The Old Deringer, Part Eight

by J. Rosemary Moss

Genre: Fan Fiction (Bonanza)
Rating: PG

LINK TO PART ONE

~

Liam woke up to the smell of flapjacks. He opened his eyes and eagerly sat up, mindful of his leg.

The two maids were in the room again. One walked over to Liam, smiled ever so slightly, and set down a breakfast tray in front of him. The other was talking quietly with Adam at the door. At length they both left and Adam made his way to the bed.

He took a seat on the edge of it as Liam dug into the flapjacks. He seemed to be amused by the way Liam attacked the food.

“Morning,” Adam said, smiling as Liam shoveled the food into his mouth.

Liam mumbled a good morning back while he kept chewing his food. God, this was good.

Adam shook his head at him. “We’re going to have to teach you some table manners, boy,” he commented.

Liam shrugged. He was too busy cramming the food in to worry about pointless niceties.

“Listen, kid,” Adam continued, “I’ve got some business to take care of today, so I’ll be out for a few hours. I expect you to stay in bed and rest up that leg. The two maids you’ve seen—Nancy and Molly—will be in and out to check on you.”

Liam frowned at that as he stopped chewing for a moment and shoved the bites of food to the side of his mouth. “But I don’t need someone to check up on me. You don’t trust me, Adam?”

“At the moment, it’s not a question of trust,” Adam explained. “You need people to look over you because of your injury. You could still get an infection and a fever.”

“Oh,” Liam said as he went back to his food. “Guess I don’t mind, then.”

“Glad you approve,” Adam said wryly as he reached out to tousle his hair. “Do you want me to leave you with some paper and chalk to draw with? That should keep you occupied for a little while.”

“Ok,” Liam agreed.

Adam stood up and gathered the drawing materials. He set them on a small night table near the bed. Then he grabbed his hat and his yellow coat, said goodbye and left the room.

Liam finished the rest of his breakfast and then leaned over the bed, setting the tray on the floor. He picked up the paper and chalk and made a few sketches, but they weren’t that good. Pretty soon he got frustrated.

He looked over the room. There was one small fireplace, which he hadn't paid much mind to before. It wasn’t lit right now, because it was spring.

Liam thought about that. Spring in San Francisco was still pretty chilly. Maybe he could get the maids to light the fire for him. And if so, he could make sure they got a big surprise.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the maids, he thought as he climbed out of bed and began hopping across the room, trying to spare his injured leg. It was just that they looked too serious. They could probably use a good laugh too.

He made it over to the desk and sat down on the chair. Then he began methodically going through Adam’s drawers.

There were some sketches of buildings inside. Liam stared at them, wondering if Adam had drawn them. If so, he was pretty good. There were also lots of important looking papers, which Liam decided to ignore. Adam probably didn’t want him touching those.

At last he found what he was looking for: spare bullets. He’d been pretty sure that Adam would have some.

He took four of the bullets and hobbled over to the fireplace. Then he took each bullet, broke the casing apart and sprinkled the gun powder inside over the logs. There—that should be enough to scare the maids out of their wits.

Liam hopped back over to the bed, hoping the maids had a sense of humor.

LINK TO PART NINE