MAHAN MOUNTAIN
By Laveral Rogers
Excerpt from MAHAN MOUNTAIN
Chapter 4
Wes and Lane were walking their horses for a while letting them rest, when off to the north of the trail they saw a small group of people gathered on top of a small hill. As their horses walked along, they could hear a low murmur coming from the group along with the sounds of a woman crying. The crying is what got their attention. They were both soft-hearted, especially when it came to women and children.
Wes and Lane stopped their horses and sat for a moment trying to see what was taking place with the group. Finally, Wes said, "Let's ride up there and see if we can help those people. They seem to be in distress."
"OK, that's a good idea," Lane answered.
Wes and Lane walked their horses toward the small group to keep from alarming them.
As they pulled up to the group, they could see there were five people, a middle-aged man and woman and three children ranging in age from about five to ten years old.
They were all crying to one extent or another with the woman and the two older children being more distraught than the others.
Lane and Wes dismounted, walking over to the family and introduced themselves, noticing a small child lay out on a blanket spread on the ground.
"Is this your child?" Lane asked, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "Yeah," the man said staring down at the child. "That's our baby girl. She's been sick for several days, we stopped at the last town and took her to the doctor but he couldn't determine what was ailing her. She has been running a high fever for a few days and she died this morning," the man said while wiping his eyes with his handerchief. "We were going to bury her here on the hill, beside the trail."
"I'm sure sorry for the loss of your little girl," Lane said, almost as a whisper. "Will you let us help you with the burial?" Lane continued, seeing that the man had already dug the small grave.
"We would be much obliged if you would," the man stated. The husband introduced himself, his wife and the remaining children to Wes and Lane.
Wes offered, "We're glad to help you folks, I can imagine what you're going through. What's your little girl's name?"
The mother spoke for the first time since the brothers offered to help. "Her name is Katie. Katie Jo Webster," her mother said proudly, kneeling down and touching the little girl's hair. Both Wes and Lane had a lump in their throats.
Turning to Lane, Katie's father asked,"Would you say a few words about Katie, mister? She was a fine little girl and there's no preacher around and I'm not much with words."
Lane swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat, saying,"I, er, I, I'm not much at preaching funerals." Wes, coming to Lane's rescue, knowing how Lane felt about little kids and funerals, spoke up. "Mr. and Mrs. Webster, we would be proud to say a few words about little Katie." ......................................
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