Winter's Refuge
Chapter Two Hundred Four
HEYES
Me, the Kid, and Aiden made the sheriff's office our home. We made our own coffee. Well, actually, Aiden made the coffee. He objected to mine, even though I don't make it as strong as before I went to prison. The rest of our food was prepared by Chrissy, Miss Denise, Daisy, and Martha. Louis Maday took his meals with us. The ladies left our food in a metal box outside the front door of the doctor's office. Under Aiden's strict supervision, we sterilized the box, our plates and silverware, and returned it to the front door of the office. I must say, the food was good.
"I know that Chrissy can't make anything but breakfast, so I know she didn't make this beef stew," the Kid said one night, as he sat with his heels on the sheriff's desk enjoying his second large bowl of beef stew and cornbread.
"Denise is a decent cook, but this stew has a taste I've never experienced before," Aiden answered.
"My Daisy made this stew. It's from a recipe her mother taught her. It's one of my favorites." Maday helped himself to a second bowl and chunk of cornbread.
JED 'KID' CURRY
The smallpox in Three Birds started with Palmer Robinson and his clerk George Pages. At first, Robinson ignored his symptoms and took to his bed in the bank with the flu, he insisted. George opened the bank doors at precisely nine a.m. but closed them quickly and went back home. He left a note in the door that said, 'Closed Flu.'
Me and Lou Maday practiced shootin' every mornin'. Heyes often watched and occasionally fired a round at our bottle targets. He's hit a few but never stayed long. Prison took something from him that one needs to shoot fast and accurately, the confidence that he can.
Comin' stormin' around the corner with purpose, Aiden demanded, "How long has that note been on the bank door?"
"What sign?" I asked.
"It says 'Closed Flu," Aiden answered. He went and opened a box that had come into the mercantile a few days ago. "I've had Denise put any medical journal that talks about smallpox or a contagious disease in the metal box. I ordered some thick gloves, aprons like blacksmiths wear, and bandanas." He put the items on the sheriff's desk. "I want to set up the saloon as a hospital. See if Gabe Birde, and Father Patrick can help. We need to scrub down everything we can in there."
Taking most of the day, we were tired when at last Aiden declared the bar 'clean'. He sent Gabe home but had a job for me and Heyes.
"Need you two to help me move Robinson here. We'll wear the aprons, gloves, and tie a bandana over your nose and mouth. Don't use your own bandana because we'll throw the gloves and bandanas out when we are done," Aiden told us.
So that's how we entered the bank, lookin' like outlaws, robbers. No wonder Robinson was scared when he saw us. He objected to bein' moved and fought us as we tried to lead him over there. But when he tried to bite Heyes on the arm, that's when I knocked him out with a right to his jaw. The impact was cushioned some with the gloves, but it still did its job. I carried his limp body over to the saloon while Heyes and Aiden stripped his bed and moved it. I was surprised to see Frank at the door.
"When did you get back from Lincoln and your brother," I asked.
"This afternoon. He's sending more smallpox vaccines. For now I'm going to keep a guard here. No one goes in or out unless the doctor gives the word," he told us.
Aiden stayed with Robinson. "Heyes, Jed, go find George Pages, Leo White, and Al Roland. If they show any flu symptoms, bring them here." he ordered.
And by the end of the day all four of them were in our smallpox hospital.
The next day Aiden gave us a list of four farms to visit. If anyone showed symptoms, we were to bring them into Three Birds. No one did. As we had to drive by Phoenix, I asked Arnie for any telegrams and mail goin' there to save him the trip.
Even though we and all of our families were vaccinated, we still kept our distance. Juan was showin' no symptoms, thank goodness. I longed to hug each of the kids, but I stopped myself and smiled that I could at least see them. I congratulated Michael on the job he had done.
ASJ*ASJ
When we got back to Three Birds, I stood behind the doctor's office and talked to Chrissy and Martha through the closed window. I wanted to hold my wife tight. Her baby belly was expandin'. "You sure there's only one baby in there this time?"
"I'm sure," Martha said proudly. "I been listenin' for the baby's heart with this hearing tube, like Dr Aiden taught me."
Chrissy told me she mailed a copy of the photograph to Matt in prison. "I wish Dr. Aiden or his brother still worked at the prison," she told me.
"Why? I think anyone would be happier away from that place," I answered.
"Dr. Aiden is happier, yes, but not Dr. Oliver. Nancy's last letter said their pa is a cold man and very demanding of her and Dr. Oliver. He's demanding they have another child so there is a boy to follow in his footsteps as a doctor while ignoring their daughter. Nancy said they were happier in Cheyenne, but Dr Oliver feels an obligation to stay until his pa is recovered," Chrissy finished with a sigh.
"Has he recovered?" I asked.
"Nancy says he's back to work. She's been urging her husband to leave, but he won't stand up to his pa," Chrissy said. "Anyway, I'd be happier with a doctor we know in prison with Matt. This picture might bring him joy or he might get depressed that he's not here with us."
"Didn't you say Luke wrote that he told Matt about it in his last letter? So, he knows it's comin'." I told her.
"Yes, I hope it brings him some happiness."
HEYES
It was heartbreaking to see Angie and not hold her, but the Kid was right. We've been to a lot of farms today and the smallpox might be on our clothes. But seeing Angie did make me happy, too.
But the next day when we made out visitst to more small farms and ranches, we found symptoms of smallpox at two of them.
Mrs. Blake and one of their girls were starting to get sores in their mouth. I've always felt a soft spot in my heart for the Blake family. They were the ones that traded us Joe and NotJoe as puppies for the Kid's blacksmith repairs. Mr. Blake seemed well; no fever, no flu symptoms and insisted he needed to stay to work their farm. We took his wife, his three boys, and daughter in the wagon into Three Birds. We followed Aiden's instructions and put them into the back of the wagon on the blankets we had brought, and we kept our gloves and bandana masks on all the time. We delivered them to the saloon smallpox hospital. Aiden had us burn the blankets, our gloves, and bandanas. Gabe Birde brought clothes over from the mercantile for the Blakes to put on after they took baths. We had set up a "Bath Tent" behind the saloon with three brass tubs and strong soap.
When we were done, we changed our clothes and soaked them in vinegar and went out to the other three homes on our list. Two were fine, but the third's yard was empty. We knocked on the front door and Jimmy Trayce answered and immediately fell into the Kid's arms crying. "Everyone but me and Jonas is sick. I don't know how to help them. Ma said to stay far away from them and not touch anything they touched."
"Your ma is right. Come out here. Is anyone here not sick besides you and Jonas?" I asked.
"No, me and Jonas been livin' in the barn. He's got a broken leg and can't do much. I try to do the farmin'. We been milkin' the cows and gatherin' eggs. I was leavin' them in the kitchen like I do every day. I took all the canned food and we been livin' on that. Oh, Mr. Heyes, Mr. Curry, I'm sure glad you're here!"
While we talked, me and the Kid walked around their farm. We could see where it was neglected, and I could tell the Kid was going to come back here tomorrow and rebuild the scarecrow and do some of the hoeing. Right now, we made a decision about the Trayce boys.
In the barn, we sat on bales of hay near where Jonas sat with his leg up. "Boys, we want to talk to you," the Kid started. He has a way with kids, a patience. He always has.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Curry," Jimmy answered.
"No need to call me sir, Mr. Curry will do," he answered. He's never gotten over connecting that word sir to prison where we were forced to do it. "I'm going to take you over to the Blake's farm. Mr. Blake is alone there. All his family are sick and in Three Birds in our makeshift hospital.."
"And I'm going to take your parents and sisters and little brother into Three Birds where Dr. Arden can help them," I added.
The boys were quiet.
"Do you understand?" the Kid added.
"Yes, sir," Jimmy said formally. "But we need to take care of our chickens, cows, goats, and dogs here. We can't leave."
Getting down on one knee in front of the boy, the Kid put a hand on each of Jimmy's arms. "When I get back to town, I'm gonna ask the doctor if that cast can come off. It's been on for weeks. And if I know Mr. Blake, the three of you will come back every day and do just that. You'll have a lot of work to do at the Blake farm and here. Are you old enough to handle it?"
The Kid held Jimmy's eyes for a moment. "Yes, Mr. Curry, you can count on me and Jonas, especially if he gets that cast off."
ASJ*ASJ
Almost two weeks later, the saloon hospital was full and had expanded into the church hall. And we had two deaths. Palmer Robinson was the first to pass over followed three days later by Mrs. Blake. Three Birds mourned and their fear of smallpox grew. Aiden took each death as a personal failure.
Me and the Kid still rode out early each day, checking on the farms for any new cases. In two days, it will be nineteen days since the church social and the exposure to smallpox. We fell into a pattern. The Kid got out of our wagon at the Trayce farm and started to work, waiting for Mr. Blake and the boys' arrival about noon. Usually, I picked him up at the Blake farm, but every few days he had Mr. Blake drop him at Widow Kirk's. She was one of the people Aiden vaccinated after possible exposure and none of them got sick. Aiden later published a paper in one of his journals about it.
JED 'KID' CURRY
Aiden was upset when he lost Palmer Robinson to the smallpox. He told me Robinson brought it on himself. But our doctor was devastated when he lost Mrs. Blake. From then on, he didn't sleep, just watched over his charges in the saloon and the church hall. I could see the sadness in his eyes and the exhaustion in his body but he kept goin', checkin' on each patient. And when we were takin' a breath that the nineteen incubation days of waitin' were over, he did, too. Until two days later, he lost two-year-old Morris Zeigler and his newborn brother on the same day. Al Roland died the next day.
And the last death in Three Birds two days later was old Mr. Bretherton, who had been at the church social. He moved to live with his daughter near Mallard Springs. Our relationship had started out adversarial, but we'd grown to respect each other.
A couple of days later, Aiden declared Three Birds contagion free and me and Heyes tore down all the contagion posters. He wanted me and Maday to wait another day before we saw our wives. He was doing the same thing. We all wanted to be cautious.
That night, me, Heyes, and Father Patrick sat down with Aiden and got him drunk. It didn't take much alcohol, and he broke down cryin' for the souls he had lost. Heyes kept refillin' the doctor's glass and he drank without thinkin'. Father kept pattin' Aiden on the back and tellin' him that he did his best, better than anyone else could have. That was the truth.
When Aiden passed out, I carried him to his own bed at home and let him sleep. He slept for twenty-three hours and when he woke up, with a terrible hangover, Miss Denise was at his side. She knew he needed her and refused to stay away from his bedside.
The next day, I asked Aiden three times before I went to see Chrissy. And each time he assured me there was no more danger. Heyes went home to Phoenix. And, that night, in the upstairs bedroom in Aiden's home, I slept with my wife in my arms. We didn't talk, just counted our blessin's that our family was well and found a cure for our loneliness in each other's arms.
Slowly, Three Birds healed. And I realized we were blessed compared to Mallard Springs.
When Dr. Crehan returned from Mallard Springs the weight of the deaths of so many people he wasn't able to save, weighed him down. He looked years older. Exhaustion was mixed with sadness and when Aiden asked what had happened in our neighboring town, all the young doctor could do was shake his head slowly and fall into Aiden's arms sobbin'. It was days until he could talk of it. Almost that whole town was infected….and one in three died. It was the most severe in the elderly and those women with child…almost all of them miscarried. Of those who survived, all were scarred to some degree on their faces, arms or legs. Dr. Crehan could barely speak of those left blind and he had long discussions with Father Patrick. Dr. Crehan was learnin' to pray. He told us of one farmin' family, a husband and wife and four kids. All of them caught smallpox and probably had them before they went to the Three Birds church social because all had sores in their mouths when the doctor examined them there. The wife experienced a miscarriage and died soon after. The doctor couldn't save the youngest boy either. The father recovered but was left blind with land to farm and three young kids. He became despondent and killed himself. Not truly listed as a death due to smallpox, Dr. Crehan considered him one of the victims.
In Three Birds, we were tryin' to get our lives back to normal. Surprisingly, in his will, Robinson Palmer left the bank and its resources to his bank clerk, George Pages. Kolmand had written a will so perfect that couldn't be broken, even though Robinson's ex-wife and her two sons tried for six months to get Palmer's money before givin' up.