I turned down the light in the hallway, unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open as I stood from the side. Two shots came quickly, and then a third through the wall close to where I was standing. He wasn’t stupid. I fell to the floor, hoping he would think he hit me, and laying there scooted to the open doorway to see a figure crawl out the window. I fired the shotgun and heard a grunt; he fell through the window and tumbled down from the second story. I hurried on down the stairway and outside to the alleyway. He must not have been too severely hurt as he wasn’t there when I got there. But even in the darkness I could see the blood.
Returning to my room I lit the lamp and saw there was blood on the wall, window sill and also on the roof outside. Well, he wouldn’t be traveling far and he was taking some lead with him. Didn’t figure he would be crawling back up so I went ahead and went to sleep.
The next morning I had a breakfast of pork chops, eggs, and biscuits. To hold all those vittles down I drank a goodly portion of coffee. Folks in the high country know how to make coffee.
The sun was peeking through the clouds and the snow-covered peaks when we boarded up to leave. I looked around and asked one of the guards. “Where’s Brown?”
“I think at the doc’s. He sent word that he got drunk and fell down some stairs and broke his arm. He wouldn’t be able to do his job as a guard.”
“Hold the wagon,” I ordered. “Where’s the doc’s office?”
“The Kalamazoo Hotel. There’s a room attached to it.”
“Be back in a few,” I said and took off.
The office was quite nice for a mining community. There was an office/operating room and another room with a few beds in it. The doctor was sitting at his desk when I came in. “Do you have a patient named Brown?” I asked.
He motioned to the back. “He came in all shot up, even had some buckshot in the bottom on his foot, and with some broken bones. He a friend of yours?”
“Works for me. I just want to check on him.”
I walked into the room and Brown was there sleeping. I moseyed up to him, not to waken him… yet. I placed the Greener up against his ear just to get his attention. His eyes opened and I cocked the hammers. That made his eyes open even wider.
“Want to explain yourself? Or should I just pulled the trigger and put you out of your misery?”
“Forrest, you messed me up! My leg is all shot up and will never be the same. On top of that a broken arm and collar bone.”
“Pardon me if I don’t have much pity on someone hidin’ in the dark waitin’ to shoot me. Now, explain yourself.”
“Saw where you were worth some money. I figured it would be easy.”
He tore the covers away. “Look! Look at what you did! The doctor is not sure he can save the leg, or even my life. You, you did this Forrest!”
“No, it was your stupidity that did it. That’s what happens when you start to follow the crooked path. Better change your ways if you live, and get right with your Maker should you die.”
He gave that same snort when he asked if I always carried my shotgun with me.
I gave the Greener a little push against his ear. “One thing Brown. If I ever see you again, any place, any time, you better be reaching for your gun, for I won’t wait. So if you get better, head back where you came from, or California. Just get out of this region.”
“I heard you were a hard man Forrest.”
“No. I’m a right peaceable man. It’s the life you’ve chosen that is hard.”
I walked back to the wagons so we could head on down to Eureka. “Did yuh see Brown?”
“Yep, not in good shape. Seems he also got himself shot up. He tried to ambush a man last night.”
“I thought I heard shootin’. Shore didn’t figure it would be Brown.”
“A person never knows. Always good to be right with the Lord, just in case.” The teamster spat, and let out a yell, and we were off. It looked like it was going to be a bright sun-shiny day.
Month: May 2016
The Daily Paine
Guess the topic should be Mother’s Day, or at least the day-after. Not any organized thoughts, just some jumbled ones that floated through my mind. First of all, I was asked what gifts I give on Mother’s Day to my wife. I was asked if I gave her flowers, and I said “No”, and they were surprised. I normally don’t give Annie gifts on Mother’s Day and you’ll need to ask her why, and it’s not because she is not my mother.
However, on the other hand there is so much more than giving her gifts on Mother’s Day. I should save the following for a Saturday Coffee Perc, but thought it should be thrown in here. I might even use it for today’s “Echo”.
“It had become a place I could not leave alone, nor my quiet talks with her, nor the good coffee in the candlelight.”
–Louis L’Amour
In fact last night, we sat, had coffee, but it wasn’t in the candlelight, just the lamplight. I cannot leave this place alone, for it is the Mother who makes a home. Dad provides the necessities and the protection, but it is the Mother who makes it a home by nurturing it. The warmth comes from her. She has the responsibility of being the one primarily responsible for personality development. She is the one who prepares their breakfast and then sends the children off to school, and prays for them while they are there. She is the one who is at home, waiting for them, and she probably has made cookies or pie, or something for them so they can have a snack when they come home.
One other thought along this line is from one of my devotions last week. It was about the wife of noble character. She is the husband’s crown. She seeks her husband’s honor, not her own. In that she is showing her children how to honor others. The wife of noble character is diligent and not sloppy in household administration. She is a good steward and that includes the nurturing of her children. A wife of noble character also has above all else and interest in the things of God.
Another thought flitted through my gray matter. I found out a few years ago that I actually came from a dysfunctional family. I didn’t know it at the time, but all the experts and the books say that I’m a messed up person because of the way I was raised. It caught my attention and I sat down, with a cup of coffee, and pondered it some. Not much, for I looked at my upbringing and said those so-called experts didn’t know what they were talking about. I have written it here before, but I really had three moms. I had my Mom, my Grandma, and my Aunt Bern. I had three distinct and important people taking time to nurture me. I know my Mom, regretted my staying at Grandma’s, especially in her last years, but she didn’t understand the plan of God. If that situation had not occurred it is very doubtful that I would be a Christian today. So I was fortunate in that and also that I had three moms to love me.
Three moms, a loving wife of noble character, and two daughters that are now following their mother with their example in raising their children. What more could a guy ask for?
Ira Paine
“A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.” –Proverbs 12:4
Coffee Percs
“I thank him and bought a bag of Arbuckle’s coffee. We didn’t need it, but you can never have too much coffee.”
–Lou Bradshaw
It’s been a week pard. The old “boxcars” for my birthday, and a little shoulder surgery. Now, packing up the steel mount to see the kids over in East Texas for the weekend. Things sure don’t slow down ’round here, how ’bout your place?
With all the doin’s at the house, and all the fuss that is goin’ on in the nation and the world, it can sure get a person to take his mind of the Lord. With all the turmoil that is the worse thing a body could do. Pardon, my manners, ain’t fill your cup up yet. Back to the basic morning–simply Folgers. I’m ’bout out of Arbuckles, and didn’t have time to grind any of my special New Guinea that I received for my birthday.
Back to keepin’ our eyes on the Lord. Sometimes it seems a cliché, but we worry too much, especially if we say we are trustin’ in the Lord to take care of us. If He is truly guidin’ our steps like He says He is then why do we make such a fuss over what happens? That’s probably for my special friend out there this mornin’ and maybe you too pard. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and come to think of it, don’t sweat the large stuff either. Time to worry is when you run out of coffee and I see your cup is empty already. Sorry, pard, not doin’ a good job today. Too much preachifying I guess.
One more hot cup for the road, oh, wait a minute. I have to tell you. Couple of my students brought me a gift of Starbucks coffee. Naturally I immediately took a sip. Sure glad they weren’t ’round for I gagged–full of sugar and milk. I took a couple of large gulps since it was a gift and trashed it. Sure did rattle the ol’ gizzard.
Time to be hittin’ the road; miles to travel today. You be walkin’ easy and keepin’ your eye on the Lord. He’d tell you the same thing I’m goin’ to — check your cinch.
Echoes from the Campfire
“He was a man that lived in continual expectation of trouble, never reaching for it, yet always and forever prepared.”
–Louis L’Amour (Hondo)
“But mankind is born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.”
–Job 5:7 (HCSB)