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    Numbers
    Numbers
    Numbers
    Ebook48 pages48 minutes

    Numbers

    By M.L. Bushman

    ()

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    About this ebook

    "Eli, meet Jeremiah," Tom said, "Becky's oldest."

    "Yours, too, Dad," he reminded Tom rather curtly and stuck his hand out to me. "He likes to forget I'm his first."

    I shook the boy's hand, Jesse's mouth tightened and he moved a few steps away to make room for Jeremiah at the corral fence.

    Tom said, "It's just easier to explain that way."

    "Well, I don't like the way you say it," Jeremiah announced, facing the horses.

    Tom rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. "Few horses you say?" he said to me, who nodded.

    "Come on," I said, leading off toward the barn. "Might as well pick you out some tack, then saddle up and take us a short ride." When Jesse held back, I waved him to join us. "Gonna need you, too. Got the perfect horse for you, I think." And I did, a nice black mare, big as Cricket, near as smart.

    Jeremiah scowled, marching next to his father.

    Two boys, younger than Jesse by a year or so, intercepted us between corral and barn.

    "Sam, Elliot," Tom said, grinning, "you guys come along, too."

    Is this a Western or what?

    The boys looked puzzled, Tom laughed and said, "That talking to yourself's gotten worse, hasn't it?"

    Best I could do was a stern scowl. "You spend years with just a horse."

    "Wish I could."

    And he meant that. Other, younger, boys and girls lounging on the porch came toward us, but Tom shook his head and waved them off. "Nuh-uh, you stay up here and man the corral gate for us when we come back."

    One boy hung his head, others frowning, and said, "Ok, Dad."

    Sam and Elliot roughed each other up playfully and I said, "Goddamn herd you got there, Tom. I don't know how you do it."

    "My job," he replied.

    "Your job," I said, shoving open one of the barn doors, pointing out the post ladders to all four boys, letting them go on ahead.

    "For God," Tom said. "You know, in the Old Testament." I nodded and he said, "Every time God destroyed a people, he left a remnant to start over. That would be us. And you."

    I smiled at that.

    Tom said, "I like to think it's proof positive that he's still got faith in us."

    "Must have," I said.

    "Maybe we'll get it right this time."

    "Maybe we won't."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJigsaw Press
    Release dateOct 14, 2013
    ISBN9781934340059
    Numbers
    Author

    M.L. Bushman

    A single mom, Ms. Bushman divides her time between her child, her horse, three cats and writing/editing for Jigsaw Press, not necessarily in that order. She is a novelist, a former newspaper reporter, a blogger, and a rabid patriot, again, not necessarily in that order. At present, Ms. Bushman is working on the Two Bit Western series Eli Stone. She and her small herd make their home just outside the tiny historical town of Sun River, Montana.

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      Book preview

      Numbers - M.L. Bushman

      Two-Bit Westerns presents...

      Numbers

      by

      M.L. Bushman

      Numbers© copyright 2013 by M.L. Bushman

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted by any means—including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, audio or video—without express written consent by the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and/or used fictitiously. Any similarities to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author and publisher.

      Published by Jigsaw Press at Smashwords

      For the missing pieces of your reading puzzle

      www.jigsawpress.com

      Table of Contents

      Part 1

      Part 2

      Part 3

      Part 4

      Reality is what it is, deal with it or die.

      Woke at the snap of a branch near the bedroom window.

      Bastards, I muttered, reaching for my pants. Never get any sleep around here.

      Sarah snoring lightly, I whispered her name, twice, buckling on my gun.

      What? she said abruptly and loud enough to make me cringe.

      Be quiet.

      You're kidding. She sat up in the dark.

      Nuh-huh.

      She threw on her buckskin shift, gun belt cinched her waist. I tied down my gun.

      Whispers on the cool breeze, unintelligible for the most part, location hard to pinpoint.

      As if coming from both ends of the house.

      A vigorous jab at the open window, I met Sarah at the sill.

      The front door caved, the back door right behind. I boosted her out beyond the punji trap, then dove out after.

      Ran barefoot through the grass for cover of the windbreak.

      Don't know where they get off, I whispered fiercely. How many were inside, I couldn't tell, any more than I knew if lookouts had been posted.

      Sarah elbowed me. Get off what? she whispered.

      Told that asshole daylight next time.

      Well, he didn't listen, did he?

      Could've laughed, any other time. No, he didn't, Sarah.

      Inside the house, a man bellowed, Ain't no one here.

      Oh, bullshit.

      Something heavy scraped floor and another cried, Ow, goddammit.

      Figure a light, would you?

      Everybody. Just shut up.

      Got us an open window back here.

      See? They're here somewhere.

      Shut the fuck up!

      Got real quiet there for a minute. Someone messing with the wood cook stove, then a soft glow in the kitchen. Barely made out the man at our bedroom window. A horse cleared its nose, a loud flutter to the western side of the windbreak. I snuck toward the sound, Sarah a step behind.

      Thought I seen somebody run across the yard, Jim, a man murmured between horses. "Should've waited a full

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