A Muddy Surprise
By Jo
The storm clouds that had been threatening all day finally let loose. Buck pulled his cloth coat tighter against his body; he was miles from home. "Wonderful" He grumbled. The horse shook his head as if to say 'I'm not exactly happy about being out here either.' "Come on boy, I know you want your nice warm barn but we need to get there first." Buck spoke soothingly to the animal and patted his neck.
They'd gone about half way when the horse stopped short from a moderate canter. Buck wasn't prepared for this and went sailing right over the horse's head into a rather large puddle of icy cold mud. He landed flat on his back and slid, mud found its way into every possible opening in his clothing it could find. Buck sat up swearing loudly, spitting out mud and wiping it out of his eyes; he had to blow his nose several time to get all the goo out. The horse walked carefully around the mud puddle and stood waiting for Buck on the other side but he wasn't alone. A soaking wet, mud covered kitten not much bigger than Buck's fist, looked at him and blinked. The horse nudged the kitten with his large head; it let out a pitiful meow that tore at Buck's heart. "You look like you're having a wonderful day too, where's your mama?" Buck picked himself up and reached down for the tiny bundle of fur. The kitten allowed him to pick it up and brush some of the mud off of it. "I know there's a kitten in there somewhere but man are you a mess." The kitten was so cold it was shaking. "I can't leave you like this, here maybe this will help you warm up." He stuffed the kitten inside his shirt. A quick look around the area did not yield any more kittens or a mother cat so Buck remounted carefully and started for home.
At first the kitten was frightened by the movement of the horse and rider and sunk its claws firmly into Buck, clinging to him for dear life. After a painful mile or so it calmed down and instead of pain Buck felt a vibration against his chest. He couldn't hear it but he knew the kitten was purring; a tiny pink nose poked out between the buttons of his shirt. "At least one of us is comfortable!" he muttered as the wind lashed his face with the cold rain which was fast becoming sleet. He had to admit the kitten was good for warmth and there was something comforting about its purr.
It was well after dark when Buck finally saw the lights of Rock Creek come into view. He longed for his bed, clean clothes and a hot meal but he knew the horse had to be cared for first so he rode up to the barn. He dismounted, opened the door and led the horse to its stall. The rain was loud on the roof and he figured no one had heard him ride in. The kitten was still snuggled comfortably in his shirt.
He was undoing the chinch when Noah called out. "Hey Buck, we've been worried about you, I'll get the horse, Lou just took some dry clothes for you over to Rachel's and I know she talked about keeping some supper warm for you so git before she comes out and gets you herself."
"Thanks Noah, which one are you talkin' about Lou or Rachel?" Buck joked.
"Does it matter? Either of them mad is bad for us! How did you get so muddy?" Noah pulled the saddle off the streaming horse. "Could you two be any wetter?" Noah turned his attention to the horse that wasn't in a good mood and let him know it by stamping his feet. "Alright all ready, I'm workin' as fast as I can, here, have some oats."
Buck turned toward the house and, deciding that coming in the front door would not be the smartest thing to do, ran around to the back. The kitten didn't like the running and again sunk all of its claws into Buck. Buck grimaced as Rachel opened the door. "Buck, you're soaked! You must be half frozen, are you hurt?" Rachel asked seeing the look on his face. She guided him into the warm kitchen and started to help him get his coat off.
"OH!" Lou squeaked jumping away from Buck. "Buck, what's in your shirt? I saw a face!" Lou, without taking her eyes off Buck's shirt, took Buck's coat from Rachel and hung it over a chair to dry. A puddle was forming around his feet.
"Buck?" Rachel asked as Buck's shirt moved on its own.
"Uh, I couldn't leave it….its so little….it might even be cute but I can't tell…." Buck unbuttoned his shirt and the kitten emerged. It fit in the palm of his hand but other than two huge round blue eyes and a little pink nose the kitten was so covered in mud, now dried where it had rested against Buck's skin, the color of its fur was a mystery.
"Awe, the poor thing…." Lou fell in love. "Of course you couldn't leave it."
"Um, well, I think a bath is in order for both you and the kitten, Buck, mud room, Now! Lou and I had been filling the tub in case you came home so the water is hot. Lou put your clothes on the chair and there's a towel on the door. Toss your boots back in here so I can dry them by the stove while you get some of that mud off of you and the cat….good luck!" Rachel smiled pleasantly as she handed him the soap. "I'll have supper waitin' on you."
Buck put the kitten down once he closed the door and stripped off his clothes. His boots proved to be full of water which spilled over the floor when he removed them. He hid behind the door and tossed them into the kitchen to two giggling women. A chorus of thank you's followed. He wondered what they were laughing about.
Buck sank down into the warm water and let it soak into his bones, warming him while he just lay there relaxing. Finally the water began to cool off so he decided he'd wash up quickly then bathe the kitten. Washing the mud out of his hair took longer then he expected and he wasn't looking forward to washing the mud out of his tiny new friend's fur.
The kitten had made some progress on its own cleaning one paw and much of its face but there was still a lot of mud on the kitten. Buck reached over and scooped the furball up in his hand. He wasn't really holding it tightly so when the kitten got the first touch of the water it wiggled out of his grasp and ran up his arm, claws extended. Buck cried out in surprise and recaptured the kitten. Giggles from the kitchen reached his ears. Buck set his jaw and proceeded to scrub the mud off a very loud kitten.
"How can something this small make that much noise? I'm trying to help you…OWWW!" he yelped as the kitten caught the tender flesh of his chest and tried to escape the water. Several painful bloody minutes later, the kitten's fur was mostly mud free. "Well you probably are kinda cute but right now you look like a drowned rat. You have freckles on your nose! How about Freckles for a name?" Buck chuckled as he wrapped the kitten in the towel he was supposed to use to dry himself. Freckles curled up in the towel and fell asleep. Buck dressed his damp body in his clean dry clothes but didn't button his shirt. He wanted the scratches to stop bleeding first.
Rachel had a steaming bowl of stew waiting for him and some bread soaked in warm milk for the kitten. She even had a damp rag waiting to clean up the scratches on his chest and arms. Buck wasn't sure what she used but the stuff on the rag stung almost as much as the scratches did at first. Lou had thought to bring an old pair of boots over for Buck to wear back to the bunkhouse so he didn't have to put on the soaking wet ones again.
Finally warm and clean both inside and out Buck helped Lou and Rachel clean up the mess he made and got ready to head over to the bunkhouse for a much deserved rest. "Buck, you forgot Freckles, the kitten goes with you….." Rachel reminded him. Dried up and fluffy now the kitten was mostly white with patches of brown and black all over; one on its left shoulder looked like a heart.
Freckles scratched at the door as if asking to go outside. "See it wants to go with you." Lou laughed. "Is it a boy or a girl?" Buck shrugged.
Freckles was doing a little kitten dance and Rachel laughed as she opened the door. "I think Freckles is already housebroken Buck! Wait a minute it will want in." and sure enough a minute or two later a soft scratch was heard. Rachel grabbed a rag and opened the door allowing the kitten to enter. She scooped it up and cleaned the muddy paws, checked the kitten over and handed Buck the kitten. "Freckles is a he! Good night Buck, sleep well."
Buck and Lou hurried over to the bunkhouse trying to avoid getting soaked and opened the door to find everyone else already in bed. They got ready for bed quietly and let Freckles explore his new home. Buck crawled into his bunk and sunk his head into the familiar comfort of his pillows, turned on his side and was just falling asleep when he felt something jump onto the bed. Freckles snuggled himself down next to Buck's chest and began to purr. Buck felt like purring too. He was home.