Shame Pt. 3

Everyone had settled down after dinner, when a wagon rode up and there
was a pounding at the door. "Elijah, open up."

"That sounds like McCormac," said Elijah answering the door.

Flint McCormac was one of the other homesteaders. "Elijah, Mr Shame,"
said Flint nodding at them. "We got trouble. Bodie's back from
Cheyenne and he brought a gunslinger with him."

"Do you know his name?" asked Shame.

"Rumor has it, he's named Braddock."

"I know him," said Shame. "He's good, one of the best."

"What do we do Elijah?" asked Flint.

"Shame?"

Shame thought a moment. "Whose the most hotheaded of you
homesteaders."

"That would be Jake Calleghen," said Flint.

"I agree," said Elijah. "That's Caleb's friend Tommy's dad. He was all
bent out of shape when the cowboys called our son's pigs."

"Go warn Jake then," said Shame. "Braddock will try to provoke him
into a gun fight."

The three men loaded onto Flint's wagon and headed toward Jake
Calleghen's home, but it was too late. Jake lay sprawled before his
home, a still smoking hole in his chest right where his heart was.
Some other homesteaders stood around looking at the body. Jake's wife
was in hysterics, screaming and crying. She tried to throw herself on
Jake's body, but some other wives held her back. Tommy sat on the
steps of his home in a state of shock.

"What happened?" yelled Elijah as the wagon pulled to a stop.

One of the other homesteaders described events just as Shame had
predicted. Bodie, Braddock, and some cowboys had rode up and offered
to buy Jake's land. Jake refused and the gunslinger started insulting
him until he drew his gun. Jake was dead within a few seconds.

"What do we do?" shouted someone.

"Ride to Cheyenne and get the marshall."

"Nope, Jake drew first. The gunslinger was just defending himself.

The men returned home dejected. Shame went out to the barn and
retrieved his pistol. He turned around in time to see Caleb heading
towards the house.

"Pa, pa," cried Caleb. "Shame's got his gun."

Elijah came out of the house just as Shame was mounting up. The rifle
was sticking out of his saddle bag and his things were rolled up. He
looked just like he had the day he rode up. "Shame, this is my fight,"
said Elijah.

Shame dismounted. "Elijah, if you ride into town, you'll be as dead as
Jake is."

"I'm a man of god, Shame, but there's only so much a man can take. I'm
coming with you."

"Elijah," said Shame. "I ain't the man you think I am, but I do like
you and I don't want you killed."

Elijah was just starting to reply when Shame's beefy fist came up
under his jaw. The farmer hit the ground hard. Shame mounted up again
as Hetty ran out of the house and up to her husband. "Ma'am," he said
nodding at her as he rode towards town.

********************

Pa was just coming around as ma held up his head. I ran out of the
house and watched Shame ride off. I started walking after him.

"Caleb, you get back here," called Hetty.

I didn't listen and began running after Shame.

********************

Bodie and his men were at the saloon. Shame's boots echoed on the
floor boards as he entered the building and everyone went quiet. Bodie
was sitting at a table towards the end of the saloon, surrounded by
Slim and some other cowboys. Braddock was sitting alone at another
table. "Shame," he greeted as the black man walked past.

Shame nodded and continued on towards Bodie. Bodie looked up at him.
"Is it done?" he asked.

"Yep," said Shame. "I done knocked her up and the daughter too."

"Gawd damn," yelled Slim looking a Shame with hatred in his eyes.

"Slim wanted the girl for himself," said Bodie calmly. "You were a
little rough on him."

"He was a little rough on the girl. He was just supposed to scare
her."

Bodie nodded, reached in his pocket and pulled out a bag. "It's all
there," he said tossing it to Shame.

Shame looked in the bag. Five hundred dollars to give Hetty a baby.
Elijah was the natural leader of all the homesteaders. When his wife
gave birth to a little black bastard, he would become the town
laughing stock. Bodie could then take over his land as well as that of
the other homesteaders. "One more thing Bodie," said Shame. " Don't
kill him." Bodie paused for a moment and then nodded, he had what he
wanted.

"Drinks all around," shouted Bodie with delight. Shame turned around
and left the saloon.

********************

"Shame," I cried. Startled, Shame turned around and saw me standing
there outside the saloon. "Did you kill 'em? I didn't hear gunfire."

Shame looked grim when he said, "A man is what he is Caleb. Someday
you'll understand." He then mounted his horse and turned it. I knew he
wasn't going back to our house.

"Oh Shame, don't go," I yelled trying to follow him. "Shame come back.
Shame......"

I could hear Bodie's men laughing from the saloon as I collapsed
crying while Shame rode off.

********************

Some months later, I got a brother and became an uncle within weeks of
each other. My brother had skin as dark as Shame. My nephew's skin was
a little more milky colored. The bastards humiliated my pa and Bodie
moved in on our land, destroying everything pa had built.

My pa and I both ended up working for Bodie driving his cattle. My ma
and pa stayed together. At first, pa had been furious with ma, but
they came to some kind of agreement. They spent a lot of time together
in their bunkhouse on Bodie's ranch and both seemed happy for a while,
though ma would stare wistfully down the road Shame had appeared on
from time to time.

Pa took most of his frustration out on my sister and he drove her
away. She became the town whore, servicing Bodie's cowboys for $5.00 a
lay from a room at the saloon. Slim blew a lot of his money on her.

Unfortunately, Pa had been right and the days off the free range
rancher were over. More homesteaders came until Bodie just gave up and
retired with his fortunes. Homesteaders even moved in on our old land.

Being jobless, I decided to move on. Pa was a worthless drunk then and
ma had lost all her looks. I didn't even say goodbye to them though I
did stop to see my sister. She said, she'd quit whoring when she found
the man who could satisfy her. She was about thirty then, but looked
ten years older. It was then that I decided to go after Shame.

He was easy to find. I just followed the trail of black children. They
got younger as I closed in on him. Finally, near the dawn of a new
century, I found him in a small town in Utah. I knew I was getting
close. The half-breed baby in the last town had been less then a year
old. I crested a ridge and looked down on a ranch. Shame was there
talking to a young women as he mended a fence. The sunlight reflected
off his black skin and his now silver hair.

As I stared down at my old hero, all the hatred fled me. I didn't hate
Shame, he had turned me into a man. I grew tough defending my little
black relatives and working for Mr Bodie, roughing up homesteaders.

Without Shame, I would have grown up a dirt farmer, afraid of
defending myself like father. I turned away from him and rode off in
the direction of the setting sun.

"A man is what he is," Shame had said to me. Well Shame was what he
was. He rode into our town in the summer of '89. He turned a boy into
a man and left behind him what he was....Shame.

- The End -