Shame

It was a late start the following morning. Not just for Ruiz and Maria, but for everypony. As he had promised Sadie, Ruiz made every effort to take the lead on all of the work, lending his support wherever applicable. By the end of the day, he was dead tired, and would have no trouble sleeping tonight. After dinner, Jed called for a family meeting. This time, however, he did not send Ruiz away. In fact, he insisted on Ruiz staying, because he needed to hear this.

"I'm going to be leaving for a few days," he said, looking around the room. "I trust that all of you can hold this place down while I'm gone. You'll have Ruiz around to help out and keep you safe, so I'm not worried that you'll have any big trouble."

"And just where do you think you're going?" spat Sadie. "We need you now more than ever! You can't just heap everything onto Ruiz' shoulders; he ain't even related to us! He has no obligation to stay."

"Perhaps not," admitted Jed. "But I'm pretty sure he's not going anywhere, are you?"

"No, señor."

Jed turned back to Sadie at Ruiz' response. "I know I should have discussed it with all of you, first, but I'm sure you'll agree with my reasons. I wouldn't have made this decision unless it was important: I'm bringing Cole home." The room fell silent as everypony slowly nodded in agreement. "Tonight, I'll be packing up the wagon. After breakfast, I'll be headed out to the mine to collect him and bring him back here, where we can have a service and lay him to rest. I'm sure he'd rather be here, surrounded by family and friends, than covered in rock underneath a mountain."

Maria stood up and took a step forward. "Speaking of Cole's friends, I want to tell Curt what happened. They were..." she looked uncomfortable for a moment, then shook her head. "They were very close, and I feel that he would want to be involved in the service. It's what Cole would have wanted, too."

"I think that's a splendid idea," smiled Sadie. She turned to Ruiz. "Curt was Cole's best friend. Those two were inseparable."

Ruiz nodded along, as if this was new information.

"I had intended to go today, but with everything on the table, I just... There was a lot today. I'll go tomorrow, after my morning chores."

Jed nodded. "I'll trust you two to set it all up. Curt has quite an affinity for picking out good-looking decorations. He can make Cole's site beautiful."

"And I'll take a picture of it," volunteered Mint. "Cole always liked having his picture taken."

Maria hugged Mint. "That, he did."

With everypony planning out how they would go about honouring Cole's memory, Ruiz sat back and remained silent. He had not intended to act as a replacement for him, nor did he like the idea of being seen as such. The best thing Ruiz could think to do to appease Cole's memory was to leave his room, after carefully cleaning it. After all, he had no intention of stepping on the hooves of the departed. Not that he was about to clear out, though. As much as that was what Cole may have wanted, his family wanted someone to fill the gap he'd left, and while Ruiz was not a great fit, being just over half his size, he still thought Cole would want to see his family at least a little bit happier.

The following morning went exactly to plan. Jed looked very worn as he trotted up the road, his wagon trailing behind him with a pine box inside. After clearing her morning chores, Maria set off in the other direction, presumably towards Curt's house. Ruiz might have accompanied her, but Sadie insisted that she needed a hoof with the rest of the chores. Given how heavy the equipment was, Ruiz couldn't have done it on his own, either. The two of them together, however, made it all doable by dusk.

"There ain't no time to make dinner," huffed Sadie, wiping a sheet of sweat from her forehead. "'Sides, I'm beat. I think we might have to skimp a bit on the dinner prep. Unless, of course, you still have some energy left, Ruiz? Can you whip up somethin' quick?"

"I can try," lied Ruiz. He was just as exhausted as she was, perhaps even moreso. Still, he had to wash his face before starting, or risk sweating into the meal. He was hoping that some cold water splashing over him would invigorate him enough to think of something.

As they approached the house, however, Mint opened the door for them. "I made dinner," she proudly proclaimed.

"By yourself?" asked Sadie. "How many times have I told you that you're not allowed to use the range until you're tall enough to see into the pan?"

"I didn't use the range," answered Mint, directing them to the table. In the spots usually reserved for Ruiz and Sadie, two plates were arranged with four half sandwiches. Two open jars of apple butter and strawberry preserves sat on the table, along with a loaf of corn bread that had been made with yesterday's baked beans. "I thought that, since I'm too small to help out there, I could try something in here."

With a chuckle, Sadie rubbed Mint's mane. "Well, I suppose I can't be mad at you for that. Perhaps it is about time I teach you how to do all of the cooking."

Ruiz placed a hoof on Mint's shoulder. "Even I have trouble reaching your range top. This was very clever of you."

They all sat down to eat. It was goopy and mushy and a bit hard to chew, but it was better than nothing. The table was still empty, though. Half of the ponies that usually sat there were gone. Jed wasn't around to give his compliments to the chef, and Maria wasn't there to make short work of the cleanup.

After dinner, Ruiz handled most of the washing. Sadie put away all of the extra foodstuffs and, rather than going to the living room to have the third family meeting in a row, or even just to do some light sewing, she followed up on her exhaustion and went to bed a bit early. It wasn't long after that Ruiz did much the same.