Ch 5.

The cool breeze blew through my roughly, braided red hair. I watched the creamy white clouds bounce against the robin egg colored sky. The rough wooden buckboard did little to comfort me as we traveled the path toward town. The scuffle with the demon animal had opened the stitches of my nearly healed wound, thus causing fresh blood to pour out. Behind me, I heard the strong voice of Teresa explaining to her brother of the events and how brave I was to face the demon. I bit the edge of my thumb as she described how I beat the demon's skull back into hell. It wasn't out of fear, nor was it out of anger, I bit my thumb because it kept me from looking at Johnny to see how he would react. Barranca, Johnny's horse, was tied to the back of the wagon, how I wished I could take him and ride alone. Teresa continued to explain, in every small detail, how she felt and how she wished she could be just as brave as me in those type of situations. I caught, out of the corner of Johnny's eye, and an annoyed look. He was actually getting tired of his sister's talking; I stifled a laugh. Her voice eventually was tuned out as my mind started to guess the shapes of the clouds. I hummed a tune my mother taught me while she baked; it made time fly faster. I zoned out, listened to the Mexican music in my head, pretending I was dancing like the ladies from the cantinas.

Teresa attempted to assist me into the doctor's office, but my stubbornness kicked in and I pushed her away. The old man looked from his desk as I hobbled in and sat in a chair. Teresa began her story once again. My eyes fell upon Johnny who rubbed his face and leaned against a post. His gaze slowly fell upon me and he shook his head as Teresa continued. I couldn't contain the half smile that escaped from my face. He began to chuckle as, he too, realized how crazy Teresa had become with this story. The doctor finally interrupted the young lady to ask if she was injured. The young woman bit her lip thinking, before stating she was fine. The doctor then stated how she would be better off buying patterns for a new dress then explaining the story further. Once she exited the office, we all gave a sigh of relief. The doctor began to dress my injury, for hopefully, the last.

"You know, if you cleaned up a bit, wore some dresses; you could be an attractive young lady!"

I looked at the doctor slowly, my eyebrows narrowing and my head tilting to one side.

"You know, women weren't made to wear pants! That's a man's clothing!" He stated again. I opened my mouth to say something before shutting it once again. My fingers intertwined and I smiled, my top teeth biting my lower lip while I nodded my head.

"You know doc, I've travelled to tons of places and found lots of people wearing pants and lots of people wearing dresses. Yet, in all those towns, I never found a man; just a whole bunch of scared women. Even now sitting here, as I look around this town, I still haven't found a man." I smiled and looked at him staring through his round glasses.

"Now, if you think by what a person wears defines them, then you should stick to doctoring cause you clearly don't know anything else." He finished bandaging me in silence. Johnny had gone with Teresa, he instructed me to wait at the office until they returned, but he had to have known that I was not going to follow his commands. I hobbled from the office and embraced the sun's rays. The air smelled of fresh cow manure mixed in with the scent of lavender. A unique smell, an interesting smell; I wrinkled my nose regardless. I hobbled toward the general store. Half way there, a bunch of cowboys stepped from the brothel. One looked in my direction, lifting his hat and placing it on his chest he yelled.

"Goodness me! What did we stumble upon here? Look boys it's woman, no it's man. No, it's just a freak!" They all laughed, slapping each other on the back. I looked down wishing I had my pistols to teach them a lesson they would soon not forget.

"Oh, look you are making it cry!" Yelled another. A small crowd had begun to gather, women and men whispering to each other. I looked up at them, my eyes narrowing. The doctor had given me a sturdy wooden cane to help my walking.

"Oh look, what do I see? Its twiddle dum, twiddle dee, and you must be the loud mouth chimpanzee! I heard the circus had come to town, but didn't believe it till I saw you clowns! If you are looking for more, then go back to your tiny whores. For you ain't getting none of me, because I'm this red haired thing called a lady!"

The crowd erupted with laughter and applause. The cowboys stood stunned, unsure with what to reply. The odds were never in their favor, they never really stood a chance, yet the loud mouth ran at me; ready to punch the truth into me only to be met with a cane to the stomach. I lunged into his full speed sprint which hurled him back toward the ground. His friends desperately attempted to fight his battle only to be met with a furious attack of my cane. I felt like a swordsman defending a position against the invaders. My cane fell upon arms, legs, heads, and even connected with a groin. Furiously I spun around, ready to attack my next victim; with the cane above my head and my two hands grasping it firmly I swung. It smacked against the porch post, I looked down to see Johnny crouched. He stood quickly, smiling and laughing.

"I think they understand you are a lady!"

I looked down at the bloody and battered bodies. I spit on them before hobbling with Johnny toward the dress shop. The crowd had continued laughing and cheering during the fight, they slowly dispersed as I walked away. As we neared, I saw the blacksmith had a sign offering puppies. My curiosity got the best of me, I mean who could walk past a sign stating puppies and not go and see them. There were three remaining; a black one with white paws, a brown one with white paws and then the runt of the litter. He was quite smaller than the other two, but he was the most unique. He had black floppy ears with a mostly black face. A white streak started from the top of his head to his snout. His paws were brown and he had a brown splotch on his chest, the rest of his body was covered in greyish black and white spots. I weighed my options, it had been such a long time since I had a dog of my own.

"Do you want one?" The soft voice of Johnny whispered in my ear. I turned sharply, I forgot how quietly he walked.

"That runt looks cute, doesn't he?"

"He is. You want him?" I shook my head "no" before turning back toward the dress shop. I feared loving again; it hurt to love, hurt to lose. I watched Teresa pick her favorite print out, chat with the other young ladies about her ordeal, then look at hats. Johnny popped in and told us to hurry they had to get back to the ranch. I hobbled to the buckboard as he was loading the last flour bag. The bags at least made the seating more comfortable! Teresa was helped onto the buckboard. Johnny attempted with me, only to get his hand slapped. We started off toward the ranch, I laid back looking at the clouds once again. My eyes closed as the endless ride began. My eyelids flew open and I jerked to the side. A wet thing had touched my elbow causing panic to shoot through my body. It cried at my sudden movement, I looked over to see the runt attempting to crawl toward me. I looked at Johnny's back, my mouth open, expecting him to turn around, but he didn't; he made no recognition of me or this puppy in the wagon bed. Tears filled my eyes and my breathing quickened. It had been years since I had something to call my own, granted Luna was mine, but it was never like she showed me love every day. She only got excited when I fed or ran her. I slowly lifted the pup, it nibbled on my nose.

"Hey pup." I whispered to him. I sat against the flour and held the pup against my chest attempting to hold the tears from streaming down my face.

"Don't worry Spero, I got you. I got you."