1875
Sherman Ranch
Laramie, Wyoming

Slim sat on the railing of the small porch admiring the crisp black sky as the stars in all their splendor lit up the night in compliment to the crescent moon. He leaned back against a post and stretched. As he stood, he rubbed his lower back as he arched and leaned from side to side. Satisfied that he had spent his day well, he turned to walk inside the house when the sound of someone walking towards him caught his attention. "Jess?"

Jess was walking down the hill from the main road. "Over here, Pard."

"Jess, you okay? Where'd you go?"

"What? Oh, I walked to the lake."

"To the lake?" Slim stepped off the porch to meet him and continued his round of questions. "You okay? I ain't never seen you act like this before. You okay, Jess?"

Jess met Slim with a slap to his shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Is Mike okay? I should go in and see to him." Jess turned away from Slim and as he took a step towards the house, he felt Slim's large hand tighten around his forearm.

"Hold up, Jess. Mike is plenty scared. He don't know what he did wrong and neither do we. I think you've seen to him enough for one day."

"Now, wait a minute." Jess jerked his arm from Slim's grip. "You don't think I would ever hurt Mike, do ya?"

Slim's stern gaze never wavered. "I don't know what to think. All I know is what I saw! And what I saw I didn't understand. Now you gonna talk about it or ain't ya?"

"I ain't." Jess stepped in front of Slim and headed for the barn.

Slim knew he'd made a mistake. "Jess-"

Jess stopped but did not look back at his partner. "Let it alone, Slim."

"Okay. I will. But you best be gettin' a hold of yourself around Daisy and Mike until whatever is eatin' you ain't eatin' you no more. Got it?"

Still embarrassed over his behavior at supper-time, Jess looked over his shoulder in Slim's general direction. "Yeah, I got it."

Slim took a few steps towards the door then turned back to face his partner. "You comin' in?"

"Not yet."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Go on in. I'm gonna be a while. I got some more thinkin' ta do." Jess eyed Slim as he turned and headed towards the small house and he watched as the door opened and Slim stopped Daisy from coming out. He could not hear what was said but he was glad that Slim obliged him this time alone.

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Slim placed his arm around Daisy's shoulder and gently ushered her into the house. He raised his forefinger to his lips then patted her on the shoulder as he dartedhis eyes towards Mike indicating that she should hold her questions for now. She noded and mouthed that she understood. Slim walked past her and as he nonchalantly sat in his chair by the fire, he extended his arm and smiled, encouraging Mike to move closer to him. "Mike, why do you suppose Jess got so all-fired up over that thing you said?"

Daisy stood silent not knowing what to make of all the evening's goings on.

"You mean, 'butter dreams'?" Mike notched his brow.

"Yeah, butter dreams. Do you know why he got so upset over it?"

"Reckon."

"Well, come on, Mike, tell me." Slim was about up to his tolerance limit of family drama and his frustration was beginning to show.

Seeking a reprieve, Mike stepped closer to Daisy, threw his arms about her waist and buried his face in her bosom. "Aunt Daisy, do I have to tell?"

She stroked his hair. "I'm afraid you do, Mike. Slim needs to know what is wrong so he can help Jess."

"Is Jess in trouble, Aunt Daisy?" Mike looked up at her and she could see that he was clearly puzzled by the suggestion.

"Yes, Mike, he is and Slim and I think you have the answer to his trouble. Please, Dear, tell us where you heard those words that got him so upset."

Slim raised his hand to hush her. "Wait a minute, Daisy." Then turning his attention towards the youngster he leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Mike, why don't you want to tell us what you know? Were you listening to somethin' you shouldn't outta be listenin' to?"

"No, Sir, Slim."

"Where did you hear it, Mike?" Slim's looked at Daisy and then back at Mike. "You were somewhere you shouldn't'a been, weren't you?"

Mike looked up but did not speak. His eyes followed Slim the way a sunflower follows the sun and in those moments, as he stood up from the rocker, he appeared ten feet tall.

As he approached the frightened boy, Slim placed his hand on Mike's shoulder and slowly turned him out from Daisy's embrace as he coaxed, "That's it, isn't it?"

"Yeah. But I didn't mean no harm. Honest. I was jest tired of bein' dead weight around here. So I jumped on the back of the mornin' stage so's I could go to town and become more worthell."

"What?! Worthell?! What?!! Who said you were dead weight?! Why would you go to town to become a man?" Slim was growing impatient with the developing enormity of this puzzle. He raked his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck and then he stretched and arched his back. "Well, I must be plum stupid! I can't figure out what anybody's talkin' about around here no more!" He grabbed hold of the back of a chair and hoisted it up as though to smash it but caught ahold of his temper and set the chair back down with an exaggerated gentility. As he lifted his foot onto the seat of the lucky chair, he placed his elbow across his knee and sighed. "Mike, we need some answers, Tiger. Jess is hurtin' real bad. Daisy and me don't know what to do about it and we think the answer has somethin' ta do with those words you said at the table. Can you tell us where you heard it?"

Mike, still afraid to tell, looked up at Daisy again. She nodded as she smoothed his hair. "Please, Mike, for Jess' sake."

Mike lowered his gaze to the floor as he took a thoughtful moment. Then he stood erect and looked up at Slim, threw his shoulders back and braced himself for whatever fallout he might have to face. Before he could think about it for another second, he blurted out his answer. "I heard it from Miss Marcia!"

Daisy jerked her hand to her mouth to stifle her gasp.

Slim's eyes flashed, but he maintained his calm. "You heard it from Miss Marcia. And may I ask how you came to be in the company of Miss Marcia?"

"I told you. I went to town to become more worthell. I wanted to separate the man part of me from the boy part. Jess said that is where you do it. Separate the parts. 'The men from the boys' is what he says. Says it all the time. So I went to the ho-"

"You wanted to sepa- OH... I see. I see." By this time, Slim had folded his hands across his chest and was rocking on his feet; heel, toe, heel, toe. "LOOK AT ME!" He spoke as he dropped his hands to his sides as though he was dropping hold of something distasteful. "I am acting like my father."

"Well, I didn't go to see Miss Marcia, exactly. I went to the ladies hotel and I knew nobody would let me in, so I went around the back and, well, Miss Marcia caught me trying to climb in a window and she took me for a sarsaparilla and gave me a talkin' to. That is when she told me I was jest havin' a butter dream. I came home after that. Hopped back on the stage when it was leavin'. Anyways, I guess Jess figures I heard it from Miss Marcia and now he don't like me no more on account'a he figures I ain't nothin' but a no good lyin' pole cat. I guess you'll be sendin' me away, now, like ya done to Andy. Guess Jess don't like me no more." Mike was looking at the floor slowly shaking his head. "I was jest tryin' ta help-"

Daisy had heard all she cared to on this subject. "Oh, there now, Mike. Slim, that is enough. Go on now. Leave Mike alone. He has told us what we needed to know."

Slim nodded his agreement. "Thanks, Tiger; you done real good. Real good."

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Jess was in the barn just finishing up with the tack. He turned and nearly tripped over a bale of hay that he had carelessly left earlier. Angered by his budding inability to concentrate long enough to complete a simple task, he kicked the bale so hard that he knocked it clear to the wall where it hit with a loud thud and burst open making a huge mess. As he was approaching the barn, Slim witnessed Jess' outburst of temper and determined it would be best to keep quiet for the time at hand. He eased back away from the door and waited a bit before calling out. "Jess? Jess, you in there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." The disgust in Jess' tone was as obvious as the moon in the sky.

Slim took a deep breath and entered. "I wanted to talk to you about somethin'."

"Can it wait, Slim? I'm in no mood to talk to anyone about anything."

"No, I don't think it can."

"Look, Slim," Jess snapped without pausing from pitching the hay he had just knocked all over the place, "I've just about had enough talk, lately. I got somethin' on my mind is all. I'm tellin' ya, it'll pass. Now, leave me alone, will ya?"

"Yeah. Look, Jess, Mike told Daisy and me where he heard that - what upset you. Seems he heard it from Marcia. I thought you might like to know. I thought it might help."

Jess dropped the pronged end of the pitchfork to the ground, leaned on the handle and wiped his brow. He did not look up and he did not speak. Slim could not think of anything else to say. "Well, night, Pard."

"Yeah. Night." Standing there leaning on the pitchfork, unable to help himself, Jess gave in to the disconsolate longing that pulled him back to the place where Cora Mae still lived.



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