Posted in Posted by J. M. Barrie

    Sir James Matthew Barrie here. I finally have a story that I like! Here are some things you should know about it first. 1) I'm writing this mostly just for me and Snicket. It's a Western, and it was inspired by she and I watching Bonanza too much. 2) I purposely put in a lot of dialogue because in all my other stories I've been writing, there wasn't much dialogue. Writing dialogue is my favorite thing, so now I'm making myself do it.

    So either enjoy or don't enjoy, but here it is either way.

    Scott Madison, who had just come over to the desk where Jack sat writing, and who was leaning against the wall, looked down at Jack’s little paper he was writing on. “Whatcha writing?” Scott’s brown eyes twinkled and glinted.

    Jack jerked his head up and quickly turned the paper over so his brother couldn’t see it. “Nothing.”

    Scott leaned closer. He look the paper in his hand. As he began to read it, he smirked. His smile always had a tendency to the right side of his face.

    Jack jumped up from the chair. He tried to snatch the paper back, but his older brother kept it away.

    Still reading it, Scott lauged quietly to himself. “Well, what have we got here?” he said, “A love letter, Jack?”

    A tight knot formed in his stomach and he bit his lip.

    “Don’t be embarrassed about it. But who’s the gal?”

    “That’s none of your business. You didn’t need to see the letter in the first place.”

    Jack tried again to get the letter from Scott.

    “Seriously, who is she? Faith McKinley, Emily Jacobs, Sally Carter?”

    “Don’t matter!”

    “Rachael Kingston?”

    “What’s it to you if it is?”

    “Darcie Astor?”

    “Quit it, will you?” Jacked kicked Scott hard in the gut and he fell to the floor with the wind knocked out of him.

    Just at that moment, Alex came through the door, in time to see why Scott was on the ground. Alex looked hot and sweaty, and like he’d had a bad time with the roundup. He took off his black hat, and sending a hand into the air, he shouted, “Great, I come in from a long day with Jim Astor, and now you two?” He walked over and helped his younger brother to his feet. “You all right?”

    Scott choked and said, “Yeah.”

    Alex crossed his arms and pointed his blue-eyed glare at Jack. “What was that for?”

    Jack slowly sunk into his chair, looking guilty. “I’m sorry, Scott, I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean for it to go that far. Didn’t mean to do no one no harm. Scott stole a private letter from me and then started teasing.”

    With a cough, he replied, “I did. Sorry ‘bout that. Now, what was that you said about Jim Astor?”

    Alex looked down at the floor and sighed. “Nothing. Just a little trouble. It doesn’t matter.” There was a long pause. The silence lasted for about thirty seconds. No one really knew what to say, and it felt awkward not to say anything. They only stood glancing around at each other and the dirty walls and floors of the house.

    Jack eventually decided to break the silence. “I guess I could imagine with Jeff come down with fever and not being able to help, things might be tough.”

    “Yeah, you’re right,” said Alex, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Jeff Carswell’s a good worker and a good friend. It’s a shame to have him sick. But he’ll be better soon, I can guarantee.”

    “I should hope so. You know we would have been happy to help with the roundup,” said Scott, “if we hadn’t needed to go into town.”

    Alex turned pale and shuddered.

    Scott lowered his eyebrows and said, “What, you’re not sick too, are you?”

    “Me? No. It’s just, er, something that happened out there. But that’s irrelevant. I’m not sick. What was it y’all said about a letter? A letter you wrote, Jack?”

    Slightly confused, Jack nodded his head.

    Alex put his hat back on and said there was someone in town he needed to see. Before he went out through the back door, he ran his hand over the gun on his belt. He slipped out and headed away.

    This worried Jack and Scott. Why would Alex have gone out the back door, and why did he touch his gun like that? Both the brothers had the same thoughts going through their minds. Scott and Jack stared nervously at each other. Jack bit his lip and drew a deep breath, running his hand through his hair. Scott twisted up his mouth and let out an anxious sigh.

    Y'all didn't have to like it. If you didn't then it doesn't matter. If you did, there's more coming!

    ~Barrie