The Town of Beckinghead

The town of Beckinghead, where I live and breath. Me and ma daddy live on a ranch, Uncle Billy too. Daddy be a gamblin man fur many years, and Uncle Billy tell me that he gambled on the wrong women. I reckon she didn’t much appreciate being tied down much, and had some hanis desire to cut ma daddy's heart out.

Me and ma daddy lived a very simle life, wit no compications, livin in the desert didn’t leave much room fur trouble. Daddy thought it was about time to teach me to shoot, man alive did it feel good to hold ma very own 9mm Glock. We went out to da desert to knock the life out of some cans, turnt out, I was a natural. We was out there from first suunto last light. In da middle of shootin practice, daddy yells. “ Hey quick skin that radler!'' As if I'd been shootin from birth, I popped him one without hesitation. Daddy was starin at the critter wrestlin in the wind, and then took a swig of whiskey. He puts his dusty hand on ma head and says, “mighty good shootin tex.”

Sunday finally rolled about, which means I get candy at church, also means I gotta get all fancied. I was tryin to slap my pant leg before Uncle Billy find out that I got a stain on ma church pants...too late. All I notice is the sweet smell of tobacco, an I know I been caught. “Well shoot kid, you think I ain’t never been yours age?” I start blushing, as if to apologize for ma crude mistake. “Let's get a cloth wit some soap, and hell that don’t work, we just might as well paint over them” I known he was tellin the truth about that paint, so I just prayed to myself. Man after this scandal, wez was both gunna need confession. Church wasn’t but a mile from home, and I had to walk it wit ma horse. That being it’s disrespectful to ride a horse into church, an dirty all your church clothes. I always leave home early so I can catch up wit ma pals, Tommy and Henry. If there was any worse trouble maker that ever did roam in Beckinghead, It was us everytime. Hell, we was only the funnest kids this town had ever seen, always on the road to adventure. Me an the gang get to church, gettin the stink eye from Marybeth as I enter the buildin. Marybeth is the girl who is in our grade, but yee Doggy! A pure snake, she rats me out for doin hairbrained stuff all the time. I think she's just bitter because being she’s a female, I just hope that she prays for that sin everyday. I sit with Uncle Billy through the Sermon, cuz daddy sits with the priest. I choose not to, cuz he knows I never pay attention in Sunday school.

Monday came sooner than I could spit, but that only means Friday ain’t far behind. After Uncle Billy made breakfast fur me an the pals, we ran away to school. I always get there a bit early, just so we can play some frog hoppin. So on ours way to school, we stop by a swap an try an catch some of those green critters. What ya do see, is set a bar on the picket fence, an if ourn can jump high enough on it, you win. I make it out of there wit about 25 cents, but I ain’t no gambling man neither. I never let nobody place bets fur me neither, because one time good old Tommy placed a 50 cent bet, an lost! An I always have to hear Marybeth say. “Tommy, you're a good little man, but you can’t gamble worth a cent.” Unfortunately, I ain’t loud to hit females, that’s what daddy told me anyway.

Ms. King is one of the only gals I like, about a 23 year old good honest woman. She also happens to be my 6th grade teacher, which I wouldn’t mind much, if Marybeth weren’t her favorite student. I mean every damn day, Marybeth always brings her an apple. Maybe I should bring her an apple….Naw! Ma daddy says the way to a woman's heart is through your wisdom. So I try to be a smart kid, but man alive! Being smart ain’t as easy as snappin your fingers. Is ok because I am pretty smart at math, which always seems to make her smile. School ends for us at around high noon, cuz wez all got to get on with our chores, “man gotta work to provide for the family, as well as get that darn education.'' That's what daddy always told me. I never could quite get to readin, but I could always brush them horses. That’s most likely ma favorite job of all, gettin to brush o’l Blue. He’s ma stallion, and there ain’t no better horse alive if you ask me. I raised that buck from a foal, warn’t easy neither. Out here in Beckinghead don’t much like raising horses, as much they do gettin one that’s already broke and bread. Me’n Blue best buds, I even taught him to come on command. He’s the first horse I ever did ride, and hopefully will be wit me forever.

So today after doin the same old same old, me an the gang thought it time to build ourselves a fort. We been scopin places out for a long time, an we dun found us a spot at the top of Big Bear lake. All we needed was wood, so wez rode our way down to the blacksmith. Robert was a good person at heart that daddy’s known long time, so I thought to ask fur his help. Robert dun told us that we would have to work for the wood, I thought this was fair, but I won’t be alive a day were I ain’t gunna try to negotiate sum sort of deal. “Ay Rob, ow much wood you reckon we can get for an hours worth of labor?'' He looked at me the way he looks at ma daddy, a big grin. “Youngin I tell you what, an hour's worth of good labor, you can have all the extra stray wood you can carry.” Woohoo! Lemme tell ya, me an the boys did harder, better work then we have done in a lifetime over. At the end of our mighty hard and tiresome work, good o’l Rob had kept his word. Yee doggy! We had so much wood of all different kinds/heights, we coulda built a house. Now there twasn’t any time to be wasted, we got right to work on the imaginary blue prints we made. Right before the sun went down we had dun our basic baseboard and roof on the fort, it was a unanimous decision to use part of a tree as our fort. Fur the next week or so, after we got done wit home chores, we all banded together and finished the beauty. The only thing seemed to be the problem was the damn name, I mean I like Rust Anchor, guess that got voted out. Wez all got to thinkin real hard, like we weren't gunna do anything ever again. Finally we came up with the name, The Ledge, which sounded quick and simple. I just pray to my good stars that this here fort weren’t no waste of time, for ma sake an the pals.

Today daddy and I had business to be gettin done in town, an I gotta ride the extra mule if I tagged long. Now I reckon it weren’t just me, cuz I caught daddy doin too. Dead stare at Ms. King as she appeared from the dress store, I thought it right to take off ma cowboy hat an tell her “Howdy”. “Well good afternoon Mr. McCain,” Said Ms. King to ma daddy. “Why a mighty fine day it is ma'am,” Ms. King grins at us both before taking off. Ms. King speaks like an englander, which most find very elegant. I heard ma daddy cus under his breath, but I dare not say nothin so as to make it home alive. As we was walkin, I noticed the sheriff hangin somthin in his window, a poster. “Jimmy the Kid,” I hear daddy say. “Pesky lil twit, ought to be strung up” says the sheriff. Secretly when wez was all lil, everyone wanted to be a badass ‘Jimmy the Kid.’ I personally wouldn't a minded if I ever got around to meetin him, course I weren’t about to say that to the sheriff. After we gots all the supplies we was aimin fur, I thought it best to head to the fort to keep building it. Daddy told me it would be a cool idea to start a garden, so I took a hoe, and bam! I just planted One sunflower seed, an 3 bean seeds. Cuz those 4 seeds only cost about 10 cents, and we can eat the beans over a fire stove. They sure do grow slow though, it’s not magical like I thought.

So I normally don’t do this sort of thing, but at around midnight me an the gang wanted to have a smoke. We only do it on very special occasions, like finishing the fort. So’s we all snuck out, and hightailed it to ‘The Ledge.’ Once there, we wasted no time gettin a fire started, with the good o’l fashioned whiskey, an smoke. Now a mistake that Henry graciously decided to make was, tellin bout 12 other kids in our small town! Turns out one kid brought a guitar….great, we never gunna get caught. I mean 12 drunk kids, and a loud ass guitar, nothin could go wrong. It was a good thing I made ‘The Ledge’ super big on the in. Not gunna lie, I was having a super good time, maybe it was the booze talkin...It’s all sort of a big blur, but that’s when it got bad. It wasn't more than a quarter past 10, and that's when I heard the stomping. I could tell the other’s thought it was their imagination, cuz wez was all a bit off sorts. Next thing I know, a rusty o’l cowboy be standin there. Without thinkin, I pulled ma gun, I bought the gun for radlers mostly. “Wow, slow down there Hoss!” I hear the stranger say, “before you take ma life, you better be ready for all the hell your gunna unleash.” I looked at his face, or at least what I could make out, tight jawline, dark dangerous eye, and lil bit of peach fuzz beard. “Holy shit, It’s Jimmy the Kid!” I hollered for all of Beckinghead, but he just looked at me grinning. “Well hell kid, I don’t think kids should play with guns, an you're makin me nervous cuz lots of people are trigger happy.” “Well how do I know you won’t take a shot at us?” I say as if I thought we had a chance of living, “Listen to me youngin, I might be a bad guy, but I don’t shoot kids. Especially if they don’t mean me no harm.” Aight, I budged an offered him some whiskey. Not long after, I told him to stay wit us.

So In the day to come, wez all banded together an decided to befriend Jimmy, because after all, we didn’t have no choice. Me an the pals talked over our plan, an all we concluded was, Jimmy’s gang was gunna skin us if we refused him. All in all, Jimmy was a cool cat, just lurkin in them shadows. The boys was to drunk to remember anathing that happened, so I didn’t have no worry there. Me an the pals decided fur one of us to stay wit him whenever we can, I didn’t mind the job. Mostly cuz I got to hear o’l shootin stories he would tell me, man I swear this man should be in a famous theater. I known he was bad an all, but man him talkin made me wanna be a criminal. Just so bold, an so mysterious, kinda life you can have people look up to you. At the end of the day, I sadly had to waddle on home. Daddy an Uncle Billy was drinkin when I got home, no surprise to me. “Youngen, where in gods green earth have you been?” Daddy said, wit a dazed drowsy look to him, almost like he just forgot what he asked me. “I was out wit da boyz an we was skippin rocks.” I don’t much care to be around when daddy starts drinkin, cuz he as this demeanor to im, that I don’t much care to see. “I think Ima sleep at Henry’s tonight, cuz his mamma makin flapjacks fur breakfast.” I’m bad at makin up lies, but the night was only gunna get worse if I'da stayed around to watch it unfold. “Aight, but don’t lemme hear any crazy stories, or i’ll skin ya both.” Daddy said, as he downs another shot of whisky.

The followin day I didn’t much talk to daddy, mostly from bein madder than a jackrabbit. Some of the reason my mamma left was, cuz of the careless drinkin ma daddy got into. The nerve of that o’l goat, not to mention Uncle Billy who’s all fur it. Now the o’l man has a hangover, which mean I gotta do all the mornin chores. After that I thought it fair to make im do the rest of days work, I went to see Jimmy. Tommy was wit him, an I told Tommy to go on home fur the day. “You look more out of sorts then a three legged dog.” Jimmy joked wit me, as if I was in the mood. “Listen Jim, I just ave one question fur you, what is your plan here? Why are you here?” “Youngen, don’t snoop into things you're not ready to hear the answer to.” “Why you askin?” He looked at me, tryin to get a read off my face. His brow went up, an it was like he known what I’d been thinkin. “Now I know that I ain’t no great man, but I’m here to talk.” I don’t know if it was cuz of bein angry, or just me bein lonely, but I needed a friend. “I dunno...I just feel like ma daddy could be a really great man, he just needs show sum passion once in a blue moon.” “I used to call him ma hero, that was when he tried to act more like a parent.” “Let's not forget good o’l Uncle Billy, sharp shooter for a good o’l fashion carefree life, can the man not just work fur nothin?” I probably shouldna spilt ma heart out to a ruthless criminal, but hell if anyone else would ever listen. “Boy howdy, this is why I live the way I do, no complications. Just me an ma horse, against the world.” Jimmy said as he shoveled sum bean in his mouth. “I feel ya kid, I learned from an early age, emotions come back to bite ya in the end. That’s why I cut them ties before it wasn’t but to late.” I sat at the fire fur a lil bit, thinkin back on ma life. Wonderin where I coulda made things better, all I could think was.... if only mamma didn’t leave.

The following days went by slower than a sloth, just drab and mopey. I visited Jim many a time or two to talk, see when he plans to be on his way. He told me not to worry, that it would all be done soon. I didn’t really know what to do wit that information, so I dun left it alone. Along with Jim bein all mysterious, an me not really doin the bestest in school, life has become a bit hard. Daddy started gettin all quite and he seemed a tad moody, jus like a bull who lost his testicals. I wondered if maybe it had somin to do wit da fact that he was alone, jus all day wonderin wit nothin to do but work. I was puttin all this timin into Jim I didn’t even turn ma head to wonderin bout ma daddy, I had to do sumthin. That's when I got to thinkin, maybe avin Jim on the Ranch wasn’t such a bad idea.

Pt. 2 Coming soon