Chapter 9

Getting to Know You

The next day Lou spent a lot of time with Kid. She enjoyed the time they spent together. He couldn’t remember anything, even though he told Lou that he had been having dreaming at night. "But I can’t seen to hold on to them when I wake up." He said

"Don’t push it," Lou replied, "Your memory will return when it’s ready."

Lou and Kid were in the sitting room. Lou had brought up some books from the library and was reading out lout to Kid. They enjoyed the peacefulness of the room and the warmth of the sun through the large windows. Even though all the drapes in the rest of the house were always pulled closed Lou and Kid had pulled the ones open in the sitting room to enjoy the light.

Mrs. Beckworth wasn’t happy about the drapes being open when she found out, but Kid, or James, had convinced her that it would help the healing process and she relented. She did however; make it a point to come into the room several times that day to check on Kid. Lou was sure though that Mrs. Beckworth was actually checking up on her instead.

The doctor had said he would be back sometime that day to check on Kid. It was mid afternoon and Lou and Kid were reading when there was a knock on the open door.

"May I come in," Dr. Adams said poking his head in the door.

Lou jumped up from her place on the sofa and said, "Oh, please doctor come in. We were just reading and enjoying the sunshine."

"It’s nice to see this room so bright," the doctor said smiling. "It’s been closed up for way to long."

Kid slowly stood up and walked carefully towards the doctor with an out stretched hand. "Doctor it’s nice to see you."

"Well I’d say your feeling better young man," The doctor said shaking Kids hand.

"It’s all the pleasant company," Kid said smiling and looking at Lou

"Well lets go into the other room and let me have a look at you," the doctor said heading towards Kids room.

"I’ll got get us some tea," Lou said to Kid, "Doctor will you be joining us?"

"No, thank you Lou. I promised Charlotte that as soon as I was finished I would come down and have tea with her. She told me she was looking for a new stable boy and I think I might have found someone for her." He told Lou giving her a wink. They had planned that the doctor would tell Mrs. Beckworth about Jimmy after Lou had been working for her for a few days, but it looks like he decided not to wait since she had asked outright.

When Lou came back upstairs with the tea she found Kid relaxing in the sitting room with a large smile on his face. "What’s that look for?" she asked smiling.

"Doc said I could go downstairs tomorrow and possibly outside into the garden. With your help of course." He said grinning at her.

"Oh of course." Lou laughed, "Well that sounds like an important day. Maybe we should have a picnic in the garden, if you feel up to it."

"That would be nice." Kid said smiling.

Lou set the tea tray on the small table and poured them both some tea. She put one lump of sugar in Kids cup and handed it to him. Kid gave her a strange look as he took the cup. "How did you know I only took one lump of sugar in my tea?"

"Oh," Lou said startled. She had forgotten that she shouldn’t know things like that, "I guess it was just a good guess." She laughed.

"So what did you before you became a nurse?" Kid asked

Lou choked a little on her drink then set it down quickly on the tray. "Oh, well you know this and that. I helped on a Pony Express station for a while."

"What did you do at a Pony Express Station? Don’t boys usually work there?" Kid asked

Lou smiled thinking "If you could only remember."

"Well I just helped out Rachel, she’s the housekeeper. I helped her with the laundry and the cooking." Lou laughed at the last comment knowing that Rachel would never let her near the kitchen since she couldn’t even boil water.

"Why did you leave?"

"I fell in love," Lou said truthfully.

"So what happened?"

Lou hesitated and Kid said, "I’m sorry that’s really non of my business. You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to."

"No it’s OK," Lou said, "Lets just say it didn’t work out. He found someone else and I became a nurse."

"Oh, I’m sorry. Looks like I got the better end of the deal though," Kid said giving her one of his huge grins.

Lou blushed and picked up her teacup and took a quick sip before she embarrassed herself any further.

"So what about the riders? What are they like?"

Lou smiled thinking about all the boys at the station. How would she describe them to Kid? He knew them as well if not better than she did already.

"Well let me see. There are 4 riders. William Cody, Buck Cross, Ike McSwain and Jimmy Hickock. They are all great. Not only are they great riders but they are all really good friends."

"Was the guy you fell in love with a Pony Express Rider?"

"Yea, he was, but he left," Lou said sadly looking at Kid

Kid noticed the sadness that crossed Lou’s face and decided not to push the question any further.

"So tell me about the riders."

So Lou started telling Kid about each rider. She told him about Cody’s insatiable appetite, Bucks gift of tracking and about Ike being a mute and teaching them all how to sign. She also told him about Jimmy’s quickness with a gun and how he had been written about in the dime novels people loved to read.

"But that’s not Jimmy at all in those books." She said with just a hint of anger in her voice. "Jimmy’s a caring person. He wouldn’t let anything happen to one of his friends. He would give his life for them."

"They sound like a great bunch of boys." Kid said

"They are," Lou replied. She almost said she missed them but she didn’t want to give her cover away, plus she was really enjoying this time she was spending with Kid without all the others around.