Polly Snack Skin Cowboys Chp 12

chapter 12 snakeskin cowboys

(The reader must realize that cowboys were not what we were told they were on all those movies we've loved about them on the television. They were not hero's or even good honest citizens. Cowboys were outlaws. Today they'd be compared to gangsters and people of that nature. Knowing this I will write about them as they truly were in the old west.)

Polly nodded her head and picked up a blanket. "Is it going to be cold tonight?"

"Just get close to the fire," Joe instructed her. "I'm going to sit up for a while and listen." He moved away to get more wood for the fire.

Polly sank down to the ground and covered herself with the blanket. She already felt cold. She missed the warmth of Joe's body close to hers. Funny how she didn't seem to miss any part of John. She realized right at that moment that she truly didn't love him nor did she wanna be his wife.

She listened to the fire crack and watched Joe sit by the fire looking up into the sky. "I wonder what it is he is thinking about?"

Joe twisted his head to the tree line. "What was that sound?" he asked himself. He reached down to his waist to check to see if his knife was still strapped to his side. He rose motioned for Polly to be silent. Then stalked off into the darkness.

Polly lay quietly beside the fire. Every sound she heard scared her. What if...

Suddenly, from out of the darkness, a cowboy hat appeared along with several cowboys.

"Well, well," the first cowboy said. "What is it we have here?" He dropped his hat by the burning fire and sat down.

"I'm sure you don't mind sharing the fire now do you," he laughed, "you fine darlin'."

Polly sat up and pulled the blankets close to her body. Several more cowboys came into the light of the burning fire.

"Who you out here with, darlin'?" The one with big eyes that sparkled like lightning in the burning fire's light.

"She's out here with me!" Joe informed them as he stepped into the light.

The cowboys laughed. "Hey Joe!" They came closer to him and tapped his shoulder. "How you been?"

Joe didn't return the jester. His eyes seemed to burn like hell in the fire's light.

"What do you want, Willy?" Joe asked. He took a stand in front of Polly. Blocking her from their view.

"We just saw the burning fire and thought we might come and get warm," Willy informed him.

Joe laughed. "Right, and it's gonna be daylight soon." He held his hand close to his knife. "Why don't the lot of you just take a walk now away from my campsite."

"Now why would we wanna do that?" Willy asked. "You have so much to share as we see it." He nodded and pointed behind Joe's back.

At that moment shades unseen by any of them emerged from the darkness. Joe stepped back again closer to Polly.

The shadows came into formation one by one with feathers and long bows and arrows.

They said nothing. Joe said nothing. They all took a place in front, around or beside Polly.

Willy stepped back the other cowboys stepped back too.

"Well, we'll just be on our way," Willy stated in a rather nervous voice, as he motioned for the cowboys around him to get back up on their horses and go away.

"Good plan, Willy," Joe called out after him. "Don't show up again!"

His hand never left the nearness of his knife.

When the cowboys were lost in the darkness one of the Indians spoke.

Joe nodded. He turned and looked down at Polly. "We have arrived."

The Indians stayed exactly where they were. No one moved. Joe sank down next to Polly. "First thing in the morning we will be moving on to the village. For tonight, you sleep here."

He stood back up and took his place beside the other Indians. Polly was so shocked her mouth fell open. She struggled to close it. What happened was just so unbelievable.

She had more questions but knew none would be answered tonight. She moved back down under the blankets and tried to keep warm. The heat from the burning fire was blocked by the Indians standing just in front of her.

What would she do in the Indian village? What if she wanted to go home? What really happened to her mother? Would she be forced to marry an Indian she had no love for?

Her head was so full of questions she had issues trying to relax enough to go to sleep. That's when her eyes fell upon Joe's backside. He was standing in front of her. She kept looking at it until her eyes finally felt tired and she fell into a troubled sleep.