THE ROCK CREEK
ADVENTUROUS TALES, PART 1
Buck and Kid are at the marshal's office cleaning up the place. Kid has a broom and he's sweeping up the dust from the floor. Buck is hanging up the latest batch of wanted posters onto the bulletin board. He starts to hack and cough from Kid's housecleaning.
"Kid, we're not going to be eating off the floor."
"Oh. Sorry," Kid spoke as he starts to realize that dust from his sweeping is flying around the jail. He swoops up the dust into the dustpan and throws it into the trashcan by the marshal's desk. "Now what do we do?"
Buck shrugs his shoulders and sits down at the desk. "I guess we wait for trouble."
Kid hears commotion coming to the entrance of the marshal's office. He peaks out at the main street of Rock Creek. "Here comes Thompkins. I guess our easy day has just come to an abrupt halt."
Thompkins slams the door open to the marshal's office. He is somewhat displeased that he finds only Buck and Kid staring back at him. "Where's Hunter?"
"Teaspoon had an accident out at the ranch last night. He broke his left leg. He won't be able to work for awhile," Buck spoke calmly to one man that has always disliked him.
"So you two are going to handle this town by yourselves," Thompkins stated with sarcasm behind a wide grin. "This should definitely be worth keeping an eye on."
"What is it you want Thompkins?" Kid asked annoyed.
"Oh yeah. I caught two young boys stealing from my store."
"Well were are they?" Buck asked.
"I tied them up at the store so they couldn't get away, while I'm here trying to get some assistance from you two marshal's," Thompkins spoke while grinning at the town's misfortune.
"Oh that's a smart thing to do Thompkins. Their parents will likely have us arrested for an act of abuse," Buck stated annoyed more than ever by Thompkins overreacting attitude.
All three men head out of the jailhouse and over to Thompkins general store. Once inside the store, Kid rushes over to untie the two boys that look to be about four and six years old. Both boys have blonde hair and blue eyes, and grins that are full of mischief. Kid's facial expression is bleak with fright that Thompkins may have hurt the two young boys by tying them up with heavy rope used for hangings.
"Thompkins you can't tie up children that are practically babies," Buck spoke his words heated by the sight of the two boys tied to chairs that they had been seated on.
"What about the candy they stole and ate?"
"I'll pay for it. How much do they owe you?" Buck asked getting more upset the longer he's near Thompkins.
Kid gets the two boys free from the chairs. "Their parents must be in town somewhere."
"They owe me about five cents."
"You're kidding. You caused this much of a commotion over five cents worth of candy!" Buck spoke not wanting to believe Thompkins could be this furious with two young boys who took five cents worth of candy. Buck retrieves the change from his pants pocket and tosses the five cents on the counter behind Thompkins.
The children's parents walk into the general store. "I hope they weren't any trouble Mr. Thompkins," the mother spoke gleefully.
"They were no trouble at all Mrs. Patterson. Right Thompkins," Kid spoke calmly not wanting to arouse the parents suspicious as to why the marshal and deputy were at the store with their children.
"Thank-you Mr. Thompkins for keeping a watchful eye on these two while we were at the bank. Come along you two. We must get home. Your Pa has chores to get done," Mr. Patterson spoke.
After the Patterson family gathers up their purchases and exits the store, Kid rushes to get in between Thompkins and Buck. Kid is sure that Buck has lost just about all his composure with Thompkins.
"You were babysitting," Buck stated through clinched teeth. He tries to get around Kid to get at Thompkins. Kid manages to keep a strong hold on Buck's arm so he can't punch the storeowner.
"They aren't babies Buck," Thompkins spoke his voice trembling a bit.
"Kid lets get out of here before I lose my normally calm patience," Buck spoke harshly. Both men head for the door before Thompkins can say or do anything else to disrupt the laws day.
Kid lets the door slam behind him. Buck turns his attention towards the breaking of furniture, shouting customers, and flying fists coming from the saloon.
"Sounds like something's going on over there," Kid stated as he watches the saloon doors.
"You think we should get involved?" Buck asked apprehensively.
Kid looks at Buck a bit confused by his question. "It's our job to get involved Buck," Kid points to the marshal's badge pinned on Buck's shirt.
"Oh Yeah. Right," Buck spoke dishearteningly.
Just as they start to cross the dirt street to get to the saloon, two drunks come crashing through the front picture window of the saloon. The two men fly backwards taking out the horse railing along the street leaving it totally demolished. Glass, from the window, scatters into the main street. Kid and Buck are both startled from the cracking of glass shattering. They both jump back from the unexpected activity at the saloon. Buck and Kid use their arms as shelter to protect themselves from the flying glass pieces. The two drunken men, who apparently don't even realize what has happened, are laying flat on their backs at the edge of the street. They both appear to be out cold for neither one is uttering a sound or moving.
The saloon owner comes rushing out of the saloon with a rifle cocked and ready to fire. "Best sober up fast boys! You've got a lot of things to pay for around this town!" He aims the rifle at the two semi-conscious men.
Kid runs up and grabs the rifle out of the saloonkeeper's hands. "It's a bit early for all this violence don't you think?"
"Keep those two drunks out of my saloon and breakfast would go smoothly around here," the saloon owner spoke as he barked out an order to Buck and Kid.
"You're the one that served them whiskey for breakfast. Maybe tomorrow morning you should have coffee on the menu," Buck spoke in a sarcastic tone.
"Don't you tell me what to have on the menu! You just sober these two up and get them back here to fix all the damage they've done," replied an anger saloon owner. He storms back into his saloon.
Kid and Buck look at each other. Now they are both confused. Each man grabs one of the drunks and gets them to their feet. The drunks are holding their head in their hands trying to hide from the light of the late morning sun. Kid and Buck push them across the street towards the jailhouse. Both drunks stumble their way across the street, occasionally falling to the ground. On the way to the jailhouse both men have fallen so many times they decide it would be best if they crawl to their destination. Buck and Kid walk ahead of the two men. Kid holds the jailhouse door open for the two drunks to crawl into. Buck is inside with a jail cell already open for the two old men. Once the drunks are inside the cell, Buck slams the cell door shut but doesn't bother to lock it. Immediately both drunks are climbing from the floor onto their cot, while they struggle with consciousness. Buck and Kid both chuckle for a moment.
"So this is what Teaspoon puts up with all day long. No wonder he's always sound asleep by seven in the evening."
"Yeah, he needs a good night's sleep to capture all the residential criminals of Rock Creek," Buck spoke watching the two drunks snore away in the cell.
Louise is re-planting some of her flowers when she hears the vibrating horse hooves on the ground coming her way. She glances up to see Kid and Buck ride in. She watches as the two men guide their horses into the barn. Louise stands up and tries to brush the dirt from her clothing. Kid and Buck walk out of the barn moments later. They head over towards Louise.
"Dinner will be ready in about five minutes," Louise spoke as Kid walks up to her and places a kiss on her cheek. "How did your first day go playing marshal and deputy?"
"Awful," Buck answered bluntly having the appearance of being worn out.
Louise looks the two men over. She sees the tiredness in their eyes. The sight of their slumping shoulders breaks her heart. The frown on their face is deteriorating their otherwise handsome features. Both men seem to be taking turns yawning. Lou shakes her head and smiles slightly with amusement at her two overworked and under appreciated men. They won't be getting many repairs done to the ranch tonight. "That bad?"
"It could have been better. Teaspoon ever complain to you about the problems he has with just the local residents of Rock Creek?" Kid asked searching for an answer for their miserable day.
"You know Teaspoon. He never complains unless it has something to do with a member of his family," Louise answered Kid.
"We're going to start on the barn roof before dinner," Kid spoke to Louise in between his yawns.
"There's no sense in that. Dinner is just about ready."
"Can you bring it out here Lou. We really need to get started before what's left of the daylight is gone," Buck stated tiredly.
Louise watches Kid and Buck walk to the barn rather slowly. "Sure," Louise spoke barely above a whisper.
Jeremiah comes out of the house. He's also watching Kid and Buck at the barn. "Are they going to start working before dinner?"
Louise turns and heads up the front steps to her home. "They want their dinner outside tonight so they can start working on the roof."
I'll have mine out here then too," Jeremiah stated in an overly enthusiastic tone.
Louise grabs Jeremiah's arm and pulls him into the house with her. "Oh no you don't. Buck isn't in one of his best tolerable moods at the moment."
"I'll hang around Kid."
"Kid's in an even worse mood," Louise spoke as the front door closed behind Jeremiah and herself.
Buck and Kid both have dragged supplies, to fix the roof, onto a solid section
of the barn roof. Buck is hammering down a new section of roofing over a large
section of roof that was torn completely away from the roof. Kid is working
on another section doing the same thing.
"Boys," Rachel yelled from the ground below where the men are working
on the roof.
"What is it Rachel?" Buck asked.
"Teaspoon just wanted me to find out how your first day went."
"Should we tell her the truth or lie?" Buck asked Kid talking softly so Rachel wouldn't hear him.
"Everything went just fine Rachel. Tell Teaspoon not to worry," Kid replied.
Buck rolls his eyes. He continues to finish up the section he's working on. A crooked smile appears on Buck's face. He can't help but smile over Kid's lie just to keep everyone from telling them I told you so.
"Teaspoon would like you to stop by tomorrow morning before going into the office."
"Sure thing Rachel," Kid replied smiling and throwing a few pieces of loose timber at Buck who is now laughing a bit louder.
Rachel meets up with Louise as she is bringing Buck and Kid their dinner. Louise sits their dinners on a large cut off tree stump that is close to the barn.
"They're eating dinner while they work?" Rachel asked a bit puzzled.
"They said they needed the daylight that's left to get started with the repairs."
"Isn't Jeremiah helping them?" Rachel asked.
Louise shakes her head no. "I thought it would be best if Jeremiah stay away from Buck and Kid for a few days. When they're both good and exhausted then I'll throw Jeremiah out to help them."
"Are you hoping they won't notice Jeremiah under their feet?"
"Something like that," Louise spoke as she smiled and put an arm around Rachel's shoulder. Both women stroll away from the barn and leave each other to walk into their own home.
"Goodnight Rachel."
"Goodnight Louise."
