The Stranger

Runner-up Winner of the 2019 Ozark Creative Writers Dusty Richards Memorial Oxbow Prize

BEN DODSON RODE TOWARD the ranch shotgun aimed at his chest. No doubt, she’d pull the house, hoping it was the one he was looking trigger if he made a false step. for. A woman stepped out on the porch, holdHe motioned toward the chairs on the porch. “Could ing a short, double barreled shotgun pointed at him. we sit down for a minute? I have something to tell you.” He stopped his horse in front of the house, careful to Her lips parted, as she stared at him. “I suppose so.” keep his hands in plain sight, and tipped his hat. She backed away from the steps and motioned

“Evening, Ma’am. I’m looking for the Brian with the shotgun to the chair on the right, waiting Cummings place. Would this be it?” until he was seated before easing down into the sec

She raised her eyebrows, a questioning expressing ond one. She sat in silence, watching him, still holdcrossing her face. “Yes, it is. What do you want?” ing the shotgun, but with the barrel lowered a bit, not

Tall for a woman, and slender, with shoulder pointing it directly at him. length blonde hair, her blue eyes narrowed and Ben paused, rubbing his fingers over his chin. centered on him in a stern, suspicious stare, smart Man, this was tough. Where to start? “My name’s Ben enough not to trust him and lower the shotgun. Dodson, and I’m sorry, but I’m bringing bad news. I Being alone out here, she certainly had good reason was riding along a trail when I heard a gunshot in the not to relax. distance. I’ve never been one to run from trouble, so

He smiled at her, trying to ease the tension. “Then I investigated.” I suppose you’re Janine, his wife. Is that right?” She took a deep breath, as if fearing what he would

“Yes. that’s right. Who are you? How do you know say next. Ben hesitated, hating to say any more. Finalmy husband and how do you know my name?” ly, trying to let his expression show the compassion

She stood straight, shoulders tensed, holding the he felt for this woman, he continued.

“I found a man lying by the side of the trail. He’d been shot, but he lived long enough to tell me his name and where he was from. He knew he was dying, and I promised him I’d let you know what happened.” He leaned forward, eyes connected to hers, holding her attention. “I buried him and then came to find you.”

“They killed him.” She leaned the shotgun against the side of the chair and wiped away tears, her shoulders slumped, and head bowed, as if completely overwhelmed.

“I was afraid they would, if he found them. He shouldn’t have gone after those three by himself, should have let them have the cattle. We could have replaced the cows. They weren’t worth dying for.”

“Them? You know who did this?”

She nodded and clasped her hands tightly in her lap, voice quivering. “Amos Sanders, Ralph Baker, and Jake Stevens. They worked here. Two weeks ago, they stole our cattle, drove them away one night. Brian went after them, went alone.”

She wiped her eyes. “I begged him not to go, but he was so angry he wouldn’t listen. This is what I was afraid would happen. They hated him for firing Amos, and I knew they wouldn’t let him live. That’s the kind of men they are.”

“He must have found them.”

“And they killed him.” She glanced out across the stretch of range land, as if searching for an answer. Her voice dropped a notch. “Now they’ll come for me.”

Come for her? “Why would they do that?”

“Amos, he’s the ringleader, he’d been trying to get me to take up with him, cheat on my husband. I ignored him, which only made him angry. I threatened to shoot him, threatened to tell Brian.”

Her lips tightened as she paused for a second. “Amos made fun of me. He told me I couldn’t get away from him, no matter how I much I wanted to get rid of him. If he left, he’d take me with him. He said I deserved a better man than Brian, and he was the right man for me. He patted his chest and bragged he always got what he wanted, and I would be no exception.”

Ben felt his expression change, growing hard and stern. His fists clenched in an urge to hit this scum. What kind of man would treat a woman like that? “Did you tell your husband?”

She nodded. “He was furious. He fired Amos and the other two left with him. Then they stole the cattle.” Her lips quivered, making her voice tremble. “Now that Brian’s dead, I don’t think Amos will give up. I’m sure they’ll be back.”

“And you’re here alone? You don’t have anyone to help you?”

She sighed. “No close neighbors, and Brian didn’t take time to hire anyone to replace them. There’s no one I can depend on for help, and I won’t stand a chance against the three of them.”

She was a tough woman, but this was more than she could handle alone. If those three came back, she would be in serious trouble. How could he ride off and leave her in a dangerous situation like this? He couldn’t. It would go against everything in his nature to walk away from a woman in trouble. Something he’d never be able to live with. He hesitated, but her expression changed, and he followed her gaze, sensing something was wrong.

Two men on horseback rode through the tall grass, coming toward the house.

He watched as they approached and stopped in front of him and Janine. One dismounted and walked toward them.

Janine stood and raised the shotgun, leveling it at him, her voice rough with anger. “What are you doing here?”

“We’ve got bad news. Brian’s been killed, and we’ve come to take you to the body.”

She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere with the two of you. You’re probably the ones who killed him.”

He flushed and took a step closer, his face twisted in fury. “Don’t tell me you’re not coming. No woman talks back to me.”

Ben rose and stepped closer to the edge of the porch. “You heard the lady. She’s not going with you.”

The man reached for his gun, pulling it out of the holster, but Ben beat him to the draw, shooting him in the chest. He jerked his revolver around and pointed it at the guy still on horseback.

“Drop your gun if you want to live.”

The man slowly lifted his gun and dropped it on the ground.

Ben narrowed his eyes, his lips twisted into a hardened smirk, daring this jerk to make a wrong move. Just one. It would be his last. “Mrs. Cummings mentioned three men. Where’s the third one?”

The man darted a glance at Janine and then shifted his eyes back to Ben, licking his lips. “He’s waiting for us to bring her to him.”

Face creased in an angry frown, eye narrowed to slits, Ben grated, “And that’s what you planned to do? Well, get this. She’s not going anywhere with the likes of you. Now get out of here before I shoot you, too.”

He stood alert, muscles tight, but after a few seconds of flaring tension, the man reined his horse around, jabbed it with his heels, and rode away. Ben watched, making sure he didn’t circle back around, then he turned to face the woman who was still holding the shotgun.

She gave him a relieved but questioning look. “You don’t know me, never seen me before. Why are you defending me like this?”

“I believe in helping people. It’s the way I was brought up, and it looked like you needed a little help.”

Janine raised her eyebrows. “A little? You saved me.” She leaned the shotgun against the wall of the house and slumped down into the chair. “They’d have made me go with them, or worse, if you hadn’t been here.”

He nodded at her. “You’re safe now. I’m going to follow that guy and see they don’t bother you again. And I’ll get your cattle back for you.”

She stared at him, wide-eyed. “No, don’t do that. They’ll kill you too.”

He grinned. “I think I can handle them.” Although he wasn’t really as confident about that as he’d made it sound, he’d do his best to make sure they didn’t come back to harm her.

He pointed at the man on the ground. “I’m guessing these were the men who stole your cattle. Which one is this?”

“That one is Ralph Baker. The one who rode away is Jake Stevens, and the third one who wasn’t here, is Amos Sanders. He’s the one who makes the decisions.”

“All right. You keep that shotgun close and the doors locked. I’ll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, you be careful and don’t take any chances.”

She gave him a direct look but didn’t answer. Ben descended the steps, got on his horse and rode off in the direction Jake Stevens had ridden, trying to stay out of sight. He was leaving Janine with a dead body to dispose of, but from what he’d seen of her, she’d handle it somehow. He had to follow this guy now, before he got away.

Jake rode through thick woods a couple of times, as if trying to throw off anyone who might be on his trail. Ben stayed watchful, hoping to avoid an ambush, but nothing happened. The sun set, and shadows lengthened as time passed. After a couple of hours, he ended up in a fairly thick stand of trees with night creeping in. The light of a fire glowed a short distance away, but he knew better than to walk into another man’s camp unexpectedly. A good way to get shot. He eased closer, keeping an eye on Jake and trying not to make any sound.

Ben watched from the shadows as Jake approached the campfire, making no effort to stay out of sight. The man seated by the fire stood up as he approached. Was this guy Amos Sanders, the one who had sent the other two to get Janine?

He didn’t seem happy to see Jake. His voice was hard and rough as he glared at him and demanded, “What are you doing sneaking up on me like that? It’s a wonder I didn’t hear you coming and fired a shot in your direction. What are you doing here by yourself? Where’s Ralph and Janine?”

Jake spread his hands out and shrugged. “We ran into trouble. She wouldn’t leave, and there was a guy with her. He shot Ralph when he tried to make her come with us. I was afraid he’d kill me, too, but he let me leave.”

Amos swore. “I shoulda known better than to send the two of you to get her. If there was a way to mess up, you’d find it. Neither one of you is worth the price of a bottle of bad whiskey.” He stood, legs spread, with his hand on his waist, close to his gun. “And he just let you ride away? Why didn’t he shoot you, too?”

“I don’t rightly know. I was afraid he would, but I’ve been watching, and I think I may have caught a glimpse of him a while back. He might have been following me.” Jake looked around the clearing, his expression nervous.

“And you led him to me?” Amos snarled. “You think I’ll let you get by with something like that?”

He drew his gun in one quick motion and fired. Jake dropped like a bag of rocks. Amos whirled and dashed away from the campfire into the dark woods, disappearing from sight.

Ben remained motionless, trying to blend into the shadows, not knowing where the killer was, only that he was somewhere out here and had a better knowledge of the area than he did. He strained his eyes, watching for any hint of movement, listening for any sound. Suddenly he jerked, as a gun barrel rammed hard against his back.

“Walk toward the fire,” a man’s voice growled. When they reached the clearing, the pressure of the gun barrel eased, and Ben slowly turned around to face his enemy, hands raised. Amos was a tall man, scruffy, with a short beard. He sneered.

“I guess you’re the one who killed Ralph. Did you think you could outsmart me? Lots of luck with that. You’ll not leave this place alive. And after I kill you, I’ll go teach Janine Cummings a lesson she has coming. No woman pushes me around.”

A twig snapped in the woods behind them. Amos whirled in that direction, and Ben grabbed his own gun ducking to the side as Amos veered around and fired. Ben felt the bullet whine past his cheek. He pointed his gun at Amos and pulled the trigger.

The bullet struck him in the chest, knocking him backward. His gun dropped to the ground, bouncing away from his body.

Ben aimed his Colt at the woods where the snapping twig had sounded. “Come out with your hands in the air.”

Nothing moved for a few seconds, then the brush slowly began to stir. Janine stepped out from behind a tree, carrying her shotgun and smiling at him.

He stared at her, shocked, then lowered his gun. Where did this woman come from? One wrong move, and she could have been shot.

“What are you doing out here?”

She shrugged. “I followed you. Those men killed my husband and stole our cattle. I have a right to fight back.”

She followed him? And he never noticed?

So much for being careful. “Didn’t you realize you could be killed?” he demanded.

“Of course, I knew that. But this is a rough piece of country. I’ve been in dangerous situations before. We don’t have any guarantee of living a long life.” She glanced at Amos’s body and then looked back at him. “What will we do now?”

“I’m going to hire a couple of guys to help me find those cows and bring them home. But before I do that, let’s get you back to the ranch.”

She tilted her chin and gave him a direct stare. “As long as you understand one thing. I’m going with you to find those cattle.”

He shook his head in frustration, knowing he couldn’t stop her. If he rode off without her, she’d just follow him. This was one bull-headed woman, strong as all git-out, and pretty as an early morning sunrise. He’d never met anyone like her before. Brian Cummings must have had his hands full. She was definitely something else.

“All right.” He gave in. “But get this straight. After we get the cattle back home, I’m staying at the ranch, and don’t argue with me. You’ll need a good foreman, and I’m available. Now let’s get going.”

She frowned at him, then her expression relaxed. They walked through the woods to where they’d left their mounts. He reached his horse first and led it to where Janine had tied hers. Ben mounted and waited as she climbed into the saddle and reined her horse around to follow him.

He’d been searching for something all his life, not knowing exactly what, but now he realized what he’d been missing. What a lot of people seemed to have—a home, a family, someone to share the good things with. Glancing over at the woman riding beside him, he had a feeling he’d finally found what he’d been looking for.

Barbara J. Warren

Barbara Warren was born and raised on a farm in Southwest Missouri. She loved hiking the surrounding hills and hollows and has since hiked the Grand Canyon three times.

She and her husband, Charles, lived in Independence for several years, before moving back to a farm, where Charles had a horse to ride and Barbara had her dogs. Years later, when Charles died, she left her beloved farm and moved to a nearby town on a quiet street with good neighbors.

Barbara started making up stories at an early age, and she was always the heroine. She helped start a local writer’s group and has five published novels and a sixth under consideration. She has had stories published in magazines and been a speaker at several writer’s conferences. She enjoys reading, writing, and meeting other writers. Barbara now writes Inspirational Romantic Suspense and her books are available on Amazon. Her short story, “The Stranger,” was the runner up for the 2019 Ozark Creative Writers Dusty Richards Memorial Oxbow Award.