Chapter Four What the Cat Dragged In

It was after lunch the next day before Kitty finally got a chance to work on her books. Sam had, indeed, brought them over, along with supper for her and Doc. Her appetite was a bit better than it had been, but she still picked at the food impatiently until she'd eaten enough to make Doc happy. No sooner had Doc taken her tray away then Dorie came over from the Long Branch to help her wash her hair, as requested. It would have been rude to send her away after she'd taken the trouble to gather up the toiletries and cosmetics she thought Kitty would want, along with a clean nightgown and her favorite lacy peignoir. Having her hair washed and taking a sponge bath afterwards tired her out more than she wanted to admit, but she still made a show of arguing with Doc about getting some rest, pretending he'd talked her into it after he pointed out that leaving the books for the next day would give her something to look forward to.

She had every intention of starting on the books right after breakfast, but the morning went much the same as the previous evening. Before she was even done with her breakfast, Pumpkin ran into the room, followed by a shaky but surprisingly sober Louie.

"Louie, I want to thank you for bringing Pumpkin yesterday. What made you think of it?"

Louie grinned at her sheepishly. "Well, Pumpkin did, Miss Kitty! He came up to me while I was working at the stable carrying on somethin' terrible! I said 'What's the matter boy, do you miss your mama?' but of course he couldn't answer me. So when I got finished I decided to come see you and he followed me over here!"

"Well, I'm glad you did. Now, how about finishing this breakfast so Doc doesn't get mad at me?" she asked in a conspiratorial whisper. Doc, overhearing in the next room, smiled and ran a hand over his mustache.

Once Louie left, again leaving Pumpkin behind, Dorie returned, bringing the figures Sam had written down from the previous night's business. She stayed to brush Kitty's hair, since she was still too sore to raise her arms high enough to do it herself, and tied it back with a blue ribbon that matched the sash of her peignoir. Kitty was in the middle of making her injuries less noticeable with a little face paint when the next of what turned out to be a steady stream of visitors arrived. It was Festus, and he was clearly delighted to see how much she had improved in the two days since he had seen her last. He showered her with every colorful compliment in his repertoire, beginning with "sight for sore eyeballs," ending with "plumb purty," and included several Kitty had never heard before. After giving Pumpkin a good scratch behind the ears and receiving a goodbye kiss on the cheek from Kitty, he was on his way back to making rounds. The rest of her morning was one visitor after another. Burke, Lathrop, and Newly all stopped in, along with a cross-section of nearly every segment of the Dodge City population, from Mr. Botkin to the preacher's wife; from the dressmaker to the other saloon owners.

"Doc, if I didn't know better, I'd say someone put the word out that I was ready for company," Kitty said to him with raised brows during a lull in the activity.

"Oh, pshaw," Doc protested. Just then they heard the outer door open and close again.

"Hello," called a haughty elderly female voice. Doc and Kitty exchanged a look and Doc walked out of the bedroom to greet the next visitor. As they had both suspected, it was the diminutive, sour-faced Edsel Pry, bearing one of her freshly baked lemon meringue pies. Miss Pry nodded at Kitty and sat primly in the chair across the room from her. Doc wisely removed the pie to the outer office, anticipating that it might otherwise be thrown at some point in the visit. Kitty scowled at him, already having planned to do just that if Miss Pry said anything against Pumpkin, who had retreated under the bed, or criticized Matt's ability to keep the riffraff, as she would no doubt put it, out of town. If she did that, Doc thought, or Heaven forbid said anything at all to imply that Kitty had brought her injuries on herself by stepping forward as Matt's woman, he would shove the pie in the woman's face himself. After the usual pleasantries in which Miss Pry expressed her hope that Kitty was feeling better and Kitty graciously thanked her for her visit, they settled into an awkward silence. The woman had barely spoken two words to her in eighteen years, aside from their butting heads a few times over her complaints about Pumpkin, and Kitty couldn't help wondering what the woman was doing there.

"May I say something, Miss Russell?" she asked finally

"Of course," Kitty responded, wishing once more that Doc had left the pie.

"As you know, I do not approve of the saloon business."

Never having had an actual conversation with the woman, Kitty "knew" no such thing, but the news came as no great shock to her.

"Nevertheless, your establishment appears to be the most reputable one of its kind in town."

Kitty waited patiently for her to continue.

"And you do have a reputation for being honest and fair in your business transactions. I have always respected that about you."

Kitty wondered if Miss Pry was going to get to the point anytime soon. It was nearly lunchtime and she hadn't started working on her books yet.

"However, your recent actions in the situation with those dreadful outlaws have given me another reason to admire you."

Kitty's brows shot up and she stared at the woman, wondering if she'd heard her correctly.

"Now, I have no wish to bring up what happened to you afterward…"

Doc, standing just out of view in the other room, muttered "you'd better not" and glanced over at the pie.

"...but may I just say I think you were a very brave woman to do what you did."

Kitty shook her head, protesting, "I only did what any-"

Miss Pry raised a hand, interrupting her. "Miss Russell, I know a good many decent, respectable women, Christian women, who wouldn't have had the courage to do what you did. Perhaps if the person being threatened were their husband, or their child, certainly, they wouldn't hesitate to act. But under any other circumstances they would stay out of sight and let the men protect them, no matter the consequences." She paused a moment for air and then continued. "You are a remarkable woman, Miss Russell. While I never expect to set foot in your business unless it's to speak to you about your tomcat, I just thought you should know that."

Kitty sat there, speechless, trying to digest everything Miss Pry had just said to her. Not only was the old women one of the last people she would have expected to hear such things from, she was the first person who hadn't treated her like a victim. While Kitty didn't consider herself the hero Miss Pry was making her out to be, she appreciated that the woman saw her actions as necessary and the right thing to do.

Miss Pry rose from her chair stiffly, straightened her cape, and announced, "I believe I've taken up enough of your time for one day and I have another batch of pies to make, so good day." She passed Doc, standing dumbfounded, on her way out. "Doctor." She nodded at him and marched purposefully out the door.

"What do you make of that Doc?" Kitty asked when he stuck his head in the doorway to ask if she wanted him to reheat some soup for her lunch. He just shook his head and tugged on one ear, as baffled as Kitty was by what had just happened.

After lunch Kitty spread her ledgers out on the tray over her lap. Seeing that Pumpkin was curled up in a patch of sunlight in front of one of the windows and hopeful that he wouldn't decide to plop down on top of her books any time soon, she got to work. After about an hour of going over Sam's figures for the last month, she realized her head and neck were beginning to ache and sat up straight to stretch out a bit. It was then that she noticed Pumpkin's behavior. He was no longer napping, but appeared to be interested in something under the bed. He crouched down onto his front paws, watching whatever it was intently. He wiggled his behind from side to side a few times and then sprang forward and pounced.

"Doc, get in here!"

Hearing Kitty frantically calling for him, Doc dropped the medical journal he'd been studying and bolted into the bedroom. Panting and possibly even wheezing a little, he managed to gasp "What's wrong?"

Kitty stared at him. "I'm sorry, Doc, I didn't mean to scare you. It's not me. Look!" she pointed at Pumpkin, who appeared to have something cornered. Then he did a double take. For the first time since before her ordeal, Kitty had a smile, a real smile, on her face.

"Doc, aren't you glad that thing didn't show its face a couple of hours ago when Miss Pry was here? She'd probably turn you in to the health department for allowing rodents in your office."

"Listen here, young lady, I am the health department in this town," he said gruffly, managing to scowl and wink at the same time. "And as for keeping rodents away, well, I let that mouser in here, didn't I? Looks to me like he's got the problem under control."

"Oh, no, you don't," Kitty exclaimed, seeing Pumpkin approach with the unwanted visitor in his mouth. "Don't you dare bring that thing up onto this bed, mister!"

Pumpkin, possibly remembering past incidents in which his lady had been rather vocal about her lack of appreciation for that type of gift, changed his course and laid the mouse down at Doc's feet. On seeing this, Kitty let out a loud whoop of laughter, followed immediately by "ow! ow!" as she wrapped her arms around her sore ribs.

"By golly, Kitty, it's good to hear you laugh again!" Doc exclaimed once she had managed to contain herself.

"It's good to have something to laugh about again, Doc," she said pensively.

Doc plucked the mouse from the floor by its tail and went to the door to let it, along with Pumpkin, outside. When he returned to Kitty, she looked at him sadly, tears clinging to her lashes. Doc crossed the room silently and put one arm around her shoulders. He didn't need to ask what was wrong but she told him anyway.

"Doc, has there been any word from Matt?"

TBC