Shame Ch. 2

"What do we do?" shouted someone.

"Ride to Cheyenne and get the marshall."

"Nope, Jake drew first. The gunslinger was just defending himself.

The men returned home dejected. Shame went out to the barn and retrieved his pistol. He turned around in time to see Caleb heading towards the house.

"Pa, pa," cried Caleb. "Shame's got his gun."

Elijah came out of the house just as Shame was mounting up. The rifle was sticking out of his saddle bag and his things were rolled up. He looked just like he had the day he rode up. "Shame, this is my fight," said Elijah.

Shame dismounted. "Elijah, if you ride into town, you'll be as dead as Jake is."

"I'm a man of god, Shame, but there's only so much a man can take. I'm coming with you."

"Elijah," said Shame. "I ain't the man you think I am, but I do like you and I don't want you killed."

Elijah was just starting to reply when Shame's beefy fist came up under his jaw. The farmer hit the ground hard. Shame mounted up again as Hetty ran out of the house and up to her husband. "Ma'am," he said nodding at her as he rode towards town.

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

Pa was just coming around as ma held up his head. I ran out of the house and watched Shame ride off. I started walking after him.

"Caleb, you get back here," called Hetty.

I didn't listen and began running after Shame.

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

Bodie and his men were at the saloon. Shame's boots echoed on the floor boards as he entered the building and everyone went quiet. Bodie was sitting at a table towards the end of the saloon, surrounded by Slim and some other cowboys. Braddock was sitting alone at another table. "Shame," he greeted as the black man walked past.

Shame nodded and continued on towards Bodie. Bodie looked up at him. "Is it done?" he asked.

"Yep," said Shame. "I done knocked her up and the daughter too."

"Gawd damn," yelled Slim looking a Shame with hatred in his eyes.

"Slim wanted the girl for himself," said Bodie calmly. "You were a little rough on him."

"He was a little rough on the girl. He was just supposed to scare her."

Bodie nodded, reached in his pocket and pulled out a bag. "It's all there," he said tossing it to Shame.

Shame looked in the bag. Five hundred dollars to give Hetty a baby. Elijah was the natural leader of all the homesteaders. When his wife gave birth to a little black bastard, he would become the town laughing stock. Bodie could then take over his land as well as that of the other homesteaders. "One more thing Bodie," said Shame. " Don't kill him." Bodie paused for a moment and then nodded, he had what he wanted.

"Drinks all around," shouted Bodie with delight. Shame turned around and left the saloon.

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

"Shame," I cried. Startled, Shame turned around and saw me standing there outside the saloon. "Did you kill 'em? I didn't hear gunfire."

Shame looked grim when he said, "A man is what he is Caleb. Someday you'll understand." He then mounted his horse and turned it. I knew he wasn't going back to our house.

"Oh Shame, don't go," I yelled trying to follow him. "Shame come back. Shame......"

I could hear Bodie's men laughing from the saloon as I collapsed crying while Shame rode off.

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

Some months later, I got a brother and became an uncle within weeks of each other. My brother had skin as dark as Shame. My nephew's skin was a little more milky colored. The bastards humiliated my pa and Bodie moved in on our land, destroying everything pa had built.

My pa and I both ended up working for Bodie driving his cattle. My ma and pa stayed together. At first, pa had been furious with ma, but they came to some kind of agreement. They spent a lot of time together in their bunkhouse on Bodie's ranch and both seemed happy for a while, though ma would stare wistfully down the road Shame had appeared on from time to time.

Pa took most of his frustration out on my sister and he drove her away. She became the town whore, servicing Bodie's cowboys for $5.00 a lay from a room at the saloon. Slim blew a lot of his money on her.

Unfortunately, Pa had been right and the days off the free range rancher were over. More homesteaders came until Bodie just gave up and retired with his fortunes. Homesteaders even moved in on our old land.

Being jobless, I decided to move on. Pa was a worthless drunk then and ma had lost all her looks. I didn't even say goodbye to them though I did stop to see my sister. She said, she'd quit whoring when she found the man who could satisfy her. She was about thirty then, but looked ten years older. It was then that I decided to go after Shame.

He was easy to find. I just followed the trail of black children. They got younger as I closed in on him. Finally, near the dawn of a new century, I found him in a small town in Utah. I knew I was getting close. The half-breed baby in the last town had been less then a year old. I crested a ridge and looked down on a ranch. Shame was there talking to a young women as he mended a fence. The sunlight reflected off his black skin and his now silver hair.

As I stared down at my old hero, all the hatred fled me. I didn't hate Shame, he had turned me into a man. I grew tough defending my little black relatives and working for Mr Bodie, roughing up homesteaders.

Without Shame, I would have grown up a dirt farmer, afraid of defending myself like father. I turned away from him and rode off in the direction of the setting sun.

"A man is what he is," Shame had said to me. Well Shame was what he was. He rode into our town in the summer of '89. He turned a boy into a man and left behind him what he was....Shame.

- The End -