Chapter Nine
Elias and Adam walked in the house and it was silent. Adam knew that Sonny wasn't due back from school yet but Rachel should be there.
"Rachel?" Elias called out. There was no answer. "Where the hell is that woman to?"
Adam felt his gut tighten; he wondered if Truck had sent more of his men to Elias' house since Elias and Adam were some distance away. Elias called for Rachel out the front door and Adam went into the kitchen but Rachel wasn't there. Adam fought down the panic that rose in his throat. Then relief washed over him; through the open back door he saw Rachel sitting on the steps. He stood behind her and quietly said, "Mrs. Fell?" She looked up at him and her face looked as if she had just suffered a great loss. And then Adam saw why. The back yard was littered with dead chickens.
"They killed all my chickens," she said quietly. She looked back at the yard and Adam stepped down and stood in the yard. "Snapped their necks, one after the other. I tried to stop them but they just pushed me down and laughed. They would grab a chicken and snap it like a whip."
"I'm so sorry," Adam said. "I'm so sorry." He looked around and saw that Rachel's vegetable garden was trampled. "Your garden…"
"They rode their horses on it—over and over again. All my hard work." Her voice broke and she stopped talking.
Elias came to the door and surveyed the scene. "What the hell happened here?"
"Some men killed her chickens and ruined her garden."
"Truck's men. Goddamn him. I've got a good mind to head over there and shoot him dead."
"They'd shoot you first," Adam said. "They're probably waiting for you to step one foot on their property. That's why they did this—to provoke you."
"I can't just sit here and wait for what they do next. I've got to do something!"
Adam moved to Rachel and knelt down in front of her. "Did you recognize any of them, Mrs. Fell?"
"No. I've never seen them before."
Adam stood up and surveyed the yard again. Then he went and picked up the dead chickens, bringing them to where Rachel sat. She watched him, not knowing what he was going to do. After he had the pile of twelve chickens at the foot of the steps, he sat down beside Rachel and picked up one of the chickens and began to pluck the feathers by handfuls. Rachel moved over slightly to give Adam more room, picked up a chicken and began to pluck it following his lead.
"What the hell are you two doing?" Elias asked. He was confused as he saw them sitting together on the back step, feathers floating through the air.
"I suppose," Rachel answered, "I'll make chicken and dumplings for dinner and then fry up a mess of them. Cold fried chicken will last two days. The rest of the plucked and cleaned chickens, Elias can take to town tomorrow morning and try to sell. Mrs. Cowan who owns the Hartford House buys my eggs; she might buy the chickens as well."
Elias said nothing more but turned and went into the house to roll himself a cigarette. Tobacco was expensive and he saved it for a treat but right now, he needed it to soothe his nerves. He had no idea what was going on in his life anymore and not being a man given to analytical thinking, he was overwhelmed and puzzled.
"Thank you," Rachel said to Adam. "I just felt so helpless when it happened and—I didn't know what to do."
Adam smiled at her and reached out to wipe dirt from her cheek. "They didn't hurt you did they? I mean other than pushing you?" Adam had also noticed the dirt on her clothing from when she had fallen.
"No." She carefully worked at picking out the smallest feathers.
"Good. You might be able to save some of the root vegetables like the carrots and onions-potatoes. Taste good in a nice chicken stew."
Rachel's hands stopped and she looked at Adam. He stopped plucking as well. "Thank you, Mr. Cartwright. And not just for this. Thank you for being kind and…just thank you. I'm glad that you're not avoiding me after, well, I'm glad that you stayed on here. I was afraid you'd ride out."
"You're one of the reasons I stayed but I think you and Sonny need to leave—go stay in town or go to family. It's not safe around here anymore. When you couldn't be found, well, I thought the worst and I was relieved to find that only the chickens were dead in the yard and not you. Do you have any place to go?"
"This is my home; I have no place else. Besides, I won't leave." She went back to plucking chickens.
Adam considered and then spoke. "I can wire my family for money, enough to send you wherever you want to go. Take Sonny with you and if you like, I can even send you to my family in Nevada to stay. They'd welcome you."
"Thank you but you don't owe me anything for last night or anything else, but if it's that easy for you to get money, maybe you should wire them for your own stage fare and leave—this really isn't your fight."
"I think it is. After all, I'm sitting here plucking chickens that Truck's men killed and if you'll get me a knife and a wash bucket filled with cold water, I'll start gutting them too. This," he said holding up the limp chicken, "makes it my battle. Union Army Captain Adam Cartwright turned chicken-plucker. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."
Rachel giggled and then began to laugh and Adam joined her and Elias, sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and smoking his cigarette, heard them through the open door and realized that he hadn't heard Rachel laugh once since the day she arrived. And he wondered what she and Adam Cartwright could possibly find funny on a day like today.