Chapter 3: I Find Out That I’m a Natural!

The girls and I went back to caring for the corn. We finished the hoeing of weeds, and when it became dry in July we even carried buckets of water and watered every plant by hand. The plants grew tall and tasseled out! We used an old trick, rather than let the wind pollinate the corn silk we picked some of the tallest more robust plants and hand stripped their tassels into some empty peach cans. Then we pollinated every plant making sure all the silk was pollinated. We continued to water them into September. It was a lot of work but shared work is good work. The ears filled out and were much longer and bigger than other years.

Next we had to guard the corn. Deer, Antelope, Turkeys, Raccoons, Rabbits, Geese, Ducks, Mice and Rats are the enemy of a good crop. Our smoke house was kept busy as I was out early in the morning and in the evening in a blind that overlooked the most likely spot they would come from. I shot thirty rabbits, four wild turkeys, six pheasants, forty quail, three deer, and five antelope! It was more than enough meat to last the winter!

I also did a lot of target practice, the noise helped keep birds and other animals out of the corn field. I was practicing my quick draw. It turned out that I was very quick on the draw and I hit what I shot at. I didn’t have to aim at all, I could just focus on what I wanted to hit, draw and pull the trigger and I would hit what I had focused on. Those three boxes of ammunition didn’t last very long.

I taught everyone how to shoot. Mom was already a good shot with a rifle. By the time I was finished with the girls they were about as good as I was.

I planned a trip into town, we all sat down and made lists of things we had to have, things we wanted to have and things that would be nice to have. Ammunition was high on the had to have list as well as two shotguns, and three rifles.

In the morning Mary and I were to leave. I made sure everyone had a weapon. I left my rifle, dad’s rifle, three Colt revolvers, and plenty of ammunition. Mary and I hitched up the mules to our farm wagon and I saddled my surrey horse I named “Lightning”. She drove the wagon and I rode as a flanker. Sometimes in front, sometimes on one side or another, and other times hanging back a ways. I didn’t expect trouble, but if we had some I didn’t want it to be a surprise!

It took us just shy of two hours to make the trip. When we arrived, there was something going on! There was a large crowd of men hanging around the saloons’ front doors. I had Sally drive on by and around the corner and parked in front of the store. I tied Lighting up on the hitching rail there too. We went into the store and greeted Rachel who was standing at the doorway into the saloon looking inside.

“What is happening, Rachel? Why the crowd?”

““Slim, you need to get away from here! He’ll kill you! He’s already killed Sheriff Dobbs and Mayor Gilcrest!”

“Who killed them? Who is in the saloon?”

“He’s going to kill me next, he’s already said he would, he’s getting a drink at the bar, letting me be afraid! It’s my husband! Justin rode into town twenty minutes ago!”

“That son of a bitch is going to die! And I’m the one who’s going to kill him!”

“Slim, don’t even try, he’s fast on the draw! Get out of town now while you still can!”

“He would just come out to the farm and try killing me there and maybe my mother and sisters too! No, Rachel! I have to end it here and now, I’m not running away from that bastard!”

Mary hugged me and said, “Kill him Slim! Kill him for all of us! I know you can do it!”

“If I don’t, Mary, get the ammunition and go home, he’s going to come for you and my family! I love you, Mary!”

“Slim, I love you! Kill that bastard, Slim!”

I pushed through the batwing doors confidently, I knew I was fast! I could take this man that had hired the men that had killed my father and so many other fathers and brothers! If anyone deserved to die, it was Justin McCreary!

He was standing at the bar with five or six men gathered around him, I yelled,

“MCCREARY!”

Then my world went black...

I woke up in pain, I had the worst headache I had ever had in my short life! But then I noticed that my upper left chest, about three inches below my collar bone also hurt. I slowly opened my eyes, wherever I was it was small and dark. There wasn’t a window, I moved my head very slowly, any sudden movement caused my headache to triple in pain! I was alone, there was a small door, it was closed. I made out a small table that held a large bowl and a pitcher, along with a washrag and a towel. I was laying on a small bed. I was alone. It was very silent. There wasn’t any light coming from under the door. I was wondering where the dim light that enabled me to see what I could see was coming from. I looked up, I hadn’t noticed, but there was a window, it was at the ceiling. It was about a foot high and three feet long. There wasn’t any glass in it. It was night outside.

I was hungry and thirsty. I tried to sit up, it was a terrible idea! I lay back down and tried to figure out how I came to be here, wherever here was. The last thing I remember is walking into the saloon from the store. I felt my head, it was bandaged. I felt my chest, it was also bandaged!

Just guessing, but I figured that Justin McCreary was probably alive and well! What had happened and how long ago it had been would have to wait for someone to tell me. I didn’t shave yet so I couldn’t judge based on my whiskers growth.

I fell asleep, when I woke up, light was coming into the room from the window. There weren’t any more details of note in the room. I heard a noise, someone was coming! I heard footsteps stop at the door. A key unlocked a padlock, it was removed from a hasp. The door slowly opened. A woman I had never seen before came into the room.

“You’re awake! Good! You probably don’t know who I am! My name is Gladys Sutherland, I’m the lawyer, David Sutherland’s wife. You’re in our barn in part of the tack room.”

“How long have I been here?”

“This is the morning of the fifth day!”

“Can you tell me what happened to me and what has happened since?”

“My husband told me you bet against a stacked deck! When you entered the saloon, everyone in it was part of McCreary’s gang! While you were focused on McCreary, two of his men to your left shot you at the same time! One bullet glanced off your thankfully thick skull, the other hit you in your upper left chest. The doctor said you were lucky, it missed major arteries and bones that could have ricocheted into any major organs. It missed your spine by an inch and didn’t come out of your back, it was just under your skin. The doctor removed it and you have a couple of stitches back there. Your head has thirty stitches to hold the skin together, it was a wide furrow. You have five stitches more in your chest. Now that you’re awake and can eat solid food, you should heal more rapidly. Everyone thinks you are dead! The undertaker had put you in a box and was about to put the lid on when he noticed your little finger twitching. He searched for a pulse and found that your heart was barely beating. There was a faint pulse in your neck. He took you out and placed rocks in the coffin and services were held. It was buried next to your father. Even your family thinks you are dead! The undertaker came to my husband and that night he brought you to us. He brought the doctor and he kept you from bleeding to death.”