

"Anybody ask any difficult questions?" she said about his past. "Not yet. I don't think they will. Since I've been teaching this class for the past two years, all the kids are only interested in is an easy grade since this is an elective for them."
"I hope it stays that way," she said and finished her coffee.
"Oh, it will," he said and finished his coffee.
After putting their cups in the sink, they left the kitchen and house.
They went outside and walked over to their cars parked in the driveway. John and Angie walked up to his 2015 white Mustang.
"Go fill those young minds with history," she said, kissing him by his car.
She walked away and walked over to her red 2015 Camaro.
"And have a great day with people's money," he said, referencing her bank manager's job.
They got in their cars, backed out of the driveway, and drove off in separate directions down the street.
At the Clint Bartley home, thirty-eight-year-old Clint was drinking his morning cup of coffee in shorts and a tee-shirt at the kitchen table. He now sported a mustache, and his hair was shorter than the way he kept his hair in the old west. Plus, it was sprinkled with a few streaks of gray.
His forty-year-old wife, Alicia, entered the kitchen and wore blue jeans, a denim shirt, and cowboy boots. She also had a badge clipped to her belt. She was a still detective with the Phoenix Police Department.
She woke up at the counter and poured a cup of coffee.
She sat down at the table. "When are you going to practice?" she asked Clint, then took a sip of coffee.
"At ten," he said and sipped his coffee. Clint was a pianist with the Phoenix Symphony.
"Any arrests today?"
"No. Just checking out some leads on last week's bank robbery."
"Well, we both know the Kissing Bandit didn't rob that bank," Clint said, getting a chuckle from Alicia.
"I hope he didn't," she said, finished her coffee, and got up.
She walked over and gave Clint a kiss on his lips. "Go tickle those ivories," she said.
"Will do," said Clint and watched while Alicia left the kitchen. When she was gone, he finished his coffee.
At the university, Dalton was again the first student in Professor Mathers Arizona Old West Outlaw and Marshal class.
Another student entered the classroom, followed by Chrissy.
Chrissy immediately spotted Dalton and smiled. But today, she decided to get braver. Instead of sitting two rows over from Dalton, she walked down the row next to his right.
"Hi, Chrissy," smiled Dalton when he saw her sit down.
"I'm surprised you remembered my name."
"Why not. I had a nice lunch with you last week," he smiled.
"Well, thank you, Dalton."
There were a few seconds of silence. "Are you ready for this class?"
"I am. It's my favorite," said Dalton.
"It's also my favorite."
"I'm surprised that an education major would be interested in a class like this. Are you planning on teaching history?" asked Dalton.
"Actually, I want to teach first or second grade. That's the perfect time to help mold them into good students. I'm in this class because I'm fascinated by the old west."
Dalton smiled. "Me too. I love reading, researching, or watching old western movies."
"Me too!" What's your favorite old western movie?"
Dalton was ready to tell her, but closing the classroom door kept him quiet.
"Good morning, class," said Professor Mathers as he closed the door and walked over to his desk. "Okay, today we'll start talking about some of the Marshals that helped maintain law and order in the Phoenix area," he said while putting down his briefcase, opening it, and removing the textbook.
Dalton leaned over toward Chrissy. "Back to the Future three,' he said in a low tone.
"Back to the Future three?" she replied in a lone tone.
Dalton nodded that that was correct.
"I love that movie," she said in a low tone.
"I love the time travel angle," he said.
She nodded in agreement with him; then, they returned their eyes to Professor Mathers while he started today's lecture.
Chrissy and Dalton both smiled because they had the same interest in movies.
"So we'll start with the town Oak Creek," said John.
"We learned last week that Oak Creek was founded in eighteen sixty-seven. People from the east settled in Oak Creek, dreaming of striking it rich by mining the area for copper, gold,
or silver. So the first Town Marshal of Oak Creek in eighteen sixty-eight was a gentleman named Ervin Schmidt," said John, then paused for a few seconds.
"Marshal Schmidt was only twenty-five years old and came to Oak Creek after roaming the country after serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. Marshal Schmidt left Oak Creek and headed to California for other opportunities in eighteen seventy-two."
John took a breather for a few seconds.
"Oak Creek hired thirty-five-year-old Butch Wilson, who rode into town from New Mexico. Marshal Wilson's tenure lasted until eighteen eighty. He died during a gunfight with a drunken cowboy at the Prickly Cactus Saloon in Oak Creek."
John stopped for another quick pause. He had a hint of a smile while he glanced down at his textbook.
"Okay, now for the next Marshal of Oak Creek. He was twenty-eight-year-old Clint Bartley, who came in from San Francisco for some adventures in the old west," he said while glancing down at his textbook at the picture of Clint taken back in those days. He paused for a few seconds while this memory was still fresh in his mind.
"Okay, now Clint had a sixty-year-old Deputy named Elmer Filson. They were good friends," he said, paused for a few seconds, and recalled living this next piece of information.
"Now, Deputy Filson was shot and killed on September 17th in eighty-three. It happened during a shoot out with outlaws Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler," he said and paused. It was always awkward for John to tell this part of the historical moment. "And another outlaw named the Kissing Bandit. They just robbed the Oak Creek National Bank."
Dalton raised his hand, and John noticed.
"Yes."
"Did this Kissing Bandit have a name other than Kissing Bandit?" asked Dalton.
John looked at Trevor and hesitated as no student ever asked this question. "Ah, yes, yes, he did," he said, pausing for a few seconds. "It's a funny coincidence that this Kissing Bandit,"
he said, then gave a light chuckle. "Funny coincidence that Kissing Bandit's name was John Mathers."
All the students looked at each other as that name sounded so familiar.
Chrissy's eyes lit up. "He had the same name as you?"
"Why, yes. But you know, I can imagine thousands of guys were named John Mathers throughout the last couple hundred years," he said, hoping they would believe it.
Chrissy got curious and flipped ahead in her textbook to the outlaw section. She found nothing in the textbook about the Kissing Bandit and thought that was odd.
"So Marshal Bartley went after the three outlaws and eventually caught them. But something strange happened," he said and paused.
Chrissy glanced up from her textbook and looked back at John to hear about this strange event.
"The Kissing Bandit was on the gallows ready to be hung for the murder of Deputy Elmer Filson on September 23rd in eighteen eighty-three. But an unknown individual fired from a nearby building rooftop, severing the rope of his noose. Two women on horses raced up; the Kissing Bandit hopped on one of them, and they raced out of town."
"Didn't Marshal Bartley shoot back?" asked Dalton.
"No, he was afraid of another shooter in the area and didn't want any of the townspeople shot. So he ran to his office, got his horse, and gave chase."
"Did he catch them?" said Chrissy.
"No, the Kissing Bandit was never caught, and history never found out what happened to him."
"What about Marshal Bartley?" Dalton asked.
"He never returned to Oak Creek, and his final demise was never known for the history books," said John, then paused while reliving that moment. "Now, for the demise of Bart Stone," he said and glanced at the class.
Chrissy was still curious. "Professor, why doesn't this book have information about the history of Kissing Bandit?" "You know, where he came from and stuff like that."
Dalton glanced over at Chrissy and started to wonder the same thing.
"I haven't had the chance to do an update. It's in work," he said, wanting to get off the topic of his past outlaw ways.
"Will you discuss this in the class?" said Chrissy.
"Well, see. Now, let's get back to Bart Stone. He was hanged on September 25th, eighteen eighty-three, for the murder of Oak Creek deputy Elmer Filson. Charlie Chandler testified before Judge Peter Peabody that Bart Stone fired the shot that killed Elmer."
Chrissy felt John was evasive with this Kissing Bandit topic.
Why? She began wondering, and her curiosity was piqued.
"So this Kissing Bandit guy was actually innocent of murder?" said Dalton.
Chrissy thought about the Kissing Bandit. Where did he come from? How old was he? How did he hook up with Bart Stone? These were questions that flooded her head, and she needed answers.
"Yes, he was. Charlie Chandler was given two years in the Yuma Territorial prison after he testified against Bart Stone.
Charlie was shot dead in the desert while the Stagecoach took him to Yuma prison, where they camped for the night. It was believed Jimmy Templeton killed Charlie in retaliation for testifying against Bart Stone. But that was never proved," said John, then he discussed the demise of Oak Creek during the rest of the class.
Class ended, and everybody left with John leaving first, so nobody would press him with more tough questions concerning the Kissing Bandit. Usually, this wasn't a threat since most students weren't interested in this type of history. John always believed they only wanted an easy elective. But for some reason, Chrissy's questions started to make him nervous.
Dalton and Chrissy stood up from their desks. He looked at her. "You sure pressed him about that Kissing Bandit outlaw."
"Well, I wanted answers," she said.
"He'll probably talk about that outlaw next week."
"Yeah, maybe," she said but had her doubts.
"Why don't we meet for lunch today?" she said.
He looked at her and recalled their lunch last week. "Sure,"
he replied, having actually enjoyed her previous company.
"Good. About high noon?"
"Sounds good to me," said Dalton thought it was cute how she used the old western term "high noon."
Chrissy smiled, and they both left the classroom.
Dalton went off in one direction after leaving the history building, while Chrissy headed off in another direction. She looked like she was on a mission.
Ten minutes had passed, and Chrissy was in the library. She was doing some research on some other old western history books.
After fifteen minutes, she found some information on the Kissing Bandit in that book. "Now that is strange," she said while she read the article. She reread the article and bookmarked that page because of its photograph.
She got up from the table with that book and rushed over to the tables with computers. She used one of the computers and did a search for the Kissing Bandit on the Internet.
Five minutes had passed, and she found some impressive results and printed an article about the Kissing Bandit from a website. She liked the broader view of that photograph from the book.
She grabbed the pages she printed off the printer.
She booked and marked the pages she printed, then rushed over to the front desk. She checked out that book.
She rushed out of the library.
Chrissy rushed through the campus and headed off to the food court located in another building.
She went inside that building and to the food court.
She found an empty table, sat down, and anxiously awaited Dalton's arrival.
Five minutes passed, and Chrissy's eyes widened the second she saw Dalton enter the food court. She waved at him when he looked in her direction.
Dalton walked over to her table.
"Let's get some food," he said, sitting down.
Chrissy glanced around and saw the food court was too crowded for comfort. "Why don't we go outside first? Find a nice quiet place where we can't be bothered," she said.
Dalton looked at her and thought she wanted to get a little friendlier and maybe kiss. He hadn't kissed a woman since his high school prom.
"I have some weird information I need to show you.
Maybe weird isn't the word. More like strange," she said and glanced over her shoulder. "There's too many wondering ears and eyes here in the food court," she said quietly.
"Okay," said Dalton, and now she piqued his curiosity and figured she didn't want to make out.
They got up and left the food court.
They left the building and walked around campus until they found a bench where nobody was close to it to hear them. They sat down side by side on the bench.
Chrissy glanced over both shoulders. The coast was clear from eavesdroppers. She opened the book she had checked out of the library. "Look what I found," she said and opened up to a page she bookmarked.
Dalton looked down at the book and saw it was about famous old western outlaws. "Okay, a book about outlaws. I've probably read it before," he said and didn't look too thrilled.
"It's about that Kissing Bandit," she said, pointing to the page. "I see that."
She turned the page and pointed to a picture. "Here's a picture of the Kissing Bandit," she said, touching the picture.
The caption states it's with Bart Stone, Charlie Chandler, and the Kissing Bandit taken in Mountain Rock."
Dalton looked at the photograph. "Okay, we see the three outlaws," he said, unconcerned with what she found.
"Does that Kissing Bandit look familiar?"
Dalton looked at the photograph again. "Not really."
Chrissy took that article she printed about the Kissing Bandit from the Internet. "Look at that same photograph; that's a larger view," she said, handing Dalton the paper.
He looked at it.
"Now, does he look familiar?"
Dalton continued to look at the photograph. His eyes widened in a little disbelief. "That outlaw bears a striking resemblance to Professor Mathers."
"That's what I'm thinking."
Dalton continued to check out the photograph. "Aw, maybe it's just a coincidence." "You know, maybe as humans, we often resemble each other throughout history."
"That could be true. But I still can't get over how that old western outlaw bears a striking resemblance to Professor.
Mathers," said Chrissy. "Professor Mathers teaches a history course on old western Marshals and Outlaws."
Dalton continued to look at the picture from the Internet.
"So there's nothing about the Kissing Bandit named John Mathers. There's no information about his parents or where he was born and came from. He suddenly appeared in Oak Creek in eighteen eighty-three, robbing banks and hooking up with Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler. He suddenly disappeared in eighty-three," she said. "Never heard from again."
Dalton thought about what she said. He glanced at the picture and scanned over the Internet article. He looked at the book and what it had to say about the Kissing Bandit. "Okay, I now think that's a little eerie," he said and wondered where she was going with this.
"And I felt that Professor Mathers was being evasive about providing more detail about the Kissing Bandit today," she said.
"He has a reason. A reason he doesn't want to share."
Dalton pondered all the information she presented for a few seconds. "I guess we have only one option. We'll have to press Professor Mathers for more information about this outlaw.
Show him the Internet picture you found and see how he responds," said Dalton.
"I have classes all afternoon, so why don't we meet tomorrow to have lunch and see Professor Mathers afterward?"
said Chrissy.
Dalton smiled at her offer. "Sounds good to me," he said.
"Well, I have another class in fifteen minutes," said Chrissy while standing up.
"Me too," he said while standing up.
"I'll see you tomorrow at high noon?" she said.
"High noon it is," smiled Dalton. They stood there for a few seconds, looking at each other. They gave each other a little smile, then walked off in different directions.
The rest of the day was quiet for Dalton.
He went to work that night. During his entire shift, all he could think about was this Kissing Bandit stuff and the time he spent with Chrissy.
After work, he relaxed in his apartment and felt like watching a movie. So he went to his DVD bookcase and scanned them for one of interest. For some strange reason, he had this inkling to watch this movie.
He kicked back on his couch and started watching the Back to the Future III movie.
Over in Chrissy's apartment in the Sandy Cove Apartment Complex, she also had the same inkling to watch the Back to the Future III movie.
It’s Friday morning, September 23rd, 2016.
Dalton woke up at his apartment, showered, dressed, ate a quick bowl of cereal, and then headed off to the university.
Chrissy woke up from her apartment, dressed, ate a quick breakfast, and then headed to the university. She ensured she took that book from the library and the copy of the Kissing Bandit picture from that website.
It’s high noon.
Dalton and Chrissy met at the food court on campus.
“What did you do last night?” said Chrissy while she sat at a table with their lunch trays.
“I watched Back to the Future three,” said Dalton while he sat at the table.
Chrissy’s eyes widened a little. “So did I. What a coincidence,” she said, then got curious. “Why did you pick a time-traveling movie?”
“Why did you?”
“You first.”
Dalton thought for a few seconds. “I, well, I sorta wish to travel back in time to the old west.”
Chrissy cracked a little warm smile. “That’s funny, as I have the same wish!”
Dalton was impressed that they both had the same interests.
They had an idle chat while finishing lunch and were soon done eating.
“How about we go find Professor Mathers?” said Dalton.
“Let’s do it,” said Chrissy.
They got up with their textbooks, put stuff in the trash, and then left the food court.
They left the building, walked through campus, and soon arrived at the History Building.
They went inside the History Building.
They walked down the first-floor hallway and up to Professor Mather’s office door. It was locked. Dalton knocked on the door. They waited. Nothing.
“He’s gone,” said a female voice behind them.
Dalton and Chrissy turned around and saw a middle-aged woman named Sally, who looked like she worked at the university.
“We’re students in one of his classes,” said Chrissy.
“We wanted to talk to him about the textbook he’s using in our class,” said Dalton.
“We found a discrepancy,” added Chrissy.
“He’s out for the rest of the day. He’s over at the Police Museum to open a new display on old western Marshals and Outlaws,” replied Sally. “The display he created for the museum.”
“Thank you,” said Dalton; he motioned to Chrissy that they should leave.
They were quiet while they walked down the hallway and left the history building.
Dalton looked at Chrissy once they got outside the building. “Want to go to the Police Museum?”
“Why, I thought you would never ask,” she replied warmly.
“Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to miss a few classes for once.”
“I agree, and I’m driving,” he offered.
She smiled while they walked away and headed toward the student parking lots.
They walked over to Dalton’s Honda Civic. He unlocked and opened up the passenger door for Chrissy.
“A gentleman. You don’t see that often nowadays,” she said while sitting inside the car.
Dalton smile while closing the door, rushed to the driver’s side, got inside, and started his Civic.
Dalton drove out of the parking lot and headed off through the streets of Phoenix.
Dalton drove up to a red light and stopped. A car behind him slammed on its brakes. Dalton’s heart raced, thinking the car would hit his Civic. He cringed. No crash. He glanced in
his rearview mirror and saw a car too close for comfort, then sighed a sigh of relief.
Chrissy turned around and saw the car behind the Civic.
“You’re telling me. That guy’s on his cell phone, not paying attention.”
“Figures,” said Dalton.
The light turned green in a split second; another car ran the red light to his right.
Dalton slammed on his brakes. “I hate these drivers in this city. Always in a f. .” he said and paused, thinking he shouldn’t use a cuss word with Chrissy in the car. “Hurry.”
“I know, I’m getting to the point where I hate driving around here,” said Chrissy. “Becoming way too dangerous.”
“I agree,” said Dalton, and he cautiously drove through the intersection and drove off down the street.
Fifteen minutes had passed, and Dalton and Chrissy were heading into the front entrance of the Police Museum. She had that library book with that Internet article with a picture printout. Dalton had their textbook from Professor Mather’s class in hand.
They strutted to the front entrance on a critical mission in their minds.
Once they entered through the front doors, they saw a display board mentioning the “Grand Opening of the Old Western Arizona Marshals and Outlaws” display. It’s located in the Sandy Desert Banquet Room.
Dalton and Chrissy walked off through the museum in search of that room.
They found it.
They went inside and noticed a crowd of only ten people milling around the new displays. They scanned the room, and it didn’t take them long to spot Professor Mathers. He was standing next to another man. It’s Clint Bartley, and they stood by the display on the Marshals and Outlaws that were part of Oak Creek’s history.
Dalton and Chrissy walked up to the Oak Creek display; simultaneously, two older gentlemen struck up a conservation with Professor Mathers and Clint.
Dalton and Chrissy checked out the Oak Creek display and soon saw the part about Marshal Clint Bartley.
They saw a picture of Marshal Bartley with a long scar on the left side of his face.
Dalton glanced over his shoulder to check on Professor Mathers. He got a good glimpse of Clint, looked away then glanced back at Marshal Bartley’s display information. Seeing the long scar on the left side of Clint’s face in the picture suddenly felt weird.
He glanced back at Clint Bartley and saw a similar long scar on the left side of his face.
He glanced back at the display picture of Marshal Bartley.
No way! He thought.
He leaned in closer to Chrissy’s face. “Take a look at that guy with Professor Mathers. He kinda looks like that Marshal Bartley,” he said to her in a low voice. “They both have the same scar.”
Chrissy took a discreet glimpse of Clint standing near Professor Mathers. S he looked at the display of a picture of Marshal Bartley doing this a couple of times, focusing on the scar. “I feel like we’re in an episode of the Twilight Zone,” she stated.
“Tell me about it,” said Dalton. He tried to quietly sing out the Twilight Zone TV show theme song but got it half correct.
But Chrissy knew what he meant.
They both looked at Professor Mathers the split second he set his eyes on them.
“It’s showtime,” said Dalton, and he looked at Chrissy and gestured that they should talk with him. Chrissy gave a small nod, agreeing with him.
They walked over to Professor Mathers.
“Hi, Professor Mathers,” said Dalton when they stopped at John.
“Do I know you?” said Professor Mathers, thinking these young kids looked familiar.
“Yes, we’re in your Arizona Old Western Marshals and Outlaws class,” said Dalton.
“Ah, yes. I’m happy to see you here for the new display.
What are your names?” said John when he remembered them.
“I’m Dalton Trevor.”
“I’m Chrissy Barron.”
“This is my dear friend, Clint Bartley.”
They all shook hands.
“Clint Bartley. The same name as that old western outlaw from Oak Creek,” said Dalton.
“You’re correct. That’s why I brought my old friend down here. To show him that famous Marshal with his same name,”
said John.
“Yes, I find that extremely fascinating,” replied Clint.
“What do you do for a living, Mister Bartley? I don’t recall seeing you as a professor at the university,” said Chrissy.
“I’m a pianist for the Phoenix Symphony,” rep Clint.
“That’s nice,” said Chrissy.
John looked at Chrissy as something about her started to bug him. “Ah, yes, I remember you from yesterday’s class.”
“Yes, I asked you about the Kissing Bandit outlaw,” said Chrissy, and she paused to open up that book she checked out from the library. “I found out that there’s no information about the Kissing Bandit’s parents. About where he came from,” said Chrissy.
“Also, we found it strange that he suddenly showed up in Oak Creek in eighteen eighty-three, robbed banks, hooked up with Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler,” added Dalton.
Chrissy opened her book and removed the paper with the Internet picture of Bart, Charlie, and the Kissing Bandit taken at Mountain Rock. “I found this picture on the Internet,” she said, showing it to Professor Mathers and Clint.
Professor Mathers and Clint looked at the paper.
“Funny thing is, Professor, that Kissing Bandit has a striking resemblance to you,” said Chrissy.
“Plus, that Marshal Bartley also resembles your friend, Clint,” said Dalton.
Clint glanced at John with a “How are you going to talk out of this one?” glance.
“We went back in time,” replied John, then laughed.
Clint started laughing.
Dalton and Chrissy laughed along with them.
John stopped laughing. “Now, we all know that time travel isn’t possible. Now, for us resembling that old western Marshal and Outlaw, well, why can’t people of today have a striking resemblance to people in the past? Remember Nicholas Cage’s resemblance to a Civil War soldier? Very striking resemblance,”
said John.
“I vaguely remember hearing about that,” said Dalton.
“Plus, Bruce Willis greatly resembled General Douglas MacArthur,” added John, then he paused to think about another one. “Oh yeah, that actor Christopher Lloyd’s Back to the Future movie character Doc Brown looked like the John C.
Calhoun politician.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Dalton.
“Go do your Internet search on a Business Insider article.
It shows a bunch of famous people of our time that looked like famous people from the past,” said John. “That article came out a few years ago.”
Dalton and Chrissy looked at each other and didn’t know what to do next.
“About that Kissing Bandit, I have a small display over there,” said John, pointing to another wall. “He’s part of the Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler display.”
Dalton and Chrissy looked where John was pointing. They saw the display on Bart and Charlie, and something felt odd about those two.
“And there’s another copy of that picture you just showed me,” said John.
Dalton and Chrissy looked back at each other.
“Well, guess we’ll see you next week in class,” said Dalton.
“Yes, see you next week,” said Chrissy.
They both walked away and felt a little embarrassed.
“I have to admit, that was smooth,” said Clint. “Very smooth.”
“I hope they bought it,” said John as he still had this hunch these two would be torn in his side.
“You know they did. And besides, we planted cacti at the entrance to Crazy Hole ten years ago. There’s no way they can get inside that cave. No way,” said Clint.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” said John. But inside, he had a small flame of concern with these two students. They reminded him of his obsession with being a famous outlaw ten years ago.
“Now, let’s take another glance at that handsome Marshal Bartley,” said Clint.
John chuckled. “Yeah, let’s check out this handsome Marshal Bartley,” he said, patting Clint on his back.
They looked at Marshal Bartley’s picture, and Clint didn’t miss those days in the old west for a few seconds.
Dalton and Chrissy walked out of the Police Museum and looked defeated.
“What he said about today’s famous people resembling famous old people might be true, but seeing that Clint guy and that picture of that Marshal Bartley still has him wondering what’s going on here,” said Dalton.
Dalton and Chrissy walked up to his Honda Civic. He again opened up the passenger door for her.
“Thank you,” she said while sitting in the passenger seat.
He closed her door, rushed to the driver’s side, and got behind the wheel.
Dalton started up his car and then looked over at Chrissy.
“Why don’t you come to my place? I want to do some more Internet research. We could order pizza for dinner. I hope you like pizza?”
“I love pizza, especially during Internet research.”
Dalton smiled while backing his Civic out of the parking space and then driving to his apartment.
He parked, got out of his car with their books, and walked through the apartment complex to his building. It was a quiet walk. Once he got inside his apartment, he started feeling nervous. This was the first time he had a girl in his apartment.
Even though he dated Shelly, he thought it was dating; she thought it was hanging out. She always refused his requests to go to his apartment.
“Do you like New York-style pizza?” Dalton asked while they stood by the door to his apartment.
“That would be great.”
“Two small with pepperoni and cheese?”
“Sure.”
Dalton removed his cell phone from its belt holster. He called the nearest New York Pizza Department place and ordered two small pepperoni pizzas to be delivered.
“Should be here in thirty minutes,” he said while he put his cell phone back in his belt holster.
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at each other, not knowing what to do next. This was the first time she was invited into a guy’s apartment. Meaning alone with a guy.
Dalton’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Can I have your cell phone number?”
“My number?”
Dalton cringed, thinking he had overstepped his bounds.
“Actually, that’s a good idea. You know, in case we find something interesting and need to get a hold of each other,” she said, then paused. “Five, five, five, two, nine, six, eight.”
It took a few seconds for it to dawn on Dalton that she agreed. “Oh, yeah,” he said, whipping his cell phone off its belt holster. He made Chrissy a contact on his phone.
“I need your number.”
“Oh yeah, five, five, five, four, seven, six, one,” he said.
Chrissy opened up her purse, removed her cell phone, and made Dalton a contact on her phone.
“Now, what do we do?”
“We could talk while we wait for the pizza,” she said.
“Talk is good. Get to know each other.”
Dalton and Chrissy walked over and sat on his couch.
It was quiet for a few seconds while they waited for the other to start the conservation.
“So, are you from the Phoenix area?” said Chrissy, breaking the ice.
“No.”
They chatted for the next thirty minutes. They learned that Dalton was from Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh area, and Chrissy was from Seattle, Washington. Dalton and Chrissy were both juniors at the university.
They learned they never had a serious relationship and wanted to attend college in Phoenix because of their love for the old west. They also mentioned how they liked that nineteen seventy-three movie called Westworld. They thought it would be cool if a theme park like that existed today, where they could take a vacation and pretend to live in the old west, except when the robot staff goes berserk and tries to kill them.
The doorbell rang. The pizza was here.
Dalton got up, opened the door, and paid for the pizza with Chrissy’s help.
He got two beers from the fridge, opened the bottles, and handed Chrissy her beer.
She looked at the label. Her eyes lit up. “Oak Creek Pale Ale? What a coincidence.”
“I know, it’s made by the Oak Creek Brewing Company here in Arizona. I found it last week,” he said while glancing at the label of his bottle.
Chrissy was impressed and took a sip. “Tastes good.”
He smiled and was glad she liked his selection of beer, walked over, sat down at his computer desk, and powered up his iMac. A few seconds had passed, and they were ready. “Where do we start?” said Chrissy.
“How about that Business Insider article Professor Mathers mentioned?”
“That sounds good.”
Dalton opened up Google and typed that in the search block. A link for that article appeared. He clicked on it, and they checked it out.
“He’s right about Nicholas Cage. What a striking resemblance to that Civil War soldier,” said Chrissy.
“I know. That’s eerie,” said Dalton. He scrolled down the article, and they soon found the Bruce Willis and General MacArthur pictures.
“What a striking resemblance,” said Chrissy.
“Wow,” said Dalton, and he scrolled down and stopped at the Doc Brown, Christopher Lloyd, and the John C. Calhoun politician pictures.
They started at this one.
“He kinda looks like that old politician,” said Dalton, then sipped his beer.
“Yeah, that one is a bit of a stretch,” said Chrissy, then she sipped her beer.
They took a second to munch on their pizza.
“What should we search on next?” said Chrissy.
“I don’t know,” he said, pondering for a few seconds.
“This connection between Professor Mathers and Clint Bartley still makes me wonder if something eerie is going on.”
“I know what you mean,” said Chrissy. “Do a search on Clint Bartley, pianist for Phoenix Symphony.”
Dalton did that and found the link for the Symphony website. He clicked on it, and a page about Clint Bartley appeared with a photo.
Chrissy opened up her library book and found the page about Clint Bartley. She scanned the article, and her eyes widened. “This is strange.”
“What?”
“The article states that Marshal Bartley played the piano and was really good,” she stated.
They both talked about that briefly, and their eyes widened.
“Search for actual time travel stories,” they both said unison. They looked at each other, surprised they had the same suggestion and the same idea.
“Do a search on Time travel in Arizona,” suggested Chrissy.
Dalton smiled while he typed that in the search bar.
Some results appeared. One result was titled “I Traveled In Time.” Dalton opened up the site.
He scrolled down the links of stories and found something of interest. It was titled “Phoenix Man Claims He Traveled in Time To Old West.”
He clicked on the link, and it opened up. It was an old Phoenix Herald article dated July 16th, 1950.
“Phillip Yoemans, age twenty, made a claim of time travel to the old west last week while hunting for buried gold in a cave in the Superstition Mountains. Authorities discounted Mister Yoeman’s claim of time travel and requested an immediate psychiatric examination,” Chrissy read the Internet article.
“I can imagine that Phillip Yoemans has passed by now,”
said Dalton.
“I agree. However, that article mentions the time he traveled while looking for buried gold in a cave. What cave?”
asked Chrissy.
Dalton typed “Time Traveling Cave in Arizona” in the search block.
They waited. Nothing.
“Hmm,” said Dalton while he pondered their next move.
His eyes widened, and he snapped his fingers. “I got it.”
“Got what?”
“I know someone who might be able to shed some light on this,” he said, whipping out his cell phone from its holster. He made a call from his contacts list.
“Hey Dalton,” said Roger from the cell phone. “What’s up?” “Roger, I need to talk to you before you head off to work,”
said Dalton, and sounded excited.
“Can’t it wait until tonight? During our break?”
“I’m not working tonight, and no, it can’t wait. It’s essential,” he said while glancing over at Chrissy. “Plus, I have a close friend that also needs to hear this.”
“I have a ton of work to do around the house before I leave for work. So, why don’t we meet tomorrow morning?”
Dalton frowned, as he was really looking forward to talking to Roger right now. “Are you sure?”
“Sorry, buddy, but don’t put it off when the wife wants something done. So it’s tomorrow morning, or you can wait until Monday night,” said Roger, and he sounded dead serious.
“Okay, tomorrow morning is fine. What time and where?”
“Good, meet me at the Home Depot off East Thomas Road. “Tomorrow at nine,” said Roger. “What’s this about?”
Dalton hesitated. “It’s for a term paper for our college class. We need to learn about a story about a time-traveling cave near Phoenix.”
There was a brief moment of silence from Dalton’s cell phone. “Well, I figured you would be asking about this one day.
I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” said Roger, and he ended his end of the call.
Dalton placed his cell phone back in its holster.
“Tomorrow morning at nine at the Home Depot near the university. Can you make it?”
“There’s no way I would miss hearing what he says.”
They both looked at their pizza boxes and finished their pizza.
Afterward, Dalton drove Chrissy back to the university so she could get her car. For the first time after meeting her, he had the inkling to give her a quick kiss. He refrained, as he didn’t want to scare her off.
She left, stating she would meet him at his apartment at eight-thirty tomorrow morning.
So for the rest of the evening, Dalton reread the Internet articles about Marshal Bartley, Bart Stone, Charlie Chandler, and, of course, the Kissing Bandit.
Dalton saw an interesting link. It was titled “Cowboy Fires Gun in Air from Horse in Phoenix.” For some reason, he was drawn to that article. He clicked on it.
The article was a news report from ten years ago. It was about an unidentified cowboy shooting his gun into the air in downtown Phoenix. The article also claimed that this cowboy wanted to kill someone named the Kissing Bandit.
The picture still shot from a video of this cowboy looked extremely familiar.
His eyes widened when he compared pictures of Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler. “Is that Bart Stone?” he said while he made numerous comparisons of the pictures. “It is!” he said in awe, then grabbed his cell phone and called Chrissy.
“Missing me already?” said Chrissy, answering the call.
“Yes, I mean, well, I found something interesting on the Internet,” said Dalton into his cell phone
“What’s that?” replied Chrissy from the cell phone.
“It’s a new article from ten years ago. It shows a cowboy on a horse firing a gun in the air, wanting to kill the Kissing Bandit.
The strange part is that this cowboy resembles that outlaw Bart Stone.”
There was a few seconds of silence. “Did you say this guy resembles Bart Stone?” said Chrissy, unsure she heard correctly.
“Yes. He looks exactly like Bart Stone.”
Chrissy thought about him for a few seconds. “All these guys resembling old western people make me believe that maybe time travel is possible.”
“I’m thinking the same thing,” replied Dalton. “And I can imagine Bart’s sidekick Charlie Chandler was also with him,”
added Dalton.
“You’re probably right,” said Chrissy. “That’s an outstanding discovery.”
“Hopefully, Roger will shed some interesting light on this cave.”
“Hopefully. So I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” said Dalton, and he disconnected his call. He put his cell phone down and smiled.
He was glad that Chrissy was showing an interest in all this, and started romantically liking her.
He reread all they found on the Internet during the rest of the night.
Dalton was excited to see what Roger could tell them and excited with being with Chrissy again.
Saturday morning arrived, September 24th, 2016.
Dalton couldn’t sleep a wink thinking about what had transpired during the last week.
Dalton rolled out of bed at seven-thirty, showered, dressed in his jeans, western shirt, and cowboy boots, and ate breakfast with coffee.
After breakfast, he sat on his couch and waited.
It was eight-thirty on the dot when there was a knock on his apartment door. His heart raced. “She’s here!” he beamed.
He rushed to the front door and opened it, seeing Chrissy outside in a western shirt, blue jeans, and cowboy boots.
She had something tucked inside the left shirt pocket.
“Ready?”
“I’m ready,” replied Chrissy.
Dalton and Chrissy left his apartment and headed to his Civic. While they drove to Home Depot, Dalton showed Chrissy the ten-year-old Internet news article about Bart Stone wanting to kill someone named the Kissing Bandit.
After fifteen minutes, Dalton pulled his Civic into the Home Depot store parking lot off East Thomas Road.
He drove around the lot. “There’s Roger over there,” he said when he spotted a 2005 Ford F-150 red pickup.
Dalton parked his car on the passenger side of Roger’s pickup. Roger motioned for them to get inside his pickup when Dalton shut off his engine and exited the car.
Dalton opened up the passenger door to Roger’s pickup.
Chrissy got inside, slid across the bench seat, and sat in the middle. Dalton got in and closed the door.
“Roger, this is Chrissy, a close friend of mine from school.
Chrissy, this is Roger, a close friend of mine from work.”
“Glad to meet you,” said Roger, shaking Chrissy’s hand.
“Also glad to meet you.”
“So Dalton, you want to hear about some cave in the area?
A time-traveling cave?” said Roger.
“We do,” said Dalton.
“I knew it would be a matter of time before you ask. I’m surprised it took you this long.”
“Long story short, we found an Internet article about some guy named Phillip Yoemans who back in nineteen fifty made a claim he went back in time to eighteen-eighty-three from a cave,” informed Dalton.
Chrissy nodded in agreement.
Roger looked at the two. He hesitated but knew if he didn’t tell everything he knew, Dalton would be a torn in his side, bugging him for months to come. “I remember when that happened,” said Roger. “I was around seven and recalled daddy talking about it with granddaddy. You never forget a story like that.”
“Is this Yoemans guy still around?” said Chrissy. “It would be nice to talk to him.”
“No, he died about three years ago,” said Roger.
“So, let’s hear about this time-traveling cave,” said Dalton, who looked anxious.
“I heard this tale from my granddaddy Ernie, who heard the tale from his daddy Felix. You know, the Blacksmith of Oak Creek. He heard it from that Indian tracker Merijildo.” "The Mexicans called it Cueva Loca. I can’t recall the Indian word, but the Mexican translated into Crazy Hole.”
“Crazy Hole,” said Chrissy. “Why Crazy Hole?”
“The Indians had the tale that when you entered that cave, you would come out loco with crazy talk of a strange land and people.”
“Strange land and people?” said Dalton.
“I didn’t fully understand what that meant until the story about Phillip Yoemans came out in fifty. Granddaddy Ernie said that he knew what that strange land and people meant,” said Roger, then he looked at Chrissy and Dalton. “Time travel,” he said in a quieter voice.
“Time travel?” said Chrissy.
“Yes, time travel. This Crazy Hole cave was a portal to going back into time, like to eighteen eighty-three,” said Roger, and he said it with a hint of an eerie tone to have some effect.
“A time-traveling cave. Here in the Phoenix area. Wow!”
beamed Dalton.
Chrissy nodded in agreement.
“So, where is this cave?” said Dalton. “Or better yet, have you seen it, or did you go inside it?”
“I was always scared of that cave. Then, ten years ago, I got up the balls,” Roger said, then cringed, forgetting a lady was in his pickup. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve heard those words before,”
said Chrissy.
“Again, ten years ago, I finally got the courage to see if Phillip Yoemans’ story was true. So I got a horse and rode out to Crazy Hole.”
“And you went inside and found yourself in the old west?”
said Dalton excitedly.
“No. I saw four people through my binoculars. I saw two guys and two gals at the entrance hole. The guys planted some cacti at the entrance of Crazy Hole. I guess they wanted to prevent anybody from going inside that cave.”
“Why didn’t you go back and remove those cacti? Then go inside Crazy Hole,” said Dalton. “Experience time traveling.”
“Naw. I chickened out. Those people must have done that as a warning. A warning not to go inside that cave.”
“Did you recognize those people?” said Dalton.
“No, but the two guys were dressed as cowboys.”
“Cowboys?” asked Dalton.
“Yes, cowboys,” said Roger, then he paused for a few seconds as he got curious. “What sparked this interest?”
“It’s our professor at the university and some guy that plays piano for the Phoenix Symphony,” said Dalton.
“How did they spark this interest?”
“Professor John Mathers bears a striking resemblance to some outlaw named the Kissing Bandit,” said Dalton.
“I’ve heard of him from my granddaddy Ernie. And there was this story ten years ago about two guys on horses firing pistols in the air downtown looking for some guy named the Kissing Bandit. Just a news story, then didn’t hear about it again,” said Roger.
“I saw an article about that on the Internet,” said Dalton.
“And a friend of his, Clint Bartley, plays piano for the Phoenix Symphony,” said Dalton. “This Bartley guy bears a striking resemblance to an eighteen eighty-three Marshal with the same name.” “They even have the same long scar on the left side of their faces.”
“That Kissing Bandit also has the same name as our professor,” said Chrissy.
“That is a strange coincidence,” said Roger.
Chrissy’s eyes lit up. She opened her left shirt pocket and removed two folded-up papers. She unfolded the papers.
“Here’s a picture of the Kissing Bandit and Marshal Bartley from eighteen eighty-three,” she said and showed Roger the paper.
Roger looked at the paper, and it took a few seconds, but it dawned on him. “You know, those guys do look a lot like the two guys I saw ten years ago planting that cactus to block the entrance to Crazy Hole.”
“Are you sure?” said Dalton.
Roger studied those papers again. “Oh, I’m sure. It’s them. I spied on them from behind that bush with binoculars.”
Dalton and Chrissy looked at each other. They both smiled with the same idea.
“Can you tell us how to get to Crazy Hole?” said Dalton.
Chrissy nodded in agreement with Dalton.
Roger cracked a smile. “I knew you would be asking, and if I didn’t show you, you’d be a torn in my side bugging me for months,” he said while he reached into his left shirt pocket and removed a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and held it up.
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at it and saw it was a map.
“Now, you have to drive east on the Superstition Highway or US sixty out of Apache Junction,” said Roger, explaining the
“East on us sixty. Got it,” said Dalton.
“You’ll drive by a red horse stable with a white fenced-in acre of land for horses to roam. That belongs to an Indian I heard was kin to that Merijildo tracker.”
“Funny how he still has relatives in the area,” said Chrissy.
“I know. Then follow the signs for the Peralta Trailhead that will first take you through a housing development. That road eventually turns into a well-graded dirt road ending at a parking area. Park your car.”
“Got it,” said Dalton.
“Head down Bluff Springs Trail.”
“Bluff Springs Trail. Got it,” said Dalton.
“Next, hike down Dutchman’s Trail. Then you’ll soon see Miners Needle,” said Roger.
“Dutchman’s Trail, then I’ll see Miners Needle,” said Dalton.
“Crazy Hole will be at the rocky wall of Miners Needle.
You should see those cacti to the left of this massive rock.”
“Cacti to the left of that massive rock. I got it,” said Dalton.
“Now, if you’re crazy enough to go inside Crazy Hole, the story goes that “right is the way,” said Roger.
“Right is the way? What does that mean?” said Dalton.
“Once you get inside the cave, keep on going to the right.
You enter a tunnel to the right when you reach a dead end. That will, if it’s actually true, take you back in time.”
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at each other, and both had the same adventurous smile.
“Legend also has it. You have to say the month, day, and year you want to travel back to before you enter that other tunnel,” said Roger, and he paused.
“Say the month, day, and year. Got it,” said Dalton.
“But beware, legend also states that this time portal to the time you requested stays open for twelve hours. So make sure nobody is following you. Or they’ll be joining you on your time travel adventure. And it might be someone you don’t want!”
Roger handed Dalton the piece of paper. “This is for you.
It’s a copy of what my granddaddy made after talking with Peter Yoemans. He was the father of Phillip Yoemans, and he was persistent in hunting the location of the buried loot of that Bart Stone outlaw. He went missing doing that, and it’s not known what happened,” said Roger. “But, I think Phillip Yoemans knew but didn’t want to tell anybody.”
“Time travel?” said Dalton. Roger nodded in agreement.
“This is getting interesting,” said Chrissy. “Very interesting.”
“You know it,” said Dalton, then looked at Roger.
“Thanks, buddy. You’ve been a big help.”
“I know you, Dalton. And I know you can’t resist the temptation. So you’ll need to cut away those cacti by the Crazy Hole entrance. So go to Home Depot, buy some thick leather gloves, rope, and the longest hand or pruning saw they sell. You don’t, and I mean you don’t want to get stuck by one of those needles. They hurt like a son-a-bitch.”
“Based on experience?” said Chrissy.
“Yes, when I was a teenager hiking around those Superstition Mountains.” “Got stuck in the butt muscle.”
“We can’t thank you enough, Roger,” said Dalton. “Yes, we appreciate what you’ve told us,” said Chrissy. “Promise me that you’ll tell me what happened. Maybe take some pictures,” said Roger.
“We will,” said Dalton, and he opened up the door and then looked back at Roger. “Are you going inside Home Depot?”
“Already did. Have some lumber in the bed of the pickup.”
Dalton stepped out of the truck, glanced in the bed, and saw about ten pieces of two-by-fours.
Chrissy smiled at Roger, slid across the bench seat, and exited the pickup.
“It should take you about an hour and a half to hike to
Crazy Hole from that dirt area. And be careful,” said Roger.
“We will,” said Dalton, and he closed the door.
Roger started up his pickup while Dalton and Chrissy walked to the rear of his Civic.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” said Dalton while Roger drove away and tooted his pickup’s horn.
“If you’re thinking of going to Crazy Hole, then yes.
I’m thinking of the same thing.”
“Let’s do this,” said Dalton.
Chrissy smiled in agreement.
They walked off and headed to the entrance to Home Depot.
They shopped in Home Depot and bought two pairs of leather gloves with long cowhide cuffs, fifty feet of twisted Sisal rope, and an eighteen-inch D-handed pruning saw.
After Dalton paid for the items with his credit card, they left Home Depot and returned to his apartment.
“This is so exciting,” said Chrissy while Dalton pulled out of the Home Depot parking lot and headed down the street.
“I know. So, how long will it take to cut down the cacti?”
“Maybe an hour?” said Chrissy, taking an educated guess.
“That’s what I figured.”
“Let’s swing over to my place so I can get a hat,” said Dalton.
Chrissy smiled as that sounded like a good idea. Dalton and Chrissy had an idle chat about what they thought the old west would be like while he drove back to his apartment.
Once they got to his apartment, Dalton got his cowboy hat, and just before they were ready to leave, an idea popped into his head. “What if it takes us until dark to cut down those cacti? I don’t want to be hiking in the dark. A little too dangerous.”
“We could camp out for the night, or we could come back before the sun starts to settle and go back tomorrow morning,”
said Chrissy.
“Okay, let’s get some sleeping bags, sleep under the stars like they did in the old west,” smiled Dalton.
Chrissy thought about what he said. “You know, that’s something I’ve always wanted to do. So, let’s do it. Let’s camp out under the stars and by a campfire,” smiled Chrissy.
“It’s a date,” said Dalton, then he cringed with what he said, wondering if she would take it the wrong way.
“Sounds good to me,” said Chrissy, wondering if they meant it like the way she heard it. “A date would be nice,” she thought while smiling inside.
There were a few seconds of silence between Dalton and Chrissy.
“I’ll go get my hat, backpack, sleeping bag, and a lighter for the campfire, some camping gear, and some food,” he said and walked away, heading to his bedroom.
A few minutes had passed, and Dalton entered his living room with his cowboy hat, rolled-up sleeping bag, backpack, pair of binoculars, and a lighter.
They left his apartment and got in his Civic.
He drove from his apartment complex parking lot and headed to Chrissy’s apartment.
Once he got to her apartment, they went inside, where she got her cowboy hat, rolled-up sleeping bag, another lighter, flashlight, and some food.
They left her apartment and drove away in his Civic.
While driving toward the Superstition Mountains, they stopped at a convenience store for needed supplies. They got bottled water, granola bars, flavored jerky, and other non-perishable items for food.
They were ready and headed off down the road.
It wasn’t long before Dalton drove his Civic east on the Superstition Highway (US 60) out of Apache Junction.
He drove past a lovely red ranch house with a red horse stable and a white fence around an acre of yard for the horses to roam. This is the house Roger mentioned, so they knew they were heading in the right direction.
They drove down the road following the signs for the Peralta Trailhead.
They now drove through a housing development.
The road eventually turned into a well-graded dirt road and drove to a dirt parking area at the dead end. He parked his Civic.
Dalton and Chrissy got out of the car.
They got ready with their cowboy hats on their heads, backpacks with supplies on their backs, and rolled-up sleeping bags. The pruning shears hung off his backpack while the rope hung off her backpack.
Dalton glanced at Chrissy. “Sexy!” he though, as a girl, wearing a cowboy was always a sensual sight for him. “Ready?”
“I’m ready,” she said.
They walked off and soon hiked down Bluff Springs Trail.
They hiked this trail until it came upon Dutchman’s Trail and hiked down it, then eventually walked through some small streams. They hiked past numerous Saguaro cacti.
They hiked by poppy flowers.
They hiked by spring desert flowers.
An hour had passed while hiking down Dutchman’s Trail, spotting Miners Needle in the distance.
Dalton removed the paper Roger him from his shirt pocket. They glanced at the paper and then at Miners Needle.
“Crazy Hole should be there,” he said.
“I agree,” she said while Dalton put the paperback in his pocket.
They hiked off toward Miners Needle.
A little while later, they hiked farther down Dutchman’s Trail toward Miners Needle and walked upon a section of some old, rusted train tracks.
They stopped.
“This must be the old Southern Pacific rail line from those days,” said Dalton, kicking the old rusty rail with the toe of his right cowboy boot.
Chrissy looked it over and saw that this old section of the rail line paralleled Dutchman’s Trail. “I agree.”
Dalton looked at Miner’s Needle. “We’re getting closer.”
Chrissy nodded in agreement, and they walked off.
They kept on hiking and got closer to Miners Needle.
Twenty minutes passed, and they finally arrived at the base of Miners Needle.
They walked around and soon saw that a huge rock to the left was a tall Cereus Peruvian column cacti blocking the cave entrance.
“Crazy Hole. That has to be Crazy Hole,” said Dalton.
Chrissy looked the area over. “I believe it is.”
Dalton and Chrissy stood there, staring at those cacti and a huge rock.
After a few minutes, they looked at each other. Both were a little nervous.
“Should we press on?” said Dalton.
Chrissy looked at the cacti. “Probably should, or we just wasted our time.”
Dalton and Chrissy removed their backpacks off their backs.
Dalton was ready. He wore those leather gloves with long cuffs, went over to the right side of the cacti, carefully placed the rope around the top part of the cactus, then tied a knot.
Chrissy took the other end of the rope and walked about ten feet away.
Dalton carefully used the pruning saw to cut away a cactus section. Once it was cut, Dalton stepped away, and Chrissy pulled on the rope; the cactus section fell to the ground, and she dragged it in the dirt and out of harm’s way.
Dalton and Chrissy worked this process for two hours until the cacti were cut away from the opening of Crazy Hole.
The pieces of cut cacti were also safely located away on the right side of that huge rock.
Dalton glanced at the sky. “The sun is starting to settle below the horizon.”
Chrissy glanced at the sky and nodded, saying that she agreed. “We should make camp?”
“I think you’re right. Let’s scrounge up some firewood.”
Dalton and Chrissy walked around the area in search of firewood.
Forty minutes passed, and the bottom of the sun started to touch the horizon.
Dalton and Chrissy found old tree branches and other pieces of wood, and a small campfire was burning a few feet from the cave opening.
They rolled out their sleeping bags in the dirt near the fire.
The pruning saw and coiled the rope in the dirt near them.
They sat on their sleeping bags and removed the two bags of jerky, opened them and started eating.
Dalton and Chrissy sat in their sleeping bags for the next two hours and chatted. They told stories of their youth and high school days, and learned that neither dated in high school, were shy, and only had a few friends.
It was now dark.
Dalton and Chrissy lie on their sleeping bags, gazing at the sky. They were side by side.
“Look at all those stars. You don’t see this when in Phoenix,” said Dalton.
“The lights of the city drown them out,” said Chrissy.
“What a shame. It’s so beautiful.”
“I know. Maybe that’s a good thing about the old west.
No massive city with lights, so you’ll see this every night,’ she said. Dalton nodded in agreement, and then glanced over at Chrissy.
She glanced over at him. They both thought of the same thing. This was the first time they were ever side by side, a member of the opposite sex. Or rather, the first time they slept next to a member of the opposite sex.
They stayed quiet while they gazed up at the thousands of twinkling stars. They just wanted to soak in the beauty of the nighttime sky.
Dalton had this urge to kiss Chrissy. But he refrained, afraid of being slapped.
Thirty minutes had passed, and they both fell asleep under the stars.
Sunday morning in the Superstition Mountains was greeted when the sun started peeking above the eastern horizon. It was September 25th, 2016.
The morning sun beating down on the faces waking Dalton and Chrissy up.
They sat up and saw that their campfire was nothing but glowing ashes. They glanced over at each other, a little confused. It took them a few seconds to remember where they were. “Good morning,” said Dalton.
“Good morning,” said Chrissy, then her eyes widened, and she thought about having bad breath. She opened up her backpack and opened up a small bottle of mouthwash.
Chrissy got up with the bottle and walked ten feet away.
She opened the bottle, took a swig, swished it in her mouth, then spit it in the dirt.
She walked over to Dalton. “Want to use this?”
“Sure,” said Dalton, knowing his breath must be awful. He grabbed the bottle and did the same thing ten feet away.
After some granola bars and bear claws, Dalton and Chrissy packed everything back up except for a flashlight. They had their sleeping bags rolled back up on their backpack.
“Are you ready for this?” said Dalton while he kicked up dirt all over the smothering campfire to ensure it wouldn’t flare up after they left.
“It’s now or never.”
Dalton looked at the pruning saw and coiled up the rope in the dirt near where they slept. His eyes widened with an idea, and he picked up the saw and rope.
He walked them over to that huge rock by the cave opening.
He tucked them behind the rock.
“Why did you do that?”
“If we go back in time, the rope shouldn’t be behind that rock.”
“Good thinking,” said Chrissy.
“Ready?”
“I’m ready,” said Chrissy.
Dalton glanced up at the sky and saw clouds. “Getting a little cloudy this morning.”
Chrissy glanced up at the sky. “It is.”
Dalton and Chrissy looked back at the cave opening.
“Ready?”
“I’m ready,” said Chrissy.
They slowly walked to the entrance of Crazy Hole. They stopped at the entrance.
Dalton turned on his flashlight. Chrissy turned on her flashlight.
They glanced at each other and took a deep breath of courage. They stepped inside the cave.
They slowly walked into the vast cave opening.
“Man, this is a large cave,” said Dalton, shining his flashlight all over the sides and top of the cave tunnel.
“It’s big enough for a horse,” said Chrissy.
“Yep, said Dalton while he shined his flashlight all over the cave walls. “And a little spooky.”
“Got that right,” said Chrissy, shining her flashlight all over the cave walls.
They slowly walked deeper and deeper into the dark cave with their flashlights guiding the way.
Dalton and Chrissy hiked for five minutes inside Crazy Hole while the tunnel snaked and curved underneath Miners Needle.
They continued to walk through the cave for another five minutes.
The cave tunnel was dead-ended.
Dalton and Chrissy shined their flashlights all over the dead end. Their flashlights illuminated a stone embedded in the cave wall with a carved image of a priest holding a cross.
“I wonder who put that there?” said Dalton.
“Maybe someone trying to tell us that Crazy Hole is evil,”
said Chrissy.
“That sounds plausible.”
Chrissy shined her flashlight at the ground underneath that carving. The flashlight illuminated two holes dug in the dirt.
“Look at this.”
Dalton looked down and saw the two holes in the dirt.
“I hope that’s not done by some creature,” said Chrissy while getting a little nervous.
“I think something was buried here, and someone dug it up,” said Dalton, and he got curious and shined his flashlight into the hole to the right. Empty.
Seeing something, he shined his flashlight into the hole to the left, then reached inside and removed an 1880 silver dollar.
“Buried loot, I would say, based on this old silver dollar,” they said and showed Chrissy the coin.
“Any more in there?”
Dalton shined his flashlight all around the inside of that hole. “Nothing.”
He stood up and shoved that dollar in his pants pocket.
They both looked at that tunnel to the left. They saw the other tunnel.
“Right is the way,” said Dalton while he looked at that tunnel.
“Let’s see if that saying is true,” said Chrissy.
They both inched closer to the tunnel. They stopped.
“Are you ready?” said Dalton.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“What date should we go back to?” Dalton asked.
“You can pick a date and year,” offered Chrissy.
Dalton and Christy took another deep breath of courage and stepped closer to that tunnel. “
We want to travel back to September twenty-fifth, eighteen eighty-three,” said Dalton.Monday morning arrived. It’s September 24th, 1883.
Word spread throughout the local towns by telegraph that Dalton Trevor is the temporary Marshal of Oak Creek.
Zeke arrived at the Marshal's Office when the sun peaked above the horizon.
After waking up, Dalton and Zeke escorted their three prisoners to the outhouse.
After the three relieved themselves, they were put back in their cells.
Zeke made a pot of coffee on the potbelly stove. While the coffee was perking, the front door to the Marshal's Office opened.
Annie and Sally walked inside the office with a spring in their steps. Annie held a plate covered with a red and white checkered napkin covering it while Sally held two plates with red and white checkered napkins.
"Good morning, Marshal. We have breakfast for the prisoners," said Annie, with sparkles in her eyes at the sight of Dalton.
"Mayor Mason requested we bring it down here," said Sally with sparkles in her eyes at the sight of Dalton.
"Thank you, ladies," said Dalton while he grabbed two plates from Sally.
'He's engaged to the temporary school teacher," Zeke whispered to Annie while he took the plate from her.
Annie looked disappointed. She leaned over to Sally while Dalton took the plates to Bart, and Charlie and Zeke took his plate to Jimmy. Sally looked disappointed, knowing that Dalton was engaged.
The two ladies left the Marshal's Office minus the spring in their steps.
Dalton and Zeke drank a cup of coffee while the three prisoners ate their breakfast. Dalton sat at Clint's desk while Zeke sat at Elmer's desk.
The door of the Marshal's Office opened, and Chrissy entered.
"Good morning, my dear," said Dalton, getting up from Clint's desk.
"Ma-am," said Zeke while he stood up from Elmer's desk.
"I thought we could go to breakfast at the restaurant," said Chrissy to Dalton.
"Go ahead, I can cover the office," said Zeke.
Dalton gave Chrissy a little smile and walked her to the front door. He opened it for her, and they headed outside.
Zeke sat back at the desk, kicked his cowboy boots up, and relaxed while drinking his coffee.
"How was your first night at the Town Marshal?" “Quiet.
“When are you going to start teaching?”
"Later this morning. The Mayor said he'd let me know.”
"This is turning out to be a really cool vacation," smiled Dalton.
"You know it. I can't wait to start teaching at the schoolhouse.”
Dalton and Chrissy were quiet during the remainder of the walk to the restaurant.
After being seated and served their breakfast, Mayor Mason walked up to their table.
"Good morning, Miss Barron and Marshal Trevor," he said, then reached inside one of his suit coat pockets. "Here's your badge," he stated, handing Dalton a badge. Felix, the Blacksmith, just finished.
Dalton looked at it and thought it was so cool. He pinned it on his suit coat and felt like a real old western Marshal.
"Oh, I forgot. I talked with Judge Peabody a little while ago, and he wants Bart Stone in his courtroom at ten this morning. You know, for his trial,” said Mayor Mason. "Charlie Chandler is supposed to take the stand against Bart."
Dalton looked at Mayor Mason. "At the courthouse at ten, Charlie Chandler will testify. Got it," he said, smiling about his first official duty as the Town Marshal.
"And Miss Barron, I expect you to be at the schoolhouse at ten." "Yes, Mayor Mason. I'll be at the schoolhouse," smiled Chrissy.
"Very good. Good day," said Mayor Mason, and he walked away. He got a few feet from the table, stopped, and walked back. "I forgot, I had someone run out and get Merijildo to track Clint Bartley," he said.
"Merijildo?" said Dalton, pretending he never heard of that Indian.
"Yes, he's the best tracker in the land. I'm concerned that Clint's not back. Merijildo's the best tracker in this area. Good day," he added, nodded, turned around, and walked away.
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at each other and knew that that tracker would come up empty-handed. They returned to their breakfast.
After they were done, Dalton returned to the Marshal's Office while Chrissy headed to the schoolhouse.
Some time had passed, and it was now time for Bart Stone to pay the piper.
In the Marshal's Office, with Zeke's assistance, Dalton installed the leg and handcuffs on Bart and Charlie.
"Bring Charlie over a few minutes after I get Bart into the courthouse. I don't want Bart harming our witness," said Dalton while he glanced over at Bart to give him the I'm the Boss glare.
"You lucky, Charlie. If I would, I would wrap these here handcuff chains around your neck and squeeze the life out of you," snarled Bart.
"Let's go," said Dalton, and he pulled on Bart's right arm and walked him to the door. They went outside.
A crowd of rubberneckers stood in the street to watch Bart being escorted to his trial. They all wanted to see him hang, as they loved old Elmer and missed him dearly.
After Dalton entered the Courthouse with Bart, Zeke escorted Charlie out of the Marshal's Office and to the courthouse with the crowd watching.
Dalton escorted Bart to his table and sat him down in the chair where his attorney, young Horace Arnold, waited. The same attorney used to defend the Kissing Bandit.
Charlie was seated behind the railing on the other side of the room. Bart turned and glared at Charlie. Charlie looked away. The courtroom started to fill up all the available seats with the curious town folk.
Chrissy wasn't in attendance as she just started teaching at the schoolhouse.
Dalton and Zeke escorted Bart to his table, where his attorney, young Horace Arnold, waited.
After a few seconds, Judge Peabody entered the room from his side office.
He walked to his bench and sat down. He looked down at the people in the room. "Court's in session," he said and slammed his gavel down on that small wood block. He stared at Bart, and that made Bart nervous.
"This is the trial for Bart Stone for the murder of Elmer Filson," said Judge Peabody, and he paused for a few seconds.
"Will Charlie Chandler take the witness box?"
Bart's teeth gritted when Charlie got around the railing and headed to the witness box.
After being sworn in as a witness, he sat in the chair.
"Okay, tell us what happened, Mister Chandler," said Judge Peabody.
Charlie cleared his throat. He saw Bart glaring at him with gritted teeth and got nervous. Then he saw the rear doors of the courtroom open, and outlaw Blue Earl and Deke, one of his outlaw cronies, entered the room. Charlie got scared and almost peed his pants. For a split second, he thought about chickening out. But the thought of being hung by a rope quickly changed his mind. He figured he could survive a prison term.
Blue Earl and Deke stood at the rear of the crowd and were almost invisible to Charlie.
Charlie cleared his throat again and saw Bart's glare.
"We don't have all day, Mister Chandler," said Judge Peabody as it was getting bothered that Charlie was taking too long to testify. "Tell the truth or suffer severe consequences."
"Well, we just robbed the bank here in Oak Creek. We came out, and there was Elmer and Marshal Chester White. Out there in the street with pistols pointed at us. Elmer yelled for us to stop. We took cover behind a horse trough. Bart here yelled he wasn't going to hang. And that Elmer better let us go, or he'll be dead."
"I didn't say that!" yelled out Bart when he shot up from his seat.
"Shut up!" yelled Judge Peabody while slamming his gavel down on the wood block.
Dalton stood up and glared at Bart.
Bart sat down, pissed.
"Continue, Mister Chandler," Judge Peabody told Charlie. "Bart fired off a shot. The Kissing Bandit kid was still standing. Bart yelled at him to get down and start shooting.
He ducked behind the trough. Elmer and Charlie fired at us. We fired back. Bart yelled at the Kissing Bandit because he wasn't shootin."
"He wasn't shooting?" said Judge Peabody.
"No bullets said the Kissing Bandit.”
"No bullets?" asked Judge Peabody, as that didn't sound right. Charlie nodded that that was correct. "Yes sir, no bullets.”
"Continue," said Judge Peabody.
"The Kissing Bandit put bullets in his pistol. Fired off a shot and killed a window in the restaurant," said Charlie.
Chuckles were heard throughout the courtroom.
"Bart yelled at the Kissing Bandit to aim to kill. So he fired off another shot and killed another window in the restaurant."
Chuckles were again heard throughout the courtroom.
"Quiet!" yelled out Judge Peabody. “Continue."
"Then I saw Bart fire off a shot when Elmer stood up. He was hit and fell into the trough. The Kissing Bandit got on his horse and rode off. Bart yelled that he was stealing our loot.
Then Bart fired off another shot and hit Chester. Then we got on our horses and chased after the Kissing Bandit."
"So the Kissing Bandit didn't kill Elmer Filson?" said Judge Peabody.
"No. Bart Stone shot Elmer. He put the blame on the Kissing Bandit. He admitted it," said Charlie.
"Okay, the witness may leave the witness box," said Judge Peabody, then paused. "Court will recess for ten minutes while I go ponder my decision," said Judge Peabody and slammed his gavel down on the wood block.
He got up from his bench and headed into his office at the rear of the courtroom.
Charlie returned to his seat and looked away from the glares from Bart.
There was idle talk in the courtroom for ten minutes while Judge Peabody was in his office.
Judge Peabody walked out of his office. The courtroom got quiet.
Judge Peabody sat at his bench. He looked at all the eager ears in his courtroom. "I made my decision. Based on the testimony of Charlie Chandler and the fact that Jimmy Templeton tried to help Bart Stone escape, I hereby find Bart Stone guilty of the murder of Elmer Filson. I sentence him to hang at nine o'clock in the morning since we already have a gallows constructed and someone that tried to get him out of jail," said Judge Peabody and stared at Bart. Then he looked at Charlie. "I sentence Charlie Chandler to two years in the Yuma territorial prison because of your outlaw ways of robbing banks and stagecoaches, "he said then paused. "You can release Jimmy Templeton in three days. That should be enough punishment for him as long as he leaves Oak Creek. Court dismissed," he said, slamming the gavel down on the wood block.
"I'm going to kill you, Charlie. You coward!" yelled Bart as he shot up from his chair.
Dalton jumped up and punched Bart in his face. He felt good about doing this, as he knew this was acceptable behavior for a lawman in the old west. He knew he couldn't do that in the future.
Bart flew back and landed on the floor on his butt.
While people started to leave the courtroom, Dalton spotted a familiar face in the crowd. “Blue Earl Olson!” he called in his head the second he saw that outlaw with his gang member Deke Olson, Earl's younger brother. “What's he doing here?” he quietly wondered while he saw Blue Earl's two pistols in their holsters on his right and left hip.
While Dalton and Zeke escorted Bart and Charlie across the street, keeping them separated.
While going across the street, Dalton scanned the town.
His eyes widened when he spotted Blue Earl and Deke outside the Prickly Cactus Saloon. He also spotted two horses tied to the hitching post by the saloon and saw a blue bandana tied to the saddles of those horses.
Dalton and Zeke took Bart and Charlie inside the Marshal's Office and placed them in their jail cells.
Bart sat down on his bunk and fumed that he was sentenced to die. Oh, how he wanted to kill Charlie.
Dalton and Zeke put away their Winchester rifles.
"I need to head over to the General Store," Dalton told Zeke, then he headed off to the front door.
Zeke sat down at Elmer's old desk while Dalton left the office.
Dalton walked over and went inside the General Store.
"Howdy, Marshal," said William Masters from behind the cash register at the counter. "What do you need?"
Dalton walked up to William. He removed his Colt 45
Peacemaker. "I need some bullets."
Gus looked at Dalton. "Can't be a Marshal without bullets," he said, then coughed a wet cough.
"Got that right," said Dalton, and for a second, he wondered if he could actually kill someone. He thought about that for a few seconds while Gus walked over to another area of the counter. “But I don't want to be killed,” thought Dalton, knowing he might have killed or lost his life.
Gus brought over a box of bullets. "That'll be one dollar, sir," he said while placing the box on the counter by the register.
Dalton reached into his suit coat and pulled out a silver dollar. He handed it to Gus.
"Thank you, Marshal," said Gus while he rang up the sale.
Dalton removed his Colt 45 from his holster, removed six bullets from the box, and put them in the chamber. He shoved the pistol back in the holster, grabbed the box, shoved it in his suit coat pocket, and left the General Store.
Dalton walked down the street and headed to the Prickly Cactus Saloon.
He walked to the swinging café doors of the Prickly Cactus.
He heard laughter and talking inside it.
He got a little nervous. He took a deep breath to calm down his nerves. “Don't be a chicken. Don't be a chicken. Be brave!” he said over and over again in his head.
Dalton pushed open the café doors and stepped inside the saloon. The café doors swung back and hit Dalton in his back.
He cringed, wondering if anybody saw that. He sighed a sigh of relief when nobody noticed.
He scanned the saloon. He saw eight tables, a long bar, a piano, and stairs that led to the second floor. Nobody played at the piano since Clint Bartley was gone.
Three of the tables each had four guys playing poker. At the bar stood Blue Earl and Deke drinking beer.
Dalton took another deep breath and strutted through the Prickly Cactus.
"Whose that tenderfoot?" said one guy at one of the poker tables.
"The Town Marshal until Marshal Bartley returns," said another guy at that poker table.
"He ain't back yet?" said another of the poker players.
"Not yet," said another of the poker players.
"Oh," said the first poker player, and they returned to their game and couldn't care less about Dalton.
Dalton strutted over to the bar. He stopped a few feet from Blue Earl. He glanced at Pete, the bartender who stood with a rag cleaning out the inside of a mug. "Beer," he said.
Blue Earl heard this voice and looked to his left. He saw Dalton. He noticed the Town Marshal's badge pinned to Dalton's suit coat and the Colt 45 Peacemaker in his holster.
Blue Earl discreetly motioned to Deke to look to the left.
Deke glanced around Blue Earl and saw Dalton.
Dalton glanced at Blue Earl. He saw his pot mark face. "I take it you're not from Oak Creek or any other town in this area?" said Dalton to Blue Earl, pretending not to be intimidated by the outlaw.
Blue Earl opened his mouth, and Dalton noticed that this outlaw's teeth were stained dark brown from poor hygiene.
“Gross! Never used a toothbrush in his life,” thought Dalton.
"Oh no, Marshal. We're just passing through and got a little thirsty," said Blue Earl, pretending to be nice.
Dalton cringed the second he got a whiff of Blue Earl's horrendous bad breath.
Pete placed a mug of beer on the bar in front of Dalton.
Dalton took the mug and took a drink. Warm beer! He cried out in his head. "So, after your beer, are you heading out of town?"
he said, putting the beer mug down on the bar. "Cause I don't want any trouble," he said and patted the handle of his Colt 45
Peacemaker.
Blue Earl looked at Dalton. “Fucking tenderfoot!” he thought and wasn't intimidated at all. "Don't worry, Marshal.
We'll be on our way after we satisfy our thirst," said Blue Earl, then he glanced up at the second-floor balcony where two young women stood by their room doors. "And have some little fun," he added while he winked at one of the ladies.
Dalton glanced up at the second floor, saw the ladies, and realized Oak Creek also has saloons. But it was the way of life in all old western saloons. "Okay," he said, picked up his mug, and took another drink of the warm beer. "How much for the beer, bartender?"
"On the house for being the Town Marshal," said Pete.
"Thanks and good day, gentlemen," said Dalton, then he turned around and strutted through the Prickly Cactus, heading to the doors.
Dalton walked through the café doors and stepped outside.
He sighed with relief and couldn't believe he had just confronted famous outlaw Blue Earl Olson.
He walked away and headed back to the Marshal's Office.
"But why is he in town?" he quietly said and tried to recall the history books and if they mentioned Blue Earl hitting Oak Creek. His eyes widened, and he remembered seeing Blue Earl and his gang during his first trip back to 1883 with Chrissy.
Dalton went back inside the Marshal's Office.
"I just made a fresh pot of coffee," said Zeke while he sat at Elmer's desk.
"Thanks," said Dalton, and he walked over and grabbed the coffee cup off of Clint's desk.
He walked over to the potbelly stove and poured a cup. He headed over to one of the windows.
He gazed out the window while he sipped his coffee.
"What you looking at?" said Zeke from Elmer's desk.
"We have outlaw Blue Earl Olson and one of his gang members at the Prickly Cactus," said Dalton, then took another sip of coffee.
"Blue Earl Olson? I never heard of him," said Zeke while he got up from the desk.
"He's from the New Mexico area. I believe he's coming here to fill in the void left by Bart Stone," said Dalton.
"What are we going to do?"
"Well, guess we'll have to keep an eye on him," said Dalton, and he wondered how he would react if Blue Earl put up a fight.
After finishing his coffee, Dalton saw Blue Earl and Deke ride off down the street. They were heading out of town, and Dalton was relieved. But he knew they would come back. He was a little nervous about that yet a little excited.
Dalton walked back over to the stove and poured another cup of coffee. He sat back down at Clint's desk and drank his coffee. He wondered how Chrissy's day was going, then thought about tomorrow's hanging of Bart Stone.
Once Blue Earl Olson and Deke rode out of Oak Creek, Blue Earl looked over at Deke. "I want you to ask around Oak
Creek tomorrow about that Town Marshal kid. He looks to be a tenderfoot. I don't think he's a threat," said Blue Earl.
"Got it, Earl," said Deke.
Blue Earl and Deke rode off into the desert to their hiding place.
Hours had passed, and it was quiet in the Marshal's Office.
Dalton and Zeke's eyes drifted closed while they sat with their boots kicked up on top of the desks.
The front door to the Marshal's Office opened. In walked Chrissy.
Dalton and Zeke's eyes opened, and Chrissy entered the office.
"Hello, Marshal Trevor," she said while she walked up to his desk.
"Ma-am," said Zeke while he stood up from his desk.
"I was wondering if my fiancé would have dinner with me?" she said.
"Why, of course, my dear," said Dalton while he looked at Zeke.
"Go ahead, I'll dine when you get back."
Dalton and Chrissy walked to the front door of the Marshal's Office and left.
Dalton walked Chrissy down Main Street arm in arm.
"Hello, Marshal," said a gentleman while he approached them.
"Hello," said Dalton, and he could sense that the town really liked him as their Marshal, even though it was only temporary.
"So, how was your day teaching at the schoolhouse?"
"It was fascinating. I had ten kids. I found their textbooks, and the students told me where she left off."
"Ten kids, that's a small class."
"The good thing is that they were all so polite. Not like the kids of our time," she said with a smile. "Quite refreshing."
"Well, the old west was a different time.”
"I like it so far.”
"Me too.”
"So, are we going to leave in a couple of days?" said Chrissy.
Dalton thought about what she said. "I don't know. I mean, they need me as the town," said Dalton.
"And I would leave them without a teacher. I can't do that right now.”
Dalton's eyes widened when he remembered something.
"But we know that Clint Bartley won't return. So what should I do?”
"We could stay longer, but our money will be running out soon," said Chrissy.
"I'll have a talk with the Mayor. We deserve getting paid,"
he said the second he spotted Mayor Mason across the street.”
Chrissy nodded in agreement.
"Mayor Mason."
Mayor Mason said Dalton and Chrissy were across the street. He walked over to them.
"Yes, Marshal."
"Listen, we were wondering. Since you have us as the Town Marshal and school teacher. We feel we should be paid. Or our money will run out soon, and we'll have to leave in a few days,"
said Dalton.
Mayor Mason thought about what Dalton said for a few seconds. "You're right," he said, then looked at Chrissy. "Ma-am, we pay twenty-five dollars monthly for being our school teacher. And the Town Marshal gets paid forty dollars a month."
Dalton and Chrissy initially thought that was meager wages, but they recalled what things cost in 1883 and soon realized they could live off that amount.
"I accept your offer, Mayor Mason," said Dalton.
"Yes, Mayor Mason, I also accept your offer," said Chrissy.
"Very well; I'll come by tomorrow and give you some of your pay to help with living expenses for the next week. And we have the house that Gertrude Perkins lived in, Ma-am. You can move in any time you want. It's the third house on the left as soon as you enter our residential area," said the Mayor, then paused. "And I heard you're engaged, so after you're married,
that'll also be your home, Marshal Trevor. For now, you can live in the backroom of the Marshal's Office or stay at the hotel."
Dalton's eyes widened. "Don't forget Zeke Cooper, Mayor.
I'll need a deputy to help keep Oak Creek safe," he said.
"I won't," said Mayor Mason, and he gave a little smile and then walked away.
Dalton and Chrissy continued their walk down the street and headed to the restaurant.
Dalton and Chrissy sat in the restaurant and had a nice ham dinner.
After dinner, Chrissy decided to move into her temporary home from home. So Dalton and Chrissy went to the hotel and gathered her clothes and suitcase. They told the desk clerk they no longer needed their rooms. The clerk gave them some of their money back.
They left the hotel and headed off to the residential area.
They found the third home off on the left, and Chrissy smiled as it had a white picket fence.
They walked to the front door.
They noticed it didn't have a lock. Dalton turned the doorknob.
The front door opened, and they stepped inside.
The inside was plain. The living room and kitchen were one area.
The living area had a small couch and two chairs facing a stone fireplace.
The kitchen had some cabinets, a counter, and a potbelly stove.
They saw a room off to the side. They noticed it was a bedroom with a bed, dresser, and Armoire.
"It's quaint," said Chrissy.
"Could you get used to living a life like this?" said Dalton while he stepped back into the living area.
"I could. Could you?”
"I could," said Dalton.
"And have you noticed that it's quiet when you go to sleep at night? No car horns. No police sirens. No noise. Just quiet,"
she said.
"I know. I’ll get a peaceful night's sleep here."
Dalton and Chrissy looked at each other. He couldn't resist, so he leaned in and kissed her on his lips.
She accepted his lips and wondered why kissing her took him so long.
They kissed for a few seconds. They separated.
"Well, I better get back to the Marshal's Office. Zeke's probably hungry," he said.
"Goodnight," said Chrissy.
"Goodnight," said Dalton, wishing he could sleep with her.
He gave her a goodnight kiss.
He left her house.
Chrissy glanced around the home and saw three Kerosene lanterns on the counter in the kitchen.
Dalton walked down the street and headed to the Marshal's Office. During his walk, he was greeted by numerous friendly town folk of Oak Creek.
Dalton returned to the Marshal's Office and saw Jimmy, Charlie, and Bart eating dinner in their cells.
"Go home for the evening," said Dalton to Zeke.
"Okay, I'll be back in the morning," said Zeke while he got up from his desk.
"Goodnight," said Dalton.
Zeke smiled while he headed to the door of the office. He left. Dalton walked over to the potbelly stove and poured a cup of coffee.
He walked back to his desk, sat down, kicked his boots up on the desk, and thought about his little vacation while sipping his coffee.
He motioned for Chrissy that they should get this show on the road. She nodded, and they stepped inside that other tunnel. In a split second, they entered the tunnel, and blue
plasma light flashed and illuminated all around them. It stung their entire body.
“Ahhhh!” Dalton and Chrissy cried out in pain in unison while they walked through the tunnel.
Dalton and Chrissy were back outside by the cave opening within a split second.
“What was that?” said Dalton while he shivered until that strange tingling sensation dissipated from his body.
“I guess time traveling,” said Chrissy while she shivered until that strange tingling sensation dissipated from her body.
The sun had just risen above the horizon.
“Looks like it worked,” said Dalton, looking at the sun above the horizon and providing some sunlight.
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
Dalton glanced behind that huge rock. “The pruning saw and rope are gone,” he said.
Chrissy looked and didn’t see the saw or rope behind the rock. “True. I don’t think someone came by and stole it.”
Dalton rushed over and looked at the right side of that huge rock. “The cacti we cut aren’t here,” he said, and his heart started racing with excitement. “There’s no way someone would cart that away.”
Chrissy looked around the area. “You’re right. There’s no way someone would cart those away,” she said, and her heart started racing with excitement.
“We need to check out something else to ensure,” said Dalton.
“What’s that?”
“Follow me. It’s a good hike, but it will be worth it.”
“What’s that?”
“Oak Creek.”
Chrissy smiled, thinking it would be cool to see a real old western town instead of the old movie sets she observed.
Dalton and Chrissy walked off.
It wasn’t long before Dalton stopped. “Look what we have here,” he said, pointing down the railroad tracks. They were not
rusty tracks and not in a few pieces. It looked like a functional train track.
“The Southern Pacific train track,” said Chrissy.
“Yes, the Southern Pacific train tracks. The same track from the old west,” he said while his eyes lit up excitedly. “We traveled back in time to the old west!” he cried out and was so excited that he hugged Chrissy and kissed her on the cheek. He released her from his hug.
Chrissy was speechless from realizing they traveled back in time and from Dalton’s hug and kiss. She smiled. “We did.”
“Now, what do we do?” said Dalton.
Chrissy looked around the area. “We should follow those tracks and get a glimpse of Oak Creek. That would be the final proof we returned to the old west.”
Dalton thought about her suggestion. “We could do that, but we need to stay clear on the people of this time.”
“Got that right,” said Chrissy.
“Now, from Professor Mather’s lecture, Oak Creek was about six miles north of Miners Needle,” he said while trying to get his bearings by glancing up at the sun. “So let’s follow the tracks and head this way,” he said.
Dalton and Chrissy walked along the train tracks heading north.
Forty minutes had passed, and the sun rose higher in the sky. Dalton and Chrissy were about two miles north when they heard something.
“Did you hear that?” said Chrissy and stopped.
“I heard it,” said Dalton, and he stopped and turned around.
Off in the distance to the sound, they saw some billowing black smoke.
“The train. That’s the train going to Oak Creek, I bet,”
said Dalton.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” said Chrissy.
They knew the train would be arriving soon, so they turned around and searched for a place to hide.
“Over behind that rock,” said Dalton.
Chrissy agreed with a nod, and they both rushed over and hid behind this rock.
Three minutes had passed, and they saw the Southern Pacific Railroad Company train race down the track with more black smoke billowing out of its stack.
The train was farther down the track while Dalton and Chrissy emerged behind the rock.
“This is way too exciting,” said Dalton.
” I know.”
Dalton and Chrissy walked back north along the tracks.
The sun was higher in the sky.
They saw something in the foreground. Something exciting.
Dalton and Chrissy stopped and hid behind another rock.
“I don’t believe it,” said Dalton, glancing farther down the tracks.
“Oak Creek. There’s Oak Creek,” said Chrissy. “And I can see the Salt River.”
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” said Dalton while he saw the Salt River about a quarter of a mile from the town.
“We, if you are, have the same dream.”
“We went back in time,” he said, getting so excited that he leaned over and gave Chrissy a kiss on her lips without thinking.
Chrissy was surprised.
Dalton realized what he had done and got embarrassed.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” he said and waited for her to scold him.
“That’s alright,” she said, but inside, she jumped for joy at having Dalton kiss her.
Dalton was relieved. His eyes widened, remembering something, took his backpack off his back and opened it up.
From his binoculars, Dalton could see part of Oak Creek.
He saw the gallows in Main Street and saw a body dangling from a rope on the gallows. Dalton knew what just happened. “Bart Stone’s criminal life just ended.”
“Really?” said Chrissy.
Dalton handed her the binoculars. She saw the gallows saw Bart’s lifeless body dangling from the end of the rope, then saw the crowd disperse and walk away. “We just witnessed history,”
she said while she handed the binoculars back to Dalton.
“I know, said Dalton, and he put the binoculars back in his backpack and then removed his cell phone. “Of course,” he quietly said when he noticed no cell coverage. But he didn’t care. He opened the camera app and snapped a few pictures of Oak Creek.
Chrissy saw him snapping pictures. “Great idea. We got proof and probably the only picture of Oak Creek.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Dalton said while he put his cell phone back in his backpack.
Chrissy handed him his binoculars. “I guess we better head back home.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Dalton while he put his binoculars back in his backpack. He put his backpack on his back. They glanced and saw Miners Needle way off to the south, knowing they had a long hike back home.
Dalton and Chrissy started south hiking along the train tracks.
Chrissy started to think about Dalton kissing her. A smile grew on her face, thinking about that moment. “Dalton, tell me about your parents,” she said, wanting to learn more about him.
“Well, nothing much to tell,” he said, pausing for a few seconds. “Mom and Dad died in a car accident when I was four years old.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, feeling bad for asking. “I didn’t mean to bring up old sad memories,” she said while she touched his arm to show she cared.
“Nothing to be sorry about. It happens. They dropped me off at Grandma Amy’s house so they could go out for dinner and a little dancing. Then a drunk driver killed them when they were on their way to pick me up.”
“That’s horrible to think that a guy without the sense to know not to drive while drunk ruined someone’s life.”
“So, Grandma Amy raised me, and she was loving and caring,” said Dalton with a warm smile, remembering his Grandma Amy. “She was good to me and gave me a loving home.” “She died six months ago but had money saved for me going to college.”
“I’m glad.”
“You said you were a junior. So, what did you do right after high school? Did you work?” said Chrissy.
“No, I enlisted in the Air Force and spent four years as a Security Policeman. That’s why I’m working toward a Criminal Justice degree,” said Dalton. “I’m using my GI bill for college plus the money I saved in the Air Force.”
“That’s nice.”
“Plus, my parents apparently started saving for my college fun when I was an infant. So Grandma Amy did some wise investing.”
“Where were you stationed?”
“Funny thing, I was stationed here at Luke Air Force Base.
I loved this area, so when I got out to go to college, I decided to stay here in the Phoenix area.”
There were a few seconds of silence between them. “What about your parents? I hope they’re still around.” “They are.
Dad was an abusive drunk and ran off when I was seven. Then mom got hooked on drugs, and she ran off with some guy, leaving me with Grandpa Henry when I was eight. He raised me and saved up money for college,” said Chrissy. “He was also loving and caring.”
“I don’t have any brothers or sisters. Do you?” said Dalton.
“Neither do I.”
Dalton and Chrissy realized that they had something in common. No families are around to worry about them.
Dalton and Chrissy remained quiet while they hiked and took in the 1883 scenery. But it really didn’t look any different from the 2016 landscape.
They were an hour away from Miner’s Needle when they heard the galloping sound of some horses.
“We better hide,” said Dalton.
Chrissy nodded in agreement while they both looked for a hiding place.
“That huge bush over there by those rocks,” said Dalton and pointed.
Dalton and Chrissy rushed over to those rocks and bushes.
They crouched down behind the bush.
They waited. A few minutes passed, and they saw six cowboys on horsed galloping in their direction about four hundred feet away. It appeared that they were riding from the direction of Oak Creek.
“Looks like they’re all wearing black pants, black shirts, and black cowboy hats,” said Dalton while he peeked around the bush.
Chrissy peaked around the bush. “You’re right.”
Dalton’s eyes widened. “Get my binoculars out of my backpack. I have a strange hunch,” he said.
Chrissy unzipped his backpack, reached inside, and removed his binoculars. She handed them back to Dalton.
Dalton looked through his binoculars and got a closer view of those cowboys. “I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“That’s Earl “Blue” Olson and his gang,” said Dalton, keeping his binoculars on Blue Earl and saw his trademark blue bandanas tied on his saddle and flapping in the wind. These bandanas were used to cover their mouths and noses during a robbery.
He saw his five-member gang riding behind Blue Earl’s horse. “Yep, the one only Blue Earl Olson and his gang of bank robbers,” he said, passing the binoculars back to Chrissy.
She looked through the binoculars and got a good glimpse of Blue Earl. “It’s him, alright.”
Dalton thought about what he had learned about Blue Earl from the history books. “I read that he and his gang first came to this area around this time. They left the New Mexico territory area as the law was causing them too much heat. So
they figured the Arizona territory would be prime pickings for their way of life,” he said.
“Cool, we’re witnessing history in the making,” said Chrissy while she glanced at Blue Earl’s gang members through the binoculars.
“Blue Earl created havoc on this territory for about two years before moving on, and his whereabouts and final demise were never known,” said Dalton.
“I wonder where they’re heading?” said Chrissy while she handed Dalton his binoculars.
“Probably to find a hideout. I think they started robbing around this area in October about now. They believed they paid it cool for a while and drank at the local saloons in the various towns. As a way of staking out the area and scoping the law threat,” said Dalton.
Dalton looked through his binoculars and saw the Blue Earl gang was no longer a threat. “We can go now,” he said, handing Chrissy his binoculars.
She tucked them away in his backpack.
They walked away from the bush and headed south towards Miners Needle.
During the next hour, they chatted more about their lives and finally arrived back at Miners Needle.
They stood by the entrance of Crazy Hole.
“Well, ready to return home?” said Dalton.
Chrissy glanced around the area. “Yeah,” she said but didn’t sound excited.
They each removed the flashlights out of each other’s backpacks. They turned them on and set foot into the cave, walking deeper and deeper into the dark cave with their flashlights guiding the way.
Dalton and Chrissy hiked for five minutes inside Crazy Hole while the tunnel snaked and curved underneath Miners Needle.
They continued to walk through the cave for another five minutes.
They came to that dead end.
“Take us back to Sunday, September 25th, two thousand sixteen,” said Dalton.
They headed to the tunnel to the right and went inside it.
In a split second, they entered the tunnel, and blue plasma light flashed and illuminated all around them again. It again stung their whole body.
“Ahhhh!” Dalton and Chrissy cried out in pain in unison while they walked through the tunnel.
Dalton and Chrissy were back outside by the cave opening within a split second.
“I don’t know if I can get used to that,” said Dalton, shivering until that strange tingling sensation dissipated from his body.
“I know what you mean,” she said while she shivered until that strange tingling sensation dissipated from her body.
Dalton glanced around the area and saw those pieces of cut cacti in the dirt by the right side of that huge rock.
He looked behind that huge rock and saw his pruning saw and rope. “We returned.”
Chrissy looked behind that huge rock and saw the pruning saw and rope. “We did.”
They walked away and headed back down Dutchman’s Trail. They hiked through those same small streams, by those numerous Saguaro cacti, by those same poppy flowers, and by those same spring desert flowers.
An hour passed, and they hiked down Bluff Springs Trail.
A little while later, they hiked back to that dirt parking lot.
They got inside Dalton’s Civic and headed back to his apartment.
It’s quiet during the drive to Dalton’s apartment. He parked his Civic not too far from Chrissy’s 2009 Toyota Corolla.
“You look totally exhausted,” he said while he turned off his Civic.
“I am,” said Chrissy with a yawn.
Dalton thought for a few seconds. “You’re too exhausted to drive. Why don’t you sleep in my apartment? My couch is
extremely comfortable. I mean, I don’t want you to fall asleep while driving back to your place,” he said, then cringed inside, wondering if he had gone too far.
Chrissy looked at Dalton. “Actually, that would be nice. I could stand a shower.”
“Well, you’re in luck, I have a shower in my place.” Chrissy had a light chuckle, and then her stomach giggled. “We could order pizza again.”
“That sounds really nice.”
Dalton and Chrissy left his Civic and headed to his apartment.
Once they got inside his apartment. She took a shower then put on her same clothes.
Dalton ordered two small pizzas while she was in the shower.
The pizza arrived while Dalton was in the shower, and Chrissy paid for it this time.
They had some quiet time while eating some pizza that sure hit the spot after their old west adventure.
They cleaned up from eating and sat on the couch in the living room.
“Want to watch a movie?” said Dalton.
“Sure, what do you want to watch?”
“Whatever you want to watch.”
Chrissy thought for a few seconds. “Do you have that movie Westworld?”
“I sure do,” said Dalton, and he got up off the couch, walked over to his bookcase of DVDs, and picked out that movie.
He put it in the DVD player and turned on the TV.
He walked over and sat back down on the couch.
While the Westworld movie started, he did a quick glance at Chrissy. He smiled as he loved having a female in his apartment.
He felt like a stud.
Chrissy also did a quick glance at Dalton, loving being in his apartment.
The movie was at the scene where everybody entered the Westworld theme park.
“It would be cool if a place like that existed. I mean. How cool would it be to go on vacation and hang around for a week just like you were in the real west,” said Dalton.
Chrissy thought about what he said for a few seconds. Her eyes widened a little. “You forget something.”
“What’s that?”
“We can do that.”
“We can how?” said Dalton, too exhausted to think. It took a few seconds, but it dawned on him. “Ah, yes, we can. We have Crazy Hole.”
“Yes, we do. We could go back there, and you know, hang around eighteen eighty-three Oak Creek. That could be our vacation,” said Chrissy.
Dalton thought about what she said for a few seconds. His eyes lit up. “Yeah! Take a vacation back to the old west!” “The real old west.”
“Yeah, but we can’t show anybody our pictures.”
“Got that right, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take some for us to keep. Discreetly,” said Dalton.
“So, are you game about going back?”
“I’m game,” said Dalton, and didn’t hesitate.
“Good,” said Chrissy, and then she yawned.
“I better get you a blanket and pillow. Let’s get a good night’s rest. We can plan our vacation tomorrow morning,” he said as he got off the couch.
“Great idea,” said Chrissy during another long yawn.
Ten minutes had passed.
Dalton had a bed made up for Chrissy on his couch.
He was in his bed a few minutes later. He lies on his back and can’t believe that this is the first time he has had a woman sleepover in his apartment. She was in the other room, but his apartment still had women’s sleepovers.
He closed his eyes and thought about his last two days with Chrissy. He was soon fast asleep.
It’s early Monday morning, September 26th, 2016, and still dark outside.
Dalton was in bed and just woke up. The door to his bedroom creaked open. He noticed.
In the darkness of his bedroom, Chrissy slipped through the door opening.
Dalton watched Chrissy tiptoe across his floor to his bed.
The light from the full Moon through the windows gave Dalton a perfect view of Chrissy wearing a white nightgown.
She smiled, grabbed the covers, flipped them off Dalton’s body, then cuddled him in bed.
“I’ve been thinking about you all night, Dalton,” she said and planted a kiss on his lips with her erect nipples poked through the nightgown material touching the bare skin of his chest. He was in heaven. It’s a dream come true.
An annoying sound filled the room. Dalton tried to ignore that sound while she kissed him. That annoying sound wouldn’t go away.
Dalton looked over at this bedside table. He looked back at Chrissy. She was gone. He glared at the annoying invisible sound coming from his bedside table. “You took her away!” he cursed.”
Dalton woke up. The morning daylight started to peek through the blinds of his bedroom window. He looked around.
Chrissy was not there, but she was in his room wearing a nightgown. It dawned on him that he had a dream. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep and back to that dream. It didn’t work.
“Darn,” he said while he flipped the covers off his body and got out of bed.
He snuck into the living room.
He took a peek from around the wall and saw Chrissy still asleep on the couch.
He snuck away, went into the bathroom, and took a quick shower.
He walked out of the bathroom and heard some movement in the living room.
“Good morning. Are you decent?” he said while standing in the hallway so he couldn’t see her in the living room.
“I am,” she said. “If you’re talking about me being dressed,” she chuckled.
Dalton went into the living room and saw Chrissy folding up the bed sheets and blanket. She was dressed in the same clothes she wore last night.
“Good morning.”
“You can take a shower if you want. There’s a fresh towel on the rack for you,” Dalton offered.
“Thanks,” she said, heading out of the living room and into the bathroom.
Dalton went into the kitchen and made a pot of coffee while Chrissy took a shower.
She was done with her shower and walked into the living room in a fresh pair of jeans and a western shirt. She packed them in her backpack.
“Coffee’s ready,” said Dalton while he got another coffee cup from one of the cupboards.
“That would taste so good right now.”
Dalton poured her a cup.
They walked back into the living room and sat on the couch.
“So, how should we plan our little vacation?” said Dalton, then sipped his coffee.
Chrissy thought for a few seconds. “We’ll need some clothes for that era. There must be websites out there that sell clothes that would be passable for eighteen eighty-eight,” she suggested, then sipped her coffee.
“We’ll need money. There are probably coin shops in the area that sell silver dollars from around that time,” Dalton said, then took another sip of his coffee. “This vacation could cost us some serious cash.”
Chrissy thought about that for a few seconds. “It could, but think about it. We’ll be vacationing back in eighteen eighty-three. Back in the real old west.”
“It would be worth it.”
“It sure would,” she said.
They remained quiet for a few minutes while they drank their morning coffee.
“Let’s do some Internet searches,” said Dalton after he finished his coffee.
“Okay,” said Chrissy after she finished her coffee.
After putting their cups in the kitchen sink, they sat back down on the couch, where Dalton had his laptop ready.
They found the Historical Emporium website that sold men’s and women’s old western-style clothes. Chrissy looked over the website, and she ordered a Burgundy Edwardian suit, black Victorian ankle boots, Victorian ladies’ Boater green and burgundy hat, and a black beaded Medallion purse.
Dalton also looked over the website and ordered a black cowboy hat, black vigilante vest, black Livingston brushed cotton trousers, burnt orange fundamental work shirt, black cowboy boots, and a gun belt and holster.
They paid extra for the UPS two-day air, so their clothes should arrive by Thursday.
They next conducted searches on coin shops located in the Phoenix area. They printed out a list, left his apartment, and headed off in his Civic.
First, they stopped for breakfast and then headed off to visit the coin stores.
They took a break from shopping at the coin stores and had lunch. After lunch, they visited some more stores.
Three hours passed, and Dalton and Chrissy were back at his apartment. They each purchased ten Morgan silver dollars each after visiting all the coin stores in the Phoenix area.
While driving back to his apartment, they stopped off at a Subway restaurant and brought back dinner.
They ate their sandwiches while they watched the movie Back to the Future III. Again.
Dalton thought of something ten minutes into the movie.
“Horses.”
“What about them?”
“We need horses. I don’t want to hike into Oak Creek on foot.” “That would raise eyebrows.”
She thought about what he said. “Good point. Have you ever been on a horse?”
“Yes, there’s this place outside Phoenix where I often rented a horse for a little ride in the desert,” said Dalton.
“Kent Moore’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables?” said Chrissy. “I’ve been there.”
Dalton smiled at Chrissy. “Funny how we both went to the same place. Shame we didn’t run across each other there.”
“Yeah, it is funny.”
“We’ll have to go tomorrow and ride some horses for practice. Then inquire about renting for a longer ride,” said Dalton.
“Sounds like a great idea,” said Chrissy, then paused momentarily. “I wonder how much his rental fee would cost for one hundred and thirty-three years?” she said with a hint of a smile.
Dalton chuckled.
“So when should we leave?”
Dalton thought for a few seconds. “Our clothes should arrive here on Thursday. So, I’m thinking Friday morning?”
“That sounds good to me.”
They returned to watching Back to the Future III movie.
After they finished watching that movie, Dalton put in the Wyatt Earp movie starring Kevin Costner. Dalton even showed Chrissy his Colt 45 Peacemaker pistol.
“I’m taking it with me.”
“Do you have any bullets?”
“No, I won’t need any. It’s just for show, so I’ll blend in.”
Dalton put his pistol down on the coffee table, and they returned to watching the movie.
Dalton got another idea ten minutes into the movie.
He glanced over at Chrissy., with an idea then chickened out. He looked at the TV, then back at Chrissy. “Why not?” he thought. “ I was thinking.”
“About what?”
“I was thinking,” he said, paused, and started to chicken out again. “I’m thinking it would be easier if you stayed here at my place. You know, with trying to plan our vacation and waiting on the clothes to arrive,” he said, finally getting the guts but still cringed, thinking he had gone too far.
“Actually, that’s a great idea.”
Dalton was jumping for joy inside but played it cool.
“Great, we can go to your place if you want to get some clothes.”
“Sure.”
Dalton and Chrissy got up. He turned off the DVD player and TV.
They left his apartment.
Forty minutes had passed, and they came back to his apartment. Chrissy had a suitcase with extra clothes, toiletry items, her cowboy, and pajamas.
Dalton felt like they were shaking up.
After a little freshening up, they sat on the couch and decided to watch the High Noon movie with Gary Cooper.
And, of course, they had to have some Oak Creek beer.
They were forty minutes into the movie. Chrissy nodded off and slumped over, and her head rested on Dalton’s shoulder.
He glanced down at the top of her head. He loved the feeling but knew he should be a gentleman. “I better let you get some sleep,” he said.
“Huh?” said Chrissy, waking up. It took a few seconds for her to realize she dozed off.
“It’s getting late, I’ll go get your blanket and pillow,” he said, getting off the couch.
Chrissy yawned while Dalton left the living room.
Dalton came back. “The bathroom is yours,” he said when he returned with a bedsheet, blanket, and pillow.
Chrissy got up and headed to the bathroom.
Dalton made her bed on the couch.
Twenty minutes had passed, and Dalton and Chrissy were sound asleep.
An hour had passed, and Dalton had a dream…
In his dream, he was an old western Town Marshal. Inside the Marshal’s Office, the three jail cells had two outlaws inside, waiting for their trial first thing in the morning.
Marshal Trevor sat behind his desk in his chair. Cowboy boots kicked up on his desk. He drank his cup of piping hot coffee and felt proud of a good day’s work of arresting the criminals.
The front door to his office slammed open.
“Marshal, Marshal, the bank’s being robbed! Bart Stone is back in town,” yelled out an old man.
Marshal Trevor jumped up from his chair. He whipped out his Colt 45 Peacemaker pistol out of his holster. He twirled it around on his finger and dropped it back in its holster. “Time to do my job!” he said, strutting to the door.
Marshal Trevor was now outside on the dusty Main Street.
He strutted down the dirt. Town folk were on both sides of the street, clapping and cheering. It was almost like a ticker tape parade for a hero.
Marshal Trevor saw one of the clapping town folk. It’s Chrissy. She blew him a kiss.
Marshal Trevor strutted farther down the street.
The door to the bank slammed open.
The outlaw Bart Stone ran out of the bank. Pistol in his right hand and a cloth bag of stolen loot in his left hand. “Stop right there, Bart Stone,” yelled out Marshal Trevor while he stopped in the middle of the dirt street.
The outlaw didn’t resemble the real Bart Stone but had the same name. Then that outlaw stopped and faced Marshal Trevor. “You’ll never stop me,” said Bart Stone. ‘Marshall Trevor!” he snarled.
Marshal Trevor whipped out his Colt 45 Peacemaker. He twirled the pistol a few times with his fingers, then fired off two shots.
Bart Stone’s eyes widened in shock. He glanced down and saw two bloody holes in the middle of his chest then dropped dead to the ground. Dead.
The town folk cheered and clapped louder.
Chrissy ran up to Trevor. She planted a kiss on his lips…
Back to reality, Trevor was asleep kissing the air. He woke up and was a little dazed then realized he had a dream.
He got up, went into the bathroom, took a pee, then returned to bed and was soon fast asleep.
In the living room, Chrissy was asleep. She started to dream…
In her dream, she was also in the old west.
She was in a church wearing a beautiful white wedding dress while walking down the aisle with an unknown man who might have been her father.
She saw a man in a suit standing next to a preacher at the altar but didn’t recognize this man.
The unknown man walked her to the man and preacher at the altar.
“Will you take this man as your husband?” said the preacher.
“Yes,” said Chrissy.
The unknown man leaned in and kissed Chrissy.
In her dream, Chrissy was now an old lady with white hair in a bun sitting on a sofa.
In a nearby chair was that unknown man she married. He was old and had white hair and a handlebar mustache.
Back in reality, Chrissy woke up, glanced around for her old husband. All she saw was Dalton’s TV, then realized she had a dream. She closed her eyes and fell back asleep.
Tuesday morning arrived. It’s September 27th, 2016.
Dalton and Chrissy ate a breakfast of Cocoa Krispies and two cups of coffee.
After their coffee, Dalton powered up his laptop and printed out some Google maps of the areas, concentrating on Kent’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables and the Superstition Mountains.
They left his apartment and drove in his Civic to Kent’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables, which was now owned by Kent Moore.
Dalton and Chrissy chatted a little, but it was mostly about their classes and other teachers at the university.
He parked his car at Kent’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables. They got out of his car.
Chrissy put on her brown cowboy hat.
Dalton glanced at her and liked what he saw. He still thought a girl looked hot when she wore a cowboy hat.
Meanwhile, John Mathers sat at his kitchen table drinking coffee. He was in deep thought, as if he had something on his mind. Something bugged him for a few days.
Angie walked into the kitchen, dressed for work. “When are you leaving for the university?” she said while she walked up to the coffee pot on the counter.
John didn’t answer staying in deep thought.
She poured a cup of coffee. “Something bugging you?” she said, noting his deep thought.
“Oh, yeah. There are these two students in my one class who are asking about the Kissing Bandit.”
“That doesn’t sound concerning,” she said, drinking coffee while walking over to the kitchen table.
“I know, but they were at the Police Museum and saw me with Clint. Then they mentioned how much I resemble the Kissing Bandit and how much Clint resembled Marshal Bartley.”
“What did you say about that?”
“I mentioned that there are documented cases on the Internet where people have resembled people of the past. For instance, Nicolas Cage resembled a Civil War soldier.”
“I remember reading about that,” said Angie and took another drink of her coffee.
“I hope they bought that story and stopped getting so inquisitive,” he said, then drank his coffee.
“They should. I mean, that happened over one hundred and thirty-two years ago,” she said, taking another drink of her coffee. “You have nothing to worry about.”
“I know, but I do if they find out about Crazy Hole.”
Angie thought about that for a few seconds. “Nobody discovered it now. Plus, with that cacti we planted ten years ago, there’s no way someone can enter it.”
“I guess you’re right,” said John, but he still had this nagging hunch that this wasn’t over.
Angie and John remained quiet while they had their morning coffee.
After they were done with their coffee, Angie went off to work while John went to get dressed for another day of teaching.
Dalton and Chrissy had arrived at Kent’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables.
“I remember you two,” said Kent the second he saw Dalton and Chrissy walking up to him at the stable. “But never recalled seeing you two here together.”
“No, this would be the first,” said Dalton.
“Good, now, how can I help you today?”
“We’re looking to ride for about an hour today,” said Dalton.
“And then we’ll also need to rent horses later this week,”
said Chrissy. “We’re going camping in various places, so we’ll need them for a few days.”
“Sounds good to me. We’ll discuss that when you return,”
said Kent, as he didn’t care as long as he was making some money. “Let’s go get you saddled up,” he said, motioning for them to enter the stable.
Ten minutes had passed, and Dalton and Chrissy were each saddled up on a horse. They rode off out of the back gate and headed off into the mountains.
An hour into the ride into the desert toward the Superstition Mountains, they saw Miners Needle way off in the background.
“Looks perfect,” said Chrissy.
“It does.”
“Let’s head back. This was a good practice.”
Dalton nodded in agreement, and they turned their horses around and headed back to Kent’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables.
After they got back to the horse ranch and helped Kent put the horses back in their stalls, they headed off to his office.
While inside Kent’s office and taking care of their bill, Dalton and Chrissy glanced up at the wall behind Kent. They saw a framed picture of Kent and Rusty.
“Who’s this guy with you?” said Chrissy when she became curious for some unexplained reason.
“That’s my older brother, Rusty,” said Kent, glancing up at the picture. “He went off riding into the desert and disappeared about ten years ago, just before they foreclosed on this place. I bought it for when he returned. But he didn’t,” he said, then looked sad. “I had him declared dead two years ago.”
“Oh my, I’m sorry to hear about that,” said Chrissy.
“Thanks. I hoped to hear what happened to him, but I haven’t. So hopefully, one day, I will.”
Dalton and Chrissy didn’t think anything about what he said.
“Could we reserve two horses again on Thursday?” said Dalton. “And return on Sunday? We want to camp out in the desert for a few days.”
“Have an old western adventure,” added Chrissy.
“That’s not a problem. What time would you like to get the horses on Thursday?” said Kent, happy to rent his horses for three days since business had been a little slow this month.
“Uhh, how about nine in the morning?” said Dalton, glancing over at Chrissy for her thought.
“Nine sounds good.”
“Nine it is,” said Kent while he wrote it down in his reservation book.
Dalton and Chrissy left Kent’s office, returned to his Civic, and headed back to his apartment.
“Did you find that story about his brother Rusty being missing in the desert a little odd?” said Dalton. At the same time, he pulled his Civic out of Kent’s driveway and onto the road. “Why is that odd?”
“I don’t know, but I wonder if his brother found Crazy Hole ten years ago.”
“I guess that could have happened.”
“Yep, could have happened,” said Dalton, and he was curious.
Dalton drove about a quarter of a mile, and he got curious.
“I know where we can go next.”
“Where?”
“You’ll have to wait,” he said.
Chrissy wondered what he was up to while he drove off down the street.
Twenty minutes had passed, and Dalton drove his Civic east on Route 88 or Apache Trail.
“Why are we way out here?” said Chrissy when she spotted Canyon Lake off to her left.
“Oak Creek was located somewhere around this area,” he said. Chrissy looked around. “It’s so desolate out here.”
“I know. Nice and quiet,” said Dalton.
“Peaceful.” Chrissy nodded in agreement.
Dalton turned into the Canyon Lake Marina and Campgrounds. “ To think that we’ll be here back in eighteen eighty-three,” he said while he turned his Civic around in the campground parking lot.
“It’s going to be so exciting,” said Chrissy.
Dalton headed west on the Apache Trail and headed back to Phoenix.
When he arrived back at Dalton’s apartment, his curiosity about Rusty Moore was still piqued. He grabbed his textbook from Professor Mather’s class and flipped through the pages about the old west Marshals and outlaws.
He finally stopped on the pages about the Marshals of Mountain Rock and then scanned through the stories until a picture of one of the Marshals was of interest.
Chrissy was in the kitchen, getting a drink of water.
“Chrissy, I found something of interest,” he called out.
She walked out of the kitchen and over to the couch sat down next to Dalton.
“Look at this picture of Marshal Rusty Moore of Mountain Rock,” he said, pointing at a picture in that book.
She looked at the picture and then looked at Dalton.
“Okay, it’s a picture of Marshal Moore.”
“He sure looked like Kent’s brother,” he said.
She looked at the picture again. “He does.”
“Rusty Moore became the Town Marshal of Mountain Rock on September 24th, eighteen eighty-three, after Marshal Jeb Paulson died in his sleep. Marshal Moore was the Town Marshal of Mountain Rock until the town was abandoned in eighteen ninety-four. Marshal Moore moved to Tucson, where he became Police Chief of the Tucson Police Department until nineteen oh one. Marshal Moore died in his sleep in Tucson in nineteen fifteen,” Dalton read from the book.
“Maybe he did use Crazy Hole,” said Chrissy.
“Would have to be before Professor Mathers and that Clint guy planted those cacti at the cave opening.”
“Your friend did say they planted those cacti about ten years ago.”
“That explains why Rusty went missing,” said Dalton. “He went back in time.”
“How many other people used that cave for a different life?” “I guess we’ll never know,” said Dalton.
“Unless we see someone in eighteen eighty-three wearing a Timex watch,” joked Chrissy.
Dalton chuckled. “That would be a sight.”
The should of Dalton’s hungry tummy was heard.
“Food sounds good right now,” said Chrissy.
Dalton thought for a few seconds. “I know the perfect place,” he said.
They left his apartment and headed off to the Outlaw Steak House. This was the same restaurant John Mathers took Angie to eat when he was obsessed with being a famous old western outlaw. The restaurant hadn’t changed much over the past ten years.
After a nice steak dinner, Dalton and Chrissy headed back to his apartment. They relaxed and watched the Crossfire Trail DVD with Tom Selleck.
After the movie was over, they went to their separate beds and fell asleep.
Wednesday morning arrived. It’s September 28th, 2016.
This day was uneventful for Dalton and Chrissy except for the arrival of their western clothes that arrived via UPS.
They tried on their clothes and were now ready for their vacation. He even placed his Colt 45 Peacemaker in the new holster.
“We do look like we belong in the old west,” he said while he strutted around the room. “I could be an old western Marshal catching the bad guys,” he said while he whipped out his pistol, twirled it around a few times, then shoved it back in the holster.
Chrissy chuckled, and she looked the part with that Victorian dress, boots, purse, and hat.
They took off their western attire and carefully packed them in their backpacks. Dalton packed his flashlight and binoculars, extra underwear, and toiletry items.
Chrissy also packed a flashlight, extra underwear, and her toiletry items.
They spent the rest of the day searching the Internet to learn more about 1883.
After dinner at the Outlaw Steak House to help put them in the mood, they returned to Dalton’s apartment.
They watched The Searchers DVD with John Wayne.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if we ran into John Wayne in eighteen eighty-three,” said Chrissy.
Dalton chuckled. “That would be cool!” Then his eyes widened. “Maybe I could be John Wayne when we go back in time?” “What do you say? Pilgrim?” Dalton attempted to pull off a John Wayne impression
Chrissy chuckled. “Nah, better stick with Dalton Trevor.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
They returned to watching the movie, and after it was over, they went to their separate beds.
Dalton and Chrissy tossed and turned in bed and were excited about tomorrow, excited like kids trying to sleep on Christmas Eve.
Thursday morning arrived. It was September 29th, 2016.
Dalton and Chrissy got very little sleep. They were full of energy, thinking about today’s adventure.
They showered, drank some coffee, and ate a bowl of Cocoa Krispies.
They had their western outfits packed in their backpacks, their 1800s money, and other items they figured they might need. They were cautious in ensuring they didn’t have 2016
items that would raise tough questions.
Dalton placed his cell phone in his dresser drawer, and Chrissy had her cell phone stashed in her apartment.
They dressed in their 2016 jeans, western shirts, and cowboy hats.
They grabbed their backpacks, walked to his front door, left the apartment, got in his Civic, and drove away.
During the drive to Kent’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables, they discussed what they could do during their 1883
vacation.
After fifteen minutes, Dalton parked his Civic at Kent’s Desert Horse Ranch and Stables. They walked over to the stable with their backpacks on their backs and noticed it was starting to get cloudy.
“You’re here,” said Kent the second Dalton and Chrissy walked into the stable. “Your horses are ready to ride.”
“Great,” smiled Dalton.
Dalton and Chrissy walked the horses out of the stable and got in their horses’ saddles.
“I’ll see you on Sunday,” said Kent. “Be careful, I don’t want you disappearing in the desert,” he added. “Like what my brother did.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be safe,” said Dalton, then motioned at Chrissy that they should ride off into the desert.
They rode off towards the back gate of the ranch.
An hour had passed, and they rode up to Miners Needle.
They exited their horses, grabbed the reins, and walked them to the cave.
The second, Dalton and Christy got their horses ten feet from Crazy Hole, and the horses panicked and rose up on their hind legs.
Dalton and Chrissy moved the horses away from Crazy Hole. The horse settled down after a few seconds.
“What scared them?” said Dalton.
Chrissy looked at the horses and back at Crazy Hole. She thought about that for a few seconds. Her eyes lit up. “The cave scares them. They see something spooky about it.”
“What can we do? We can’t take them back, then walk back here, then walk to Oak Creek,” said Dalton, thinking that their old west vacation was now a bust.
Chrissy thought about the situation for a few seconds.
“Maybe we should cover their eyes. That might calm them down,” she said, and the more she thought about it, the more she thought it would work.
“It’s worth a try, or we turn around and return home,” he said. “I’m not going to give up on this vacation now.”
“I wonder what can we use?” said Dalton.
Chrissy thought of a solution. Her eyes widened a little.
“Our shirts.”
“Okay,” said Dalton, and he started to remove his shirt.
Chrissy removed her western shirt.
Dalton glanced over at her.
“It’s a good thing I decided to wear a bra today,” she states, catching Dalton glancing at her.
“I don’t know about that,” he replied and gave her a little smile.
“I can imagine you would have loved that little show,” she said with a little chuckle and wiggled her chest.
“Probably,” he said with a hint of a bigger smile.
Chrissy liked the idea that he would enjoy seeing her topless.
They secured their shirts over the eyes of the horses.
They took hold of the reins and walked the horses toward Crazy Hole.
They got within five feet of the cave opening, and the horses remained calm.
“So far, it’s good,” said Dalton.
“Let’s get inside the cave,” said Chrissy.
Chrissy unzipped a side pocket of his backpack and removed the small but powerful flashlight. She turned in on.
Dalton unzipped a side pocket of her backpack and removed the small but powerful flashlight. He turned it on.
They slowly walked the horses into Crazy Hole.
They illuminated the cave tunnel with the flashlight while slowly walking the horses deeper into the cave.
They finally arrived at the dead-end in the cave with the priest’s carving on the cave wall.
“Ma-am, you may get dressed first,” said Dalton, starting to sound like an old western gentleman.
“Why thank you, kind sir,” said Chrissy.
Dalton turned his back while Chrissy walked around to the other side of the horses. She removed her backpack from her back and opened it, removing her old Western attire, undressed from her 2016 clothes, and dressed in her Western outfit.
After she was done, Dalton went to the same place, undressed out of his 2016 clothes, dressed in his old western outfit, and still wore his 2016 cowboy hat.
They removed their Morgan silver dollar coins from their backpacks.
Dalton shoved his coins into the inside pocket of his suit coat and wallet.
Chrissy shoved her coins into her Western purse. They packed their 2016 clothes in their backpacks and zipped them up. Dalton shoved his flashlight into the inside pocket of his suit coat.
Chrissy shoved her flashlight in her western purse.
They dropped their backpacks in the dirt under the priest carving.
“Ready, ma-am?”
“Ready, good sir.”
“We wish to go to September twenty-second, eighteen eighty-three,” said Dalton with that echoing in the cave.
“Ladies first,” said Dalton.
Chrissy walked her horse in that tunnel to the right.
Dalton saw that blue plasma light that illuminated the inside of that tunnel.
He heard the horse cry, and Chrissy screamed in a little pain. The tunnel suddenly got dark.
Dalton walked his horse into the tunnel. Blue plasma light flashed and illuminated Dalton and his horse. It stung!
“Ahhhh!” Dalton cried out in pain while he walked through the horse through the tunnel.
Dalton exited Crazy Hole and saw Chrissy waiting for him on her horse with her shirt removed and tucked away in her saddlebag.
“Took you long enough to get here,” she said lightly.
“I know, about one hundred and thirty-three years,” said Dalton while he looked up at the clear blue sky, knowing they arrived back in 1883. “Looks like it’s high noon,” he said while he got in the saddle on his horse.
“Look at you sounding like a cowboy.”
“Let’s go, ma-am,” he said.
Chrissy smiled.
Dalton removed the shirt off his horse and tucked it in his saddlebag then got up in the saddle.
They galloped off, followed the train tracks, and headed north.
Some time had passed, and Dalton and Chrissy stopped their horses, seeing Oak Creek five hundred feet to the north.
“This is going to be so cool,” said Dalton. “You know it.”
“Let’s first get a room at the hotel, then we can walk around the town and check it out,” said Dalton.
“Sounds good.”
They trotted their horses off to Oak Creek.
They entered Main Street on the east side of Oak Creek. It was the main entrance that most folks in that area used.
They first noticed that all the wooden buildings were made of board and batten construction. A five-foot-wide wooden sidewalk was in front of all the buildings of Oak Creek. It helped during those rainy days; the street was a mud puddle.
Off to their right, they saw the Oak Creek train station.
The train hadn’t arrived yet.
Off to their left, across from the train station, they saw Harvey Robbins’ Cabinetmaker and Undertaker Shop. Way off to the south, about five hundred behind his shop, was the graveyard of Oak Creek. There were a few wooden tombstones for the final resting place of some of the Oak Creek residents.
The town folk milling around the town saw these two strangers arriving on horseback. They looked happy to see them since it meant additional money into their economy.
They rode a little farther down past the train station and saw a Barbershop to the left of the station where Fred Boone was the barber.
The music of wood being sawed and hammered caught their attention. Dalton and Chrissy saw the wooden gallows in the middle of the street across from the Barbershop and the two-story Gus Master’s General Store.
Workers were banging away and sawing on wood planks for the finishing touches on the wooden structure.
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at each other and knew this was meant for the Kissing Bandit.
They rode farther down the street and saw the Marshal’s Office to the left and the courthouse across the street to their right. Inside the Court House was the office of Mayor Mason.
They rode farther down the street and saw Doc Bartholomew’s Office to the left and the Oak Creek Restaurant across the street to the left.
They rode their horses to the Oak Creek Hotel off to the right.
They got off the horses then, tied the reins to the hitching post, glanced around, and saw town folk milling about town in old western suits and Victorian-style dresses, and they all wore hats. Dalton winked at Chrissy. She winked back.
They walked across the wooden sidewalk in front of the two-story hotel.
Dalton opened the door for Chrissy. She went inside the hotel, and he followed right behind her.
The inside of the hotel lobby was plain and simple. A couch and three chairs were in the small lobby in front of the small wooden front desk. One hotel guest sat on one of the chairs, reading the latest Weekly Phoenix Herald newspaper issue.
Off to the right of the front desk was the wooden stairs leading up to the second floor.
“May I help you?” said Jacob from behind the front desk.
“Yes, sir,” said Dalton while he and Chrissy walked up to the desk. “We would like two rooms.”
“You here for the hanging of the Kissing Bandit?”
“Yes, sir,” said Dalton.
“How many nights would you like to stay here?” said Jacob.
Dalton looked over at Chrissy. “Four nights.”
“Yes, four nights would be grand,” she said. “We’ll need two rooms.”
“That would be eight dollars,” said Jacob.
Dalton reached into his inside suit pocket, removed eight silver dollars, and handed them to Jacob.
Harold dropped the silver dollars in the cash drawer. “Ma-am, you’re in Room One, and sir, you’re in Room Two,” he said.
“All rooms are upstairs, and the outhouses are out at the rear of the building.
“Thank you,” said Dalton. Then, something felt odd. “No room key?”
“Oh, you won’t need to lock your rooms. Nobody here in Oak Creek will bother you,” said Jacob.
Dalton and Chrissy gave Jacob a little smile.
Harold watched Dalton and Chrissy walk from the counter and head up the stairs. He thought it was a little strange that they didn’t have any suitcases, but this is the old west, and strange things happen quite often.
Dalton and Chrissy went upstairs and walked down the hallway. They stopped at their rooms.
She opened up her purse and removed four silver dollar coins. “Here’s for my room,” she said, handing him the coins.
Dalton shoved them in his inside suit pocket. “Let’s rest for ten minutes, then walk around Oak Creek and check it out?”
“I would like that.”
Dalton opened up his room door. “No locks on the door.
I remember my grandparents saying they never locked their doors at their home when they grew up.”
“Can’t do that in our time,” she said, then her eyes widened when she remembered something. “Outhouses out back?” she said. “I forgot about that.”
“There’s no indoor plumbing here. We’re in the real old west. Living like they did.”
“This will be an experience, said Chrissy, then she opened her room door, went inside, and closed the door.
Dalton went inside his room and closed the door. He saw a bed, a wooden armoire, a small table with a Kerosene lamp, and a small basin with a pitcher for washing your face.
There was a window with curtains. The window was open, allowing the breeze to cool the room. But it also permitted dust to enter the room.
Dalton walked over and got on the bed. It was very comfy, and he just relaxed.
Ten minutes passed.
Dalton and Chrissy met in the hallway outside their rooms.
They went down the stairs and left the hotel.
Once they left the hotel, they stood on the wooden sidewalk and glanced up and down Main Street.
“Look at what?”
“A nice and quiet street. No cars racing around in a hurry.”
“No car running through red lights, almost crashing into you,” said Chrissy.
“I’m loving this so far,” said Dalton.
“Me too.”
“Want to head down that way?” said Dalton, pointing to the west.
“Sure.”
Dalton and Chrissy walked away on the sidewalk.
They walked by the Oak Creek National Bank.
“Hello,” said Dalton to an older couple while they left the bank.
“Hello. Don’t know you?” said the old man.
“Dalton Trevor, and this is Chrissy Barron. We just arrived here in Oak Creek.”
Dalton and the old man shook hands.
“I’m Lester Lincoln, and this is my wife, Edith Lincoln.
Where do you hail from?” said Lester.
Dalton and Chrissy looked at each other. “Back east.
Pittsburgh,” said Dalton.
“What brings you all the way here?” asked Lester.
“We wanted to live in a place without snow,” said Chrissy.
“Are you going to be married?” asked Edith, being nosey.
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at each other to see how to answer that question.
“Yes, ma-am. We’re engaged and plan on a wedding after we get settled here in Oak Creek,” replied Dalton.
“We own the tailor and dressmaker shop across the street.
It would be an honor to make your wedding dress,” offered Edith.
“And I can put you in a new suit for your wedding,”
offered Lester.
“That would be very nice,” said Chrissy while she eyed their store and saw the Lincoln Dresses and Suits Shop to the left of the Prickly Cactus Saloon.
“You came to our town at a good time. Tomorrow morning is the hanging of the Kissing Bandit,” said Lester, and he looked excited about seeing a hanging.
“The Kissing Bandit?” said Dalton, playing dumbly.
“Yes, he robbed banks and stagecoaches and hooked up with outlaws Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler. He kissed women after he robbed,” said Lester.
“But not me,” Edith said, looking a little disappointed.
Chrissy picked up on her disappointment.
“We need to git, Edith. Nice meeting you, and see you around town,” said Lester.
“Please stop by our shop,” offered Edith to Chrissy.
Lester nodded goodbye, and then he and Edith walked across the street, heading back to their shop.
“We’re engaged to be married?” asked Chrissy while they walked away, heading toward the church to the bank’s right.
“I know; I had to think of something since we’re here together. You know, with the way the folk of this time view single people,” he said. “I hope I didn’t say anything wrong?”
“Oh, no. It sounds like a perfect cover story,” she said, but inside, she loved the idea.
They walked up to the small white church.
“I guess we could get married there,” said Chrissy jokingly.
“Yes, ma’am,” said Dalton with a warm smile.
They both chuckled while they walked past the church.
They walked upon the one-room schoolhouse to the church’s right, stopped and looked it over.
“Wow, it’s so small. I forget how our schools had thousands of students in these times; they probably only had ten at the most,” said Dalton.
“One teacher for all the grades,” said Chrissy. “Must have been challenging back then. I mean, right now.”
“Plus, you don’t have to worry about the students becoming threatening,” said Dalton.
“That’s probably true.”
They walked away from the schoolhouse, and at the west end of Oak Creek, they saw what appeared to be a residential
area. There were approximately thirty small wooden homes.
Some had the typical small white picket fences. Some of the houses were shabbier than the others.
“What did these people do for a living here?” said Chrissy.
“Mining from what I read in the history books. Or shop owners.”
“That’s right. I remember from the textbook. They mined copper, silver, or gold from this area,” said Chrissy.
“As did most of the towns around Phoenix.”
Dalton and Chrissy walked across the street and wanted to check out the northern part of Oak Creek.
They saw a stockade way out in the northeast side of the town about five hundred feet away.
They saw cows and pigs in a large pen and what also appeared to be a slaughterhouse.
This helped supply the town and restaurant with fresh meat.
They walked past a bathhouse.
They walked by the livery stable and blacksmith shop.
Dalton saw a man beating on a horseshoe on an anvil with a hammer inside the blacksmith part of the stable. “He must be Roger’s great-grandfather, Felix Willoughby. Remember him telling us about this guy when we were at Home Depot?”
Chrissy thought for a few seconds. “I remember.”
“We should ask him about keeping our horses in his stable,” said Chrissy.
“Good idea.”
They walked into the stable and got lucky, as Felix had two stalls available. Dalton paid for four days.
They left the stable and saw a small building next door where carcasses of skinned cows hung. They both knew this was part of that stockade, and this was food for the restaurant or the homes of Oak Creek.
They walked past it and saw the Oak Creek Restaurant. It looked quaint.
They walked past the restaurant and saw the Prickly Cactus Saloon hearing talking inside.
They walked past the Prickly Cactus Saloon and saw Lincoln’s Tailor & Dressmaker Shop. She saw Edith and Lester working on a dress and a suit inside.
They walked past the Lincoln shop, the Court House, the Barber Shop, and the train station.
“Well, that’s the whole town,” said Dalton.
“I think it’s quaint,” said Chrissy.
“I agree.”
“Plain, simple, and quiet. Not with all the traffic and noise like our Phoenix,” said Chrissy.
“I agree. Peaceful. I love it.”
They saw two female cowboys, nineteen-year-old Angie Dawson and thirty-year-old Alicia Hernandez, riding horses into Oak Creek. Two bald men were in the saddle in front of the two ladies. And these two guys looked pissed.
Dalton looked. His eyes widened. “That must be Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler.”
Chrissy looked. “Are you sure?”
“They’re bald, but history has them being brought back to Oak Creek by two mysterious women. Today.”
Chrissy thought for a few seconds. “I bet I know where they came from.”
“Me too, but I wonder how they captured those two outlaws?” said Dalton.
Chrissy thought for a few seconds. “Must have caught them in the future.”
Dalton thought about her response for a few seconds.
“The only explanation.”
They continued walking.
They stopped and watched Angie and Alicia ride their horses to the hitching post at the Marshal’s Office.
Other town folks also stopped in the street. Town folk like Sally Burns, Ernie Woods, Annie Nelson, Zeke Cooper, Rodney Adams, Winston Moore, and Bucky Younger also watched the female cowboys.
The sound of a train was heard.
They looked to the east and saw the Southern Pacific train coming down the track, bellowing out black smoke out of its stack.
Winston ran off toward the train station. He had to get back to work.
Dalton and Chrissy walked closer to the Marshal’s Office to witness this historic moment.
Alicia and Angie stopped their horses at the Marshal’s office. They exited their saddles and tied the reins to the hitching post.
Alicia looked up at Bart. “You’re home,” she said, then removed a small penknife from her pocket. She cut the tie wraps from the stirrups, then reached up and tugged hard on Bart’s arm. He fell off the horse and smacked into the ground with a thud.
“Ahhhh!” he cried out in pain.
“Oops!” Alicia said, pretending it was an accident.
Angie chuckled at the sight while Alicia walked over and cut the tie wraps on Charlie’s stirrups. She reached up and tugged on Charlie’s arm. He fell off the horse and smacked into the ground with a thud.
“Ahhhh!” he cried out in pain.
“Oops! I did it again. Clumsy me,” Alicia said.
Angie chuckled again.
They grabbed Bart and Charlie by their boots and dragged them up the stairs with a thump, thump, thump while Bart and Charlie’s head banged on the steps.
Dalton and Chrissy left when Angie and Alicia took Bart and Charlie into the Marshal’s Office.
They headed to the train station.
They got a closer glimpse of the train when they got to the station seeing. people in the passenger car.
“Looks like people are coming here to see the hanging,”
said Dalton while they watched the train slow down while it headed to the station.
Dalton’s stomach growled. “Maybe we should eat at the restaurant before it fills up,” said Chrissy.
“I agree. I am hungry from our trip.”
Dalton and Chrissy turned around and walked back into town.
They entered the Oak Creek Restaurant. It was simple, and the tables were square and constructed of wood. The restaurant had fifteen tables, and seven were occupied by the town folk.
Dalton and Chrissy sat down at the nearest table.
“This is a cute place,” said Dalton quietly.
“It’s quaint,” replied Chrissy in a quiet tone.
Jake, the waiter, walked up to their table. “Would you like steak or ham?” he said.
“Is that the only option?” said Dalton.
A gentleman at a table near them glanced over his shoulder to check them out.
“Steak or ham with mashed potatoes and green beans with coffee,” said Jake,
“Steak for me,” said Dalton.
“Yes, I’ll also have the steak,” said Chrissy.
Jake walked away.
The gentleman at their nearby table got up and walked over to Dalton and Chrissy.
“Howdy. I’m Robby Mason, the Mayor of Oak Creek. Are you here for the hanging tomorrow morning?”
“I’m Dalton Trevor, and this here is my fiancé, Chrissy Barron,” said Dalton while he stood up.
Robby and Dalton shook hands.
“And yes, we’re here for the hanging and planning to stay in your fine town for a few days.”
“Welcome to Oak Creek, and enjoy your stay,” said Robbie, then looked at Chrissy. “Ma-am,” he said and walked back over to his table.
Jake walked up to their table with two cups of coffee. He walked away.
Dalton and Chrissy sipped their coffee while discreetly glancing around the restaurant at the patrons.
Ten minutes had passed, and Jake brought them two steak dinners.
Dalton and Chrissy ate their delicious steak dinner and loved the old West.
Fifteen minutes had passed, and they were finishing their meal when Marshal Clint Bartley entered the restaurant. Trailing behind Clint were Angie Dawson and Alicia Hernandez.
The three of them sat down at a table near Dalton and Chrissy.
Dalton noticed Clint. He leaned across the table. “There’s that, Clint Bartley. The guy we saw at the Police Museum.”
Chrissy took a discreet glance. She nodded at Dalton, saying she remembered seeing him at the museum.
Jake walked up to their table. “That’ll be seventy cents,” he said. Dalton gave Jake a silver dollar, and Jake gave him change.
Jake walked away.
Dalton left a nickel on the table for a tip. He got up from the table and walked over to Chrissy, played the gentleman and helped her get up from her chair.
They left the restaurant.
“I know where we can go next?” he said the second they left the restaurant and set foot on Main Street.
“Where?”
“The Marshal’s Office. Seeing Clint here means someone else we know should be in a jail cell now,” he said.
Chrissy nodded that that was a good idea.
They walked off and headed across the street.
They turned and headed to the Marshal’s office.
They arrived at the Marshal’s Office, and Dalton opened the front door for Chrissy. They stepped inside, and Dalton closed the door.
They saw John Mathers, Bart Stone, and Charlie Chandler in their bunks in separate jail cells. He also saw two wooden desks, a rifle rack with Winchester rifles, a door that led to a small room where he could see a bed and a rear door that led to the back of the building.
Dalton’s eyes widened when he recognized John. He leaned over to Chrissy. “There’s Professor Mathers,” he whispered in her ear.
“He looks younger,” she whispered back.
Bart Stone got up off his bunk. He walked over to the cell door. “I’d be mighty obliged if you get those keys out of that desk drawer and spring me loose,” he politely asked with a grin.
“Me too,” said Charlie Chandler while he walked up to his cell door.
“You ain’t going nowhere, you yellow-belly,” Bart barked at Charlie. “If I get you alone out of here, you’ll be belly-up in the dirt for telling the Marshal I killed Elmer,” he barked louder.
John walked up to his cell door. He looked at Dalton and Chrissy. Something felt strange about them. “Do I know you?”
“No, sir,” said Dalton.
The back door to the Marshal’s Office opened. Old man Bucky Younger entered the Marshal’s Office from using the outhouse at the rear of the office. He put his one suspender back over his shoulder. Bucky spotted Dalton and Chrissy.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he said while he closed the rear door.
“Ah, we just, ah,” said Dalton while his mind froze with a viable excuse.
Bucky whipped out his pistol from its holster. “You better git. Marshal Bartley doesn’t want sightseeing around here,” he said, then cocked his pistol.
“Yes sir,” said Dalton, and he and Chrissy carefully turned around and walked to the door.
They left the Marshal’s Office.
Bucky put his pistol back in its holster. He walked to one of the two desks, sat down, and kicked his boots on the desk.
His eyes started to drift shut.
Dalton and Chrissy walked down the street.
“We just confirmed that Professor Mathers did, in fact, use Crazy Hole to become the Kissing Bandit,” said Dalton.
“Seeing him here was so surreal. I wonder why he wanted to become an old western outlaw?”
“I don’t know. But it would be nice to have the chance to ask him one day,” replied Dalton.
“It would be nice,” said Chrissy, then she yawned.
They returned to the hotel and went straight to their rooms, exhausted from their day traveling.
The morning of September 23rd, 1883, arrived. It’s Sunday, and nobody wants to attend church. They wanted to see the hanging of a famous outlaw.
Dalton woke up, dressed, and brushed his teeth with a little water in the pitcher.
He left his room, went downstairs, walked to the rear of the lobby, and went outside using the rear door.
He spotted a wooden outhouse and went inside.
It stunk! He held his breath while he relieved himself. He left the outhouse and went back inside the hotel.
He saw Chrissy while he went upstairs and headed down the hallway to his room. He knew where she was going.
“That smell of the outhouse takes some getting used to.”
“I can imagine. I’ve used the Porta Johns before.”
“I’ll meet you back here in five minutes, and we’ll go across the street and get breakfast,” said Dalton.
“Okay.”
He went back into his room while she went downstairs.
Chrissy used the hotel outhouse. It was smelly, but she was able to tolerate it.
Five minutes had passed, and Dalton and Chrissy were able to find a table in the restaurant. It was crowded with people from other towns visiting to witness the hanging.
Dalton and Chrissy left the restaurant after an egg and bacon breakfast with coffee.
They stood out in the street and glanced at the Marshal’s Office. They saw the wooden gallows with the rope noose ready. Some of the town folk were already walking down that end of town.
“There’s something about how they handled things here in the old west,” said Dalton while they started walking off toward the gallows.
“What’s that?”
“No long trials or appeals for a murderer.”
“But wasn’t the Kissing Bandit really innocent?”
Dalton thought about that for a second. “Yeah, I guess it wasn’t a perfect system, but justice was swifter than in our time.”
“I’m just glad Professor Mathers managed to escape death,” said Chrissy.
“Again,” Dalton added.
“And we get to witness this piece of history.”
Dalton nodded, and she agreed.
They walked down to the gallows and were in the front of the crowd. More and more people started heading to the gallows from all areas of town, except for one lady named Gertrude. She had her bag in hand and was heading to the train station.
They waited and talked amongst themselves. Dalton and Chrissy remained quiet, but Dalton was curious about who these mystery women were that helped Professor Mathers escape.
At Harvey Robbins’ Furniture and Undertaker Shop stood Harvey Robbins. He waited by his horse and wagon to perform his job as the town undertaker. Leaning up against the wall of his shop was a freshly made wooden casket reserved for the Kissing Bandit.
The front door of the Marshal’s Office opened.
The crowd turned around and saw Clint walk out of the Marshal’s Office, escorting John.
Leaving the Marshal’s Office behind Clint and John were Mayor Mason and Bucky Younger.
Clint escorted John to the gallows.
He walked John up the gallows’ steps, walked John over, and stopped him behind the noose.
John swallowed hard when he saw the noose.
At the gallows, John stood behind the hanging noose.
Clint loosely tied John’s hands behind his back with some rope.
Dalton and Chrissy looked at John and could sense he was scared to death.
Mayor Mason walked up the gallows stairs, walked over, and stood beside John. Bucky touched his chest for a second as
he felt a sharp pain. After a second, the pain disappeared, and he felt better.
Bucky walked up the gallows stairs, walked over to a wooden lever, and waited.
Clint glanced around the crowd at his office. He got a smirk.
Dalton and Chrissy saw that smirk and knew what that meant.
Mayor Mason looked at the anxious crown, then removed a paper from his shirt pocket. He looked at the paper.
“By order of Judge Wilbur Peabody and the Court of Oak Creek. The town of Oak Creek at this moment hang John Mathers for the murder of Elmer Filson, the deputy of Oak Creek,” Mayor Mason addressed the crowd. At the same time, he read the piece of paper.
John glanced at the town folk waiting for his demise.
But two people in the front caught his attention. The same two people who visited the Marshal’s office yesterday.
It was Dalton and Chrissy, and there was something peculiar about them. Something he felt odd about was their presence here at his hanging. He shrugged it off.
It was back in 2016, and Professor Mathers had just arrived in his classroom. He opened up his briefcase and removed the textbook. He opened it, and then all of a sudden, he had a flashback. .
In his flashback, he was back at the gallows on September 23rd, 1883. He stared at the town folk waiting for his demise, seeing two people looking familiar in the front. “I know them,”
he thought while Bucky walked over and moved John in front of the noose and on top of the trapped door. .
In 2016, John glanced at his classroom, where the students waited for his lecture.
He looked at the students and saw two desks were empty.
“Dalton and Chrissy!” he said in his head. He wondered if they, by chance, had found out about Crazy Hole and went back to that day. “Naw,” he thought and shrugged it off.
He started his lecture about the town of Stone Valley.
Back in eighteen eighty-three, Bucky placed the noose around John’s neck and tightened it.
John’s face turned pale, and his body shook. He silently prayed that he wouldn’t pee his pants in front of all these people.
Bucky walked over to a lever and then looked at John. He moved the lever, and the trapped door under John’s boots opened. The sound of gunfire echoed throughout the town; the second John’s body dropped through the hole and dangled. He couldn’t breathe as the noose started to cut off his air supply.
The sound of more gunfire echoed throughout the town.
The rope to John’s noose snapped, and he dropped the rest of the way through the hole and slammed into the dirt.
Everybody in front of the gallows squatted down for safety from more potential bullets.
“Everybody, stay put!” Clint yelled at everybody while he whipped out his pistol and scanned the area for the shooter.
At the gallows, everybody stayed squatted in the dirt and looked scared.
Angie galloped on a horse through the crowd. They scattered when they realized she wasn’t going to stop.
Angie stopped her horse by the gallows, and he turned around, and Alicia wasn’t in sight.
Clint and the crowd all looked at Angie on her horse.
The crowd looked at Clint and expected him to react. He looked back at the Marshal’s Office. He looked concerned.
“Don’t move an inch,” Clint said, then aimed his pistol at Angie.
At the gallows, Clint still had his pistol aimed at Angie.
John stayed cowered under the gallows.
The crowd hugged the dirt for protection.
Clint still aimed his pistol at Angie.
Alicia stopped her horse, aimed her rifle at Clint, and then she fired her rifle.
Alicia’s bullet hit Clint’s pistol, and it flew out of his hand.
Clint grabbed his hand and appeared to be in pain.
The crowd squatted closer to the dirt.
John crawled out from under the gallows.
Alicia pointed her rifle at the crowd.
“Don’t anybody move!” Alicia yelled at them.
The crowd stayed down in the dirt, scared to death. Angie walked her horse next to the gallows.
John loosened the noose. He removed it and rubbed the red ring around his neck.
“Hop on, John,” Angie cried out.
John saw Angie on the horse. She extended her hand and assisted John to the back of her saddle.
Angie galloped away with John.
Alicia galloped her horse after Angie and John.
The crowd stood up and watched while Alicia, Angie, and The horses galloped away and were soon out of Oak Creek.
The crowd stood up and looked at Clint in anticipation of his reaction.
Cling looked at Mayor Mason. “Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler are sitting in the jail. Tell Judge Eastwood that Charlie Chandler will testify that Bart killed Elmer and not the Kissing Bandit,” Clint told Mayor Mason.
Clint jumped off the gallows and ran to a nearby hitching post, where he staged his horse late last night.
He galloped his horse after Alicia, Angie, and John.
“Marshal Bartley will get em,” Bucky said from the gallows.
All the men, the crowd, nodded in agreement. All the women in the crowd looked happy that John was still alive.
They all got up off the dirt.
Some walked away to their usual routines.
Some stayed and watched Clint ride off on his horse into the desert.
Rusty Moore escorted a man with a wound in the tricep of his shooting arm.
This man was Jimmy Templeton.
Rusty escorted him to the front of the Marshal’s Office.
He saw the town folk while they walked back to their homes and businesses.
Dalton and Chrissy walked closer to the Marshal’s Office.
They stopped when they saw Rusty and Jimmy.
“That one guy looks extremely familiar,” whispered Dalton to Chrissy. He looked the guy over and saw the four rings on Jimmy’s right hand. “That’s Jimmy Templeton. You can tell by the four rings on his right hand,” he whispered to Chrissy.
She looked at Rusty when Mayor Mason and Bucky approached Rusty at the Marshal’s Office.
Chrissy’s eyes widened. “That’s Kent’s brother. Rusty Moore,” she whispered back. “I remembered seeing his picture in Kent’s office and in that book you showed me.”
Dalton looked at Rusty for a few seconds. “You’re right.”
Dalton and Chrissy stopped and watched, and both had proof that Rusty had found Crazy Hole, and that’s why he went missing.
“Where’s Marshal Bartley? I have outlaw Jimmy Templeton in my custody. I caught him trying to break Bart Stone out of your jail,” Rusty addressed Mayor Mason, who walked up to him. Zeke stopped when he heard Rusty.
“Marshal Bartley rode off after the Kissing Bandit and two women. They both helped the Kissing Bandit escape from his hanging,” Mayor Mason said. “And whom might you be?”
“I’m Rusty Moore. Whom can I talk to about being Town Marshal of Mountain Rock?” said Rusty.
“Judge Peabody should be back later today,” said Mayor Mason.
“You’ll be the acting Marshal until Clint gets back, Bucky,”
said Mayor Mason, then he saw the bloody hole in the tricep of Jimmy’s shooting arm. “I’ll have the doc come right over,” said Mayor Mason, then rushed down the street.
Zeke walked away, disappointed.
Dalton and Chrissy watched while Rusty opened the front door to the Marshal’s Office and escorted Jimmy, still in pain, into the office with Bucky. The door closed.
Dalton and Chrissy walked away.
“What should we do now?” Dalton said.
“Well, we could take a train ride. See the other towns around the area,” said Chrissy.
“That would be cool,” said Dalton, and they both turned around and headed off to the train station.
They walked up to the train station and found the ticket window.
Inside sat Winston; he was the ticket clerk and also operated the telegraph machine.
“How can I help you?” said Winston behind the ticket window bars.
“We would like a ticket to Stone Valley, please,” said Dalton.
“That’ll be one dollar and eighty cents for the both of you,” said Winston.
Dalton reached into his suit jacket and handed Winston two silver dollars.
Winston took the coins, dropped them in the cash drawer, and gave him two dimes in change. He handed Dalton the ticket. “Train should arrive at the station in ten minutes.”
“Thank you,” said Dalton, then he looked around the dock and saw a lady sitting on a bench waiting for the train.
This lady was Gertrude Perkins, the school teacher sitting with a small suitcase in her lap leaving Oak Creek knowing Clint wouldn’t marry her.
Dalton and Chrissy sat on another bench.
Seconds later, more people arrived at the dock, waiting for the train to take them back home.
While waiting for the train, they could only talk about what happened at the Kissing Bandit hanging. They all had their speculations about where he was heading. Some thought Mexico, while others thought he was heading back east.
Ten minutes passed, and the train arrived at the station with black smoke billowing from the stack. The train had a locomotive, two freight cars, and a passenger car at the end.
The train stopped. Six people got out of the passenger car.
Workers at the station rushed up and opened the doors of the two freight cars.
Dalton and Chrissy boarded the passenger train with Gertrude and the others. Dalton was the gentleman and motioned for Chrissy to sit by the window.
Ten minutes had passed, and the freight car was unloaded of supplies marked for Oak Creek. The workers slid the doors of the freight cars shut.
The train pulled out of the station. It headed down the track and headed west.
Dalton and Chrissy thought this passenger train was cool with the wood construction. They just sat there and gazed at the passing desert that, in the future, will be filled with people, cars, roads, and hundreds of buildings.
While Dalton and Chrissy sat on the bench seat, they placed a hand on the seat between them. Their hands touched.
They didn’t move them.
An hour passed, and the train pulled into the station at Stone Valley.
The train stopped.
Everybody got off the passenger train.
Dalton and Chrissy walked down the dock and saw the station workers opening up the doors of the freight cars. They started unloading supplies marked for Stone Valley.
Dalton and Chrissy left the train station and headed down to Main Street.
They scanned up and down the, and even though the construction of the buildings was done using the same method as in Oak Creek, the town had a different layout. Plus, there was another saloon in Stone Valley, and it was the kind where prostitutes worked out on the second floor.
Dalton and Chrissy walked by Gilbert’s Photography store.
Dalton looked at Chrissy. “Let’s have a picture of our vacation,” he said.
Chrissy looked at the store. She smiled. “I would love that,” she said.
Dalton and Chrissy went inside Gilbert’s Photography store and had a picture taken by Wally Gilbert. It was the usual pose where Dalton sat in a chair, and Chrissy stood behind him.
Wally Gilbert stated he could deliver the picture to the Oak Creek hotel in a couple of days.
Dalton paid Wally Gilbert and then left the store.
They continued their walk around Stone Valley. While Dalton and Chrissy were in Stone Valley, Judge Peabody came back to Oak Creek. He made Rusty Moore the Town Marshal of Mountain Rock. Rusty left Oak Creek and headed to Mountain Rock for his new life.
After walking around the town, Dalton and Chrissy went inside the restaurant. They had a ham dinner that included a baked potato and apple pie.
After dinner, they walked back to the train station.
They bought their ticket for the return trip back to Oak Creek.
They had an hour to kill before the train arrived, so they milled around Stone Valley. During their walk, they saw two prostitutes from the saloon hanging outside, chatting with two cowboys and, hopefully, potential customers.
An hour had passed, and the train pulled into the station at Stone Valley. It was in the opposite direction from when it dropped Dalton and Chrissy off. It’s the same train, but after stopping in Phoenix, it reverses its course and hits all those towns in the opposite direction.
Dalton and Chrissy thought Stone Valley was quaint except for the prostitutes at that saloon.
They boarded the train with two other couples.
An hour passed, and the train pulled back into the Oak Creek train station.
Dalton and Chrissy were the only ones that got off the train. They walked out of the station and walked down Main Street.
Dalton and Chrissy spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in their hotel room.
After a nice steak dinner at the restaurant, they decided to mill around town again.
They went inside the Master’s General Store to check it out. They met the owner, Gus Masters, and found him a nice seventy-five-year-old gentleman.
Gus lived on the second floor of their store, as that was a small home. But it was more like a small apartment. Gus lived alone since his wife passed away three years ago. But Gus wondered how much longer he had in this world. He always felt bad, and running the store was too much to handle.
Dalton and Chrissy left the Master’s General Store.
They walked through town and then headed to the residential area.
They walked around, checking out the houses.
“I’ve always wanted a small quaint home like this with a small white picket fence,” said Chrissy while they saw one like that. “Maybe you will someday after you get married.”
Chrissy smiled at the thought of getting married one day.
“I hope so after finding the right man,” she said, thinking that Dalton might fit that description.
They left the residential area and decided to mill around Main Street. The sun was now falling below the horizon.
They saw Mildred, Mayor Mason’s wife, step out of the Marshal’s Office. She had just brought the three prisoners some dinner from the restaurant.
Dalton and Chrissy walked back to the hotel. They sat on one of the three benches out front. They watched while a young kid lit the Kerosene lanterns along both sides of the street.
While they sat, they talked with some of the town folk that milled around the town.
An hour passed, and Dalton and Chrissy loved seeing the thousands of twinkling stars and the full quarter Moon in the sky. But they decided to get up and take another walk around town before retiring for the evening.
They got up off the bench and headed east down Main Street.
They walked by the front door of the Marshal’s Office.
They walked near the alley by the Marshal’s Office and Master’s General Store.
“I gotta piss!” yelled out Bart Stone from the bars of his jail cell window.
“Someone come git me out, or I’m pissing all over this here floor,” Bart yelled out.
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at each other. They got curious and walked down the alley.
They saw Bart’s face pressed against the bars of his jail cell window.
“I gotta piss real bad,” said Bart the second he spotted Dalton and Chrissy outside his window.
“Isn’t someone there that can take you to the outhouse?”
said Dalton.
“Something’s wrong with that old man guarding us,” said Charlie with his face pressed against the bars of his jail cell window.
“We think he went belly upon us,” said Jimmy while he brought his face up to the bars of his jail cell window.
“What are you doing?” said Winston while he walked up to Dalton and Chrissy. He was done working at the train station and was heading home when he spotted Dalton and Chrissy in the alley. He thought they might be trying to help Bart get out of jail.
“He has to go to the bathroom, and they claim there’s something wrong with Bucky, “said Dalton.
“We better find out what’s going on. You can’t trust what that outlaw Bart Stone is saying,” said Winston.
Dalton, Chrissy, and Winston rushed out of the alley and rushed inside the Marshal’s Office.
They immediately saw Bucky on his back on the floor by Elmer’s old desk.
“I’m going to go get Doc Bartholomew and the Mayor,”
said Winston, then ran to the door and left the office.
“You better hurry up, or I’m peeing all over this here floor,” yelled out Bart while he stood at the cell door, squirming with his legs crossed.
“As soon as someone comes to help,” said Dalton.
Bart looked like he wasn’t going to hold out much longer.
The front door to the Marshal’s Office opened, and in walked twenty-eight-year-old Zeke Cooper. “Heard something’s wrong with Bucky?” he said while closing the door. He saw Bucky on the floor on his back.
The old man was motionless. They suspected the worst had happened to him.
Dalton and Chrissy looked at Zeke.
Dalton noticed that he didn’t carry a pistol. “I need your help taking Bart to the outhouse,” said Dalton.
Zeke saw Bart squirming at his cell door. “I’ll help.”
Dalton saw the leg and handcuffs hanging on the wall and the jail cell and cuff keys ring by the rifle rack that housed four Winchester rifles.
He removed the cell door keys and hand and leg cuffs off the wall.
He went over and removed the hand and leg cuffs off the wall and walked them over to Bart’s jail cell.
“You put them on while I cover you,” said Dalton. Zeke nodded and took the key ring from Dalton. Dalton removed his Colt 45 Peacemaker pistol from his holster while Zeke unlocked Bart’s cell door. He had his pistol ready while Zeke opened up Bart’s cell door.
Bart had to piss so bad that he didn’t even think about trying to escape.
“Let’s go, Bart,” said Dalton, motioning for him to walk to the back door.
Dalton escorted Bart out of the rear of the Marshal’s Office and to the outhouse.
Bart went inside the outhouse and closed the door.
Dalton could hear Bart pissing, and from the sound, he wondered how Bart’s bladder didn’t burst. The music of Bart’s pissing stopped. It was quiet inside the outhouse.
“It’s time to come out, Bart,” said Dalton, staring at the closed wooden door.
It remained quiet in the outhouse, and Dalton got a little concerned. “Time to come out,” she said while he tapped on the outhouse door. It was quiet inside the outhouse. He got worried and placed his hand on the outhouse door the second it slammed open.
Bart jumped out, knocking Dalton down to the ground.
Dalton dropped his pistol in the dirt.
Bart was quick and grabbed the pistol. “Git to your feet,”
he said while standing up and pointing the pistol at Dalton.
Dalton got up to his feet.
“We’re going inside, and you’ll unlock me from these cuffs.
Don’t try any funny stuff, and you won’t get a bullet hole in your chest,” said Bart.
Dalton nodded.
Bart motioned with the pistol that they should go inside the Marshal’s Office.
Dalton went inside the Marshal’s Office with Bart behind him with the pistol barrel pressed into Dalton’s back.
Chrissy and Zeke watched while Dalton entered the office with Bart. But Bart had Dalton’s pistol pressed into the middle of Dalton’s back.
“Unlock these here cuffs off me,” said Bart. “Or I’ll put a hole in his back.”
Chrissy looked scared. Zeke fumbled with the key ring.
Dalton’s eyes widened when he remembered something.
“Don’t give him those keys,” said Dalton.
The door to the Marshal’s Office opened. Mayor Mason and Doc Bartholomew entered the second Dalton turned around and faced Bart. They saw Bart with a pistol pointed at Dalton’s chest.
Charlie looked worried in his cell, thinking Bart would shoot him dead.
Before they could spit out a word, Dalton moved closer to Bart. Everybody cringed, thinking there would be gunfire any second. All they heard was a click, click sound, then Dalton
swiftly punched Bart in his mouth and immediately reached down and yanked on the chain that ran between the leg cuffs.
Bart flew backward, slamming the back of his head on the wooden floor. He passed out, dropping the pistol.
Dalton rushed over, grabbed his pistol off the floor, and shoved it back into his holster. He grabbed the chain of the leg cuffs and dragged across the floor and back into his jail cell.
Charlie laughed inside his cell.
Zeke rushed into the cell and removed Bart’s leg and handcuffs.
They left the cell with Dalton slamming the cell door shut.
“Are you guys going to attempt to escape if I let you go to the outhouse?” Dalton asked Charlie and Jimmy.
The other two outlaws nodded that they wouldn’t.
“You better check on Bucky,” said Mayor Mason to Doc Bartholomew.
While Doc Bartholomew rushed over to Bucky, Zeke, and Bart proceeded to take Charlie out to the outhouse.
After they finished taking Charlie to the outhouse and had him back in his jail cell, Doc Bartholomew surmised that Bucky had a heart attack and was dead.
“Oak Creek’s in a bit of a pickle,” said Mayor Mason. “I don’t know why Marshal Bartley ain’t back in town,” he said, looking concerned. “We have three prisoners and nobody to keep an eye on them,” he said, then pondered a solution. “Who can I get?”
Dalton instantly thought this was a golden opportunity.
“Ah, sir, I have some formal education at a college with criminal justice,” said Dalton.
“Now, who can I get to Marshal?” repeated Mayor Mason, and then Dalton’s words finally entered his ears. He looked at Dalton. “Did you say you have formal education in criminal justice?”
“Yes sir, and back east, I was a security guard,” said Dalton.
“Very well, will you be our temporary Town Marshal until Marshal Bartley returns?” said Mayor Mason.
“I accept.”
“Great,” said Mayor Mason. “I’ll have Felix make you a badge.”
“I’ll need help. Maybe a temporary deputy?” said Dalton and looked at Zeke. “Like this gentleman.”
Mayor Mason looked at Zeke.
“I’d love to help out,” he said, and being a Marshal or Deputy was a secret dream. “I’m Zeke Cooper,” he said to Dalton.
“Dalton Trevor,” he said, and the two shook hands.
“Good, but now I have another problem I need to solve.
Gertrude Perkins quit and left town. We’re now without a school teacher.”
“Ah, I can help. I have some formal training as a school teacher,” said Chrissy.
Mayor Mason looked at Chrissy and couldn’t believe his luck. “Very well, you can be our teacher until I get a.
replacement,” he stated.
Chrissy smiled as this would be a great vacation.
“I’ll go get Harvey to take Bucky away,” said Doc Bartholomew.
“I’ll go with you,” said Mayor Mason.
Mayor Mason and Doc Bartholomew left the Marshal’s Office.
“Ah, can I piss now?” said Jimmy dancing around in his cell. Dalton and Zeke took Jimmy to the outhouse while Mayor Mason and Doc Bartholomew left the office.
Chrissy remained in the office and stared at Bart, who was still on the floor of his jail cell. He stirred, sat up, and rubbed the back of his head. It hurt.
The rear door of the office opened, and Dalton and Zeke escorted Jimmy back to his jail cell.
“I’m going back to the hotel,” said Chrissy while she walked up to Dalton.
“I’ll stay here guarding them,” said Dalton.
Chrissy looked at Dalton. She leaned in and gave him a little kiss on the lips. “I’ll come by in the morning to pick you up for breakfast.”
Dalton smiled, and he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
He turned to Zeke. “She’s my fiancé,” he said with a proud smile, enjoying saying that.
Chrissy gave Dalton a warm smile.
“Go home and get some sleep,” he said to Zeke.
“I’ll be back around sunrise,” said Zeke.
Dalton nodded and watched while Chrissy and Zeke left the office.
While Chrissy returned to the hotel, Dalton went into the small room in the office. He got on his back on the bunk in that room.
Dalton smiled while he closed his eyes. He felt like an old western Marshal, and this vacation was great.
Monday morning arrived. It’s September 24th, 1883.
Word spread throughout the local towns by telegraph that Dalton Trevor is the temporary Marshal of Oak Creek.
Zeke arrived at the Marshal's Office when the sun peaked above the horizon.
After waking up, Dalton and Zeke escorted their three prisoners to the outhouse.
After the three relieved themselves, they were put back in their cells.
Zeke made a pot of coffee on the potbelly stove. While the coffee was perking, the front door to the Marshal's Office opened.
Annie and Sally walked inside the office with a spring in their steps.
Annie held a plate covered with a red and white checkered napkin covering it while Sally held two plates with red and white checkered napkins.
"Good morning, Marshal. We have breakfast for the prisoners," said Annie, with sparkles in her eyes at the sight of Dalton.
"Mayor Mason requested we bring it down here," said Sally with sparkles in her eyes at the sight of Dalton.
"Thank you, ladies," said Dalton while he grabbed two plates from Sally.
'He's engaged to the temporary school teacher," Zeke whispered to Annie while he took the plate from her.
Annie looked disappointed. She leaned over to Sally while Dalton took the plates to Bart, and Charlie and Zeke took his plate to Jimmy. Sally looked disappointed, knowing that Dalton was engaged.
The two ladies left the Marshal's Office minus the spring in their steps.
Dalton and Zeke drank a cup of coffee while the three prisoners ate their breakfast. Dalton sat at Clint's desk while Zeke sat at Elmer's desk.
The door of the Marshal's Office opened, and Chrissy entered.
"Good morning, my dear," said Dalton, getting up from Clint's desk.
"Ma-am," said Zeke while he stood up from Elmer's desk.
"I thought we could go to breakfast at the restaurant," said Chrissy to Dalton.
"Go ahead, I can cover the office," said Zeke.
Dalton gave Chrissy a little smile and walked her to the front door. He opened it for her, and they headed outside.
Zeke sat back at the desk, kicked his cowboy boots up, and relaxed while drinking his coffee.
"How was your first night at the Town Marshal?" “Quiet.
“When are you going to start teaching?”
"Later this morning. The Mayor said he'd let me know.”
"This is turning out to be a really cool vacation," smiled Dalton.
"You know it. I can't wait to start teaching at the schoolhouse.”
Dalton and Chrissy were quiet during the remainder of the walk to the restaurant.
After being seated and served their breakfast, Mayor Mason walked up to their table.
"Good morning, Miss Barron and Marshal Trevor," he said, then reached inside one of his suit coat pockets. "Here's your badge," he stated, handing Dalton a badge that Felix, the Blacksmith, just made.
Dalton looked at it and thought it was so cool. He pinned it on his suit coat and felt like a real old western Marshal.
"Oh, I forgot. I talked with Judge Peabody a little while ago, and he wants Bart Stone in his courtroom at ten this morning. You know, for his trial,” said Mayor Mason. "Charlie Chandler is supposed to take the stand against Bart."
Dalton looked at Mayor Mason. "At the courthouse at ten, Charlie Chandler will testify. Got it," he said, smiling about his first official duty as the Town Marshal.
"And Miss Barron, I expect you to be at the schoolhouse at ten." "Yes, Mayor Mason. I'll be at the schoolhouse," smiled Chrissy.
"Very good. Good day," said Mayor Mason, and he walked away. He got a few feet from the table, stopped, and walked back. "I forgot, I had someone run out and get Merijildo to track Clint Bartley," he said.
"Merijildo?" said Dalton, pretending he never heard of that Indian.
"Yes, he's the best tracker in the land. I'm concerned that Clint's not back. Merijildo's the best tracker in this area. Good day," he added, nodded, turned around, and walked away.
Dalton and Chrissy glanced at each other and knew that that tracker would come up empty-handed. They returned to their breakfast.
After they were done, Dalton returned to the Marshal's Office while Chrissy headed to the schoolhouse.
Some time had passed, and it was now time for Bart Stone to pay the piper.
In the Marshal's Office, with Zeke's assistance, Dalton installed the leg and handcuffs on Bart and Charlie.
"Bring Charlie over a few minutes after I get Bart into the courthouse. I don't want Bart harming our witness," said Dalton while he glanced over at Bart to give him the I'm the Boss glare.
"You lucky, Charlie. If I would, I would wrap these here handcuff chains around your neck and squeeze the life out of you," snarled Bart.
"Let's go," said Dalton, and he pulled on Bart's right arm and walked him to the door. They went outside.
A crowd of rubberneckers stood in the street to watch Bart being escorted to his trial. They all wanted to see him hang, as they loved old Elmer and missed him dearly.
After Dalton entered the Courthouse with Bart, Zeke escorted Charlie out of the Marshal's Office and to the courthouse with the crowd watching.
Dalton escorted Bart to his table and sat him down in the chair where his attorney, young Horace Arnold, waited. The same attorney used to defend the Kissing Bandit.
Charlie was seated behind the railing on the other side of the room. Bart turned and glared at Charlie. Charlie looked away. The courtroom started to fill up all the available seats with the curious town folk.
Chrissy wasn't in attendance as she just started teaching at the schoolhouse.
Dalton and Zeke escorted Bart to his table, where his attorney, young Horace Arnold, waited.
After a few seconds, Judge Peabody entered the room from his side office.
He walked to his bench and sat down looked down at the people in the room. “ Court's in session," he said and slammed his gavel down on that small wood block. He stared at Bart, and that made Bart nervous.
"This is the trial for Bart Stone for the murder of Elmer Filson," said Judge Peabody, and he paused for a few seconds.
"Will Charlie Chandler take the witness box?"
Bart's teeth gritted when Charlie got around the railing and headed to the witness box.
After being sworn in as a witness, he sat in the chair.
"Okay, tell us what happened, Mister Chandler," said Judge Peabody.
Charlie cleared his throat. He saw Bart glaring at him with gritted teeth and got nervous. Then he saw the rear doors of the courtroom open, and outlaw Blue Earl and Deke, one of his outlaw cronies, entered the room. Charlie got scared and almost peed his pants. For a split second, he thought about chickening out. But the thought of being hung by a rope quickly changed his mind. He figured he could survive a prison term.
Blue Earl and Deke stood at the rear of the crowd and were almost invisible to Charlie.
Charlie cleared his throat again and saw Bart's glare.
"We don't have all day, Mister Chandler," said Judge Peabody as it was getting bothered that Charlie was taking too long to testify. "Tell the truth or suffer severe consequences."
"Well, we just robbed the bank here in Oak Creek. We came out, and there was Elmer and Marshal Chester White. Out there in the street with pistols pointed at us. Elmer yelled for us to stop. We took cover behind a horse trough. Bart here yelled he wasn't going to hang. And that Elmer better let us go, or he'll be dead."
"I didn't say that!" yelled out Bart when he shot up from his seat.
"Shut up!" yelled Judge Peabody while slamming his gavel down on the wood block.
Dalton stood up and glared at Bart.
Bart sat down, pissed.
"Continue, Mister Chandler," Judge Peabody told Charlie.
"Bart fired off a shot. The Kissing Bandit kid was still standing. Bart yelled at him to get down and start shooting. He ducked behind the trough. Elmer and Charlie fired at us. We fired back. Bart yelled at the Kissing Bandit because he wasn't shootin."
"He wasn't shooting?" said Judge Peabody.
"No bullets said the Kissing Bandit.”
"No bullets?" asked Judge Peabody, as that didn't sound right. Charlie nodded that that was correct. "Yes sir, no bullets.”
"Continue," said Judge Peabody.
"The Kissing Bandit put bullets in his pistol. Fired off a shot and killed a window in the restaurant," said Charlie.
Chuckles were heard throughout the courtroom.
"Bart yelled at the Kissing Bandit to aim to kill. So he fired off another shot and killed another window in the restaurant."
Chuckles were again heard throughout the courtroom.
"Quiet!" yelled out Judge Peabody. “Continue."
"Then I saw Bart fire off a shot when Elmer stood up. He was hit and fell into the trough. The Kissing Bandit got on his horse and rode off. Bart yelled that he was stealing our loot.
Then Bart fired off another shot and hit Chester. Then we got on our horses and chased after the Kissing Bandit."
"So the Kissing Bandit didn't kill Elmer Filson?" said Judge Peabody.
"No. Bart Stone shot Elmer. He put the blame on the Kissing Bandit. He admitted it," said Charlie.
"Okay, the witness may leave the witness box," said Judge Peabody, then paused. "Court will recess for ten minutes while I go ponder my decision," said Judge Peabody and slammed his gavel down on the wood block.
He got up from his bench and headed into his office at the rear of the courtroom.
Charlie returned to his seat and looked away from the glares from Bart.
There was idle talk in the courtroom for ten minutes while Judge Peabody was in his office.
Judge Peabody walked out of his office. The courtroom got quiet.
Judge Peabody sat at his bench. He looked at all the eager ears in his courtroom. "I made my decision. Based on the testimony of Charlie Chandler and the fact that Jimmy Templeton tried to help Bart Stone escape, I hereby find Bart Stone guilty of the murder of Elmer Filson. I sentence him to hang at nine o'clock in the morning since we already have a gallows constructed and someone that tried to get him out of jail," said Judge Peabody and stared at Bart. Then he looked at Charlie. "I sentence Charlie Chandler to two years in the Yuma territorial prison because of your outlaw ways of robbing banks and stagecoaches, "he said then paused. "You can release Jimmy Templeton in three days. That should be enough punishment for him as long as he leaves Oak Creek. Court dismissed," he said, slamming the gavel down on the wood block.
"I'm going to kill you, Charlie. You coward!" yelled Bart as he shot up from his chair.
Dalton jumped up and punched Bart in his face. He felt good about doing this, as he knew this was acceptable behavior for a lawman in the old west. He knew he couldn't do that in the future.
Bart flew back and landed on the floor on his butt.
While people started to leave the courtroom, Dalton spotted a familiar face in the crowd. “Blue Earl Olson!” he called in his head the second he saw that outlaw with his gang member Deke Olson, Earl's younger brother. “What's he doing here?” he quietly wondered while he saw Blue Earl's two pistols in their holsters on his right and left hip.
While Dalton and Zeke escorted Bart and Charlie across the street, keeping them separated.
While going across the street, Dalton scanned the town.
His eyes widened when he spotted Blue Earl and Deke outside the Prickly Cactus Saloon. He also spotted two horses tied to the hitching post by the saloon and saw a blue bandana tied to the saddles of those horses.
Dalton and Zeke took Bart and Charlie inside the Marshal's Office and placed them in their jail cells.
Bart sat down on his bunk and fumed that he was sentenced to die. Oh, how he wanted to kill Charlie.
Dalton and Zeke put away their Winchester rifles.
"I need to head over to the General Store," Dalton told Zeke, then he headed off to the front door.
Zeke sat down at Elmer's old desk while Dalton left the office.
Dalton walked over and went inside the General Store.
"Howdy, Marshal," said William Masters from behind the cash register at the counter. "What do you need?"
Dalton walked up to William. He removed his Colt 45
Peacemaker. "I need some bullets."
Gus looked at Dalton. "Can't be a Marshal without bullets," he said, then coughed a wet cough.
"Got that right," said Dalton, and for a second, he wondered if he could actually kill someone. He thought about that for a few seconds while Gus walked over to another area of
the counter. “But I don't want to be killed,” thought Dalton, knowing he might have killed or lost his life.
Gus brought over a box of bullets. "That'll be one dollar, sir," he said while placing the box on the counter by the register.
Dalton reached into his suit coat and pulled out a silver dollar. He handed it to Gus.
"Thank you, Marshal," said Gus while he rang up the sale.
Dalton removed his Colt 45 from his holster, removed six bullets from the box, and put them in the chamber. He shoved the pistol back in the holster, grabbed the box, shoved it in his suit coat pocket, and left the General Store.
Dalton walked down the street and headed to the Prickly Cactus Saloon.
He walked to the swinging café doors of the Prickly Cactus.
He heard laughter and talking inside it.
He got a little nervous. He took a deep breath to calm down his nerves. “Don't be a chicken. Don't be a chicken. Be brave!” he said over and over again in his head.
Dalton pushed open the café doors and stepped inside the saloon. The café doors swung back and hit Dalton in his back.
He cringed, wondering if anybody saw that then sighed a sigh of relief nobody noticed.
He scanned the saloon, saw eight tables, a long bar, a piano, and stairs that led to the second floor. Nobody played at the piano since Clint Bartley was gone.
Three of the tables each had four guys playing poker. At the bar stood Blue Earl and Deke drinking beer.
Dalton took another deep breath and strutted through the Prickly Cactus.
"Whose that tenderfoot?" said one guy at one of the poker tables.
"The Town Marshal until Marshal Bartley returns," said another guy at that poker table.
"He ain't back yet?" said another of the poker players.
"Not yet," said another of the poker players.
"Oh," said the first poker player, and they returned to their game and couldn't care less about Dalton.
Dalton strutted over to the bar, stopped a few feet from Blue Earl. He glanced at Pete, the bartender who stood with a rag cleaning out the inside of a mug. "Beer," he said.
Blue Earl heard this voice and looked to his left. He saw Dalton, noticed the Town Marshal's badge pinned to Dalton's suit coat and the Colt 45 Peacemaker in his holster. Blue Earl discreetly motioned to Deke to look to the left.
Deke glanced around Blue Earl and saw Dalton.
Dalton glanced at Blue Earl. He saw his pot mark face. "I take it you're not from Oak Creek or any other town in this area?" said Dalton to Blue Earl, pretending not to be intimidated by the outlaw.
Blue Earl opened his mouth, and Dalton noticed that this outlaw's teeth were stained dark brown from poor hygiene.
“Gross! Never used a toothbrush in his life,” thought Dalton.
"Oh no, Marshal. We're just passing through and got a little thirsty," said Blue Earl, pretending to be nice.
Dalton cringed the second he got a whiff of Blue Earl's horrendous bad breath.
Pete placed a mug of beer on the bar in front of Dalton.
Dalton took the mug and took a drink. Warm beer! He cried out in his head. "So, after your beer, are you heading out of town?" he said, putting the beer mug down on the bar. "Cause I don't want any trouble," he said and patted the handle of his Colt 45 Peacemaker.
Blue Earl looked at Dalton. “Fucking tenderfoot!” he thought and wasn't intimidated at all. "Don't worry, Marshal.
We'll be on our way after we satisfy our thirst," said Blue Earl, then he glanced up at the second-floor balcony where two young women stood by their room doors. "And have some little fun," he added while he winked at one of the ladies.
Dalton glanced up at the second floor, saw the ladies, and realized Oak Creek also has saloons. But it was the way of life in all old western saloons. "Okay," he said, picked up his mug,
and took another drink of the warm beer. "How much for the beer, bartender?"
"On the house for being the Town Marshal," said Pete.
"Thanks and good day, gentlemen," said Dalton, then he turned around and strutted through the Prickly Cactus, heading to the doors.
Dalton walked through the café doors and stepped outside.
He sighed with relief and couldn't believe he had just confronted famous outlaw Blue Earl Olson.
He walked away and headed back to the Marshal's Office.
"But why is he in town?" he quietly said and tried to recall the history books and if they mentioned Blue Earl hitting Oak Creek. His eyes widened, and he remembered seeing Blue Earl and his gang during his first trip back to 1883 with Chrissy.
Dalton went back inside the Marshal's Office.
"I just made a fresh pot of coffee," said Zeke while he sat at Elmer's desk.
"Thanks," said Dalton, and he walked over and grabbed the coffee cup off of Clint's desk.
He walked over to the potbelly stove and poured a cup. He headed over to one of the windows.
He gazed out the window while he sipped his coffee.
"What you looking at?" said Zeke from Elmer's desk.
"We have outlaw Blue Earl Olson and one of his gang members at the Prickly Cactus," said Dalton, then took another sip of coffee.
"Blue Earl Olson? I never heard of him," said Zeke while he got up from the desk.
"He's from the New Mexico area. I believe he's coming here to fill in the void left by Bart Stone," said Dalton.
"What are we going to do?"
"Well, guess we'll have to keep an eye on him," said Dalton, and he wondered how he would react if Blue Earl put up a fight.
After finishing his coffee, Dalton saw Blue Earl and Deke ride off down the street. They were heading out of town, and Dalton was relieved. But he knew they would come back. He was a little nervous about that yet a little excited.
Dalton walked back over to the stove and poured another cup of coffee, sat back down at Clint's desk and drank his coffee. He wondered how Chrissy's day was going, then thought about tomorrow's hanging of Bart Stone.
Once Blue Earl Olson and Deke rode out of Oak Creek, Blue Earl looked over at Deke. "I want you to ask around Oak Creek tomorrow about that Town Marshal kid. He looks to be a tenderfoot. I don't think he's a threat," said Blue Earl.
"Got it, Earl," said Deke.
Blue Earl and Deke rode off into the desert to their hiding place.
Hours had passed, and it was quiet in the Marshal's Office.
Dalton and Zeke's eyes drifted closed while they sat with their boots kicked up on top of the desks.
The front door to the Marshal's Office opened. In walked Chrissy.
Dalton and Zeke's eyes opened, and Chrissy entered the office.
"Hello, Marshal Trevor," she said while she walked up to his desk.
"Ma-am," said Zeke while he stood up from his desk.
"I was wondering if my fiancé would have dinner with me?" she said.
"Why, of course, my dear," said Dalton while he looked at Zeke.
"Go ahead, I'll dine when you get back."
Dalton and Chrissy walked to the front door of the Marshal's Office and left.
Dalton walked Chrissy down Main Street arm in arm.
"Hello, Marshal," said a gentleman while he approached them.
"Hello," said Dalton, and he could sense that the town really liked him as their Marshal, even though it was only temporary.
"So, how was your day teaching at the schoolhouse?"
"It was fascinating. I had ten kids. I found their textbooks, and the students told me where she left off."
"Ten kids, that's a small class."
"The good thing is that they were all so polite. Not like the kids of our time," she said with a smile. "Quite refreshing."
"Well, the old west was a different time.”
"I like it so far.”
"Me too.”
"So, are we going to leave in a couple of days?" said Chrissy.
Dalton thought about what she said. "I don't know. I mean, they need me as the town," said Dalton.
"And I would leave them without a teacher. I can't do that right now.”
Dalton's eyes widened when he remembered something.
"But we know that Clint Bartley won't return. So what should I do?”
"We could stay longer, but our money will be running out soon," said Chrissy.
"I'll have a talk with the Mayor. We deserve getting paid,"
he said the second he spotted Mayor Mason across the street.”
Chrissy nodded in agreement.
"Mayor Mason."
Mayor Mason said Dalton and Chrissy were across the street. He walked over to them.
"Yes, Marshal."
"Listen, we were wondering. Since you have us as the Town Marshal and school teacher. We feel we should be paid. Or our money will run out soon, and we'll have to leave in a few days,"
said Dalton.
Mayor Mason thought about what Dalton said for a few seconds. "You're right," he said, then looked at Chrissy. "Ma-am, we pay twenty-five dollars monthly for being our school teacher. And the Town Marshal gets paid forty dollars a month."
Dalton and Chrissy initially thought that was meager wages, but they recalled what things cost in 1883 and soon realized they could live off that amount.
"I accept your offer, Mayor Mason," said Dalton.
"Yes, Mayor Mason, I also accept your offer," said Chrissy.
"Very well; I'll come by tomorrow and give you some of your pay to help with living expenses for the next week. And we have the house that Gertrude Perkins lived in, Ma-am. You can move in any time you want. It's the third house on the left as soon as you enter our residential area," said the Mayor, then paused. "And I heard you're engaged, so after you're married, that'll also be your home, Marshal Trevor. For now, you can live in the backroom of the Marshal's Office or stay at the hotel."
Dalton's eyes widened. "Don't forget Zeke Cooper, Mayor.
I'll need a deputy to help keep Oak Creek safe," he said.
"I won't," said Mayor Mason, and he gave a little smile and then walked away.
Dalton and Chrissy continued their walk down the street and headed to the restaurant.
Dalton and Chrissy sat in the restaurant and had a nice ham dinner.
After dinner, Chrissy decided to move into her temporary home from home. So Dalton and Chrissy went to the hotel and gathered her clothes and suitcase. They told the desk clerk they no longer needed their rooms. The clerk gave them some of their money back.
They left the hotel and headed off to the residential area.
They found the third home off on the left, and Chrissy smiled as it had a white picket fence.
They walked to the front door.
They noticed it didn't have a lock. Dalton turned the doorknob.
The front door opened, and they stepped inside.
The inside was plain. The living room and kitchen were one area.
The living area had a small couch and two chairs facing a stone fireplace.
The kitchen had some cabinets, a counter, and a potbelly stove.
They saw a room off to the side. They noticed it was a bedroom with a bed, dresser, and Armoire.
"It's quaint," said Chrissy.
"Could you get used to living a life like this?" said Dalton while he stepped back into the living area.
"I could. Could you?”
"I could," said Dalton.
"And have you noticed that it's quiet when you go to sleep at night? No car horns. No police sirens. No noise. Just quiet," she said.
"I know. I’ll get a peaceful night's sleep here."
Dalton and Chrissy looked at each other. He couldn't resist, so he leaned in and kissed her on his lips.
She accepted his lips and wondered why kissing her took him so long.
They kissed for a few seconds. They separated.
"Well, I better get back to the Marshal's Office. Zeke's probably hungry," he said.
"Goodnight," said Chrissy.
"Goodnight," said Dalton, wishing he could sleep with her.
He gave her a goodnight kiss.
He left her house.
Chrissy glanced around the home and saw three Kerosene lanterns on the counter in the kitchen.
Dalton walked down the street and headed to the Marshal's Office. During his walk, he was greeted by numerous friendly town folk of Oak Creek.
Dalton returned to the Marshal's Office and saw Jimmy, Charlie, and Bart eating dinner in their cells.
"Go home for the evening," said Dalton to Zeke.
"Okay, I'll be back in the morning," said Zeke while he got up from his desk.
"Goodnight," said Dalton.
Zeke smiled while he headed to the door of the office. He left. Dalton walked over to the potbelly stove and poured a cup of coffee.
He walked back to his desk, sat down, kicked his boots up on the desk, and thought about his little vacation while sipping his coffee.
The sun rose and started peeking above the desert horizon, and Tuesday morning had arrived.
All three prisoners were sound asleep in their jail cells. Bart had a dream.
In Bart's dream, he sat on his bunk in his jail cell.
A cracking sound was heard from the wall.
Bart glanced up from his bunk seeing a rope tied to the bars of his cell window.
The cracking sound got louder. His wall came crashing down. When the dust settled, Bart saw a cowboy on a horse outside. "Let's git, Bart," yelled out the cowboy.
Bart jumped off the bunk and jumped through the hole in the wall.