Ted was so happy that Jacy was back that he couldn't wait to see and talk to her. He had decided to wait a few days though because he knew that she was pretty busy, but today was the day. Today as soon as he finished work he would head over and visit with her. He wanted to let her know that he was still her friend and had believed in her all along.

As he glanced up at the clock, he was relieved to see that it was ten minutes to closing time. He had been watching the clock all day and today of all days for some reason it seemed to have been ticking by too slowly for him. He pulled out his money and started counting it. He figured no one else would be coming in before closing and he could start doing his closing procedures and have them done about the time of closing.

"Good evening, Ted." Caller Bob walked up to the teller window. Ted was surprised to have such a late customer. He quickly put his money back in his box.

"Good evening, mayor. What can I do for you?" Ted asked as Caller Bob stood in front of him.

"Well, I need to withdraw some money. I'm putting up $50.00 for the winner of the Turkey Trot competition." Caller Bob replied.

"What?" Ted had heard that there was going to be a Turkey Trot dance, but he hadn't heard anything about a competition.

"I'm going to give $50.00 to the man who delivers me the biggest turkey for the Turkey Trot. We need turkeys for the Turkey Trot supper, and I thought a prize would make the fellas get out there and do some turkey hunting." He told Ted as Ted pulled out fifty dollars from his box.

Ted counted out the money to Caller Bob and said, "That sounds like a good idea. If I was a hunter I would do it."

"You don't hunt?" Caller Bob pocketed the money.

"No, never had, never will. I just don't like the thought of shooting animals." Ted replied.

"I don't hunt too much. I do sometimes, but with getting everything else ready for the dance, I don't think I'll have much time to do any turkey hunting. That's why I thought of awarding a prize for the one who brings me the biggest turkey. I'm going to go over and talk to Jacy about putting the announcement in the paper right now." Caller Bob said.

"Well, good hunting." Ted wished Caller Bob luck on his endeavor and when he saw his puzzlement, he explained, "I mean with participants for the turkey hunt."

"Oh yeah, thanks!" Caller Bob smiled and then headed over to the PEG.

It was closing time, so Ted locked the door and turned the open sign to close. He then proceeded to finish his closing duties. After that was done, he left and locked up the bank. He delivered the keys to Mr. Simmons and then went over to the PEG. Several times since Mr. Simmons had bought the hotel, Ted had to close up by himself. He didn't mind. In fact he liked running the bank all by himself. He much preferred solitude except that he liked Jacy's company.

The PEG door was already opened when Ted arrived, so he just entered. The first thing he noticed was that the place was a mess. There were papers all over the place and Jacy was rambling through some at her desk. "Good evening, Jacy." He walked closer to her.

Startled she jumped a mile high out of her chair and the chair tipped over and she banged her knee on the desk. "Ooooh!! She groaned as her knee hurt.

"OH, Jacy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Ted said as he came up to her and picked up the chair. "Are you alright?"

She rubbed her knee and gave Ted a mean look. "It's not nice to sneak up on people." She grabbed her chair away from Ted and sat back down on it.

"I'm really sorry Jacy. But the door was opened." Ted had never known Jacy to be so jumpy. He'd always came in before and even when Jacy didn't realize that he was there she would get startled and move a tad but not as much as she had this time. And she had never been mean to him. Looking at all the papers tossed around, he decided that she must be stressed out trying to get back into the swing of things.

"It's ok. Is there something I can do for you?" Her pain had subsided and now she was all business-like again.

"Uh . . . ummm . . ." He looked around the room trying to decide what to say. He had wanted to ask her to supper, but wasn't sure if he should do it now.

"Well?" Exasperated she gave him a why did you interrupt me look.

"I was wondering if you were going to be printing any more of that story?" Ted asked.

Puzzled she asked, "What story?"

"Ummm the love story of Buck and Sarah?" The name eluded him for the moment.

"Uhhh . . . well maybe. We'll see." She turned around and dived back into her papers." Hopefully he would get the hint and leave.

Ted got the hint alright and started to leave. He stopped and said, "Ummmm, well Jacy when you're not so swamped maybe we could go riding together." She didn't say anything but waved a hand behind her, so he left.

On his way back to his hotel room the only thing he can think about was Jacy and the way she had acted. He finally chalked it up to the pressures of work. He stopped midway to the hotel and thought that maybe he should have stayed and tried to help her, but then he changed his mind. He was afraid if he went back that she would snap his head off for interrupting her again. Maybe she just needed a few more days to get settled back in to her regular routine.