by Lilybit
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
A short story written
in response to a "first paragraph" Writing Challenge.
Jarrod Barkley made one last futile attempt to move and only broke off when the pain from his trapped leg became absolutely unbearable. He leaned back against the shifting bank of earth and shook the sweat from his eyes. It was bitterly cold, but the effort to free himself had made him sweat profusely. He felt lonely and afraid and another emotion coursed strongly through him too. Bitter fury, all self-directed made him so angry that he trembled and could barely breathe. Stupid, he thought, of all the stupid, stupid things to do! All his life he had criticized his hotheaded brother Nick for his impulsive actions, now I've been a bigger fool than either of my stubborn brothers Nick or Heath could ever be!
He stretched out,
trying to reach for Jingo’s reins that dangled close by. But his trapped leg twisted underneath the
earth and he cried out from the pain.
Jarrod picked up a stick lying next to him and threw it with all of his
remaining might at Jingo. He hoped that
if he could startle his horse enough, Jingo would take off and head home. He hit Jingo’s leg with the stick but the
horse didn’t move. He started yelling
at it for lack of anything else to do and the horse finally took off. He watched his horse go down the path, praying
it would find his way to the ranch. It
would be dark soon and the cold would soon turn to freezing temperatures.
Why on earth had he
taken off after Giles without waiting for the sheriff? This was totally out of character he
thought. But perhaps not, had he
behaved so differently after Beth’s death?
Jarrod silently cursed himself.
Earlier in the day,
Jarrod had left the courtroom in a rage.
His client, Tom Denton was clearly being framed; Jarrod could feel it in
his gut. Everything had just been too
perfect; the button, the gun it was all too neat and tidy. What he lacked was proof, without it Tom
Denton would surely hang for the murder.
Jarrod made his way
across the street to the saloon. He
knew he would find the weakest link in the prosecutions defense at work. He strode into the bar and surveyed the
room. She was sitting in the lap of a
poker player, drinking down whiskey like a sailor.
He went over to the
poker table and leaned close to her, “Hello Abbie, got a few minutes?”
“Mr. Barkley, I um,
well I’m a bit busy right now as you can see.
Perhaps later?” She stammered.
Jarrod grabbed her
arm and pulled her off the poker players lap, “now Abbie, I need to speak with
you now!”
The empty lapped
poker player went to get up in her defense and Jarrod drew his gun, pointing it
at the drunken man. He promptly sat
back down. Jarrod put his gun back in
his holster, still retaining a stiff grip on Abbie’s arm.
“We can’t talk here
Mr. Barkley, come to my room! You’re
going to get us both killed, you know!” She hissed at him. She let him upstairs to her room just above
the saloon and looked out the window before she turned to face her
accuser. “Listen Mr. Barkley I don’t
know what you’re doing here but I told the jury the truth! Tom Denton killed that girl, I saw it with
my own eyes.”
“Denton’s never had a
day in trouble in his whole life and he was going to marry Dorothy! Now why on earth would he want to kill the
woman he was going to marry?” Jarrod
spoke harshly to her through gritted teeth.
“I have no idea, you
know it’s always the quiet ones that...”
Abbie didn’t finish her sentence, a single bullet shattered the glass
window behind her and the impact of it threw her into Jarrod’s arms.
“Abbie!” He yelled but she was already gone, he laid
her down softly. With his gun drawn he
remained crouched down and went to the window.
Another shot went through the window, narrowly missing its mark. Jarrod could make out Colby Giles hiding in
the alleyway. Giles took one last shot,
missing Jarrod by a narrow margin, mounted his horse and took off out of
town.
By this time the
gunfire had drawn a crowd up to Abbie’s room.
Jarrod yelled to get the sheriff and that it had been Colby Giles doing
the shooting. Jarrod took off down the stairs
and out the door, he mounted Jingo and took off after Giles.
He felt pretty
confident that he could catch up to Giles, he didn’t after all have that much
of a head start. He didn’t see Giles
lying in wait for him behind a line of trees.
Giles fired off a shot at Jarrod from behind the trees it was close
enough to startle his horse and Jingo threw Jarrod to the ground. He started rolling down the embankment,
unable to stop the momentum. As he went
down the dirt and rocks came down with him and he found himself in his current
situation.
He was bitterly cold
now, the sun had set and the temperature was dropping rapidly. He hadn’t heard a word from Giles and
wondered if the shot he managed to get off before Jingo threw him had hit its
target. He struggled to remain awake
and alert, calling out for help sporadically.
But the cold finally got to him and he lost consciousness.
Jarrod awoke to a
rope being tied around his chest and under his arms. He could feel that some of the dirt and rocks had been pulled off
of his legs. But the pain in his leg
was still excruciating and his head was pounding.
He heard a gentle
voice speaking to him, telling him that he was going to be pulled out by. He heard a horse being urged on but
everything was in a fog. The pain of
his leg as he was being pulled out from underneath the dirt jerked him back to
reality.
In the darkness he
made out the gentle figure that had rescued him from the embankment. “Silas” he groaned.
THE END