When Buddy & Inky brought Widow to Buddy's house, the adults explained the situation to her. She was somewhat taken aback and was not sure how to respond. After a minute's thought and a quick peek at the sleeping boy, she told them that she would like to think about it overnight and come back in the morning. She also wanted to meet the boy and talk to him before making a decision. Both the Starks and the Burtons thought this was a good idea.

Widow tossed and turned most of the night wondering what to do. She wondered if she was qualified to handle a small boy. After all the only experience she had with children was the monthly boy's club. Before his death, Chief had set up a monthly meeting with the little boys in town where they could attend if they chose. He called it his "Boy's Club." There were no dues, or costs of any kind. Chief would take them on nature walks, give them information on almost any subject that came to mind. He would even open it up to any questions on any subject they might have. What he tried to do was fill in things the parents might have missed and/or reinforce the values they taught. After his death, Widow kept it up mostly as a memorial to Chief. She was never sure if she succeeded, but she knew she tried and that was important.

The next morning she found ee and Crissy just finishing breakfast. Harry asked ee to say hello to Widow.

"Hello...Wid....ah, Wid.....er" he could not quite say Widow.

Widow said " ee, I really like to be called just Wid, would you do that for me, please"?

His eyes got big and glassy with tears and ee said "You look like her, but you are not her." Then he put his little arms around her neck and sobbed like his heart would break. "Who?" Wid asked but ee just sobbed harder and could not answer.

She looked up at Harry and Alice and wordlessly shook her head yes. Wid's heart was close to breaking also.

She told ee about her little Chihuahua dog, Jose.' And that he could play with him when they got to her house. He asked her, "Woofer?" She said "Yes, sometimes he goes woof, woof."

The day passed rather uneventfully. ee seemed to accept almost anything Wid did. But he was very quiet, except when he and Jose' played. Then ee could get very wound up and laugh.

The story of ee had spread like wild fire through the town. By the next morning everyone with boys had dug through their closets and come up with things they no longer used and donated to Wid for ee to use. The local Children's Store had even donated two brand new outfits. The local shoe store had donated three pairs of shoes to be fitted to his size. Barber Bob had promised free haircuts for ee during his stay, however long that proved to be. Doctor Stevens contacted Wid and told her that any medical care ee needed, he would provide free of charge. The local Five and Dime store put a canister beside the cash register for townspeople to donate what they could toward ee's care. Such was the life in small town America during the 30s decade.

As soon as ee and Wid left that day, Harry Stark and Jim Burton went to the water tower to board the next train for Big Rock. Jim went to see his friend at the Big Rock Journal to ask him to run a story about ee and ask for possible leads as to his identity. Harry went to see his friend, Sheriff Wyatt Earp to also ask for help in identifying ee. Wyatt always said he won the election for Sheriff simply because of his name. The people of Big Rock said that might be so, but he always won reelection because of his honesty and dedication to duty. Everyone who heard the story about ee was absolutely amazed. Where had he come from? Where were his parents? He could not possibly just appear, but that seemed to be exactly what happened. As soon as he got back from Big Rock, Jim took ee's picture and published a one-sheet EXTRA Sunset Sun.

As the days passed, ee settled into a routine. He spent a lot of time with Crissy and Buddy. But his most favorite thing to do was to follow Inky around. Inky never seemed to tire of showing ee what he did at the newspaper and letting him help as much as ee's capabilities allowed. A special bond formed between the two of them. Inky did his job as his father requested, but ee thoroughly enjoyed the newsroom.

Days slipped into weeks. The lost look slowly faded from ee's eyes. Wid was sure he never forgot completely but he seemed to accept what fate had brought. He acted contented most of the time. Although Wid would sometimes see him staring at the sheer rock cliff. She wondered what was in his mind. When the sun shone on the cliff, it was easy to see why the town was called Sunset. No matter the time of day the sun struck the cliff, it looked like the sunset. The colors in the rock face were brilliant in the sunshine. Everyone in town knew not to try to climb that rock as it was suicide to do so. It would break and slide out from under one's feet. But it was still beautiful to behold.

Although he was too young to realize it at the time, ee had formed three lifelong loves before he was in the town two days. One was Crissy. From the very moment she smiled at him on his first night there, he was much later able to know he was in love with her for his whole life. The second was Wid. He would be forever bound to her as long as they lived. The third was the Sunset Sun. It took a bit longer for this to occur but it did become a lifetime commitment.

ee attended all the Boy's Club meetings with Wid. As he called her Wid, the other boys did too. She was Wid to the whole town before very long. The summer days passed and it was soon time for another school year to begin. Wid went to see Harry Stark about what to do about ee's schooling. Although they did not know for sure how old he was they figured he was about old enough to enroll in first grade. But what to do about a birth certificate? He would definitely need one in life. They did not know his name or age or any information.

They really thought his first name was Earle but could not be sure. His last name on the paper was absolutely unreadable. Wid and Harry decided to try to get Wyatt Earp to issue a certificate with Bethune (AKA Chief) and Betty (AKA Wid) Larkins as the parents and his age as about six years old. Wyatt agreed that this was about the only option open to them. But he put a provision in the county courthouse records as to the origin of this certificate and that if his true identity were ever established this pseudo certificate would be null and void.

The days and weeks and months all merged together to become years. It was summer and Wid and ee had taken the Boy's Club on an outing to the edge of mountain north of town, out by the water tower. By Wid's records, ee had just turned 13 years old. With the two of them, they felt able to let the little boys roam further up the mountain than they normally would in years past. ee went to get one of the boys who had wandered a bit too far up the side of the mountain.

When he got to the boy he was looking at a mostly rotted picnic basket with rusted tins and a glass jug inside. ee finally managed to pry open one of the enameled tin boxes. Inside he found an almost perfectly preserved stuffed toy dog. "Woofer" he cried involuntarily.

In his head the words buzzed......"wait here, wait here till I come back. Daddy's falling.....wait here."

When ee and the boy joined the rest of the group, Wid knew something was wrong with ee. "What is it ee? Your face is white as a sheet" she said. "Oh Wid" ee answered "I have been up there before."

TO BE CONTINUED...........