FAITH
FAITH (after an idea by Nesciri)
Lou stood outside watching the horizon for a dust
cloud that would tell her Kid was coming home. She wasn't sure whether she believed
Buck's story about a curse but she knew she would feel much better when he finally
returned. She pulled her jacket closer to her body and then wrapped her arms
around herself. It was getting cold out but she couldn't bring herself to go
inside. Where was he?
Lou finally smiled and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a cloud of dust
and heard the sound of hoof beats approaching. Her heart sank though when she
realized it wasn't Kid but Frank, a rider from the next station down the line.
When he got closer, Lou grabbed the reins of his horse. Her heart was in her
throat now and everyone came out of the bunkhouse to hear the news.
"Your rider never showed up today. We were
wondering if there was some kind of trouble."
A feeling of dread overcame the group on the porch.
Lou turned quickly to look at the others. Tears filled her eyes and she hurried
to run inside the bunkhouse. Cody stayed outside with Frank to see if he could
get any more information, but everyone else followed Lou. When they got inside,
she was already shoving supplies into a saddlebag and getting ready to ride
after Kid.
"Hold on, Lou. We're going with you."
Jimmy's voice was serious.
"I'd appreciate the company, but I understand
if you want to stay here."
"That's a hell of a thing to say. This involves
all of us." Lou looked at the faces of her friends and she nodded her head
before hiding her face.
"OK, we know Kid headed west so we'll just
follow the trail we always use. If it doesn't look good, Buck can track him
real easy," Jimmy quickly came up with the plan. He hoped that having a
clear course of action would sooth Lou but he realized something was wrong when
he looked at Buck for confirmation. Buck stood back from everyone else and he
had that stubborn look on his face that Jimmy knew all too well. "You got
a problem with the plan, Buck?"
"I'm not going." Buck whispered.
"What do you mean you ain't going? This is
Kid we're talking about and we need you to track for us." Jimmy was slowly
losing control of his emotions. Buck was on another one of his Indian curse
benders and while Jimmy usually didn't pay him much mind, this time Kid's life
was in danger.
"He ignored me, you all ignored me. I told
you this would happen. The most we can do now is wait and pray that he gets
back on his own." Buck's voice was cold and distant and he stood alone.
Even Ike did not make a move to support his friend.
"Buck, you sound like a whiny little kid. Come
on now and let's go." Cody had come inside in time to hear the plan. Now
he spoke quickly and waited for Buck to come to his senses. When Buck held his
ground Cody got exasperated. "We don't need him. I can track for us. Hell,
maybe we can take out a few Indians. That way this curse knows someone's fighting
back."
Buck took three fast steps at Cody and shoved him
to the ground. Cody sprung up and the two began to throw punches at each other.
They wrestled each other to the ground and rolled into a chair knocking it over.
Ike grabbed a hold of Buck and Jimmy pulled Cody away from the fight. The two
struggled a little before both stood still.
Buck drew himself up straight and addressed the
room with tears in his eyes. "You don't understand my people and you never
have. You think we're just a bunch of heathen savages running around the hills.
We have religion too, you know, and you're asking me to go against it. I learned
about your religion at the Mission School. I had to, and I had to respect it
because it was beaten into me but I never see you trying to learn about mine.
You think it's just painting our faces and dancing around a fire. You're wrong.
The spirits lead us and guide us and protect us. If I…if we, cause offense
to the spirits then we must make amends. You chose to ignore everything I told
you because it was coming from an Indian. If I had told you to go to church
and pray to your God, you would have done it. But because it was my God, you
laughed instead. You got yourselves into this, you get out." Buck turned
to walk away but stopped when Lou gently touched his arm.
"Buck, I'm sorry. We all are. We didn't mean
to laugh at you, we just did. We didn't understand. Our God too wants us to
make amends when we're wrong and that's what we all are," Lou spoke softly
and looked up at Buck with pleading eyes. "Please help us." Buck looked
at Lou and she almost broke his heart. She looked so scared yet determined.
She was right too. Whoever they were praying to would want Kid back safe. He
nodded his head in agreement and walked out to saddle his horse.
When they were about to leave, Cody drew his horse
alongside Buck's. "I'm sorry about what I said back there. I didn't mean
it."
Buck nodded his head at Cody. "I know. Let's go get Kid."
