Chapter Ten

 

Sam parked his truck by the front of the barn, where most of the hands parked theirs. He heard voices coming from inside. The voices were loud. Someone was shouting.

"I don't want to hurt you Caleb, but I won't tolerate you threatening me. Do you understand?" Wade's voice reverberated through the wall of the barn as Sam slid out of the truck. He came closer, listening. "Wendy is my business, not yours. She needs someone to take her down a notch. Changing the locks on the doors and not even telling me about it. How long have I worked here? How long…?"

"A long time, but the girl is growing up, and she's alone now. Why should she tell you? She's a young lady and she needs her privacy."

"That never bothered her before," Wade yelled.

"Maybe, but she's growing up, Wade. And no woman likes to be walked in on. She don't have her sisters here anymore."

"Woman! Hah! She's got a long way before she reaches a woman. She's a little spoiled tease, that's what she is," Wade yelled.

"That's about enough out of you, Wade. You'll treat her with respect or I'll…"

"You'll what? Come on, old man, you want a piece of me so bad, take a shot at it…"

"You'll be off this ranch before you know what hit you."

"Off this ranch? Are you kidding me? I was written in the will. No one can fire me. The only one with that power is the old man himself, and he's dead and gone."

"I'm telling you, Wade. You don't want to tangle with me. But you are drunk, and I'm gonna see that you are run off this ranch. You know the rules as well as I do." Caleb sounded angry.

"I’m going to bed, old man. And if you want a job in the morning, you'll shut up now," Wade said, staggering around the stall.

"I won't put up with you scarin' Miss Wendy any longer. Do you understand?" Caleb threatened, coming closer.

"What do you think you can do about it?" Wade laughed.

"Throw you off this property, that's what I'll do. And there ain't a man here that would blame me."

"You just got to irritate me, don't you, Caleb?" Wade frowned at him. "You have been a real bur under my saddle for a while now, Caleb. You are sure replaceable, you know. A man your age can't find work that easy, so you better back off or you'll be retiring real soon."

"Don't push me, Wade."

"Oh shut up, you old fart." Wade lunged toward him, knocking him to the ground.

Caleb grunted, and then found himself fighting Wade as he pummeled him in the side, on his head. Wade got in a couple of hard blows to his stomach and Caleb could hardly move; his breathing was shallow.

Wade was in the middle of beating him when Sam walked in.

"Get off of him, Wade." Sam's voice went to icy steel.

"From an old fart, to a little runt. You don't honestly think you can best me, do you, little guy?" Wade laughed.

"If you don't get off of him right now, I'll show you."

"Better be careful runt, I can send you to prison with one wrong move."

"Maybe, but you won't hurt anyone else. Now get off of him, now!"

Sam didn't wait for him to react; he jumped on top of him, rolling him off of Caleb, as Caleb tried to get to his feet.

Sam wrestled, Wade hit him over the eye, then the lip, and then he pummeled him in the stomach. Sam got in a couple of blows. Blood and sweat went everywhere. Caleb staggered to his feet.

"Wade, get off of him," Caleb hollered.

Sam didn't respond. Wade just kept hitting Sam over and over. Sam wasn't breathing too well and Caleb ran and got the pitchfork.

"Get off him Wade, or I'll stab you with this thing," Caleb threatened.

Wade ignored the old man, knocking Sam out.

Then he dove for the old man's feet and knocked him to the ground.

Hay went everywhere; the horses became nervous and excited, creating all manner of noises.

Knocking Caleb up against the wall with a loud thud, Wade was about to tackle the barely moving Sam again.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson, little fella…" He started for Sam when a voice from the doorway boomed, "This is gonna be a pure pleasure, you piece of trash.

"You touch that kid again and I'll shoot you dead, Wade." It was Hank, and he had a gun in his hand and a look in his eye that meant business. Wade rolled off Sam.

"What the hell you think you're doin'?" Wade laughed, his body turning as he looked at Hank standing there with a gun.

"Don't push me, Wade; there isn't a man on this ranch that won't back me all the way."

"Well, what do you think you are doing with a gun? You gonna shoot me, Hank?" Wade laughed again, staggering as he stood straight again.

"If I have to. Yeah."

"I will fire the lot of you. You can all pick up your paychecks in the morning." Wade waved his hand in front of him.

Caleb got to his feet, and went toward Sam. Sam was hurt pretty bad. He wasn't moving. His breathing was shallow and Caleb was afraid Wade had gone too far this time.

"Call an ambulance, Hank. Sam's pretty bad off."

Hank reached in his back pocket for his cell phone. He dialed the number, never once taking his eyes off Wade.

Some of the men came in and saw how bad Sam was and they all tried to help Caleb.

"If he dies, you are going to prison, Wade. And if he doesn't, you're going to the hospital."

"Hospital, what are you talking about?"

"You are sick Wade, and we all know it."

"Joe, call Cade. We need him over here."

"Okay, yeah. I'll take care of that." Joe looked down at Sam. "Is he going to be alright?"

"I don't know, but he's not in good shape right now."

Hank held the gun on Wade until the ambulance came, then he put it away.

Wade bristled.

"How did this happen?" the paramedic asked.

"This fella beat the hell out of him, that's how," Caleb said, shaking his head at Wade.

"You need us to notify the police?" the paramedic asked.

"Maybe you better." Caleb nodded.

Ten minutes later, as they were putting Sam in the ambulance, Cade showed up.

"My God, what's happened?" Cade's face was a mask of concern when he saw Sam.

Right behind him were the police.

After Joe related what had happened, the police headed to the barn.

Caleb grabbed his arm and brought him into the barn. "This is what happened. Wade jumped me. Sam jumped Wade to protect me, and Wade beat the hell out of him. Hank heard us and came in with a gun. That put a stop to it fast."

Cade turned to his brother, who was staring outside the barn as though watching the weather or something.

Cade went to the ambulance. "Is he going to be alright?"

"We don't know. The ER doctor will check him out at the hospital. I guess the police will handle the rest."

Cade nodded. "One more question. My brother is responsible for all of this. But…I think he's bi-polar. I need to get him some help. I need to do that right away. Where do I go?"

The paramedics looked at each other. "Tell the police, and after they are done with him, they'll make sure he sees a doctor."

"Good. Less hassle for me. Take good care of that kid."

"We will, sir."

"After I take care of my brother's problems, I'll be up there to see to him."

The men nodded as everyone gathered around the ambulance.

"Good."

They proceeded to tend to Sam while Cade went back inside the barn.

"Caleb, I’m sorry, are you hurt?"

Caleb nodded. "Yeah, I better go and get checked out myself."

"Good. Why don't you ride with Sam?"

"Okay…what you fixin' to do?"

"See to him," Cade said, almost too heavily.

"Are you arresting me?" Wade finally asked the officer who put his hands behind his back and slapped his wrist with cold hard handcuffs.

"Looks like," the officer replied as he was taking down a few statements from some of the men.

"He's worse than I thought, Caleb." Cade hung his head for a second as Caleb began walking out.

"Don't take it too hard. They'll fix him up."

"I hope they can. This is sure gonna tear Wendy up."

Caleb was silent as he got in the ambulance with Sam.

Cade looked at his brother who was in a drunk stupor and shook his head. "Well big brother, you done it this time."

Wade fussed with the police all the way to the squad car. Cade followed them to the police station.