Chapter 2
I couldn't believe it. My mother was actually planning to send me to live with my uncle who I saw ONCE when I was five. He was practically a stranger! At least I was only going for a year. I am NOT looking forward to this, but it is too late now. I have already boarded the train, and we are leaving now. I looked around for somewhere to sit. The train was small, but packed. All types of people were surrounding me. Dirty people with no lives. Clean people with no souls. They were all crap to me. I found my way over to an empty seat. I wondered why it was empty, with everyone clustered around; someone would have to have seen it. But as I drew nearer to the seat, I realized why. The seat next to it was occupied by an Indian. And this was bad medicine in White Oak, and most places around the Western coast. I was different though, and didn't really care about the rumors. So I took my seat next to the Indian. He looked over at me. He was only a couple of years older then me, but his face was morbid and gloomy. I gave him a small smile, which he returned. I felt a tap on my shoulder. A small plump woman was glaring at me.
"You should sit where you know that you belong young girl!" she huffed.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I said, confused.
"You should be! Sitting next to this…this…greaser Mexican!" she said angrily. I looked over at the man. He smiled kindly.
"So sorry madam. You can have this seat, and your girl." He said calmly. I frowned as he got up and the woman sat down. She smiled at me, as the Mexican moved down to another compartment on the train.
"Well, I hope you are grateful. He may have NEVER moved!" she said. I just smiled my million dollar smile. I didn't agree with her one bit, but I had learnt to keep my mouth shut.
It took us about another half hour to get to Lincoln. As I got off of the train, I remembered my mother saying that my uncle would send one of his workers to fetch me from the train. I got off into a dusty town. The air was thick with drama and murder. I sat down on a bench and waited. I didn't know who was coming to get me, but hopefully the person who was coming knew at least what I looked like. I scanned the crowd while I was waiting. While I would be at home alone, when my mother was at work, I developed a habit of passing time. It was called People Watching, and I could do it for hours on end. It was entertaining, to drudge through other people's lives, just momentarily. I was quite fond of my hobby. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to see a handsome young man of about 22 years. He was tall, and sturdily built, with clean looking brown hair, and deep brown eyes. I regained myself quickly enough. I then remembered that it was my birthday today, and I was now sixteen years old. I hoped that meant I could date this guy…
"Howdy. I'm Richard Brewer, you can call me Dick. I am foreman of The Regulators, worker for John Tunstall." He said strongly.
"Hey. I am Bailey Tunstall, you can call me Bailey. I have no idea who The Regulators are, and I am niece to John Tunstall." I smiled, and he chuckled.
"Nice to meet you Bailey."
"And you Dick."
"The Regulators is a catchy name for Mr. Tunstall's workers. We "regulate" the stealing and theft of Mr. Tunstall's property. But Charlie can give you the full speech later. For now we better get going. Can you ride a horse?"
"No…"
"Jesus"
"Um"
"Ok, well you can ride with me I guess."
So I followed him around the train station until we came to a pretty bay horse. He jumped on in a swift motion, and held his hand down for me. I took it, and felt his strength as he easily pulled me up on to his horse, behind him. Dick reared the horse and began to gallop slowly up towards town. We rode for about ten minutes before finally reaching my uncle's property. It was a nice house, with a bunk out in back, where I supposed the workers slept. Dick jumped off the horse, and helped me down.
"Well Bailey, this is it." He said.
"Wow, it's truly nice. Seriously, this place hit it rich!" They were the wrong words. Dick frowned at me.
"Follow me, I'll take you in to your uncle." He said and began to walk up towards the house on top of the hill. I smacked myself for being such a stupid person, and then followed him up.
