Kitty is sitting on the large porch of a small home in New Orleans. The air has a cold wind in it, as a gray mist rises, as small chestnut pony trots though the field. A small boy with dark hair and sparkling blue eyes waves at her. He smiles as he rides into the fog. A small smile grows on her lips as she gives him a wave. After he disappears, Kitty does a quick look around to make sure no one saw that wave.

Finishing her tea, she is handed a note from Dodge City. "Come quick, Matt Dillon stabbed, not expected to live". Kitty closed her eyes as pain grows inside of her. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at all the magnolias that have fallen off the tree, and drifted softly to the ground. Kitty
called to her day servant and sent her to get tickets on the first train to Dodge. Before going up to pack, she took the time to pick a white flower from the magnolia tree for her hair and one more for her luggage. She stopped by the fence where she had seen the boy for a moment to pray. "I know I have no right to ask, but please forgive my sins and the sins of Matt Dillon, and if you can keep him alive until I get there."

The train was hot and shook wildly. This is not what made the trip unbearable. It was the thought of Dodge. Unfortunately Bonner, Mannon Crowley and countless others ran through her mind. She thought about the times she was shot, knifed, beaten, and the times she was raped. She thought of Matt and the times she had seen him fall in the street as a bullet ripped through him. The train settled down to a steady clicked clack. The sound of the train soothed her aching head. Sleep was an unwelcome friend that filled her with fear, pain, and overwhelming sadness.

She woke to the sound of the train pulling into Garden City. Garden City was well named. It was filled with green grass and large beautiful flowers. Kitty took the stage from Garden City to Dodge, because the train went through Wichita, and she would have a layover while they unloaded freight.

The old stage was familiar. It smelled of wet rawhide and saddle wood. There were two other riders on that stage. One was a drifter with a gun that he wore low on his hip. The other was a young girl, maybe 15 dressed as most saloon girls dressed to travel. The young lady said she was going to Dodge because she had been offered a job at the Long Branch saloon. "Have you heard of it?" she inquired of Kitty. Kitty said she had a drink at the saloon one or twice. The young girl said, "I do not think it is as wild as people say, I heard they had a shooting every night and people just kept drinking while the dead guy lay on the floor." Kitty thought about that, yeah that is what we used to do. Kitty smiled. "It depended on whether we knew the person who was shot. If it was the Marshal, we would closed until his blood was cleaned up, out of respect. If it was a cowhand no one knew, we just walked around the body and blood. Most of the time the blood slipped through the floor boards before we mopped up at the end of the night."

The man with the low hanging gun then looked up. He smiled as he said, "Miss Kitty Russell, is that you? We met a long time ago. I am proud to say you slapped my face, twice. Then that Dillon hit me with his gun and dragged me off to jail. You know it was unfair of you two, pretending you two were not a couple. Kitty was now interested. "Do you know Marshall Dillon?" The man responded, "I cannot say I like the guy, but I do see him from time to
time."

Just then the stage jerked foreword, as the horses moved to a full gallop. Gunfire was now echoing through the canyon as the stage came to a halt. A big man in dusty overhauls opened the stage coach door. "Everybody out," he said. The man sitting across from kitty said, "Ladies first," as he removed his gun from his holster. The driver was told to throw down the strong box. He drew his gun instead. In a instant the driver lay dead in the dust. One of the gun men jumped on the stage and got the strong box. "Lets ride," the big man said. "Not so fast,"the man who was in the stage said. "You know who we got here, none other than Kitty Russell." The big man came over to look at her. "So it is. You know the last time I saw you, you refused to drink with me. you're not so high and mighty now that Dillon is dead." Kitty forgot herself for a moment. "He is not dead!" she announced as she threw her head in the air giving them a good view of her nose. The big man responded, "He might as well be. I hear they gutted him from belly button to neck. If he lives he won't be able to do anything but just sit on the porch and pray for death." The man from the stage said, "Enough of this. Come on honey, hand over your money." Kitty gave them her bag. "The rest of it!" the man yelled. "That's all I have," Kitty said trying not to sound scared. The man from the stage said, "I doubt that. I guess I am going to have to strip search you. Would you like to take it off yourself or do you want me to cut those close off?" The big man said, "Wait a minute, She is Dillon's woman. I do not think it is a good idea to hurt her." "Ok,"the man from the stage said. "This other one is a nobody. If you do not hand over your money, I will pleasure myself on her," he said as he cut the straps of the young lady's dress. Kitty reached down her ample cleavage and retrieved a large roll of bills. The bad guys all cheered as one of them started to count it. "You got any more stashed away?" the big man asked. "No," Kitty responded. The man from the stage said, "I bet she does." The big man said, "I do not want to mess with Dillon's woman."The man from the stage said, "Your afraid of a dead man?" The big man replied, "Over the years I heard Dillon was dead a lot of times, and he showed up. I am out of here." He got on his horse and started off at a full gallop.
Taking the stage horses with him.
The man from the stage became nervous without the support of the others and
said, "You will never make it off the Prairie. It is hard on a man - two woman have no chance. You should be begging me to take you with me." Kitty shifted her weight and put her hand on her hips. "Don't do me any favors." Kitty reached beneath her dress, pulled out a sawed off 33, shot three times bringing down three of the robbers. The forth rode off fast. Walking over to the injured man from the stage, she bent down looked and him in the eyes. "I do remember. You and your friends have fun in hell." She put the gun to his head and fired. The girl looked very frightened. Kitty looked at her and said, "I did him a favor. He was belly shot. I could have left him to suffer. It would have taken him hours to die, but die he would. There is no hope for a belly shot.
"I hate stages," Kitty said as she looked over the situation. "What are we going to do?" the girl asked. "We walk," Kitty said. "First get up on that stage and throw down that big chest." Kitty got a parasol, large shawl, hair pins, a large straw hat, a diamond pin, and two flocks. She took a tin cup from the stage "We will take these with us." The girl threw down a small worn out bag. Kitty thought back to a time when she had a bag like that. It carried everything she owned. Kitty's first impulse was to tell her to leave it as it would slow them down, but chose not to. The girl looked at the jewelry and fancy dresses. "What about these?" Kitty looked at the items, retrieved a Cameo, and said,"Leave it. By the way, I am Kitty Russell." The girl looked at her: "Mary French, you're some kind of big shot, someone will be coming for you." Kitty retrieved a hunting knife from the driver's pocket, cut the canvas off the back of the stage. "No one knew I was coming. I received word Matt had been stabbed and just headed out, fool that I am." Kitty rolled the things she got from the chest in the canvas, cut some binding off the stage, tied it around the canvas, flung it over her shoulder, and started walking toward Dodge." "Shouldn't we be going the other way?" Mary asked, "or stay with the stage?" Kitty looked at the stage. "There is no stage due through here for another week. I have to get to Dodge and I see smoke over that way. I am hoping whoever has that fire also has a horse I can buy." Kitty went back to the stage, reached under the seat, and retrieved a bottle of whiskey. "For the cold nights." Kitty took off walking.