Summary:\u00a0 Alone and in trouble, can a memory help him?
\nRating:\u00a0 PG\u00a0 (550 words)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Last Bullet.<\/p>\n
By Vicki Christian<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thankfully the darkness enveloped Joe. \u00a0Somewhere out there a man was hunting him.\u00a0 But he couldn\u2019t run anymore, his ankle was broken. He kept still and hoped that his hunter would not find him, but the game would be up as soon as the sun rose.\u00a0 In the light he would be revealed on the mountain\u2019s rocky surface. His pistol was empty, all the ammunition used up in the gun battle with his pursuer.\u00a0 In an hour he\u2019d be dead.<\/p>\n He pulled the old yellow jacket around him. Grateful now that Pa had insisted he take a warm coat, even though it was august. In a fit of anger at being delayed, he had grabbed this coat.\u00a0 It was Adam\u2019s, but Adam was thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n Adam would never have got himself in this sort of dumb trouble.\u00a0 Careful; that was Adam\u2019s motto. \u00a0Joe slipped his hands into the pockets in an effort to warm them.<\/p>\n He felt something hard that had slipped inside the lining.\u00a0 A few minutes of fumbling and he was rewarded with one .45 slug.\u00a0 Now why on earth would Adam have a bullet in his jacket lining.<\/p>\n Then he remembered another summer\u2019s day when he had been fifteen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAw, c\u2019mon, Adam.\u00a0 You said we could practice.\u00a0 That damn book-keeping can wait.\u201d\u00a0 He had paced up and down and then, emphasised his point by slamming his fist down on the desk.<\/p>\n Adam had not acknowledged his presence.\u00a0 He had finished adding a column of figures; written the total and ruled under the figures twice.\u00a0 He\u2019d wiped his pen and set it back beside the ledger, which he\u2019d blotted and closed carefully, before looking up.\u00a0 \u201cI said we\u2019d practice this morning.\u201d\u00a0 He glanced at the clock, \u201cExactly eleven and Pa would have a fit if he heard that language,\u201d he had admonished.<\/p>\n \u201cHe ain\u2019t likely to, he\u2019s in Virginia City,\u201d Joe retorted, hotly.\u00a0 \u201cHe said you could teach me and all you\u2019ve done is work on them d\u2026 darned accounts.<\/p>\n \u201cAlright, let\u2019s get to it. \u00a0But you do exactly as I say.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Grandma,\u201d Joe had murmured under his breath.\u00a0 He picked up the leather holster and the pearl handled navy colt, and followed his brother into the yard.<\/p>\n \u201cYou won\u2019t need the holster; we aren\u2019t practicing a fast draw, just how to hit what you aim for,\u201d Adam said, as he began setting up old tin cans on the corral fence.<\/p>\n Joe made a face at his brother\u2019s back, but he set the holster aside.\u00a0 There was just so much riling Adam would take.<\/p>\n \u201cNow this is how you load,\u201d Adam started, flipping bullets into his own pistol.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how to load. I ain\u2019t a kid.\u00a0 I\u2019ve shot a pistol before.\u201d\u00a0 Joe complained bitterly.<\/p>\n Adam held out his left hand, \u201cGive me the gun.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was puzzled but he handed over the Colt.<\/p>\n Adam ejected one bullet and slipped it into his pocket.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatcha doin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNever load the chamber under hammer, it could fire accidentally.\u201d\u00a0 Adam explained, patiently.<\/p>\n Joe waited with a pained expression, until the gun was returned to him and the target practice began.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now he smiled to himself and slipped the last bullet into his pistol.\u00a0 Just one shot was all he needed.\u00a0 Thanks to Adam\u2019s cautious habits, he\u2019d live to tell his big brother how that long ago lesson had saved his life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n