You could say I'd gotten lucky. Mr. Favor had found me on the side of the
road
alone. My family had died in a yellow fever outbreak, and I had taken my
dad's
gun and set out, trying to get as far away from home and those horrible
memories
as possible. He'd taken me in and was willing to give me a job,
despite the fact
I was a fourteen year old girl. I'd been on the drive for a
few weeks, and I'd
already developed a nickname of my own. The boys called me
Cinnamon, because of
the way I wretched when I'd tried a failed attempt at
Wishbone's cinnamon pie.
I'd seen some action along the trail. I'd helped
a few of the boys out of a few
tough fixes with my brains, and a gun i had
practiced with since my family died
three years before.
But most of all,
my best friend on the drive, believe it or not, was Mushy.
Call it fate, but
our friendship was an accident. It was late one night, and
after begging Mr.
Favor for a chance at night shift, I went over to Wishbone,
who was making a
fresh batch of coffee.
"Mushy!" Wishbone had shouted.
"Yes Mr.
Wishbone?"
Mushy had caught my eye. I'd gotten to know Rowdy and Mr. Favor,
and crotchety
old Wishbone, but Mushy, well, I couldn't quite place him. He
seemed like a
sweet guy who didn't belong with these tough men.
"Quit
talking you fumble footed knuckle head, and get some more wood for
the
fire!"
"Wishbone," I said. "take it easy."
"This is none of your
business!" he'd said, and I could tell the late night was
taking a toll on
the old "chef".
"I just made it my business. Lay off."
Wishbone grew
quiet, and I saw Mushy smile. I smiled back. I grabbed a cup of
coffee and
sat down up against a tree away from the camp. I lightly sipped on
it, and
burnt my tongue, cursing.
I was too busy to notice someone sat down beside
me. Mushy. "Thanks back
there." he said.
"How do you put up with
it?"
"Don't forget,"he said. "I'm just the cook's assistant. If it weren't
for him, I
wouldn't have a job. That was brave what you did though. No one
has ever done
something like that for me before, and I've been on the drive
for years. I guess
I don't have too many friends around here."
"You do
now." I said with a smile, and got up to patrol the area.
A couple weeks
later after stepping in town for a while, a man, a big fat cross
eyed man,
who claimed to know Mr. Favor wanted to start a fight with him. "Butt
out," I
said with a sneer. Mr. Favor pushed me behind him protectively. "You
want
some?" he asked.
Despite Mr. Favor's attempts to shield me, I called out,
"All you got plus
some buttwipe! Bring it!"
"Tonight," the man said, "I'll
show ya!"
Mr. Favor was bound and determined to keep me away from the town,
and I'd
managed to tell Mushy where I was headed.
"He can't hit you!"
Mushy whispered. "You're a girl!"
"Someone needs to put him in his place," I
said, tightening my guns around my
hips, walking to my horse when I saw that
Mr. Favor had fallen asleep. Mushy
placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled
softly. "Good luck."
I made it to town, and found the man in the middle
of the street. "You ready to
get flatten?" I was surprised he didn't say
fattened.
"Yeah you cross eyed ape!" I yelled. "You've got a pretty big
challenge though,
you cross eyed ape. You gotta pick which one of the two of
me you see you're
gonna hit!"
But someone tripped me, and I saw this ugly
fellow brought friends. He clunked
me hard over the head. I winced, and I
looked up to see a mighty club of a hand
getting ready to smash my skull,
when someone grabbed it and threw two punches.
That was all it took. The two
men crumpled to the ground and out of all people,
Mushy helped me up.
I
smiled. "Thanks, but why'd you help me?"
"I might not be the brightest man on
the drive," he said with a smile, helping
me brush off the dirt. "But even I
know what friendship is. Now let's have
Wishbone take a look at that head of
yours."
I smiled back, and we headed to camp.
TO BE CONTINUED...
A
special thanks to all my family and friends and family! Thanks to all of
my
readers! Tell me what you think! Watch for Part 2 coming soon!