Man of Justice
Chapter Thirty two
Morning came early and it found the Barkleys and their guests sitting on chairs set out on the front lawn or leaning up against one of the trees. Jarrod stood some fee away, leaning his shoulder against one of the trees while he looked at his family and the Michaels. While all wanted to press Jarrod to talk, no one did. Truth be told, had the Barkleys known Jarrod had slipped out of the house around midnight, climbed up to the loft of the barn, and once more sat cross legged and shirtless in front of the opened doors of the loft, and that it was a routine he'd consistently been doing for years when he was being pushed to his limit…each and every one of the Barkleys would have asked their guests to leave. If they Barkleys had asked them to leave, the Michaels would have gone away disappointed but without a fight. As it was, Jarrod finally broke the silence as he started talking.
After Doctor Goodman left, Jarrod kept his promise and spoke more often, though most of it was related to either questions or answers. He even shocked them the day that Nick wanted to see one of his friends in town and he had offered to be the one to be the one to take him.
Jarrod now walked down the streets of Stockton with Nick, looking calm and collected as could be. Looks can be deceiving though. Under his calm exterior, was anger and resentment. Tom had been talking to Nick and him at the breakfast table. "I need you boys ready to go by nine tomorrow morning. It's going to take all the men we have plus the two of you to move that cattle because we're short of help."
It had been all Jarrod could do to remain in his seat when Tom referred to him as a boy. If he hadn't reminded himself that a man did not show disrespect to a father who, in his eyes, was doing his best by his family, he would have stormed out of the dining room. As it was, he got enough attention as he stiffened slightly and his face, which had been relaxed and actually wore a smile, turned back to the stone mask. "Is there a problem, son?" Tom put down his fork and looked at Jarrod.
"No, sir," Jarrod answered as he went back to eating, "You don't have to worry. I'll get my work done; I always get it done."
Not knowing what their son was son thinking, Tom and Victoria could only wonder if Jarrod had simply took offense at what he saw as an implied accusation that he was lazy or if it went deeper than that. Though, they felt there was nothing more they could do for Jarrod other than what they were already doing. All they could do was watch, helpless, as this still very troubled young man fell back into silence during the rest of the meal. Only when he asked to be excused did Jarrod speak again and even then he kept it short.
Later Jarrod learned that Nick had turned to their parents had asked, "What's wrong with Man of Justice?" the young boy had finally given in and started to call his brother by his Shoshone name, but not before he let it be known loud and clear what he thought about it…even if it had earned him another trip to his room. "He's been back for almost six months now and he's still not acting like the Jarrod I remember."
Jarrod smiled upon Victoria as she, unsuccessfully, fought to keep a single tear from rolling down her cheek. "They never got that Jarrod back, he had left never to come back. I couldn't be the rancher father needed," Jarrod's eyes turned to his hot tempered brother who, again, was looking very unsettled, "that job fell to the son it was meant for from the beginning."
"But your hair and your clothing, when did you change them?" Audra pressed for answers. "I mean, as I think hard on it, I remember a boy with long hair and buckskin clothes, but I couldn't have been more than four, maybe five at the most." If she was to continue to tolerate the presence of their guests, she had wanted her questions answered.
Jarrod's eyes grew dark for a moment. Audra instantly wondered if she should have just left things alone. It was too late though; the question had been asked and could not be taken back. "Like I said, I might have looked calm as collected as I walked through Stockton with Nick, only I wasn't. I was simply a bottle filling up with pressure, sooner or later I just had to explode," continued Jarrod.
Nick and Jarrod were almost to the hardware store when they heard a commotion up the street. Both hurried to see what was going on. They were shocked to see Herman Lee, a rather unfriendly man, pushing a slower somewhat dim witted Johnny Taylor around. Jarrod felt the fury inside him rising. No man, woman or child should be treated the way Herman was pushing Johnny around. "Leave him alone." Jarrod stepped in front of Johnny. "He can't hurt you."
Herman got his 'kicks' out of picking on Johnny and did it every chance he got. Since it was a pretty slow morning, Herman figured he could get away with it. "Get out of my way boy," Herman sneered, "this is a man sized problem, not one to be dealt by a kid." He reached out to grab a hold of Jarrod. That did it, Jarrod snapped. Maybe, he had to put up with being referred to as a boy by his father, but he didn't have to put it up with it from this man. Before Herman knew it, Jarrod had planted his one fist into his abdomen and the other one across his chin, sending him flying backwards.
Because Herman had only recently moved to Stockton and never bothered getting to know the Barkleys or getting to know anything about them, he made an assumption. "Why you no good half-breed, I'll teach you." He came up swinging only to find Jarrod ducking, grabbing his arm, flipping him up into the air and slamming him back down onto the ground, not hard to do as Herman was as thin as a bean pole and not exactly the tallest man around. The fight might have continued only Nick had ran for Fred. A crowd had started to gather by the time the lawman had arrived.
"Hold it!" the lawman stepped in between the two, "What is going on?"
"Mr. Lee started it!" Nick was more than happy to pipe up and tell on the man, "he was pushing Johnny around, Man of Justice told him to stop and then Mr. Lee went after my brother!" Nick grinned, as he looked upon Jarrod with a new found admiration.
Mr. Lee growled, "I was just going to move him out of the way! This was between Johnny and me! The boy didn't need to get involved!" Again Jarrod snapped and made a move to go after the man only to have Fred stop him and held tight as he turned with authority to Lee.
"Leave Jonny alone, Herman. He's more of a man then you'll ever be! Now get out of here before I arrest you for disturbing the peace!" Fred warned and then ordered those who had gathered to disperse. Once the streets had cleared, the lawman looked at both Barkleys boys and started asking questions. Nick was more than happy to answer them, Jarrod was another story. All he would say was that it was wrong for Mr. Lee to be picking on Johnny when the man was in no way capable of defending himself.
Because Nick had told Fred exactly what Herman Lee had said and Fred knew how the Shoshone people were given their names, the lawman was able to see the other half of the problem right away. In fact, the way everyone continued to treat Jarrod like a boy amazed the sheriff. If wondered why Dr. Goodman hadn't even picked up on it, which was shocking, as the man would have better cause than anyone to know the Indian culture. He knew a trip out to the Barkley ranch was necessary. "Get what you need and I'll take you back to your home." Fred stepped out of the way leaving Jarrod thinking for sure he'd just gotten into trouble for fighting, though Jarrod swore up and down, no matter what, he'd never apologize for it.