david-tadlock.com

David sat crouched behind the stone gray wall of the porch. The porch stretched all the way across the front of the old big brown house and the only opening was the concrete steps in the middle.  It was the perfect place for hiding and for good protection.  The only other protection he had was his six-shooters on each hip.  In the distance he heard the faint noise of the train whistle.  He knew it would only be a matter of time before it all broke out.  The only thing he didn’t know was how many of them there was. 

The sound was getting closer.  He could hear the loud roar of the engines as they crept along the tracks.  The biggest advantage David had was the fact that they weren’t aware of him being there.  He had drawn the pistol from his right holster, opened it and double-checked to make sure it was loaded. Then he double-checked the other pistol on his left hip.  “Yep. Loaded and ready.” He whispered to himself as he put them both back in the holsters.

The train was getting closer. He pushed his big brim cowboy hat up just a little and peered over the stone wall to see the bright headlight on the train come into view.  The noise of the train horn was almost deafening as it slowly made its way through the crossing up ahead, another advantage David had. The train had to slow down coming through the small town so he was certain he would have an easy shot.  He didn’t want the sun’s glare in his eyes and he didn’t want to lose his hat so he pulled the drawstring up tight to his chin as though he was locking his hat in place. There was a road between the old house and train track but David wasn’t concerned about distance.  He knew the six-shooters would reach its target. He shot a lot farther than that just the day before so he knew the trusty irons wouldn’t let him down.

The time had come. David could actually see the engineer with his elbow on the window.  “Wait for it. Wait for it.” He kept repeating to himself.  Finally the perfect time had hit. Just as the first engine was almost parallel to the edge of the yard David jumped up drawing both pistols in one sweeping motion and began firing.  Instantly smoke began to rise from those small cannons in his hands as they popped and cracked as fast as he could pull the triggers.  First from the left hand then the right hand, back and forth one shot after the other with a constant spray of gunfire in the direction of the train.

The loud noise from the train engine muffled out the noise of the guns popping but then the engineer spotted him.  He ducked down and David knew he was reaching for something.  Suddenly he came back up with what he was sure was a shotgun or rifle. David didn’t know what he had he just knew it was long and black.  He took careful aim but David didn’t stop firing as smoke filled the porch.  David felt the hit, dead center of his chest.  He had to get as many shots back as he could before he fell. He wasn’t going to quit. Suddenly the engineer reached for his chest. A perfect hit. David saw him fall back as he holstered his six-shooters one more time before he grabbed on the stone wall with one hand while grabbing his chest with the other. He fell over the wall into the yard. 

David lay there as the train slowly made its way past the house.  He still didn’t know how many there was.  He only saw one.  So before the engines got completely out of sight he quickly rose up, pointed his index finger in the direction of the train and counted.  “One, two, three. Yep. There are three of them…three engines pulling that train.”

David got up, dusted himself off, re-adjusted his hat as he shouted and waved at the engineer “I’ll get you tomorrow!” The engineer leaned out the window and waved back smiling from ear to ear. As he went out of sight David took another roll of caps out of his pocket and reloaded his guns for the next gunfight.

And that my friend… is a true story.