Little Sharpshooter

Little Sharpshooter Chap 23

Randy let Trevor help her out of the cave and onto Al’s back. Randy shifted her weight in the saddle. Her rear was already sore and her back hurt every time she leaned forward or back ever so slightly. Any movement from Al was going to make her miserable.

Bronson rested his hand on her leg. His mouth twisted as it turned from a smile to a more serious expression. “I’m tryin’ not to laugh. Really I am. We need to get you cleaned up. We’ll see if we can find a creek and then see how ya feel. More than likely that storm held up Clyde if he’s comin’. I think we have enough of a head start where we can afford to spend some time cleanin’ up and dryin’ off before we head on.” Bronson’s muddy shirt clung to his chest. Steam rose from the stone in front of the cave. Even though the air was damp, it was cooler. It would have felt nice if they were dry. But they weren’t. Randy stifled her painful whimpers whenever she shivered.

Once they were off, the sun baked the mud on Randy even more. She itched terribly. When she moved to scratch, her back and ribs hurt. All she wanted was to clean up and find a place to hide and rest until her body felt better. In the meantime, she argued with herself on whether she could continue to go on. The irritation of the mud and desperation to be clean won out. She searched for water. The trees were disappearing and rocks were more abundant. Water, besides what had fallen from the sky, was looking scarce. Every time Bronson or Trevor would look at her to see how she was doing, their faces would twist. They were failing miserably at hiding their humor over her condition.

Randy wasn’t sure at first if it was real. They were pretty far from it. She quickly regretted sitting up higher in her saddle to make it out, but there was a stream meandering down in the little valley between the mountains. Randy urged Al to go faster, doing her best to ignore the pain. She was desperate to change her expression without feeling the dried mud crack and move her arms without the clumps falling off. Al picked up his pace. Chunks of mud fell away and a dust cloud blew off behind her. Bronson and Trevor couldn’t contain their laughter any longer. Randy had enough mud in her ears that she couldn’t hear them all that well anyway.

At the water’s edge, Randy slid to the ground, jarring her back and her leg. She cried out but immediately treaded carefully into ankle deep water. It turned murky quickly where she stood. She didn’t care if she was all wet again as she sat down in the chill water. It enveloped her. The tight mud relaxed its grip on her skin and her clothes. Some of it peeled off her in clumps and was carried away downstream. Randy smiled, leaning back to plunge her head in the water. The tightness of the mud on her scalp released. When she opened her eyes, Trevor stood over her with a broad smile spread across his face. He rolled up his sleeves and kneeled next to her in the water to help wash away the mud that still clung to her ears and hair.

Bronson stood on the bank and all she could hear of him was muffled sounds with her ears still under water. She liked listening to him better that way. Trevor lifted her head up.

“He says he wants your clothes so he can wash them off. They won’t come clean and neither will you while you wear them.” Trevor’s face flushed.

Randy still itched all over from the mud so she was eager to take off her shirt and skirt. She left her underclothes and petticoat on and immersed her body in the water again rubbing one arm and then the other.

Trevor was back but his smile was gone as he chewed his lip. She sat up to hear what he wanted to tell her. “Bronson said you might need more help.”

Bronson was downstream scrubbing her clothes with a rock.

“Just don’t use his methods. I don’t think usin’ a rock will help.” She smiled.

Trevor’s disposition was different as he smiled uncomfortably. He never took his eyes off her face. He had to scrub her eyebrows to get the mud out and rubbed around her ears. Randy unbraided her hair and he scrubbed her head until there weren’t any clumps of mud left.