Chapter 2: The Young Warrior

Sissy entered Colleen's bedroom the next morning to find her young mistress gone missing. Hurriedly she ran to Matilda crying, "Miss Colleen is done gone!"

Matilda hurried into the girl's room and found the young girl was indeed gone. "Oh lord, oh my lord, go get Missus right now." She rechecked the small bathroom again in hopes her little mistress would be in there, somehow overlooked. She rushed out into the yard and called for her.

Millicent Summers sprang out of bed when told her daughter was missing. "Oh no, it must be some mistake," she told Matilda in unbelief. "Colleen just could not have disappeared, she couldn't." She searched every one of the twelve rooms, opening every closet and cupboard door.

"That po' girl just wouldn't run off fo' no reason at all, she just wouldn't." Matilda wrung her hands. "We got to find her."

All at once Millicent stopped as it dawned on her where her daughter had gone and why. "That Road House, she's gone to find Billy. Oh God. Matilda, tell Arthur to bring my auto to the front door. Hurry." She rushed upstairs to change into a dress suitable for driving.

In minutes she hurried out the front door and into the new Packard sedan waiting for her with the engine running. Arthur, the gardener, hurried to open the heavy wrought iron gates barring the entrance to the Summers' driveway.

Millicent turned south to Main Street and drove east out of town, as she tried to keep close watch on both sides of the street and the road ahead. She gasped, her heart lurched as she saw Colleen backed up against a wood fence. Billy stood in front of her as he faced three older boys who teased them. She stopped the car and began to get out.

Two adults watched, laughing at the spectacle of the much smaller Billy try to fend off the much larger boys off with a length of board. Suddenly he rammed his makeshift weapon into one boy's face and blood spurted from the tormentor's nose. Billy swung the board like a bat and caught the second one in the temple. The boy fell and didn't move. The third and largest of the trio rushed in and kicked Billy in the side.

Billy fell, doubled up and moaned, "P-princess I..."

As the older boy stepped forward and swung back his foot to kick Billy, Colleen grabbed up the board and made a clumsy stab with the broken end into the boy's face. "Don't you dare touch my Billy." she screamed at him.

One of the bystanders was no longer laughing. "Hey, 's my boy you hurt, damn you!" he yelled as he rushed toward the small girl with his hand raised to strike her.

Millicent slammed the car door open and ran toward the angry father. "Stop." she screamed and grabbed the man by the shoulder, jumped high as she could and sank her teeth in his lower jowl.

He yelled in rage and struck her face with his open hand as hard as he could in an attempt to knock her loose. A large chunk of his chin went with her as she fell free. Dizzy, Billy got to his feet, saw Colleen's mother as the man struck her, grabbed up the board and swung it with all his might. He struck the man in the temple. The other onlooker stood there unmoving.

"Git out of here you white trash." Billy screamed at the man he hit and the other one. "Git out of here or I'll kill you both dead."

Shaken, Millicent got back on her feet and looked at her daughter, "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Of course I am all right, I had Billy to protect me. After all, I am Billy's princess." She gave her friend an adoring smile and told her mother, "We beat them, Mother. Billy and I fought them off!" The excitement brought a life to her face Millicent had never seen before.

"We better get out of here," Billy said, bringing Millicent out of her daze. "Let's get in your car an' just go. I can't whup both of them grownups at the same time. I might beat one if I had to protect my princess and her mama." Billy's strong determination showed in his face.

Without argument, Millicent led the way to the parked car. The two children hurried to climb in through the door Millicent had left open. She followed and closed the door. She was thankful the engine was still running.

The man Millicent had bitten lunged forward as she started to drive off. "Hey." he yelled. Then the left front fender of the heavy Packard clipped him and knocked him back to the pavement. Millicent drove off without looking back even once. Millicent felt her face begin to swell. The acrid taste of the flesh she had bitten off the man's cheek was still in her mouth. She steered with one hand and wiped her mouth on the back of the sleeve of her free arm. She drove home as fast as she dared.

The moment Millicent pulled into their drive, she honked the horn. Arthur came hurrying out and opened the gates wide to permit her to drive on through. She drove to the side of the house and parked. Billy opened the door and hopped out. He held it open for Colleen and waited for her to exit. Millicent stepped out of the car. The pain in her face was worse; she could barely see out of her one eye. The three went inside the house.

Billy looked up at Millicent and said, "I don't feel so good." He slowly fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Blood oozed from a cut on the back of his head. He lay there unmoving.

"Oh dear." Millicent exclaimed.

"Take him intro the guest room," Millicent ordered. "Oh dear, I most certainly look the mess," she muttered to herself as she saw her reflection in the mirror.

Colleen hurried to the wall telephone, cranked it once and said, "Please give me Doctor Price's office." She waited impatiently until the doctor came to the telephone. "This is Colleen Summers. We have an emergency at our house. Please come and bring your medicine." She hung the phone up.

Matilda had begun to wipe Billy's head with a cold, damp cloth when Colleen entered the room. "Let me do it," she said. "You look after Mother." She plucked the washcloth from Matilda's hand. The maid shook her head and left the room. She sought out Millicent Summers.

"Miss Colleen say she want to wash that boy's face. I come in here to help you, ma'am." Matilda was ill at ease. There were too many strange goings on she did not know how to respond to. Prior to this strange day, there had never been anything stressful happen in the Summers' household.

Just then the front doorbell chimed. "Please go answer the door, Matilda, I'm all right." Millicent looked at her swollen face in the mirror. She was horrified at her disfigured features.

Matilda led Doctor Price into the bedroom. "My word. What happened to you?. He examined the injury to her face.

"A person intended to strike Colleen and I intervened. We have some very unsavory people in this town. I intend to speak to Martin about it."

"Ah yes," the doctor answered. "The best thing you can do is to apply an ice pack to help the swelling go down. Are there any other injured?" he asked, meaning Colleen.

"Well, I would like for you to look at Billy. He was hurt rather badly I'm afraid. He protected Colleen until I arrived." She led the way to the guest room.

"I sure am lucky I got hurt today. I got me a real princess to wash my face," Billy said. He was still dizzy from the blow to his head. He lay on his back, an unfocused smile on his face. The bedding around his head was soaked with water.

"I am nursing Billy back to health, Mother," Colleen told her. She smiled with pride at her newfound abilities as a healer of fierce young warriors.

"And a grand job of nursing it is, too," Doctor Price told her with a smile. "Yet since I am here perhaps I could check for any other problems."

"Oh, very well," Colleen told him. She stood back and watched with a critical eye as the doctor looked into the boy's eyes.

"Sit up, Billy," ordered the doctor.

Billy made it halfway to a sitting position. His face paled and he fell back. "I got sick in my head and my belly," he said.

"Ah yes. Roll over, please." Billy did as he was told. The doctor took note of the two head injuries. He gently prodded the boy's back and noted the winces when he pressed in the area of the kidneys. "Thank you, Billy," he said and motioned Millicent out into the hallway.

"What is it, Doctor? Are his injuries critical?"

"Not in any life threatening way, he has a severe concussion. There seems to be a slight bit of damage to his inner ear. Also his kidneys appear to have been bruised a bit. He needs bed rest for a few days and very limited time on his feet for the next two weeks. Inner ear and kidney injuries can both have repercussions at times. He may recover completely in a week's time and he may take a bit longer. All I can prescribe is plenty of rest and sunshine. Also, he does not appear to have gotten proper nourishment. His food needs should be addressed as well. He looks vaguely familiar. Do I know his family?

"Well, in one capacity or another you might know his mother, she works at the Roadhouse." She smiled, greatly amused at the instant guilty expression on his face. To save the doctor further discomfort, Millicent added, "Of course, I am aware a doctor must make calls where ever there is illness."

"Ah yes, I have made medical calls out there. I must have ah, seen him then. Yes." The doctor suddenly realized he was babbling and shut up.

"The doctor and I shall take good care of Billy," Colleen told her mother. She smiled at her patient and patted his hand. "I shall care for you and you will soon recover."

The doctor replaced his stethoscope in his bag and Millicent walked him to the door. She thanked him and started to close the door behind him when she saw Martin drive up to he gates, jump out of his Stutz Bearcat Roadster and run through the pedestrian gate. "Good lord, Millicent, what is going on here? I had two crazy men barge into my office who claim you ran one over with your car and..." He suddenly ran out of words as he looked at her bruised and swollen jaw. "You're hurt, what happened?"

"A ruffian struck me in the face, as you can see," she answered in a prim voice.

"Why did a ruffian strike you in the face?" he asked. He spoke slowly and enunciated every word with care.

"Come in the house, Martin. This has been a very trying morning." She led her husband into the music room and sat him on the large couch.

Matilda came into the room to ask if they wished anything. "Bring us coffee, please, Matilda and ask Arthur to bring Mister Summers' car into the yard. Tell him to park it in front of the house, Mister Summers might wish to return to his office in a few minutes."

"Now Millicent," Martin Summers had no idea of how to proceed his interrogation of the woman who was his wife. Pray tell me, why did some ruffian strike you in the face?" He looked at his wife as if he had never really seen her before. He felt as if he were in the presence of a stranger.

"He struck me after I bit his cheek," she answered in a calm, off-handed manner as if everything had been explained.

"I hesitate to ask, please tell me, why did you bite the man? To the best of my knowledge you do not go around willy-nilly biting people, especially strange men. Am I correct in this one assumption? You have never bitten a stranger before in your life, have you?" Martin feard he would not care to hear her answer.

Then the calm pose she had tried to adopt disappeared, "I bit man's cheek because I was not tall enough to bite his ear off. I hope he gets infected and dies."

Martin was taken aback by her vehemence. He had never seen his wife in such an emotional state. He asked with care, "And what did this individual do to merit such treatment at your hands, er, teeth? He did do something to merit such treatment, did he not?"

"He tried to strike my Colleen," she answered. "And if he or any other person ever tries to lay a hand on our child I shall do worse than merely bite that someone to protect her."

"Millicent, for heaven's sake, tell me one thing. Why would any person ever wish to strike my daughter Colleen? I don't understand."

"Our daughter," she corrected him, "stabbed the man's son in the face with the jagged end of a broken board. She did it quite well, I might add," she told her husband. The normally polished young matron exhibited a fierce nature even she never knew she had until that moment.

"Millicent, I feel there is some essential bit of information I still seem to be lacking. According to those two people waiting in my office this little adventure happened out on the eastern edge of town just a short ways from the Road House." Suddenly another part of the puzzle fell into place. "That boy." he exclaimed. "He's at the bottom of this."

"Only in an indirect way. You see, she was protecting Billy from further harm after an older boy, one of three knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the side as he lay stunned and helpless. Our Colleen is as fearless as a lioness." She smiled her pride as she remembered the way their daughter protecting the helpless Billy.

"Millicent, I am becoming more confused as you unfold the tapestry of your compelling tale of derring-do. Please, would you start at the beginning and tell me just how our frail little daughter has become metamorphosed into a raging lioness. Please, start at the beginning, I beg you."

Sissy came running into the room. "Missus. Mister. A bad man just hit Arthur and knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the side and is coming in here." The hysterical maid pointed behind her in the direction of the front door just as it slammed open.

The man Millicent bit on the cheek came barging through and into the music room. Without a word Martin Summers jumped to his feet and ran at the man. He grabbed the intruder by the upper arm, spun him around and slammed him face on into the wall. There was a satisfying muffled "thump" and the man fell to the floor in an unconscious heap where he was kicked in the head once to ensure he was truly unconscious. Sissy's eyes grew round as she witnessed her quiet spoken employer demolish an adversary with ease.

"Sissy, tell Matilda to see to Arthur. Millicent, call the police and have someone come out here and arrest this ... this..." Words failed him he was so angry.

Sissy screamed as she saw Billy standing just inside the door weakly leaning against the wall, a much too large for his small hand revolver aimed shakily at the downed man. "I was going to shoot him if he hurt y'all," Billy told Martin Summers. "Y'all don't like me but you're the princess's daddy and I won't let nobody hurt you. You want me to shoot him anyway?"

"Ah, no, shooting will not be necessary. Let me have the gun, please." Martin took care as he removed the large revolver and checked to reset the safety on it. "Thank you for your concern, Billy." He looked down at the small boy as if he saw him for the first time. In a way he did see Billy for the first time.

Colleen stood just outside the door. "I showed Billy where the gun was and he protected us. My Billy is brave," she told her father. The young girl's voice was filled with adoration for her hero, Billy.

"Yes," Martin Summers answered. He could think of nothing else to say.

Almost as if the whole event was a poorly directed drawing room comedy in one continuous act, Doctor Price made his entrance. "I cared for the servant outside who was beaten by this man." He pointed at the downed intruder. "If you would like, I shall see to him next."

"Don't bother, Doctor. He's bound for jail as soon as a policeman arrives to cart him off." Again as if on cue a uniformed member of the Woodman Police Department came in with a partner. They dragged the man to his feet and removed him with no fuss.

The doctor left and Martin Summers watched his frail little daughter help Billy over to a chair. "I get real dizzy," he explained.

Martin Summers took a deep breath. As he let it out he asked, "Millicent, would you please explain to me just what is going on here? I keep hearing all these fascinating tidbits of information just a bit at a time, but they do not add up to a whole story."

"First, Colleen turned up missing this morning," Millicent told her husband. "She had gone to look for Billy. I took the Packard and drove toward the Roadhouse. I felt she might have gone in that direction as she sought her young friend." She emphasized the word "friend."

"Why didn't you call me at once when you found she was missing?" her husband asked in anger.

"Martin, it was because of you this whole matter started. I was certain I would find her somewhere between here and the Road House. I was correct in my assumption. What I did not anticipate were the three young ruffians and the two adults who had accosted our daughter. It's a good thing I hurried to find her like I did, otherwise who knows what all would have happened."

"You're right this time," he agreed. "Still you should have called me before you charged out on your own. Please do so the next time, if there ever is one." He patted her shoulder.

"Mother, would someone help me take Billy back to his bed? He appears a bit pale." Colleen looked at both her parents.

Billy had slumped to the floor. He looked ready to pass out once more. Colleen patted his hand and fretted about him like a little mother hen. Martin Summers picked the boy up and carried him into his den, a small room facing the front lawn. It was next to Colleen's room. "Make him a bed up in here. This is much more cheery than our dark guest room." He placed Billy on the leather-covered sofa against one wall.

Colleen hurried to fetch Matilda. "Miss Colleen says you want to set up a bed in here?" she asked as she entered the room.

"Yes please," Martin Summers answered in a quiet voice. "Get Miss Colleen's old bed out of the storage room. I'll move my desk over a bit and there will be a place by the window for him to look out.

After the desk was moved, the ever-practical Martin Summers grabbed up the telephone and called Arnold's Department store. "This is Martin Summers. I would like ten changes of underwear suitable for a young lad about nine years of age, a bit on the smallish side."