by CJ Quincy
“Hold on just a minute, Sheriff,” injected Benjamin, exiting the doors of The 777.
“Can you remind me again, why you are arresting this man?”
“Violation of deed. You know that.”
“Can you remind all of us, what portion of that deed this man has violated?”
“The portion that states this land is to be used for silver mining or silver trade only.”
“Well, if that’s the case, this man is not violating any deed,” Benjamin tosses a smaller burlap satchel to the Sheriff. The Sheriff opens it and reaches inside, pulling out a handful of sterling silver casino chips, embossed with “The 777”. The Sheriff pauses for a few seconds, admiring the spectacular silver coin in his palm, and then gives a slight grin.
“I’d say that we are participating in the trading of silver, Sheriff. In fact, everyone on this train is doing nothing but trading silver. Those are the only chips we now use aboard The 777.” Benjamin was practically announcing his proud moment to the entire crowd of onlookers.
“That’s horseshit!” Kingsley furiously responded.
“I’m sorry; Sir – but these boys are essentially trading silver. There won’t be any arrest made today.”
“Yes, there will.” Out of the crowd, a thick Irish accent is heard. Kenneth pushes his way to the front of the onlookers.
“You can arrest Kingsley, Sheriff – for the murder of his brother, James A. Kingsley on June 6th, 1896. I should know, I was there – and so were these miners.” The group of ragged miners steps forward in a straight line, standing together as one confident unit.
“This is nonsense, Sheriff.”
“I am sorry Penny, but your Uncle ordered a blast while your father was still in the mine. None of us knew he was still in there until afterwards.”
Penny can’t believe what she is hearing, her heart nearly pounds out of her chest, she screams at Kingsley and rushes towards him, her arms flailing. In one smooth motion, Kingsley throws her to the ground and quickly pulls his revolver from his holster, pointing it straight at Penny’s face. Penny looks up at him with tears streaming down her face, she is staring straight down the barrel of his gun.
“It’s about time you showed me some respect, young lady!”, Kingsley turns the barrel towards Samuel, “And you, you will stop operating this train; I don’t care if you are trading silver, you’re about to trade some lead.”
“No!” Penny screams out, as Kingsley, covered in rage begins to slowly pull back the trigger.”
A loud gunshot echoes throughout the town, Samuel flinches, and Kingsley falls to the ground, clutching his chest. He is hunched over, shot through the heart, blood rapidly seeping out from his shirt. Samuel turns to see Benjamin is holding up his Colt Bisley revolver – still smoking from the shot he fired. Benjamin’s quick draw shot took Kingsley down just in the nick of time. Kingsley lay groaning and dying on the dirt; still clutching his revolver, he strains to once again point his weapon in Samuel’s direction.
Before Kingsley can get his gun in position, Benjamin fires again, this time hitting Kingsley in the right temple, Kingsley immediately collapses and dies, blood oozing out of his temple. Penny runs to Samuel and wraps her arms around him and buries her head into his neck and weeps, now knowing that her father was murdered. Samuel, still shaken at the events that just took place, does his best to comfort her. Elizabeth runs to Benjamin, embracing him, his hands still shaking.
“Nice shot, Ben.” Samuel whispers, his voice cracking.
“Thanks.” Ben nods back, looks at his gun and slowly slides it back into his holster. A quiet calmness envelopes everyone as they stand around Kingsley’s dead body.
*
One year later…
The town of Durango is bustling with excitement. A wedding is taking place in the passenger caboose of The 777. The car is packed with guests, Kenneth, the miners and the casino workers are all seated, filling each row of seats. Towards the back of the car, Samuel waits with his best man, Benjamin. Music plays and Penny enters the through the front platform of the car, walking down the center aisle of the train. Blissful vows are exchanged and the ordained pastor announces Samuel and Penny as husband and wife.
The announcement, coupled with the whistle of the train causes the attendees to stand and burst into cheers and claps. The 777 departs for Silverton, with Samuel and Penny kissing on rear platform of the caboose.
The end.
From the author…
Thank you for taking the time to read The 777. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you would be interested in reading future works from me, please take the time to write a review on this book’s Amazon page – it would be greatly appreciated.
I welcome personal feedback from my readers, if you have questions, comments or complaints – please email me at [email protected]
Warmest regards,
CJ Quincy