Cleaning; the first day (Savanah)

I woke up from the sunshine hitting my face. As i was stretching out my body I saw Hope lying in the bed next to me, still sleeping. For a moment I didn't know where I was but I quickly remembered as I sat up, put my feet on the floor and stood up. My body was so sore. Exercise is good for the body but walking for two days straight might have been a little too much. I sat back down on the bed. Here I was, in a town unfamiliar to me, trapped without any of my things, no money. It has been three days now since the coach Hope and I were on was robbed by a bunch of ruffians. They were relentless, they murdered the driver and took everything, even the old lady's wedding ring. Tears welled up in my eyes, I couldn't forget the look in her eyes. She had told me that she was 81 and traveling to see her son who had build a new life in San Francisco after he made himself rich striking it big during the gold rush. She knew it would be her last trip but she couldn't live with the thought of never seeing her only son again before she would pass on. She was so excited and kept telling stories about the old days and how things had changed, now that her son had money to spend. Unfortunately things went so different. The stress was too much for her heart to take, as the robbers were stuffing the last of everyones belongings in their saddlebags and were getting ready to mount up and leave, the old lady started gasping for air, her hand grabbing her chest. Before Hope and I could do or say anything, she fell back, her eyes still wide open. Hope and I had looked at each other, not knowing what to do. After a good few seconds Hope was the first to respond, checking her pulse. Hope had looked at me with a terrified look in her eyes. ,,She is dead Savanah".

We buried her and the driver as good as we could alongside the road. It hadn't been easy without a shovel and the graves weren't as deep as they should be. We marked them with a cross made of branches, said a prayer and started walking.

A knock on my door snapped be back to the present, I quickly wiped away my tears with the back of my hand, stood up and opened the door. There was a young lady holding a tray with some bread, some cheese and 2 glasses of milk. ,,Compliments of the judge ma'am'' she said as she handed me the tray, turned around and walked away.

I put down the tray and poured some water from the pitcher into the basin to clean my face. The cool water was a welcome refreshment. While drying my hands with a small towel I looked at Hope, still sleeping. ,,Hope.. Hope!, It's time to wake up now" I said, trying to wake her. I got a muffled ,,Leave me alone" in response. I pulled back her blanket, ,,you really have to get up now Hope, you have to get dressed and ready as we promised the good judge to clean her courthouse, remember?" Hope looked at me and by the look in her eyes I could see she was far from amused. ,,I remember" she replied while she swung her legs out of the bed. ,,I know it's hard Hope, I'm tired and sore too but remember, we are only here by the good graces of the judge, if she wasn't so kind to help us, we would've been sleeping outside last night". ,,Yeah, I know." she said, stood up and walked over to the tray, got a glass of milk and started drinking.

After getting washed up, dressed and a small but welcome breakfast Hope and I walked over to the court house. ,,Hope, I think we have to send a telegram to the old lady's son telling him what happened, he will be worried when she doesn't arrive and he has to know what happened." ,,And how do you plan to do that without any money Sav, we have nothing remember." Hope replied. I could hear how agitated she was. ,,I know..." I whispered and stared at the ground in silence the rest of the walk.

When we arrived Hope filled 2 buckets of water ,,I will do the outside of the windows first and sweep around the building. When you're done inside we will do the inside of the windows together ok?" ,,Ok.." I opened the door of the courthouse and looked around. It sure was dusty here and I could see spiders had been busy decorating every corner with their webs. Ok Sav, you can do this I said to myself and I grabbed a broom. Let's start with cleaning out all the corners, as pretty as the spiderwebs were, they just couldn't stay there.

After all the spiderwebs were gone I opened the door to the judge's office. I couldn't help thinking about all the important decisions she had to make in here. I respected her for it, I knew I could never do it, send someone to hang. A shiver went down my spine, I collected myself and looked at the judges desk. It was shattered with papers. I piled them up with military precision and cleaned her desk with a wet rag. Who knew a desk could be so dusty! I grinned as I saw Hopes head in front of the window. In an attempt to cheer her up a little I stuck my tongue out and smiled. She looked back at me and pulled up the corners of her mouth some, but I could see there was no laughter in her eyes at all.

I kept cleaning, sprinkling water on the floor before sweeping, cleaning all the chairs and benches with a wet rag. Hope and I cleaned the inside of the windows in silence. It was clear she wasn't in a mood to talk about what happened and where to go from here. It was never her idea to travel to California, she only went because she refused to let me go on my search for Jackson on my own. She said it wasn't safe for a lady to travel on her own. Well, as it turned out, it wasn't safe for two ladies either. I loved her for caring enough about me to accompany me but right now I wished I would have said no. She never asked for any of this.

After the windows were so clean you would never guess there was glass at all, we both grabbed a mop and started mopping from the back to the front, each on a side. We went as fast as we could but we made sure the floor was as clean as a whistle.

We bumped in to each other by the door. ,,Well, this sure looks nice and clean now." I said to Hope. She knotted and grabbed the buckets. ,,I will empty these behind the courthouse". As I stepped outside I made sure the door was closed properly. No use in cleaning if the door will be open for the dust and sand to blow right back in again. Hope came back with the empty buckets. ,,Put them beside the door here Hope" I said and put the brooms in the bucket.

,,Ok, well, that's that Hope, let's go find the judge and let her know the courthouse is spic and span" I said as we walked away..