Voice of Reason 

	Kitty Russell kept a light grip on Chester’s shirtsleeve as she led him out of Doc Adams’ office.  She was very worried about Matt but she was more concerned over Chester.  She couldn’t do anything about Matt but Chester she might.  They started down the stairs, Chester first so he could half hop down the steps.  Kitty could hear him muttering the whole time.  She had to do something.  “Chester, go for a walk with me?” she asked sweetly.  
	“Miss Kitty I’ve got to go after Dan Grat!” he insisted.  Her eyes grew hard, “Chester, go for a walk with me.” 
	Something about the tone of her voice and the way she stood made him glance at his feet and back up at her, “Well, I guess I’d better wait till we know about Mr. Dillon.”
	“Come on,” she said and they headed down Front Street.  It was a little odd to see a saloon girl in full kit heading out in broad daylight, but she didn’t care what people saw or what they thought.  Everyone knew what she was so why should she care.  
	There was an uneasy silence between them as they walked.  People tipped their hats or looked like they wanted to inquire about something.  They probably wondered if they needed to put a sign out that said MARSHAL WANTED or not.  If they did Kitty knew she’d not stay in Dodge long.  A pang hit her square in the stomach.  She hadn’t been in Dodge long, only a year or so, but it had become home to her.  The thought of leaving home bothered her a great deal.  
	Chester Goode kicked at a can in his path.  It clanked off to the side.  “I just can’t stand the thought of that Grat bragging…”  
	“Chester,” she interrupted, “I know it’s hard, but we’ve got to stay calm.  We don’t know how Matt’s gonna be or anything.  And I can’t stand the thought of you lying up there too…”  
	Her voice trailed off as she stopped walking and Chester kept going.  He realized she wasn’t with him and turned to see where she was.  She had sat down on the curb and had her arms wrapped around her knees.  It was obvious she was crying.  He came over, “Miss Kitty, I’m sure Doc will do all he can.”
	“I know,” she managed.  “It’s just… sit down.”
	He did as she asked and propped his bad leg over so it was out of the street.  She sniffed away some of the tears that streaked down her cheeks.  “Chester, I never had a brother.”
	That was an odd statement.  With a quirk of his head he tried to understand, “What does that have to do with Matt getting shot?”
	“Just a second…I’m an only child.  I had kids to play with but that’s no real substitute for a brother or a sister.  Do you remember that first Christmas dinner we had?” she asked and wiped the rest of the tears away from her face revealing some of the freckles under the face paint.  Chester thought they looked mighty becoming in the sunlight, like little flecks of bronze splayed across her cheeks.  
	“Sure.  You got us presents and we fixed burnt chicken and beans,” he recalled.  He also recalled they were all a little on the sick side from the burnt chicken.  
	“Do you remember what you said while we were at the table?” 
	He thought hard, the dark eyebrows knitting together over the coffee brown eyes.  “No…what did I say?”
	Kitty swallowed hard, “You said we were a family: you, Doc, Matt, and me.  Don’t you see Chester?” 
	He shook his head.  He was so busy trying to figure out how to help Matt that Kitty’s conversation was leaving him swimmy headed, “Miss Kitty, what does that have to do with now?”
	“Just this, you know that Matt and I are more than friends,” she began.  He nodded.  It was no secret that she was his girl.  “Well, I’ve never really told you this because I never really thought of it this way before, but well you’re the closest I’ve ever had to a brother.  And when you started talking about getting even with Grat and the idea that you could be lying up in that doctor’s office or over at Percy Crump’s…”  
	The tears started to flow again.  Chester was astonished.  Kitty Russell never cried.  At least she rarely cried.  But, she thought enough of him to cry at the idea of him getting killed.  It made him think and threw a pan of chilling water on the anger that’d been burning since the shooting.  “But if I don’t go after Grat he’ll just do it again.”
	“Chester please, there’s another way.  There’s got to be another way.  Hasn’t working for Matt shown you that?  Does it always have to end with a bullet?” but deep in her heart she knew what the answer was.  
	“Not for the likes of Dan Grat.  He’s like a mad dog that doesn’t understand right and wrong.”
	“Then we’ve got to outthink him.  If we can’t get him on his terms then we’ve got to get him on ours, but we’ve got some time.  Let Doc work with Matt and when Matt’s better we can try to get things lined up.  But please Chester, please, don’t go after him whatever you do.  He’d kill you,” she begged and hugged him hard.  
	It was no use.  Chester couldn’t have disobeyed what she said if he wanted to.  He’d loved her almost as hard and long as Matt Dillon had, but she was clear what his role in her life would be.  He patted her shoulder, “You know I never had a sister.”
	Pulling away, she smiled at him the blue eyes clearing after the storm had passed through her heart.  “You’ve got one for life Chester.  No matter what, as long as you’ll have me.”
	“Have you…Miss Kitty,” he said shyly his voice starting to break up as he got a little misty eyed himself.  “I’m as proud as can be to know you.”
	“I’m glad.  Now, the two of us have got to figure out a way to help Matt.  I just know he’ll be okay and then he’ll have to get out of bed and take care of Grat himself.  But if we keep our eyes and ears open maybe we’ll come up with something he can use.  But you’ve got to promise me you’ll steer clear of him.  Please, Matt needs our help,” she pleaded.  Chester nodded, “All right.  When you put it that way it makes more sense than getting shot or killed in a fight.”  
	Kitty smiled for the first time in a long time, or that’s what it felt like.  Her heart felt better and her conscience did too.  If Chester had gone out and gotten killed and she hadn’t told him how she felt she’d have never forgiven herself.  For now the family was intact, she hoped it would stay that way.