Back East

(Note: This is my first attempt at a western short. Hope it has some merit.)

“Why are you so jittery?” Marge McCloud asked Jeb, who was in and out of the farmhouse and couldn’t sit down two minutes.
“Can’t put my finger on it,” her husband said. “But I got Gertie on my mind, I’ll say that much.”
Marge thought a few seconds. Gertie Ford, recently widowed and living a few miles away, was one of their best friends. “Well, guess you’d best take old Noah and go see about her. It’s the only way we’re gonna get any rest.”
“Guess I’d better,” he said. “I’ll be back soon as I can.”
“Don’t linger,” Marge said. “Might come up a storm.”
Jeb smiled. “You jealous?” he asked.
Marge looked away. “Would you be?” she asked.
Jeb rode off on Noah, their only stud. For a horse, he’d enabled the McClouds to enjoy a lot of monthly church socials. The dry, ranch dust swirled in the air after them.
Approaching Gertie’s place, Jeb couldn’t spot her anywhere outside doing chores. “Might be napping. Might be mending something inside,” he thought.
He tried the door when she didn’t answer his knock. It opened and he went inside. Still no sign of Gertie.
He was about to give up the possibility she was anywhere behind the house when he saw a slight movement over by the well. She was lying on the ground near it, either dead or almost. He’d never seen anybody so pale.
Jeb picked Gertie up and carried her gently inside the house. She opened her eyes weakly as he laid her atop her bed and covered her shrunken, broken body with a nearby quilt.
“Fixing the roof,” she mumbled. “Before the rains come.”
“You mean you fell off the roof?” Jeb asked, already quite sure of the answer. “How long’s it been?”
“Can’t remember,” Gertie said weakly. “Two days, maybe three.”
“Well, guess you’re in a fine fix now, Gertie Hanson. You’d best come with me and Noah. Marge’ll keep you company and make you more comfortable while I go fetch Doc Hinds.”
“No,” Gertie said in obvious pain. “Too late. Hurts too much.”
“Well, I can’t just leave you here by yourself. That’s why this thing happened in the first place. Being all alone,” Jeb said.
“Water. Just bring me some water. Then...”
Jeb could’ve broken his head against a porch post. Why hadn’t he thought to bring Gertie some water? He went over to the kitchen area to fetch a clean pail and dipper.
As he walked to the well, he thought how Marge would be terribly upset to learn about Gertie. She’d always said over and over Gertie didn’t have any common sense staying put on that farm to live alone. Unlike Marge and Jeb, Gertie and her husband had been a childless couple.
Gertie practically absorbed the water Jeb brought. It made her cough and gag since so much time had passed without a drop of it. Finally, Gertie spoke.
“Do something, Jeb. The pain is unbearable. You can’t leave me here. Can’t take me either.”
“It’s gonna hurt for you to ride Noah with me, Gertie. You’ll just have to be strong. Stronger than you’ve ever been in this life.”
She was saying something he didn’t make out at first. Then he recognized the word. “Pillow” she was saying.
What did she mean? Jeb wondered. Her head was lying on a pillow. Did she want another one? Then a terrible thought occurred to him. Surely she didn’t mean what he was thinking. Her eyes were looking intensely at him.
“I can’t Gertie,” he told her. “I mean, I could never.”
“Forgive,” she said softly. “I’ll forgive. I’m telling you to do it.”
He was right. Gertie meant just the dark thoughts he was thinking.
“There’s a higher power, Gertie. You know that.”
Her eyes were fixed on Jeb. They were intense. He’d never seen Gertie’s eyes so strange like that.
“The pain, Jeb. You don’t know pain like this.” A bony hand grabbed his shirt front.
His eyes filled with tears. Would he leave Noah in this shape? A dog even? Jeb slowly picked up the other pillow on the bed and placed it over Gertie’s face. If she fought, he didn’t know if he’d be able to finish it. He and Marge loved Gertie for the great friend and strong woman she’d been in their lives.
But she didn’t fight. Her strength to resist doing so was no less than amazing to him.
“Go east, Gertie,” Jeb said. “Go back east girl.”