Erin watched as the small dog scurried across the alleyway entrance. Surely the poor little thing must be lost. She glanced over her shoulder at her grandfather, Liam Thomas, who talked with the man from the bank. Her brother, Cayden, was nearby but was slowly making his way along the boardwalk, temporarily unnoticed by her grandfather. He seemed very interested in the store windows and she had to wonder what he saw so fascinating there.

Cayden was a little strange but so far he had been very nice to her. But she knew that her grandfather didn�t trust him and rarely let him out of his, or some other adults, sight. He didn�t seem like he was trying to run away this time so Erin felt it would be okay for her to stop watching him long enough to check on the dog.

She entered the alleyway, following the small dog as it ran off.

~*~*~*~

Liam suddenly realized that he had not been paying attention to where Cayden was. Glancing up and down the street, he saw that the boy was no where to be seen. Muttering his apologies to Ted Brown, he set off in search of the boy, hoping he wouldn�t have to call on Hunter or his riders once more to find the boy. Erin was forgotten in his haste.

But Liam was lucky this time around. He found the boy in front of the saloon around the corner, staring through the window at the patrons inside.

Cayden jumped as he felt the hand clamp down on his shoulder. He let the older man lead him away and back toward the house they slept in.

~*~*~*~

Luke Saunders swept the hair cuttings on the floor into a small pile, cleaning up after his last customer. He had both the front door and back door of his barber shoppe propped open to allow in the unseasonable warm fresh air. This wonderful weather couldn�t last for long and he was determined to enjoy it for as long as he could.

As he bent to sweep up the pile of hair onto a dustpan, he heard a crash out back. Seconds later a small dog came trotting in through the back door and out the front. Luke watched it as it went, shaking his head in puzzlement. But the quiet sob that still came from out back is what caught his full attention and he put down his broom to investigate.

Young Erin James sat in the alleyway, her skirt pulled up enough to expose her knee. The stocking was torn and she was holding her leg, tears running down her face.

"Erin?" Luke asked walking up to the girl and squatting down beside her. "What happened darlin�?"

"I was trying to catch that dog and I tripped and fell." She was trying to stop the flow of tears that persisted in flowing down her face. "Can you help me? My Grandpa is out front."

"Well, darlin�, I just saw your Grandpa walking towards home with your brother. Tell you what, why don�t I have a look at that knee, clean it up a bit, then I�ll help you on home."

Erin liked this man with the funny accent. He was very nice. The tall man scooped her up and carried her into his shoppe. He deposited her in the barber chair and went to the back of his shoppe for a basin of water and some soft towels.

"Well this doesn�t look so bad," he said as he pulled up a stool and looked her knee over. "I think you�ll walk again." They both chuckled, Erin choking back her tears as she did, finding it impossible not to smile at him. Luke used the water and towels to clean away the dirt and blood from her knee. When he was done, she had to agree that the scrape wasn�t as bad as she had thought. In fact it hardly hurt at all because she had forgotten all about it as she listened to the man talk about a far away place called Australia while he worked.

"Done!" He announced. She stood up and the pain returned as she tried to bend her knee. Why do skinned knees have to hurt so bad? She took a few tentative, limping steps. Luke grabbed his jacket and closed the back door, locking it up. He walked out the door with the young girl, flipping over a sign on the door that stated �Gone to lunch. Back soon.� Then he and Erin began to walk toward the Thomas homestead.

They were about halfway there when Erin saw her grandfather walking toward them.

"I�m sorry girl," he said apologetically as he met them. "I didn�t mean to leave you behind. Your brother wandered off and, well, I guess I just got caught up in finding him. I�m sorry. And thank you for looking out for her Saunders. I hope she wasn�t any trouble."

"No, no trouble at all."