The Rare Breed

	Kitty wasn’t asleep, but she sure wished she was.  It was almost one in the morning and she’d not seen a bed for 36 hours.  There was a big railroad crew in town and rains had kept them from working, and with a blank check assuring full and instant payment for all damages incurred, they intended on tearing Dodge City off the map.  It was so noisy she’d not be able to sleep if she did go up to bed so she just stayed down in the saloon.  Some lineman jostled against her spilling his beer down the front of her dress and not caring that he did it.  That was it!  She had to leave or start a brawl.  Stopping long enough to tell Sam where she was going, Kitty grabbed her shawl and went out on the boardwalk.  
	It wasn’t much better on Front Street.  Despite the rain, men danced, drank, and threw mud at each other just having a high old time.  Kitty walked along under the awnings unnoticed until she started to cross the alley.  Two men eyed her and made sure she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.  “Hey, lookee here Burt, a little cat all dolled up,” the one purred as he threw an arm up so she couldn’t go any further.  
	Burt spit in the muck, looked her up and down, “Yeah, and I thought cats didn’t like water.”  
	Grabbing her by the throat, Burt shoved Kitty under a downspout so she couldn’t fight back, but they’d never met up with the likes of Kitty Russell and claws and teeth and a well placed knee in the groin found their mark and she was off through the muddy street screaming curses till she was tackled at the waist and ended up with a mouthful of filth as she slid headfirst along the street.  Blinded by the mire and unable to yell, she scratched, slapped, and kicked at anything she could hit.  Suddenly she was free of restraint and she scrambled to get away.  More hands grabbed her and this time she landed a balled up fist to a jaw.  
	“Ow, damn, Kitty stop it’s Doc!”
	She quit fighting, wiped the mud out of her eyes, spat out dirt and other stuff she didn’t want to think about and tried to focus just as Dillon sent one of her attackers crashing through a store front window.  The marshal was angrier than she’d seen yet and pulling his pistol out he fired two shots in the air.  “All right! You men get off the street and settle down before I find new homes for the rest of these bullets.” 
	Behind him, Chester Goode made sure the shotgun was primed and ready to blow a few holes himself.  The three had been at the jail when they’d seen Kitty minding her own business when she was attacked and rushed to get to her.  The crowd dispersed slowly, grumbling as they went.  Like Colossus, Dillon stood ready to defend them all.  He didn’t change his stance, didn’t look down at this feet, “Kitty you all right?”
	She managed to squeak, “I think so.” 
	“Chester, get these two bums over to the jail and I’ll see Doc and Kitty get back safe.”
	“Yes Mr. Dillon,” the assistant replied and set to work rousing the unconscious men and herd them to the jail.  
	Doc helped Kitty to stand, but one step was too much for an injured ankle and Dillon caught her before he went down again.  Lifting her easily he chuckled, “Seems I keep catching you before you fall.”
	“I’m glad somebody does,” she said and leaned into him completely exhausted and dizzy.  
	Doc’s voice was the last thing she heard, “Take her up to my office Matt…” 
	
	When she woke up she was clean, dry, and on a cot in Doc’s office.  Her clothes hung like wet rags across the line strung from one end of the room to the other.  	Her mouth tasted like shit and considering what she’d had in it the night before she probably wasn’t too far wrong.  The thought made her gag and she grabbed a glass of water that was sitting by the bed to rinse and spit.  It helped some but not enough.  She was about to get up and look for some whiskey to gargle when Doc came out of his room, “Here now, stop that!”
	Kitty froze in place and explained, “I gotta get this taste out of my mouth Doc.”
	“Well, just stay there off that ankle.  You sprained it pretty bad.  You’ll be on crutches for a while,” Doc said and scrounged for some antiseptic powders to mix with the water.  “Here, rinse with this but don’t swallow any of it.”
	If possible, it tasted worse and burned when it hit a couple small cuts inside her mouth.  “God that’s even worse,” she complained and gratefully took the shot of whiskey he poured next.  It was like honey compared to the other two.  
	Doc smiled at her, “We scrubbed you up as good as we could but I don’t think your clothes are going to be the same.” 
	The dress itself was shot, but the undergarments just needed a good wash.  Kitty sighed, “I told you it’d be a lost cause by the time the material got here from St. Louis.  Oh well, I can make up something new now.”
	She found it hard to swallow and grabbed at her throat.  Doc assured her, “You’ve got some bruises, that’s all.  You might want to stick to soup for a day or two though.” 
	Kitty nodded, “You said we, who else helped you?”
	“Matt.  Said you looked like a drowned rat when we got you up here and that you’d appreciate the bath,” Doc said with a wink. 
	“Oh I do, believe me,” she replied and then asked, “What kind of a man is he Doc?”
	“Matt, oh he’s a man, a man who loves the law and hates injustice.”
	“Well, he must know some new laws.  Most don’t when it’s over women like me,” Kitty remarked truthfully. 
	Doc looked at her, “Like you?”
	“Saloon girls,” she added, “You know the ones with no virtue left to save.”
	Adams wiped his mustache, sniffed, “Let me tell you something about Matt Dillon.  He runs on gut instinct.  It wouldn’t matter to him what line of work you were in, what color, creed, or how much money you had, he would have reacted the same way.  He won’t tolerate a woman, child, man, or beast being abused.  That’s just the way he is.  It’s just too bad that’s all.”
	Kitty narrowed her eyes, “Too bad?”
	“It’s that passion for the law and justice that’ll get him killed one of these days, and it’s always hardest to lose a rare breed,” Doc lamented and patted her arm at the look in her eyes.  “Coffee’s boiled, want some?”
	“Yeah, thanks Doc,” Kitty replied and lay back against the pillows with plenty to think about while she recuperated.