Lou McCloud sighed wearily as she topped the last
ridge and saw the Sweetwater Pony Express station in front of her.
The ride from Horse Creek had pushed the young woman to the limit of her
strength but, given a choice between pretending to be a boy among the men
she had seen at the station and being herself among the friends she had here
in Sweetwater, she’d decided to continue riding.
Besides, on this day, more than any other, she wanted to be with people she cared about-and who cared about her. Today was a very special day. Today Lou McCloud turned seventeen.
The rider was all the way into the yard and almost to the barn before the oddness about the station finally penetrated her tired brain. There were no lights anywhere in view. It was late, but not so late that one of the boys or Emma wouldn’t be up.
No one even came out when she rode in-another odd note. Both Buck and Ike must be out, she decided. There was no way both of the boys would have ignored a rider coming in. So attuned were they to the sound of a horse, even if they had been asleep, they would have immediately awakened and been out to greet her.
For a brief moment Lou experienced disappointment. She hadn’t really expected the boys and Teaspoon to remember her birthday but Emma should have at least. After all, the two women had been talking about the event just before she left on her run.
Of course, no one knew she had made the decision to ride through to Sweetwater that night. Sighing again, Lou dismounted and led her horse into the barn.
Trudging across to the bunkhouse several minutes later, Lou was even more confused than she had been when she first rode in. When no one had greeted her, she had assumed that the boys were away from the station, but all their horses were in the stables. That in itself didn’t mean a whole lot, the station had other horses, but the odds that none of the boys would have taken their favorite mount were pretty long.
As her hand reached for the doorknob, she thought she heard a sound coming from inside. Hesitating, Lou listened carefully, but heard nothing more. Resolutely she pushed the door open.
“SURPRISE!”
Lou almost jumped out of her skin as seven voices screamed at the top of their lungs. Matches flashed in the darkness as lamps were lit. Waiting for her pounding heart to return to it’s normal beat, the girl looked around to see Teaspoon, Emma, the boys and even Sam Cain standing around the room, each grinning from ear to ear and wearing the most ridiculous paper hats she had ever seen.
“Took you long enough to get in from the barn!” Cody reprimanded.
“Oh hush, Cody!” Emma said firmly. Stepping forward, she took Lou by the hand and pulled her farther into the room. “Happy Birthday, Lou,” she added cheerfully.
What’s wrong? Ike signed, his grin replaced with a look of concern.
“Nothing, Ike,” Lou finally managed to verbalize. “I’m just surprised that’s all.”
“You didn’t really think we’d forget your birthday?” Kid asked in amazement. “Especially not after your remembering all of ours?”
“I guess I didn’t know what to think,” Lou admitted. “I wasn’t sure . . . well I just wasn’t sure.”
“You should know better than that, Lou!” Jimmy told her. “Emma wouldn’t have let us forget-even if we hadn’t remembered on our own!”
“So come on, Birthday Boy,” Teaspoon added. “There seems to be a big ol’ pile of packages with your name on ‘em over here.”
“Packages?” Lou murmured. Looking at the table, she saw there was indeed a large pile of gaily wrapped parcels-and behind them a huge cake with candles all over it.
Looking at Emma, who grinned back, Lou took the hat Ike offered her and, placing it firmly on her head, moved to the table.
“Open the red one first,” Cody suggested. “It’s from me!”
Hefting the rectangular package, Lou shook it gently as if trying to divine its contents. Then, very carefully, she began to peel back the wrapping paper.
“Come on, Lou!” Kid urged. “Just rip it open!”
“No,” Lou argued. “This don’t happen every day-I’m going to enjoy it while I can.”
Finally she revealed a pair of dime novels. “Thank you, Cody,” she said sincerely. “I’ve been wanting something to read.”
“I knew you’d like those,” Cody crowed. “They’re brand new. Tompkins just got them in yesterday.”
Ignoring the impatience of the others-and Teaspoon’s curious stares, Lou took her own sweet time opening each of the other presents, ooh’ing and ah’ing over the contents and thanking each giver in turn.
“Well, I want to thank each and every one of you!” she exclaimed as she opened the last of the gifts. “You don’t know how much this means to me!”
“It would mean a lot more if you’d get to the cake,” Cody whined. “I’ve been waiting since supper and I’m starving!”
“We can’t have that!” Lou said with a laugh. She waited patiently while Teaspoon and Sam lit the candles on the cake.
“Hurry up and make a wish!” Jimmy urged. “Before the fire burns down the bunkhouse.”
Slapping at the other rider playfully, Lou inhaled and blew with all her might. The others cheered as the last candle went out.
“What did you wish for?” Cody asked.
“If she tells you it won’t come true,” Sam said before Lou could answer.
Lou couldn’t remember when she’d been this happy. It had been a very long time, she was sure of that. Smiling softly, she watched as Cody showed the books he’d bought to Ike, expounding all the while on how wonderful the writer was and how he’d captured the essence of the “Wild West.”
Jimmy and Kid were examining the bridle Ike and Buck had made for her. They were fingering the leather straps enviously and she could hear them murmuring that they would have to ask the other riders to make them one as well.
Teaspoon had gone to bed a bit earlier, leaving the partying to the “younger folks who don’t need as much sleep.” Emma and Sam had left not long after since Sam had to ride back to town yet.
Looking around, Lou realized Buck was missing. Carefully avoiding drawing attention to herself, the girl stepped out onto the porch and looked around. After the relative brightness of inside the bunkhouse it took several minutes for her eyes to adjust to the darkness outside.
Finally she saw a shadowy silhouette leaning on the corral fence. Making no attempt to conceal her approach, Lou walked carefully across the ground to stand behind the man.
“Buck?” she said quietly.
“Yeah?” he responded in the same tone.
“What’re you doing out here?”
“I was kinda hoping you’d come out.”
“Oh?”
“I have something more to give you and I didn’t want to do it in front of the others,” Buck said shyly. Reaching into his jacket, he removed two small gifts, each wrapped in plain brown paper. “They aren’t anything fancy.”
“The wrapping doesn’t matter,” Lou assured him. “It’s the thought that counts. But why didn’t you give them to me inside?”
“This one is from Jeremiah and Theresa and I didn’t know how you’d react or whether you wanted Teaspoon to know,” he explained.
The girl looked at him curiously. “When did you see them?” she asked.
“Teaspoon sent me on a run to St. Joe last month, remember?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded. “Are they doing all right?”
“I just stopped by,” he replied awkwardly. “They’re fine and they were real excited because they figured I could bring this to you. But I had to keep it quiet because they didn’t want you to know about the present.”
She gazed at him for a minute, then nodded her acceptance. Taking the gift, she pulled off the wrapping.
“I wish they could have given it to you in person,” Buck said quietly when she paused to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“I know,” Lou replied. “This is almost as good.”
“And this one is . . .” the man said offering her another slim rectangular package. “Well it’s from me, just me, and I don’t think Teaspoon would understand my giving it to ‘Lou’. It’s more a ‘Louise’ kind of gift.”
Lou looked up at the quiet man. His face bore a curious mixture of hopeful optimism and fear. With the same care she had given the rest of the packages, Lou opened the final gift. Her eyes widened as she saw it was a leather-covered journal.
“How did you know?” she asked in awe.
“I saw you looking at it when we were in town last week,” the Kiowa replied.
“Oh, Buck, thank you!” Lou gasped as she moved forward to give him a big hug. “That explains why it was gone when I went back on payday. Tompkins wouldn’t tell me who bought it.”
Buck looked over Lou’s head to see Kid standing on the porch. The other man was giving them a strange look. Disentangling himself from the girl he repeated his earlier statement, “It’s not much.”
Lou started to say something to the contrary, but wisely closed her mouth when she followed his gaze to Kid.
“I didn’t think anyone knew how much I’ve been wanting one,” she said simply.
“You stared at it for almost ten minutes last time we were in Tompkins’ place together,” he reminded her.
“I guess I did kinda make it obvious, didn’t I?” Lou said with a grin.
“Yeah, you did,” he agreed.
“Well, you were the only one to notice,” she said firmly. “And that makes it even more special.”
“It isn’t all that much,” he said, repeating his earlier statement.
“It is to me!” she argued.
Buck shrugged. “We better get back inside before Kid gets even more jealous.”
Lou looked at him chagrined. “I’m really sorry about that,” she confessed. “But dang it, if he had been paying half as much attention to me as you do, he’d’ve been the one to buy the diary.”
“And then I’d’ve had to find something else!” Buck countered with a laugh. “I’m just glad you like it.”
Arm in arm the friends walked back to the bunkhouse.
The next morning Lou was helping Buck muck out the stalls in the barn when a thought came to her. “You know, I don’t even know when your birthday is?”
“Don’t have one,” Buck replied.
“What?” she said incredulously. “You telling me you were hatched from an egg? Everyone has a birthday.”
“The Kiowa don’t celebrate birthdays like whites do,” he offered by way of explanation. “I know I was born in the winter but that could be anytime between November and March by the white man’s calendar.”
“Do you know what year?” Lou asked curiously.
“Only that it was the winter of year when a big range fire burned half the prairie in the summer,” he said. “The sisters at the mission tried to figure it out one time and decided it was 1843.”
“So you were born sometime between January and March of 1843?” Lou mused.
“Could be,” Buck said with a shrug. “Like I said the Kiowa don’t use calendars like you do. They go by seasons not years. Summer of the fire could be before I was born or after, it’s hard to say. I could have been born in November or December of 1842 or maybe not till 1843.”
“So how do you know how old you are?” Lou asked.
“I don’t for sure,” the man admitted. “I don’t figure it really makes all that much difference if I’m seventeen or eighteen. I don’t really care and no one else seems to either. Doesn’t really matter.”
“Sure it does!” the girl said emphatically. “Everyone needs to have a special day they can call their own.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because . . . “ she paused trying to come up with a good reason. “Just because, that’s why!”
Buck left later that day on a run but Lou wasn’t ready to give up. The more he denied his need for a birthday, the more determined she became to give him one.
“If he doesn’t care, what does it matter?” Jimmy asked when she told him what she had planned.
“It does matter,” she argued. “I can see it in his eyes.”
“So how do you intend to figure out the day?” Cody asked. “It’s not like there’s a birth record in a bible somewhere or something.”
“I don’t really know,” Lou admitted. “He said it was in the winter of the year when they had a big fire on the prairie. The sisters at the mission decided that was the summer of 1843, so that’s a place to start.”
“Yeah,” Kid muttered. “All you gotta do is find someone who was alive and in the Kiowa camp in 1843.”
“That’s an idea!” Lou agreed. “I wonder if Red Bear would be willing to help me.”
“NO!” three voices yelled as one. Even Ike became animated, signing and shaking his head vehemently.
“You can’t go to Red Bear!” Jimmy said sharply. “We know for a fact that he’s not happy with the white men right now.”
“But this is different,” Lou countered.
“Different how?” Kid asked angrily. “You wouldn’t even get to see Red Bear. Most of his tribe is so worked up, you’d be dead before you set foot in the village.”
Lou considered that statement for a few minutes, the nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right,” she agreed reluctantly. “But there has to be someone who would know something.”
Ike clapped his hands to get her attention. I remember something that might help, he signed. Right after I first met Buck at the mission school, we were out in one of the fields at night.
No one interrupted to ask what two youngsters were doing out at night. Even Cody was paying attention for a change.
We saw a shooting star, Ike continued. And I remember Buck saying how the boys in his tribe used to tease him about being bad luck because right after he was born there was a star in the sky with a long tail that was really bright.
“You mean a comet?” Cody asked excitedly.
“A comet?” Kid questioned.
“Yeah I was just reading about it in one of my novels,” Cody replied. “It’s like a shooting star but it stays visible for a long time.”
The other boys used to say that the shaman told everyone that Buck had angered the sky god and he was going to rain the stars down on them because of him, Ike continued.
“What a rotten thing to tell a kid!” Jimmy said angrily. “Bad enough he got treated like dirt because he’s a half-breed.”
“All right,” Lou said, pulling out the journal Buck had given her and making some notes. “We know he was born in what the Kiowa called winter. Buck says that’s anywhere from November to March. We know there was a fire either the summer before or the summer after that and that the sisters found out the fire was in 1843. And we know that there was a comet in the sky sometime right after he was born.”
“Now all you have to do is find someone who remembers a comet in 1843 and can tell you when it first appeared in the sky.” Kid’s tone reflected his sarcasm. “Sweetwater wasn’t much of a town back then but there might be someone around who could remember all of that.”
Lou eyed Kid reflectively. “No one is making you help me, you know?” she said quietly. The others could see she was trying very hard not to get angry.
“I just don’t see why you’re going to all this trouble for someone who doesn’t even care,” Kid countered.
He cares, Ike declared. He just pretends he doesn’t because no one else has ever cared if something mattered to him.
“Not anymore!” Lou stated firmly. “I care and when I find out, I’m going to give Buck the biggest birthday party he’s ever seen!”
The next few weeks passed quickly as Lou spent every spare moment doing “research.” She questioned everyone in Sweetwater who was old enough to have remembered 1843 but, as Kid had predicted, no one living there now who was in the territory that year could remember exactly when the comet passed overhead. She was, however, able to narrow the time down to the spring of that year and had it confirmed by a passing trapper that it had been at the end of the winter months.
The pages of her journal were becoming covered with notations-all of which she kept carefully hidden from Buck. “I want it to be a surprise,” the girl told the other riders. “So don’t you say anything to him!”
They had all vowed to keep her secret. If Buck was aware of the whispering that took place when he wasn’t looking, he never let on.
Finally, after much coaxing, Lou managed to get Teaspoon to assign her to a run to St. Joe. She told him it was to see her brother and sister but she had other plans for the trip as well. The newspaper there was reported to have back issues on file that went as far back as the founding of the city.
With a lot of work-and a little luck-Lou was determined to check every issue in the spring of 1843 until she found some reference to the comet.
“And what if you don’t find anything?” Kid asked as she tucked the journal in her bedroll and tied it to the back of her saddle.
“Then I’ll give up and just decide on a date,” Lou declared. “If Buck doesn’t know any differently he can’t say it isn’t right, can he?”
“He can and I’ll just bet he will!” Kid replied.
“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear your eyes are green,” Lou said softly.
“And just what’s that supposed to mean?” Kid demanded.
“Ever since I started trying to figure this out, you’ve been doing nothing but trying to make me stop,” Lou informed him. “I think you’re jealous!”
“I am not!” the other rider swore.
The girl shrugged indifferently. “I don’t care if you are or you aren’t,” she told him. “I am going to do this for Buck because he would do it for me. And that’s more than I can say about you!”
On that note, Lou mounted her horse and rode away.
Standing in front of the St. Joseph Gazette, Lou experienced yet another disappointment. Emblazoned across the large picture window the words “Establish in 1845” were trimmed in gold. That was a full two years after the comet so even if they had copies of the weekly papers back to their inception, they wouldn’t include the information she needed.
The rider paused, considering what to do next. Finally, sighing with resignation, she started back to the station. One thing for certain, she now had some time to visit with Jeremiah and Theresa. Hopefully something would come to her over the next few days to help her in her quest.
“How come you’re here, Louise?” Jeremiah asked.
“To see you two, of course!” Lou answered. “And to thank you in person for my birthday present.” She pulled the small locket out where they could see it.
“You liked it?” Theresa exclaimed.
“I wear it every day,” her sister confirmed.
“So, you gonna stay long?” Jeremiah pressed.
“Only a week,” Lou said sadly. “I have to go back on the next run.”
“Week’s better than nothing,” the boy decided.
“We’re in school during the day you know?” Theresa lamented. “But we can spend the evenings together?”
“Sure we can!” Lou guaranteed. “I have some things I need to do while you’re in school anyway, so I’ll keep myself busy.”
“Like what?” her brother questioned.
“You both know Buck Cross?” Lou asked. As they both nodded she continued. “I found out on my birthday that he doesn’t know when his birthday is.”
“Oh my,” Theresa cried. “That’s not right! Everyone needs a birthday.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” Lou agreed. Briefly she explained her idea about the newspaper and how disappointed she was to find out the Gazette wouldn’t be able to help.
“Why don’t you ask ol’ Doc Benton or Reverend Reeves?” Jeremiah suggested. “They’re as old as the hills and have been here a long time.”
Lou smiled at the boy. “Old as the hills” to him probably meant the men were in their late twenties. But still, it was a place to start. If they couldn’t help her, maybe they would know someone else who would.
“That’s a great idea, Jeremiah!” she exclaimed, watching as her brother puffed up with pride. “I’ll do that first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Ol’ Doc Benton” turned out to be older than Lou had anticipated. Once the rider had explained her situation, the doctor began to reminisce about his coming to St. Joe before there was a St. Joe.
“Now that you mention it,” he intoned. “I do remember an uproar in the spring of ’43. I remember how people got all up in arms about the comet and a lot of the churches were declaring that it was the end of the world. Always thought they were over reacting to the whole thing.”
“Do you happen to remember exactly when the comet was first seen?” Lou asked hopefully.
“Well, as I recall, there was something in the papers back East in March-no February. Some feller named Inky-no it was Encke wrote something about it in the paper. But I don’t think people really started getting upset ‘til sometime in early March. Guess it wasn’t really visible until then.”
The doctor paused thoughtfully, then continued. “You might want to talk to Judge Toole. He fancies himself some kind of expert on the stars-and he settled here in ’40. I didn’t get here until summer ’43 so I don’t know what it was like here.”
“Do you think you could help me get in to see the Judge?” Lou asked. “This is really important to me,” she added when the older man hesitated again.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he decided.
Judge William C. Toole was at least eighty years old. Lou was worried that his memory was gone but was pleased to find that the judge was as sharp as a man half his age.
“Of course I remember the Great March Comet!” the old man said in a high-pitched voice. “It caused quite a stir among the astronomical community.”
“Doctor Benton says that you might be able to tell me the date that you first saw the comet,” Lou offered.
“Of course,” the judge said firmly. “The first sighting was on February 5, 1843.”
“Why was it called the ‘Great March Comet’ when it was first seen in February?” Lou asked.
“Well, young lady, the person who first saw it was using a telescope,” he eyed her carefully. “You do know what a telescope is, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir,” Lou replied. “So the astronomer, Doctor Encke, saw the comet before regular people did?”
“Exactly two weeks earlier,” the judge affirmed. “And even then most people didn’t realize what they were seeing. I remember seeing it for the first time with my naked eye on February 27. I’d bet most folks didn’t really see it until March-probably the seventh or the eighth.”
Lou rose to her feet excitedly. “Thank you so much, Judge Toole,” she said. “The story I was told was that the comet was seen a short time after my friend was born. This works out just right with everything else I’ve heard.”
“If your friend was born before people in general became aware of the comet, the end of February would most likely be the time,” the judge agreed.
That evening Lou told her brother and sister what she had discovered. Jeremiah positively beamed when she told him how his suggestion had led to the Judge and had given her the answer she needed.
“I think you should tell Buck he was born on February 27,” Theresa suggested.
Lou had been considering the same thing, but was curious as to why her sister would choose that date. “Why the 27th?” she asked.
“It was the day the Judge said he saw the comet,” the younger girl replied. “And it gives us time to get him presents and for you to plan a big party!”
“Yeah,” Jeremiah agreed. “You are going to have a party aren’t you?”
“You betcha!” Lou vowed. “It’ll be a party, he’ll never forget!”
Buck topped the ridge to view the Sweetwater station below. He was tired, wet and colder than he ever remembered being. Teaspoon’s “special” runs were going to be the death of him yet, he decided, urging his horse forward towards the barn.
He couldn’t believe the station manager had sent him on a run to Fort Bridger in the middle of one of the worst snowstorms he’d seen in a long time. To top it all off, it seemed that the Colonel in charge hadn’t been particularly interested in the mail he had delivered.
Looking around, he was surprised to find the station completely dark. Not even a candle burned in the bunkhouse to indicate that Cody was up reading. It wasn’t all that late-in fact the sun had just set. Too tired to really concentrate on more than taking care of his horse and getting to bed, Buck continued to the barn.
Trudging wearily across the yard, Buck was once again struck by the darkened buildings-and the quiet. If they were asleep, Cody should have been snoring. The Kiowa’s instincts tried to send him a warning, but his brain was too tired to register the hints. As his hand reached for the doorknob, he thought he heard a sound coming from inside. Hesitating, Buck listened carefully, but heard nothing more. Resolutely he pushed the door open.
“SURPRISE!”
His brain finally kicked in but not before his hand had reached for his pistol. Luckily he was able to stop himself before he did any real damage. Matches flared and the bunkhouse lit up to reveal streamers hanging from the ceiling and a large pile of gaily wrapped presents sitting on the table surrounding the biggest cake he had ever seen.
“What the-“ he started.
“Happy Birthday, Buck,” Lou said, giving him a gentle shove to push him to the center of the room.
“Birthday?” the tired rider shook his head in disbelief. “How-when-“
“It’s a long story,” Lou told him. “Sit down and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Can’t that wait?” Cody whined. “I’m starving and that cake looks mighty good!”
The others laughed at the blond man. “It’d leave more for the rest of us,” Jimmy quipped.
Rachel stepped forward to block Cody’s retaliation. “Sam and Emma sent word. They wished they could be here but, what with the snow and everything . . .”
Buck nodded his understanding, no quite trusting himself to say anything.
Lou took charge again. “Teaspoon, light those candles so Buck can make a wish,” she ordered.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Teaspoon replied, snapping off a jaunty salute.
“I don’t have to wish for anything,” Buck said softly. “I have everything I want.”
The End
Besides, on this day, more than any other, she wanted to be with people she cared about-and who cared about her. Today was a very special day. Today Lou McCloud turned seventeen.
*~*~*~*
The rider was all the way into the yard and almost to the barn before the oddness about the station finally penetrated her tired brain. There were no lights anywhere in view. It was late, but not so late that one of the boys or Emma wouldn’t be up.
No one even came out when she rode in-another odd note. Both Buck and Ike must be out, she decided. There was no way both of the boys would have ignored a rider coming in. So attuned were they to the sound of a horse, even if they had been asleep, they would have immediately awakened and been out to greet her.
For a brief moment Lou experienced disappointment. She hadn’t really expected the boys and Teaspoon to remember her birthday but Emma should have at least. After all, the two women had been talking about the event just before she left on her run.
Of course, no one knew she had made the decision to ride through to Sweetwater that night. Sighing again, Lou dismounted and led her horse into the barn.
*~*~*~*
Trudging across to the bunkhouse several minutes later, Lou was even more confused than she had been when she first rode in. When no one had greeted her, she had assumed that the boys were away from the station, but all their horses were in the stables. That in itself didn’t mean a whole lot, the station had other horses, but the odds that none of the boys would have taken their favorite mount were pretty long.
As her hand reached for the doorknob, she thought she heard a sound coming from inside. Hesitating, Lou listened carefully, but heard nothing more. Resolutely she pushed the door open.
“SURPRISE!”
Lou almost jumped out of her skin as seven voices screamed at the top of their lungs. Matches flashed in the darkness as lamps were lit. Waiting for her pounding heart to return to it’s normal beat, the girl looked around to see Teaspoon, Emma, the boys and even Sam Cain standing around the room, each grinning from ear to ear and wearing the most ridiculous paper hats she had ever seen.
“Took you long enough to get in from the barn!” Cody reprimanded.
“Oh hush, Cody!” Emma said firmly. Stepping forward, she took Lou by the hand and pulled her farther into the room. “Happy Birthday, Lou,” she added cheerfully.
What’s wrong? Ike signed, his grin replaced with a look of concern.
“Nothing, Ike,” Lou finally managed to verbalize. “I’m just surprised that’s all.”
“You didn’t really think we’d forget your birthday?” Kid asked in amazement. “Especially not after your remembering all of ours?”
“I guess I didn’t know what to think,” Lou admitted. “I wasn’t sure . . . well I just wasn’t sure.”
“You should know better than that, Lou!” Jimmy told her. “Emma wouldn’t have let us forget-even if we hadn’t remembered on our own!”
“So come on, Birthday Boy,” Teaspoon added. “There seems to be a big ol’ pile of packages with your name on ‘em over here.”
“Packages?” Lou murmured. Looking at the table, she saw there was indeed a large pile of gaily wrapped parcels-and behind them a huge cake with candles all over it.
Looking at Emma, who grinned back, Lou took the hat Ike offered her and, placing it firmly on her head, moved to the table.
“Open the red one first,” Cody suggested. “It’s from me!”
Hefting the rectangular package, Lou shook it gently as if trying to divine its contents. Then, very carefully, she began to peel back the wrapping paper.
“Come on, Lou!” Kid urged. “Just rip it open!”
“No,” Lou argued. “This don’t happen every day-I’m going to enjoy it while I can.”
Finally she revealed a pair of dime novels. “Thank you, Cody,” she said sincerely. “I’ve been wanting something to read.”
“I knew you’d like those,” Cody crowed. “They’re brand new. Tompkins just got them in yesterday.”
Ignoring the impatience of the others-and Teaspoon’s curious stares, Lou took her own sweet time opening each of the other presents, ooh’ing and ah’ing over the contents and thanking each giver in turn.
“Well, I want to thank each and every one of you!” she exclaimed as she opened the last of the gifts. “You don’t know how much this means to me!”
“It would mean a lot more if you’d get to the cake,” Cody whined. “I’ve been waiting since supper and I’m starving!”
“We can’t have that!” Lou said with a laugh. She waited patiently while Teaspoon and Sam lit the candles on the cake.
“Hurry up and make a wish!” Jimmy urged. “Before the fire burns down the bunkhouse.”
Slapping at the other rider playfully, Lou inhaled and blew with all her might. The others cheered as the last candle went out.
“What did you wish for?” Cody asked.
“If she tells you it won’t come true,” Sam said before Lou could answer.
*~*~*~*
Lou couldn’t remember when she’d been this happy. It had been a very long time, she was sure of that. Smiling softly, she watched as Cody showed the books he’d bought to Ike, expounding all the while on how wonderful the writer was and how he’d captured the essence of the “Wild West.”
Jimmy and Kid were examining the bridle Ike and Buck had made for her. They were fingering the leather straps enviously and she could hear them murmuring that they would have to ask the other riders to make them one as well.
Teaspoon had gone to bed a bit earlier, leaving the partying to the “younger folks who don’t need as much sleep.” Emma and Sam had left not long after since Sam had to ride back to town yet.
Looking around, Lou realized Buck was missing. Carefully avoiding drawing attention to herself, the girl stepped out onto the porch and looked around. After the relative brightness of inside the bunkhouse it took several minutes for her eyes to adjust to the darkness outside.
Finally she saw a shadowy silhouette leaning on the corral fence. Making no attempt to conceal her approach, Lou walked carefully across the ground to stand behind the man.
“Buck?” she said quietly.
“Yeah?” he responded in the same tone.
“What’re you doing out here?”
“I was kinda hoping you’d come out.”
“Oh?”
“I have something more to give you and I didn’t want to do it in front of the others,” Buck said shyly. Reaching into his jacket, he removed two small gifts, each wrapped in plain brown paper. “They aren’t anything fancy.”
“The wrapping doesn’t matter,” Lou assured him. “It’s the thought that counts. But why didn’t you give them to me inside?”
“This one is from Jeremiah and Theresa and I didn’t know how you’d react or whether you wanted Teaspoon to know,” he explained.
The girl looked at him curiously. “When did you see them?” she asked.
“Teaspoon sent me on a run to St. Joe last month, remember?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded. “Are they doing all right?”
“I just stopped by,” he replied awkwardly. “They’re fine and they were real excited because they figured I could bring this to you. But I had to keep it quiet because they didn’t want you to know about the present.”
She gazed at him for a minute, then nodded her acceptance. Taking the gift, she pulled off the wrapping.
“I wish they could have given it to you in person,” Buck said quietly when she paused to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“I know,” Lou replied. “This is almost as good.”
“And this one is . . .” the man said offering her another slim rectangular package. “Well it’s from me, just me, and I don’t think Teaspoon would understand my giving it to ‘Lou’. It’s more a ‘Louise’ kind of gift.”
Lou looked up at the quiet man. His face bore a curious mixture of hopeful optimism and fear. With the same care she had given the rest of the packages, Lou opened the final gift. Her eyes widened as she saw it was a leather-covered journal.
“How did you know?” she asked in awe.
“I saw you looking at it when we were in town last week,” the Kiowa replied.
“Oh, Buck, thank you!” Lou gasped as she moved forward to give him a big hug. “That explains why it was gone when I went back on payday. Tompkins wouldn’t tell me who bought it.”
Buck looked over Lou’s head to see Kid standing on the porch. The other man was giving them a strange look. Disentangling himself from the girl he repeated his earlier statement, “It’s not much.”
Lou started to say something to the contrary, but wisely closed her mouth when she followed his gaze to Kid.
“I didn’t think anyone knew how much I’ve been wanting one,” she said simply.
“You stared at it for almost ten minutes last time we were in Tompkins’ place together,” he reminded her.
“I guess I did kinda make it obvious, didn’t I?” Lou said with a grin.
“Yeah, you did,” he agreed.
“Well, you were the only one to notice,” she said firmly. “And that makes it even more special.”
“It isn’t all that much,” he said, repeating his earlier statement.
“It is to me!” she argued.
Buck shrugged. “We better get back inside before Kid gets even more jealous.”
Lou looked at him chagrined. “I’m really sorry about that,” she confessed. “But dang it, if he had been paying half as much attention to me as you do, he’d’ve been the one to buy the diary.”
“And then I’d’ve had to find something else!” Buck countered with a laugh. “I’m just glad you like it.”
Arm in arm the friends walked back to the bunkhouse.
*~*~*~*
The next morning Lou was helping Buck muck out the stalls in the barn when a thought came to her. “You know, I don’t even know when your birthday is?”
“Don’t have one,” Buck replied.
“What?” she said incredulously. “You telling me you were hatched from an egg? Everyone has a birthday.”
“The Kiowa don’t celebrate birthdays like whites do,” he offered by way of explanation. “I know I was born in the winter but that could be anytime between November and March by the white man’s calendar.”
“Do you know what year?” Lou asked curiously.
“Only that it was the winter of year when a big range fire burned half the prairie in the summer,” he said. “The sisters at the mission tried to figure it out one time and decided it was 1843.”
“So you were born sometime between January and March of 1843?” Lou mused.
“Could be,” Buck said with a shrug. “Like I said the Kiowa don’t use calendars like you do. They go by seasons not years. Summer of the fire could be before I was born or after, it’s hard to say. I could have been born in November or December of 1842 or maybe not till 1843.”
“So how do you know how old you are?” Lou asked.
“I don’t for sure,” the man admitted. “I don’t figure it really makes all that much difference if I’m seventeen or eighteen. I don’t really care and no one else seems to either. Doesn’t really matter.”
“Sure it does!” the girl said emphatically. “Everyone needs to have a special day they can call their own.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because . . . “ she paused trying to come up with a good reason. “Just because, that’s why!”
*~*~*~*
Buck left later that day on a run but Lou wasn’t ready to give up. The more he denied his need for a birthday, the more determined she became to give him one.
“If he doesn’t care, what does it matter?” Jimmy asked when she told him what she had planned.
“It does matter,” she argued. “I can see it in his eyes.”
“So how do you intend to figure out the day?” Cody asked. “It’s not like there’s a birth record in a bible somewhere or something.”
“I don’t really know,” Lou admitted. “He said it was in the winter of the year when they had a big fire on the prairie. The sisters at the mission decided that was the summer of 1843, so that’s a place to start.”
“Yeah,” Kid muttered. “All you gotta do is find someone who was alive and in the Kiowa camp in 1843.”
“That’s an idea!” Lou agreed. “I wonder if Red Bear would be willing to help me.”
“NO!” three voices yelled as one. Even Ike became animated, signing and shaking his head vehemently.
“You can’t go to Red Bear!” Jimmy said sharply. “We know for a fact that he’s not happy with the white men right now.”
“But this is different,” Lou countered.
“Different how?” Kid asked angrily. “You wouldn’t even get to see Red Bear. Most of his tribe is so worked up, you’d be dead before you set foot in the village.”
Lou considered that statement for a few minutes, the nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right,” she agreed reluctantly. “But there has to be someone who would know something.”
Ike clapped his hands to get her attention. I remember something that might help, he signed. Right after I first met Buck at the mission school, we were out in one of the fields at night.
No one interrupted to ask what two youngsters were doing out at night. Even Cody was paying attention for a change.
We saw a shooting star, Ike continued. And I remember Buck saying how the boys in his tribe used to tease him about being bad luck because right after he was born there was a star in the sky with a long tail that was really bright.
“You mean a comet?” Cody asked excitedly.
“A comet?” Kid questioned.
“Yeah I was just reading about it in one of my novels,” Cody replied. “It’s like a shooting star but it stays visible for a long time.”
The other boys used to say that the shaman told everyone that Buck had angered the sky god and he was going to rain the stars down on them because of him, Ike continued.
“What a rotten thing to tell a kid!” Jimmy said angrily. “Bad enough he got treated like dirt because he’s a half-breed.”
“All right,” Lou said, pulling out the journal Buck had given her and making some notes. “We know he was born in what the Kiowa called winter. Buck says that’s anywhere from November to March. We know there was a fire either the summer before or the summer after that and that the sisters found out the fire was in 1843. And we know that there was a comet in the sky sometime right after he was born.”
“Now all you have to do is find someone who remembers a comet in 1843 and can tell you when it first appeared in the sky.” Kid’s tone reflected his sarcasm. “Sweetwater wasn’t much of a town back then but there might be someone around who could remember all of that.”
Lou eyed Kid reflectively. “No one is making you help me, you know?” she said quietly. The others could see she was trying very hard not to get angry.
“I just don’t see why you’re going to all this trouble for someone who doesn’t even care,” Kid countered.
He cares, Ike declared. He just pretends he doesn’t because no one else has ever cared if something mattered to him.
“Not anymore!” Lou stated firmly. “I care and when I find out, I’m going to give Buck the biggest birthday party he’s ever seen!”
*~*~*~*
The next few weeks passed quickly as Lou spent every spare moment doing “research.” She questioned everyone in Sweetwater who was old enough to have remembered 1843 but, as Kid had predicted, no one living there now who was in the territory that year could remember exactly when the comet passed overhead. She was, however, able to narrow the time down to the spring of that year and had it confirmed by a passing trapper that it had been at the end of the winter months.
The pages of her journal were becoming covered with notations-all of which she kept carefully hidden from Buck. “I want it to be a surprise,” the girl told the other riders. “So don’t you say anything to him!”
They had all vowed to keep her secret. If Buck was aware of the whispering that took place when he wasn’t looking, he never let on.
Finally, after much coaxing, Lou managed to get Teaspoon to assign her to a run to St. Joe. She told him it was to see her brother and sister but she had other plans for the trip as well. The newspaper there was reported to have back issues on file that went as far back as the founding of the city.
With a lot of work-and a little luck-Lou was determined to check every issue in the spring of 1843 until she found some reference to the comet.
“And what if you don’t find anything?” Kid asked as she tucked the journal in her bedroll and tied it to the back of her saddle.
“Then I’ll give up and just decide on a date,” Lou declared. “If Buck doesn’t know any differently he can’t say it isn’t right, can he?”
“He can and I’ll just bet he will!” Kid replied.
“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear your eyes are green,” Lou said softly.
“And just what’s that supposed to mean?” Kid demanded.
“Ever since I started trying to figure this out, you’ve been doing nothing but trying to make me stop,” Lou informed him. “I think you’re jealous!”
“I am not!” the other rider swore.
The girl shrugged indifferently. “I don’t care if you are or you aren’t,” she told him. “I am going to do this for Buck because he would do it for me. And that’s more than I can say about you!”
On that note, Lou mounted her horse and rode away.
*~*~*~*
Standing in front of the St. Joseph Gazette, Lou experienced yet another disappointment. Emblazoned across the large picture window the words “Establish in 1845” were trimmed in gold. That was a full two years after the comet so even if they had copies of the weekly papers back to their inception, they wouldn’t include the information she needed.
The rider paused, considering what to do next. Finally, sighing with resignation, she started back to the station. One thing for certain, she now had some time to visit with Jeremiah and Theresa. Hopefully something would come to her over the next few days to help her in her quest.
*~*~*~*
“How come you’re here, Louise?” Jeremiah asked.
“To see you two, of course!” Lou answered. “And to thank you in person for my birthday present.” She pulled the small locket out where they could see it.
“You liked it?” Theresa exclaimed.
“I wear it every day,” her sister confirmed.
“So, you gonna stay long?” Jeremiah pressed.
“Only a week,” Lou said sadly. “I have to go back on the next run.”
“Week’s better than nothing,” the boy decided.
“We’re in school during the day you know?” Theresa lamented. “But we can spend the evenings together?”
“Sure we can!” Lou guaranteed. “I have some things I need to do while you’re in school anyway, so I’ll keep myself busy.”
“Like what?” her brother questioned.
“You both know Buck Cross?” Lou asked. As they both nodded she continued. “I found out on my birthday that he doesn’t know when his birthday is.”
“Oh my,” Theresa cried. “That’s not right! Everyone needs a birthday.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” Lou agreed. Briefly she explained her idea about the newspaper and how disappointed she was to find out the Gazette wouldn’t be able to help.
“Why don’t you ask ol’ Doc Benton or Reverend Reeves?” Jeremiah suggested. “They’re as old as the hills and have been here a long time.”
Lou smiled at the boy. “Old as the hills” to him probably meant the men were in their late twenties. But still, it was a place to start. If they couldn’t help her, maybe they would know someone else who would.
“That’s a great idea, Jeremiah!” she exclaimed, watching as her brother puffed up with pride. “I’ll do that first thing tomorrow morning.”
*~*~*~*
“Ol’ Doc Benton” turned out to be older than Lou had anticipated. Once the rider had explained her situation, the doctor began to reminisce about his coming to St. Joe before there was a St. Joe.
“Now that you mention it,” he intoned. “I do remember an uproar in the spring of ’43. I remember how people got all up in arms about the comet and a lot of the churches were declaring that it was the end of the world. Always thought they were over reacting to the whole thing.”
“Do you happen to remember exactly when the comet was first seen?” Lou asked hopefully.
“Well, as I recall, there was something in the papers back East in March-no February. Some feller named Inky-no it was Encke wrote something about it in the paper. But I don’t think people really started getting upset ‘til sometime in early March. Guess it wasn’t really visible until then.”
The doctor paused thoughtfully, then continued. “You might want to talk to Judge Toole. He fancies himself some kind of expert on the stars-and he settled here in ’40. I didn’t get here until summer ’43 so I don’t know what it was like here.”
“Do you think you could help me get in to see the Judge?” Lou asked. “This is really important to me,” she added when the older man hesitated again.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he decided.
*~*~*~*
Judge William C. Toole was at least eighty years old. Lou was worried that his memory was gone but was pleased to find that the judge was as sharp as a man half his age.
“Of course I remember the Great March Comet!” the old man said in a high-pitched voice. “It caused quite a stir among the astronomical community.”
“Doctor Benton says that you might be able to tell me the date that you first saw the comet,” Lou offered.
“Of course,” the judge said firmly. “The first sighting was on February 5, 1843.”
“Why was it called the ‘Great March Comet’ when it was first seen in February?” Lou asked.
“Well, young lady, the person who first saw it was using a telescope,” he eyed her carefully. “You do know what a telescope is, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir,” Lou replied. “So the astronomer, Doctor Encke, saw the comet before regular people did?”
“Exactly two weeks earlier,” the judge affirmed. “And even then most people didn’t realize what they were seeing. I remember seeing it for the first time with my naked eye on February 27. I’d bet most folks didn’t really see it until March-probably the seventh or the eighth.”
Lou rose to her feet excitedly. “Thank you so much, Judge Toole,” she said. “The story I was told was that the comet was seen a short time after my friend was born. This works out just right with everything else I’ve heard.”
“If your friend was born before people in general became aware of the comet, the end of February would most likely be the time,” the judge agreed.
*~*~*~*
That evening Lou told her brother and sister what she had discovered. Jeremiah positively beamed when she told him how his suggestion had led to the Judge and had given her the answer she needed.
“I think you should tell Buck he was born on February 27,” Theresa suggested.
Lou had been considering the same thing, but was curious as to why her sister would choose that date. “Why the 27th?” she asked.
“It was the day the Judge said he saw the comet,” the younger girl replied. “And it gives us time to get him presents and for you to plan a big party!”
“Yeah,” Jeremiah agreed. “You are going to have a party aren’t you?”
“You betcha!” Lou vowed. “It’ll be a party, he’ll never forget!”
*~*~*~*
Buck topped the ridge to view the Sweetwater station below. He was tired, wet and colder than he ever remembered being. Teaspoon’s “special” runs were going to be the death of him yet, he decided, urging his horse forward towards the barn.
He couldn’t believe the station manager had sent him on a run to Fort Bridger in the middle of one of the worst snowstorms he’d seen in a long time. To top it all off, it seemed that the Colonel in charge hadn’t been particularly interested in the mail he had delivered.
Looking around, he was surprised to find the station completely dark. Not even a candle burned in the bunkhouse to indicate that Cody was up reading. It wasn’t all that late-in fact the sun had just set. Too tired to really concentrate on more than taking care of his horse and getting to bed, Buck continued to the barn.
*~*~*~*
Trudging wearily across the yard, Buck was once again struck by the darkened buildings-and the quiet. If they were asleep, Cody should have been snoring. The Kiowa’s instincts tried to send him a warning, but his brain was too tired to register the hints. As his hand reached for the doorknob, he thought he heard a sound coming from inside. Hesitating, Buck listened carefully, but heard nothing more. Resolutely he pushed the door open.
“SURPRISE!”
His brain finally kicked in but not before his hand had reached for his pistol. Luckily he was able to stop himself before he did any real damage. Matches flared and the bunkhouse lit up to reveal streamers hanging from the ceiling and a large pile of gaily wrapped presents sitting on the table surrounding the biggest cake he had ever seen.
“What the-“ he started.
“Happy Birthday, Buck,” Lou said, giving him a gentle shove to push him to the center of the room.
“Birthday?” the tired rider shook his head in disbelief. “How-when-“
“It’s a long story,” Lou told him. “Sit down and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Can’t that wait?” Cody whined. “I’m starving and that cake looks mighty good!”
The others laughed at the blond man. “It’d leave more for the rest of us,” Jimmy quipped.
Rachel stepped forward to block Cody’s retaliation. “Sam and Emma sent word. They wished they could be here but, what with the snow and everything . . .”
Buck nodded his understanding, no quite trusting himself to say anything.
Lou took charge again. “Teaspoon, light those candles so Buck can make a wish,” she ordered.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Teaspoon replied, snapping off a jaunty salute.
“I don’t have to wish for anything,” Buck said softly. “I have everything I want.”
The End
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