Chapter 9
The clinic smelled reassuringly of alcohol and herbs.
As Bonnie sat at a table, rolling bandages torn from old bedsheets, she wondered if the others did this often.
They seemed to be so skilled at it. Emily’s rolled-up bandages looked as though she had cut each strip from the sheet independently after being carefully measured.
The rolled bandages were all identical. Anita’s were different thicknesses, but she worked so quickly, deftly rolling each strip up with practiced fingers, that it looked as though she did nothing else with her time but practice.
“You look worried,” Emily said, putting a consolatory hand on one of Bonnie’s.
“Aren’t you?” Bonnie asked. There was no way she was the only one who was almost out of her mind with concern. The men had left long before dawn, and it was heading to midmorning now. Surely they should be on their way back home.
Emily shrugged. “Yes, I am, but I’ve learned that the men in this town have God’s hand on them when it comes to getting out of scrapes alive.
They have come up against El Aguila before and always come out on top.
” She smiled. “Anyway, it’s still early.
They said they should be back only around lunchtime. That’s still hours away.”
Bonnie considered this. She guessed it was true.
There was no saying that it would be smooth sailing all the way.
Perhaps there were a couple of hold-ups, a few things that didn’t go precisely to plan.
Maybe El Aguila had more guards on patrol than they had bargained on.
There was no way of knowing, and it was driving Bonnie crazy.
“Kevin says they may take El Aguila to San Antonio to the sheriff’s station there,” Anita said, calmly. “He said they don’t have the means to keep the bandit leader here. If they do, then they won’t be back until this afternoon or even this evening.
“You’re right. Taking him to San Antonio would be a better idea, but it would take longer.
We don’t have the facilities here for long-term incarceration,” Julie said as she mixed herbs into a medicine.
“It would be too easy for El Aguila’s men to ride into Unity and try to take him back.
We can’t have that. Once he’s caught, he must stay in jail.
It’s the only way we’ll be free and finally safe. ”
The bell over the door of the clinic jingled loudly, and two people came in.
“Hi, how are you ladies holding up?” Grace asked. She had a basket slung over her arm, and the smell of cinnamon filled the air.
“We thought you could do with some refreshment,” Hector said, brandishing two flasks. “We brought tea for Julie and coffee for everyone else.”
“You’re too kind,” Emily said, smiling. “I think having something to eat would be a wonderful idea. I’m famished.”
“Me too,” Anita said, rolling a bandage with smooth efficiency.
Grace and Hector pulled up chairs, and they sat at the table and handed out the cinnamon buns and drinks.
Bonnie was grateful, but she couldn’t manage more than a couple of sips of the coffee and a bite of the bun before she felt too sick to her stomach to eat.
It was all so much to deal with. She had never had to sit and wait with her heart beating frantically in her throat to find out if her husband was coming home again.
It was not a pleasant feeling, and she didn’t know how to deal with it.
The door jangled again, and this time Joel came in. He was smiling as always.
“Oh, Joel,” Hector said brightly. “Come on in. Are you here to help with rolling the bandages?”
“I was just wondering where everyone was,” Joel said. “I went to speak to Andrew and found out that he and Michael and a whole lot of other folks are all not here.”
“They had a job to do,” Julie said. “They should be back soon. Would you like us to tell them that you came by?” She had a bit of a stiff manner with him. Bonnie wondered if it was because he was new to town, but then, so was she, and Julie was never like that with her.
“Oh, it’s not that important,” Joel said. He looked at the table with all its preparations on it. “Where did they go? It looks like you’re preparing in case they went to war.”
“They might have,” Emily said with great fear in her voice.
“They’re most likely perfectly fine; this is just a precaution,” Julie said.
A strange rumbling sound, like a series of far-off booms, filled the air. Bonnie’s heart stopped. There could be no reason for such noises except what Jeff and the others were up to. Not in her mind, at least.
Shooting out of her seat, she knocked her coffee over, making everyone grab the things on the table.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” she cried as they scrambled to grab the bandages and medicine.
“What was that?” Anita asked, looking around.
“It sounded like the sound you hear when men are blasting to make a railway tunnel through rock,” Joel said. “Is there a tunnel coming through here somewhere?”
“No,” Emily said, looking worried now.
Suddenly, everyone was grabbing the things off the table and shoving them into baskets and bags, moving with practiced urgency.
“We’d better hurry. We need the … Oh, the cart is broken.” Julie said as though she had just remembered.
“I have a cart right outside,” Joel said, looking a little surprised that she didn’t think of it right away.
“Hold on now,” Anita said. “Do we know where they were going?”
“Yes,” Emily said, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket. “Michael always gives me a map to where they’re headed if he knows. Just in case.”
“Well, we better get going,” Hector said. “If they’re in trouble, they will need all the help we can bring.”
They finished gathering everything that Julie thought they might need and headed out the door.
Uncle Leo and Felix came rushing up to the clinic, along with a knot of other people from the town.
“Any idea what that was?” Uncle Leo asked. “Was it Jeff and the others?”
“We have no way of knowing,” Julie said. “But we’re going to head out that way and see if folks need help. It’s the least we can do in this isolated area.”
“Of course. Is there anything we can do?” Uncle Leo asked.
“Just keep your eyes open and your guns close,” Julie said as Joel helped her into the cart with her bag. “This may be nothing, or it may be an elaborate means of making our town weak with so many people out of town.”
Uncle Leo nodded. “Be safe, Peanut.”
“You too,” Bonnie said.
Without further delay, they piled into Joel’s cart and set off, following Emily’s map. Bonnie sat up front with Joel and helped him to navigate.
“It’s a good thing you decided to hang around,” she said. “You seemed so determined to drop us off and leave straight away when we met.”
Joel chuckled and nodded. “I know. But on the road, you never know when you’ll meet folks who are just your kind of people. I think you folks might be mine.”
Bonnie smiled. “Well, since the more the merrier seems to be the town’s motto, I don’t think you’ll have a problem fitting in.”
“Nice of you to say,” he said.
Being too nervous and worried to manage conversation, Bonnie spent her time navigating and not saying much else. But Joel was a chatterer. He didn’t seem at all worried. He talked the whole way, and Bonnie was certain she would never really be able to recall any of it.
The map was easy to follow and was made even easier by the large column of smoke that rose into the bright blue sky. It flattened out and began to stretch to the west like a giant billowing snake.
Soon they found themselves in a valley where things were burning. They looked like the remnants of tents, and the grass around them was blackened to a crisp. It took a couple of moments to find the men.
They looked dazed and confused. Some were trying to stem blood that flowed from wounds, while others were trying to stop the fire from spreading as it rippled through the grass.
Joel stopped the cart as close to the knot of injured men as he dared to get, and Julie, Emily, and Anita got out and set to work on the men.
Grace, Hector, and Joel all ran to help put out the fire.
Bonnie could only think of one thing. Where was Jeff? Was he injured? Was he dead?
Dear God, please let him be okay!
“Bonnie?”
She turned and saw her husband. He was walking toward her, covered in dirt and blood. He looked terrible, but she didn’t care at all about that. Running over, she threw her arms around him and held him tight.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re alive,” she said, speaking into his chest. “I couldn’t bear it if you died.”
“Well, I’m okay.” His voice rumbled against her ear. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re yelling,” Bonnie said.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re yelling!” Bonnie yelled back.
“There was an explosion, and my ears are ringing!” Jeff shouted.
Bonnie frowned in concern. “Come see Julie. She should check you over.”
“Later!” Jeff yelled. “We have to help put out the fire. If it gets out of hand, it could rage on for days.”
Hand in hand, he and Bonnie ran to where folks were frantically trying to put out the fire. This was arid land, in need of a good rain. The grass was burning merrily.
With no water on hand, the most they could do was try to stamp the fire out with their boots. Joel had a couple of shovels and some empty sacks in the back of the cart, which proved useful.
Bonnie took a sack, and Jeff took a shovel. He dug up dirt to smother the fire, and she beat it out with the sack.
It took so long to put the fire out that by the time it was nothing but a couple of lingering wisps of smoke, Bonnie was exhausted.
She and Jeff lay on a patch of unburned grass and stared up at the sky. It was hot, but Bonnie couldn’t bear to move now. She was bone weary.
“What happened?” she asked. “Where are the bandits?”
“There weren’t any,” Jeff said, still speaking loudly, but not as loudly as before. Bonnie guessed that his ears were starting to feel better, and his hearing was returning to normal.
“Hold on,” she said. “What do you mean, there weren’t any?”
Jeff shrugged. “The camp was empty.”
“Then how did you get hurt?” Bonnie asked.