{"id":2913,"date":"2013-01-18T16:21:25","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T21:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=2913"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:58:11","slug":"ride-of-destiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=2913","title":{"rendered":"Ride of Destiny (by faust)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: <\/span>Adam’s fate is sealed.<\/p>\n

650 words, rated K<\/p>\n

Written for the Pinecone Challenge. The first sentence was given and had to be developed into a story. This is the slightly polished version.<\/p>\n

My Story Index and reading order for the Art-Universe<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ride of Destiny<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.<\/p>\n

Madame Titia had said it would take less than an hour, but apparently she\u2019d never met a man like Adam Cartwright. It doesn\u2019t surprise me in the least that Adam put up more resistance to the drug\u2019s effect than any other man would. He\u2019s a strong one, such a strong one.<\/p>\n

It did surprise me, however, that I didn\u2019t think of that before I put the potion into his coffee at our last stop at Goat Springs\u2019 way station. I should have reckoned with his stamina. He always exhibited that sturdiness and\u2026virility<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Well, what was done was done. And the important thing was that the drugs did take hold at all\u2014and just in time. Oh, well, it would have been lovely if they\u2019d worked earlier, just to make everything that tad more convincing. But what counted was the outcome, not how it had been accomplished.<\/p>\n

I know, I know\u2026the journey is the destination they say, and, honestly, I\u2019d have preferred another journey, too. But sometimes a girl\u2014make that a lady\u2014has to do what a lady has to do. The end justifies the means.<\/p>\n

And the end\u2026oh, the end\u2026. Everything turned out perfect. Per-fect.<\/p>\n

We saw the first scattered houses at the outskirt of Barstow and the first pedestrians on the sidewalks, which brought the stage coach driver to slow down the horses, when the change in motion made Adam start from a slight slumber and look up. I sat just opposite him\u2014not at all by coincidence\u2014and so the first thing he saw upon waking up was me. He looked into my eyes, and I into his\u2014and I saw how the drug began to work. His eyes were glassy first, then they focused on my face. And then a slow smile spread over his handsome features.<\/p>\n

A slow, dreamy smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiss Abigail,\u201d he said. \u201cOh, Miss Abigail.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was better even than that one night on my mother\u2019s veranda, when we\u2019d had pink lemonade and Adam had talked about\u2026whatever.<\/p>\n

Much better.<\/p>\n

I put on my most charming smile. \u201cYes, dear?\u201d Oh, yes, I dared to say it. Madame Titia\u2019s words in my mind \u201cIt never fails, Miss Jones\u201d made me daring, bold\u2026frivolous<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And Adam…oh, he looked at me with those intense eyes, with that smoldering manliness<\/em>, and declared, \u201cI love you very much!\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon my word, Sir Walther Raleigh couldn\u2019t have said it more chivalrous. It was all I\u2019ve ever dreamed of and more.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, I would have preferred a bigger wedding, not just Adam and me and the stage coach driver as witness; but Adam, dear, dear Adam made it so urgent. And who was I to contradict the man whose wife I was to become?<\/p>\n

And I honestly had no idea how long that love potion would keep having an effect on him. Better not chance it, right?<\/p>\n

_________________<\/p>\n

They say that there’s nothing as inevitable as death and taxes; and under the circumstances I think I’d like to add one more thing to that: a woman, once she’s made up her mind to land a man\u2014and son, I speak from many years of serious observation. ~ Ben Cartwright in “The Wooing of Abigail Jones”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*** fin ***<\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

The first sentence was taken from “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

My Story Index<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: Adam’s fate is sealed.<\/p>\n

650 words, rated K<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":3035,"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":[1005,7,23,4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adam-cartwright","category-a-u","category-drama","category-humor","category-short-stories","wpcat-1005-id","wpcat-7-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-4-id","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/destiny.jpg?fit=300%2C450&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913","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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}