The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,209

too cold for fish to be moving this early.”

Eulis nodded. “Probably. Have we got any flour left?”

“A little,” Letty said.

“Then I’ll make us some flapjacks. Soon as we eat, I reckon we’d better hitch up the team and make a trip down for supplies.”

“And maybe see about wintering in town.”

“Yeah. Maybe, although I reckon we might have left that a little too late.”

Letty frowned. That was the story of her life. Too late and a dollar short.

“And maybe not,” she said. “Won’t know until we try.”

No Room In The Inn

Letty and Eulis began the trip into town just as the first flakes of snow began to fall. They looked nervously at the sky, then at each other before Eulis clucked to Rosy and Blackie to hurry them along.

“Don’t worry, Letty. This don’t mean winter has set in. It’s just a few flakes of snow. I doubt it will last long.”

“Right.”

“Just in case, we’ll go ahead and get a good bait of winter supplies, but I don’t think this is gonna amount to much.”

She didn’t doubt his prediction, but she was concerned about the future.

“Eulis… exactly where are we gonna spend the winter?”

“Oh, we’ll get us some rooms in town. Lay out pannin’ for the winter and get fat and sassy.”

She tried to laugh, but fear of the unknown didn’t let it get past a smile. She didn’t want to put a damper on the plan by reminding him of his earlier prediction that there might not be rooms to be had. She decided to wait until misfortune fell before she started to bemoan the fact that if they couldn’t find a room they might not live to see another Spring. But something odd began to happen as they drew closer to town. As frightening and uncertain as their future was, for the first time in her life, Letty felt like she was truly alive.

Suddenly, Eulis pointed up in the trees to their right.

“Look at that! Ain’t he a fine one!”

A twelve-point buck was looking down at them from a jut of rock off the ridge. The majesty of the animal in its natural habitat was stunning, but Letty was too practical to ignore the opportunity that had just been presented. Reality raised its ugly head as she reached for the rifle. As if sensing imminent danger, the buck leaped from the rock and into the trees. Seconds later, it was gone.

“Dang,” Letty said. “That buck would have been good eating.”

Eulis nodded. “Still… it was a beaut. Sorta glad it got away, you know?”

Letty shrugged. “It didn’t really get away. As long as it stays around here, it’s only a matter of time before someone shoots it. Might as well have been me.”

Eulis eyed Letty critically.

Letty saw the look and frowned. “What?”

“I don’t know… just thinkin’.”

“About what?” Letty asked.

“’Bout how much you’ve changed.”

Suddenly, Letty felt threatened, which was an odd emotion to be feeling around Eulis.

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “You know… before when we were at Lizard Flats, your emotions and all… well, they were hard… you were hard.”

“And now?” she asked. “What about now?”

“Well, we got things tougher now than we ever had ’em, and I reckon that would make anyone, man or woman, tough and hard. Only you ain’t that way anymore.”

Letty turned around and stared, not believing what she was hearing.

“Are you calling me a sissy?”

Eulis’s eyes widened, then he started to grin. Wisps of Letty’s hair had come undone from her braid and the hat she was wearing had one of the widest brims he’d ever seen. There was a scrape on her chin and her fingernails were broken and dirty and she thought he’d just called her a sissy. He laughed.

“Not hardly, Missy.”

Letty frowned. “You’re laughing at me.”

“Well, lordy, Leticia, you are the touchiest woman I ever knew. I wasn’t callin’ you no sissy, and I wasn’t talkin’ mean about you. I was tryin’ to pay you a compliment.”

“Then you better keep talking, ’cause I haven’t heard one yet.”

“What I was tryin’ to say was that no matter how tough we’ve had it, you just keep gettin’ stronger. You ain’t hard-hearted anymore, Sister Leticia. You’re strong, and one might even say you got tough, but tough is good. It means life can’t beat you down anymore.”

Letty didn’t know what to think. She’d been too busy trying to stay alive to think about the past. She sat there for a few moments, then looked at him and grinned.

“That was the compliment, wasn’t it?”

Eulis nodded. “That was