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Jesse James: Dark Horse with No Name
"Well, for me, the Action IS the Juice! I'm in."
Tom Sizemore (HEAT)
🩸
A #WRITCO Series
🌈
WRITING ON THE WALL
📚
Who has the ability to predict the Future? Who knows of their End of Days? Our days are numbered, yes we all know this, but where does that sidewalk end?
I pondered this as I shot dead Billy the Kid, I blew away over a dozen men after that Heist gone bad and never looked back. My mindset from then on was as a wild man. My brother Frank moved to a Homestead, safe and hidden from the clutches of Pinkerton and his henchmen. The stain of blood though, had always been on my head.
Truth be told, I was a terrible shot. Get more than fifty feet away I was lucky to hit the broadside of a Barn. But I will gun you down without compunction if you have it coming to you.
And killing Pinkerton's Nephew caused no sleep loss whatsoever. I had a family of my own and unlike my father before me I had no intention of leaving them abandoned. My wife and two boys lived happily and successful lives thanks to my misadventures and I recall them without shame. Once in a while, I'll hook up with what I've recently referred to as haggard holdovers or newbies, gunslingers who had no business carrying the Sword of Vengeance, but I preferred my Brothers in Arms, the Fords.
There was a time I'd NEVER get so low to rob a piteous store, but times were changing and the boys were in need. A good father will do right anything to rear his family and God holds no ill will towards a proper daddy.
But Pinkerton was persistent and hung my poster up on damn near every tavern and saloon this side of Mississippi. There was no escape, even after cutting the beard. So gradually I allowed it to come back; and in time, as it grayed slightly, people started to forget about haggard Jesse James.
I changed my name then back to just Woodson.
I started to get good at games like Dominoes and Five Finger Filet (my fave) My boys learned horseshoes and my wife could bake a mean mincemeat pie!
Our homestead was large, and filled with family goodness and happiness.
Everything was as it should be.
When there was a knock at the front door.
"Jesse?"
"Come on in brother," I didn't have on anything but my briefs and my pistols, but it was a welcomed visit. We sat down to breakfast to shoot the breeze.
"Words come down that Pinkerton will stop at nothing now to see you dead. Even kill anyone ever associated with you, or imprisoned which is worse."
He looked at me with deadpan eyes.
"Some say even killing your brother and his family just to draw you out into the open."
I smirked at that notion. "Guess lucky for me that no one knows where he lives but me, huh?"
He half grinned. "Except the Youngers."
Again, I smirked. "Ole Cole is only poor Younger who half-lives, and he wouldn't talk even if you'd threatened his own mother." By now I was full on guffawing. "Trust me, he's safe." I went on eating my crust of bread.
"Except his brother."
I paused mid-bite. "What?" I half-whispered.
"Yeah, been locked up for a while now," he went on drinking juice. "Apparently, it eventually broke him. He told everything, even some things that weren't even true."
I stared him straight in his eye. "And how do you know all this?" I was clutching my pistol by now.
"It's right here in the paper," he showed me.
I couldn't read of course, but I called my wife right then. Zee hurried in and looked.
The palor left her cheeks and she half fainted.
"Honey go on upstairs and take care of the kids," I half teared up. "Tell em, y'all going for a walk along the riverside and um, pack em a lunch for the trip."
She looked at me with ghostly eyes.
We did not hug.
We did not kiss.
She walked out the kitchen and I gripped both guns.
Rob just stood staring at me, blood draining from his face too.
He knew what was coming.
I pulled both pistols slowly at the same time, and pointed.
Then I laid them on the table by the crumpets.
"You know," I started, "the sky looks incredibly blue today," I said as I adjusted the picture of Zee and my boys behind me. "Sure hope it remains that way. I feel rain may be on the way."
(fin)
🪦 🌺
in memory of Jesse James.
thank you for borrowing your legacy
🌈 📖
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS SERIES
🤠 🤲🏿
ALWAYS BELIEVE
💯 🐴
Epilogue:
My Story with Billy the Kid was very brief, some would even claim it does not, could not exist. Yeah, we had some good times together; and I have a wonderful story to tell y'all, someday, when the red paint dries on the walls ...
Watch for it!
🩸 🦄
© I Am MichAel
Tom Sizemore (HEAT)
🩸
A #WRITCO Series
🌈
WRITING ON THE WALL
📚
Who has the ability to predict the Future? Who knows of their End of Days? Our days are numbered, yes we all know this, but where does that sidewalk end?
I pondered this as I shot dead Billy the Kid, I blew away over a dozen men after that Heist gone bad and never looked back. My mindset from then on was as a wild man. My brother Frank moved to a Homestead, safe and hidden from the clutches of Pinkerton and his henchmen. The stain of blood though, had always been on my head.
Truth be told, I was a terrible shot. Get more than fifty feet away I was lucky to hit the broadside of a Barn. But I will gun you down without compunction if you have it coming to you.
And killing Pinkerton's Nephew caused no sleep loss whatsoever. I had a family of my own and unlike my father before me I had no intention of leaving them abandoned. My wife and two boys lived happily and successful lives thanks to my misadventures and I recall them without shame. Once in a while, I'll hook up with what I've recently referred to as haggard holdovers or newbies, gunslingers who had no business carrying the Sword of Vengeance, but I preferred my Brothers in Arms, the Fords.
There was a time I'd NEVER get so low to rob a piteous store, but times were changing and the boys were in need. A good father will do right anything to rear his family and God holds no ill will towards a proper daddy.
But Pinkerton was persistent and hung my poster up on damn near every tavern and saloon this side of Mississippi. There was no escape, even after cutting the beard. So gradually I allowed it to come back; and in time, as it grayed slightly, people started to forget about haggard Jesse James.
I changed my name then back to just Woodson.
I started to get good at games like Dominoes and Five Finger Filet (my fave) My boys learned horseshoes and my wife could bake a mean mincemeat pie!
Our homestead was large, and filled with family goodness and happiness.
Everything was as it should be.
When there was a knock at the front door.
"Jesse?"
"Come on in brother," I didn't have on anything but my briefs and my pistols, but it was a welcomed visit. We sat down to breakfast to shoot the breeze.
"Words come down that Pinkerton will stop at nothing now to see you dead. Even kill anyone ever associated with you, or imprisoned which is worse."
He looked at me with deadpan eyes.
"Some say even killing your brother and his family just to draw you out into the open."
I smirked at that notion. "Guess lucky for me that no one knows where he lives but me, huh?"
He half grinned. "Except the Youngers."
Again, I smirked. "Ole Cole is only poor Younger who half-lives, and he wouldn't talk even if you'd threatened his own mother." By now I was full on guffawing. "Trust me, he's safe." I went on eating my crust of bread.
"Except his brother."
I paused mid-bite. "What?" I half-whispered.
"Yeah, been locked up for a while now," he went on drinking juice. "Apparently, it eventually broke him. He told everything, even some things that weren't even true."
I stared him straight in his eye. "And how do you know all this?" I was clutching my pistol by now.
"It's right here in the paper," he showed me.
I couldn't read of course, but I called my wife right then. Zee hurried in and looked.
The palor left her cheeks and she half fainted.
"Honey go on upstairs and take care of the kids," I half teared up. "Tell em, y'all going for a walk along the riverside and um, pack em a lunch for the trip."
She looked at me with ghostly eyes.
We did not hug.
We did not kiss.
She walked out the kitchen and I gripped both guns.
Rob just stood staring at me, blood draining from his face too.
He knew what was coming.
I pulled both pistols slowly at the same time, and pointed.
Then I laid them on the table by the crumpets.
"You know," I started, "the sky looks incredibly blue today," I said as I adjusted the picture of Zee and my boys behind me. "Sure hope it remains that way. I feel rain may be on the way."
(fin)
🪦 🌺
in memory of Jesse James.
thank you for borrowing your legacy
🌈 📖
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS SERIES
🤠 🤲🏿
ALWAYS BELIEVE
💯 🐴
Epilogue:
My Story with Billy the Kid was very brief, some would even claim it does not, could not exist. Yeah, we had some good times together; and I have a wonderful story to tell y'all, someday, when the red paint dries on the walls ...
Watch for it!
🩸 🦄
© I Am MichAel
