Life on Silent Stead

The year is 1880. With land this far west still very much untamed and towns like Armadillo only a small blip on the unfinished map, just a few homes and farms grouped around a church, a saloon and a small store, which was only ever restocked when the unreliable trains or the even more unreliable travellers selling their wares. All in all, it was a terrible place to live.

That was my first thought when my father left me this little patch of land in the middle of nowhere and when I stepped off the train and into Armadillo I would never have believed what would become of me before the year was out. My heavily pregnant wife had insisted on joining me, and when I said I would much rather I assess the land first she had told me that just because she was a woman it didn't mean she couldn't survive in the country I relented, deciding that it would be useless to tell her that I wasn't saying she couldn't do it because she was a woman, but because she was with child and expecting it any day.

'Howdy sir, ma'am. Welcome to my humble town. What be your business?' A dapper man stood before us, and his face did not set the correct picture for life in that place, for he was well trimmed, wearing a tight suit and gold rimmed, circular spectacles. I felt under-dressed looking at him in my typical ranch gear.

'Land. My business is land, you know of a place called…' I fumbled in my pocket and brought out the crumpled letter, I scanned it for the name then said, 'Silent Stead?'

'Silent Stead! Why sure I know of it, can't say it's ever come up on any paperwork or anything like that, and it's pretty desolate out there…'

'I thought as much, my father had a habit of buying and betting properties out on a whim, and it seems he bought this one before he had a chance to bet it. And now it belongs to me.'

'As fascinating as all this is fellas, I need to lay down, I just spent hours on the train and I'm about ready to trust a drunk in an alley if he promises me a bed to sleep in.' My wife interjected, even when angry she was still so beautiful, and her being with child only fired up my passion more.

'Well ma'am, the proprietor over at the tavern will be glad to give you two a room, for a small price o' course, and there's plenty of places you can wood and rope and the like should you decide to build on the land.'

'Woah now Mr-'

'Jameson.'

'Mr Jameson, I think I'll just look at the land first, before I rush into any kind of long term plans.'

'Well sure. I've gotta be goin' now, but I'll be back in town next week, you two should be able to find the saloon easy enough, just follow the road. Be seein' ya.' Jameson tipped his hat and mounted his horse, before kicking up dust as he rode fast out of town. Cathy and I went to the saloon, where we were shown to a somewhat spacious room, with a small fireplace and a double bed, next to which was an armoire and at the foot of which was a small tin bath. We changed quickly into our bedclothes and clambered in under the blankets, where we slept fitfully until around 3am, when we were awoken by the loud, unmistakeable ringing of a revolver being discharged on the terrace, just outside out room.