Daisy snuck out of her father's house, skillfully climbing down the tree outside her window, like she does every night. She managed to navigate her way through the cornfield and over the fence, careful not to get her skirts caught on the posts. She went over to the saloon and walked inside. Instantly all eyes turned to her. Many men whistled and cat called her. She rolled her eyes. She was very used to this kind of attention at this point. She went over to the bartender, trying to ignore the stares from the men beside her. "Well what are you doing here little Darlin'?" He asks, surprised to see a woman in here that wasn't a prostitute.
"I'm trying to find some men-" She starts and the two men next to her spring into action.
"Well I can be of assistance." One says and offers his hand and smirks. Daisy rolls her eyes.
"I can provide you with anything you need ma'am." The other one says."All I ask for in return is a little lovin' if you know what I mean." He suggests and Daisy gives him a disgusted look.
"I'm looking for three men to help me-" Every man in the vicinity immediately jumped up and started offering their assistance, some with other things in mind. "I am not looking for a foursome!" Daisy shouts and everyone seems shocked that a woman actually said the word foursome, or suggested it. Even though that's what all the men were suggesting. Ah double standards. "I'm looking for three specific men, an Indian a Mexican and a black man." Daisy describes. "Do you know if they've been here recently. Or where I might find them?"
"Oh they were here alright." The bartender says with a grave voice and gestures to the floor. It was then that Daisy noticed the odd stains. "They killed at least seven men today." Daisy's face paled.
"They're no good that's for sure." One man at the bar says. "Don't you worry though ma'am. We took care of 'em later this afternoon. It all went down in front of your house. I've been meaning to ask your father what that Injun was doing hanging around your property. And his comrades weren't too far away." Daisy paled more.
"What do you mean by 'take care of 'em'? Did you kill them?" Daisy asked, heart sinking at the thought of those three men who were supposed to help her town get killed before they could even get started. They were all so kind. And Red Harvest had been her only real friend...she was starting to grow so fond of him. The thought of him getting killed just minutes after they parted ways that afternoon...a lump formed in her throat. As the man started to explain what happened.
*flashback*
Red Harvest rode around the cornfield, back to the town after Daisy left. He thought about the warning that her father Joseph gave him. You haven't seen nothin' yet. Those words seemed stuck in his mind. He decided to ignore it. He had to stay strong, he shouldn't worry himself over uncertainties. He had to keep his mind clear to keep himself strong to face whatever threat might come him and his friends way from Joseph. Just as he left the property line a bottle of whiskey hit him in the arm, making cuts in the flesh and spooking his horse. He calmed it but soon the men that threw the bottle at him started firing shots and his horse reared and Red Harvest rolled off onto the street. His horse taking off towards town. He got out his pistol from his pocket and started to shoot at the men that were firing at him. He got a few good hits on them but unfortunately couldn't land a clear shot to take one of the men down. They stopped firing and started kicking him in the gut. Or at least they tried to. Red Harvest grabbed the man's leg and pulled him down, kicking another in the groin. He quickly got on top of them and started kicking them in the face, breaking one of their noses. But the other man grabbed his arm, keeping him from getting much leverage and soon he was overtaken. "I think he's had enough boys." A man says and Red Harvest recognizes him as the man that he had met just a few minutes ago. One of Daisy's suitors. One of the men restraining him pulls out a knife.
"Should we scalp him boss?" He asks and grins wickedly at Red Harvest. Red Harvest gives him an aggressive look and struggles more, trying to break free of his assailants, and manages to give the man a successful and painful kick to the groin. Daisy's suitor, Mr. Norman looks over Red Harvest, now covered in dirt, some of his face paint rubbed off. Bruises on his arms and chest, one on his face and his arm bleeding from the glass cuts of the bottle.
"As much as I would love to, I'm sure my Daisy would be very upset to find that her little red friend was killed. I just want to rough him up a bit as all." Mr. Norman says, fixing his coat, giving Red Harvest a judging look.
"She does not belong to you." Red Harvest says boldly. "She is not even interested in you. I suggest you look elsewhere for a wife." Mr. Norman punches Red Harvest in the face, bruising his jaw.
"And I suggest you keep your mouth shut Injun!" Mr. Norman says. Red Harvest tries to speak, but his jaw is in too much pain. "That's better. Now you can't even speak. Just like a real savage." Red Harvest struggles again, trying to get to Norman but the men restrain him. "Now I just have a simple request from you Injun. Stay away from Daisy, stay away from what will become my house once I marry her. And you might as well just get out of this town too while you're at it, and tell your Injun friends to leave us alone too. I'm no idiot." He says and kneels down to Red Harvest on the ground. "I saw the way you were lookin' at her. And the way she was lookin' at you. And I didn't miss that brief holding of hands either. It disgusts me to think a filthy thing like you was touching my girl." Red Harvest gives him an angry look but stays silent. "She's a woman of class, sophistication. The perfect model of a rich white woman. To her you should matter less than a dog...But apparently she actually values you as much more than that. It seems like you were even trying to charm her." He laughs. "Imagine that fellas!" He says to his comrades. "A rich white woman marrying a savage Injun!" They all laugh at the thought. "Oh you're both so dumb. The Lord'll damn you both to Hell if you got intimate with her!" Norman warns. "It's a good thing Daisy's pretty I suppose. Lord knows her head's full of air if she thinks an Injun would be good husband material-" Suddenly Red Harvest jumped on Norman, having broken away from the men. He pinned him down and punched him hard in the face, holding him down underneath him. Red Harvest was by far a lot stronger than Mr. Norman.
"Daisy is not some pretty object for you to claim!" Red Harvest struggles to say with the pain in his jaw. "She's smart and open minded! Not drunk on your dumb white prejudice! Maybe you should actually listen to her sometime instead of staring at her breasts! She deserves so much better than scum like you." One of the goons behind Red Harvest raises his pistol and aims at the Comanche's head. As his finger tightens around the trigger he's shot dead by someone else, the shot that the now dead man fired hit Norman in the leg, instead of Red Harvest's head. The men turn and see Sam and Vasquez, Red Harvest's horse in-between them. The Indian smiled at his horse's loyalty.
"Need some help Red?" Sam asks and Red Harvest smiles at the loyalty of his friends as well. The other goon tries to shoot Vasquez but he gets him first. Red Harvest got off of Norman and turned to find the final goon charge at him with his knife. He shot him in the head with his pistol and then picked up his arrows and reached for his bow, only to find it broken. It must have hit the fence and split in half when he fell off of his horse. He would have to stick with the pistol. Some of Joseph's goons must have heard the shots because soon they all started joining the fight. They started shooting at them and the three easily picked them off. But they knew it would be too much to handle soon.
"We've got to get out of here!" Vasquez shouts and Red Harvest mounts his horse, and rides in front of his friends to help cover them as they shot at them. Sam and Vasquez quickly made it to their horses and the three rode out of town, while the goons cheered in victory.
*flasback ended*
Daisy stared at the nice villager who had told her what he saw. She felt relieved that the three men were okay. But she was appalled by what Mr. Norman had done to Red Harvest, and worried about Red Harvest being hurt, and out in the wild. "Thank you so much for your help." Daisy manages to say to the man and she quickly leaves the saloon, tears rolling down her face. "It's all my fault!" She yells at herself as she runs towards her house. She jumps over the fence into the corn field and sinks down to the ground and starts to cry. "If only I hadn't gone out with him and kids. Maybe this wouldn't have happened." She says and cries for a few more minutes. She wiped her eyes and ran back up to her house. When she went inside she found a nurse wrapping up Mr. Norman's leg in the living room, and him holding an ice pack on his cheek.
"Daisy where have you been!" Joseph says and strides over to her. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Mr. Norman just came back from the doctor. That Injun you were hanging around attacked the poor man this afternoon while you were watching those kids!"
"That 'Injun' is my friend daddy. And he did not attack Mr. Norman. I was just at the saloon, I heard the truth from one of the villagers who saw the whole thing." Daisy says sternly to her father then makes her way over to Mr. Norman.
"There's my pretty Daisy..." He says and holds out his arms for her. "Come make me feel better with a kiss now would you?" He asks and closes his eyes and puckers his lips. Daisy gives him an innocent smile then smacks him as hard as she can across the face.
"I'm not your pretty little anything! And you deserved everything you got today you disgusting pig!" Daisy shouts at him while her father comes over and grabs her arm, yanking her back, hurting her arm in the process.
"Daisy Rose Darling you apologize right now!" Joseph yells sternly at his daughter.
"For what?" She asks. "Giving that filthy dog what he deserves for hurting my friend?"
"That Injun is the filthy dog!" Joseph yells. "All Mr. Norman was doing was trying to protect you!" Daisy scoffs.
"Am I the only one who isn't backwards around here?" Daisy asks.
"At least I'm not in love with an Injun." Norman says and Joseph's eyes go wide and his grip on his daughter's arm tightens.
"Daisy..." He says gravely. "What did he mean by that?" He asks in a low whisper.
"His name is Red Harvest, and I never said I was in love with him. But one thing is for sure. I'd much sooner marry him than you!" Daisy says to Norman before her cheek starts to sting from being hit with the back of her father's hand. He throws her on the ground.
"Upstairs now!" He commands and Daisy weakly stands up and runs upstairs, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. "I'll deal with you later!" No he won't. Daisy thinks to herself. She smiles as she looks down and sees the gauze, a bottle of medicine and other bandages she stuffed down her corset, when her father pushed her on the ground near the doctors supplies for fixing up Mr. Norman. As soon as she got to her room she climbed back down the tree and made her way over to the stable. She tacked up her horse quickly. Many years of riding off from her father when she was cross with him had sped up the process for her. She rode out of the stable and off of the property, over the fence and into the wild west, in search of the three men who could save her town.
Vasquez was on first watch. Sam was cleaning his pistol and Red Harvest was looking over his bow, wondering how he would fix it. He would have to get some supplies somehow. And his pistol had a limited number of bullets. Vasquez noticed a rider coming towards them. He stood up, on alert. They were riding rather fast, they could be hostile. He aimed his gun, ready to fire but then when the rider passed under the moonlight he saw a flash of golden hair. "Daisy?..." He questions aloud and Red Harvest and Sam instantly pick their heads up. Vasquez lowers his gun when he sees her approach and quickly dismount.
"Oh thank goodness I found y'all." Daisy says and runs up to meet Vasquez and Sam who was now walking towards her as well.
"What are you doing out here in the middle of the night Daisy?" Sam asks. Daisy reached inside her corset and Sam looked away respectfully while Vasquez grinned and his eyes lit up in excitement, then dimmed when he saw her pull out the gauze and medical supplies out of her corset instead of her breasts.
"I figured you might need these." Daisy says and Sam looks at her and Red Harvest looks confused at her.
"Vasquez and I are fine." Sam says. "Harvest is the one that needs that stuff the most."
"I figured." Daisy says and makes her way over to him by the campfire. He looked up at her, pain in his eyes. "Oh Red I'm so sorry this happened to you. It's all my fault." Daisy says.
"It is not your fault." Red Harvest says then holds the side of his face, wincing in pain. Daisy teared up a bit when she saw he was in pain. She felt worse now. Suddenly she felt something wipe away her tear. She saw Red Harvest smiling at her. "No more crying tonight." He says, knowing that she must have been crying before because of the dried tear stains that were on her cheeks when she first approached him.
"If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Norman probably won't be able to walk for a week now thanks to you guys." Daisy says happily and Red Harvest tries to smile but then winces in pain again. "I wish I could have brought some ice with me but by the time I found you guys it would have all melted."
"Do not worry. I will be fine." Red Harvest assures her. Daisy looks at his arm and sighs.
"At least let me fix up your arm?" She offers and shows him her supplies. "It could get infected and then you'll get sick." Red Harvest holds out his arm for her and Daisy puts some of the medicine on the gauze and places it on the cuts on his arm. He winces and tries to pull his arm back but Daisy holds him steady, with some difficulty though because he was so strong! She blushed a bit and smiled. "You're very strong..." She tells him and he smiles and blushes.
"Thank you..." He says softly and Sam and Vasquez look at the two of them and then back at each other. Vasquez raises his eyebrows at Sam and he shakes his head and smiles. Daisy gently wraps the bandages around his arm and then ties it tight.
"There you go. You'll be as good as new in no time!" Daisy says cheerfully and Red Harvest smiles at her.
"You are always so happy. Even when there is so much bad going on in your town." He notices.
"Well that's how I help people." Daisy explains. "Being an upperclass woman, there's not really that much I can do. Sure I can organize committees and such but without the proper resources to help people, there's not much else I can really do. So by smiling at someone who maybe doesn't get a smile their way every now and then, or playing with some children if their parents aren't able to, are just some little things I can do to help brighten everyone's spirits and give them hope."
"That is a wonderful thing." Red Harvest says. Then he notices something on Daisy's face, when she turns to the fire. "Daisy..."He says and gently holds her chin and turns her face back towards him. Then he notices the red mark on her cheek and his other hand balls into a fist. "Did someone hurt you?" He asks and Vasquez and Sam turn to listen, the two of them also upset by the fact that you might have been hurt by someone. Daisy sighs and nods.
"My father slapped me for slapping Mr. Norman and calling him a pig, even though he deserved it for what he did to you." Daisy says and Red Harvest sighs, guilt washing over him.
"It's my fault. I should not have let my anger get to me when he humiliated me today. You got hurt for defending me." Red Harvest says.
"And you got hurt for defending me." Daisy adds and blushes. "I heard some of the things you said about me. No man has ever said such nice things about me, and valued me as a person."
"Well then you have not known any nice men." Red Harvest says.
"Well I do now." Daisy says and leans in and kisses his injured cheek gently. Vasquez and Sam both share a look and Red Harvest blushes, his eyes wide.
"You should stay with us tonight." Sam offers. "I don't want you going back there and getting beat up again by your daddy."
"Thank you so much for the offer but I don't want to be a burden." Daisy says.
"Nonsense." Vasquez says. "You're no burden. It'd be an honor to have you here with us."
"Well I guess as long as I'm not imposing..." Daisy says and blushes. Red Harvest hands her a blanket.
"Here." He says. "Take this to sleep on."
"But what will you sleep on?" Daisy asks.
"I do not mind sleeping on the ground." Red Harvest says.
"But you're injured you need a good night's sleep to heal." Daisy insists.
"The Earth will heal me." Red Harvest says and lays down on the ground a little ways away from the fire.
Later on that night when everyone was asleep Daisy took the top blanket off of the makeshift bed that Red Harvest had given her and placed it over him as he slept. "Thank you. For everything." Daisy says and kisses his cheek again before going to sleep again.
