Epidemic!

By,
Janelle M.
2013 contest entry

        

“The deadly epidemic of small pox has finally reached the city of San Francisco, despite all precautions. With 40 people dead in just two days, this could be one of the worst epidemics California has ever seen!”

 “I’m sure glad that I don’t have any family there,” Cory commented after I had finished reading the Expositor. We were sitting on the back of our wagon, sipping cool lemonade.

   “Well I do!” I exclaimed. “But aunt Rebekah, Kate and the kids are coming out this afternoon so; I’m not too worried about them I just hope that it doesn’t come here.”

“Let’s talk about something happier” Cory said. “I…..I  have something to ask you.”

“Sure.”

“Would you….” Cory cleared his throat and started over “I would be honored if you would court me.’’

I nearly choked on my lemonade “WHAT?” It wasn’t that I didn’t want Cory to court me. It was just it was so unexpected!

“Well you are 17 years old….” Cory’s face turned bright red. “Besides your Mother and brother both agreed.”

I started over. “Cory, it’s not that I don’t want to court you…. I have to think about it,” I finished lamely.

Before Cory could answer me Chad and, Mitch came around the corner. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later Andi,” Cory said jumping off the wagon. “Think about what I said.”

I nodded. “Sure Cory.”

Mitch looked at me strangely and, was about ready to say something. Suddenly he smiled and, winked at me.

“What was that all about?” Chad asked.

“Cory was just asking Andi if……”

I interrupted him. “I wanted to go riding sometime,” I said lamely

“Oh,” Chad grunted.

            ===============================================

“They should be here by now!” I stated impatiently, getting up from the bench Justin and I were sitting on and glanced down the empty tracks. 

Justin looked at his watch. “Andi, they’re only 5 minutes late.”

“But what if something happened to them?”

“I’m sure nothing has happened to them,” Justin reassured me.  “Everything is going to be fine.”

  I sat back down trying to convince myself it’s going to be fine. I thought over and over again, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

After a few minutes I heard the faint but shrill train whistle and a black cloud of smoke smudged the bright blue sky.

       ===================================================

“Hi, Andi!” Betsy exclaimed once she had gotten off the train and gave me a big bear hug.

“Howdy Betsy.” I smiled down at my niece. Levi and Hannah were getting of the train.

“Levi, how are you?” Justin asked as they came over to us.

“Fine, Uncle Justin.”

“And Hannah,” Justin continued, “I hardly recognize you, you’re getting so big” he said tweaking her braid.

I glanced around. “Where are aunt Rebekah and Kate?’’

Levi shuffled his feet and stared intently down at the ground. “They didn’t come,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean? Didn’t come?” Justin’s voice was strained.

“Aunt Rebekah decided at the last minute that she wasn’t going and, nothing we could say would change her mind.”  Levi licked his lips and continued.  “So mama sent us children alone.”

  My mind was reeling with what I had just heard. “So they’re not coming at all?’’ My voice came out in a squeak.

Levi shook his head.

“Mama said you’d better not come because you might get sick,” Betsy said her eyes full of tears.

“Well,” Justin said. “Let’s take you home.’’

=========================================================

I snuggled up in one of our big arm chairs late that night.

“I can go to San Francisco and try and convince aunt Rebekah to come back with me,” Justin told mother.

“What I want to know is why in blazes did aunt Rebekah get it into her head to stay. Doesn’t she know that she could get herself and Kate killed?” Chad’s voice grew louder as he talked.

“Dear God,” I prayed silently, “please, please keep Kate and aunt Rebekah safe.”

“Chad, lower you voice. There are children in the house!” mother said sternly. “And Justin, I’d advise you not to go since it’s obvious that she has made up her mind, and it’s not like we can force her to come.”

  ============================================================

I gazed over the flowing meadow decorated with millions of beautiful flowers.  Flopping down into the soft grass I thought of all the changes that had taken place in the past two week. It had been exactly a week since Justin had brought news that the school board had closed. And now since lots of our workers had left, Justin, Chad and, Mitch had double the work they normally have, even with Levi and, Rosa’s younger brother Joselito helping. I had begged mother to let me help the boys but, she had firmly said it was not proper or ladylike! Now, finally I had time to think about an answer for Cory.

Taffy whinnied. I glanced up. Levi was galloping towards me. He slid to a stop. “Thank God I found you,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

“Levi, what’s wrong?”

“It’s grandma, Andi. She collapsed!”

  Everyone was on the front porch when Levi and I rode up to the house. I slid to a frantic stop. Mitch came towards us.

“Is mother alright, Mitch?” I whispered. Mitch looked pale. “She’s not…….” I cleared my throat and started over. “She’s not dead, is she?”

“No, she’s no dead, thank God!” Mitch said. “But she is very sick, Dr. Weaver’s with her now.”

“What happened?” I asked, coming up the steps and sitting down beside Melinda and Betsy on the swing.

“She was weeding the flower beds when she suddenly collapsed,” Melinda told me, hugging Betsy closer.

“Mitch, Justin and Chad were out on the range when it happened, so Levi and I dragged mother over to the bunkhouse because it was the closest building around. I sent Joselito to look for the boys, and Levi to look for you.”

“Dr. Weaver had come by just as we got her into the bunkhouse,” Levi said. 

“He said that he had this nagging feeling that he should ride out to us.”

“Thank God!” Chad said. He looked exhausted.

After a while Dr. Weaver came out of the bunk house, looking sober.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this but Elizabeth has the small pox. I’m going to have to put you all in Quarantine.”

“No!” I cried, brushing past Justin and ran for the barn.

=========================================================

  “Andi” Justin softly called.

“Go away!” I mumbled. Justin’s head appeared at the top of the ladder. He came and sat down beside me, where I lay face down in the prickly hay. I sniffed and sat up. “Justin, I can’t lose another parent!” I sobbed and flung myself into his arms.

“It’s ok, Andi.” Justin whispered, stroking my hair. “We’re going to get through this.”

==================================================================

   It had been 5 long, stressful days since mother came down with the small pox. Rosa and I were scrubbing the front hall.

Our entire house had to be fumigated and no one was allowed to see mother except for Justin who had had it before (a long time ago). At least we could see her through the window. And now Hannah had come down with it too!

“Are you ok, Andi?” Rosa asked, startling me out of my thoughts.

“I’m fine…..I guess,”

Chad opened the door and started to walk across the clean, sparkling wet floor.

Well that did it! “Chad!” I snapped. ”Watch were you’re going. I just moped there and now I have to do it all over again!”

“Whoa, sis, you don’t have to be so fiery mad about it.”

“Well, you haven’t been cleaning floors all day!” I shot back.

Rosa looked worried and slipped out of the room.

“Andi! Calm down!” Chad looked really annoyed now. “It’s only a floor.”

 “NO, it’s not!”

 “What in the world is going on here?” Melinda demanded, hands on her hips. “Mother is sick, maybe dying, and you’re here arguing about a lousy floor!”

I felt ashamed. “I’m sorry, Chad. I shouldn’t have flown off the handle like that. You’re right. It is just a floor.”

Chad cracked a smile. “It’s nothing, sis, it’s partly my fault.”

I smiled back at him. “Well, I’d better get back to moping,” I said dismally, looking at the long hallway.

“Good luck! And I’d better get back to ranching!”

============================================================

 “I’m finally finished!” I exclaimed, looking at the now-clean stalls.

 “Andi.” Chad’s voice drifted from the corral, where he was saddling up his horse. “Come here a second!”

I rolled my eyes. Now what did he want? “Coming!” I called.

“Saddle up your horse, sis!” Chad said once I had gotten to the corral.

“Whatever for?”

“I thought you wanted to help us.” Chad winked.

“Are you serious? What about mother? I thought she said I couldn’t.”

“We’re swamped, and even mother would agree that we could use the help.”

My eyes lit up. “I’ll be right back,” I called over my shoulder.

When I got back, Chad had taffy saddled up and ready to go.

“Come on, sis, let’s go. We’re burning daylight!”

=============================================================

“What do you mean he isn’t here? Why, Chad left an hour ago!” Mitch asked Melinda that night. Mitch and I had just rode in from fixing the fence. 

Where could Chad be? I wondered.

  “Like I said, he never showed up. I thought he was with you.” Melinda’s voice sounded scared.

I gazed out into the dusky hills. “Wait! Look, there’s a wagon coming,” I called. “Maybe it’s Chad.”

“That’s not Chad,” Mitch informed me. “For one, whoever is driving it is much too small to be Chad, and second, Chad wasn’t driving a wagon.”

“Well, then, who is it?” I asked. I looked harder at the person in the wagon. 

No, it couldn’t be, it was! “That’s Jack!” I cried.

Mitch scoffed. “Jack Goodwin? What would he be doing out here?”

“I don’t know, but that’s Jack,” I said confidently as the wagon pulled up to the barn. Chad’s horse Sky was tied behind it.

I ran over to the side of the wagon.

“STOP, Andi!” Jack called.

“Why?” I glanced down into the wagon box. “Oh, no!” I gasped. Chad lay there still as death. Red dots covered his arms. I heard Melinda gasp.

Mitch rushed over to the wagon, took one look at Chad, and said to me in a terrible voice. “Go get Justin! And be quick about it!”

  “And Jack, you’d better get away from Chad or you might get small pox too!”

“Don’t worry, I already had it,” Jack said quietly.

  “Justin!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, rushing into the house.

Levi, Rosa, and, Justin came running.

“Andi what’s wrong?” Justin asked.

“It’s Chad.” I managed. “He’s got the small pox!” Justin bolted out the door, Levi and, I on his heels. I forgot my sore feet, my aching back, and my growling stomach. Dear God please, please don’t let Chad die!

“Tell me exactly what happened,” I asked Jack a few days later. We were sitting on the front porch waiting for Dr. Weaver to finish his check up on mother, Hannah, and now Chad. We had tried to reach Kate but there had been no reply…..yet.

“I was out getting wood when I saw your brother slumped on the ground, his horse grazing nearby.” Jack told me. “So I put him in the wagon and brought him straight here.’’

I was silent for a while. “Jack” I finally asked. “When had you gotten small pox?”

Jack was quiet for a long time; I almost thought he wasn’t going to answer me. When he did, I had to strain my ears to hear what he was saying. “I had it a long time ago …… both my mama and I. She didn’t make it but I did.”

I had never known this about Jack. “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

Jack shrugged it off. “It was a long time ago.”

“Jack,” I said after a while. “I haven’t had the gumption to ask Dr. Weaver this but who…… who died in town?” My last words were barely audible.

Jack looked at me for a little bit. “Well,” he said. “Last time I heard Virginia’s sister Grace and her baby, Mrs. Harris, one of Sheriff Tate’s girls, and . . .” Jack hesitated. “A bunch more,” he finished lamely.

“Jack.” I looked at him. “You’re not telling me something.”

Jack swallowed and looked away. “Andi there’s someone else.” Jack paused and looked at me. “The other person who died is . . . is Cory.”

Tears sprung to my eyes. No it couldn’t be. Not Cory!

“Excuse me.’’ I brushed passed Jack. All I wanted now was to be alone.

============================================================

 “Shhh, Taffy” I whispered. “We can’t let anyone hear us.” I slipped the bridle on her. I winced as the stall door creaked open. The full moon was casting a pale yellow light. I jumped onto taffy’s back. “Come on girl, let’s go….. I have to see if Cory is really dead!”

I slowed taffy down to a walk when I reached Cory’s house on the edge of town. In the pale moonlight I could clearly see the awful, scrawled X on their front door. The sign that there had been a death in the house.

So, Jack was right. Tears streamed down my face. Cory, my best friend, was gone! 

And I hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye.

============================================================

“Aunt Andi, come quick!” Betsy called as I cantered into the ranch a few days later. I jumped off of taffy. “What’s wrong, Betsy?”

“Just come see!’’ Betsy pulled my hand.

I quickly tied taffy to the hitching post. My heart skipped a beat. What could be the matter?

“Mother!” I cried as we came around the corner of the barn.

Mother was sitting in a lawn chair on the front porch.

“Andrea!” mother smiled as I gave her a big hug.

“Oh, mother, I thought I was going to lose you.” I wiped a tear from my eye.

“Did you hear?” Betsy said, jumping up and down.

“Hear what?” I asked.

“Dr. Weaver was by and he said that Hannah is getting better!” Betsy exclaimed.

“That’s wonderful! But . . .” My face clouded up. “What about Chad?”

“Chad’s strong. He will make it….. I know it,” Mother said trying to convince herself.

“My goodness, Andi, you’re a sight!” Melinda scolded, changing  the subject.

I looked down at my dusty worn overalls; dust covered my face and hands. I blew a wisp of stray hair out of my face. Mother raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

“I’m sorry, mother” I blurted out. “I know you didn’t want me to help, but there weren’t enough workers to go around.”

“Well, Andrea,” mother said at last. “Just be sure to change your clothes before supper.”

“You mean I can still help them?” I asked and for a few moments forgot about Cory.

“Of course that’s what I meant, Andrea. We can’t let the Circle C get run down, now can we?”

I smiled at mother. “Well, I’d better get the stuff I came for and head on back to the boys.”

“You might want to consider taking a bath too before supper.” Melinda stated drily, wrinkling her nose. Betsy giggled.

“That’s just hard work, sister!” I grinned. “You’re welcome to join me!”

====================================================

      “Hey, Andi,” Rachel Davis, an old friend from school, called to me from across the street two weeks later.

I managed a smile. Chad had recovered quite nicely, but he was still very week. We had gotten word from aunt Rebekah and Kate. Both were fine and dandy. Thank God.

Now if Cory was still alive, everything would be perfect. I hadn’t even cried much except for the first night. I suppose I was still in shock.

I walked over to the school, where Justin was having a school board meeting. 

I looked at the deserted yard. Memories of Cory came rushing in. Cory giving me a snake every year. Cory standing up for me in front of Mr. Foster. Cory helping me with……..”

“Howdy, Andi” a familiar voice said. I turned around and there stood a very alive Cory.

“Cory!” I gasped. I pinched myself. “But,” I stuttered, “You’re dead!”

“What?” Cory asked incredulously. “Where did you ever hear a story like that?”

I quickly explained it to him. “But there’s still one thing I don’t understand,” I said. “There was a Quarantine sign on you door.”

“Both my little sister Amanda and I had the small pox.” Cory said quietly.

“I’m so sorry, Cory.” I came over to him.

“So,” Cory and I both said at the same time.

“You first,” Cory said.

“Well, I was just going to say that when I thought you had died, I felt...”  I groped for a word to use. “Empty, I guess you could say. Cory, I accept your courtship.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure, I’m sure!”

“Yes!” Cory let out a whoop. He picked me up and swung me around.

“Cory!” I blushed. “Don’t do that in front of everyone!”

“Why not? I want the whole world to know about us!” Cory’s face got serious. “Andi, I love you,” Cory whispered.

“I love you too.” My eyes sparkled with unshed tears.

Cory’s head bent down and he gave me a sweet, gentle kiss.

“I’m so happy I could just yell!” I declared.

“Tell you what.” Cory eyes lit up, and he got a mischievous grin on his face. “Tomorrow morning, meet me by our old spot and we’ll have ourselves a race!”

“You’ve got yourself a deal! But,” I warned. “Just because we’re courting doesn’t mean that I’m going to go easy on you!”

“I would expect nothing less from a Carter,” Cory said.

I sent up a silent prayer of thanks to my heavenly Father.

Now, it really was a perfect day!

The end