CHOICESCHOICES
Teaspoon wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes with the back of his hand, cleared his throat and said," Now that we've had our fun for the day, why don't you tell me why you came into town in the first place."
Teaspoon's words had a sobering affect on Cody and Rachel. Cody moved aside
so that Rachel could stand closer to teaspoon. Teaspoon's eyes narrowed at the
slight maneuver, wondering what else had gone wrong at the waystation since
he had left. As he continued to watch the housekeeper, Rachel removed a tiny
white
packet from her skirt pocket and handed it to Teaspoon.
"What's this?" he asked, as he took it from Rachel.
"A packet of yellow powder. I found it under the Kid's bunk when I was sweeping the bunkhouse earlier. Cody and I think It's some kind of medicine." Rachel explained.
"Why would you think it's medicine?" Teaspoon asked as he examined the packet.
"Because of Lou. You've seen how poorly she's been looking lately, Teaspoon.
We all have. Besides keeping the fact that she's a girl from everyone in town,
you
know how hard Lou works at trying to prove to all of us that she's as capable
as the boys are at doing her job. There's no way Lou would risk admitting she
was
sick to any of us for fear of us making her seek medical attention and having
her true identity discovered." Rachel told him.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Rachel, I think you may have something
there. I've been wondering myself if there was something else bothering Lou
besides her
troubles with the Kid, but didn't want to press her on it." Teaspoon said.
"What are we going to do Teaspoon?" Cody asked.
"There's not much we can do until Kid and the others find Lou and bring her home." Teaspoon answered. "What we can do, however, is head over to Doc Danes and let him take a gander at this powder. Maybe he can tell us what it is and what it's used for. The more we know, the better we'll be able to help Lou when she does come home."
Teaspoon started out of the office, with Rachel and Cody following close behind. As they left the office they came upon Barnett returning from patrolling and paused long enough for Teaspoon to issue his deputy some orders. Then they continued down the sidewalk in the direction of Doc Danes office. When they reached the two-story victorian house that was the doctor's residence as well as his office, Teaspoon led the way through the gated white picket fence and up to the door. Teaspoon knocked on the oak door of the house twice, before settling in to wait with Rachel and Cody for somebody to answer it.
