CHAPTER 1
"Sheriff! Sheriff!" the young man shouted as he stomped up the stairs. The boy was young in age, no older than ten, and he was sweating as one should when running in the blistering heat of the West.
"Sheriff!" the boy shouted once more as he slammed into the rickety wooden door, pushing it open with a loud bang.
"Calm down boy. Catch that breath o' yours and tell me what all this hollerin' is about" an old man said, lying down in his wooden chair, spurred boots lounged up on the dark, oak desk that held a Winchester rifle and a gun belt carrying two six shooters. They gleamed as the sun touched the metal with it's warm rays of light. The old man smiled, his white beard moving as his mouth did, his brown eyes as dark as the desk upon which he rested his feet. "Go on when you're ready boy".
"Sheriff, there's a few men comin' inna town on horseback. Thought you'da want'a know so you can...do whatever it is you do with all dem strangers" the boy breathed out, still catching his breath.
"What'd they look like boy? Ain't no reason for me to get up if they be harmless traders or huntsmen passing through" Sheriff relaxed even further into his chair. He tipped his hat forward, covering his eyes from the sunlight that penetrated the windows.
"Well, they all looked to be wearing some white clothes, maybe some of dem suits they got up north at Blackwater" the boy said, scrunching up his face in thought.
The Sheriff lost his smile and slowly stood up from his desk. "Where'd you see them at boy?" the Sheriff asked as he wrapped his gun belt around his waist, the guns jingling in their holsters, the Winchester rifle rustling his clothes as he latched it onto his back with the strap. The relaxation had gone, his body tense and his old bones creaking. "Come on boy! Where were they headed?"
"Well Sheriff, if I had to guess, I'd say the saloon. Nobody ever misses the chance to see Miss Kate at the bar. She sure is a pretty girl" the boy said, his face turning a light shade of red.
Sheriff patted him on the head. "She sure is boy. She sure is. You head on home to your ma now, okay? We don't want her getting worried about you, do we now?". The boy shook his head, smiled, and opened the door. "You tell your ma I said hello, and your pa that if he needs any help down at the barn to let me or one of my men know. Get runnin' now" Sheriff said as the boy stomped down the stairs of the creaking porch, back onto the rocky road from which he came. He waved as he ran down the street. Sheriff waved back, then went back inside. "Billy! Get your ass out here! We got some folks that need seein' to! Bring your god damn rifle as well!"