Falling Down

"Buck!"

Sunlight flashed in his eyes when he turned to find who had called his name. A familiar silhouette on top of the church's roof eclipsed the sun's brightness. Buck held his hand up to shade his eyes and saw JD's form stamped in brown tweed and white cotton against the ocean blue sky. An arm lifted and waved at him. Buck grinned and waved back.

Josiah's back, nearly hidden down the wayside of the roof, curved broad and strong behind JD. A hammer appeared above Josiah's shoulder in synchronized rhythm, then disappeared again with each dull thud. Benjamin, a young man Josiah had convinced that supper would taste better after a full day's work, stood bent near JD.

As Buck watched, Benjamin stood up, his back to JD. He held a plank against his body, his face turned to answer Josiah's questioning tones. Without looking, he shifted and swung the board around. It hit JD across the back, knocking him head over heels off the roof. He somersaulted to the ground, crashing through a hitching post before landing with a sickening crunch like wet sticks breaking.

An electric shock raced through Buck, singeing his nerves and exploding out the top of his head. He threw open his arms before his legs could move, yelling JD's name and finding the hopelessly desperate need within himself to call back time and keep his friend from falling.

His legs moved and he surged forward, aware of startled cries around him and someone calling for Nathan.

Josiah settled his weight to one hip. "I really need your help, Buck."

"Maybe later, Josiah." Buck shifted around to avoid Josiah's eyes, sipped his beer to hide his guilty frown. He slipped his arm around Amanda, nuzzled her cheek. "Sorry, but I'm busy right now."

"I'll help, Josiah." JD's answer, eager, but with just a tinge of reproach aimed at Buck, drifted through the room's rumbling noise. A chair scraped back with a rasp of wood against wood. Buck didn't watch them leave. He pressed his face against Amanda's neck and congratulated himself on ducking out of the hot work. Reroofing a building wasn't something he cared to tackle in the heat of the day. He'd help later, when it'd cooled off some. When he wasn't so busy.

He dropped to his knees beside the crumbled form.

Against his will the scene on the roof replayed itself, but this time he'd allowed Josiah to talk him into helping. This time he stood near, his jacket off, the sun melting his shirt to his skin.

He could have caught JD's ankle. JD's arms would have windmilled wildly as he nearly went over the roof edge, then he would have found his balance again and sat down hard. He would have turned to Buck, his eyes round and his face blanched white the instant before relief rushed in and widened his lips into a grin. "Dang, Buck! Glad you were here!" he'd say.

"Oh, JD." Buck pulled the young man to his lap, felt his heart shrink and contract in his chest with the way JD's arms flopped and his head rolled back without any life at all. A breeze caught the hair on JD's head and ruffled it, caressed it back from his face as gentle as a mother's touch. Despair pulled him into its dark embrace. Buck wrapped his arms tighter around his friend as heat stung his eyes and tears began to form.

JD gasped in one long breath that expanded his chest and arched his back. Both arms flailed wildly and his heels dug into the ground. Surprise held Buck frozen for one second before necessity sprang to his rescue and he struggled to calm JD down.

"Easy, take it easy, JD!"

Dark hands covered his own around JD's arms. "Let me check 'im, Buck."

Buck scooted back, allowing Nathan room to press his hand to JD's chest. Josiah, Benjamin, and a few others gathered around.

"He's all right, just got the wind knocked out of him is all."

With Nathan's help, JD set up slowly. He held a hand to the back of his head, his eyes squinted nearly shut with pain. "And my head. Don't forget my head, Nathan."

Buck found a laugh bursting out of his mouth. Relief surged through his veins like liquor; he felt giddy. "Looks like you landed on something hard enough to break your fall, JD."

"He ain't dead?"

Benjamin's tremulous voice drew Buck's attention to the young man. He stood nearby, watching from the edge of their circle as if afraid to come closer.

Buck shook his head, a crooked smile on his lips. "No, he ain't dead."

Aggrieved with Buck's indifferent attitude, JD pushed himself off the ground. Nathan stood with him, catching his shoulders to steady him when he swayed. He gestured wildly with one hand. "Well hell, Buck, maybe I just oughta go back up there and fall off again. Do it right this time and put you outa your misery!"

"You shouldna been up there in the first place, kid." His earlier grief forgotten, Buck stood and squared off with JD, nudging Nathan aside. "That's a man's job, somethin' you must not can handle." Arguing felt good, felt right. His world had been knocked off kilter and Buck felt it sliding back into place.

"Oh, I can handle it all right. You're the one that was scared. I saw your face when I woke up -- you was scared to death."

Before Buck could answer, Benjamin broke in. "I told you I was movin' them planks, JD. You shoulda been watchin' better."

Whoa, wait a minute. Back up here. It was one thing to tease JD and mess with him, keep his head from blowing up too big. But it was another thing to hit him when he was down. Unaware he'd just done the same thing, Buck turned to Benjamin. "You're the one that pushed him off, Benjamin. If you'd been watchin' what you were doin', it wouldna happened in the first place."

Benjamin's mouth opened and his face turned red. He lifted a finger to point at Buck, but Josiah reached out and pushed it down, then shouldered between the two. "Benjamin, get back to work. We got a lot to do if we want to get that hole patched before we lose our light. And Buck, why don't you take JD for a drink? Bet he could use one after what he's been through."

"Thank you, Josiah." JD turned and scooped his hat from the ground. He made a show of dusting it off, but both men noticed how he'd paled and saw the fine lines of strain around his eyes. "At least someone around here cares." He pushed his hat on his head and waited for Buck to join him. They walked to the saloon.

+ + + + + + +

The beer did help, JD found out. It also helped to sit still while his friends laughed and talked around him, helped to make things feel normal again. He reached up to rub his chest. A dull ache wrapped around his torso, pulsing deeper when he breathed. His head hurt, too, and he reached back to gently touch the lump that had appeared back there.

Tipping his head back, he drank the last of his beer. Buck had left just a few minutes ago, winking and nudging with his elbow that he had an appointment to keep. JD shook his head silently to himself, bothered just a bit that his friend wasn't concerned enough to stick around and make sure he made it to his room okay. It'd serve Buck right if he keeled over dead right now. The satisfaction of the burden that would place on Buck would be lost to him, of course. JD acknowledged that irony with a shrug and stood up to leave. Waving at Nathan's, "Take it easy for a few days," JD left the saloon.

Night brought with it a pleasant cool breeze. JD unfastened his coat and let it hang open, enjoying the just right temperature against his face.

A rough sound caught his attention. JD paused a step, then moved closer to the alley opening he'd just been about to cross. Words formed from the darkness. He recognized Buck's voice and stepped closer, ready to back his friend up if he was needed.

"You're just lucky he ain't hurt any worse, Benjamin. You ever do somethin' like that again and you'll wish you hadn't, y'hear?" Anger framed the words, pushing them into something deadlier than just a warning.

Something thumped against the building. JD jumped, startled.

"I hear ya, Buck!" Benjamin's voice strained through the alley, as if something pressed against his throat. "I won't never hurt him, I promise. It was an accident."

"I know that. If I thought it wasn't, I'd a done somethin' about it by now."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, JD felt a warmth steal over him. Yeah, he'd known Buck cared. But hearing it just made it better.

Moving away silently, he heading for the boarding house and bed.

The End