Circa 1873

U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon was getting fed up with the ramblings of his prisoner. He was escorting Tony Ferguson to Hays City. Tony had no intention of standing trial. He knew that his partner, Whip Randell would be along directly.

Ferguson:” Hey, Marshal? You still think you’ll live long enough to get me to Hays?”

Matt:” (5) What the hell kind of question is that?”

Ferguson: ” I happen to know that you are a dead man walking.”

Matt:”That a fact.”

Ferguson:”Yes sir….And that means that little girlfriend of yours will need some comforting.” He smiled wickedly.

Matt:(6)”Shut up your mouth and eat your dinner!”

Furguson:”I’m jest sayin’….”

Matt interrupted ….”Say her name again and you’ll wish you didn’t.”

Ferguson knew that it was only a matter of time before he’s be free. He kept up a steady flow of chatter.

Matt:”Can’t you be quiet. You’re driving me crazy!”

Furguson:”You wanna talk crazy?! I shared a cell once with an old coot who kept telling me (2) He saw his dead grandma waving at him. Man! What a bird he was. The whole time I was digging that tunnel to escape, he kept singing, (7) ‘Something awful happened to Tony. Something awful happened to Tony.’ I had to kill him. It was the only way to get him to stop making noise.

Matt grabbed him by his collar….”I may do the same!! Now SHUT UP!!”

Things finally calmed down. Matt built a fire and settled in for the night. All of a sudden he heard a twig break! Matt reached for his pistol and felt a painful sting. Randell had appeared and (1) He was armed with a horse whip. Matt grabbed his hand as Whip tried to find the key to the handcuffs.

“(4) It will be in the last place you look, you fool! Move over. I’ll get it,” yelled Ferguson. He found the key, freed his hands and then punched Matt. “Now YOU’RE the prisoner, big man! Give me that thing, Randell!” He reached for the whip….. Slash after slash, he struck Matt. As he went in for the kill, Matt got hold of it and twisted it out of Ferguson’s hand. He shoved him out of the way and in a flash he struck Williams hand and the gun fell to the ground. Matt picked it up and the scales of justice were once more in their proper alignment.

After depositing both men in Hays, Matt high-tailed it back to Dodge. He checked in with Festus before heading out to Sunshine’s farm. As he remounted his horse, Miss Kitty walked over to him. (8) Her braided hair billowed in the wind like a thousand serpents. Matt shuddered….”‘Lo Kitty.”

Kitty:”Come on in for a drink, Matt. Let me take care of those cuts.”

Matt:” No thanks , Kitty. I’m heading on out to Sunshine’s place.”

Kitty:” But Matt….”

Matt:” See you later, Kitty.” Matt could hardly wait to get to the farm and get to bed. He was exhausted.

Sunshine met him at the front door when he came in. (3) She was so cute he could eat her up. “Hmmmmm. Well maybe I’m not so sleepy AFTER all.”

“Something awful happened to Tony.” He said, with a slight tilt of his head.

I was not in the mood for his nonsense today, so I told him, “You’re right, I slapped that son of a b*tch because he lied about my cooking, so shut up your mouth and eat your dinner!”

Just then, I heard Grandma coming inside. Nobody liked that old bat except for Uncle Phillip, who thought she was so cute he could eat her up. The only eating I would want to do is eat her black heart. I looked down the hall and I watched her as she came toward us. Her braided hair billowed in the wind like a thousand serpents. Just then she was tackled by my brother. “BOO B*tch! GUESS WHO I AM??!”

She replied, “What the hell kind of question is that? I know who you are smartas$.”

Just then, she got up and kicked him in the ribs until he was nearing unconsciousness. His eyes turned blood red and he jumped up and slapped that woman back to the ground and gave her a dose of her own medicine. He couldn’t be stopped. I watched as he beat her senseless, leaving her bloody and lifeless.

He got scared, because he never meant to go that far. So he had me help him drag her body outside, explaining he was going to bury her.

“Where?” I asked.

“It will be in the last place you look.” He said.

A few days later he saw his dead grandma waving at him, and he’s never been the same since.

He slung the whip at me again i took a trashcan lid and stopped him, a weapon… it will always be in the last place you look.

“So do you want to die today?” he asked

“What the hell kind of question is that?” i asked stopping a few more attacks from his whip.

“What are you doing?” yelled a woman from the house who saw what was happening

“Shut your mouth and eat your dinner… i got something to take care of” he replied

The woman just stared quietly

Something awful had happened to Tony after his grandma had died

“Leave him alone and get back in here!” yelled the woman as her breaded hair billowed in the wind like a thousand serpents

Before he could think twice, O.J. was headed off to the slammer. It was really like a bad dream. He thought he saw his dead Grandma waving at him as he walked to the jail. The female guard that walked him to the cell…. oh…. she was so cute he could eat her up… he thought to himself. Her braided hair billowed in the wind like a thousand serpents. She put a lunch tray in his cell through the window and she said, “Shut up your mouth and eat your dinner!” “But I didn’t say anything,” O.J. stated. “But I will tell you that something awful happened to Tony,” O.J. smiled. The guard thought to herself…… I wonder who Tony is and I wonder if O.J. killed him/her?

Upon seeing him, I went out to question his presence. Upon noticing me, though, my grandmother told me to go inside. I refused, but she then demanded it more forcefully, “Go inside, Shut up your mouth, and eat your dinner?”

I went back inside, but, rather than going back to my dinner, I went to the window and watched my grandmother through the glass, which was covered with dust. Her braided hair billowed in the wind like a thousand serphent as the man stopped in front of her. This same wind brought their words to my ears through the open window.

“She’s dead! She’s dead and it’s all your fault!” The man yelled furiously.

His accusations aside, i took a few moments to notice his general characteristics. Tall and slender as a reed, his hair was dark black. Despite the darkness of his hair, I could almost see hints of red near the tips. His face was matted with a goatee, brought down to a tip.

Despite the damning words he spoke, I felt more fear from him than i did of my grandmother. I can not be sure why, but a dark aura seemed to come of this man.

“My fault,” My grandmother told him, sound calm and unafraid. “You were the one that would have consumed her soul. Everyone in town knew your intentions. other heard your claims in the bars at night. She was so cute he could eat her up? Weren’t those your words?”

“What kind of question is that?” The man asked. “You obviously have made up your mind on the answer already. You have make me lost my heart, now where will I be able to find any sanity.”

“Your sanity? It will be in the last place that you look. Inside of you.” She told him, her voice suddenly cracking as she turned to go into the house.

“Where are you going?”

“Away and i suggest that you leave,” My grandmother told him. With this she gave him a casual wave and turned to go.

Crack.

The horsewhip smacked down. I saw the hit on the base of her skull as her bodily fluid escaped from the wound. It was then that I knew that something awful had happened to Tony, my grandmother. While a younger person could ahve probably taken the hit with a mere grunt of pain, her older body collapsed and she died there.

Her hands still mvoed back and forth, but the gesture did not have the same meaning. It was more of a distorted and grotesque depiction of what a wave should be.

The site of the blood, I think made me lose it. I knew what they all would say. “He saw his dead grandmother waving at him and lost his mind.”

The next thing I knew, I was running out the door. After the man that had killed my grandmother. it was only later that I truly realized who I was chasing.

The devil himself can never be caught.