{"id":12265,"date":"2015-12-15T09:54:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T14:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=12265"},"modified":"2025-02-18T19:10:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T00:10:42","slug":"a-proper-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=12265","title":{"rendered":"A Proper Friend (by Freyakendra)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong>:\u00a0 For the good folks of Virginia City, Roy Coffee is a darned good\u00a0sheriff. For the Cartwrights, he is also a\u00a0proper friend, as he proves to himself when his job intermixes with a tragic event on the Ponderosa.<\/p>\n

(Word Count: 2400; Rating: K)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Proper Friend<\/strong><\/p>\n

XxXxX<\/p>\n

Days like this made Sheriff Roy Coffee hate his job. They also made him realize just how important that job was. Expelling a heavy sigh drawn from the weight of it all, he got to his feet and crossed the room to the window overlooking the front yard.<\/p>\n

Yep. Just as he’d figured. Ben Cartwright and his other two sons were finally home.<\/p>\n

After a quick glance to the bed showed him nothing different than he’d seen during the past couple of hours, he hurried toward the stairs, cursing his age for the way it delayed his descent. \u2026Or maybe it wasn’t so much his age as it was his burden. How could he stop Ben and his boys long enough to prepare them for what they would find just inside the front door?<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Pa?\u201d Hoss’s voice called out. \u201cWhose buggy you reckon that is?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s only one way to find out.\u201d Ben sounded pleased and eager to welcome whomever his unexpected visitor might be.<\/p>\n

His mood would change soon enough.<\/p>\n

The clatter of boots on the porch lent fire to Roy’s movements. He yanked open the door, stepped through and pulled it shut behind him before he tried to say a word.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoy?\u201d Ben’s smile turned to puzzlement, and then to concern in an instant. His mouth worked around more words, but he couldn’t seem to decide which ones he should utter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowdy, sheriff!\u201d Hoss offered up his usual good natured smile. \u201cThat your buggy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Roy answered a little too tersely. \u201cI put my horse in the corral.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRoy?\u201d Ben found his voice. This time it had a demanding edge to it, even if he was still stuck on that one word.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen,\u201d Roy greeted solemnly. \u201cBoys.\u201d He raised his hands in a gesture meant to say hold on, back up, and it’s okay, all at once. \u201cI need you all to listen to me for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere’s Joe?\u201d Ben was too quick to follow his own question with a great, big bellowed, \u201cJoseph<\/em>!\u201d to give Roy a chance to answer.<\/p>\n

Keeping his hands raised, Roy didn\u2019t give Ben a chance to wait<\/em> for an answer. \u201cIt\u2019s like I said, Ben, you need to listen for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss’s smile fell and his nose wrinkled. \u201cAw, sheriff! You didn’t throw Little Joe in jail, now did you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Adam replied instead, drawing the word out like it was a whole lot longer than two letters. And there it was: Adam Cartwright’s calculating glare. That boy had always been as perceptive as they come. \u201cSheriff Coffee wouldn’t be here if that were the case,\u201d he added, directing his supposition to Hoss while fixing his gaze on Roy. \u201cHe’d send someone else to let us know. And if he did choose to come himself, he wouldn’t stay long enough to warrant corralling his horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe ain’t in my jail—\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen where is he?\u201d Ben snapped back before Roy could finish. Then again he turned his attention to the house. \u201cJoseph!\u201d This time he took one anxious step forward.<\/p>\n

Roy grabbed his arm to keep him from taking another. \u201cPlease, Ben. Sit down on the porch here.\u00a0 Just for a couple of minutes, just long enough to let me explain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExplain what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSit down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa….\u201d Adam gripped Ben’s shoulder. Still his gaze was locked on Roy. \u201cMaybe we’d better hear him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy remained standing, while Ben and Hoss set themselves down. Adam simply propped one foot on a chair, and rested his arms across his knee. The sheriff knew he should join them. He knew by standing above them, he was only building on their growing worry. But he couldn\u2019t deliver this news on equal footing. He had to try to separate himself from it \u2026 to whatever degree he could. \u201cMargaret Kettering came in on today’s stage,\u201d he said after a quiet, expectant moment. \u201cWent straight to the livery and rented a buggy before I could say howdy-do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surprise pulled Ben\u2019s brows up and eased the worry in his eyes some. His lips even quirked upward into a budding smile. \u201cSo she came home. What does that have to do with—?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s something you don’t know about why she left, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben shrugged. \u201cShe was distraught.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was more than distraught. She was unhinged. Seeing her brother get hung was too much for her. When her mother sent her away, she didn’t send her to stay with her grandparents. She sent her to an asylum. Mrs. Kettering asked the doc and me to keep it quiet. We all figured it was for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still don’t see—\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to her mother today, Ben. Margaret didn’t get better at that institution. She got worse. Mrs. Kettering wasn’t expecting her on that stage. She’s not even sure how Margaret got out. When that girl showed up at home she frightened her mother half to death. Mrs. Kettering came straight to town and told me I needed to go after her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean, \u2018go after her\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomehow she got it into her head she and Joe got married before she left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarried?\u201d Ben\u2019s brows shot upward and he smiled, if only briefly. \u201cThat’s absurd! Joe has never so much as mentioned her name!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know he never showed any interest in Margaret,\u201d Roy agreed. \u201cHer mother knows it, too. Even so, Margaret insisted she’d already moved in here, and that she was just paying her mother a visit. Didn\u2019t even seem to remember that she\u2019d only just arrived back in town. Pretended like she\u2019d never left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle brother sure has a way with the fillies.\u201d Hoss snickered. \u201cI reckon Joe had his hands full today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish it were as simple as that, Hoss. I really do. But by the time I got here, well….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d Ben\u2019s eyes made it clear he knew something was very wrong. He just didn\u2019t know what.<\/p>\n

And Roy still didn\u2019t quite know how to tell him. The sheriff sighed as deeply as he had back in Joe\u2019s bedroom. That weight of his was feeling mighty heavy just then. \u201cMargaret’s dead,\u201d he said bluntly. \u201cShe’s just inside the door there.\u201d He nodded toward the front entryway. \u201cI covered her with a sheet, but I haven’t got around to moving her.\u201d<\/p>\n

All three Cartwrights went wide-eyed and silent.<\/p>\n

\u201cDead?\u201d Ben asked. \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss’s eyebrows scrunched down. \u201cYou don’t think Joe killed her?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam remained quiet and watchful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think<\/em> it,\u201d Roy said to Hoss. \u201cI know<\/em> it. I also know he didn’t have a choice. She would have finished him off if he hadn’t shot her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Adam spoke. \u201cFinished him off?\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy gave Ben his full attention. He wasn’t ready to respond to Adam. Not yet. \u201cThere was a kitchen knife next to her. And blood, a whole lot of it. It’ll turn your stomach when you see it. It sure did turn mine. I just couldn’t let you walk in on all that unawares.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben did start to look as though his stomach had turned. He glanced up toward that blasted bedroom window. \u201cI imagine Joe\u2019s taking it pretty hard. I appreciate you staying with him, to—\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of that blood was his, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much of it?\u201d Adam asked as bluntly as Roy had informed them of Margaret\u2019s death \u2026 as though he\u2019d known all along his brother was hurt, and had just been waiting for Roy to get to that particular point.<\/p>\n

Roy met his gaze dead on. \u201cA good amount. It started in the kitchen, near as I can tell. She stabbed him in the back. She cut him nine more times after that. She must’ve just kept coming at him until he finally reached the credenza where he\u2019d left his gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben’s face went ashen. \u201cPaul\u2019s still with him?\u201d he asked softly.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul hasn\u2019t seen him yet, Ben. I left word for him to meet me out here, figuring Margaret would need him. But he must\u2019ve had another patient. He has no idea how badly we need him right now.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s with Joe, then? Did Hop Sing come back on that stage, too?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. It’s just been me and Joe for more hours than I like to think.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no holding Ben back after that. Roy didn’t even try. He stayed out there on that porch while Ben and his two oldest boys rushed inside. He closed his eyes and sighed that weighted sigh again when he heard Ben’s \u201cdear God,\u201d and his boys’ more colorful oaths. He knew only too well what they were looking at and why it shocked them so, despite what Roy had prepared them to see. And then he looked up into God’s cloudless blue sky while he gave those three a few moments alone with the young man Sheriff Roy Coffee had spent the better part of the afternoon trying to save.<\/p>\n

Trying to save? He wasn’t a doctor; that was for sure. That boy upstairs was still bleeding despite everything Roy had tried to do for him.<\/p>\n

He didn’t feel much like a sheriff just then, either. He didn’t even feel like a proper friend. He’d arrived too late to stop the crime. The young woman responsible would never grace one of his cells. And he’d kept Ben away from Little Joe for a few minutes that could yet prove to have been particularly precious, if that boy’s bleeding stopped simply because there wasn’t anything left.<\/p>\n

\u201cI done what I had to do,\u201d he told himself. \u201cI did my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

His job….<\/p>\n

If he’d been wearing his badge, he might very well have torn it off and flung it across the yard at that moment. But he wasn’t wearing it. \u2026Because it had still been pinned on when he’d exchanged his bloodied shirt for a clean one from Ben’s dresser. \u2026Because he’d hated the thought of Ben seeing him wearing Little Joe’s blood.<\/p>\n

Another sigh drove Roy’s gaze toward the bedroom window. If it weren’t for that badge, Roy wouldn’t have had any reason to visit the Ponderosa. Ben would have found the boy just as Roy had, on the floor beside the credenza, his blood beneath him … on the wall at his back … and trailing all the way to the kitchen, where Roy had half expected to find another body. Only … Ben might have found Joe too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cI done what I could,\u201d he said aloud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n

Roy turned, startled and puzzled at how Ben’s oldest boy had managed to sneak up on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd thank you for that,\u201d Adam added. \u201cYou saved my brother’s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could be as sure of that as you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s still breathing. That’s more than we could’ve hoped for if you hadn’t come along. It’s pretty clear he would have bled out waiting for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ought to know I wasn’t in any hurry to come here. I never figured that little gal could have…. Well, I guess I figured she couldn’t match Joe for strength. I should have hightailed it out here as soon as I saw how scared Mrs. Kettering was. Instead, I wasted time trying to track down Doc Martin, and then I wasted more time breaking up a fight over at the Bucket of Blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had to do your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe so.\u201d With another deep sigh, Roy set his sights toward the corral. \u201cAnd I reckon I ought to get back to that job, now that you’re home and I know Joe’s in good hands.\u201d \u00a0Unfortunately, setting his sights in that direction did nothing to move his feet. \u201cBut….\u201d He shook his head and returned his attention to Adam. \u201cI don’t reckon I want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t really sure. I can’t seem to make myself inclined to leave here until things are settled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSettled how?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTruth be told, Adam, I want to make sure Joe’s gonna be all right. I ain’t thinking like a sheriff right now. You and … your brothers … and \u2026 your pa…. I’ve known you a long time, long enough to feel almost like … well, almost like family.\u201d Sniffing loudly, he threw his shoulders back and braced himself to move. He had to leave. He had a job to do. \u201cI\u2019m getting old, I guess. Old and foolish and sentimental.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not foolish to think of yourself as family. You should know we feel that way, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy avoided Adam\u2019s gaze. \u201cI\u2019d better go track down that doctor. And my deputy; he\u2019ll be missing me by now. And I\u2019m gonna have to tell Mrs. Kettering.\u201d He glanced quickly at Adam before stepping off the porch. \u201cYou send word soon as you can, Adam. You let me know how—\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of his words vanished from thought as two horses cantered into the yard.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoy?\u201d Doctor Paul Martin called over to him. \u201cI got your message about Margaret Kettering, but there was a shooting back in town I had to tend to. Is she all right? Has something happened?\u201d His dismount was awkward and cautious.<\/p>\n

Roy wasn\u2019t used to seeing Doc Martin on horseback. Something must have urged the doc to hurry. Or \u2026 someone.<\/p>\n

Roy\u2019s deputy.<\/p>\n

Roy nodded to himself, accepting that he\u2019d hired the right man for the job when his deputy came to stand in front of him. The doc was still dusting himself off and collecting his medical bag. That deputy was a whole lot like Adam, Roy realized. He was quiet, observant and perceptive. Just by looking into his eyes, Roy saw that he already knew there was more at play than catching up with a woman who\u2019d escaped a lunatic asylum.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly,\u201d Paul Martin went on behind them, \u201cI\u2019m surprised to find you\u2019re still here. Your deputy told me you left town hours ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy met his deputy\u2019s gaze. \u201cMiss Kettering\u2019s just inside,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cI need for you to get her to the undertaker. We\u2019ve got us some work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deputy raised an eyebrow, but then nodded without asking questions. Answers would come soon enough.<\/p>\n

As the deputy turned away, Adam\u2019s hand landed on Roy\u2019s shoulder. The quick, appreciative squeeze that followed helped Roy to know exactly what sort of work he, himself, needed to do for the rest of that day.<\/p>\n

Leaving Margaret in the deputy\u2019s capable hands and Little Joe in\u00a0Doc Martin’s, Sheriff Roy Coffee went off duty. And then Roy Coffee, the proper friend, set to the most important job he could do right then: cleaning up.<\/p>\n

XxXxX<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tags:\u00a0 Family,\u00a0RAM,\u00a0Roy Coffee,\u00a0SJS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 For the good folks of Virginia City, Roy Coffee is a darned good\u00a0sheriff. For the Cartwrights, he is also a\u00a0proper friend, as he proves to himself when his job intermixes with a tragic event on the Ponderosa.<\/p>\n

(Word Count: 2400; Rating: K)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":12270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","wpcat-23-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/roy.jpg?fit=612%2C663&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}