Chapter 1
Matt and Festus walked down the wooden boardwalk of Front Street, on their way to Delmonico's. It was close to one o'clock, and they were going to meet Doc for lunch. The original plan was for the trio to eat lunch together an hour earlier, but Doc was called out to the Kingsley homestead.
Mrs. Kingsley had stepped on a small rock while walking out to the washline and twisted her ankle. The ankle wasn't broken, just slightly sprained. Doc prescribed for her to keep it elevated as much as possible and to stay off of it for a week. She and Mr. Kingsley agreed to that. All of their children were grown and out of the house, so Mrs. Kingsley wouldn't have any little ones to take care of or under foot.
"Do ya think Doc will pay for the meals?" Festus asked as they approached Delmonico's.
"I doubt that," Matt replied. "He still thinks we cheated the last time when we drew straws, 'n he drew the short straw."
"Yeah, that was purty funny the way Doc went on," laughed Festus, remembering the incident.
"If anything, he probably expects his meal to be paid for," said Matt. 'And I'm the one who would be doing the buying,' Matt thought to himself.
Both Doc and Matt never expected Festus to pay for all of their meals. They knew he couldn't afford to do so. Festus would buy them an occasional beer, but that was about it. Even though Festus didn't buy any of their meals, Matt and Doc never held it against him. Of course Doc would have fun pestering Festus about not buying meals for the three of them.
"It's about time the two of you showed up," Doc scolded as Matt and Festus walked through the door and towards Doc. "Just for making me wait, I should have you buy my meal for me."
"Golly bill, ya ol' scudder," Festus shook his head. "Ya act as if you've been here for hours."
"Making you wait," said Matt with a shake of his head. "We agreed on one o'clock and it's coming on one o'clock right now."
"It ain't our fault ya can't tell time," said Festus, knowing he was getting Doc agitated.
"But just to keep you from whining 'n complaining, I'll buy lunch today," Matt offered.
Shortly after finding a table, Joe came to take the guys' orders. All three ordered the antelope stew with homemade bread. It didn't take long for Joe to return with three bowls of stew and the bread.
"Ya know. It's too bad that Mizz Kitty and Mizz Ruby couldn't have joined us fer lunch," said Festus, dunking a chunk of his bread into his stew and placing it into his mouth.
"Yeah, well Kitty 'n Ruby ate lunch at Delmonico's yesterday after Kitty picked Ruby up from school. And Kitty and I don't want Ruby thinking she's gonna eat at Delmonico's everyday she has school," Matt explained.
The previous evening, while Matt and Kitty were putting Ruby to bed, Ruby asked if she was going to have lunch at Delmonico's the following day. Not wanting their daughter thinking she was going to eat at Delmonico's every day, Matt and Kitty told her no. They explained that eating at Delmonico's was special, and if she ate there everyday, it wouldn't be as special. So, when she asked if she could eat at the cafe, they said the same thing to her.
Matt, Festus, and Doc finished their meals and got ready to leave Delmonico's. Matt threw some money on the table to cover all three of the meals, and the three exited Delmonico's.
"Momma, what are we gonna have for lunch," Ruby asked during their ride home from school.
"I figured since it's such a beautiful fall day, we could have a picnic in the backyard," Kitty answered. "We'll eat the leftover fried chicken and potato salad from last night's supper."
Kitty didn't want Ruby thinking she could eat lunch in town everyday, but didn't see any problem with having a picnic with her little girl. Ruby was growing up quickly and Kitty wanted to enjoy as much time with Ruby as she could. Right now Ruby was attending school in the mornings. Next year she would be going to school for a full day.
"Oh boy! A picnic!" Ruby exclaimed as she clapped her hands. "We haven't had a picnic for a long time. What about the blueberry muffins? Can we have those too?"
"I know," Kitty agreed. "That's why I thought it was a good idea to have one. Besides, it's fall and it won't be long before winter arrives. And then we won't be able to have picnics. It'll be too cold outside. Now about those blueberry muffins. I thought we'd save those for tonight. That way daddy can eat them with us."
"We can have a picnic inside," Ruby pointed out. "Oh and I think it's a good idea to save the blueberry muffins."
Kitty hadn't considered that possibility. "I suppose you're right about an indoor picnic."
Fifteen minutes later Kitty and Ruby arrived home. Kitty had barely stopped the buggy before Ruby jumped down. She was overly excited about the picnic with her momma.
"Ruby, you need to wait until the buggy comes to a complete stop before you jump down," Kitty scolded. "If you jump down too soon, you could be hurt."
"Sorry, momma," Ruby apologized. "I'm just so excited."
"Let's go inside," said Kitty. "We'll get you out of your school dress and into one of your everyday dresses. After that, we'll start our picnic."
It didn't take long to change Ruby's dress. It was a routine that took place everyday. Ruby would exchange her school clothes for clothes she could play in without worry of ruining them. Ruby knew after her school dress came off, she had to lay it neatly on her bed so momma could hang it up in the chifferobe.
Kitty and Ruby took delight in their picnic. Ruby was quite the little chatterbox. She shared multiple school stories. Kitty could only imagine how much Ruby would have to share if she went to school for a full day. Ruby's current story was about a caterpillar.
"He was really fuzzy," said Ruby as she described the caterpillar she saw outside during the morning water break.
"I remember Festus saying that fuzzy caterpillars were a sign of a hard winter," Kitty pointed out.
"What's that mean?" Ruby inquired. She took a spoonful of her potato salad.
"That means the winter could be really cold and snowy," Kitty replied. Ruby nodded, accepting her momma's answer.
Following their picnic, Ruby went to her bedroom to have some rest time. Now that she was in school and had to get up early, Ruby was tired in the afternoon. If Ruby did fall asleep, Kitty made certain that she slept for no more than an hour. Kitty wanted to make sure Ruby went to bed at a decent time, and sleeping most of the afternoon would not help.
Kitty took advantage of the time to work on the Long Branch ledgers. In the mornings while Ruby was at school, Kitty did housework. In the afternoons, she worked on her ledgers. Looking at the mantle clock, Kitty realized it was time to go and wake up Ruby. Kitty closed her ledger and walked down the hall to Ruby's room.
As she expected, Ruby had fallen asleep. Kitty softly padded towards Ruby's bed and sat down next to the sleeping child. Kitty gently rubbed Ruby's back, easing her out of her sleep. Ruby slowly emerged from her slumber. Stretching, she opened her eyes and smiled at her momma.
"I have to get supper started," said Kitty. "You can play in the parlor room while I do so."
"Can I help you?" Ruby asked. She liked helping her momma in the kitchen.
"I'll need your help, but not right away," Kitty responded. "I'll let you know when it's time."
Matt sat in his office waiting for Newly to return. Matt had sent him to the Peterson homestead to deliver deeds from the land office. The Petersons had purchased the land and home from the Birchmeirers, who decided to move out to California.
"Did you get everything taken care of?" Matt asked as Newly walked inside the jail. He didn't expect Newly to have any trouble.
"Everything's all set," Newly replied. "Mr. and Mrs. Peterson were mighty happy to officially call that piece of land theirs."
"Well, I'm much obliged to ya," said Matt. "It gave me time to finish my paperwork, so I can get home in time for supper."
"Tell Kitty and Ruby that I said hello," instructed Newly.
"Will do," said Matt. He exited the jail, mounted Buck, and headed for home.
Ruby was standing on a chair at the sink, helping wash the green beans, when she saw her daddy come home. "Daddy's home!" Jumping off the chair, Ruby ran into the parlor, leaving a trail of water from her wet hands.
"Ruby! You're making a mess!" Kitty shouted to the swing door between the kitchen and the parlor.
"Sorry, momma," Ruby apologized as she pushed the door open. "I have to make sure I'm in the parlor when daddy's come home."
Kitty understood. For the last year or so, Ruby would make sure she was in the parlor to welcome her daddy home. When he arrived home, Matt would greatly give Ruby hugs and kisses, and Ruby greatly accepted them. Both Matt and Ruby looked forward to the tradition that had been started.
The following day Matt was leaving the post office. There were a few pieces of mail, including new wanted circulars, for the jail. Thursday had been uneventful, so it would give Matt an opportunity to finish up his reports and go through the new circulars.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunshots rang out. So much for the quiet Thursday.
TBC
