told him.
Johnny filled a cup half-full of coffee, and then another, for himself. He came to sit in the third chair at the table,
as Teresa took the last chair. Johnny patted his knee in invitation. "Comere," he told Charlie.
Charlie came to sit on his knee, and he pushed the half-full cup of coffee in front of her, and pulled the sugar
container over closer, as well.
Charlie filled her allotted coffee with two heaping teaspoons of sugar, and stirred it.
The family began talking, then, of Burl, and the care that he was likely to require.
"It's not right to put it off onto you, Teresa, or Maria," Murdoch was saying.
"I'm willing to try," Teresa said.
"I know you are, darling," Murdoch said, reaching out his free hand to cover Teresa's.
"Where will he go, if he doesn't stay here?" Charlie spoke up.
The adults exchanged glances, and Murdoch said, gently, "We don't know that, sweetheart. It's possible he has some
family-somewhere."
"If he does, why would they have left him alone all this time?" Charlie asked. "And never come to see him?"
None of them had an answer for that. She could see.
"Val and the doctor are trying to investigate some possibilities," Scott said, instead.
"You mean, like the sanitarium?" Charlie asked.
"Possibly," Scott said.
Charlie gave a small sigh.
"We're going to do whatever is in our power to do to help Burl, Charlie," Murdoch told her.
Charlie met the older man's gaze. She nodded.
"Yes, sir, I know," she said, quietly.
Johnny rubbed her back in comforting circles.
"So we'll continue on, for a few days, and see how things go," Murdoch said.
"We're not gonna have any more nonsense like what happened tonight," Johnny said. "He can't be gettin' in such a state that
he's throwin' punches."
"Well, we'll see," Murdoch said.
Charlie sipped at her coffee, and both she and Teresa were cautioned that if they were with Burl, and he, at any time,
grew agitated, they were not to attempt to to do anything beyond vocal calming.
"Even if it means leaving him wherever he is, that's what you do," Murdoch said, addressing both of the girls.
"Alright," Teresa agreed, and Charlie nodded.
The group of five finished their coffee, and talk, and began to make their way back up the stairs to their respective beds.
"Hopefully he'll sleep thru the night," Johnny said, quietly, at the head of the stairs, gesturing to the bedroom where
Burl was sleeping.
"He should. Those powders will do their job," Murdoch said.
Teresa made the comment as the girls were preparing to head back to bed that she hoped the coffee wouldn't
keep Charlie from sleeping.
And, it didn't. Charlie found that as soon as she was back into the bed she could hardly keep her eyes open.
Lancer