"Why me?" Cody asked out loud. Shaking his head at his misfortune on this trip, he thought of all that had befallen him in the last two days. First his favorite hat had fallen off when he bent down to dunk his head in the stream and it floated to fast for him to retrieve it. Then, at the next relay station where he was suppose to trade horses, there was no one around and by the looks of things, every man and horse had been gone for several days, so he had to continue with a worn out mount. Just before reaching the station where he was to hand off the mochila, his horse threw him when it was spooked by a rattlesnake and left him sitting in a wake of dust. It took him another hour walking with a sore ankle, which he sustained during the fall, to reach the station. The only good thing was that his horse was standing at the corral, waiting for him and the mochila had already been removed from the saddle and was on it's way. The stationmaster had a good laugh at his expense and then broke the news that they were waiting on supplies so that there was no hot meal waiting for him inside. 'Don't forget that there were no empty beds to bunk down either,' he grumbled to himself. With no hopes of food or a good night's sleep, Cody decided to start back that same night. "At least I won't have to listen to any more jokes about my riding skills!" he declared leaving the station and its crew behind. It was way after dark when he had decided to bunk down for the night. Everything had been going just fine, a nice warm fire, some jerked beef and coffee and then it happened. He'd been sitting there relaxing, minding his own business and day dreaming about Miss Julia Beckwith and the scrumptious dinner she had made him last Sunday when out of the weeds walks this creature. Nothing had ever put such a fear into Cody as that creature did at that moment. There wasn't anything worse then crossing paths with such an animal as what was standing, looking at him not more then ten feet away. He made not a sound but was sure that it could hear the blood rushing through his body in fear at the sight of it. With a swish of its tail, it turned, looking like it might go back where it had come from. Cody had just let out a sigh of relief when the animal lifted it's tail with a flourish and let loose in his direction, the most God awful scent known to man. Cody tried to throw himself out of the spray's path, but it did no good. As the creature sauntered off into the dark once more, he sat up, wiping his face with his sleeve and spitting, trying to get the taste out of his mouth. The terrible scent was so overpowering, that his eyes began to tear. He hadn't stopped by a stream so he couldn't run and douse himself in water to try and wash the stink away and he had no other clothing to change into. "Thank goodness it was too hot when I left or my good buckskin jacket would be history!" he exclaimed, discarding the reeking shirt. Cody started to break camp, mumbling to himself, "Wouldn't surprise me none if that darn skunk came back for a second round..." The horse had been prancing and making noise ever since it got a whiff of the skunk and as Cody approached, the horse tried to shy away from him. He grabbed the reins so that it couldn't take off without him again. "Oh no you don't. You ain't leavin' me behind again. Especially with that thing out there!" As he mounted the steed, Cody leaned over and gave the horse a pat on the neck. "Sorry ol' boy. Ain't my fault I stink. If there was anything I could do to make it go away I would. Until we get back to Sweetwater, you're gonna have to suffer just the same as me!" The going was slow in the dark and with a tired mount, and Cody stopped often for the horse to rest. During the third stop, Cody left behind his britches. Standing in his boots and long johns, he threw the offending item into the brush. "Well, that helps a little bit," he grinned and brushed his hands together as if to wipe away the smell. The horse still didn't want Cody near him and kept trying to throw him every chance it got. By the time the sun came up, both horse and rider were about to drop from exhaustion and probably would have if the smell hadn't kept them from falling asleep. It was just past breakfast when the Sweetwater Way Station appeared on the horizon. Cody tried to spur the horse faster, but all he got was a gallop and then it dropped back to a slow gait. As he drew near, he heard Buck's familiar cry, "Rider comin'!" In the yard between the bunkhouse and barn gathered Lou, Jimmy and Ike. "Wonder what he's doing back so soon?" Lou ventured. *What's wrong with his horse?* Ike signed. "What I want to know is, where's Cody's clothes?" Jimmy exclaimed, starting to laugh. Buck had been the first to catch a whiff of the approaching horse and rider. Grasping his nose between two fingers, he turned and ran towards the barn waving his hand to the others to move back and yelling, "Stop right there Cody. Don't you dare come any closer smellin' like that." Jimmy grabbed his hat and started waving it in front of his face, while holding his nose also. "Damn Cody! You stink!" Lou was coughing and her eyes began to tear from the strength of the scent. She turned and ran for the safety of the bunkhouse steps as Ike stepped backwards towards the barn, not taking his eyes off the offending pair in case they tried to come closer. "Oh, come on you guys! It ain't that bad," Cody whined, a helpless look on his face. "Aint' bad? Are you crazy?" Jimmy hollered. Emma, who had been out back of her house hanging laundry came hurrying to see what all the commotion was about. As the smell hit her, she stopped and grabbed her nose, looking at the young rider. "Lordy, William! You stink! Don't none of you boys get near him, you hear?" She demanded. "No problem, Emma," they all griped. Waving her arm, she started ordering everyone around. "William, take that horse and stake it out in the pasture behind the barn. No way the other horses will let it near smellin' like that. Make sure you give it water and some feed. Then bury those long johns in a hole and get yourself behind the bunkhouse where I'll have a tub set up for you," turning to the others she told them, "Follow me." Cody scrambled to do as Emma had told him, wondering where the others were going and what they were gonna do. "Now, you boys pour all of them canned tomatoes into the tub. That's the only thing I know to help get rid of that smell. I just hope I have enough." "You ain't the only one Emma," Jimmy offered, lifting a box of canned tomatoes, "If it don't, Cody ain't sleepin' in the bunkhouse, that's for sure." Buck, Ike and Lou all murmured their agreement to that. "I can't wait to tell Teaspoon about this!" Jimmy said gleefully and started to chuckle. The humor of Cody's smelly situation had all of the riders laughing, they were almost crying. "Well, that's the last of it," Buck stated as he let the last of the liquid drop into the half full tub. *Just in time too!* Ike motioned, as they all caught a smell of Cody coming around the bunk house. They all ran to safety back around the front of the bunkhouse before the offending rider got to close. They missed seeing Cody's jaw drop when he got a look at what was waiting for him in the tub. "Emma!" Emma stopped just before the corner of the bunkhouse and called out to him, "What's wrong now William?" Throwing his hands out in front of him, he hollered, "This tubs full of tomatoes." "I know that William. I had the boys put them there. No quite your complaining and get in it and wash." Emma turned with a grin to look at the other riders where they hung off the front porch trying to keep their laughter contained. She had a hard time keeping the laughter out of her own voice as she called back, "And make sure you soak in there a good long time William. Don't you come out 'til you get rid of that scent!" As she started to walk back to the forgotten laundry, she added as an after thought, "Oh, and this fall, when I'm canning William, you get to help replenish my canned tomatoes!" The other riders dropped down on the porch they were laughing so hard at Cody's complaints of what he thought of canning and how he hated skunks. Email Lisa L. HOME