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Ten-Minute Writing - February 25, 2020

2/25/2020

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A sudden cold wind sweeps over the hill. I grit my teeth. My legs ache, then give way. And I drop to my knees. My fingers scratch at the years of dirt caked on the tombstone. What was oscured becomes visible. The ghostly scrawl of a lost long name.

W E S L E Y.  H A R R I N G T O N.

My friend.

A sudden darkness falls upon the tombstone. Someone--or something--stands above me. I do not lift myself up. I do not raise my eyes. I remain on my brittle knees, hands to the earth. Bowed and beaten. It's time for a reckoning.

"I been a rough man," I whisper.

If I was expectin' a reply, I do not get one.

"A rough man, livin' them rough man ways."

Winds whip into a frenzy. Dust and dirt swirl in the air, filling my mouth, filling my nose, filling my lungs. I spit at the ground, as if expellin' the sins of my life.

"I'm a rough man!" I offer one last defiant time.

Then silence. And calm.

And the click of a six shooter, readying itself.
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