My Five Sons

When they reached Laredo, Shawn asked the first man he saw, “Where can we find a doctor? My friend is wounded.” “Two streets ahead on the right,” the man replied. They pulled up at a small house. The shingle hanging in front read: “Doctor Luther Williams, M.D.” Shawn knocked on the door and was admitted by a young woman. He told her, “We are Texas Rangers, and my friend here is wounded in the leg. Can we see the doctor?” “I’ll get him for you right away. He is examining a woman with gout, but this will take priority,” she said. Dr. Williams ushered out the lady with gout. She limped to a chair, sat down, and asked, “Are you Texas Rangers?” “Yes ma’am,” Shawn answered. Then Shawn helped Wilson get into the examining room, where Dr. Williams helped Jack take off his jeans and boots, then examined the wound. Wilson obviously was in pain, so the doctor asked him, “Want a drink?” “I never turn down a drink,” Wilson said. The doctor poured him a half-glass of brandy, which he instantly emptied. “Thanks, Doc,” he said. The doctor probed about the leg, and then announced, “Well, it looks like you got lucky. The bullet missed the bone, but you have lost a lot of blood. Do you have a place you can stay off your feet for a day or two?” Dr. Williams asked. Shawn answered for him, “We are staying at a rooming house up the street. There are two more of us, and we can look after him.” “That’s good. Now if you will wait in the outer room and ask my nurse to come in here, I’ll get him bandaged up and you can take him home with you,” Dr. Williams instructed. Shawn went out and asked the nurse to go in to help the doctor. Then he took a seat opposite the gout-stricken lady. She asked him, “How did your friend get shot?” “We got into a shootout with some banditos up river from here,” he told her. “Were they the same ones who raided the Hogan Ranch?” “I think so. We tracked them from the Hogan Ranch to where we caught up with them,” he said. “Did you find the little Hogan girl?” she wanted to know. “No, ma’am. I’m afraid they killed her,” he replied. “Oh, that poor thing. I hope you killed them all,” she said. “Yes ma’am. We did,” he answered. “Good. I am Mrs. Garcia, and I was that poor little girl’s godmother. My husband is the mayor here, so if there is anything you need while you are here, just let me know,” she told him. Then the doctor and nurse came out and asked Mrs. Garcia, “That Ranger is sleeping now, and I don’t want to wake him, so could I see you tomorrow?” “Of course. Let that poor man sleep. His partner here just told me he was shot during a gunfight with the bandits who killed the Hogans. They are heroes in this town,” she announced. Then the doctor got interested and asked, “How many banditos were there?” “Ten,” Shawn responded. “And how many of you Rangers?” he inquired. “Four,” answered Shawn. “Then you are heroes,” the nurse chimed in. “No, not heroes, just Texas Rangers doing our job,” Shawn replied. “Where are you staying?” Mrs. Garcia asked. “At the rooming house down the street, next to the diner,” Shawn responded. “Well, we can do better than that for heroes. Blanca, run over to the Laredo house and see if they have two rooms available for our heroes,” she instructed.