{"id":189,"date":"2012-01-01T00:12:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-01T05:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=189"},"modified":"2026-07-29T13:19:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:19:55","slug":"a-broken-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=189","title":{"rendered":"A Broken Resolution (by Cheaux)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rated: \u00a0T (945 words)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Summary: \u00a0Joe has every intention of keeping his New Year’s resolutions, but you know what they say about good intentions.<\/p>\n

Story Notes: \u00a0A Writer’s Digest prompt for New Year’s Day 2012: \u00a0write a story that begins with the sentence provided (in bold).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A Broken Resolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only two weeks into the New Year and I have already broken my first resolution:\u00a0 <\/strong>Don’t kill anyone.<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I\u2014Joe Cartwright\u2014am a bounty hunter or range detective or anything.\u00a0 No, sir; but even when I work to avoid it, trouble just seems to find me like that time when a total stranger tried to goad me into drawing on him and I had to convince him that he would have died of a real bad case of the slows had he succeeded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trouble\u2014not Francis\u2014is my middle name; just ask my older brothers.\u00a0 They\u2019ve saved my sorry butt often enough.\u00a0 Thing is, they aren\u2019t around anymore and Candy\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0well, Candy\u2019s here today, gone tomorrow.\u00a0 By the clock on the wall, it\u2019s already tomorrow and he\u2019s long since vanished.\u00a0 Can\u2019t say I blame him.\u00a0 I\u2019d be gone, too, if I weren\u2019t locked up in a cell in Purgatory\u2014a backwater hole-in-the-wall on the eastern edge of the salt flats.<\/span><\/p>\n

**********<\/span><\/p>\n

The year started full of promise, all shiny and bright like a six-carat diamond ring.\u00a0 How everything went to hell in a hand basket in just under 14 days I\u2019ll never understand.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been over the events in my mind a hundred times but nothing makes sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mild winter meant passable roads and an unexpected opportunity to escape the confines of the ranch for a short vacation.\u00a0 Pa thought we should go to Monterey but for me the thought of going anywhere near San Francisco recalled those horrific days crisscrossing California searching for my wife\u2019s murderer.\u00a0 Candy sensed my reluctance when the subject came up at dinner on New Year\u2019s Day and offered up an alternative.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard about a new line of cutting horses being bred at the Bar M Ranch near Salt Lake City and suggested he and I go investigate.\u00a0 I figured Pa would resist, wanting us all to be together for a last family outing before Jamie returned to school, but while I stared at my plate he evidently caught Candy\u2019s meaning and agreed we should go.<\/span><\/p>\n

I gave Pa and Jamie a quick hug at the Overland depot the next morning before they boarded the westbound stage.\u00a0 It never occurred to me it would be the last time I\u2019d see them.<\/span><\/p>\n

**********<\/span><\/p>\n

It was an easy ride to Utah.\u00a0 Although cold at night, the days were spectacular.\u00a0 Snow melt had swollen streams and turned the eastern Nevada mesas a verdant green.\u00a0 Candy and I reached the Bar M in under a week, saw enough to our liking to purchase a stallion.\u00a0 We headed home convinced of the money we would make when we crossed him with Ponderosa stock\u2014not unlike the pipe dreams Hoss and I shared over the hair-brained money-making schemes we concocted through the years.<\/span><\/p>\n

In retrospect, I guess that was what carried me into hell; a hand basket of memories and loose talk of untold wealth.\u00a0 Our excitement and too much whiskey made us oblivious to big ears and sinister looks.\u00a0 We were bushwhacked not five miles from town.\u00a0 Unprepared for the assault, I nevertheless was able to fire several rounds, killing two, before taking a bullet in my shoulder from the third gunman.<\/span><\/p>\n

I awoke in the Purgatory jail.\u00a0 A Wanted Dead or Alive poster for Little Jim Slade graced the wall.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve been in a cell or mistaken for someone else, but with no identification on me, no witnesses, and no telegraph, I had little hope of proving what happened.\u00a0 Candy was long gone.\u00a0 Within 24 hours, I was tried and convicted by a kangaroo court for the murder of two of the town\u2019s \u201cupstanding\u201d citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

**********<\/span><\/p>\n

The Padre left a short while ago.\u00a0 He came to hear my confession or at least my regrets, which weren\u2019t many because I\u2019ve had a good life and my family knows I love them.\u00a0 I do regret all the things I never had a chance to teach Jamie; things Hoss and Adam taught me; things a big brother is supposed to pass on.\u00a0 I also regret that Cochise will be left behind.\u00a0 The Padre was kind but his eyes held no promise my horse would be returned to the Ponderosa.\u00a0 I spent the next hour wondering what Cooch would miss more . . . me or his morning coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n

At daybreak my hands were bound roughly behind me for the long walk to the gallows.\u00a0 Although the harsh treatment caused searing waves of pain in my shoulder, I resolved to make no sound.\u00a0 I was a Cartwright, dammit; not a Slade. \u00a0I would walk tall, jaw firm, head held high the way my Pa taught me.\u00a0 I would not cry.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hangman offered a blindfold which I refused.\u00a0 The sun was just cresting over the horizon and I wanted to face my last day on earth head on before the trap was sprung.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that moment, time slowed.\u00a0 I took one last breath and held it as the ice crystals in the air pierced my lungs.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sharp report of a rifle rang out.\u00a0 Riding hard into the square to bear witness to my identity and prove my innocence was a U.S. Marshal, the owner of the Bar M, and Candy.<\/span><\/p>\n

I broke another resolution.\u00a0\u00a0 I cried.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The End<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0Joe has every intention of keeping his New Year’s resolutions, but you know what they say about good intentions.<\/p>\n

Rated: \u00a0T (945 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":14847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23,1007,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-joe-cartwright","category-short-stories","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-1007-id","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/New-Years.jpg?fit=191%2C263&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}