{"id":3993,"date":"2008-04-27T12:03:52","date_gmt":"2008-04-27T16:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=3993"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:25:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:25:20","slug":"nod-or-a-wink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=3993","title":{"rendered":"Nod or a Wink (by Writing Woman)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0<\/span>Hoss struggles to understand why a woman is gunned down on the streets of Virginia City. An expanded version of a Pinecone challenge.<\/p>\n

Rated:<\/span>\u00a0T \u00a0WC \u00a0750<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HOSS, NOD OR WINK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben and Adam were loading the wagon<\/strong> outside the general store. Actually it was Adam doing most of the loading while Ben was doing most of the talking, He was talking to the storekeeper and then to some of the other customers inside the store. He tried to keep the talk about the trial out of the conversation, but it was all his neighbors had on their minds. Hoss had come to town to help load supplies, but had left. \u201cNow where has your brother gone off to?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo check on the widow Rodriguez.\u201d Adam answered. \u201cYou know that he wanted to see her after Miller was acquitted of the murder charges. After the trial she swore she\u2019ll kill him herself, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben remembered. He also remembered how fond Hoss was of Elena. She had been his friend for a long time before she was married. Elena was a true frontier woman. She was born and raised out west and wasn\u2019t going to let this go. She couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to do some checking myself.\u201d Ben stated as he went in search of his other son. Walking down the street and around the corner he occasionally gave a few greetings and nods, but he was focused on finding Hoss. Mrs. Rodriguez has lost her husband to a fast gun and Ben didn\u2019t want Hoss to run into that gunman. As he turned the last corner on the way to her house, Ben saw Elena Rodriquez in the street facing the gunman. Hoss was moving quick enough to get between them to catch a bullet in his shoulder. He shirt ripped and the blood splattered his face, but Hoss kept moving. It was the second bullet that slowed the big man.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou murdering bastard!\u201d Elena cried as she held her gun and took aim. Miller didn\u2019t hesitate in killing her. Hoss rolled over to get up, but Ben was already on the scene. Firing quickly he shot Miller knocking the gun from his hand and then went over to his son.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Pa. Why?\u201d Hoss said as he stood up.<\/p>\n

Ben added, \u201cWell son, a wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss looked over at his father, \u201cI don\u2019t understand it, Pa.\u201d Ben reached over and put his arm around his largest son to hold him up. Hoss leaned his weight on his father and looked into his eyes. He was looking for an answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that if someone isn\u2019t willing to see, then you can\u2019t make them. All you can do is try, and you did that. You did everything a reasonable man could do to help the widow, but she just wouldn\u2019t get past her anger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt don\u2019t make no sense. She had everything to live for. She shouldn\u2019t of gone after him. She\u2019s\u201d Hoss hesitated, tears formed in his eyes. \u201cShe\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0young and strong and could\u2019ve still had a good life, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe could\u2019ve made it if she\u2019d wanted to,\u201d Ben gently told Hoss, \u201cbut she didn\u2019t. She wanted revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam walked over to his father and brother. He stood and listened carefully before adding, \u201cThe town won\u2019t accept that Miller gunned down a woman in the street. He\u2019ll hang now, Hoss. Her death ensured that justice would now be served for the death of her husband.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben smiled at his oldest son. Hoss thought it through looking back and forth between his father and his brother. He bent down over Elena. He straightened her hair and wiped the dirt from her face. He moved his arms to pick her up, but Adam bent down next to him. \u201cI\u2019ll carry her home, you go with Pa to Doc Martin.\u201d Adam carefully picked her up and walked behind his brother for a ways.\u00a0 Ben and Hoss went arm-in-arm down the street. Adam didn\u2019t follow, instead he carried the body of Elena Rodriquez over past the gathering crowd toward the undertaker. He was walking slowly and deliberately so that the crowd could see who had been gunned down in the street. As Adam walked away, a crowd formed around Duke Miller.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disclaimer:\u00a0All 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0Hoss struggles to understand why a woman is gunned down on the streets of Virginia City. <\/p>\n

Rated:\u00a0T \u00a0WC \u00a0750<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":2192,"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":[23,1006,8,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-hoss-cartwright","category-short-stories","category-challenges","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-1006-id","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-40-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\/hoss1.jpeg?fit=300%2C168&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3993","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\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}