A Hairy Situation
"Rachel, this sure is some good
stew," Cody complimented her as he scooped the last spoonful from his plate.
"Thank you Cody," Rachel smiled at the exhuberant blonde rider. "Would
you like a second helping?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Cody flashed her a boyish grin as he
held out his bowl. Rachel carried it to the stove where the stew pot was sitting
and filled it for him.
"Would any of you other boys
like some more while I am up?" she looked around the table. Each of the
boys held out their bowls, anxious for a second helping. Rachel smiled, knowing
her new stew recipe was a success.
"This is really good, Rachel," Kid agreed with Cody.
"Thanks, Kid. It's a new recipe I got from Mrs. Hollister the other day.
I thought the mushrooms added a nice touch, so I decided to try it. I'm glad
you boys like it."
'You know it's good, if we are all eating as much as Cody,' Ike signed, causing
them all to laugh as Kid interpreted for Rachel.
"Too bad the others aren't here to enjoy this," Buck remarked as he
took another bite. Jimmy, Lou, and Noah had all been sent on runs and would
not be back until at least the next afternoon.
"That just means there is more for us," Cody said, grabbing another
biscuit and dipping it into his stew before shoving it in his mouth.
Rachel sat back in satisfaction, pleased that her new recipe was such a hit.
After supper, the boys headed out to the barn to make sure the horses were bedded
down for the night and everything was locked up. Finally, the lights in the
bunkhouse were extinguished as they all headed to bed.
The next morning, Ike was the first one awake. He considered pulling the blanket
over his head to block out the light that streamed in through the window beside
his bunk so that he could go back to sleep, but he knew if he did not get up
now, Cody would soon wake him up anyway. Kicking the blankets to the foot of
his bed, he swung his legs over the edge and sat there for a moment, rubbing
his eyes. Finally, he stretched and stood up, heading for the wash stand on
the other side of the room.
Reaching the wash stand, he poured some water from the pitcher into the large
bowl that sat on the top of the stand and bent down to splash his face. The
cold water felt good, soothing his eyes, which were still puffy and aching from
sleep. He splashed his face again, then reached for the towel that hung beside
the wash
stand.
He stood up as he held the towel to his face to dry it. Behind him, he heard
Buck approaching the stand to wait for his turn to wash. The occupants of the
bunkhouse performed the same routine every morning. Wake up, stretch, wash their
face, comb their hair. Well, all except Ike, who skipped the hair part. Because
of that, his morning routine was a couple minutes shorter than the others'.
"Come on Ike, hurry up," Buck's voice sounded behind him, interrupting
his thoughts. Ike hung the towel back on the rack and started to turn away from
the wash stand, glancing in the mirror as he did. What he saw there caused him
to stop short.
"What's wrong?" Buck asked. Ike just continued to stare in the mirror,
not sure if he could believe what he was seeing. It just couldn't be. Could
it?
"Ike?" Buck was starting to get worried when his friend did not respond
to him.
'Tell me what you see,' Ike turned around and pointed frantically to his head.
'Tell me there is something wrong with my eyes and I'm not really seeing this.'
"Seeing what Ike?" Buck peered at Ike's head, feeling a little foolish.
Those mushrooms in Rachel's stew must be making Ike a little delusional. Ike
just pointed to his head more frantically, and finally, Buck saw what Ike wanted,
or did not want--Ike was not sure which--him to see.
"No way," he looked at Ike. "This can't be happening." Ike
nodded seriously. There was just no way. But Buck had seen it too, so it must
be true. But why now? What was causing this?
"What's going on?" Kid walked up to them. "You two are blocking
the wash stand, and I'd really like to wash my face." He stared at the
puzzled expressions on Buck and Ike's faces. "What's wrong? You two are
staring at each other like the strangest thing you've ever seen just happened."
"It did," Buck said simply.
"What are you talking about?" Kid just did not understand those two
sometimes. "What? Did Ike start growing hair all of a sudden?"
"Yes."
Kid stared at Buck, not believing he was heard what he thought he heard. "Did
you just say yes?"
"Yes," Buck pulled Ike to the table in the middle of the room. The
three sat down in silence, none of them quite sure what to say.
"Where?" Buck pointed
to the lone hair on Ike's head as Kid squinted his eyes to see.
"Well, that does beat all," Kid finally spoke, shaking his head. "How
did this happen?"
'I have no idea,' Ike signed. 'But I hope it's not the only one.'
The other two laughed at this, waking Cody up. They had to tell him the story,
and then Rachel came in to make breakfast so they had to tell her. Ike just
sat there smiling the whole time, letting Buck do the telling for him.
As the day passed, he kept returning to the mirror, hoping to see more hair
growing. And he was not disappointed. Little by little more hair began to show
up, and by supper time, Teaspoon walked into the bunkhouse to be greeted by
Ike, who had a thin layer of fuzz all over his head. The strange phenomenon
was the only topic of conversation over supper, and as the boys got ready for
bed. Jimmy and Noah had both returned that afternoon, and they could not believe
what had happened. They all went to bed, hoping the next day Ike would have
even more hair.
Sure enough, the next morning, Ike hopped out of bed and headed straight to
the mirror to see if he had any more hair. The fuzz had grown out to a short,
dark brown head of hair.
"Way to go Ike," Jimmy slapped him on the shoulders. "Does this
mean the end of the red bandana?"
Ike nodded happily. Of course it did.
Over the next few days, Ike's hair continued to grow. It was a strange sensation
to him, as he had never had hair before, but he liked it. Lou had laughed happily
upon seeing it, giving him a big hug. Later that day, she disappeared into town,
returning with a hairbrush and comb just for him. Ike's grin stretched from
ear to ear as she presented him with the set.
Ike thought his life could not get any better now, unless of course he started
talking all of a sudden. A few days after he first discovered the hair, he woke
as he normally did. At first he considered pulling the blankets over his head
to block out the sunlight that was streaming through the window beside his bunk,
but he knew the others would be waking up soon anyway. So he swung his legs
over the side of the bed and rubbed his eyes. He stretched and stood up, as
was his normal
morning routine. Heading to the wash stand, he bent over and splashed his face
with the cold water, soothing his sleepy eyes. He grabbed the towel and rubbed
his face dry as he straightened up. As he had been doing for the past few days,
he stopped to look in the mirror and admire his hair. What he saw shocked him.
He ran over to Buck's bunk and shook him hard, waking him up.
"Ike?" Buck squinted in the early morning light. "What's wrong?"
He sat up, gasping as he got a good look at Ike. The boy's hair, which only
yesterday had been growing out nicely, although a bit slowly, was now past his
shoulders. But that was not what shocked him. The hair was no longer a nice
dark brown color. Now it was bright blue.
"How'd it turn blue?" Buck asked.
'It's not blue, it's green,' Ike signed, looking at Buck confusedly.
"No, it's blue, Ike," Buck started to drag him to the mirror, stopping
short to stare at Ike.
'What?'
"Now it's purple," Buck almost whispered. Ike's hair was changing
color before his eyes.
'What?!?!'
"It's changing colors Ike," Buck stared.
'It can't be!' Ike sank down at the table. 'People are gonna make more fun of
me now than they did when I was bald!'
Buck started to laugh. "Well, it is pretty funny Ike." His laughter
woke up the others, who immediately began to laugh at Ike too. Ike hid his head
in his arms and tried to block out the sound of his friends' laughter, but it
echoed off the walls of the bunkhouse and through his mind. The laughter got
louder and louder,
and Ike started to cry. They were his friends. They were supposed to support
him at times like this, not laugh. But they just kept laughing.
Ike sat straight up in bed as the laughter he was hearing woke him up. Why were
they still laughing at him? He jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror,
expecting to see brightly colored hair. But he did not. Not only was there no
brightly colored hair, there was no hair. None. He turned around, puzzled, to
find the others staring at him.
"What's the matter Ike?" Buck asked, Ike's strange behavior having
concerned him.
'What were you laughing at?' Ike signed, ignoring Buck's question.
"Oh, we were just talking about the strange dreams we all had last night,"
Kid explained. "They sure were weird. I dreamed that Katy actually started
talking to me. Not like she already does, but in English, out loud. And Cody
dreamed that..." he started laughing again and could not finish.
Ike grinned, suddenly realizing it was just a dream. He rubbed his head, happy
to find there was no hair there. He did not think he would regret being bald
ever again. After all, things could be worse. He could have pink hair.
