Part Five - Dead-eye Sam

Part five

     When Samantha was seven years old, she went to town with Mama Dolly and Millie. Samantha had never been to town. She was excited about the chance to talk to new people, and make new friends.

     But she was disappointed. All the kids, and most of the adults they met on the street, seemed to steer clear of Mama Dolly and Millie. And Mama Dolly and Millie seemed to steer clear of all the townspeople.

     “What is so bad about us Dudley’s, Mama? And why don’t they talk to us? Why don’t we talk to them?” And why do none have red hair?”

     Mama Dudley said nothing. But Millie pulled her aside, and explained. “We don’t know these people, Sam. We do know there are an awful lot of mean people in this town, people who want to hurt us. It’s just better not to be around them. Steer clear of them. So, we just come to town to get supplies, then get back to our compound, where everybody loves us.”

     Well, from all the fighting she had seen in the Dudley compound, Samantha thought not everybody loved them there, either. And these town people seemed to be kind and neighborly to each other, much more than the Dudley’s were. But Millie was her sister, who loved her, so she just kept quiet.  Samantha did notice one man that did not avoid them. Mama called him Marshal LaFayette Gillum. He seemed to almost be following them. Why would he do that? He even tried to ask Mama questions about Samantha, but Mama didn’t seem to want to talk much, and told him things that Samantha knew were just not true.

     All in all, Samantha was glad to get back home, back to the Dudley clan.

     Millie announced one day they were going for a ride on horses. Samantha did not like horses. She had faint memories of riding a horse when she was very young, with Billy Boy. She loved Billy Boy, but she almost never saw him anymore. Why does he not love her anymore?

    She had faint memories of how horrible riding on a horse  had been. And they had rode forever, it seemed. But Billy Boy had been kind and gentle toward Samantha, and made the trip as easy as possible for her.

     But Millie put her on a very gentle, slow old mare named Old Murt. Actually, it didn’t seem so bad. They began to ride more, and farther each time. Samantha began to look forward to their rides. Samantha soon loved Old Murt, who, Samantha began to realize, was a lot like herself. She was so gentle, Samantha never fell off. Old Murt was about the only true, gentle animal in the whole Dudley compound, including the people. Although she loved Mama Dolly and Millie, over the years she had seen them be very mean to other people, although they were always kind to Samantha. So, she knew their kindness, and maybe their love also, was not truly real. Was it just sort of a show they put on for Samantha?

    As Samantha and Old Murt spent more and more time together, she began to love this gentle old mare more and more. She knew this mare and her real sister, who she had never lost the treasured memory of, were the only ones who truly loved Samantha. But she could never even recall her real sister’s name. And though reason told her she must have had other family members, too, before she came to the Dudley compound, she could never recall any of them, try as she might.