 |
PICTURE #5 |
Chapter 1
One, two, three steps, stop, listen. One, two, three steps, stop,
listen.
Jeremiah Coulter continued in the same manner through the woods.
He pretended he was a sheriff like his father, stocking after criminals with a
gun in hand.
He had never completely liked that his father was a sheriff.
Waiting and waiting for Father to come home when he was having a dangerous
encounter with some criminals was always very hard. Somehow, though, Father
seemed to be able to make it back home in one piece.
Suddenly, a loud bang snapped Jem back to reality. He
quickly hid himself behind a big tree. He could hear shouts and laughter just
ahead. Jem cautiously crept forward. Being careful not to step on any dry
branches or leaves, he slipped from tree to tree, going closer and closer to
the sounds.
When he was near, he stopped and quietly lowered himself down to
the ground. Peeking through the bushes, he saw two men. One was tall and very
slim. The other was very husky looking. A big, red beard bristled from the
husky man’s chin every time he talked.
Both men huddled around a dead doe. “Deer number two! A big un’
too.” Big Beard grinned at the slim man. “We’ll get a good profit out of this
un’, don’t ya think, Hank?”
“Yeah, Bill. Too bad the babe ain’t grown up yit. Then we
could take another pritty hide back to camp, huh?”
Babe? What babe? Jem wondered.
Red Beard, or Bill, responded, “Well, if it would’ve stuck around
a little longer, we could have a fawn steak tonight.”
Jem’s eyes suddenly widened in understanding. He suddenly felt
sick.
Hank helped put the dead doe around Bill’s shoulders. “We’re
runnin’ out o’ daylight. We better start back to camp,” he said. The two of
them trudged off out of sight.
Jem sighed. “Brutes!” he muttered fiercely. “To kill a deer when
it’s not even close to hunting season is already bad, but to kill a doe that
has a fawn? No, those men are worse than brutes and poachers, they’re…
they’re…”
Jem was interrupted from his fuming thoughts by a soft rustling
noise on the other side of the clearing. A small fawn crept out shyly from the
thicket.
Jem gasped. This must be the dead doe’s baby. Slowly, he
walked up to the trembling animal. Gently, Jem picked the fawn up and held it
to his chest. “Come on, little one, let’s go home.”
Chapter 2
Jem’s father looked grave as Jem recounted his story to his
family. His younger sister, Ellie, had teary eyes when Jem was done. His Aunt
Rose and cousin Nathan also lived with the Coulter family. Aunt Rose was like a
second mother to Jem and Ellie since their own mother died.
As for cousin Nathan, well, he was okay. Same age as Jem, Nathan
had grown up in the city. He was a bit of a green head when it came to ranch
chores, but he was getting better.
“Well, son,” Jem’s father said with a sigh. “Let me think about
your story for now, but meanwhile, let’s go check out this fawn of
yours.”
They headed out to the barn where the little fawn was curled up on
some clean rags. It bleated when the family walked up.
“Hey, it’s okay, we’re friendly,” Jem said as he crouched down and
put a hand on the fawn’s back. Father reached out and put his hand slowly on
the fawn’s head.
“I think she’s hungry. Rose, can you find a nursing bottle and
fill it with some warm milk?” Aunt Rose hurried back to the house.
Ellie knelt down next to Jem and started petting the fawn’s head.
The fawn licked her hand in greeting. Ellie giggled. “Let’s name her Spot,
short for Spottie, because of those white spots on her.”
Jem and Nathan rolled their eyes at each other.
Just like her to name a baby deer, Jem thought. “We can’t name her Spot, because she will outgrow
those spots in a while,” he tried to explain to his sister. Jem looked down at
the fawn.
Her brown eyes seemed to look at him in an imploring way. Help
me. I trust you.
“Trust,” Jem muttered absentmindedly.
“Huh? What did you
say?” Ellie said, looking at him.
Jem looked at Ellie, then at the fawn, then back at Ellie. “Let’s
name her Trustful because she trusts us,” Jem said before he could stop
himself.
“I love it!” Ellie clapped her hands in excitement. “Your name is
Trustful, and may you always remain trustful.” She kept cooing at the deer
while Jem, Father, and Nathan watched.
Trustful. Now, how in the world did I think of that? Jem thought.
Chapter 3
Jem lay in bed, listening to the sounds downstairs. He could hear
Father murmur to Aunt Rose, then head out the door. Minutes later, Jem heard
galloping hooves as Father rode to town to do his duty as
sheriff.
Jem sighed, got up, and started dressing. His thoughts were clouded
with worry. I hope Father will be all right and not get shot at. If those
cut throats will kill an innocent doe with a fawn, what would they do to a man
of the law?
Jem frowned again. Worrying about Father happened frequently to
Jem. More than once he wanted to run out of the house, grab Father’s horse, and
beg him not to go. Not only was he too old to do such a thing at age twelve, he
knew it would never work.
Jem sighed again. He exited out of his room and went down to see
how Trustful the fawn was doing. Trustful. How did I think of that
name of all things? Jem wondered for the hundredth time.
As soon as Jem entered the barn, he could hear Trustful’s
impatient cries. Suddenly, they stopped. Puzzled, Jem walked over to the stall
where the fawn lay. There, knelt next to her, was Ellie. She held a bottle,
which Trustful greedily sucked.
“There, there, Trustful,” she cooed, “Have as much milk as you
want.”
Jem watched the two of them quietly from the other side of the
stall.
Suddenly, a terrible ruckus started from outside the barn. Jem
grinned. He quickly walked back outside into the warm sunshine. Just running
past him, came a breathless Nathan, seemingly running for his life.
No, Jem thought mischievously, he WAS running for his life. Six
feet behind Nathan came an angry rooster, running and flying at top speed. He
was clucking angrily.
“Help, help, Cousin!” came Nathan’s frantic cry.
Jem swallowed another chuckle and chased after the rooster. He
caught it, ran to the chicken coop, and threw the angry chicken in, slamming
the door shut. Jem grinned again, while breathing hard.
Nathan came up behind him. “Thanks,” he panted.
“No problem,” Jem said, looking at his cousin with an amused
expression. He suddenly turned serious.
“Nathan,
I was thinking,” Jem paused. “From what those two poachers said, they are
likely shooting deer out of season for money. What else would you do with deer
hides? They had also mentioned that they had a camp somewhere. Let’s mount
Copper and ride up to where I saw them shoot Trustful’s mother. Maybe we can
find something.”
Seeing that Nathan was hesitating, Jem said hurriedly, “Don’t
worry, it won’t be dangerous.”
Nathan gave a small smile. “Oh? It seems like whenever you
say that, we both somehow get into trouble.”
Jem rolled his eyes playfully. “Come on, Cousin. Remember,
whenever we get into trouble, we seem to always get out.”
Nathan frowned, but finally consented. “But, if we stumble on
anything dangerous, we are leaving right away!”
“Oh, all right.” Jem said agreeably. “Let’s get started.”
They quickly got Copper ready and told Aunt Rose that they were
going “riding.” It wasn’t a lie. After all, Jem thought, we are going
riding. He didn’t want Aunty to know where they were exactly going, or else
she would have not let them go.
***
After trotting on Copper for a while, they reached the woods. Jem
tied the horse to a tree. Entering the looming forest, they quietly talked to
each other. Suddenly, the loud bang of a gun was heard.
The cousins looked at each other with wide eyes. Jem darted
through the brush toward the gunshot. Nathan followed wordlessly. They stopped
behind some bushes and peeked out of a little opening in the brush. A large,
red-bearded man knelt over a buck. “It’s Bill!” Jem hissed to Nathan.
Nathan whispered back. “Let’s get outta here!”
Jem rolled his eyes. “We can’t leave till we get some clues or
something to tell Father.”
“Well, Mr. Detective,” Nathan retorted, “how will we tell your dad
what we’ve seen if we get caught, huh?”
Their argument was interrupted by Bill’s booming voice from where
the dead buck lay. “Hey, Hank, where are ye? I need yore help with this
un’.”
A stick snapped from behind Jem and Nathan. “Ay, I can help ya,”
Hank’s soft, cold voice said. “So’s can a couple o’ boys that’re spyin’ on
ya!”
Chapter 4
The two boys felt big hands grip their shoulders. Hank pulled them
roughly out of the thicket. For such a gangly fellow, Hank was as strong as a
bull. He dropped them in front of Bill.
Jem quickly recovered and yelled “Run, Nathan,” but they weren’t
quick enough. Bill caught Jem by the neck, and Hank caught Nathan by the
arm.
“Now, wait jest a moment,” Bill taunted. “No runnin’ off ‘till you
an’ us give a proper greetin’, eh?”
Jem glanced at Nathan and
saw he was too scared to speak. Jem turned back to their captors and glared.
Bill and Hank just grinned. “No problem, we’ll jest take ya back
to our camp, where, if ya behave yoreselves, we could teach ya to shoot the
wildlife, gain money, and break the law. All without gettin’ caught.”
Jem’s face grew hot. “I’m not ever gonna break the law. It’s
wrong. Anyway, my father is a sheriff, and the last thing I want to do is get
in trouble with him.” As soon as he said that, Jem regretted it.
“Oh, the sheriff’s son? Even better!” Bill gave a sneering laugh.
His voice hardened. “Git movin’, you two.” The two criminals pushed and shoved
the boys through the forest.
Nearing a stream, a loud, commanding voice yelled. “Surrender or
be shot!”
Jem glanced up. Six horsemen came riding up. One of them was the
sheriff.
“FATHER!” Jem yelled. Hank and Bill let go of the boys, dropped
their weapons, and put shaking hands in the air.
Nathan and Jem ran over to Father, who sat tall on his horse.
“Boys, what happened?” They quickly recounted how they had gotten caught.
“All right. Now go home.”
Jem opened his mouth in protest.
“Go. Now,” Father said severely. The boys tromped sadly back to
where Copper stood patiently waiting.
“Gosh, Nathan. I should’ve listened to you and let you drag me
away as soon as we saw those men.”
“Yes,” Nathan replied with mock self-importance. You should listen
to me next time, Cousin.”
Chapter 5
After dinner that night, Father sat the family down and told them
what happened in the forest. “Our prisoners, Hank and Bill, led us to their
camp. There were twenty other men in the gang. They’ve been wanted all through
the country for thefts and poaching.”
Father turned to the boys. “You two should let ME do MY job as
sheriff and stop trying to save the day ahead of me.”
Jem hung his head. “I know. It’s hard to let you go into danger by
yourself, though.”
“I’m glad to hear that, son, but try to trust me next time,
okay? Ultimately, trust God. Give Him your worries.”
“Okay, Father, I’ll try.” Father and son smiled at each
other.
****
Jem sat with Trustful, the fawn, and thought about what Father had
said. “Trust me,” Father had said. And, “trust God.” Maybe it was God who
told me to name this fawn Trustful. He wanted me to learn a lesson on trusting
Him and Father. “Help me, God, to always trust You, no matter what.”
Jem grinned. He felt better, knowing God could work things out
perfectly, while he, Jem, could just sit back and wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Encourage these young authors!