Choices

Written by Wendy

Disclaimer: This story is in no way meant to infringe on the rights of the creator of the series The Young Riders, Ed Spielman and Ogiens/Kane. All other characters belong to the author. Copyright 2000

Lou didn't know how long she had laid awake on her bunk and cried out all of her confusion, anger and sorrow that had been building up inside of her during the past couple of months, culminating with the awful argument she had overheard between Jimmy and Kid in the barn. She would have thought by now, that she had no more tears to shed. She had spent so much of the last few months crying, that she had believed that her eyes had permanently dried up for lack of moisture. Now she knew that they had only been replenishing their water supply.

Stubbornly she sat up in her bunk and wiped the tears from her eyes. From this day on, she was determined that no matter what happened that she wasn't going to cry anymore. She had a baby to take care of now, and she couldn't spend precious time feeling sorry for herself. There were plans to be made and things to be taken care of. Now was as good a time to get started as later. She knew that it wouldn't be much longer before everyone would be returning to the bunkhouse to eat supper.

She sat up slowly in her bunk and uncurled herself from the tight ball she had lain in, stretching her cramped limbs. When she felt that the circulation had been properly restored to them, she climbed down from her bunk and hastily removed a worn valise from under Kid's bunk. She hurriedly began packing clothing into the bag, not noticing as she removed undergarments from the top drawer, that she had accidentally dropped the small envelope of potassium carbonate that the doctor in Seneca had given to her. It fluttered to the ground beside her feet and came to a rest next to a leg of the dresser. When she had finished packing her clothing, Lou hurried toward the door of the bunkhouse.

Cautiously she peered out one of the windows for any signs of movement. When she didn't see anybody, she opened the door and slowly stepped out onto the porch with the valise in one hand and her bedroll in the other. Hurriedly she stepped off of the porch and shoved the valise under a corner of the porch, where she would retrieve it later on that night. Then she hurried back inside the bunkhouse and closed the door.

Next, she removed a piece of paper and pencil from a drawer in the desk and sat down to write a letter to her Pony Express family. She had no idea what to write. With hot tears filling her eyes and threatening her resolve not to cry, she finally managed to write a short letter of goodbye to them all and then signed it. With the letter still in her hand, she climbed back onto her bunk, slid the letter under her pillow and lay back down and closed her eyes. She knew that she would need as much sleep as possible, if she would be riding all night

Chapter 17

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