“You and Thad did all that.”
“Well, Joe helped.”
“Now that really surprises me. How did you convince him to help?”
“While he watched, I fired three rounds directly into Matchitehew’s temple. I think what convinced him was how rapidly the holes sealed up leaving the Indian as alive as before I fired at him.”
“Joe let you do that?”
“He objected, but I managed to get three rounds off before he could stop me.”
“You continue to amaze me. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help. It must have been quite a sight.”
“Not nearly as much as when we decapitated him. The cuts tried to heal even while we sawed away. I see now why Mrs. James said we had to burn the remains and bury them. I wondered about that but when I saw the wounds on his neck and head try to heal, I knew that she was right. It might have been easier if we had the stone knife, but you held onto it so we had to use other knives and the tomahawk. It might have been that modern knives were not working, and his body was trying to heal the wounds we made using them, but at we got it done and it’s all over now. We had to come up with some story to explain it all. You just heard it.”
Maria stayed until they ran her out at eight o’clock that night. She kissed him and started to leave.
“Before you leave I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything you want, Lover, but I don’t think the will let us finish”
“That would be very nice but I guess it will have to wait. Doctor said he might let me go home tomorrow or the next day. In the meanwhile, would you bring me my laptop. I have a novel to finish and I haven’t even started it yet. I think I may have a story now.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Les Simmons lives in Virginia with his wife. He is a licensed architect, now retired from practice. Currently he writes fiction and nonfiction and practices as an artist doing animal and people portraits and other works in numerous media. He is the published author of 7 books of fiction, 14 nonfiction books, numerous magazine articles, and a few short stories. Please visit his author website at:https://wordpress.com/stats/day/hlesliesimmonsauthor.wordpress.com and his artist websites at https://hlesliesimmonswoodburner.wordpress.com/, and https://hlesliesimmonsartist.wordpress.com/store/.
ALSO BY H. LESLIE SIMMONS
If you enjoyed The Watcher, please check out my other novels and short story collections, which are each available on Amazon for $2.99 each. They are:
NOVELS
GROWING UP DURING WWII
Twelve-year-old John Gregory lived in a small southern Virginia farm town called Blande’s Crossing when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He struggled through the turmoil that ensued when his father and two uncles went off to fight in the war and suffered through the ups and downs of the war’s events that were broadcast over the radio and printed in the newspaper. Some days the adults’ mood was up because of reported U.S. victories, but they were soon despondent because of defeats, and because the people left behind did not know where the young men from the Crossing were serving and whether they were involved in the events reported. John had trouble understanding rationing and the collection of scrap iron, tin cans, and old tires. He found it disturbing when the men began building an observation tower to watch for enemy planes flying over, and the village began having air raid warnings. Many of the houses in the Crossing had service flags hung in their windows bearing blue stars meaning that a man from that household was in the service but, as the war wore on, some of the banners were replaced with ones bearing gold stars, and John discovered that the change meant that the man from that household would not be coming home. His apprehension about that discovery was intensified when his mother received a telegram from the Navy Department concerning his dad.
VENGEANCE
In a small town in south central Virginia, horror fiction writer Tony Hunter’s fiancé and her father and mother are murdered. Tony learns that his uncle and his own father, who is inflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, are also on the killer’s list of intended victims. When his uncle is murdered, Tony, at risk of his own life, sets out to protect his father and prevent further murders by catching the killer. When he and his friends, aided by the local police, try to capture the killer, they discover that they apparently cannot kill the murderer even with multiple gun shots.
GREED
In southwest Virginia, farm animals are being killed by a pack of large dogs, and crops are dying just as they are ready to harvest. Local farmers blame the crop failures on genetic experiments being conducted at nearby Southland State College. In addition, there is drug related activity in the area. Plant Geneticists, Jill Cameron-Mattingly is attacked by a pack of large dogs while she is working in a corn field at the college’s agricultural extension station and barely escapes. While Jill’s husband, the county sheriff, Chuck Mattingly, along with DEA and DOA agents are actively trying to solve the various crimes, Chuck is attacked and almost killed. Jill and her seventy-two-year-old half Cherokee grandmother find Chuck and keep him alive until the rescue squad takes him to the hospital. With Chuck incapacitated, Jill and her coworker Jerry Walsh set out to solve the mysteries and find Chuck’s attacker. While doing so they encounter many obstacles and life threatening dangers.
THE DAKIT TREE
When Mike Armstrong’s Filipino grandmother, Leora, dies and leaves her home to him he moves his Filipino wife Rose, and their two daughters, sixteen-year-old Antonia (Annie) and eleven-year-old Cindy into his grandmother’s home. Almost immediately strange things begin to happen. One night Mike finds Annie, in the living room, looking catatonic, and squeezing their usually mild manner and gentle, screaming cat, Harry, against her body. Harry has torn her clothes and clawed and bitten her badly. Soon after that incident, Annie disappears. While the family tries desperately to find Annie, with little assistance from the police, they discover that Mike’s grandmother’s house has secretes that complicate and threaten their lives.
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
A synopsis of each of the stories in these collections is posted under FICTION on my website at: https://wordpress.com/stats/day/hlesliesimmonsauthor.wordpress.com
STORIES OF LOVE SUSPENSE HORROR
Included are the following stories: Come And Meet My Mother; Felix Figbee’s Fabulous Flivver; Home Sweet Home; Only Words; Salvation Tower; Scars; and The Last Laugh
12 SHORT SCIENCE FICTION STORIES
Included are the following stories: A Small Tear; And Thanksgiving Too; Ball and Chain, Donevan’s Pyramid, Genesis, Serpent in Paradise, Starship for Sale or Rent, The Mirrors of Arkaron, The Old Ways, Til Death Do Us Part, and Young Love.
COMING SOON
Soon to come is another E-Novel which I have not yet given a title.
NONFICTION BOOKS
I have also authored the following published nonfiction books:
The Specifications Writer’s Handbook – John Wiley and Sons
The Specification Writer’s Book of Checklists and Forms – John Wiley and Sons.
The Architect’s Remodeling, Renovation, and Restoration Handbook – Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Repairing and Extending Weather Barriers – Van Nostrand Reinhold
Repairing and Extending Finishes – Part I, Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Repairing and Extending Finishes – Part II – Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Repairing and Extending Doors and Windows – Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Construction Principles, Materials and Methods, 6th ed. – John Wiley and Sons.
Building Materials: Dangerous Properties – (with Richard J. Lewis, Sr.) Van
Nostrand Reinhold.
Construction Principles, Materials and Methods, 7th ed. – John Wiley and Sons.
Olin’s Construction: Principles, Materials and Methods, 8th ed. John Wiley and
Sons
Olin’s Construction: Principles, Materials and Methods, 9th ed. John Wiley and
Sons
* * *
[1]
The Watcher: A Tony Hunter Novel Page 17
