JANUARY 28, 1860

Tyson made his way out of the saloon with a grin plastered from ear to ear, his usual happy mood had been elevated even more due to the fact that his usually grumpy and reserved sister had finally decided to give the town a go. Tyson was so pleased he wasn�t paying much attention to where he was going, so he was rather surprised when he found himself falling head first
into a horse trough. He came up spluttering, to the sound of hysterical laughter behind him. He looked at the young boy who had tears in his eyes from laughter.

"Hey Mister that's the funniest thing I ever did see!"

"Well, I'm glad to provide you with some entertainment son," Tyson climbed out of the trough and splashed the boy in the process.

"Gee thanks mister, I'm Michael Johnson, what's your name?"

Tyson put out his wet hand, to which Michael rolled his eyes.

"I'm Tyson, pleased to meet you."

"So what were you thinking about that made you forget to look where you were going?" Michael wrung out the wet patch on his shirt.

"Oh well, I was just thinking about my sister, and how much I like this town," Tyson swiped up his hat, which was floating on the water and put it straight on his head.

"You sure are a funny man," laughed Michael, "So you going to the dance?"

"Yep, I'm going with some of the people from the saloon, how about you? Which pretty girl do you have your eye on?" Tyson grinned as he watched the young boy's face change color to a dark red.

Michael shrugged "I have someone in mind, but I just can't bring myself to ask her, what if she says no?"

Tyson raised his eyebrows, "Hmm, if she says no you just ask someone else, but what if she says yes?" Tyson smiled and arched his eyebrows.

"I never thought that she'd say yes!" Michael grinned as water ran down Tyson's hat and into his face.

"Well the odds are pretty good, 50/50, and if you don�t, you might be thinking about it for the rest of your life," Tyson patted him on the shoulder.

"Well, I never thought about it like that, I guess. Yikes, I really have to go, I told pa that I'd only be five minutes. It was nice meeting you though," Michael said as he started to run back through the town.

Tyson shook off some more of the drips and grinned as he watched the friendly lad make his way past the different stores that lined the town's main street.