Tanja’s response to the Challenge
A Sleepless Night.
It was a
dark and stormy night. Buck Cannon and his nephew Blue were heading back for
the High Chaparral, after having picked up supplies in
They were
late, very late. They should have been back at the ranch now, but Buck had been
distracted by a game of poker, as usual.
Blue
squinted into the darkness, he thought he saw the shape of a wagon on the
trail.
“We’d
better check it out, Uncle Buck”.
Not knowing
what to expect Buck carefully approached. The barrel of a gun was pointed at
them from the partially closed hood
“You’d
better not come any closer,” a woman’s voice said.
“We mean no
harm, just came over to see if we can help” Buck assured.
The flap
was drawn and a young woman appeared: “Yes, you sure can, if you can repair a
wagon wheel, that is.”
Blue was staring
at the woman, even in the dark of the night he could see she was real pretty.
“Is your
husband around ma’am? Kinda dangerous being out here alone.”
“She’s not
alone,” a second woman came out of the wagon, “and we’ve been doing fine until
now.”
The two men
discussed what they should do. They decided that one of them would go back to
“I think I
should stay, Uncle Buck, I can protect them if necessary”.
“Sure you
can, boy, but who’ll protect them from you?” Buck smiled.
The young
man was grateful for the darkness and so that the ladies wouldn’t be able to
see his flushed face.
After his
uncle had left, Blue settled back against a tree. As he was keeping watch, he listened
to the laughter of the two ladies who had sought shelter from the rain in the
wagon. They were much more talkative now then they had been before. The only
information they had been able to get out of them was that they were heading
for
He reckoned
they would probably have family in town and was puzzled by the fact that
anybody would allow two women to travel alone in these parts.
The rain
was dripping down his neck, he adjusted his poncho, not that he thought it
would do much good in this kind of weather. It seemed like it was going to be a
long night.
At the first
hint of dawn, when Buck returned, Blue was drenched to the skin and his uncle wasn’t
looking any better.
Mary and
Sarah were watching as the two men were struggling to fix the wagon.
“We’d
better give it a try first, Blue. We don’t want these ladies to get stuck
again.”
The young
man climbed on the wagon and took the reins. A sudden flash of lightning made
the horse bolt and the wagon moved forward suddenly, causing a trunk to fall off
the back. Blue was able to calm the horses and returned to see the damage.
Clothes were scattered everywhere, Buck was holding up a silk, purple glove,
scratching his head in wonder. He picked up a dress, the attire he was looking
at were fit for…dancing-hall girls(?)
.
“It seems
like you’ve discovered our secret,” Mary smiled.
Blue was
stunned, he couldn’t believe a sweet gal like Mary could be … He walked up to
her.
“Why don’t
you come with us to the ranch? I’m sure you can find somethin’ better to do
than what you are doin’ now. You can start anew, we’ll help you”.
She looked
at him smiling, “That’s mighty sweet of you Blue, but I swore I would never let
a man run my life again. That’s why Sarah and I bought the saloon in
Blue
shifted uncomfortably, he looked directly into her innocent blue eyes, “You’re
the new owners?” he stammered.
“Yeah, my
pa never did much good in his life, but when he died he at least he had the
decency of leaving me enough money to do this.”
The wagon
with the two ‘ladies’ rolled out of sight.
“Disappointed,
boy?”
“I kinda
would’ve liked to get to know her better, Uncle Buck”
“Well”,
Buck grinned, “you can do some gettin’ to know her better next Saturday if you
want to”
“Yeah, me
and the rest of
“We’d
better head home, Blue, and think of somethin’ to tell your pa, ‘cause we can’t
show up with a story like this”.