Lifesaver [Engl.]

20. Please wait

Rango rode as fast as he could. From time to time he had to let his roadrunner rest. Then it went on again immediately or he switched from step, trot and gallop in order not to unnecessarily burden the animal.
Finally, after several hours of riding, he had reached the small outlying town, which consisted of only a few houses. Shortly before the first houses he dismounted and looked around. There was silence over the village. Only the wind blew lonely over the flat landscape. A sad sight. The only thing missing was a harmonica melody.
Rango was startled when he saw an old house with a sign hanging by the door with the letters: Doc. Baker.
He hurried to it and knocked. It took a while until something moved behind the curtains on the window at last.
"Who's there?" a dull voice asked from inside.
"My name is Sheriff Rango, the Sheriff of Dirt and I urgently need medicine."
"Do you have a collection letter?"
"Yes, here you are," Rango said and took out the envelope that Doc had given him.
Now there was a movement in the house. Someone unlocked the door and a fat little desert dog stood in the door frame.
"Here. These are the medicines I need." Rango handed him the letter. The little desert dog opened it and pulled out the piece of paper. He read through it briefly, then handed the letter back to Rango.
"Sorry, the doctor is not in the house. Is on a house call. I'm not allowed to give you the medication until he's here."
Rango's mouth stayed open. "But this is an emergency!"
"I'm sorry. But you have to wait until the doctor comes back."
"Why do I have to wait for the doctor?" Rango asked angrily. "You can also give me the medication."
"I could. Whatever I did. Until the last messenger turned out to be a fraud. Since then it has only been left to the doctor to hand over the medicines. We're not a pharmacy here. And nowadays you can't trust anyone anymore."
Rango snorted. "And what should I do now?"
"You wait until the doctor comes."
"And how long will that take?"
"No idea. It's a home visit, far from here. May he will need longer."
"I can't wait that long!"
"Listen to me, mister. I can't help it if the farms are so far away. Just wait here."
With these words the assistant closed the door and left Rango outside.
Rango stared speechlessly at the closed door.
"Great!" He cursed. "Not that!"
Angrily, he turned and took a few steps away from the house.
"Especially today! Just why? Why today? "Rango touched his head. Everything went wrong today.

Beans leaned worriedly on the door frame of the mayor's room and watched as Doc tried to wash off Jake's infected wounds with warm water.
Doc had to cut open some areas with a scalpel to allow the pus to drain. Jake endured it all through clenched teeth. Although the doctor had given him a strong sedative, Jake tossed and turned restlessly, which made the Doc's work even more difficult.
Doc wiped the sweat off from his forehead with exhaustion. It was hard work treating the whole snake body.
After a while, Doc picked up the bowl to fetch more water. When he passed Beans, she looked at him questioningly. Doc stopped and both cast a concerned look at Jake.
"He won't fight the inflammation alone," Doc said quietly.
Beans nodded. "I know."
She looked thoughtfully at Jake. "I'm a reptile too," Beans continued quietly. "When I was sick, my dad put me in the warm water to create the fever artificially."
"We don't have a big bowl of warm water," Doc said.
Both were silent.
"Maybe a warm sunbath will help," Priscilla said, who was standing next to them.
Doc scratched his chin. "That would be an alternative. At least for now. But not for too long. Best in partial shade and only briefly in the sun. It's also quite warm outside in the shade."
There was a little pause. Everyone shot questioning looks.
"And you think that will do something, Doc?" Beans asked.
"We could give it a try," Doc said thoughtfully. "It's quite cold here in the room. His body temperature has to be a little higher so that his body has a chance at least."
Beans nodded. Then she walked over to Jake with soft steps. Jake had closed his eyes again. She gently touched his neck. "Jake? Jake?"
Jake blinked.
"Jake. You have to go outside. We need to get your body temperature a little higher."
With a low growl, Jake turned to the other side.
Beans raised her eyebrows. "Come on Jake, you have to get up."
"Just leave me alone."
"Come on. Up with you!" Beans pushed him sideways.
"Stop it!" Jake yelled, hissing menacingly.
Worried Doc pulled her away from Jake. "It doesn't work that way, Beans. He has to get up voluntary and he doesn't want that. We can't carry him out."
Beans twisted her mouth. "Oh yes, he will get up. Now let's do it my way."

Moments later, Beans came back into the room armed with her rifle.
Doc and Priscilla glanced at each other uncertainly. How would Jake react?
Beans stopped in front of Jake and held the barrel of the rifle right in front of Jake's face.
"You get up right now!", She said sternly and released the safety catch on her rifle. "Or you can collect your eyes from the floor!"
When Jake looked into Bean's rifle, he gave a short growl and Doc feared he would attack her with his fangs. But to his surprise, Jake complied. Reluctantly, the great rattlesnake rose and crawled down the stairs to the street.
Satisfied with herself Beans put her rifle over her shoulder. "Oh look, it works."

Miss Oats stopped when she saw Jake come out from town hall. Elgin and Buford, who were about to go to the lake, also stopped on the way and stared at Jake in amazement.
Jake lowered his gaze. He felt miserable. It was humiliating for him to present himself like that on the street. Like a weakling. He gasped heavily, but he tried to hold it back. He looked up when Beans held up her rifle again. "Let's go! Forward!"
Jake crawled down the street through with clenched teeth. The other townspeople followed her with their eyes.
Spoons, who was just coming out of the saloon, stopped in amazement on the doorstep when Jake and Beans passed him.
"Is that going to be an execution?" Spoons asked. "We hadn't had that for a long time."
Jake sighed and looked deeper.
This humiliation.

Beans led Jake next to a large shed on the outskirts of town. There she piloted him first into the sun.
"You stay there now until I tell you to go into the shadows."
Jake growled, but said nothing. Exhausted, he dropped to the floor and lay there pouting. After Beans made sure he wouldn't get up, she walked over to the shed and leaned against the wall.
After a few minutes she called Jake over to her. "Okay. Go to the shadows."
With a defiant look, Jake rose again and crawled into the shadows in front of the old shed. On the way he swayed a little. His circulation had broken because of the inflammation. But his pride was far too strong and barely suppressed a slight wail. He curled up in the shade and laid his head on the loops of his body.
In the meantime, Beans sat cross-legged a few meters away from him and did not take his eyes off him. As a precaution, she had placed her rifle on her lap.
Jake stared venomously at her for a while, then he closed his eyes.
Doc joined them a few minutes later. In his hands he held a large bowl filled with water.
"Mr. Jake?"
Jake opened his eyes wearily.
"You have to drink a lot," the doctor said. "Here. That will definitely help you."
With a low groan, he put the bowl of water in front of the large rattlesnake on the floor. Jake licked briefly, then he snorted contemptuously.
"I can get my water myself," he growled. With these words he rolled up and crawled towards the lake.
"Mr. Jake!" Doc called after him. "You have to take it easy!"
"Shut up!" Jake snapped and crawled on without a break.
"It's okay, Doc," Beans said. "I'll take care of him."
She stood up quickly and followed Jake at a safe distance.

Buford thought he was sunstroke when he saw Jake crawl to the beach. Miss Oats and Elbows, who were sitting on the beach, got up in alarm and fled a few meters away. Jake was triumphant inside. He liked that others were afraid of him.
Without changing a face, he crawled to the bank and drank calmly.
In contrast to the city dwellers. Some swam quickly out of the water, while the others on the beach remained frozen on their towels or loungers.
After quenching his first thirst, Jake raised his head and looked around.
It was dead quiet at the lake. Nobody dared to move. That respectful silence made Jake cocky. He raised his torso proudly and crawled along the bank. Everyone followed him with their eyes. What was Jake up to do?
Suddenly Jake turned his head aside and hissed menacingly at Spoons, Elgin and Buford.
The three backed away with shock. Jake laughed darkly. He enjoyed his power, which he always radiated through his size and toxicity.
After this shock, he crawled on and wanted to make fun of hissing at others.
But suddenly he felt dizzy. He tumbled to the side, but was able to prevent falling to the floor at the last moment. He groaned and held his head. The pain had started again.
"Is the snake sick?" He heard Lucky say to Miss Oats.
Miss Oats hastily pulled Lucky away from the lake.
"That's none of our business," Miss Oats said and left the lake with Lucky in tow.
The other townspeople, on the other hand, stared at Jake in amazement and were very surprised at the change in his mood. For most of them this picture was completely new. Everyone knew Jake as a brutal killer. Now he stood weakened on the bank and made an impression of pity.
Jake had recovered from his weakness and raised his head threateningly.
Just don't show weakness, Jake thought. Just don't show weakness.
But as hard as Jake tried, this time his strength failed again. With a low moan, he sank to the floor. Beans, who had been watching him all along, quickly ran over to him.
"Come on Jake, you have to go back to the shadows."
Everyone watched in silence as Jake struggled to pull himself up again and crawled away with downcast eyes.
Elgin, Buford, and Spoons glanced at each other skeptically.

It was dawn. Rango looked nervously at the sky. He was still standing next to the doctor's house, walking restlessly up and down. His stomach growled. He hadn't eaten anything since this morning. He took his tic tac's out of his jacket pocket in silence. He took out two of them and chewed on them sourly instead of sucking. He stared impatiently into the distance. The doctor has still not shown up. Rango snorted. Then he ran to the front door and angrily pounded on it.
"Is the doctor finally here? I need the medication!"
It wasn't long before the door opened and the desert dog stood in front of him again.
"Mister, I told you I can't give you the medication until the doctor is there."
"Damn it!", Rango swore. "Where's he going for so long?"
"I told you he was on a house call. How often do you want to know that? "
With that, the assistant slammed the door.
Rango angrily hit the door with his fist and pressed his forehead against the wood.
"Oh, Jake," he mumbled desperately. "What should I do?"

Doc paced restlessly. "Where is he?" He mumbled and took out his pocket watch. "It's not far to the village."
The sun had almost disappeared behind the horizon and night was slowly falling.
Jake had crawled next to the shed again and was sleeping.
Beans, who was still sitting next to him, felt the coldness that settled over the land. She got up quietly and walked over to Doc.
"Still nothing, Doc?"
Doc shook his head. "No, I just don't understand it."
Beans grabbed his shoulders in alarm.
"I'm worried about Rango," she said quietly, looking over at Jake. "If something happens to Jake, he'll blame himself forever."
Doc looked at her questioningly. "How should you know that?"
Beans raised his eyebrows. "I just know that."
Both listened to the silence.
"Doc," Beans began. "It's getting cold. What should we do now?"
Doc scratched his head thoughtfully and cast a worried look at Jake. "His body temperature mustn't drop too much."
"What do you suggest?"
"Hmm. The best thing would be to make a campfire. And maybe best of all to keep him warm with damp cloths that we can put over him."
Beans sighed. "But that could be a lot of work. The cloths could cool down quickly. "
"Then we need help."
"Fine, but first let's make a fire."

Beans coughed as the smoke from the big campfire wafted into her face. She waved her arms in the air to remove the smoke. After a while the smoke settled and the campfire burned quietly in the pile of wood that she and Doc had laboriously put together.
Jake didn't notice any of this. He still had his eyes closed and seemed to be sound asleep.
Silently she looked at the killer. In the glow of the campfire his presence seemed almost eerie, but at the same time not threatening. Like a dormant volcano that contained poisonous fire.
She looked up when she heard Doc approach.
"I asked in town if they could lend us a couple of towels."
Beans raised his eyebrows. "But?"
"But what?"
"There's sure to be a 'but' there, isn't it?"
"Uh, well ..." Doc scratched his head nervously. "I asked, but I don't think most of them are excited about borrowing a few towels."
Beans sighed. "That was to be expected. That means that we have to do it ourselves."
"It looks that way."
"Doc."
Both turned around. Not far away stood Elgin and Spoons. Neither of them looked friendly. More seriously. A tad too serious for Beans.
"Doc," Elgin began again. "Can you come with me for a minute?"
"Where?"
"Just come with me. We have something to discuss."
Doc shrugged. "All right," he said, giving Beans an apologetic look. "I'll be right back."
"It's okay, Doc."
Doc disappeared into town with Elgin and Spoons.
Beans looked after them carefully. As soon as they had disappeared behind the houses, she quietly crept after them. But after a few meters she stopped.
Who was watching Jake for so long?
"Hey, you two," Beans said when she saw Cletus and Lucky standing on a terrace.
"Do me a favor and watch Jake until I come back."
In amazement, Cletus and Lucky stared after Beans, who was walking hastily down the street.