A Bullet for the Horse

HIS EYES ARE TWO THIN slits as he stares into the setting sun. Two long shadows are cast in the dust. He tilts his Stetson, but it does little good. In silence he leads the horse by cracked leather reins. The horse with its head low, limps beside her companion.

Blood coats the hoof of the left foreleg. Flies buzz.

The stable is one of the first buildings on the edge of town. The smell of fresh horse-dung fills him with hope—the place is clean.

“Anyone here?” he calls out.

“What?” comes the reply, from behind one of the stalls. An old boy with grey stubble steps into the sheltered yard, his cheek bulging with a wad of tobacco.

“My horse needs help, there a Doc in town that can deal with this?” he asks, indicating the lame leg.

“Cheaper an’ kinder to put a bullet in the creature than use that drunken butcher,” replies the stable owner, bending down to look at the injury.

“I’m all out of bullets.”

“I can spare one for a nickle.” The stable manager smiles and spits a long streak of juice into the corner.

By the light of a lantern and with the help of the chaw chewer, he washes the wound. Fortunately, no maggots have set in, although an unpleasant smell turns his stomach over.

Taking the knife from its sheath on his left hip, he pops the back off the bullet. He bends the horse’s leg up and takes the weight as she leans against him. Carefully, he pours the powder into the raw hole, creating a thin dark layer. Her flank quickly becomes slick with sweat, as she starts to panic.

“Easy girl,” he says, stroking her nose and looking her in the eye. “We’ve been through a lot you and me. This has to happen.”

He looks at the old man to check if he’s ready.

“Hold her steady.” They both press her body against the stable wall.

“You’re not paying me enough for this.”

“Just hold her.”

He strikes the match on the woodwork and touches it to the gunpowder in one fluid movement.

With a bright flash, and an almost silent fizz, the gunpowder catches alight and a second later has burnt itself out. In the time it takes the powder to do its magic, he’s released his hold on the leg and they’ve

scrambled out of the confined space. They lean on the half door panting for breath, as she rears on her hind legs. Her cries of pain set the other horses neighing and jittering. In their panic, they’re kicking at the stable walls making a thunderous and almighty ruckus.

Soon, she begins to calm, and stands with the hoof raised off the floor. Steam rises from her body. The smell of burnt hair fills the air.

“Give her water, and the best feed you have. I’ll be back in half an hour.”

He returns with fresh linen, smears iodine all around the wound, and bandages it as best he can. He will do the same tomorrow and change the dressing daily. Should the horse survive, it will be weeks before she’ll be shod again.

“I need a place to sleep. Do you have a spare room?”

“What’s wrong with the saloon?”

“The soup.”

“Dollar a night, including food. Ma does a mean stewed rabbit.”

“Prices like that, I’ll need work.”

“Sheriff’s looking for a deputy.” The stable owner laughed like a mule and spat more juice into the corner.

“I’ll pay him a visit in the morning.”

“Welcome to Tombstone, son.”

David Bowmore

David Bowmore has lived here, there and everywhere. Currently, he lives in Yorkshire with his wonderful wife of twenty years and a small white poodle called Floyd.

He has worn many hats in his time. Notably he was a chef for many years, before finally turning to teaching the magic art of kitchen survival to up-and-coming young chefs.

David started writing in 2017. His first published story ‘Sins of The Father’ won best in book in Vortex: The Inner Circle Writers’ Literary Anthology 2018. Since then his stories have appeared in more than a dozen anthologies and magazines published by Clarendon House Publications, Zombie Pirate Publications, Black Hare Press, Fantasia Divinity, Blood Song Books and Dastaan World.

His first collection of short stories, ‘The Magic of Deben Market’ published by Clarendon House Publications is now available from Amazon. “A Bullet for the Horse” is his first short story to be featured in Saddlebag Dispatches.

You can find out more by visiting his website at www.davidbowmore.co.uk