Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give!” –Proverbs 21:26(NLT)
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I spent the rest of the morning with Judge Klaser. We discussed the plight of Martin’s store and the possibility of the Peabodys running it. He ordered Sheriff Gold to check through Martin’s home and store for anything resembling a will. It took an hour or two along with the District Attorney, Desiderus Luther to draw up a contract for the Peabody’s. The Judge then charged me to take it up to the Peabody residence and explain it to him as well as the situation.
For November it was a warm day, and I had need only of my jacket as I rode Star up the rode to the Peabody tent. The tent was about a quarter mile to the north of town on something that some folk might call a road. It was more like two ruts in the ground. I chuckled as I approached. I remembered what my Grandpa used to say, “A rut ain’t nothin’ more than a grave with both ends knocked out.” I must have said it outloud for Star turned his head to look at me. Nodding back at him, I said, “And we’ve seen plenty of folk livin’ in a rut, haven’t we, boy?”
“Why, Marshal Forrest, whatever are you doin’ comin’ up this a-way?” inquired Mrs. Peabody as I rode up.
I tipped my hat, “Ma’am, mind if I step down?”
“Why sure, where are my manners? Penny, fetch the Marshal a cup of coffee. Sorry, I don’t have nothin’ but a biscuit left over from breakfast,” she said, then she touched her chin with a fingertip. “‘Course nothin’ like your Missus makes.”
“Coffee will be fine,” I replied. “I seldom turn down a cup of coffee.”
“Been sittin’ next to the fire; it was made this mornin’ so it might be a tad strong.”
Penny brought the cup to me. She had been gathering wood that morning and the front of her dress was dirty and had pieces of sticks attached to it. Smiling, she handed me the cup of hot coffee. “Marshal, I didn’t spill a drop,” she informed me, proud of herself.
It was hot, and it was strong, bordering on being scorched, but not quite. I took a tentative sip. Then looked over the brim of the cup seeing Penny watching me. “If you made this coffee, you’ll make a man happy one day,” I said, teasing her.
That made her smile grow larger, then she turned skipping away to grab her brother, Jake, by the hand.
I took another sip. “Ma’am…”
“My name’s Eloise, friends call me Lois, and Marshal I take you as a friend.”
Nodding, I smiled, then continued, “Is your husband around? I have something I need to talk over with him, and, for that matter, with you as well.”
She motioned for me to sit on a log by the fire. “He should be back anytime. He was down working on the widows’ chicken coops.”
Hannah and Gertrude both lost their husbands several years ago. Since that time they started an egg farm. Kept the diner in eggs, along with several others in town and Crandall’s store. “He won’t get no money for it,” she said, not a touch of bitterness in her tone. “Most likely he’ll be paid in eggs.”
“Nothin’ wrong with eggs,” I replied. “Hard to go without them, once you get used to havin’ them for breakfast.”
I sat watching her work making what looked like stew. It was probably twenty minutes, and I was getting somewhat antsy when I heard Lois called out. “Well, it’s about time. The Marshal’s been waiting for you. Reckon he has a cell ready for you.” She tried to be serious, but it lasted only a few seconds before she laughed, then gave her husband a hug.
“Marshal Forrest, what are you doing here?” he asked, putting down a tool box, then setting down a box that he had been carrying in the other arm. He smiled, “Eggs.”
“Mrs. Peabody, if you can spare the time away from your cookin’ I have something to discuss with you and Marshall.”
“Lois, remember?”
I nodded and smiled. For the next several minutes I explained the contract and what Judge Klaser, the sheriff and I had proposed. They looked at each other, then Marshall Peabody spoke almost in a whisper. “You’d do that for us? Why?”
Lifting my hand, I pointed at the kids now playing. “That’s two reasons.” Then I turned my attention to the tent. “Winter’s comin’ on, you’ll need a warmer place to stay.”
Lois burst into tears falling to her knees in front of and grabbing my hands. “Bless you, bless you…” she kept murmuring.
“Be ready to move into as soon as Sheriff Gold goes through the store. Probably tomorrow afternoon,” I told them, trying to downplay her emotions. “Think you can handle the store?”
“I, I, ….”