The dust swirled across the prairie as I pulled back the hammer on my Henry repeating rifle. From my position on the ridge, Buck was probably a half mile way on horseback. Maybe one in a thousand people could make this shot stationary on the ground, but I was not the one. On the back of my horse, Probably, I would be lucky to have the shot go in Buck’s direction.
Buck knew I was no sharp shooter and it showed in how carefree he was riding in the open. From my spot, the notorious, Buck-shoot-the-eyelashes-off-a-lizard-at-a-hundred-paces…Redd…Reas…ah, heck, I don’t even know Buck’s last name. Anyway, from my spot it looked like he was not even awake. He was leaned way back in his saddle, his shoulders were slumped, and his hat was down over his eyes. Just like Buck to be relaxed when he knew I would be gunning for him.
You see, Buck and I were friends at one point. Not like buddy-buddy, but sort of like “Hey, lets rob a bank together and split the take kind of friends.” After we actually did rob a bank and split our take, two hundred and thirteen dollars we had a fight over the one odd dollar. After a long discussion, Buck got the dollar because he said he was bigger than me and needed more money to feed himself and now I was mad.
All things in the old West didn’t need to make sense, and a man’s life could be worth as little as a dollar. I was willing to kill Buck, a friend as described for a dollar, but how? I was no marksman, Buck was moving, off in the distance, and I was on the back of my horse, Probably. I had to think. If I shot and missed, Buck would certainly respond and shoot me. Anyone worth his salt would do the same.
Come to think of it, Buck could be awake, spying on me and preparing to shoot. Even with a pistol at a half mile, I was sure as dead. All this for a dollar? Buck’s life might be worth a dollar, but I felt mine was worth more. The West was wide and expansive, surely two criminal friends could live and never cross paths, but maybe not. I think I have family back East, and the West was not that big anymore.. Maybe I’ll go there.
The End