by Mars
Disclaimer: The characters and
situations of the TV program "Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic
Pictures and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are
copyrighted to the author.
It was late a night and everyone in the Barkley house was
already in bed. Well, not everyone. Victoria was sitting alone by the fireplace
in the living room. There was no light in the large room, but the one provided
by the fire. A casual look at her wouldn't reveal much, as for now she was
slightly bent forward, staring at something in her hands.
Unless one stood right by her side, her mumbling would
stay unheard. So let's get closer, shall we?
"Told you..... no... warned you...." are a few
words one can recognize. It sounds like she's munching something.... "...
ruin us soon... put a stop to it.... sleepless nights....." What is she
mumbling about???
Oops. Now Victoria leans back against the couch, holding a
small object in her hand. Looks like a cigar... She smiles at her late husband
Thomas, always so un-smiling on that wall over the mantle. Wait... she's not
really smiling: it rather looks like a smirk. Now Victoria brings the small
object to her mouth and aims at her painted-husband.
ZOOOOP — TOC
A small wad of papier-mache just hit Thomas on the
forehead and starts to slowly slide down over the painting. "Ah... if only
you were here for real, I could yell at you..."
Seemingly pleased at her aiming, Victoria tears another
small piece of paper and puts it in her mouth. "... doctor bills..."
She munches, "...medicine... clothes..."
ZOOOOP — TOC
Got Thomas in the eye. "Bull's eye!" Victoria
laughs, ready to repeat the process.
But a scratching sound from outside the French doors stops
her in her quality-time. Armed with the straw and the wad of paper in her mouth,
she stands and approaches the doors. Picking outside, she cannot see anything
in the darkness. Not in a mood to fool around, she opens the doors.
"Who's there?" she asks.
She's not afraid a bit. Soon to be ruined by the medical
bills thanks to her sons, she's sure nothing can be worst than the incoming
disgrace she's facing.
She waits a few seconds, but she can't see anyone and no
one answers. Growing impatient quite fast, she announced, "Look, tell me
who you are and what you want. But be warned: I'm armed." She has to grin
at the warning, holding the straw like it was a knife.
Hearing that scratching sound again, she steps outside.
"That's it!" she yells. "You show yourself right now!" she
orders. After a second, she has an afterthought, "But if you are sick or
wounded.... GO AWAY!"
After a minute or so, the scratching sound echoes around
and a dark silhouette slowly approaches the house...
**********
"Oh you," grumbled Victoria, "If you step
on my flowers, you'll regret it."
The dark silhouette approached a bit more then stopped a
few feet away. Victoria couldn't see the face of the person, which only
increased her bad mood.
"Will you tell me your name?" she seethed.
Still, no answer from the stranger. "Look," she sighed, shifting into
her lecture-mode. "We already got the mad neighbor and the jealous one.
One dead poet, a few dead forgotten enemies or friends...We had a lot of
convicts on the loose to deal with, not mentioning sheltering one.. thanks to
Jarrod.... We got our Mexican general on the run. Oh, think of it...we also had
a civil war mad general.. thanks to Nick... Got an ex-prisoner's camp warden,
thanks to Heath... There was this fake preacher sticking around, thanks to
Audra... Oh, that girl will be the death of me!"
Victoria stops to breath, then continue. "And as if
it wasn't enough, we got droughts, floods, antrax and mildew." She shook
her head, "I'm sure I forgot a few of them... Did I mention the robberies,
arsons, blackmails and more ransoms than I care to remember?"
The scratching sound echoed in the night, as if the
stranger wanted to make her get to the point. She cleared her throat, "So,
if you fit any of these people or come to announce any of these calamities,
turn around and walk away. I had my share, thank you."
Victoria stood, straw in hand and hands on her hips.
"So?" she pressed on.
After a long moment, a low masculine voice answered her.
"I........"
"So you aren't mute, good. Now state your
business," she groaned, impatient.
"I........."
"Sure, fine. I got that part already. You think I'm a
tart or something?"
"I.... I came for you," explained the cavernous
voice.
Victoria laughed. "Well, Mister, you came too late. I
already got kidnapped a few times, trapped in many places, got in jail and even
the loony house. So what else do you offer?" she retorted with sarcasm.
"Your time is up, Victoria Barkley. You must come
with me."
"Listen to me, mister. YOUR time is up. Why don't you
try the Mortons?" On that, without further words, Victoria slammed the
French doors in the stranger's unseen face.
Using some expletives she heard Nick use some times,
Victoria returned to her previous quality-time activity: thomas-shooting. She
sat on the couch, and prepared her ammunitions. For a moment, she focused on
hitting the painting, until...
"Your time is up, Victoria Barkley. You must come
with me."
Victoria jumped on her feet and turned around, looking
at...................... DEATH!
"Your time is up, Victoria Barkley. You must come with
me."
"All right! Stop it already!" Se rolled her
eyes. Stepping forward, facing Death, Victoria met the skeleton figure.
"He sent you, right?" she whispered.
Of course, a skeleton face can hardly raise an eyebrow,
but something succeeded at showing perplexity in Death's attitude.
"He," she pointed behind her back at the
Thomas-target over the mantle.
Death shook its head, no. "You must come..."
Death repeated.
"What's the hurry? You waited for over 50 years,
can't wait twenty more minutes?" spat Victoria.
Again, Death shook its head, no. Without a word, Death
turned on its heel (heel???)... huh... anyway, turned around, ready to leave.
"Follow me." came the cavernous voice.
Death hadn't walked one step that Victoria stood in front,
blocking its way. "Where have you learned you manners, mister?" she
seethed, staring at the scythe in Death's hands. "Look!" she ordered,
pointing at the floor. "Who's going to fix these scratches you just made
with that stupid archaic farmer tool of yours?"
Death lowered its head, probably looking at the damaged
wooden floor (who knows for sure, if an eyeless face can see?).
"So? What do you have to say, old man?" she
demanded with that tone that would even make Prince Oxford answer her.
"I....... This is not mine to fix. I am Death. I came
for you, Victoria Barkley. You must..."
"Oh, no! This won't work with me. Not in [i]my[/i]
house!" She grabbed the scythe from Death's hands, brandishing it before
the skeleton figure. "You'll have to pay for the damage. Jarrod will make
sure that you won't get away with it!"
Death stood there, and would probably had blinked if it
had eyes.
"Ciego's getting old. You could help him take care of
the garden. That stupid tool might be useful there. And if not, I'm sure Nick
will find you something to do." Victoria grinned, "After all, this is
a working ranch!"
Death stepped forward, "Enough. Come with me."
Death would probably had frowned... ah ok, you got it...
Victoria relaxed, not a bit afraid. "Look. There's a
lot of people around. Why don't you go find yourself someone else? I'm rather
busy, you know."
Death stopped its forward motion. "I already took
everyone that needed to come. Now it is your turn, Victoria Barkley."
Victoria sighed. "The Barkley luck had to stop somewhere,
huh," she grumbled to herself. And out loud, "You know... Despite the
fact that you came in my house uninvited, which is a certain mark of lack of
manners, and that you ruined my floor with that thing of yours, I do not hate
you. I even offered you a job on our ranch. Now, I must say that if I refuse to
follow you, it's simply because I wouldn't do that to you."
Death tilted its head, fully aware that any facial
expression would be missed (ahah, got you there!).
Victoria turned on her heels (works for her), and headed
for the large staircase, scythe in hands. "Follow me," she grinned,
not waiting to see if Death would indeed follow her.
She climbed up the stairs, feeling that the skeleton
figure was following her. She headed straight for Audra's bedroom. Slowly
opening the door, she pointed at her daughter sound asleep in bed.
"Without me, she'll not only poison the whole family
with her cooking, but probably all the ranch hands as well. And that, mister,
is not counting the town's people attending the Fair and tasting her pickles.
Right now, she has anthrax and a broken heart."
Victoria stared at the eyeless face, smirking. 1-0 she
thought. She closed the door then proceeded towards Jarrod's bedroom. Again she
opened the door, nodding at her eldest son sound asleep.
"Without me, Jarrod wouldn't have anyone to confide
in. He'll get depressed. Do I need to remind you that a depressed attorney is a
sure death-sentence for the defendant?" She smirked at the mention of
death. "But I'm sure you know that."
She closed the door to Jarrod's bedroom and, scythe still
in hand, walked towards Nick's bedroom. Again she slowly opened the door. Nick
was asleep (really) in bed.
"Before you argue about Nick's ability to save lives,
I'll remind you of all the times he saved Heath and... sadly enough, how many
times he will in the future. Right now, he's having rabies and a broken
back." She paused, "No need to say that, without me, he'll die."
Proud of her little tour of the bedrooms and making her
point, she finished with Heath's bedroom. Peaking inside the silent room, she
watched Death as it stared at the prone body of the blond Barkley on the bed.
"I'm sure you came a few times for him, huh?"
Death slowly nodded and... sighed.
"Half the time, Nick saved his life. Otherwise, I
did. Right now, he's suffering a few broken ribs, some slashing, a head injury
and a burnt leg. Of course, without me, he'll die."
Heath trashed in his bed. Fighting the fever, he opened
his eyes and stared at Victoria holding the scythe. "Mother... no... I
promise... I'll.... I'll be... careful... please... no... kill me..."
Victoria sighed. "Get back to sleep... er,
unconsciousness, Heath. I'm a bit busy right now."
On that, Victoria closed the door, refraining to laugh.
"Let's get downstairs."
Death followed obediently, probably wondering about what
it just saw (!) and heard (!) (try that without eyes and ears!).
Victoria sat back down on the couch, putting the scythe
down on the floor. She stayed silent.
After a long moment, Death sighed. "Explain."
"Sure. I forgot you have no brain in that
skull," snickered Victoria.
Death groaned. She ignored it.
"You see, if I follow you... And let me tell you, I
sure wish I could! I'm pretty sick of caring over all of them!" She paused,
in order to make her speech more dramatic. "But if I do, you will hate me
for it."
"Explain now or come with me." Death grabbed its
scythe, careful to not scratch the floor.
"Let' say I go with you. Audra, Jarrod, Nick, Heath,
all the ranch hands and a lot of town's people will perish. Without my
patronage, I guess a few Modocs and orphans will as well. Now...." She
paused, "That would make a lot of work for you, no?"
Death didn't move. But then, after a moment, slowly
nodded. She had a point.
"And... Not that I want to be rude to you... But you
sure look like someone needing some rest. I'd also suggest a good meal and some
sun."
Death didn't reply. Victoria stood, smiling at the
skeleton figure. "Why, you could stay here for a few... Have some rest.
Audra will be delighted to fix you some good meals. Then you could add some
muscles on ... by working with Nick and Heath. And if you don't like it, you
could just hang around with Jarrod and choose your [i]clients[/i] from his
cases... You two would make such a great team...."
In a blink of an eye, Death was running out of the Barkley
house, careful to hold its scythe away from the floor.
Victoria sat back down and took the straw she had left on
the coffee table. Sticking her tongue at her painted-Thomas-target, she
laughed. "Don't you try that again, you hear me?"
ZOOOOP — TOC
The End!!!!!!