The Fire Within a Ninjago Cowboy

Chapter 16 - Monday at Midday (Kai and Bansha)

Chapter 16 - Monday at Midday (Kai and Bansha)

After a long morning, the young couple and their captors were seated in the Noscut Saloon to await being served a midday meal. Sam had a headache and hoped that a hot meal would help to relieve the discomfort.

The morning had started out with the walk to the telegraph office. Morro had walked next to Sam, firmly grasping her upper arm and warning her not to try anything funny, like ask the telegraph operator to send a message of distress. Bansha walked on the other side of Sam.

Behind them, Kai was being escorted by Archer, who was wearing a deputy badge borrowed from Sheriff Kruncha. Sam could guess that the purpose for the badge was to make passersby think that the handcuffed Kai was a captured criminal and not a kidnapping victim.

Sam couldn't see much of Kai during the walk, but before they had left the jail, she observed that his eyes shone with an extra sparkle of delight when she and Bansha had rejoined the men. Sam figured it was because he liked what Bansha had done with her hair, since the gray dress she was wearing was kind of drab and not particularly noteworthy. She had smiled at him, but since then, she hadn't had a reason to smile.

At the telegraph office, while Kai, Archer, and Bansha sat in chairs in a waiting area, Sam and Morro had stood at the telegraph operator's counter. They were going to send a telegram, in Sam's name, to her lawyer. Sam provided the name and address of her lawyer. Morro provided a message requesting the lawyer to liquidate all her bank accounts and bring the money to the nearest branch office of a big wire transfer company. That office was then supposed to send a message to the local branch office in Qubla, the capital city in Skeleton Territory. The message for the Qubla office was that it was supposed to deliver the specified amount of money to Morro's bank.

Trying to wrap her mind around the process made Sam's head hurt. She just wanted this nightmare to be over so that she and Kai could go back to Ninjago Town to start their new life together. She hoped her daddy in Heaven would forgive her for getting in trouble and letting the fruits of his life's work fall into the hands of this unscrupulous rascal.

Once the telegram was sent to the lawyer, they waited an hour for a responding telegram, confirming that he would do what she asked of him in the telegram. However, in his responding telegram, the lawyer wanted to know why she was telling him to do this.

Morro was not pleased with the delay and had a telegram sent back, saying she was getting married and the money was going into the groom's account.

They had to wait another hour for a response saying that the lawyer would finally do what she asked.

At that point, Morro decided it was time to eat the midday meal, after which they would return to the telegraph office to await yet another telegram from the lawyer saying that he actually did do what was requested of him.

Morro chose the Noscut Saloon as the place to dine.

Archer opted to sit at the bar and drink a liquid meal. Morro wished to sit at a table with only Sam as a dining companion. That left Bansha and Kai to eat together a few tables down.

Kai would have preferred the company of the younger female in their group, but however odd Bansha seemed, she was still a lady, so Kai would try to make the best of it.

It was awkward, though. As they waited for their food to be served, he'd bring up topics such as the weather, the saloon décor, and the recent goings-on in Ninjago Town, and she'd give terse, one-sentence replies that were not conducive to conversation.

Finally, to his relief, the saloon girl brought their food. Kai had a steak. Bansha had a bowl of soup.

The awkwardness didn't end, though, for Kai still had his handcuffs on, and trying to cut the meat with shackled wrists was nigh on impossible.

Bansha noticed his difficulty as she loudly slurped a spoonful of soup. She grinned a toothless grin.

"Havin' a little trouble there, sonny?"

"Yep. About what you'd expect a handcuffed person to have when trying to use a knife and fork."

"Here, let me," she gleefully offered. Kai accepted her help, having no other choice, so she took the knife and fork and, with gnarled hands, deftly cut the meat into manageable pieces. Kai rolled his eyes at her delight in his predicament.

Thanking her when she gave the utensils back, he set out to carefully use them to try to move the food to his mouth in a graceful manner. Both hands had to be raised in order to take a bite.

After he had just taken his fourth bite, Bansha unexpectedly asked him a question. Whether it was the unexpectedness of her conversation or the content of the question, it almost made him spit out the steak.

"What are your intentions toward Missy over there?"

As Kai recovered from the surprise of the question and swallowed his bite of food, he wondered why Bansha was interested.

"Sam is a real fine gal and I intend to make her my wife when we get back to Ninjago Town."

"And where ya gonna live once ya get hitched?" Bansha inquired.

Kai recalled his conversation with Mr. Wu just a few weeks back, in which Kai revealed his intention to propose to Skylor. Mr. Wu had said that if Skylor's answer was yes, Mr. Wu would build a small cottage for the couple on the premises of the ranch, as a wedding present. He had said he planned to do the same for any of his ranch hands when they were ready to get married. This news had pleased Jay when he heard about it from Kai.

Thinking of Skylor, Kai felt a bit embarrassed that he even proposed to her. The affection he may have felt for her did not compare to the enormity of love he felt for Sam right now. But Bansha did not need to know that part.

"Mr. Wu will likely build us a cottage on Garmadon Ranch," he answered.

"You like ranchin', sonny?"

Bansha is certainly full of questions today, Kai thought.

"I do like ranching," he firmly said. There was no job better than one which required being in the fresh air under the wide open sky. He smiled at how fortunate he was to be employed to do such work.

Bansha narrowed her eyes and peppered him with another question. "How many little shavers do ya want?"

A blush crept across Kai's face at the thought of the process of creating children with Sam. Then, putting that thought aside, he searched his heart and realized he'd probably like a number of kids. He himself had only one sibling and had always thought it'd be fun to have more instant playmates. Sam had used the plural word "children" when he had knelt on the ground in front of her that morning.

"Multiple," he responded.

"Good," Bansha sat back and smiled. "I got no more questions for ya, young feller, just one thing to say."

"What's that?"

Bansha took his steak knife and pointed it at him, her smile gone. "Always treat her good, y'hear?" she said. She was serious.

Kai's eyes widened and he held up his shackled hands, palms forward and fingers spread. "I intend to do so, ma'am."

"Fine," she said, resuming the slurping of her soup.

Kai moved the knife out of the odd lady's reach and resumed eating his steak.