Through The Years Reposting

"Not the most sociable feller is he?" Dooley said as he rode over to the well. "Mind if I water my horse Mr. Gibson?" He asked with a grin.

"Who was that?" Tyler asked. I may have just dodged a bullet, he thought; literally as well as figuratively.

"That was Bill Stoddard. He's a lot of things but law abiding ain't one of them." Dooley looked back and saw Stoddard round the bluff, headed for town. "Him and me have a little history."

Tyler looked at Dooley for a few seconds and before he could ask a question, Dooley continued.

"I arrested him and his brother, Dutch, three four years ago. They went to trial, charged with stealing horses, and were sent to the state prison. Bill just got out."

"How about his brother?"

"Dutch died in prison. Reckon that's another thing Bill holds against me." Dooley finished watering his horse and looked at Tyler. "It's none of my business but I'll give you a friendly piece of advice Tyler."

"Yes sir?"

"I know this is 1878 and all. The country is growin up, getting civilized; but Texas ain't Chicago or St. Louis or even Nashville. This is still a wild and sometimes dangerous place. Aside from men like Stoddard, we still have trouble with the Comanche now and then. "

"Yes sir?"

"You should carry a weapon with you. I know you hunt and the Winchester would be fine, but you need something to protect yourself." Dooley smiled. "I won't always be here to help you know."

Tyler nodded, held up his hand for the Marshal to wait and went into the cabin. Going into the bedroom, he took the Colt .44-40 and holster from the dresser drawer. He put on the gun belt, settling the holster low on his right hip. As he walked back to join Dooley he tied down the pistol.

"Looks good Tyler, but can you use it?"

Tyler drew and fired, hitting a small rock, the size of a baseball, about 30 feet away.

Dooley grinned and said, "I reckon you can use it. That's good shootin."

Tyler returned the grin, reloaded the Colt, and holstered it. "I do fine with targets and I'm as good as most when it comes to speed." His dropped the grin and his face got a serious look. "But Dooley, I've never faced off against another man. I saw what happened with Stover and I don't know if I can draw down on someone."

Dooly nodded his understanding. "That's a choice you have to make for yourself Son. I hope you never have to face it but you need to think about it. Like I said before this ain't St. Louis or Chicago."

********************

"I'm beginning to feel normal wearing the Colt," Tyler said aloud. He still had the habit of talking aloud to himself or to his horse, Midnight. Tyler was riding into New Braunfels on this Saturday morning in late August to meet Abby; they had a picnic planned down by the Guadalupe River. Dooley waved to him as he rode by the Marshal's office.

Abby was mounting her horse as Tyler came to the livery stable. "You're right on time Mr. Gibson," she greeted him with a smile.

"Good day to you Miss Stevenson." Both young people laughed at the foolishness and rode toward the river. They talked all the way to the picnic site about nothing special; they just enjoyed the company.

The Saturday picnic or horseback ride or buggy ride had become a weekly ritual for Tyler and Abby over the last month and a half. They had become friends at the church midday meals and the Saturday outings began. The first meetings were with Abby's aunt as a chaperone, and just recently by themselves.

Sitting on a quilt by the river after eating most of a fried chicken, Tyler and Abby sat and stared quietly out across the slowly flowing water. Dragonflies and other insects flew low over the river and several times a bass would jump out of the water trying to catch a meal.

Tyler was very attracted to Abby and was fighting with himself over the attraction. I've got no right to get involved with her, he thought. Before Grandpa Torrey and Stella return I have to leave. I'm not sure about any time paradoxes or actions changing the future, but I can't take the chance on meeting Grandpa. Don't know for sure where I'm going or what I'm going to do and I can't ask Abby to go with me.

"Abby, I've been trying to think how to tell you, but there's no other way than to just say it," Tyler said. The look on his face was one of deep sadness.

"Tell me what?"

"I'll be headed back to Tennessee next week." Tyler sighed. "I wish I could stay but I have to go home."

Abby saw the hurt in his eyes, his slumped shoulders and heard the sadness in his voice. "I could go with you, if you wanted me to."

Tyler sighed again and shook his head. "That's not a good idea Abby." He hesitated and added, "There are things about me you don't know, things you can't know. I have to go alone."

The young woman had developed real feelings for Tyler and she thought he had feelings for her too. Abby dabbed at a tear in the side of her eye and stood.

"I think we'd better get back to town," she said and almost stomped to her horse.

"Abby, I..." Tyler started.

"What? You've told me you're leaving, you've told me you don't want me to go with you. What more can you have to say?"

Tyler shook his head and helped gather the quilt and picnic basket. Abby wouldn't talk during the ride back to New Braunfels, although Tyler tried to speak to Abby several times. Each time she would shake her head and refused to respond.

Abby rode directly to the livery, handed her horse to the stableman, and turned to walk away without saying a word to Tyler.

"Abby, please," Tyler said and took her arm.

"What?" She said turning to face him with tears in her eyes.

"I've enjoyed our time together. I've enjoyed our friendship. Please don't walk away like this."

Abby reached over with her left hand and lifted Tyler's hand off her arm. "Good bye Tyler. Have a safe trip." She turned and bumped into Bill Stoddard. Neither she nor Tyler had seen him standing there.

"Well Missy, it's not often a pretty little thing like you comes running to me," Stoddard said as he put his arm around Abby. "But I reckon I can get use to it."

"Let go of me," Abby said struggling to push Stoddard's arm away.

"I'll just give you a reward for jumping into my arms," Stoddard said and leaned toward Abby intending to kiss her.

Abby drew back her arm and hit her attacker on the nose. Stoddard grunted and shook the girl and then raised his hand to slap her.

"Let her be Stoddard," Tyler said and stepped closer to him. His right hand was hanging close to the butt of the big Colt he wore.

Stoddard held Abby away from him and looked at Tyler. "Reckon I'll teach you some manners like I wanted to the other day." Before he finished talking he drew his pistol.

Tyler reacted and drew his own weapon. He was the faster of the two and before Stoddard could bring his gun up he was facing Tyler's Colt. Stoddard stopped and looked at Tyler.

"Drop it Stoddard," Tyler ordered. "And let her go." Stoddard dropped his pistol to the ground and released Abby.

"I think it would be a good idea for you to ride on," Tyler said. "You're not welcome around here."

Stoddard looked hard at Tyler for a few seconds, walked to his horse and mounted. He stopped on his ride out of town. "I'll see you again Mister," he threatened.

"Thank you," Abby said after Stoddard rode away. She turned to leave.

"I'll walk you home Abby," Tyler said. Seeing the look on her face he added, "It's the last time I'll bother you."

On the ride back to the ranch, Tyler had time to think about the confrontation with Stoddard. "Never even thought about it being real. Never even thought about that it wasn't a contest. All I thought of was saving Abby."

********************

Tyler was packing his gear, getting ready to leave. It was two days since he told Abby he was leaving. He smiled as he saddled Midnight. "Don't know what taking Midnight might change in the future, but I'm not leaving him behind."

He heard a horse coming at a full gallop and turned. Abby pulled her horse to a skidding stop in a cloud of dust. She jumped off the animal before it come to a complete stop and strode toward Tyler with a purpose.

"I'm going with you Tyler. Hush," she said as he started to object. "If you don't let me go, I'll just follow you. But I'm going with you."

Tyler looked at her for several seconds. He shook his head, smiled, and pulled her into a hug. I've maybe made changes in the future by just being here, he thought. I didn't ask to be here, but now that I am I'm going to live my life the way I want.

"We better get another canteen, now that there are two of us," Tyler suggested. He turned to walk back to the cabin.

Tyler felt the bullet hit his shoulder and spin him around milliseconds before he heard the bark of the pistol. He saw Stoddard step from behind the barn with a smoking gun in his hand. Tyler drew his Colt and fired three times as fast as he could. Then he pitched forward onto the ground.

"Don't you die on me," Tyler heard from the dark. He opened his eyes and realized Abby was holding his head and upper body in her lap.

"Don't you die on me," Abby repeated. "I'll get you into the cabin and go for the doctor."

"Stoddard?" Tyler croaked.

"Dead, I think. He hasn't moved since you shot him."

Tyler could feel himself drifting away. "Abby, I love you," he said and closed his eyes.

********************

"Damn, my shoulder hurts," Tyler said as he woke up. He straightened up in his office chair.

"Wait, what? My office chair." He looked around and saw his monitor, in front of him on the desk; the cursor still blinking at the end of the last line he'd written.

"I'm back, I'm back," Tyler yelled and then stopped. "What about Abby?"

Tyler shoulder was hurting because he was braced on the arm rest and he'd slumped over onto it. He thought the pain was from the arm and shoulder being asleep. As he moved the arm around it hurt and tingled, but quickly the pain began to subside.

"How long was I out? Was Abby just a dream? Was Midnight, Dooley, Stoddard, and 1878 just a hallucination?"

Tyler looked at the time on his monitor. 5 PM it read. "That means I've been asleep for about twelve hours. It must have been a dream. I couldn't live all those weeks in only twelve hours." He shook his head, stood, and went into his bathroom. Washing his face and hands he looked at himself in the mirror.

"These aren't the clothes I had on last night," he told his image with surprise in his voice. He looked at the button on collar shirt, string tie, and whip cord work pants and an eerie feeling swept over him. Tyler started took almost a full minute staring at the clothes.

"What happened? Did I cross some kind of space time continuum, or step through a rift in the time line? Or did super space monkey decided to screw with me?" He started to laugh and remember his almost hysteria from the dream and caught himself.

"Hell of a dream or whatever. It'll make a good story."

His cell phone lying on the desk rang. Tyler ran to answer. "Hello?"

"Tyler buddy, I need a favor," his friend Charley Jones almost yelled into the phone.

"Yeah, okay Charley," Tyler replied still a little out of it.

"I know you're gonna meet us for burgers tomorrow night, but my wife's cousin just came in from San Antonio. Missy wants to know if her cousin can join us."

"Charley...."

"It's not a set up buddy. If you say no, Missy won't go. She'll tell me it's okay for me to meet you but I'll pay for it later. So please, go along with it."

"Okay Charley I'll meet you at Ernie's tomorrow night at 7." Tyler took shower and cleaned up. "I'm sure glad to get back to a modern day razor." He noticed a deep red, almost purple spot, about the size of a nickel on his shoulder. "What is that? Wait, that's where Stoddard shot me. What the hell?" It wasn't sore so he forgot about it. Tyler fixed himself supper and watched a little TV before he went to bed. Normally he would have sat down at his computer to write, but he was a little skittish.

Tyler had a standing appointment at the Trails West stable near his home to ride every Saturday morning. He decided to keep that appointment thinking it might help keep his mind from going around and around over his "dream" adventure.

Tyler was one of the favored clients of the stable. He always treated the staff with respect. The staff liked him, for one reason, after a ride Tyler wouldn't just hand off his horse to a wrangler. He would always unsaddle the mount, comb and curry it, and see that it got fed and watered.

Jimmy, the head wrangler, met Tyler as he walked up to the barn. "Sorry Tyler, but your usual horse came up lame this morning. Damndest thing, he was fine yesterday."

"No matter Jimmy. I'll just ride that bay mare or another horse."

"Tell you what, we just got a stallion in. Seems to be well trained with a good nature. Maybe you'd like to try him." Tyler nodded. "Let's go over to the corral and you can take a look at him," Jimmy suggested.

When they got to the corral, Jimmy said, "Wait here; I'll go throw a rope on him and bring him over."

Tyler climbed up onto the top rail of the corral and looked at the horses milling around. At the far side of the space a big black horse threw up his head and stared across the corral toward Tyler. The horse whinnied and trotted to where Tyler was sitting. The animal put his head against Tyler's chest and sort of sighed.

"I'll be damn," Tyler said as he rubbed the horse's ears. "This is Midnight." He rubbed the horse for a minute. "This is getting stranger and stranger."

"Reckon you two found each other Tyler," Jimmy said. "What do you think?"

"He'll do just fine Jimmy." A thought crossed Tyler's mind. "Saddle him for me will you? I need to see Mrs. Johnson for a minute before I take him out."

"The owner?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, got a little business to talk to her about. Be back in a few minutes."

Tyler wasn't gone more than fifteen minutes. He returned to the corral, grabbed the reins and stepped up into the saddle. As his finished his ride and tended to the horse he said, "I'm taking you home Midnight. You belong on the T2S, not in some stable."

The big black nodded his head up and down as if he agreed.

As Tyler walked into Ernie's grill that evening, Missy was waiting for him.

"You're just going to love my cousin. You two are perfect for each other. C'mon, we've got a table in the back." She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the table.

Not a set up huh Charley? Tyler said to himself.

"Abby, this is our good friend Tyler Gibson," Missy said. "Tyler this is my cousin Abigail Stevens." Missy turned back to Tyler. "Abby is a school teacher and she's thinking about moving here from San Antonio."

Tyler finally looked at the young woman sitting at the table and was shocked. It's my Abby, he thought. I mean the one from 1878. Different hair style, but the same beautiful auburn color. She's wearing a little makeup and her clothes are different, but it's Abby. It's the eyes that make me sure.

Abby extender her hand and Tyler took it in his. The two young people stared at each other and didn't say anything.

"For God's sake sit down Tyler," Charley said. "You two have been staring at each other for over a minute."

As Tyler sat down, Abby asked, "Have we met before Tyler? I feel like I know you from somewhere."

"Huh?" He replied. Tyler was still surprised.

"I asked if we've met before," Abby said with a small grin.

Thinking quickly, Tyler answered, "Perhaps in another life and at another time."

Abby's grin turned into a big smile. "Maybe so," she replied.

After some very good burgers and a couple of beers, Tyler and Abby followed Charley and Missy to their car. They stopped about half way to the vehicle and talked and looked at each other. After more than five minutes, Charley got impatient.

"C'mon you two," Charley said in a loud carrying voice. "You've got the rest of your life's to gab if you want. I'm tired and want to go home and get some sleep."

"Hush Charley," Missy said poking her husband in the side with her elbow. Then is a quieter voice she asked, "Haven't you ever seen love at first sight before?"

"I like teaching," Abby was saying. "But San Antonio has become a big city. Lots of hustle and bustle and a fast pace. New Braunfels is a bit more laid back, like a small town. I guess I'm just a country girl at heart. That's why I'm thinking of moving here." She laid her hand on Tyler's arm and added, "The people I've met here are nice too."

Tyler offered to show her around the town the next day and she accepted. It was the first of many dates. Over the next three weeks, Tyler and Abby had nine dates. Each one saw them become closer.

After dinner one evening, Tyler was giving Abby a tour of his home. She had told him that Missy talked about the big house and grounds a lot. He explained the history behind the building and how it had been added to by each of the owners since the 1870's. On one wall, next to the fire place, was a large piece of Texas Mesquite with T2S burned into it.

Abby walked over and touched the brand and looked at Tyler with a question in her eyes.

Tyler explained, "Before most of the land was sold off, this was the Torrey Two Springs ranch. That's the brand; I renew the registration on it every year. It's part of this house, this land, and my history."

"I must have seen it some place; it looks familiar." Abby gave Tyler a little smile. "I still feel like I've met you before. I've never felt this comfortable with anyone so quickly."

Tyler got them a drink and sat on his large overstuffed couch. He patted the cushion beside him and said, "Comsit."

"Comsit?" Abby asked puzzled.

"Come, sit next to me, I've got a story to tell you."

The End.

End note.

I purposely steered away from time paradoxes as much as possible. I'm not scientifically educated enough to discuss that phenomena. The subject has been delved into by authors much more talented than I. Notably, Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder", first published in 1952. In 2005 a movie based on his work was released.

In his work Mr. Bradbury, in one scene, explains the effect of what one little change, the death of a mouse, in the past could do to the future.

This story shows a little of the cultural shock a modern day person would experience by living in the past. But my main goal was to write an adventure story; a western.

I hope you enjoyed the story and thank you for taking the time to read my ravings.

Woody Leach