Run, Doctor, Run

Pride had flushed through me when Leon had given me the task of receiving Jake’s medicine. He made it clear that I would be stealing and that I didn’t have to do that sort of thing if I didn’t want to. I wasn’t rude enough to laugh in his face, but I suspected that Leon had no clue what my life was like before all this.

Valerie had insisted that she helped, eager not to be left behind. Which I was grateful for as she clearly understood what Leon was asking for; Something called saline, needles, tubes, and a bunch of other stuff that made no sense to me. What he was going to do with all those was anyone’s guess.

We saddled up Hela and rode pillion, with me sitting behind Valerie. Together, we rode in silence to Valentine. It wasn’t a long journey but riding together we had to take it slow or we risked tiring out the horse too soon, and the silence between us helped lengthen the trip. Riding like this, it made it impossible for us to talk. Instead, I focused on the forests that surrounded us, watching as deer snapped their heads up in attention as we woke them from their sleep.

Ripley had returned with Michael and Jake, and I thought it would have been Michael on the back of a horse with the way Ripley had ridden out of camp. But I was wrong, it was Jake that was currently bed bound. Leon had reassured everyone that Jake was doing fine, but I knew the eyes of a man who was lying. I saw the way that doubt crept in them, the tight smile, the rubbing at the base of the neck. But I kept hope. Jake was a strong man and worrying wasn’t going to help him. Finding him medicine would.

Finally, we arrived and walked the length of Valentine’s main road after dismounting and hiding Hela in some trees outside town. The town itself was empty, even the saloon had closed its doors for the night, the drunks and working girls already asleep. It made our job easier. The doctors sat at the edge of town, and unlucky for us was next door to the sheriff station. The yellow glow of a candle flickered into the street; someone was in there.

Valerie tried the doctor’s door, the handle shook under her hand, but it didn’t budge. She turned to me and shrugged as if to say, ‘Oh well, we tried.’.

‘There’s always another way.’ I signed.

Valerie tapped at her chin as though my words were inspiring a plan inside that head of hers. And then her eyes widened, and a grin spread on her face. It was the same one she always pulled whenever one of her plans got us in trouble. She jumped down from the doctor’s porch and searched along the muddy road. Finally, she found what she was looking for and held it up to the light buzzing above us. A rock.

It clicked.

‘NO.’ I signed, waving my arms as Valerie pulled back her arm. My hand clamped around her wrist, but it was too late. The rock soared through the air, flying towards the doctor’s window. I began to pull her down the street, but Valerie put her foot down.

Time seemed to slow as the rock hit against the wooden board of the shop before dropping to the porch. We watched it, waiting for something to happen, as though it was about to fly back up and smash the window it had just missed. It didn’t move.

I felt all the tension in my body leave with a big sigh. Valerie bent down for another rock. I took it from her and plopped it into one of her pockets.

‘Keep it for later.’ I signed. ‘We can go through the back way, come on.’

Valerie followed as we headed for the backdoor. I tried the handle, just like Val had, hoping that the doctor had somehow forgotten to lock it. He hadn’t. Val pulled out her rock again.

‘Let’s try it my way.’ I signed and pulled out a small cloth from my satchel and unraveled it, revealing a set of probe picks. ‘A little quieter this way.’

They were a gift from Gunther for my tenth birthday. I was always skinnier than him and more flexible, able to squeeze into the gaps that he couldn’t. We made a good team with me being the thief and him the muscle when we got caught.

‘Keep watch.’ I signed to Valerie, who saluted back to me with the brightest smile on her face.
I got to work.

I had to feel my way through the lock, counting each pin by knocking against them, feeling the nudge in my hand. I was a little rusty, but my palms stayed dry as I began to rock my city-rake up and down, hoping to pop it open.

It didn’t.

I moved onto the next pick, rocking it back and forth, hitting the pins as I waited for the weight of the lock to fall into my hands.

And then light grazed over my shoulder.

Suddenly, Valerie grabbed the back of my shirt collar and tugged until I scrambled to my feet, my hands trying to loosen the shirt squeezing at my throat. I didn’t get the chance as Valerie pushed me up against the wall, my back slamming up against the wood, knocking the air out of my lungs.

Someone shone a lantern over to where we had been standing. We waited, breathlessly, Valerie’s hands pushing against my chest as if she could make me disappear into the wall. Excitement pumped through my body at the idea of getting caught and the chase that would pursue. It would be different from the rooftop chases in St. Denis, but it had been a long time since I felt the thrill of the chase.

Though, I was left with the energy buzzing inside of me and no where to put it. The light glowed until it sunk into the night and all was dark again. Silently, I felt Valerie laugh against me, shaking as she held a hand over her mouth. It brought a smile to my face. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the danger of the law.

We waited a little longer, waiting for the light to return, but it never did. Pulling ourselves from the shadows, I went back to work. The lock budged under the picks and the door crawled open. Grinning, I stood and gestured for Valerie to enter.

‘Ladies first,’ I signed with one hand.

Valerie curtsied with a giggle before entering.

Without the lights, it was hard to see where we were going. We had to use our hands to guide us across the room. Silently, we searched, tearing open every box, looking for the things that Leon had described. I plucked a box of medicine from the shelf and focused on the writing scribbled across it. It was in thick, bold lettering, but still, no matter how much I narrowed my eyes, willing them to focus, none of it made any sense to me. I never learnt to read, I didn’t understand how the words could make sounds and there wasn’t anyone there to teach me. Gunther sure didn’t know how to read, so I just relied on my signs and let others translate it all for me.

I offered the box to Val, who squinted at it, the moonlight and the streetlamps barely gave us enough light to see each other, reading was on an entirely different level of difficulty.
She shook her head and the hunt was on once again.

Time was ticking by and we were no closer to finding the last thing we needed. Stealing in St. Denis was never like this. I knew my target, saw it and scoped it out until it was in my hands. Though, they were simple things; jewels, broaches, necklaces, money. They were things that every rich person seemed to own, to flaunt and wear. Easy pickings. Medicine was something I knew nothing about. If I picked the wrong thing, if we got it wrong, it would be bad for Jake.
I clapped and got Valerie’s attention.

‘We’re taking too long.’ I signed. There was too many bottles and boxes, too many herbs in bags and stuff shoved into draws. It would take all night for Valerie to read every label.
Valerie bit her lip before another idea popped into her head. She gathered as many of the boxes and bottles as she could before dumping them into my satchel.

‘V, we can’t rob the man of all his stuff.’

‘We can. Look.’ She raised her eyebrows as a challenge as she shoved more things into my satchel. She was emptying the store. I bit my lip; I didn’t like taking more than we needed, it was easier for them to notice that things were missing when the store was empty of all it’s goods.

Suddenly, the door to the shop opened and a man in blue stood there with his lantern shining on us, our hands holding everything we had stolen. No one moved.

Then he brought the whistle to his lips, ready to call the entire town to take us down. But before he could even wet his lips, Valerie hurled the rock from her pocket, smacking the lawman in the middle of his forehead. He stumbled back out into the streets, landing in the mud, his lantern rolling away from him.

It was time to go.

Grabbing Valerie’s hand, I ran, jumping over the man. My shoes slipped from underneath me and I would have fallen face first, but Valerie hauled me up, holding onto me until I found my footing again.

I didn’t look back as we ran towards Hela, her head snapping up from her grazing as she noticed us. Flinging up onto the saddle, I stretched my hand out for Valerie, who grabbed it and swung up too. Hela was a strong animal and within seconds we were tearing through the street, startling a pair of raccoons, and out of Valentine even before the first candle could be lit.

We rode until we came to our marker, a small burnt down house on the side of the road. It would do no good if we rode straight home and led the law to where we were all living. I knew that Jake and Michael had plenty of wanted posters around the Heartlands. The law would have a celebration if they ever found us, a load of criminals all residing together. We would be like mice in a barrel.

We stayed hidden behind a bush, waiting for the first light of a lantern to spot us. But nothing came. And then we burst out laughing, lying down in the cold night grass, the high of the chase leaving us.

‘You threw a rock at him!’ I signed, not able to keep the smile off my face.

‘Right between the eyes.’ She signed back, and then repeated the action of throwing a rock before collapsing backwards, as if she was the lawman.

‘V, you’re something else.’ All the laughter had left me breathless and with a stitch in my side. Sitting up, clutching my side, I pulled the satchel into my lap. It was heavy with everything we had stolen. It was a gamble. We had no idea what we had exactly stolen, but it was enough to probably start our own clinic.

‘Think we have what Leon wanted?’ I asked.

Valerie shrugged before getting to her feet and offered her hand to me.

‘Let’s hope so.’ I took her hand and hauled myself up. ‘For Jake.’