AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"We?" He asked.
"Me and Lilly of course." He smiled.
"As soon as I got word I came. Did you send the letter?"
"Nope, I didn't know where to reach you."
"I wonder who did?"
"There's only a few in town that would speak to you, Cord. Take your pick of them." The doc looked up at him with a quirk to his brow. "The town hasn't grown much since you left. But a few left and never came back. Like you did."
"Yeah, I guess you are right. Tell me, what did Ma die from, Doc?"
"Consumption. She didn't suffer long. She was pretty frail and it didn't take much to kill her. She left you a letter, I have it. Let me see if I can find it." The doc began raking through his desk drawers. "Here it is."
Cord reached for the letter then looked at the doctor. "Do I owe you anything, Doc?" He asked sticking the letter in his shirt pocket for later.
"No…she paid for my services ahead of time. She paid everyone she owed, when she owed them. She took in sewing, and taught several of the kids piano for extra money and she sold off her cattle every year of course. The townspeople were a little cruel to her, son. She rarely came to town, usually sent her Mexican hired hand to tell me when she needed something, you know Pedro. The townspeople didn't see much of her. But I'll tell you something, she was happy most the time, she worked up until the last year. Pedro had to do most of the work then. Don't know exactly why she turned so frail, but suspect it had to do with her worrying over you. She missed you. She kept looking up that road, thinking you was coming home again."
Cord shot him a raised brow. Hanging his head for a minute he swallowed hard. "I figured she'd be better off without me, doc."
"Oh she never said it aloud, but I could see it in her eyes. That far away look she got every now and then. I knew it was you she was thinking about. Her only son, only child."
"I wrote her pretty often Doc, after the war…"
"I know, she showed me all the letters." The doc smiled sadly.
"Why were the people mean to her, she didn't do anything." Cord fisted his hands. "I was gone, there was no need for that."
"People have a tendency to take things out on whoever is around at the time. She was around. But because of their attitudes, she stayed at the ranch most of the time. I helped her along as good as I could." The doc hung his head. "When I look back, I try to remember you were only sixteen when you killed Dubs. Still just a boy. Sometimes the people forget about that. I have to remind them."
"He pulled a gun on my mother, and no one does that, Doc. No one. I never understood why it was so hard for the town to understand."
"I guess the biggest reason is no one knew why you killed him?" The Doc looked angry at him. "You should have told someone."
"I told the Sheriff. He didn't care. But the gun in Dubs hand, said it all. It was a fair fight. I rode into town that very day and told him what happened. Ma made me. But, Dubs owned this town, Doc, including the Sheriff. Dubs came out there to run my mother off her land that day. Naturally, she wouldn't budge. He tried words but they didn't work, either. Finally, he pulled a gun and told her she would either sell her land to him, or move on. Said he'd make it intolerable for her in this town. She refused to do either. She was late a payment. He knew and threatened her with it. When I saw him holding that gun on her, I lost my head and called him out. I didn't mean to kill him, but I doubt anyone would have believed that. I was pretty wild back then. All I can remember is the rage I felt when I looked at my poor mother. Her face was so white, she was scared to death, and then afterwards, she was scared for me. Afterwards I sent what the Army paid me to her. And she wrote me a letter saying she finally paid it off, it was free and clear."
"I wish I had known all this. I didn't know he was trying to force her off that land. I knew he wanted it, for the water, but I had no idea…"
"It doesn't matter, Doc. Not now. It's been ten years since I left. I hung around for a while to see if they would arrest me. Knowing how the town felt, I figured they would. But, no one came. But the people, I thought I'd be doing Ma a favor if I just left. So I did. I joined the Confederate Army. Ma suggested that. In all her letters, Ma never let on that the town had been mean to her. I wish she had. I'd have come to get her myself, if I'd known."
"Why? Would you have come to kill again?"
"Doc you know as well as I that was a fair fight between me and Dubs." Cord insisted. "He was laying there on the floor with his gun in his hand. The gun had been fired once, he missed me. But the town considered me a gunslinger after that. Hell, doc, I was only sixteen. Never hurt a fly. I didn't beat him to the draw, I beat him to the target. I wasn't a gunslinger. The whole town knew that. I was just a wet-nosed kid then. In all these years they are still harboring bad feelings. I could feel it when I rode into town. Not one nod…except for Lilly."
"Ah…yes, Lilly. Sweet lady, that Lilly. Sure it was fair. But Dubs was the pillar of the community, and you were a smart aleck kid. Dubs ran this town and the people here didn't know any better than to like him for it. I see you are still wearing your gun." The doc eyed his gun.
"Yeah, I'm still wearing it doc, I want to stay alive. I fought a war doc, and I killed men that were not any older than me, but they were men, because they chose to fight for what they believed in. I respected that. Many was the day I cried over their bones. But after the war, it wasn't much different. Everywhere I went there was some injustice. I had my belly full of injustice. There were plenty of Dubs, Doc. And I seemed to run into every one of them. I guess I've got a bit of a reputation for using my gun, but I promise you, after the war, I only killed because I had to."
"I guess you'd have to wear it for that very reason, and I'm sorry about that. Dubs boys are still living here, running the ranch. They don't have the kind of ambition their father had. But they wreck havoc on the community a lot now. Mostly Butch and Dan. Jason's got better sense. He keeps them in line, most of the time. Mischievous and onry. Always doing stuff in the name of their daddy. The town overlooks it. They are mean, and best you stay away from them."
"All three of them?" Cord asked.
"Yep, they just drink a lot and raise hell when they come to town. I'd stay away from them, if I could."
"I don't plan on hanging around Doc. You don't plant yourself in a town that don't want you." Cord's words were almost bitter. "And they've already made that clear. I don't want trouble. Just want to take care of Ma, that's all."
"It's been ten years; don't you think that's long enough to harbor bad feelings?"
