Chapter 3 Clancy and Foster
Lottie went downstairs to get things ready to open up the saloon. She stepped off the last step of the stairs and slipped. She hit her head on the banister and was knocked out. An hour later, Ken, her employee, came in and saw her laying on the floor. He immediately went out to get help. Ben was just opening his store, and Aaron was heading over to his mill.
"Ben, Aaron, please come and help! Lottie fell down and she is unconscious!" Ken said as he was running across the square to find the doctor. Ben and Aaron ran over to the saloon and helped to get Lottie up off the floor. Aaron took a look and saw something wet on the floor along with a few broken glasses. Dr. Albert, who was staying at Lottie's on his way to the Alaskan Frontier hurried down the stairs and had them take her to her room. He examined her and found that she had hit her head and that there were no broken bones, but she did seem to have a nasty bump.
"Ohhhhh!, My head!" Lottie said as she came to.
"Miss Lottie please stay still; do you remember what happened?" The doctor asked kindly. She looked around and saw Aaron, Ken and Ben all surrounding her bed.
"I was coming down to get the saloon ready to open, some of the loggers and millers will be coming in for breakfast." Lottie said as she put her hand up to her head and felt the large lump that ha developed . The doctor was satisfied that she was all right, he asked her a few more questions and then said:
"Keep an ice pack on that lump for another 15 minutes. And do not get out of bed today!"
"But, I have a saloon to run! I have breakfast I have to cook; I cant stay in bed all day!" she said as she pulled the covers back and started to get out of bed, she fell back quickly and felt woozy.
"Lottie, I can get things going here! I will see who is available from the dorm to help prepare the breakfast for the men." Aaron said as he gently placed her back on her bed.
"Thank you Aaron, Ken, will you see that the drinks are ready for later! I was planning on making hotcakes and eggs for breakfast for the men." She said as she lay on the bed, feeling dizzy.
"Miss Hatfield, you will stay in that bed for today? I will have Dr. Wright look after you later today." Dr. Albert said. At that moment, Joshua entered the saloon, he had entered earlier and heard the doctor. So, he had gone to the dorm and brought Biddie and Clara along to help with the breakfast rush.
"Ken," Joshua called as he noticed the mess on the floor. Ken came to the top of the stairs.
"I was coming in early and heard so I got Biddie and Clara to help you. Is Lottie okay?" Joshua asked
"Yes, thank you Joshua, she will be remaining in her room today. Could you help clean up that mess on the floor? That is how she got hurt, she slipped on what seems like some whiskey, but I know that I cleaned up the floors last night, so I am not sure what happened? Thank you." Ken said from the top of the stairs. Biddie and Clara went to the kitchen to get the fire going and set up the breakfast supplies.
Later in the day, Lottie was feeling better, when Clancy came into the saloon for his afternoon 'lunch' he was surprised that Lottie was in bed.
"Well, would it be okay to see her? That is if it is all right with her?" Clancy asked Ken.
"Let me check and see how she is doing. Dr. Wright was just here and said that she might be able to get up later this afternoon." Ken went upstairs while Clancy waited at the bar.
"Clancy, you can come up, she says she wants to see you." Ken said. Clancy went up the stairs and Ken waited and then shut the door and went back down.
"Oh, my dear Lottie, I am glad to see that you are doing well. What happened?" Clancy asked her.
"Well, I was coming down the stairs when I slipped on something wet and fell and hit my head on the stair rail." She said.
"Well, didn't Ken clean up last night?" Clancy asked.
"Yes he did, he said that that wet spot was not there when he finished. Seems that there was also some broken glass as well. I don't remember falling on glass, and Doctor Wright said it didn't seem that I had fallen on any but when Ken cleaned the mess up, he did notice some glasses that were broken on the floor and around the bar." Clancy was listening and was concerned that maybe someone came into the bar late at night.
"Can anyone slip in to the saloon late at night?"
"No, I usually lock everything up and Ken has the only other key. The backroom is locked as well!" Lottie said as she moved herself up more in the bed. Clancy went over to help with the pillows.
"Thank you Clancy!" She said.
"Well, don't worry today about anything, I will help Ken with anything he needs!" Lottie looked at Clancy, she was grateful that he was able to help, but she was concerned and said:
"Clancy, will you and Ken check that back door and maybe the windows as well in the backroom?"
"Sure, darlin'" he said and then gave her a little kiss on her forehead and left her room. When he came downstairs he noticed a new face sitting at a table. He went to Ken and asked about the backroom and the door while still looking at the man sitting at a table.
"Ken, who is that?" Clancy asked Ken who was cleaning a few glasses.
"A Mr. Bartholomew Foster. Came in with Jeremy Bolt, this afternoon. Jeremy said that he showed up at his home and so they fed him, and he stayed the night. He is going to be staying here for a week he thinks. I gave him a key to room 4. Do you know him?" Ken asked
"I am not sure, he looks familiar. Think I will take a drink with me, and we will find out!" Clancy said forgetting to check the backroom.
"Hello, may I join you?" Clancy asked Foster
"Well, I'll be! If it isn't Francis Roland Clancy!" Foster said. Clancy looked at him and then suddenly realized who he was.
"Bart Foster! How long has it been?" Clancy said suddenly recognizing his old friend.
"Too long, have a seat, let's talk!" Said Foster.
Chapter 4 Jasper and Jennifer find a friend
It was after lunch Jasper Bolt, and his sister Jennifer left the school for home. Candy was waiting outside the school building to walk home with them. She had been feeling restless lately and decided that they would go on an afternoon picnic to see their dad for a little while. She already told Jeremy that she and the children would be stopping by so he would be prepared to visit with them and have an early dinner.
"Momma, how come we have to climb a mountain just to see dad!" Jennifer asked.
"That is where your father works darling. Why do you ask such a question?" Candy said, not really paying much attention, her stomach was hurting, which was unusual, but she did her best to stay focused.
"Well, Ben says his dad owns the store and he doesn't have to go up a mountain to see him. He can just go to the store and sometimes his dad lets him have some candy!" Jennifer said. Candy looked at her daughter and said:
"Hmmm, well, is that what you would like?" Candy asked her daughter. Jennifer looked at her mom and then said:
"Well, not really, it would be nice just to have dad meet us after school sometimes." Candy smiled; she was glad Jennifer liked her dad.
"Jennifer, maybe you can ask him to pick you up after school sometime? Would that be an idea?"
"Oh, do you think he would. I would really like to have dad pick me up and take me fishing!" Jennifer said. Jasper was busy looking at frogs and other creatures as they walked along the path to the camp. He noticed something different about the leaves on the lower branches of the trees. He stopped and picked a few leaves up. He was going to ask his father why these leaves had different markings.
"Jasper, you have been quiet what are you thinking about?" Candy asked as they rounded the bend and saw the camp come up.
"I found these leaves; they look different than the ones that are usually around here. I want to ask dad what they are."
"Candy, Jeremy is up at the office tent, actually, it is now a building!" Jason said as he was walking down the hill.
"Jason, should you be walking up and down this hill?" Candy asked
"It's all right, Candy, I have the doctors permission to go up and do the paperwork in our brand-new office building!" Jason pointed to a reasonable size log building four walls, a door, a window and inside a desk and a table. Jeremy was at the table studying the places that the different teams would be for the next day. When he looked up his face lit up and he smiled. She still looked lovely to him after all this time and two children. He went over to her and gave her a hug and lingered on her lips with a gentle kiss.
"Candy, you look flushed, why don't you sit down. I will take the basket, children, you can help me set up the picnic table. We will be outside over by that tree. He pointed and gave Jennifer the basket and then gave Jasper the blanket. Then he turned his attention to Candy.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I think so, I have just been a little off today, well this past week…" Candy started to say,
"I have noticed, I am sorry that I haven't been able to talk with you much, since Jason's accident, Joshua and I have been running things around here. But I have noticed that you haven't been yourself lately, are you coming down with something?" HE said this as he watched her closely. She looked at him and then started to cry. He held her for a while and then she said:
"I think, I am pregnant again!" She said with a sad look. She was worried that this time would be like the past few times she had gotten pregnant and then miscarried, she was afraid of that happening again.
"Candy, my love, have you seen Doctor Wright? Has she confirmed it?" Jeremy asked. Candy was about to answer when there was a scream coming from the tree the kids were by. Candy stood up and almost collapsed. Jeremy grabbed her and placed her on the chair and looked out the window. The kids were chasing something into the woods.
Jasper went running into the woods, Jennifer stayed with their things. As Jasper went deeper and deeper, he did not watch where he was going, there was a tree stump and he tripped and fell over. When he landed he saw in front of him a little animal about the size of a small child making screeching noises and what sounded like a laughing noise as well. He stood up and was going to run after the creature when Big Swede stepped in front of him.
"Now, what do you think you are doing out here!" Big Swede looked as tall as the giant in the story about Jack and the beanstalk. Jasper wasn't really afraid of big Swede, but his size and the story made him think he had just met the giant from the story.
"I saw, I saw, oh dammit! I saw an animal that doesn't live here!" Was all he could get out. Swede nodded and picked him up and carried him back to the picnic table. Jeremy had gotten there and had seen Swede, Jennifer was holding onto her father's hand and hiding behind him. She had been scared of the creature that had appeared.
'What happened, Jasper?" Jeremy asked his son.
"There was this little monkey that popped out of the tree and Jenni screamed and I screamed and then I went after him. Almost caught him too!" Jeremy looked at his son, he had auburn hair and green eyes like his mother, but he was skinny like his father. Jenni had the eyes and hair color of her father and looked a lot like her mother. Candy finally came out of the office and slowly walked to the picnic table. Jason was there and was helping her. She walked as if she was hurting.
"Thank you Jason!" Candy said as she sat down on the bench. Jason went over to Swede and asked him to come to the 'office' with him. Meanwhile Jennifer unpacked the lunch and set it up for them.
"Candy, I think I am going to take you and the kids home in the wagon. I don't have anything left for my team to do today, so we are going to start early tomorrow. I will let Jason know. They ate their lunch and talked about school and other things. Finally, it was time to leave. Jeremy got the wagon and packed the picnic things in the back then had the children get into the wagon in the back and he helped Candy in. He told Jason that he was going home but if he needed him, to come and get him. They left the camp and headed towards their home. Candy did look a little better, but he was still worried about her. Jasper who was usually talkative, sat in the back thinking about the monkey.
"You know Jenni, I think someone owns that monkey and they lost it. If I can capture it, I can get a reward for turning it in!" Jennifer looked at her brother and said:
"You might need help to keep it someplace. I have a place we can keep it in!" Jasper looked at his sister and said:
"Where?"
"I found a cage in dad's old cabin. It might be big enough for us to put him in!" Jasper thought that it was a good idea.
"So, how are we going to get it?" Jasper asked his sister.
"Very easy, while mom and dad are talking we go out and take Bluebell, ride over to the old cabin and get the cage, then tonight, you can trap it. What kind of food do monkeys eat?" Jennifer asked. Jasper shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, I think since we don't have bananas, maybe some apples and crackers?" Jasper suggested.
"I can say I am going to see Aunt Lottie and see what she has in her kitchen!" Jennifer said. Jasper smiled,
"Okay, I will stay nearby while you go ask and then later we can see if we can catch the monkey!" They both smiled and waited until there was a time they could sneak away.