Kitty, Matt, and Doc listened intently as Louie spoke aloud, eyes closed. The three friends exchanged quick sympathetic glances as the reminiscing old man continued talking about his Ann.

"I didn't see her again until the next Saturday. I had gone to my favorite spot again, hoping Ann would show up. I was sitting there, eyes closed, thinking about her kind eyes, when I felt a soft touch on my shoulder."

'She came back?" Kitty asked eagerly.

'Yes, Miss Kitty, she came back, sat down next to me, and we talked about all the things I never knew I had inside me. It was all so natural and wonderful. We became inseparable. I could never understand what she saw in me. Even back then I was an insecure, scrawny, awkward, homely man. I knew nothing about life outside of textbooks. But I was her "Louie," and she was my "Annie," for then and forever. She was my first love…and my last."

'So what happened to her, Louie?!" Kitty was leaning forward in her chair, eyes shining at the thought of sad, little Louie being in love.

"Kitty, shush!" Doc frowned at her and Matt put his large right hand firmly on her left forearm.

"Honey, let him tell it," Matt softly whispered into her ear.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Louie." Kitty sat back abashed, and Matt gave her arm a tender squeeze.

"Ii's all right, Miss Kitty, you're my friend." The dying man smiled up at the woman who had given him loving care over the past week, tending to him diligently, and had provided a warm, comfortable room for his last days on earth.

"Well, Miss Kitty," Louie's voice wavered, "I killed her."

Louie's eyes filled with tears as he first looked at Kitty's face, then Matt's, and then Doc's. They all wore the same unbelieving, stunned expression.

Matt was the first to speak. "Come on now, Louie, you could never kill anyone, much less a woman! What really happened?!"

It was now Kitty's turn to quiet Matt down. "Matt, let him explain." The big lawman was more upset than he would admit, hearing Louie's "Yes, sir, Marshal, you're my friend!" in his head.

She reached over and used her hankie to gently pat the tears running down the deep creases in Louie's face.

"Take your time, Sweetie."

Clearing his throat, Louie began.

" Ann and I both graduated, but not with honors. We had spent so much time together that our grades fell slightly, but were still very good. And, surprisingly enough to me, I didn't care! Those were the best weeks of my entire life!"

" I had to return to Franklinton, of course, and planned to tell my parents that I was NOT going to take over the school and my father's research work. Annie was to inform the Aunt she lived with that she was not going to work in the town library, as expected. And both of us had to tell our relatives that we were getting married and going out West to live. So many decisions that seemed so easy to make, but hard to tell."

"I kissed Annie for what was supposed to be for a short separation, and headed home, rehearsing my speech over and over to myself."

"As soon as I walked in the front door, my parents talked nonstop about their plans…their ORDERS…for me. A cold silence fell when I managed to blurt out Annie and my plans to marry and move out West as soon as possible."

"They forbid it, telling me how much I owed them and how they had raised me to replace them in my father's work. I didn't protest, figuring once they met my Annie, they would understand."

Kitty couldn't help herself. "And DID they, Louie?" She was now nervously twisting her hankie in her hands.

Louie sadly turned his hangdog eyes towards Kitty's tear-filled ones. "No, Miss Kitty. They both hated her and forbid me to see her, much less marry her."

"Annie had arrived a week after our graduation, and rented a small room in a boardinghouse for women in town, as we had agreed to. "I met her there, and took her home to meet my parents. Annie was so full of love and happiness and hope. I had tried to warn her about my parents, but she would only laugh."

"I'm still ashamed to say this aloud. My parents slammed the door in our faces, after telling me not to return until I had come to my senses. I took Annie to her room, promising to come back in about an hour."

"I never did," he sobbed.