(inspired
by the song Who You’d Be Today by Kenny Chesney. Lyrics in italics)
Rachel rested her cheek against the fence post as she watched the foal running along side its mother.
A gentle breeze blew tendrils of graying strawberry blond hair that had escaped from the pins holding the bun at the back of her head. A hand absently brushed them from her face as her mind began to wander back to the family she had come to love as her own.
Her thoughts settled first on Ike. Sweet, gentle, caring Ike.
Like a story that had just begun
But death tore the pages all away
God knows how I miss you
A tear escaped and ran down a rosy cheek as she thought of the silent rider, whose life was cut short. It was such a pity that he had to die so young. His life was just starting and he had found someone to love and who loved him.
Ike had always been friendly to her and she missed him more than she had realized. Maybe it was due to the fact that everyone had scattered after the Pony Express had ended leaving her alone.
Taking a deep breath, Rachel’s thought’s turned to the other young man whose life was cut short, Noah.
Funny, intelligent Noah. A man who wasn’t afraid to fight for what he believed to be right, a man who felt all people, no matter what color or creed, should be treated with respect and honor. She and Noah had arrived at the Express station near the same time and soon became part of a ragtag family of orphans and others running from their past.
Noah had been killed during trouble that had been brewing due to the war that was on the horizon. It had been a sad day for all the riders when Noah was taken from them so soon after Ike.
That seemed to be the catalyst of the end of the little family.
As darkness began to fall, Rachel made her way to the house that had been part of the Express station when it was running. Closing the darkness out, she lit a lamp and set it on the table, once again thinking of her family that was no longer there.
Sometimes I wonder who you'd be today…
Would you see the world, would you chase your dreams
Settle down with a family
I wonder what would you name your babies
‘What would you be like today? Where would you live? Would you be married? Would you work for someone else or be your own boss?’ she thought as she put a kettle on for tea.
‘Would Ike and Emily have settled down? Would they have had a family and what would they have named their babies?’
As the kettle began to whistle, Rachel was brought back to the present. Pouring the water into her cup, she spooned in some sugar and took the cup into the living room and sat in a chair near the fireplace.
A picture on the mantle caught her attention and she smiled. It was a picture of Lou and Kid with a chubby baby, sitting on Lou’s lap. They had had a girl that they named Emma, after the first station ‘mother’.
It had been years since she had seen them. Their little girl was grown now and ‘in love’, Lou wrote in a letter just last week.
Sitting on the table beside the chair was a letter and picture from Cody. He had started a Wild West show a few years back and was hoping that she would be able to travel to Omaha to see it next month when he was there. He’d even sent her a ticket for the show and asked if she’d have dinner with him when he was there.
Cody always had been something of a showman, even back when he was young and rode for the Pony Express. There was never a dull moment with him around and the stories that boy could tell, why they had her laughing even now just thinking about them.
Setting the letter back down, she thought that maybe, just maybe she would go see him and his show.
Closing her eyes, Rachel thought of the last two riders that made up the little family.
Buck, the half-Kiowa half-white, had lived life belonging in two worlds but accepted by neither. Those that made up the Express family had accepted him. They had all loved him and would have laid their life down for him if need be.
Buck had dedicated his life to helping those of the Plains Tribes that were forced to live on reservations. He had lost his life during an uprising on one of the reservations having been shot while trying to save the life of a small child that had gotten in the way of fighting soldiers and warriors.
Jimmy was near the Black Hills in a little town called Deadwood. He had married a woman from back East named Agnes, but married life didn’t seem to have tamed him. A letter that she had gotten from him told her about some prospecting he had done which didn’t amount to much and how he was making a comfortable living at the card table.
She sent up a little prayer asking God to keep him safe. She had read how lawless those mining towns were and couldn’t help but have a bad feeling for the man.
Taking the empty cup into the kitchen, Rachel thought about the last member of the Express family, the former stationmaster, Teaspoon Hunter.
What a character Teaspoon had turned out to be. So full of wisdom and more advice than any one person could ever take.
Laughing, Rachel remembered how Cody had once told the man, “Even when you’re wrong, you’re right.” That summed up the man’s ever-present guidance for his family.
Teaspoon had served as marshal for another ten years. Serving half of those years in Rock Creek and the other half, back in Sweetwater where he had settled down with his seventh wife, Polly, who had been a former wife.
He was getting up in years and not in the best of health. She had been to visit them not long ago and felt that soon, the family would be losing another one of its members.
Sadness overtook her, as she got ready for bed. Drawing back the covers and sliding into the bed, Rachel thought of her long dead husband and the child that she had lost.
So many loved ones had passed on, leaving her behind and alone.
Closing her eyes, the last thought to cross her mind before sleep overtook her was,
‘The only thing that gives me hope
Is I know I'll see you again someday…’