When Words Fail

“What happened to him?!?” he growls as Jimmy dismounts and helps a frantic Buck carefully remove Ike from the horse.  Teaspoon’s wondering how his most hot-headed rider came home without a mark that he can see, while his gentlest one looks practically dead.

Roused by Jimmy’s yell and the loud voices, a groggy Kid and Lou stumble onto the bunkhouse porch in long-johns and pants, with Lou hastily pulling on her shirt, worried about Teaspoon discovering her secret.  Emma’s door opens as well and the station mother, wearing her wrapper and carrying a candle, hurries down the steps.  She immediately sees that one of her boys is hurt, and hurt bad!  “Jimmy, Buck, bring him in the house!”she orders and scurries to make a bed they can lay him on.

“He needs a doctor real bad!”  Jimmy continues, his voice strained and worn.

“I’ll go,” Lou volunteers, alarmed at the sight of her friend.  She races to the barn and seconds later emerges on Lightening, racing like the wind for town.

In the house, Emma has quickly converted the sofa into a makeshift bed.

“Don’t put him on his back!” Jimmy warns as he and Buck carry Ike to the couch.  Buck gives him a questioning look but complies, and together they carefully situate Ike on his side among the pillows and blankets.

With the glow of the lamp shining on him now, the others finally get a good look at Ike.  Emma gasps and covers her mouth with her hand, shocked; Buck stiffens beside her, and Kid gapes in disbelief.  Teaspoon gazes with growing anger at the figure on the couch, rage building toward those responsible for the gentle boy’s condition.

Ike is truly a ghastly sight.  Mean cuts and bruises literally cover his face and head, the dried blood smeared across the vivid black and blue bruises painting a grotesque picture.  His eyes are swollen and his lips split and puffy.  Jimmy’s worn blanket is clumsily wrapped around Ike’s bare chest and back, hiding the marks of the lash from the lamp’s light, but hinting at the awful secret.  The pale skin of his arms is streaked with red blood, ending with hands and wrists bound in dirty strips of white cloth, ominous brown stains marring the cloth’s surface.

For several seconds there’s no movement in the room, only stunned silence.  Finally, Emma turns away, back toward Jimmy with tears in her eyes.  It’s then she notices the dark blood stains covering the front of Jimmy’s shirt as well.

“Jimmy, yer hurt too!” she cries pointing at the blood and moving quickly to his side.

“It ain’t my blood, Emma, it’s Ike’s.”

“Jimmy, what happened to him?” Teaspoon demands in a firm voice.

“He’s been beaten,” Jimmy replies, stating the obvious.  Then in a voice so soft it’s barely audible, he adds the unthinkable, “And whipped...”

“Whipped!” Teaspoon rumbles and Emma stifles a cry.  She immediately goes to Ike’s side and starts to remove the blanket, but Jimmy stops her.

“I don’t think ya wanna do that, Emma.  It ain’t a pretty sight.”

“I don’t care what it looks like,” Emma answers back, “I’m not letting him just lie there!”

“Jimmy’s right, Emma.  We’d best wait for the doctor,” Teaspoon tells her quietly.

Emma stares defiantly at Teaspoon for a moment, wanting to argue.  She finally nods, though, realizing that he’s right, but she’s also unable to just sit there while Ike is so hurt.  Swiftly, she pours warm water from the stove into a ceramic bowl and grabbing a cloth, pulls a chair up next to the injured boy.  With loving hands, she tearfully starts to clean the blood and grime from his face and arms.  At her touch, Ike stirs slightly but doesn’t wake.  Instead, his breathing, which had before been imperceptible, becomes labored and he breaks out into a cold sweat.  Alarm spreads through Emma but there’s nothing she can do, so she simply continues to stroke his feverish head with the cloth.

In a daze, the men in the room observe Emma’s administrations to their friend, a feeling of great dread settling over them, especially Buck.  He’s never once seen Ike this weak and pale and he’s terrified!  Silently, he starts pleading with the gods, begging for his brother’s life, and at the same time an immense rage begins smoldering inside him.

Teaspoon senses the tension and palpable fear growing in the room and decides it’s time to take action.

“Alright, it ain’t helpin’ anything ta have the lot of ya starin’ at him.  I want all of ya ta go wait outside so the Doc can have some room when he comes,” Teaspoon orders.  Jimmy and Kid reluctantly start moving for the door, but Buck doesn’t budge.

“Teaspoon..!” he starts to protest, determined not to leave Ike now, but Teaspoon cuts him off.

“No, Buck.  You too.  Ya ain’t gonna do Ike any good by bein’ in the Doc’s way!”

“Teaspoon, I ain’t goin’!” Buck declares angrily.

“Yes, you are!”  Teaspoon states just as stubbornly.

“Come on, Buck.  He’ll be alright here with Emma,” Kid reasons, taking the young Indian by the arm and steering him in the direction of the door.  Buck tries to resist Kid’s pull but finally, seeing the hard look on the station master’s face, he gives in.  Muttering his displeasure, he shakes off Kid’s hand and storms toward the door.

“Just a minute, Jimmy.  I’d like you ta stay here,” Teaspoon calls after the boys and Jimmy sighs.  He knows what’s coming and all he wants is to get away.  Get on his horse and ride far away where he won’t have to tell his family that he’s the one responsible for Ike’s agony, where he won’t have to look at his friend and listen to his pained breathing.  But he remains standing where he is as Teaspoon asked.

“How come Jimmy gets ta stay and yer kickin’ me out?!?” Buck almost shouts in frustration, his dark eyes flashing.

“Buck, now ain’t the time fer this!” Teaspoon bellows.  “Kid, git him outa here ‘fore I have ta throw him out!”

Kid reaches to grab Buck, but Buck stomps past him and out the door.  With one backward glance at Ike, Kid follows more quietly and pulls the door shut behind him.

As Emma continues nursing Ike, Teaspoon turns to his other rider.

“Jimmy, who done this and why?” he demands, his anger at the people responsible for Ike’s condition evident in his voice.

For a moment, Jimmy can’t say a word, his own rage and guilt getting in the way.  He just stands there by the door, wishing the ground would swallow him up.

“Jimmy...”

At Teaspoon’s prodding, Jimmy eventually recovers his power of speech and begins to tell Teaspoon and Emma what happened.  He reduces it to the bare minimum, almost like he’s reciting for school, no emotions allowed.  He’s afraid if he lets them sneak into his voice, he’ll break down.  The awful events become mere facts to state and then move on.  For Emma and Teaspoon, however, the story wrecks havoc on their feelings, sickening and enraging them at the same time.  Finally, Jimmy trails off and the room is quiet until Lou bursts through the door with the doctor in tow. 

“What on earth is wrong with your riders now, Teaspoon, for this boy here to come dragging me out of my bed at this time of the morning.  I ain’t been able to get a word out of him the whole way here, except for ‘hurry’,” Doc Barns asks as he removes his hat.

Doc takes one look at the boy on the make-shift bed and knows he has his work cut out for him.  “What happened to him?”

“He was beaten and whipped,” Teaspoon responds and Lou turns away to hide a slight gasp. With a sigh at what lies ahead, the Doctor takes his eyes from Ike back to Lou and Jimmy.  “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Wearily, Jimmy agrees and starts for the door, Lou and Teaspoon following.

“Wait, Teaspoon, I’d like you and Miss Shannon to stay, please.  If he wakes while I’m tending to him, I might need you to help restrain him.”

Nodding, Teaspoon remains behind as Jimmy and Lou join the two boys already pacing Emma’s porch and the doctor turns to the gruesome task at hand.

For over an hour the boys and Lou wait.  As each minute drags by with no word from inside their stomachs twist into tighter knots and their prayers reach the heavens more frequently.  Jimmy stands purposely off to one side, away from the others and especially Buck.  The only thing keeping him on this porch right now is his desperate need to know Ike’s going to be okay.  Buck paces back and forth next to the railing, lost in his own world, his face a mask of worry.  Kid and Lou sit on the swing, Lou a little closer to him than she would normally dare be with Teaspoon home, trying to take comfort in each other.  The Eastern sky is laced with a rosy light that mocks the mood of the riders before the door opens and the doctor comes out followed by Teaspoon and Emma, all looking very weary and somber.

What Teaspoon has just seen over the last hour has challenged his faith in humanity and sickened his soul.  He’s seen a lot of ugly things in his life but this one tops most of them.

As soon as the doctor steps onto the porch, Buck plants himself in his path.

“How is he?”

Doc Barns looks around at the faces of the boys on the porch and sighs.

“Your friend is one stubborn young man.  Not many people could have gone through what he has and lived.  He’s lost a tremendous amount of blood but I have managed to stop the bleeding now.   He’s not out of the woods yet, though.  He’s got a nasty fever and if the wounds on his back get infected, I’m afraid there really won’t be much I can do.  We’ll just have to keep praying that won’t happen.”  The doctor pauses as he remembers the sight of Ike’s back.  In all his years as a doctor he’s never seen anything like it before.  All he could do was bandage it tightly and hope it would keep infection from setting in.  Jimmy’s simple act of keeping it clean probably saved Ike’s life.  “The cuts and bruises on his face and head, although I’m sure they’ll be painful for some time, aren’t life threatening.  He’s lucky he doesn’t have a concussion.  I believe several of his ribs might be cracked, though, so you should watch his breathing carefully.  At least he’s sleeping right now.  That will probably do him more good than anything I can give him.  As long as he’s asleep he won’t feel the pain as much.”  Then, in a hushed and truly sorry voice, Doc Barns finishes.   “But he’s going to have the scars for the rest of his life, I’m afraid.”

Silence reigns as the boys and Lou take all this in, grateful that Ike has a chance to live, but appalled at the pain he’ll be in for so long.  Finally, Lou breaks the stillness to ask the question the doctor purposely neglected and the others have been dreading.

“What about his hands?” 

Hands are important to everyone, but for Ike they’re his life line, his one connection with the rest of the world.

Again the doctor sighs deeply before speaking.  He knows this is the news that will most unexpected and taken the hardest.  “His fingernails should grow back without any problems, but it will take some time and his fingers will be extremely tender until it happens.  As for his wrists, frankly, I don’t know.  I’m afraid the ropes were bound so tightly they might have damaged some nerves.  If that’s the case, he may never have full use of his hands again.  I simply won’t know until they heal a bit more.  I’ve wrapped his hands and bound both his wrists in splints, to keep them immobile while they heal, and all we can do is just wait and hope.”  Gazing around at the devastated faces, the doctor feels very old and tired.  It’s times like these, when he sees the cruelty the world is capable of and the pain it causes, that he’s sometimes forced to question his decision to become a doctor.  With a weary heart he replaces his hat and steps off the porch.

“I’ve got to get back into town, but I’ll come check on him again tomorrow, and if his fever gets any higher or he develops any infection send one of the boys for me immediately.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Emma calls as he mounts and rides off.

Standing there, listening as the doctor states the horrible list of Ike’s injuries, ending with that last awful revelation, Jimmy finally can’t take it anymore.  He storms off the porch, past a still reeling Buck and into the barn before the doctor is even out of the yard, anger rising up in him like he’s never felt before.  Anger at the men who did this to Ike; anger at himself for not stopping it; anger at the whole world in general.  Inside the weathered building, he slams his fists against a stall and then kicks the wall in utter frustration.  Finally, he leans against the rough, wooden planks, his arms up and his face buried in utter misery.

“Feel better?” a quiet voice asks from the doorway and Jimmy turns, surprised to see Kid standing there.

“It ain’t right, Kid!”  Jimmy almost yells, the feelings he’s kept locked up all night bursting out, almost beyond his control.  “Ralph Terry was after revenge on me and yet I’m the one standin’ here without a scratch and Ike’s layin’ there more dead than alive!”

“It ain’t yer fault, Jimmy,” Kid tries to tell him, but Jimmy isn’t listening.

“What kind a friend am I?” Jimmy yells, pacing wildly.  “I mean look at him!  He’s already lost practically everything, an’ now, because of me, he just got robbed of the one way of communicatin’ he had left!”

Kid walks over to Jimmy and grabs him by the arm, forcing him to stand still.

“Listen to me, Jimmy!  It ain’t yer fault!  There was nothin’ ya coulda done.  Nobody’s blamin’ ya, least of all Ike.  So ya gotta stop blamin’ yerself!”

Jimmy gives his friend a skeptical look, thinking of Buck’s cold glare, and then he sighs.

“Do you know that he went for five years without bein’ able to communicate with anyone?”  Jimmy asks quietly.

Kid stares at him before answering softly, “No.”

“What if because a me he hasta live the rest of his life like that?”

“The doctor said we won’t know for a while, so we’ll all just keep hopin’ for the best.  And whatever happens, it ain’t yer fault.”

Jimmy sinks down on a crate, defeated.  “Kid, you weren’t there.  You didn’t hafta watch what they did to him.”  He closes his eyes and drops his head into his hands, images of Ike being whipped searing through his mind, Ike’s expressive face showing his pain more than any words could.  Also unbidden comes a picture of Terry taunting and torturing Ike to get him to speak, Ike powerless to comply.

Finally, Jimmy wearily raises his eyes again.  “They tortured him, Kid, before I even got there.  They pulled his fingernails out one-by-one, trying to make him talk.” 

His voice has become so quiet Kid has to strain to hear his words, but he does hear them and shudders at their meaning.  He came into the barn to try and calm Jimmy, but now he finds himself sharing his rage.  ‘Oh, Ike!’ he thinks, ‘Of all the things to demand of you, they had to demand that you speak.’  Lost in his own thoughts, he doesn’t respond to Jimmy’s comment.  There’s nothing to say after something like that.

They are still sitting there in silence when Lou enters the barn ten minutes later.

“Jimmy, Kid.  Emma’s made a quick breakfast.  She’s sent me ta come find ya.”

Without a word, the two friends rise and follow Lou out of the barn and into the early morning light.

Breakfast is a silent and subdued affair.  Only Kid, Lou, Jimmy, and Teaspoon are there, Buck having refused to leave Ike’s side.  They eat without speaking and only the sound of metal scraping on metal fills the lonely bunkhouse.

Finally, Teaspoon clears his throat.  “So who’s got a ride today?  Cody’s due back anytime.”

“It was supposed to be Buck’s, but I said I’d take it,” Lou answers.  “He wants to stay with Ike.”

Teaspoon nods his okay, and then silence descends upon the table again.

It’s Jimmy who breaks it next. “Teaspoon, I’m goin’ after ‘em.  I’m gonna find Ralph Terry and he is gonna pay for what he did.”  His voice is hard and cold.

“I’m goin’ with ya,” Kid adds immediately. 

“Now jist hold on.  Ya ain’t goin’ nowheres,” Teaspoon responds to the two boys, holding up a hand to keep them calm.

“Teaspoon!” Jimmy’s voice moves up a notch.  “You just gonna let them git away with this?!?  You saw Ike, what they did to him!”

“Jimmy, I wanna ride outa here after them just as much as you do.  I wanna hunt ‘em down like the dogs they are, but it’s too late, son.  They’re long gone now.  You’d be chasin’ ghosts.”

“Well then I’ll chase ghosts!” Jimmy yells angrily, rising from the table.

“SIT DOWN!” Teaspoon growls sternly.  “Now you listen ta me, all ‘a ya, an’ ya listen good!  It ain’t gonna do Ike er anyone no good ta go ridin’ off after people ya ain’t gonna find.  Now ya ain’t goin’ after ‘em an’ that’s final!  Understand?”  Teaspoon looks each rider in the eye until he gets a reluctant nod, coming last to Jimmy.

“Jimmy!”

Finally, he gives a slight jerk of his head, not meeting Teaspoon’s gaze.

“An’ ya ’ll can relay this message on ta Buck.  It applies to him, too.  Now ya ’ll got chores ta do, ain’t ya?”  One by one, they file out of the bunkhouse, leaving a tangible tension behind them in the air.

Ike doesn’t wake all day and Buck refuses to leave his side.  He’s still horrified at what his friend has gone through, his mind almost numb as he sits silent guard over Ike.  After hearing Emma retell Jimmy’s words, it’s all he can do to cage the boiling wrath simmering inside his heart as he gazes on his friend’s battered face.  By the end of the day, he’s wound tighter than a spring and ready to snap with only the slightest provocation.  He wants to stay by Ike all night, as well, but Emma kicks him out of the house and tells him to get some sleep.  Assuring him she will sit with Ike and watch over him, Buck has no choice but to reluctantly head for the bunkhouse and what he knows will be a long night.