Hickory Jack (Ben Blue Book 1)

by Lou Bradshaw

  Patty was a little uncomfortable at first with the Padre, but she soon got past it, when he started telling stories about his Maria Magdalena and how I had saved her and made the journey to find her people. Then he told her about the riot I started at Murphy’s saloon. All she did was look at me and say, “Padre, do the Ben Blue stories ever cease?”

  He laughed and said, “Senorita Patricia, ahh… a name as lovely as its bearer, hopefully the Ben Blue stories will continue for many many years.”

  Sam and Senorita Patricia were the last to leave. She took the time to remind me that her birthday was a week from Thursday, and I had better be there for supper. Then as she seated herself in the buggy, she took my hand and said, “Ben, my heart is breaking for you. I’ll miss Andy and I’ll cry for him, but you’ll miss him so much more than anyone can ever know.” Her eyes were overflowing as Sam slapped the reins and the pony moved out.

  I watched them until they were no longer visible due to the blurring in my eyes. Then I watched a little longer and walked back toward my cold empty house. It was starting to snow.

  The End

  About the Author

  Lou Bradshaw is a retired illustrator, cartoonist, and graphic designer who had spent more than 40 years in the graphic arts field. A lifelong storyteller he didn’t venture into serious writing until the age of 64. He now has three finished novels, is working on the fourth, and is trying to reconstruct what he describes as, “a half finished western lost in a computer graveyard.”

  One of the more fascinating aspects of his writing is that until he was nearly forty years old he would have been considered a functional illiterate; he could barely read, and still struggles. Lou has no idea what the problem was, but he worked his way through it. He has since become an avid reader and a collector of old books with some 500 vintage titles in his personal library.

  He lives in the Missouri Ozarks with his wife, Avon, where they enjoy their grandchildren, golf, kayaking, and the great outdoors.