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    Sarah Arizona
    Sarah Arizona
    Sarah Arizona
    Ebook150 pages1 hour

    Sarah Arizona

    By John Hunter

    ()

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    About this ebook

    "A strong-willed young woman raised to be a bounty hunter struggles to find a better life."

    When a skinny and unwanted child raised to be a bounty hunter blossoms into a handsome young woman, she wants to believe there is more to life than shooting people and collecting rewards. She longs to put her guns away and settle down, but first, she must track down the ruthless outlaws who have killed the man she had hoped to marry. Accompanied by a twelve-year-old orphan boy who shares her dreams for a better life, she vows to bring these men to justice—Dead or Alive.

    An epic and unvarnished Western set In the harsh and unforgiving Arizona Territory, circa 1866.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Hunter
    Release dateAug 16, 2018
    ISBN9781386900184
    Sarah Arizona
    Author

    John Hunter

    Sent away to school to get a fancy education, my family proudly referred to me as bilingual for an uncanny ability to speak both Standard American English and my native Cracker. After graduation from a large brick and mortar university, a curious nature and an overactive imagination have led me down many paths in life: Former Peace Corps Volunteer, sales engineer, packaging design consultant, recovering golfer and more recently, an award-winning and produced scriptwriter. As a writer, I enjoy telling slightly dark and quirky stories with a dash of humor.

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      Book preview

      Sarah Arizona - John Hunter

      1

      Arelentless sun beats down on the harsh, dry and unforgiving landscape of the Arizona Territory, circa 1866.

      High up on a ridge, Bernard ‘Bernie’ Johnson, a man in his late fifties with silver in his beard, lays on his stomach. He extends and peers through a single lens brass telescope.

      Below him is an unimpressive and meager hardscrabble homestead. Smoke rises from the chimney of the single story adobe house with a porch.

      Near the house, two figures stand next to a small corral with a single horse. One of the figures is much taller than the other.

      Bernie slides back from the ridge, gets up and dusts himself off. He looks at Lulu, a worn-out looking old mule hitched to an unadorned buckboard wagon.

      Well, Lulu we found him--That’s our man down there…

      Bernie leisurely motions in the direction of the cabin with his hand.

      We’ll wait ‘til morning, then ease on down there and take him.

      Bernie closes his telescope and puts it in his coat pocket. He goes to the mule and pets the animal affectionately.

      He moves to the back of his wagon where he takes out and drinks from a demijohn with tattered wickerwork. Bernie wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, smiles and addresses his mule.

      Water. Ain’t nothing finer, Lulu. You can’t live out here…

      He looks around and spreads his arms.

      Or anywhere without it. If you ain’t got none, it’s more precious than gold.

      Bernie takes off his hat and fills it with water from the demijohn. He takes the water to his mule and holds his hat as the mule drinks.

      Below, at the humble homestead, William Blake, a thin hard man in his thirties stands with his daughter Sarah next to the corral with one horse. Sarah is skinny, dirty and barefooted. She wears a sleeveless smock made from a feed sack. Sarah stands very near to her father.

      William Blake looks up and sees a quick, bright flash as the sun hits the lens of Bernie’s telescope. Sarah watches the horse in the corral.

      When do I get to ride him, Papa?

      William Blake looks down and touches his daughter’s hair.

      When you’re old enough. You’re still too little.

      Blake and his daughter walk to the house and enter. Inside is a crude wooden table, a cast iron stove with pots and pans on it. In the single room of the cabin are two beds, a chair and several coal oil lamps.

      William Blake’s wife, Millie, is a weathered and hard-looking woman with skin like beef jerky. She stands at the stove and stirs a pot of cornmeal mush. She wipes her hands on her apron and looks over at her husband.

      Something wrong? You look troubled.

      William Blake crosses the room and stands close to his wife. In a soft voice he whispers,

      We may have company—Saw a flash up on the ridge.

      A worried Millie pulls back from her husband.

      You gonna go up there and check it out?

      Blake shakes his head no.

      Nah, it’ll be dark soon. It’ll be hard to move around out there and I don’t know what I might be walking into--Could be a trap?

      You think there might be more than one?

      William frets and paces the floor.

      Could be a posse…

      Millie puts her work-worn hands to her mouth and gasps.

      A posse after you?

      Yeah, could be. When they put out a wanted poster on you, there ain’t never any peace.

      Across the room and seated on the edge of a rope bed, Sarah interrupts her parents’ conversation.

      Mama, when do we eat?

      Millie snaps at Sarah and points at a simple rag doll laying on the floor next to the bed.

      Just play with your doll. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.

      Sarah gets up and picks up the doll. She returns to the rope bed pushed up against the wall and she sits down.

      William goes to the door of the house, opens it slightly and peers outside.

      This cabin is the best stronghold we got--I’m staying put. If something happens, it won’t be ’til the morning.

      Millie wrings her hands.

      This ain’t no way to raise a child—Always on the run and hiding.

      Sarah pretends not to hear her parents. Tears well up in her eyes.

      Blake glances at his wife.

      Poor child…maybe we should have left her with your sister back East?

      Millie frowns bitterly.

      Well, we didn’t, did we? Besides, my sister didn’t want her either.

      Sarah plays with her doll and pretends not to hear or understand what her parents are saying.

      So, I guess we’re stuck with her.

      Millie nods her head bitterly.

      Yes, so it would seem.

      Sarah bites her lip and pretends to play with her rag doll. Millie busies herself at the stove while William Blake sits at the table, cleaning and loading a pistol.

      2

      On the ridge above the Blake homestead, Bernie hobbles his mule and puts on its feed bag. He goes to the rear of his wagon, takes out and opens a can of beans.

      As the light of day fades, he gets a spoon, sits on a blanket spread on the ground and eats his beans. He looks at his mule.

      No fire and no hot suppers for me tonight, old girl. We don’t want to give away our location, so you just be quiet over there and eat your oats.

      A loud stream of piss splashes on the barren and rocky soil as the mule urinates where it stands. Bernie looks up, grins and softly chuckles.

      And this is why we can’t never have any nice folks over for dinner…

      Bernie finishes his beans and throws the empty bean can in the bushes. He lies back, puts his hat over his eyes and pulls a worn blanket up to his beard. In just a few minutes, he drifts off to sleep like a man without a care in the world. As he snores, Lulu stands guard nearby.

      3

      At first light, Bernie hitches Lulu to the wagon and drives his rig down the grade to the homestead.

      He stops his wagon in front of the simple homestead and gets down. He takes a large bore Sharps rifle from the back of his wagon. Between the fingers on his left hand, he has two spare big bore cartridges at the ready.

      The front door of the one room cabin bursts open and William Blake steps out. Sarah races out of the house and onto the porch. She grabs her father’s pant leg.

      In a solemn voice, Bernie addresses Blake.

      William Blake. You are a wanted man with a price on your head. You’re wanted dead or alive and I’m here to collect that reward. What will be it be? Dead or alive? Your choice.

      William Blake reaches inside the cabin and brings out his pistol belt. He flips the belt around his waist and buckles the belt. As Blake readies himself, he glances up at Bernie.

      How much is the reward?

      Bernie looks down at the ground and stirs the dirt with his boot. Without any inflection in his voice or emotion, he responds.

      Not a heap—About enough for coffee and beans. Two hundred dollars.

      William Blake adjusts his pistol belt. Sarah stands transfixed at his side.

      Blake spreads his feet apart and faces Bernie.

      I ain’t going with you--Not easy, anyhow.

      Bernie frowns and looks at the child.

      What’s the child’s name?

      Sarah.

      Bernie tilts

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