This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to events or places or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright 2011 by Gary Whitmore
Old Western Town Images Courtesy of: www.123rf.com/
profile_scott betts / 123RF Stock Photo
It was a dream where the hot sun roasted the Arizona desert, and the heat waves looked like water ponds.
Black smoke billowed out of an 1880s black old Western train while it whistled and raced down the train tracks in the middle of the desert.
A horse with a Cowboy raced in the desert, leaving a trail of dust.
The Cowboy on his white horse raced toward the speeding train. “Yaaaa, yaaaa!” Josh Bryant, an average-looking thirty—
one—year—old Cowboy with black hair, yelled at his horse. He looked determined to beat the train and headed to a hump located in the tracks.
The old Western train raced closer to the hump in the train tracks.
“Yaaaa!” Josh yelled while slapping his horse with the reins.
The horse picked up speed and raced to the hump on the tracks.
The hump in the train tracks was Kathy Watson, a thirty-year-old drop-dead gorgeous brunette with big brown eyes, and she was tied to the rails with rope.
“Help me!” she screamed, scared to death, while she eyed the train with tons of weight racing down the tracks at her.
“Please help me!” she screamed again when she felt the vibration in the rails while the train raced toward her.
She heard the sound of a horse galloping, craned her neck, and saw Josh. “Save me, Josh!” she yelled out. “Save me!”
Eight buzzards circled thirty feet above Kathy, waiting for their dinner to finally die.
Josh saw the buzzards circling above Kathy. “Not while I’m a Cowboy,” he said, looking determined while he raced his horse closer to Kathy.
The train raced closer to Kathy.
“Yaaaa, yaaaa!” Josh yelled while slapping his horse with his reins to make him move faster, but he just missed being pricked by a Saguaro cactus.
The train raced closer to Kathy.
Josh screeched his horse to a stop three feet from Kathy and the tracks.
He jumped off his horse, ran over to her, and whipped out a six-inch shiny knife tucked inside a sheath in his right Cowboy boot.
The train raced closer to Kathy and Josh.
The sun reflected off the knife’s shiny metal as Josh brought the blade down to the rope that kept Kathy prisoner on the railroad tracks.
The train whistle blew a warning cry nine feet from Kathy and Josh.
“Hurry up, Josh!” Kathy screamed out while Josh frantically cut on the rope with his knife.
The train was three feet from Kathy and Josh.
Josh finally cut away the rope and whisked Kathy off the tracks.
The train raced past and missed them by inches while they both tumbled in the dirt.
She gazed into Josh’s eyes, and they welled up while she lay beside him. “Josh Bryant, you’re my hero!” she beamed, lovingly touching his cheek.
Josh looked proud as he got Kathy on her feet and shoved the knife back in the sheath tucked inside his Cowboy boot.
They embraced in a passionate kiss while the train raced away down the track.
The buzzards above them realized their dinner wouldn’t happen, so they flew away.
They separated from their kiss, and Kathy gazed into Josh’s eyes. “Will you marry me, John Bryant?” she asked with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Yes, Kathy Watson, I’d be happy to marry you,” he replied, the happiest man in the world.
Josh escorted Kathy to his horse and assisted her into the saddle. He got up in the saddle and sat behind her.
He turned the horse around and galloped away into the desert.
The next day, Josh and Kathy were inside the small church of Desert Town.
They stood before the Preacher, an old man with thin hair and a week’s growth of beard stubble.
“I now pronounce you mister and misses Josh Bryant,” he told them. “You may now kiss your wife,” he added. Josh and Kathy kissed in front of the Preacher.
They held hands, ran down the aisle, and headed to the church’s front door.
Outside the church, Josh assisted Kathy into the wooden seat of a buggy. He climbed up and sat down next to her. He grabbed the reins for the horse. “Yaaaa!” he yelled, and the horse walked the buggy away from the church.
On the rear of the carriage, “Just Married” was whitewashed on a wood plank, and tin cans trailed from a string tied to the buggy.
A little while later, Josh carried Kathy across the threshold of their small white farmhouse, which had a picket fence, a barn, a small corral with six cows, a pig pen with four pigs, and a chicken coup. This was Josh’s farm, located three miles outside Desert Town.
He immediately carried her into their small bedroom, where they quickly disrobed and stood naked before each other for the first time.
Josh looked in awe at the sight of Kathy’s perky B-cup breasts and quickly got her on her back on the bed.
He climbed on top of her, and they passionately kissed.
Then, the second Josh was about to deflower Kathy, loud footsteps were heard in the bedroom.
“Why are you naked with my wife?” Alvin yelled at the two naked lovers.
Josh and Kathy saw Alvin, a thirty-five-year-old gunslinger, standing at the door. He had both of his hands above the handles of his Colt 45s. His fingers twitched above the pistol handles, ready to move into action.
“Your wife?” Josh asked while he looked at Alvin and then at Kathy for an answer.
“Sorry, Josh. I sort of forgot to tell you I was married,”
Kathy replied with a smirk.
Josh looked confused while he glanced back at Alvin, who whipped out his Colt 45s and aimed them at the two lovers.
“No man sleeps with my wife and lives to tell about it!”
Alvin yelled out in anger.
Josh jumped off Kathy and stood naked before Alvin. I didn’t know she was your wife. Honest!” Josh pleaded for his life. “It doesn’t matter!” Alvin replied, then squeezed the triggers of his pistols.
The annoying sound of a digital alarm clock resonated in the room while the two Colt 45s fired.
Back to Josh’s reality, it was May at 6:00 on a Thursday morning in the Hunters Creek area south of Orlando, Florida.
Inside Josh’s home, his bedroom digital alarm clock blared that annoying sound that indicated it was the start of a new day.
Josh jumped up in a panic from his bed and immediately felt his chest for bullet holes. “It was a dream!” he thought to himself and felt relieved, as his immediate thought was that he was shot and killed.
Josh exited under the covers and stretched by the bed in his Universal Studios souvenir tee shirt and blue boxer shorts.
He glanced at his dresser and smiled at the pictures of Kathy and him at Sea World, Disney, Universal Studios, and in the sand at Cocoa Beach—all precious moments with the love of his life.
Josh left his bathroom, walked down the hall, and went inside his bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, Josh was dressed in Khaki pants and a black golf shirt. He sat in his kitchen and ate his breakfast of Chocolate Lucky Charms and orange juice.
Twenty minutes later, Josh drove his 2005 sandy-colored Toyota Corolla north on the Central Florida Greenway for his daily trek to work.
A little while later, Josh pulled into the parking lot of the All Solutions Software Company.
After he parked his car, he walked through the lot and scanned the other cars for Kathy’s silver BMW Z3, but he couldn’t find it parked there.
Josh walked to the front entrance of the building.
He glanced at the beautiful courtyard to the side of the building. He thought Kathy might enjoy her morning coffee on one of the benches, but she wasn’t seen in the courtyard.
A little while later, in a large room with a maze of cubicles, Josh entered his cubicle. On the cloth walls were pinned more pictures of Kathy and him having good times at Cocoa Beach and the theme parks in Orlando. Nestled between all those pictures was a framed “Software Engineer Of The Year” award for Josh from last year.
Josh sat down and propped his shoes on his desk.
He reached inside his pants pocket and removed a small engagement ring box.
He opened the ring box and smiled at the 14K white gold, one-fifth Caret four hundred dollar engagement ring.
He pondered the exact words to use later that night to describe the special moment he had longed for the first day he saw Kathy.
Ricky Abbot, a forty-five-year-old administrative assistant, stepped inside Josh’s cubicle. “Hey Josh, Mister Marcus needs status on your program and wants it presented to the senior committee at six tonight. You can expect a long meeting,” Ricky told Josh.
Josh looked upset when he heard that bit of news.
“Ricky, can you try to postpone it to next week? I’m so far behind with that program,” Josh asked with pleading eyes.
“Sorry, no can do, buddy. Mister Marcus wants status, and he wants it tonight,” Ricky replied.
Josh opened his engagement ring box and showed Ricky the ring. “But I’m having dinner with Kathy later, making tonight that exceptional night,” he said and begged with his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Josh, but you know Mister Marcus and his demands. You better ask her after the meeting,” Ricky replied, then walked out of the cubicle.
“This job blows!” he said while he picked up his phone and made a call.
On the other side of the room, Kathy sat by her cubicle desk. Paul Hargett, a thirty-five-year-old handsome Accounting Manager with an athletic body, sat on the corner of her desk.
“I’m so excited about starting flying lessons,” Kathy told him with a gleam in her eyes.
“I’m so looking forward to teaching you,” Paul replied with a warm smile while he looked into her eyes.
Kathy’s phone rang on her desk.
She leaned forward and looked at the phone’s caller ID
window. She wasn’t interested, so she let it ring.
“Do you need to get that?” Paul asked while he stood up, ready to leave her cubicle.
“Naw,” she replied, then grabbed his hand and moved him back to her desk. “It’s just Josh, and he can wait,” she replied while the phone rang.
The phone stopped ringing, and Kathy looked relieved.
“So you stated that you won’t charge me for being your flight instructor?” she asked while looking up at Paul.
Paul lightly touched her shoulder. “No way, Miss Watson,”
he replied warmly.
Kathy returned a warm smile.
During the next thirty minutes, Josh lightly worked on his software program while he continued to glance at his phone.
His phone rang; he quickly looked and saw “Kathy 8-8733” on the phone caller ID window.
He fumbled with the receiver while he quickly brought it to his ear. “Hey there,” he answered.
“I’m sorry I missed your call. I was in the bathroom, and when I returned, Paul stopped off in my cubicle. We started talking about my program and lost track of time,” she fibbed on the phone.
“No problem. So, do you want to take a walk and stretch your legs?” he asked her into the phone.
“I guess so,” she replied after a little hesitation.
“I’ll meet you out in the courtyard,” he replied.
“Okay,” Kathy replied, then disconnected her end of the call. Josh hung up his phone, stood up, and did a little victory dance before leaving his cubicle.
A few minutes later, Josh waited at the courtyard entrance outside their office building.
The courtyard was a maze of concrete paths with benches, trees, flower beds, and landscaped shrubs. Management allowed their employees to take small breaks in the courtyard, figuring it was an excellent way to reduce stress and make them more productive.
Josh’s eyes lit up when Kathy walked to the courtyard entrance.
When she approached, he noticed she typed a text message into her iPhone with a smile. He was curious but decided not to pry into her life right now.
“Hey,” she said when she approached Josh with her iPhone.
They started walking down one of the paths.
“I need to find a new career,” he told her, hoping to gain sympathy.
“Put your resume out there and look for another job,” she replied while she glanced down at her iPhone.
Josh looked upset when he recalled Ricky’s conservation.
“I have to brief Mister Marcus and the senior committee about my project, so I can’t meet you for dinner at six,” he said.
“That’s too bad,” she replied with little sympathy for his situation and showed more interest in her iPhone.
“But I can run over to your place when I’m done. It might be around eight,” he quickly replied with a gleam in her eyes.
Kathy quickly typed a message on her iPhone and then smiled. “It’s unhealthy to eat late, so I’ll just go to bed early and read a sexy romantic book,” she replied with a smile, then shoved her iPhone into one of the back pockets of her jeans.
We’ll have dinner another night,” she said.
Josh looked disappointed while they walked down another concrete path and passed by some beautiful flowers. Kathy’s iPhone buzzed from her back pocket while they turned down another path. She quickly removed it, looked at the text message, and smiled. “I just called to a meeting,” she told Josh.
“Oh,” he replied, a little disappointed that his time with her had been cut short. “I understand,” he replied.
He went to give her a little kiss, but Kathy turned around, rushed off down the path, and headed to the entrance of their building.
Josh moped back down the path and headed back to the building.
For the rest of the workday, Josh tried to concentrate on his software program and his presentation to Senior Management. But it was difficult since all of his thoughts were on Kathy, and he wondered why she hadn’t called.
Six o’clock finally arrived, and Josh nervously stood at a podium in front of a large conference room with 100 people.
Josh’s presentation for his software program was on the seventy-inch LCD TV that hung on the wall behind the podium.
“I’m so fired!” he thought, knowing Mister Marcus would blow a fuse once he realized Josh was months behind with his program.
He looked around the conference room and saw stuffy old men in suits who probably already had three drinks from the small bars in their offices. They chatted amongst themselves while they sat and waited for the boss man at a long, expensive wooden conference table.
Ricky Abbott waited at the table amongst all the other stuffy old men.
Josh looked at his watch and saw it was now 6:05 p.m., and he was pissed for missing his romantic evening with Kathy.
Then the conference room suddenly got quiet; the second Mark Marcus, the seventy-five-year-old overweight white-haired CEO of the company, rushed into the room with his fifty-year-old nerdy male assistant.
“Sorry I’m late; let’s get started,” Marcus called out while he sat down at the head of the table. His assistant sat down at a chair by the conference room door.
Marcus looked at Josh while he stood at the podium.
“Who are you?” he called from across the long table. All eyes in the room were on Josh, which made him nervous.
“I’m Josh Bryant, and I’m presenting the status on my software for the Ford Motor Company,” Josh said while his voice was shaky.
Marcus’ cell phone rang. “Excuse me,” he called while removing his cell phone from his belt clip. “Marcus,” he answered the call and listened to the caller.
“Really?” he replied to the caller and looked concerned.
“I’ll be there ASAP,” he replied, then placed his cell phone back on his belt clip. “Something vital came up, and I have to cancel this briefing,” he told everybody at the table. Mister Abbott, reschedule this presentation for next Thursday,” he said while he glanced at Ricky.
“Yes, sir,” Ricky replied.
Marcus got up and rushed out of the room with his nerdy assistant.
All the stuffy old men stood up from the table and left the conference room.
Josh did a little victory dance while he turned off the computer at the podium.
He then quickly made a call on his cell phone, but the The “Caller Unavailable” message was visible in the viewfinder. “She’s reading her sexy romance book,” he quietly said while placing his cell phone back on his belt clip.
Josh rushed out of the side door of the conference room.
A little while later, Josh was in his Corolla and raced north on the Central Florida Greenway.
A little while later, Josh drove through a neighborhood northeast of Lake Nona.
Josh soon parked his car along the curb in front of Kathy’s house.
Josh got out of his car and looked concerned when he saw a red Corvette parked in Kathy’s driveway.
He hesitated to head to Kathy’s front door. Still, after seeing her light in her living room, he curiously proceeded up the driveway.
Josh walked to the front door and paused before knocking.
He paced in a small circle on the stoop while he debated whether to knock.
He glanced over at the living room curtains and saw a small opening.
He heard the Love Is All Around song by The Troggs play from her CD player in the living room.
Josh’s curiosity peeked when he heard that romantic song and looked in the living room window.
Josh craned his neck to see what was going on in Kathy’s living room, then his eyes widened in shock with what he saw in the reflection in her mirror that hung on the wall.
He saw Kathy and Paul in heated passion with lips locked on her couch while that romantic song provided the mood for their moment. She had her blouse off, and Paul was topless while they kissed.
Then he watched while Paul removed Kathy’s bra, and that was too much for Josh, and he stepped away the second Paul started kissing his way down to her bare breasts.
He looked stunned while he moped through her front yard and headed back to his car.
He stopped when he reached his driver’s door and stared back at her living room window. He looked back at the driveway, and evil thoughts of keying Paul’s Corvette ran through his mind.
Josh’s eyes welled up while he got inside her Corolla. He started up his car and drove away.
Later that night, at 10:00 p.m., Josh lay in bed while he stared at his bedroom ceiling. The heated scene between Kathy and Paul ran numerous times through his head.
It was now 12:30 a.m. Friday morning, Josh was still wide awake in bed and stared at his bedroom ceiling while Kathy and Paul’s heated scene again ran through his head.
It was now 2:40 a.m., and Josh was still wide awake in bed and stared at his bedroom ceiling while the heated scene of Kathy and Paul again ran through his head.
Josh only slept three hours last night, and the harder he tried to forget what he saw, the more he thought about it.
Josh yawned during the entire drive to his office, and all he could think about was Kathy.
After a couple of hours of staring at his computer in his cubicle, Josh got up and went to the Men’s Room.
He exited the bathroom, moped, and yawned while he walked down the hall, where employees mingled and chatted.
Kathy walked into this hall from another hall and spotted Josh. “How was the presentation last night?” she asked as she approached him.
Josh looked hurt at Kathy, who waited for an answer.
Josh stared at Kathy for a few seconds, and she felt peculiar. “So, was Paul Hargett the sexy romance book from last night?” he asked with glaring eyes.
Kathy was caught by his question and hesitated for a few seconds to respond.
The other employees in the hall stopped chatting when they heard Josh’s question and inched closer to eavesdrop on the answer.
Then, while she thought about his question, she got mad when it dawned on her. “Were you spying on me last night?”
she asked in a raised tone.
“My presentation got canceled, and I rushed over to your house. I was going to make last night special,” Josh replied while he removed the small engagement ring box from his pants pocket. He opened up the box and showed Kathy the ring.
The other employees inched closer when they heard Josh would propose to Kathy last night.
Kathy looked sorry when she saw the engagement ring.
“Josh, I ah, I feel terrible. I should have said this sooner, but it’s over between us. I need something more, and Paul offers me
exactly what I need in my life right now. I’m so sorry,” she replied, quickly rushing off to avoid a fight in the hall.
Josh stood there in the hall, stunned by being dumped by Katy in front of people.
His fellow employees moved down the hall feeling sorry for Josh.
For the remainder of the day, Josh stayed a recluse in his cubicle while the news of Kathy dumping him spread like wildfire throughout the office.
Ricky entered Josh’s cubicle and saw him slumped in his chair while he stared at his software program on the computer.
“Hey buddy, I haven’t seen you around the building all day,” Ricky said.
“I know; I’m just having trouble with this program of mine and worried about Thursday’s presentation,” Josh lied while staring at his computer monitor.
“Want to take a walk?” Ricky offered.
“Naw. I need to concentrate on this program.”
Ricky looked concerned while Josh stared at his monitor and knew he wanted to be alone, so he left the cubicle.
Later that night, Josh skipped supper since he had no appetite.
Since it was a Friday night, he stayed up late and watched movies while sitting depressed on the couch. The engagement ring box was on the coffee table beside an empty Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream box.
Inside the ice cream box were all the pictures of Josh and Kathy ripped into tiny pieces.
The movie he watched just ended, and Josh picked up his remote and surfed the channels.
He stopped on a channel of interest with Rodney Winston in front of many workers answering telephones. Above their heads hung a “We’ll Find Ya” sign for the TV show’s name.
On a screen behind Rodney was a picture of Tony Moore, a forty—five—year—old man with a crew cut and rough pot-marked complexion.
“Tonight’s stories feature Tony Moore wanted for assault and battery and rape of men and women. Tony disappeared a day before his trial,” Rodney told the TV audience.
Josh flipped the channel as the show appeared too dull for his tastes tonight.
A Western movie on TV showed a love scene between a Cowboy hero and a young woman.
Josh kicked back on the couch and watched the movie.
Josh fell asleep on the couch at 2:30 a.m. while watching the Western movie.
It was Saturday morning, and Josh woke up around 10:00
a.m., still depressed.
He moped off the couch and moped into the bathroom.
A little while later, he moped into the kitchen, ate his standard Chocolate Lucky Charms cereal, and made a pot of coffee.
His cell phone rang while he drank his coffee and scanned the newspaper. “Hey baby,” he quickly answered, thinking it was Kathy and yesterday was all a bad dream.
“Since when did you call your male buddy at work, baby?”
Ricky teased from his cell phone.
“I’m sorry about that. My mind was somewhere else,” Josh replied on the cell phone.
“I heard about Kathy,” Ricky said.
Josh looked depressed as yesterday’s episode again ran through his mind. “I need a new life, Ricky.”
“Let’s go do something to get your mind off her,” Ricky replied.
Josh considered his offer for a few seconds. “I really don’t feel like doing anything today,” He responded.
“Aw, come on, Josh, don’t give up. There’s a wonderful world out there with plenty of women better than her. Let’s go meet some.”
“I’ll think about it and talk to you later,” Josh said, then disconnected the call.
Josh put his cell down, drank the rest of his coffee, and looked depressed.
He looked back at the newspaper, and his eyes widened with interest when he saw an advertisement for the “Blaine Fisher’s Old Western World Train House” display in the West Palm Beach area.
Josh spent a few seconds thinking about the advertisement while glancing at the newspaper. He made a call on his cell phone.
“Ricky, how about we drive to the West Palm Beach?” Josh asked.
“West Palm Beach? What’s down there?” Ricky replied from the cell phone.
“There’s a huge old Western train set on display that sounds interesting. The newspaper claims it’s the largest in the world,” Josh responded.
“You’re finally coming back to life; that’s good,” Ricky replied, then there was a brief silence. “I would love to go,” he added.
“Great, I’ll pick you up in an hour,” Josh replied, then ended the call.
Josh got up and showered in the bathroom.
Later that day, Josh picked up Ricky at his home. During the drive down the Florida Turnpike to West Palm Beach, they didn’t discuss Kathy. They mainly talked about their interests in model trains.
After they parked, Josh and Ricky entered the large foyer of the eight thousand-square-foot mansion, located in twenty acres of seclusion in the west area of West Palm Beach.
Josh and Ricky were jealous of how the rich lived compared to their no-thrills home.
“It must be nice,” Ricky told Josh while they looked the foyer over and saw the fancy winding staircase that led to the upstairs rooms.
At the right of the foyer was a counter where Laurie Fisher, the thirty-year-old overweight, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman, worked. Above her hung a vast oil painting of Blaine Fisher; her sixty-five-year-old father, Blaine, had an eerie serious
glare and was dressed in Western attire with a cigar sticking out of his mouth and his left hand on a pistol in a holster.
Laurie smiled when she spotted Josh and Ricky walking over to the counter. The second her eyes gazed into Josh’s eyes, she immediately became smitten. She stuck out her hand at Josh. “I’m Laurie, and welcome to the Fisher Train set display,”
she said warmly while shaking Josh’s hand.
“Hi, Laurie, I’m Josh, and this is my friend Ricky,” he replied.
Ricky extended his hand, and Laurie ignored him while her eyes concentrated on Josh. He pulled his hand back, feeling rejected.
“It cost ten dollars to visit the huge train set that my father spent five years completing,” she said, concentrating on Josh.
Ricky paid Laurie twenty dollars and eyed the painting of Blaine. He got curious when he remembered something in the news a few years ago. “Wasn’t Blaine Fisher in trouble for the rape of a young woman?” Ricky asked her
Laurie looked bothered by Ricky’s question. “That woman framed Daddy, and the courts found him not guilty. You should never trust what the news media prints anyway,” she snarled to Ricky.
“What’s your father doing these days?” Josh curiously asked to calm her down so she wouldn’t jump on Ricky. “Daddy’s gallivanting around the world looking for interesting artifacts for this place,” Laurie replied. At the same time, she couldn’t take her eyes off Josh.
“Sounds like he lives an exciting life,” Josh said.
“He does, and he’s also a great inventor. We haven’t put his inventions on display yet, but if you would like, I can give you a private tour of them in the basement. And then I can show you Daddy’s pristine 1939 Buick in the garage,” Laurie offered with a coy smile. “I have the keys right here,” she said while opening a drawer on the counter and removing the keys.
“Thanks for the kind offer, but I’ll pass this time since we have to make it back to Orlando after seeing the train set,” Josh replied.
Laurie looked hurt by being rejected. “Please come back again, as this is a standing offer,” she said, hiding her rejected feelings.
“I will,” he replied.
“Oh, head to the rear doors at the end of the foyer. You’ll walk through a courtyard. At the end of the courtyard is a building where the train set is housed inside the Train House.
Please take your time and enjoy Daddy’s train set,” she added warmly.
“Thank you,” Josh replied while Ricky looked away, disinterested with Laurie.
Josh and Ricky walked away from the counter and headed to the rear of the foyer.
Laurie ran her tongue around her lips while she checked Josh, who was walking to the rear doors. “Mmmm, now that’s some grade-A beef,” she quietly said while drooling over watching the backside of Josh.
Josh and Ricky walked through the courtyard, landscaped with beautiful flowers, hedges, trees, and stone walkways. Some guests also milled around the courtyard, and some sat on the benches, taking in the sunny day.
Josh and Ricky walked down a stone path that led to a twenty-eight-foot by forty-foot building without windows and a metal door on three of the four walls. The “Blaine Fisher’s Old Western World Train House” sign was hung over the main entrance, which was located on the side of the building.
Josh and Ricky stepped inside the Train House, which was kept in a dry, eighty-five to ninety-degree controlled environment designed to give the building a desert feel. Since it was warm inside, numerous water stations were staged around the train set for the thirsty guests.
The lights inside the building also automatically turned on around 6:30 a.m. to simulate sunrise, started to dim at 7:30 p.m., and eventually turned off at 8:00 p.m. to simulate nighttime.
During the daytime, the ceiling looked like a cloudless blue sky, and small lights simulated the stars at night. By the position of the fake sun, it was 2:00 p.m. inside the Train House.
The fake sun, a large orange bulb, also slowly went across the sky, starting at Paradise for the simulated sunrise and going behind the peak of the mountains for the simulated sunset.
At nighttime, small twinkling lights appeared to simulate stars, and a white bulb was in the sky to simulate a full Moon.
Josh stopped and stared at the train set, which filled up ninety percent of the room. “That train set is humongous,”
Josh said in awe at the sight of the set.
“It must have cost a fortune to build this set,” Ricky replied, staring in awe.
The main entrance door opened behind them, and they moved over a little.
Sara Cooper, a cute thirty-year-old with wavy shoulder-length blonde hair, entered the Train House and stood beside Josh while she eyed the set. “It’s so large!” she said.
“A lot of women tell me that,” Ricky replied with a joyful smirk while he looked at Sara.
Josh frowned at Ricky. “Stop it,” he mouthed the words to him. Sara didn’t catch Ricky’s sexual innuendo to her comment about the train set.
Sara walked down the walkway and started checking out the train set.
The Train House had a five-foot walkway along three of the four walls. The train set was on an eighteen-foot by twenty-five-foot platform placed four feet off the floor and was four hundred and fifty square feet of pure Disney type of imagination. A four-inch high-pointed log fence ran all along the edge of the platform to help prevent the visitors from reaching and touching the displays.
At the far end of the building, a fourteen-foot by twenty-five-foot electrical room housed the controls for operating the fantasy set.
The train set was laid out where you first saw the Western town called Paradise, located at the one end of the set. At the far end were tall rocky mountains that peaked a two-footer under the ceiling.
On the left side of the set, a little ways from Paradise was a vegetable garden and a large cornfield.
Located way off to the right of the vegetable garden and cornfield was a fenced pasture with numerous cows, pigs, chickens, and a large barn.
To the right of the cow pasture was a sawmill, where stacks of lumber were visible outside the large barn.
The vegetable garden, cow, pig, chicken pasture, and sawmill were all in a grassy field. The grassy field also had a small cemetery with two tombstones.
The grassy field continued toward the rocky mountains, where a forest covered much of the area. To the left side of the forest was a lake with real water provided by the mansion’s plumbing. To the right side of the forest was a large dark brown hole. After the forest was the desert with Saguaro cactus, large boulders, scrub brushes, and other numerous plants. The desert ran to the base of the mountains.
On the left side of the base of the mountains was a cave.
On the right side of the base of the mountains was an Indian camp.
A train track loop ran from the desert near the base of the mountains.
It snaked through the woods and headed through the field to the outskirts of Paradise.
Paradise had a train station.
A dirt trail ran from Paradise’s outskirts alongside the train set’s left side. It then ran through the field, through the forest, through the desert, and ended at the cave in the mountains.
Josh and Ricky stared in awe at the train set.
“It looks lifelike,” Ricky told Josh.
“Like a miniature world,” Josh replied.
Josh and Ricky walked closer to the train set and stared at the town of Paradise.
Paradise had a main dirt street with two other side streets.
On Paradise Lane was a courthouse, Marshall’s Office, Dining Hall, Hotel, Saloon, Paradise House of Pleasure, Bank, General Store, Doctor’s Office, Clothing Store, Stable, Laundry, Newspaper shop, and a Church.
On the two side streets were fourteen small Hotels with a row of outhouses.
On the outskirts of Paradise, just off the right of the dirt trail, was a large two-story fancy mansion with green grass and shade trees.
Josh and Ricky noticed numerous miniature men, women, and a few Cowboys wearing black shirts on horses staged around the town to give the appearance it was alive.
Josh looked mesmerized while he stared at Paradise.
“What a cool place. It looks so peaceful with nobody hurting each other,” Josh said while he looked up and down the main street.
On the other wall leaned Charlie Fisher, a fifty-eight-year-old Train House employee and brother to Blaine, who watched over the guests. He also heard Josh’s comment and gave a little smile of approval.
The old Western train with one passenger car whistled, and black smoke puffed out of its stack as it rolled down the track along the right side of the train set. The train was headed to the train station on the outskirts of Paradise.
Josh and Ricky walked down the right side of the train set and watched while the train pulled into the station, where miniature people waited at the station.
“Let’s check the other side first, then double back here,”
Josh told Ricky, who nodded in agreement.
They walked over to the left side of the train set and saw more of Paradise while they walked to the left side of the set.
When they walked down the left walkway, they saw the garden with miniature people who appeared to be working.
They looked past the garden and saw the pasture with cows, chickens, and a large pigpen.
The barn was at the edge of the pasture, and its doors were open. Inside the barn were more cows, chickens, pigs, and miniature people appearing to be working.
The train whistle blew, and puffs of black poured out of the smokestack when it pulled away from the Paradise train station.
Josh and Ricky watched the train roll down the tracks past the mansion, through the field, and to the forest.
Josh and Ricky walked farther down the walkway and saw the forest with the dirt trail and lake.
At the shore of the lake was a wagon with a horse and four miniature people that appeared to be collecting water from the lake using buckets. Also, on one side of the lake was a small sandy beach where miniature people seemed to be lounging on the beach, and some were in the water.
They then watched while the train rolled down the tracks through the forest.
They walked a little farther down the walkway and saw a stagecoach with four horses on a dirt trail in the middle of the desert, heading in the direction of Paradise. Four Cowboys in black shirts were on horses and stood outside the forest on the path, appearing to be racing at the stagecoach.
Josh and Ricky walked farther down the walkway and checked out the desert.
“This set looks so real,” Josh commented, and Ricky nodded in agreement.
They got to the end of the walkway, checked out the mountains, and then noticed the dirt trail from Paradise ended at the cave.
“That cave must be for mining gold,” Josh said.
Ricky looked and nodded in agreement with his theory.
“I really love this train set,” Josh told Ricky while he stared at the mountains that looked so real.
“How are you enjoying our display?” Charlie asked Josh and Ricky.
“I absolutely love it!” Josh replied with a gleam in his eyes while he looked over the entire set.
“It’s a special place, that’s for sure,” Charlie replied.
“Let’s check out the other side,” Ricky told Josh, who nodded in agreement.
Charlie was interested in Josh while he watched them walk back down the walkway and head to the Paradise end.
Josh checked out Paradise again while they walked down the walkway by the main entrance. His eyes lit up, and he looked a little surprised. “That’s weird.”
“What’s weird?” Ricky replied.
“It looks like some of those people in Paradise moved,”
Josh told him.
They stopped and looked at the town of Paradise. “I believe you’re right,” Ricky responded.
“There must be some type of magnet under the platform that moves the people around to give the appearance the town is alive,” Josh surmised.
“That sounds logical,” Ricky answered, and then he headed down the walkway to the right of the train set.
They walked down the walkway and checked out the right side of the train set.
They saw the field, then the forest, and walked by the desert.
They watched as the train rolled down the tracks, ran alongside the edge of the mountains, curved back through the desert, and headed toward the forest on its way back to Paradise.
In the desert, they noticed that the four Cowboys on horses were alongside the stagecoach that moved closer toward the forest.
“I love how these miniature people move like this train set is alive,” Josh said with a gleam in his eyes.
“This place is really something,” Ricky replied.
They then walked to the end of the walkway and saw an Indian camp by the edge of the mountains with Indians, teepees, and a few horses.
The train whistle blew, and black smoke puffed out of its smokestack while the train rolled down the stacks in the forest.
“My great-great-grandfather was a train engineer,” Josh told Ricky.
“Mine was a dirt farmer,” Ricky replied.
“Don’t you wish you lived during the old west days?” Josh asked Ricky.
“In a world without television, video games, and the Internet? No way!” Ricky replied while he looked back at the train set.
“You really love this place,” Charlie said while he walked up to Josh.
“I do,” Josh replied.
“Since you love this set, your next visit is free,” Charlie said while he handed Josh a free entrance ticket.
“Thank you, and I’ll definitely take advantage of this,” Josh replied while he took the ticket.
“Good, we’re open seven days a week,” Charlie replied, then turned around and walked back down the walkway.
Josh and Ricky exited the Train House and headed back to the mansion.
While they walked through the mansion’s foyer, Laurie was busy with some customers, but she still eyed Josh with interest while he left through the front doors with Ricky.
During the whole drive home back to Orlando and that night, all Josh could think about was that old Western train set.
It was 8:00 a.m., Sunday morning, and the thoughts of Kathy started to slip away from Josh's mind and were replaced by the train set display.
After his breakfast cereal, Josh drank his coffee from the couch in the living room in a tee-shirt and boxers. He stared at the free entrance ticket into the Blaine Fisher's Old Western World Train House. Josh jumped up from the couch and headed to the bathroom.
An hour later, Josh drove south on the Florida Turnpike for West Palm Beach.
Later that morning, Josh parked in the parking lot and went inside the Fisher mansion.
He entered the mansion foyer and saw Laurie working behind the counter.
"You're back!" Laurie beamed extremely happy to see Josh again.
"Yeah, one of your employees named Charlie gave me a free pass to visit the train set again," Josh replied while he walked over to the counter with the free entrance ticket in hand.
"Why don't you keep that ticket for another day? Today's entrance into the Train House is on me," Laurie smiled when Josh handed her the ticket.
"Are you sure?”
"I'm sure," she replied with a warm smile.
"Thanks," he said while he shoved the ticket into his back pants pocket.
"If you want, that offer to show you daddy's inventions in the basement is now available," she said with a loving smile.
"I really would love to, but after I see the train set again, I need to head back to Orlando. Tomorrow is the start of another week of work," he said.
Laurie was disappointed again but hid it well behind a smile. "I understand," she pouted.
Laurie watched while Josh walked to the rear door of the foyer and stepped outside into the courtyard.
Josh walked through the courtyard, where a few guests were enjoying the sunny Florida day and the beautiful flowers.
He didn't notice Laurie at the foyer doors at the mansion watching him with interest while he entered the Train House.
Josh stepped inside the Train House, where our other guests were checking it out.
Josh noticed Charlie Fisher walk out the right exit door with Sara Cooper, the girl that also visited the train set yesterday.
He didn't think anything about it and started looking over the town of Paradise.
Josh noticed that the miniature people were in different positions in the dirt streets of Paradise.
He walked down the left side of the set and checked out the vegetable garden and cow pasture.
He headed toward the forest and heard a low humming sound coming out from the wall behind the mountains. He didn't think anything about it while he looked at the lake and noticed that the wagon and the miniature people with buckets were gone.
Josh walked down the walkway and headed to the desert area. He then walked and checked out the mountains and saw a wagon with a horse outside the cave.
Then Josh saw a miniature man and woman with blonde hair standing just outside the cave by the wagon. He didn't think anything about it while he turned around, walked down the walkway, and headed toward the town of Paradise.
He walked back to the walkway by the main entrance and stopped to look at Paradise.
He could hear the faint sound of a piano playing in the saloon, a sound he didn't hear yesterday. “That's so cool!” he thought, thinking about the music coming from the saloon.
He also thought he smelled the faint smell of steaks emitting from the restaurant.
"How ingenious!” he thought while he looked at Paradise and believed Blaine Fisher even provided sounds and smells to make Paradise come alive.
Josh spent ten minutes checking out Paradise and enjoying the sounds and smells.
"You came back," Charlie's voice was heard.
Josh looked and saw Charlie while he walked down the walkway from the other end where the right exit door was located.
"Yeah, and thanks for the free pass," Josh replied.
"You're welcome. So, what's your name?" Charlie asked while he walked up to Josh.
"Josh Bryant."
"I'm Charlie Fisher, and my brother built this train set," he said. "Wow, I'm extremely impressed," Josh replied while he glanced at the set and watched while the train bellowed out puffs of black smoke, and whistled while it rolled through the forest and headed toward Paradise. “ I could stay here all day and watch this set, but I have to get back to my crappy life in Orlando," Josh added.
Charlie's ears perked up and knew this was his cue to pry.
"What's wrong, my friend?" he asked and faked a look of concern.
"Well, my true love just dumped me for another man, and I hate my job with a passion," Josh replied and looked sad.
"I'm sorry to hear about that," Charlie replied and patted Josh's shoulder to show his support.
"I sorta wished I lived in a town like Paradise," Josh said while looked at the old Western town.
Josh and Charlie watched while the train stopped at the train station in Paradise.
Charlie looked around and saw that the other four people were on the other side of the set by the mountains.
The coast was clear, so he leaned closer to Josh. "I'll let you in on a secret. You know, this set is magical. And when I say magical, I mean it's magical," Charlie quietly told Josh.
Josh's ears perked up and looked curious. "What?"
Charlie inched closer to Josh. "There's a portal that transcends you into another dimension," he said quietly to Josh.
"Another dimension? What do you mean?"
Charlie looked around to make sure the other guests were not near them. "I mean, this set will come alive in this other dimension," he told Charlie in a lower tone.
Josh looked at the set in awe. "You mean a real-life old Western town?"
"I mean a real peaceful life in loving the Western town,"
Charlie replied.
"Man, I wish I could find a new life in a town like Paradise," Josh smiled while looking back at the town.
"The sixty-nine kind-hearted people who live in Paradise are folks that don't have any family here in this world and want a new life where they'll be respected and loved," Charlie told Josh with a warm smile.
"My parents are deceased, and I was a lonely child. I have some cousins, but haven't seen them in over twenty years," he said while he continued to look at Paradise. "I could live there,"
he added with a smile.
Charlie placed an arm around Josh's shoulder. "Your new life in Paradise costs twenty thousand dollars."
"Twenty thousand dollars? That's a lot of cash," Josh replied and looked a little worried about spending that amount of money.
"You told me how your life sucks. So why not live in a beautiful permanent vacation like Paradise? You can live in a place where the women treat you with love and respect. You can live in a place where you no longer have to pay for a room or for food," Charlie replied.
"How do I know you're not trying to swindle me?" Josh asked, bluntly.
"I'll give you an introductory tour for forty dollars, and you can see for yourself that I'm not trying to swindle you," Charlie replied. "It's payable after we get back. We'll come out where
the wagon is parked at the cave," Charlie added while he pointed at the cave.
Josh looked and saw the miniature wagon by the cave in the mountain. He nodded in agreement as his curiosity peaked.
"Follow me, my friend," Charlie told Josh.
He followed Charlie while he walked down the walkway and left the building using the right exit door.
Josh followed Charlie to the side of the building to a door with a cipher lock and an "Electrical Hazards – Do Not Enter"
sign. Charlie punched in a code into the cipher lock, and a click was heard. "Enter," he said while he held the door open for Josh. Josh entered a room, and Charlie closed, and the door automatically locked.
Josh looked around the room and saw it was full of numerous electrical control panels full of gauges, switches, and different colored lights, a computer monitor with keyboard, and a "Main Power" switch by the door.
There was a strange low-frequency hum that emitted from all the electrical equipment.
There also appeared to be miles and miles of wires that ran from those electrical control panels to the roof of a glass booth.
"Wow!" Josh said while he looked around the room.
"This electrical room controls the train set and operates that glass booth that is the portal to the magical dimension of Paradise," Charlie told him.
Charlie walked Josh to the glass booth and opened the door.
Josh stepped inside the booth and closed the door.
The booth only had room for four people, and Josh saw a keyboard by a flat-screen monitor near the door.
There was a rear door of the booth, and all Josh saw was an eerie blackness on that side of the booth.
Charlie typed in his password then a "Paradise" program window appeared. Charlie clicked on the "Transport to
Paradise" radio button, and another page appeared that looked like a control panel.
Charlie used the mouse and did a sequence of clicking on buttons, typing in settings, and flipping switches.
Bright lights filled the glass of the booth like fireworks.
A whirring sound filled the inside of the booth.
The entire booth vibrated.
Then psychedelic colors filled the glass of the booth. The glass booth started spinning.
Josh and Charlie cringed in pain while the booth spun.
The spinning of the booth dissipated.
The psychedelic colors in the glass dissipated.
The vibration of the boot dissipated.
The firework lights from the glass dissipated.
There was silence, and Josh looked around the booth a little dazed. He looked at the rear door and saw walls of a cave with lit torches outside the glass booth.
Charlie opened the rear door with a whish. "Come, my friend," he said.
Josh stepped out of the booth, and Charlie joined him.
They walked through the cave where kerosene torches were embedded in the cave walls.
Josh and Charlie walked out of the cave.
Josh looked around and stared in awe at the desert. "It looks exactly like the train set!" he said then saw the wagon with the horse. But the horse looked alive but had a plastic look about it, as did all the horses in Paradise.
"I told you this place is magical," Charlie replied with a pat on Josh's back.
Josh looked up, and the sky looked so blue and real with the sun in the 1:00 p.m. position, and then he looked curious.
"How come I can't see the guests staring down at us? I mean, they would look like giants," Josh asked while he looked all over the sky for some huge heads looking down at them.
"We are now in a magical dimension," Charlie replied.
"Ah," Josh replied while he continued to stare up at the sky.
The train whistle blew from the desert.
Josh saw the train while it rolled down the track and head toward the cave.
"There's the train, and it's just like the one from the set!" he called out all excited.
"That's the one," Charlie replied and got a kick out of Josh being so excited.
Josh watched while the train rolled down the tracks and turned and head in the direction of the Indian camp. "This place is magical," Josh said while he watched the train roll down the tracks.
"Now, like I said, if you want to live in Paradise, it costs twenty thousand dollars. That seems like a lot of money, but someone has to pay for running the town," Charlie said.
Josh thought about his statement for a few seconds.
"When you put it that way, it doesn't seem like that much money," Josh replied.
"How long do people normally stay here?" Josh curiously asked.
"This place has been home for most of the residents for the past year," Charlie told him.
"What if you wanted to leave?"
"Well, we've had a few people leave. We will prorate your money if you leave during the first two years. After that, we don't offer any full refunds because of the cost of running the place."
"That's understandable," Josh said while he watched the train way off in the distance head toward the Indian camp.
"And you taste of Paradise is over," Charlie told Josh and motioned that they should venture back into the cave.
Charlie and Josh walked back through the cave and walked to the glass booth.
Charlie opened the door to the booth, and Josh stepped inside.
Charlie stepped inside the booth and closed the door.
Charlie typed in his password then the "Paradise" program console window reappeared. Charlie used the mouse and did a
sequence of clicking on buttons, typing in settings, and flipping switches.
Bright lights filled the glass of the booth like fireworks.
A whirring sound filled the inside of the booth.
The entire booth vibrated.
Then psychedelic colors filled the glass of the booth.
The glass booth started spinning.
Josh and Charlie cringed in pain while the booth spun. The spinning of the booth dissipated.
The psychedelic colors in the glass dissipated.
The vibration of the boot dissipated.
The fireworks lights from the glass dissipated.
There was silence, and Josh looked around the booth a little dazed. He looked at the front door and saw the numerous electrical panels inside the electrical room.
Charlie opened the front door, and Josh stepped out of the booth.
While Charlie closed the door of the booth, Josh removed his wallet and removed two twenty dollar bills. He handed it to Charlie, who shoved it in his pants pocket.
"What do you think?" Charlie asked Josh.
"I think I want to live in Paradise," Josh replied with a huge grin, thinking he found a better life.
"Okay, be here at high noon on Tuesday. Laurie at the counter can show you our unique gift shop where you can buy some Western attire appropriate for living in Paradise. Bring your twenty thousand dollars in cash in a cloth bag. And no weapons or electronic devices are allowed," Charlie told him.
"Why cash and no electronic devices?"
"Because electronic devices, checks, or credit cards didn't exist in the old Western days. We want it as authentic as we can make it," Charlie replied.
"That makes sense," Josh said.
Charlie placed a hand on Josh's shoulder with a warm smile. "We'll be your loving family and don't tell a soul about this land of Paradise," he said, then chuckled. "Even if you did,
nobody would believe you and think you went loony after we deny everything," he added.
"I won't," Josh replied.
"Good, now, you can bring other cash for deposit in the Paradise National Bank for buying toiletries items and other small stuff. And don't worry, it's safe there in that bank,"
Charlie said with looked sincere.
"What if I wanted to return here for a couple of days to sell my house or take care of some other business?"
"That's not a problem, as lots of people come back for a month for that particular reason. But if you don't check back in with Laurie after a week, we assume that you don't want to return and we will prorate your refund by a couple of days,"
Charlie replied.
"That sounds reasonable," Josh.
"Well, go home and think it over, and like I said earlier, be in the foyer at high noon on Tuesday. We only have an opening for one more individual. And if you decide to join us on Tuesday, use the entrance that states "For Employees Only,"
and you can park your car in that lot," Charlie said, then he walked Jason to the door.
He punched in the cipher code he opened the door and stepped outside with Josh.
"Take care, my friend," Charlie said, then he went back inside the electrical room.
Josh walked back through the courtyard and headed to the mansion.
He entered the foyer and headed to the counter.
Laurie's eyes lit up when she saw Josh walking to her counter.
"Did you enjoy your second visit?" she asked with a gleam in her eyes.
"Yes," Josh replied, then looked to make sure nobody was close-by. "Charlie told me that I could purchase some Western attire from you," he quietly asked.
"Ah, you went on the special tour," she replied with a
wink. "Follow me," she said, then placed a "Be Back In 20
Minutes" sign on the counter.
Josh followed Laurie through the foyer, down a hall to a locked door. After Laurie unlocked the door, she escorted Josh into a room where men and women's old Western clothes and hats were on display to be sold.
An hour later, Josh spent two hundred dollars on Cowboy boots, Cowboy hat, jeans, Western shirts, cloth bag, and an old Western suitcase.
Laurie was in heaven knowing that Josh would live in Paradise while she reached in a drawer of the counter and removed a form.
"Have this application for Residency in Paradise filled out when you return on Tuesday," Laurie said and handed Josh the form.
Josh took the form and looked it over. "Okay," he said, then walked to the front door.
The drive back up the Florida Turnpike was filled with happy thoughts of living in Paradise.
Back in his home, Josh thought about Paradise all night while he watched old Western movies on his DVD player.
Josh woke up at 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning and was raring to prepare for a new life in Paradise.
After Josh showered, ate his Chocolate Lucky Charms and drank a few cups of coffee, he opened up his cell phone and punched in a number.
"George Branson," he answered the call.
"George, Josh Bryan. Listen, I need to take care of some important business this morning. I'm going to take four vacation hours. I'll be in after lunch," Josh said into the cell phone.
"First of all, you're late for work. Second, you know company policy on advance notice for vacation hours. Besides, I need status on your program at ten," George replied and sounded a little pissed.
Josh looked at his cell phone and got a smirk. "Like I said, I'll be in sometime after lunch," Josh snapped back.
Josh disconnected the call with another smirk, got up, and walked out of the kitchen.
Later that morning, Josh headed to his SunTrust bank and moved sixty percent of his money into a three-year CD. He was planning on staying in Paradise for three years and thought it would have a nice little nest egg when he returned. He also got thirty thousand dollars in cash, which took a while for them to gather.
He then headed to the post office and placed a stop order on all his mail. He told the post office personnel he would return in a couple of weeks to pick up his mail.
It was 1:15 p.m., and Josh went to work, and instead of heading straight to his cubicle, he decided to visit Kathy.
Josh started to enter Kathy's cubicle but stopped by the entrance the second, he heard Paul's voice.
"So, you and Josh are no longer an item?" Paul asked Kathy.
"We're finished. He's too boring for me and won't amount to much. Not like you, with all your high flying adventures,"
Kathy replied
Josh wanted to run in there and give Kathy a piece of her mind but decided she wasn't worth the words.
He walked away and headed to his cubicle.
After Josh sat at his desk and powered up his computer, George Branson stormed inside the cubicle.
"In my office now," George barked out then stormed out of Josh's cubicle.
"Whatever," Josh said quietly in a smart ass tone to himself while he opened up a Word file on his computer and started typing out a letter.
Five minutes later, Josh walked into George's office.
"I said, I wanted you in my office now!" George barked at Josh. Josh walked up to George's desk with a smirk. He slapped a letter on the desk in front of his boss. "I quit," Josh said with another smirk.
George was stunned while he picked up the paper and read Josh's letter of resignation.
"But," he said, then stopped the rest of his words when he saw Josh leaving his office.
George rushed through the office area and went into Josh's cubicle. It was empty, and Josh was nowhere to be found.
George rushed to the side of the building, where windows provided a view of the parking lot.
Later that night, Josh was in his kitchen and ate a huge dinner since he wanted to eat most of the food he had in the refrigerator. While he ate, he filled out the application for a Residency in Paradise and looked forward to beginning his new life. After dinner, Josh started securing his house, then his cell phone rang, and he removed it off his belt.
"Hey, Ricky," he answered when he looked at the viewfinder.
"What is going on with you? I heard that you up and quit today with no advanced notice?" Ricky replied from the cell phone and sounded concerned.
"I really need a change in my life. They would probably fire me anyway once they found out I was so far behind on my Ford software program," Josh replied.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to leave the area for a while and try to start over with a new life."
"Where are you going?" Ricky curiously asked. "I'm heading out west," Josh replied.
“Arizona?"
"Yeah," Josh lied.
"Stay in touch. I'm also getting tired of my job, so maybe I'll join you someday," Ricky said.
"I'll be back in a few months to sell my house, and we can talk about that then," Josh responded.
"Well, good luck, my friend, and we'll talk when you return," Ricky said.
"I will," Josh replied, then disconnected the call.
He returned to securing his house for his trip to Paradise.
Josh woke up bright and early Tuesday morning at 6:00
a.m., and he was so excited about spending a new life in Paradise.
After showering, he went into his kitchen and ate a huge breakfast to help clean his refrigerator.
Josh bagged all his perishables from the kitchen and threw them in a nearby restaurant dumpster. He also turned off his cable and terminated his cell phone contract.
It was 9:30 a.m., and Josh was dressed in one of his Western outfits. He turned off all the water, unplugged all his appliances, locked his house, and then drove south on the Florida Turnpike.
Josh pulled into the mansion's employee parking lot at 11:56 a.m. and parked his car where three other cars and a pickup truck were parked.
While walking to the mansion, he got out of his car with his Cowboy hat, a cloth suitcase, and a bag in hand.
Josh entered the foyer of the mansion and saw Sara Cooper, in a plain light blue Western dress, laced up brown boots, while she waited by Linda Bronson, a thirty-two-year-old cute chubby woman in a plain brown Western dress and laced up brown boots. Both ladies were beaming about living in Paradise while they waited by the counter.
“Hi, Josh,” Laurie called out from behind the counter with sparkles in her eyes.
“Howdy, Laurie,” Josh replied in a cowpoke tone.
On the wall behind them was a clock that chimed the second the hands met at high noon.
Josh walked up to the two ladies and removed his Cowboy hat. “Good day, I’m Josh Bryant,” he greeted them, still using his cowpoke tone.
“I’m Sara Cooper.”
“And I’m Linda Bronson.”
Charlie entered through the rear doors of the foyer dressed in old Western attire and a Cowboy hat.
“I see everybody showed up,” he said while he walked over to Josh and the ladies.
“Now, if I can have your application forms, I’ll process them into the computer,” he said while holding a hand.
Josh, Sara, and Linda all handed Charlie their completed forms.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Charlie told them. Then he walked behind the counter and opened the door to a small office.
While Charlie was in the small office, Laurie had love in her eyes while staring at Josh, making him uncomfortable.
Five minutes later, Charlie exited the small office and walked back over to everybody. “I did background checks, and everybody looks honest without a major criminal record, and I also got you in our system,” Charlie said while he stopped at He walked over and looked at Josh and Sara, examining their attire. “Are you all ready for a life in Paradise?” Charlie asked with a huge smile.
“You bet!” Josh replied.
Sara and Linda nodded in agreement with huge grins.
“That’s great. Now I have to check for your cash, weapons, or other electronic devices,” Charlie told them.
Charlie frisked Sara, checked her cloth suitcase, and then showed her a cloth bag with the cash.
Charlie frisked Linda, checked her cloth suitcase, and found an iPhone. “Paradise can’t be the Old West with electronic devices. You’ll get this back if you decide to leave,” Charlie said, then placed her iPhone on top of the counter.
“I’m sorry, I forgot,” Linda said.
“That’s okay, my dear,” Charlie replied while he checked out her cloth bag with the cash.
Charlie frisked Sara, checked her cloth suitcase, and then she showed her cloth bag with the cash.
“Everything looks in order. Now, you’ll make your payment once you arrive in Paradise. So if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your new life,” Charlie told them warmly.
Josh, Sara, and Linda grabbed their cloth suitcases and followed Charlie through the foyer to the rear door.
Laurie watched while Josh left, and she had sweet thoughts of marrying him and bearing his children in the future.
Josh, Sara, and Linda followed Charlie as he walked through the courtyard to the other side of the Train House building.
Charlie opened the back door to the Train House, and they entered the electrical room.
Inside the room, Rodney Worley, a forty-five-year-old man with shoulder-length brown hair, waited inside by the glass booth wearing old Western attire and a Cowboy. He was a cousin to Blaine and Charlie Fisher and donated $100,000 for the construction of the land of Paradise.
Charlie closed and locked the door, then looked at Josh, Sara, and Linda. “That’s our stagecoach driver, Rodney Worley.
He’s going to help me transport you to Paradise since the booth will be a tight fit with your suitcases,” Charlie told them.
“I’ll take the ladies first,” Rodney said and motioned for Sara and Linda to join him at the booth.
Rodney opened the front booth door, and Sara and Linda entered with their suitcases. Rodney then joined them and closed the door behind him.
Josh and Charlie watched while bright lights filled the booth's glass-like fireworks.
A whirring sound filled the inside of the booth.
The entire booth vibrated.
Then psychedelic colors filled the glass of the booth. The glass booth started spinning. Sara, Linda, and Rodney cringed in pain while the booth spun.
The spinning of the booth dissipated.
The psychedelic colors in the glass dissipated.
The vibration of the boot dissipated.
The lights from the glass dissipated.
Josh and Charlie noticed the booth was empty.
“They’ve arrived, and it’s now your turn,” Charlie said Josh then walked him to the glass booth.
It’s a typical beautiful sunny blue sky in the land of Paradise.
Sara and Linda waited by the stagecoach with their suitcases while Rodney climbed up and sat in his small wooden bench seat.
Josh and Charlie walked out of the cave and headed to the stagecoach.
Charlie opened up the stagecoach door. “Ladies,” he said in a polite tone.
Sara climbed inside the stagecoach with her suitcase, and Charlie assisted.
Laura climbed inside the stagecoach with her suitcase, and Charlie assisted.
Josh climbed inside the stagecoach with his suitcase, and Charlie closed the door.
Charlie leaned into one of the opened windows of the door. “Now, there’s an Indian camp over there,” Charlie said while he pointed in the direction of the Indians. “But don’t be alarmed, we have pistols, the Indians don’t, but they’re friendly and leave us alone,” he added.
Inside the stagecoach, Sara and Linda sat across from Josh.
They looked worried about remembering those Cowboys and Indian movies they’d watched on TV.
“I forgot about the Indian camp,” Josh said while he looked out the window, seeing the Tee Pee’s off in the desert.
“He did say they were friendly,” Linda added while she and Sara also saw the Tee Pee’s off in the desert.
“The old west wouldn’t be without Indians,” Josh said.
“Plus, he said they don’t have any guns,” Sara added.
Josh and Linda nodded in agreement, and they felt safe with Indians living in the land of Paradise.
Charlie smirked as he climbed into the driver’s seat next to Rodney. “Let’s head to Paradise,” he told Rodney.
Rodney grabbed the reins and barked a “Yaaaa!” while snapping the reins.
The stagecoach bucked while the horses took off and headed down the dirt trail.
Sara, Linda, and Josh looked out their windows while the stagecoach rode down the dirt trail.
“I’m really looking forward to a simple life here in Paradise,” Linda smiled.
“I figured I would stay for a couple of years. I thought it would be a great new adventure,” Sara added.
“I plan on staying for about three years. Unless I find a sweet woman to settle down with,” Josh replied while looking at Sara and Linda.
“That’s a change from the guys I know,” Linda replied.
“Tell me about it. That’s the main reason I wanted to make a getaway. My husband divorced me and ran off with a twenty-one-year-old skinny woman,” Sara responded. At the same time, her eyes welled up, recalling that heartbreaking experience.
“I was about to get fired from my job, and when I was going to propose to my girlfriend, I caught her with a coworker,” Josh told the ladies while his eyes widened.
Sara and Linda felt sorry for Josh.
“I’m not in the market for another man, but I hope you find someone in Paradise,” Linda said with a comforting smile.
“I’m not either, but I also hope you find someone special,”
Sara added with her comforting smile.
“Thanks,” Josh replied, and the train whistle was heard.
They saw the old Western train rolling down the track in the desert, with train engineer Elmer working the engine.
They saw the “Paradise Express” name on the passenger car with four people inside while it rolled down the tracks.
“This place is so cool!” Josh smiled while watching the Paradise Express roll down the tracks.
Sara and Linda nodded in agreement while watching the Paradise Express roll down the tracks.
Sara, Linda, and Josh checked out the Saguaro cactus, scrub brushes, and other desert vegetation.
Then Sara looked concerned. “I wonder if they have rattlesnakes out in the land of Paradise?” she asked Linda and Josh. They all looked out in the desert for signs of the slithery creature.
“I hope not. I can’t stand snakes,” Josh said while he continued to look out his window.
A little while later, the stagecoach was down the dirt trail and in a forest full of pine and oak trees. Some visible stumps were where they were cut down for the sawmill to build the town.
Then suddenly, gunfire from a pistol was heard, and Sara, Laura, and Josh were startled.
“What’s going on?” Linda asked, a little scared. “An Indian attack?” Sara asked, a little scared.
They all looked scared, and then it dawned on Josh.
“Charlie did state that the Indians don’t have guns,” he told the ladies.
Then, more gunfire from two pistols was heard, and Sara, Linda, and Josh looked scared to death.
“Whoa!” Rodney yelled out while he pulled back on the reins.
Sara, Linda, and Josh almost fell out of their seats while the stagecoach quickly stopped.
“I hope the Indians didn’t steal some guns, and we’re going to be scalped!” Josh said while he ran a hand through his hair.
The door to the stagecoach suddenly opened, and four Cowboys, Dale, Butch, with a face full of acne scars, Tim, and Billy, all wearing black shirts, black pants, and black Cowboy hats, stood outside with both of their Colt 45 pistols drawn.
“Get out!” Butch yelled at everybody inside the stagecoach.
Josh, Sara, and Linda looked at each other in disbelief, and then they looked at the four Cowboys.
“He said, get out!” Billy yelled while he cocked his Colt 45
pistols.
“Bring your bags of cash!” Dale added while he cocked his Colt 45 pistols.
Josh got out, then was the gentleman, and assisted Sara and Linda out of the stagecoach.
They stood by the stagecoach door and shook a little in fear. “Give us those bags of cash!” Dale yelled.
Butch walked over to Linda and glared into her eyes.
Linda’s hand trembled while she held out her bag of cash.
Butch snatched the bag out of her hand and moved back to his four buddies.
Tim walked up to Sara and glared into her eyes. Sara’s hand trembled while she held out her bag of cash.
Tim stayed there, gazed into Sara’s eyes, and moved closer to her face.
She cringed as Tim’s breath was horrendous, and she moved away.
Tim grabbed the back of her head, forced her lips to his, and kissed her.
Dale walked up to Josh while he held up his bag of cash.
Dale snatched the bag out of Josh’s hand and stepped away. Josh looked and saw Sara while she tried to push Tim away from her lips, but he continued to force a kiss on her.
He moved away from Sara, and she immediately slapped him. Tim got pissed and slapped Sara across her face. Tim went to hit her again, but Josh jumped in and instantly grabbed his arm.
Tim got furious and whacked Josh across his forehead with the butt of his pistol handle.
Josh dropped to the dirt unconscious.
Dale, Tim, Butch, and Billy all had smirks on their faces at the sight of Josh on the ground.
They ran off and jumped on their horses.
“Yaaaa!” Billy yelled, and the four Cowboys raced their horses down the dirt trail toward the direction of Paradise.
Linda and Sara knelt down to Josh’s aid.
Charlie and Rodney exited the stagecoach and walked over to Sara and Linda.
They looked down at Josh, still unconscious in the dirt.
Sara looked up at them and was upset. “Why didn’t you help stop those robbers?”
Charlie and Rodney grabbed Josh by his arms and legs and placed him inside the stagecoach.
“It’s how you make your payment, old Western style. One of the Cowboys was probably drunk,” Charlie told the ladies.
“It’s all a show to give you that old Western feel,” Rodney added.
“This forced kissing and hitting have never happened in the past. I’ll bring it up with the Marshall, and he’ll send that Cowboy out of Paradise since we have strict laws against violence,” Charlie told the ladies.
Sara and Linda felt better with his explanation.
“Let’s get back in the stagecoach and head to Paradise,”
Charlie said warmly.
He assisted Sara and Linda in the stagecoach and closed the door.
Charlie and Rodney climbed up the stagecoach and sat back in the seat.
Rodney grabbed the reins. “Yaaaa!” he barked, and the horses pulled the stagecoach down the dirt trail.
Inside the stagecoach, Sara and Linda glanced at Josh, who lay in the seat across from them, still unconscious.
“I’m wondering if I made a mistake coming to Paradise?”
Sara said to Linda.
Linda thought about Sara’s comment for a few seconds while she looked at Josh. “ This could be a fluke, Charlie stated.
He said they’ll make that Cowboy leave Paradise,” Linda replied.
Charlie and Rodney heard Sara and Linda’s conversation below, and they smirked while the stagecoach raced down the dirt trail.
Later that day, the stagecoach pulled into Paradise on Paradise Lane.
Sara and Linda looked out the stagecoach windows. They saw that all the buildings in Paradise were made of wooden construction with siding exteriors.
At the front of each building was an elevated wood plank sidewalk with hitching posts. The buildings were not painted, and the wood was allowed to weather for its natural color.
The stagecoach drove up and stopped at Doc Holloway’s Office building.
Charlie and Rodney climbed down from the stagecoach, walked over, and opened the door.
“Welcome to Paradise Ladies. If you, please exit the coach, we’ll take Mister Bryant to see Doc Holloway and then escort you to your rooms,” Charlie said politely.
He assisted Sara and Linda out of the stagecoach, reached inside, and placed their suitcases on the dirt street.
Then Charlie and Rodney got Josh out and carried him to the doctor's office by his arms and legs.
The main room, an examination room, and two patient bedrooms were inside Doc Holloway's Office.
Jenny Burns was a twenty-five-year-old beautiful brunette with brown eyes in an old Western nurse's dress.
She heard a bang on the door, walked over, and opened it.
She moved aside while Charlie and Rodney carried Josh inside.
“What happened?” Jenny asked while she looked at Josh.
“Tim was a little too drunk and roughed up one of our new guests,” Charlie told her.
“Doc Holloway isn’t here at the moment, but you can place him in that room,” she said while she walked them to a small bedroom.
Charlie and Rodney carried Josh into the bedroom and plopped him on the bed.
Jenny watched while they walked out of the room and headed to the front door.
After they left the office, Jenny walked into the bedroom to check out Josh.
Back on Paradise Lane, Charlie walked over to Sara and Linda while Rodney climbed back up to his seat on the stagecoach.
“Yaaaa!” Rodney barked, snapped the reins, and the horses pulled the stagecoach down Paradise Lane.
“Follow me, ladies,” Charlie told them while he picked up their suitcases and walked down Paradise Lane. The two ladies followed Charlie and were impressed; he acted like a gentleman and carried their suitcases.
“I think I can get used to this way of life,” Sara told Laura.
“It’s been a long time since I had a man act like a gentleman,” Laura replied.
Sara nodded in agreement with Laura’s statement.
A little while later, Charlie walked Sara and Linda to one of the seven Paradise Hotels located on both sides of Fisher’s Lane.
This hotel was called Fisher’s Lane Hotel #3 and is a one-story wooden building with six rooms. There’s another side street on the other side of town called Blaine’s Lane, where seven hotels are located; each is a one-story wooden building with six rooms.
Behind each hotel were located two wooden outhouses.
A little while later, Sara and Linda were in their rooms, which were nine feet by ten feet and had a single bed, chair, dresser, and stand-alone closet. It was a simple room for a simple lifestyle.
Sara settled into her room and relaxed until it was time for supper at the Paradise Dining Hall.
Laura also settled into her room and relaxed until it was time for supper.
Later that night, the sun had already disappeared, and the sky was full of twinkling stars with a bright, full Moon.
Kerosene lanterns lit up all the streets and buildings of Paradise.
Inside the bedroom of Doc Holloway’s Office, Josh lay in the bed, still unconscious in his clothes, with a huge goose egg on his forehead.
Jenny walked into the room and looked at Josh to ensure he was okay.
Josh stirred in the bed, and his eyes slowly opened. He looked around and was groggy, dazed, and confused. His eyes lit up the second he saw Jenny looking down at him. “Are you an Angel?”
Jenny chuckled over his question. “No. You’re alive and in Paradise.”
Josh cringed in pain with a throbbing headache. “Oh yeah.
They robbed and beat me, and I have a pounding headache,” he said while he felt the goose egg on his forehead.
Jenny touched Josh’s shoulder. “You need your sleep. Let me give you some pain medicine to help you,” she said, then she turned around and headed to the door.
Josh watched with interest while Jenny walked out of the room and headed to a medicine cabinet in the main room.
A little while later, Jenny returned to the room with two pain pills and a glass of water.
She gave Josh the pills and water, and he immediately swallowed the pills.
“My name is Josh Bryant, and I just arrived in Paradise.”
“I’m Jenny Burns, the town nurse. Larry Holloway is the town doctor.”
Jenny walked over to a stand-up closet, opened the door, and removed a blanket.
She walked back to Josh and covered him. “Get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, then blew out the Kerosene lantern in the room and closed the door when she left. Jenny went into the extra bedroom and closed the door, as she had used this room when a patient had stayed in the other bedroom.
She got undressed, dressed in a long nightgown, and then got under the covers. She started to think about Josh, as she was interested in him.
The sun rose precisely at 6:30 a.m., Wednesday morning in Paradise.
Josh was sound asleep in the bedroom of Doc Holloway’s Office.
“Ahhhh!” Sidney screamed from the examination area.
Josh heard that and bolted up from his sleep.
“Ahhhh!” Sidney screamed again from the examination room, filling the entire office.
Josh got curious and got out of bed.
He walked out of the bedroom and headed into the main area. “Ahhhh!” Sidney screamed louder while Josh walked through the main area and headed to the examination room.
Josh walked to the doorway of the examination room and saw Sidney Daily, a sixty-five-year-old man with a head full of white hair on his back on a wooden table. He was held down with a rope tied around him and secured to the table.
Doc Larry Holloway, a sixty-year-old man with a rough complexion and red swollen drunkard’s nose, sawed on Sidney’s leg below the knee. Jenny stood on the other side of the table from Doc Holloway, helping hold Sidney still.
“Ahhhh!” Sidney squirmed while he screamed and squirmed.
“Let’s give him something to knock him out,” Jenny told Doc Holloway.
Doc Holloway grabbed a nearby whiskey bottle. “Here, Sidney,” he said while he poured whiskey into Sidney’s mouth, causing him to gag.
Jenny felt Josh’s presence in the doorway and smiled when she saw him. “Good morning, Josh,” she said with a warm smile.
Doc Holloway turned and saw Josh in the doorway.
Josh nodded while he stared in shock at the sight before him. Josh felt sick and then rushed away before he vomited.
Doc Holloway laughed at that sight.
Jenny looked bothered by Doc Holloway’s attitude.
Josh rushed into the bedroom, grabbed his Cowboy hat, and left the room.
Josh rushed out of Doc Holloway’s Office and stood in Paradise Lane. He could still hear Sidney’s screams from inside the building.
Josh rushed away down Paradise Lane, dodging the numerous piles of road apples left by the horses.
Josh looked in awe at the town of Paradise as he walked down Paradise Lane, feeling like he had stepped back in time.
“This place looks exactly like the train set,” he said while he saw the bank.
Joe and Wendy, a middle-aged married couple, approached Josh while they took their daily stroll down Paradise Lane.
“Hello,” Josh said in a warm, polite tone.
“Hello,” Joe replied, and Kathy gave Josh a warm smile while they walked past him.
Josh walked down Paradise Lane and passed by the Paradise National Bank on his right. he looked to his left and saw the Paradise General Store across the street.
Josh walked farther down Paradise Lane and saw the Paradise Marshall’s Office to his right. Then, he looked to his left and saw the Paradise Dining Hall across the street.
Josh walked farther down Paradise Lane and saw the Paradise Court House to his right. Then he looked to his left and saw the Paradise House of Pleasure across the street. Josh thought it was some type of nightclub.
Josh walked farther down Paradise Lane, and a horse stable was to his right, where the stagecoach was housed. He looked across the street and saw the Paradise Main Hotel to his left across the street. This hotel was a two-story hotel with thirty-four rooms only for the Cowboys.
Josh glanced over at the hotel’s front porch, where he saw more Cowboys wearing black shirts. Kirby, Hal, Frank, and Paul stood on the front porch like they owned it.
“Hello,” Josh said while he tipped his Cowboy hat at the four Cowboys
Kirby, Hal, Frank, and Paul didn’t respond, so they kept a cautious eye on Josh while walking down the street.
“Not very friendly,” Josh quietly said to himself.
Josh turned around and walked back down Paradise Lane and saw Mindy Stone, a thirty-year-old beautiful pregnant woman who moped depressed down the street, staring at the dirt. “Hello, ma’am,” Josh said, tipping his Cowboy hat at Mindy.
She stared at the dirt while heading toward the hotel, ignoring Josh’s greeting.
Josh shrugged her off as he walked down the street.
Josh got back down Paradise Lane near Doc Holloway’s Office and stopped. He looked down the street and saw a saloon, Western Clothing Store, and the Paradise Undertaker building on the right side of the street.
He looked at the left side of the street and saw the Paradise Holy Church and the Paradise Laundry past the doctor’s office.
Josh remembered the goose egg on his forehead and decided he had some business to attend to. He turned around, walked down Paradise Lane, and returned to the Marshall’s Office.
The Marshall’s Office was your typical office, with wooden floors, a potbelly stove with an old-fashioned coffee pot that always contained strong coffee, two desks, two small six-foot by five-foot jail cells with small barred windows, and no wanted posters on the wall.
Charlie lounged in one of the desk chairs, his Cowboy boots kicked up on his desk. His Cowboy hat was tipped forward and covered his eyes while he napped. He also had a deputy’s badge pinned to his shirt and a holster with two Colt 45
pistols.
Josh walked up to Charlie’s desk while he snored. “Ah, excuse me,” Josh said.
Charlie continued to snore in his chair.
Josh knocked on Charlie’s desk.
Charlie slowly lifted his hat out of his eyes and glared at Josh. “Why did you wake me up?” he snarled, pissed.
Josh’s eyes widened with surprise when he recognized Charlie. “It’s you!”
“Yep, Paradise recruiter and deputy,” he replied with a cocky smirk.
“Then you know I got robbed and beaten last night,”
Charlie chuckled while he recalled yesterday’s incident.
“That’s how you make your payment into Paradise. We thought it would add to the old west feel,” he said.
“By robbing, then beating us?” Josh snapped, pissed.
Charlie saw the goose egg on Josh’s forehead. “I’m so sorry one of my Cowboys hit you. He had a little too much to drink. It happens with Cowboys in the old west,” he said.
“I want to press criminal charges,” Josh said, looking determined.
Charlie got irritated as he got up and walked over to Josh.
He placed a hand on the top of Josh’s shoulder. “Listen, son, it would be best if you forget about everything. And I mean forget,” he said with a quiet, threatening tone while tightening his grip on Josh’s shoulder.
Josh cringed in pain while Charlie’s fingers dug into his shoulder.
“Now, don’t worry; that Cowboy will be fired and sent away from Paradise as soon as the Marshall returns,” Charlie said. “I’m satisfied with that,” Josh replied, only to get out from under Charlie’s painful grip.
Charlie released Josh from his threatening grip and walked back to his desk. “There’s a room for you at Fisher’s Lane Hotel number three over on Fisher’s Lane. Now leave me alone,” he said, then sat back down in his chair, kicked his Cowboy boots back up on his desk, lowered his hat over his eyes, and returned to his nap.
Josh got upset while leaving the office but figured it might be best to forget about his beating.
Josh walked down Paradise Lane, noticing everybody had smiles, indicating they were happy living here.
Josh walked around Blaine Lane on the other side of town and saw seven hotels. While he walked the streets, he noticed more and more people appeared happy. That sight made him feel he made the right choice, and yesterday’s beating was just a fluke.
Josh walked to Fisher’s Lane and Fisher’s Lane Hotel #3 a little while later.
Josh removed his Cowboy hat the second he walked into the small lobby, which had a front desk, a couch, and four chairs.
The lobby was quiet, and Sidney stood behind the front desk and waited to assist a hotel guest.
Josh walked up to Sidney. “My name is Josh Bryant.
Charlie Fisher told me you should have a room for me. I just arrived in Paradise yesterday,” he said.
Sidney spotted the huge goose egg on Josh’s forehead.
“What happened to you?” he curiously asked.
“One of those Cowboys beat me after I went after him for forcing a kiss on a young lady,” Josh replied.
“Oh, I see,” Sidney replied, appearing concerned with Josh’s story as he opened a reservation book and flipped through some pages. “Ah yes, we have you in room six,” he replied, then annotated in the book that Josh showed up for his room.
Maggie was the bully of a woman who was around fifty-five years old and dusted the lobby. She glanced over at Josh and saw the goose egg on his forehead. She shrugged off Josh’s story about being beaten and continued dusting.
“You’ll be eating breakfast at six in the morning and dinner at six in the evening, all served in the Paradise Dining Hall on Paradise Lane. The bath is at the end of the hall, and you’re allowed fifteen minutes. Outhouses are located outside by the rear of the building,” Sidney instructed Josh.
“What about lunch?”
“Lunch will be explained later,” Sidney explained, then waited for Josh to leave the front desk.
Josh looked curiously at Sidney. “Do I get the room key?”
“We don’t have locks on the doors in Paradise, as there’s no crime in our beautiful town,” Sidney replied.
“I can vouch for that,” Josh said sarcastically, lightly touching the goose egg that was still a tad painful.
Josh walked away, headed down the hall to the rooms, and walked down the hall lit by the outside light shining through the large windows.
When he entered Room 6, his new home, he saw it was small. It had a single bed, chair, dresser, stand-up closet, and two windows that provided light during the day.
Josh looked and saw his cloth suitcase was already placed in his room.
“I forgot about my suitcase,” he thought while looking at his watch and realizing he had missed breakfast and lunch.
He looked up at the ceiling and saw they built a water sprinkler system for fire in the building. “I guess this place isn’t one hundred percent true old Western,” he said while he looked at the sprinkler heads.
He got on his new bed and relaxed until it was time for dinner.
His stomach growled, and he was starving since he hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning.
His eyes closed, and he drifted off to sleep.
Josh napped for two hours, then woke up feeling dirty and gritty from being in Paradise and decided to bathe.
Josh walked down to the end of the hall and into the bathroom.
He didn’t notice Maggie inside her room.
He went into the bathroom and only saw a small counter with a sink and a bathtub. “Wow, I’m surprised they have running water,” he said noticing the facets on the sink and bathtub. Not one hundred percent old Western!”
Josh turned the hot and cold knobs and noticed that the water wasn’t that hot. By the time the water filled the tub, it was tepid.
Josh stripped naked and hung his clothes on the hook on the wall.
He sat in the tub, and his eyes widened when he remembered something. “I forgot to bring soap and shampoo,”
he said, then figured soaking in water would make him a tad cleaner.
He closed his eyes, submerged his head under the water, and relaxed.
Fifteen minutes passed, and Josh was so relaxed in the tub that he was about to fall asleep in the water.
The door slammed open with a loud bang and caused Josh to almost jump out naked out of the tub.
“Your fifteen minutes are up!” Maggie barked like a Marine Corps drill instructor.
Josh saw Maggie standing in the bathroom doorway with her arms crossed, looking pissed. “Get out of the tub, now!”
she barked.
Maggie glared at Josh from the doorway.
“If I could have some privacy, I’ll get out of the tub,” Josh said while he started to get nervous about sitting naked in the tub with Maggie in the room.
Maggie chuckled while she left and closed the bathroom door.
Josh exited the tub, stood naked, and looked around the bathroom. “Ah man, I also forgot a towel,” he said while dripping wet on the wooden floor.
Josh got dressed in his clothes.
A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom and stepped into the hall, where Maggie waited, ensuring he was out.
Maggie gave Josh an evil eye while she watched him walk to his room.
The hall’s wooden floor creaked, and Josh looked up and saw Bob Jackson, a thirty-five-year-old man, as he walked up to the room next door.
Bob lightly tapped on the door for Room 5, next to Josh’s room.
“Howdy,” Josh said the second he saw Bob.
Bob nodded with a small smile in response to Josh’s greeting but was more interested in the inside of that hotel room.
Josh thought nothing of Bob’s weak greeting and went inside his room.
As soon as he entered his room, Josh grabbed his suitcase and walked to the stand-up closet.
He opened the closet and saw a “Welcome to Paradise”
basket with soap, a bottle of shampoo, a toothbrush, and a tube of cheap toothpaste. A Fisher’s Lane Hotel #3 embroidered towel was hanging in the closet.
Josh felt foolish for not finding that stuff before he took his bath.
“Oh, my God! Mindy!” Bob’s voice screamed in a panic from the room next door.
Josh got curious, and he rushed out of his room.
Josh rushed over to Room 5 and saw the door was opened.
He peeked inside and saw Bob sobbing on the bed while holding Mindy’s hand while she lay on the bed.
Josh saw that her throat was slit, and blood ran from the bed covers down to the wooden floor next to a bloody knife.
Sara walked down the hall and was about to open Room 2, across from Mindy’s, but got curious when she saw Josh with his mouth open in shock while he stood in the doorway.
She walked over to Josh. “What’s going on?” she curiously asked.
Sara quickly covered her mouth in shock, and her eyes well up at the sight of Mindy. “Did she kill herself?” she asked Josh.
“I believe she did,” Josh replied.
Bob continued to sob and didn’t notice Josh and Sara in the doorway.
After cleaning the tub from Josh’s bath, Maggie exited the bathroom and rushed down the hall.
She peeked into Mindy’s room and saw her slit throat and blood all over the bedcovers and floor. “Shit, now I have to clean up that fucking mess,” she bitched, then rushed down the hall. Josh and Sara looked offended by her lack of sympathy for a young woman who just committed suicide.
Josh and Sara walked away speechless, and both went inside their rooms.
Fifteen minutes later, Josh sat in his hotel room chair in disbelief that he saw a dead woman.
He heard footsteps running down the hall while Charlie and four Cowboys ran to Mindy’s room.
Twenty minutes later, Josh’s hotel room door was knocked on. He exited his chair, opened the door, and saw Charlie standing outside.
“Mister Bryant, Maggie, the hotel maid, told me you were in the doorway of Mindy’s room. What did you see?” Charlie asked while he stared at Josh’s eyes.
“I heard that guy cry out Mindy’s name like something was wrong. So I went over and saw him holding her hand and crying. Then I saw her throat was slit, and blood was on the bed and on the floor. Then Sara walked up and saw the same thing,”
Josh told Charlie.
Charlie glared at Josh for a few seconds, making him nervous. “That’s pretty much what Miss Cooper told me. This will be the first suicide we’ve had in Paradise,” Charlie told Josh.
He looked down the hall and watched while the four Cowboys, Harry, Jim, Saul, and Wesley, carried Mindy’s dead body away.
“Well, Mister Bryant, I’m sorry you had to witness two bad events. This never happens in Paradise. Now, don’t forget to be at dinner at the dining hall at six,” Charlie said, giving Josh a warm smile and walking away.
Josh closed the door and walked over to one of his room windows. He stared outside and saw a wooden wagon and horse pulled up to the front of the hotel. He watched while the
four Cowboys carried Mindy’s dead body placed her in the back of the wagon, and covered her with a blanket.
Then, from the window, he watched while Charlie walked away with Bob, who was still crying.
Josh sat in his chair and couldn’t believe what the first two days in Paradise brought him.
It was 6:00 in the evening, and Josh walked over to Paradise Lane and then walked to the Paradise Fisher Dining Hall.
The Dining Hall contained a vast dining room with seventeen tables for the seventy residents. Six cooks, waiters, waiter assistants, and dishwashers worked in the Dining Hall.
Josh walked up to the doorway to Paradise, where Abby Willis, a forty-year-old cute woman with red hair who was six months pregnant, was performing duties as the host of the Dining Hall.
Abby stood at the doorway with a clipboard in hand, bored stiff. “Good evening, ma-am. My name is Josh Bryant,” he told Abby. He wanted to sound like he was in the Old West, but Abby couldn’t care less.
Abby scanned down the list of names on her clipboard.
“Mister Bryant, you’re seated at table twelve,” Abby instructed with a pretend smile.
“Thank you, ma-am,” Josh replied, then stepped into the Dining Hall.
Abby watched as Josh walked into the dining room. She looked bothered as she rubbed her pregnant belly.
Josh walked through the dining hall, where everybody sat and waited to eat.
A few people gave Josh smiles for greetings while he walked through the maze of tables where people whispered amongst themselves.
Josh’s eyes lit up when he saw Jenny sitting at table four while he walked to his table.
He finally walked up to table twelve, where Sara and Linda sat with two other men.
“Hi, Sara and Linda,” he said the second he walked up to the table.
The two men saw Josh while he walked up to the table.
“I’m Willard Peabody,” a twenty-five-year-old average-looking nerd said from the table next to Linda.
“I’m James Abramson,” a sixty-year-old thin-framed man with salt and pepper hair said from the table, sitting next to Sara.
“I’m Josh Bryant,” he said as he sat down in the empty seat by Sara’s side.
Then, eight waiters started bringing plates with a ten-ounce-ounce steak, green beans, corn on the cob, and a glass of milk to the people at the tables.
Walt, a fifty-five-year-old chubby man, was the waiter for tables eleven and twelve. He walked up with two cheap dinner plates and placed them in front of Sara and Linda.
Kimmy, his twenty-three-year-old assistant assistant with long shoulder-length hair, brought two tall glasses of milk.
A few minutes later, Walt had steak dinners in front of everybody at table twelve, and he served them with glasses of milk. Charlie Fisher entered the Dining Hall with four other Cowboys: Henry, Lou, Greg, and Manny.
Charlie and his four Cowboys walked through the area, looking at everybody like prison guards.
“I can’t believe that woman killed in our hotel killed herself,” Josh said to Sara while he cut his steak.
“I know. How sad,” Sara replied.
“We heard about Mindy,” James added while he ate some green beans.
“What a shame. She must have been bummed out about being pregnant,” Willard replied, then took a sip of milk.
“Who was the guy in her room? Her husband?” Josh curiously asked.
“That’s her brother, Bob. He said he brought her here to escape her abusive husband,” James said while he cut his steak.
“He must have got her pregnant just before she came to Paradise,” Josh said, and then he ate a piece of steak. “He must have really screwed up her head,” Josh added after he swallowed his steak.
Willard opened his mouth to say something but kept it shut the second he saw Charlie walk over to their table with the four Cowboys.
“I need Sara, Linda, and Josh to stay here after your breakfast in the morning for orientation,” Charlie told the three newcomers.
Charlie walked away, and the four Cowboys followed like obedient servants.
“Orientation?” Josh asked James.
“Yep. You get assigned a work detail,” James replied.
“Work?” Josh replied, confused. “I thought this was like a vacation.”
Sara and Linda didn’t like hearing that either, and they looked concerned.
“Everybody has a job to do. I work at the General Store,”
James told Josh, Sara, and Linda.
“I work in the garden,” Willard added while holding his corn on the cob.
Josh glanced back at Charlie as he left the room with his Cowboys. “How did Charlie become the deputy and recruiter?”
“He’s the Sheriff ’s brother,” James responded, then took a milk drink.
“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Josh said.
“We better hurry up and finish. We only have thirty minutes for each meal,” James said, then ate more steak.
Josh looked a little bothered while he ate some green beans.
The Dining Hall was quiet except for the sound of steak being cut by knives.
Two hours ago, the sun dropped below the mountains, and the land of Paradise cooled to seventy degrees.
Josh left his hotel room and walked around town a little to kill time. Life without a television or a computer was different for Josh.
He walked down Paradise Lane and saw the full Moon, and the sky was sprinkled with hundreds of twinkling stars. Torches with small flames provided some light down all the streets.
Josh walked by the Paradise Saloon, where he heard a piano play a song he didn’t recognize. He also listened to little laughter while everybody had a good time inside, drinking and playing poker.
Josh walked toward Doc Holloway’s Office, where the central area lantern had just turned off, and the front door opened.
Jenny exited the office in a long, plain brown dress and walked off the porch to the street.
“Hello,” Jenny said the second she saw Josh while he walked to the office.
“Hi,” Josh said while he walked over to Jenny.
She looked at his forehead. “I see your bump is looking smaller,” she replied while she looked over the bump.
“The pain has gone away,” he replied.
“I’m glad,” she replied, then looked down the street.
Josh fidgeted a little while, debating whether to ask. “May I walk with you? I was thinking of walking around Paradise to get familiar with the place. I would love a tour guide,” he finally asked, feeling brave.
There was a brief moment of silence while Jenny looked at Josh. I was thinking of taking a ride on the Paradise Express. It relaxes me so I can get a good night’s sleep,” she replied warmly.
Josh looked disappointed. “I understand,” he said, then walked away.
“But, I would love some company,” she called out.
Josh turned around and smiled at the opportunity. “I would love an evening train ride.”
Josh and Jenny walked down the street.
“I can’t believe the doctor cut off that man’s leg yesterday,”
he said to get their conservations going.
“Poor Sidney came here with gangrene, and we use old Western medical techniques,” she replied and didn’t look proud of yesterday.
“Don’t you have medicine to knock you out?”
“Of course. But Holloway’s a drunken quack,” she said without thinking and cringed, thinking Josh would repeat what she said. “I’m sorry, but I shouldn’t have said that. I take it back,” she quickly added.
“Actually, I thought he was a quack also,” he replied. Jenny looked relieved, believing she could trust him. “Why would they let a quack be the town doctor?” “He’s the Marshall’s cousin,” she quietly answered. Suddenly, gunfire was heard from a nearby alley. That startled Josh, and he turned around after they stopped dead in their tracks.
“Get back here!” someone yelled from the alley.
Jerry Barrow, a twenty-eight-year-old man, ran out of the alley while pulling up his pants.
Cowboy Butch ran out of the alley with his pants around his ankles and was pulling up his boxer shorts. He aimed his Colt 45 pistol at Jerry, who bolted past Josh and Jenny.
Josh immediately shielded Jenny for protection.
Butch fired his pistol at Jerry; the second, Jerry bolted down a side street.
Butch tried to run after Jerry and forgot he had his pants around his ankles and fell flat on his face into the dirt.
Josh grabbed Jenny’s hand and rushed her down Paradise Lane.
Jenny smiled while Josh rushed her down the street. “No man has never done that for me,” she said.
“Well, pretty lady, it’s just the daily duty of a cowpoke,”
Josh replied while he walked down the street like a goofy John Wayne.
Jenny chuckled at the sight of Josh’s goofy walk.
Butch got back up on his feet, pulled his pants back up to his waist then wiped the dirt away from his mouth.
Butch looked around for Jerry and was pissed while bent down and picked up his Cowboy hat. He turned around and stormed off down Paradise Lane.
Then Josh stopped his goofy walk and looked concerned while he glanced down the side street; Jerry bolted down.
What happened back there to cause that Cowboy to fire his pistol? Josh asked and looked a little concerned.
“It’s in our best interest not to get involved with Cowboy matters,” Jenny warned.
Josh looked over at Jenny and saw her concerned look.
A few minutes later, Jenny and Josh walked to the train station, where the Paradise Express waited at the dock with engineer Sheldon working the engine during the night shift.
They walked past Cowboy Nate, who was smoking a cigarette against the train station building. Nate watched Jenny and Josh as they walked to the passenger car.
Jenny and Josh walked to the front door of the passenger car, where he assisted her up the small steps.
Inside the passenger car, two lit torches were on each side of the passenger, providing a little light.
Jenny and Josh walked down the aisle.
He sat down in one of the twenty bench seats near the front with her by the window.
Jerry Barrow cowered down low and nervous on the floor of one of the seats near the middle of the car.
He snuck aboard when Nate had his back turned to the train. “All aboard!” the night shift train station employee Niles called out while he walked up and down the dock.
Nate got in the passenger car from the rear door and immediately sat down by the door.
The whistle of the Paradise Express blew while it jerked and moved away from the dock.
Josh looked out the window while the train picked up speed and moved down the track.
“So I take it that riding the train is free?” he asked Jenny.
“Your hotel room is free, your food is free, and the train ride is free. You get paid for your work, so you can buy toiletries and other stuff from the General Store,” she replied, looking out the window. At the same time, the Paradise Express rolled down the track, and the whistle continued to blow.
Nate reclined in his seat and tipped his Cowboy hat over his eyes.
From Jenny’s window, they watched while the train rolled down the tracks. They saw Cowboys Chester, Bubba, Tim, and Lester sitting around a campfire with rifles next to the dirt trail that led to the mansion off the main dirt trail. They passed around the whiskey bottle and eyed the Paradise Express while it rolled down the tracks.
“Is that some type of security gate for the mansion?” he asked Jenny while they looked at the Cowboys who looked back at them.
“Yeah,” she replied.
Then Josh’s eyes widened when he saw Cowboy Tim.
“There’s the bastard!”
“What, bastard?” Jenny said while she looked at Josh.
“The Cowboy that hit me when they robbed the stagecoach during my first. I thought that Charlie said he would be fired. “
“It’s in our best interest,” she responded while she held Josh’s hand.
“I know not to get involved with the activities of the Cowboys,” he interrupted, finishing her warning statement.
The Paradise Express rolled down the tracks, and Josh saw the huge mansion to the right.
“Who lives there?” he asked.
“The Marshall of Paradise.”
“He must be some kind of Marshall to live in a huge fancy mansion,” he said.
“Yeah, he’s something alright,” replied Jenny while she looked out her window to avoid looking at the mansion.
“Why did you come to live in Paradise?” he curiously asked her. Jenny looked sad as she considered her life. “I was going to marry Rodney and thought he was my soul mate. Until I came home unexpectedly and found him in bed with another man,” she said.
“I’m sorry about that,” Josh replied.
“Why are you here?” she curiously asked.
“I caught my girlfriend with another man the night I was going to ask her to marry me, and I hated my job with a passion,” he said.
The full Moon lit the grassy field from the windows while the train rolled down the tracks.
Jenny placed a hand on Josh’s hand. “I’m also sorry.”
Jenny and Josh looked out the window and enjoyed the view of the moonlit grassy field.
The train rolled down the track and headed into the forest.
We could take a horse ride in the country someday.
“We’re only allowed to ride the train. The horses are restricted for Cowboys only,” Jenny replied.
“That’s too bad,” Josh replied, and he started to wonder if Paradise might not be such a fun place after all.
Jenny and Josh watched while the train rolled down the tracks through the forest.
It was quiet in the passenger car as the Paradise Express rolled down the tracks, emerged from the forest, and headed through the desert.
Jenny and Josh were quiet. They looked out her window and saw the desert visible from the full Moon.
Jerry peeked over the seat he hid and saw Nate relaxed in his seat with his hat tipped over his eyes.
Jerry slowly got up and tiptoed to the front door by Josh and Jenny.
Jenny and Josh felt Jerry’s presence and looked at him while he tiptoed to the front door.
“That’s the guy the Cowboy fired a shot at back in Paradise,” Josh said while they watched Jerry tiptoe to the front door.
Jerry leaped off the train the second he got to the front door.
Jenny and Josh watched while Jerry tumbled in the desert, then he quickly got up and ran toward the mountains.
Gunfire echoed inside the passenger car while Nate fired a shot at Jerry from the rear door.
Jenny and Josh turned around and saw Nate while he looked out the rear door.
Nate looked at Jenny and Josh. “You two better mind your own business,” he threatened.
Jenny and Josh turned back around and kept quiet while the train rolled down the tracks and made the loop back to Paradise.
The rest of the train ride was quiet for Jenny and Josh as they privately considered the recent events with Jerry and the Cowboys.
After they got off the Paradise Express while the train station was parked, they took a quiet walk through Paradise Lane, where very few people were walking around.
Jenny looked at her watch and saw it was 9:45 p.m. “We better get to our rooms. Curfew starts at ten,” she said.
“Curfew? Nobody said anything about curfew?” Josh replied.
“I guess it’s their way of controlling crime,” she stated.
They walked a few farther down the street and got close to Doc Holloway’s office. “I live in a hotel room on that side of town,” she said while they got closer and pointed to the hotels in Blaine Lane.
They walked to the entrance of Blaine Lane by the Paradise Undertaker’s building.
“Thanks for allowing me to accompany you on the train ride,” Josh said warmly.
“Thank you for the protection earlier,” she replied.
Josh looked at Jenny, hesitated, and then looked nervous.
He quickly gives her a kiss on her cheek.
“Goodnight, Jenny,” he said.
“Goodnight, Josh,” she replied, then walked to Blaine Lane and headed to her hotel.
Josh walked across the street to the entrance of Fisher’s Lane, located next to the Paradise Laundry. With a spring in his step, he headed to his hotel while he had lovely thoughts about Jenny.
Josh was in a deep sleep in a comfortable bed in his hotel room. It’s 5:20 a.m., Thursday morning, and Josh had another dream.
In Josh’s dream, he raced his white horse in the desert and headed toward another woman. She had a hood over her head and was tied to the railroad tracks. The Paradise Express raced toward the woman.
“Yaaaa, yaaaa!” Josh yelled out while he slapped his horse with his reins to make his horse move faster and just missed being pricked by some Saguaro cactus.
The Paradise Express raced closer to the woman tied to the tracks.
Josh screeched his horse with dirt flying everywhere to a stop five feet from the woman.
He jumped off his horse and ran to the woman tied to the tracks. He whipped out a six-inch shiny knife tucked inside a sheath in his right Cowboy boot.
The Paradise Express raced closer to the woman and Josh.
The sun reflected off the shiny metal of the large Bowie knife. At the same time, Josh brought the blade down to the rope that kept the woman prisoner to the threatening railroad tracks.
While Josh cut through the rope with his knife, the faint sound of a bell was heard.
The train whistle blew while the Paradise Express raced at Josh and the hooded woman.
The sound of the bell from the desert got louder.
A loud bang sounded from the desert like a door being slammed open.
The bell sounded louder in Josh’s ear.
The train whistle was louder while it was fifteen feet down the track.
“Time to get up!” a woman yelled at Josh from the desert sky. Josh looked confused by those bell sounds and the voice of a woman. Then he saw the Paradise Express two feet away from running him over.
“I said, time to get up!” the woman yelled louder from the desert sky.
Josh froze while he looked for the source of the woman’s voice. Then his eyes widened in fear, and he saw the train was inches from his body.
Back to Josh’s reality in Paradise, Josh jumped up scared in his bed the second the train impacted his body in his dream. He looked around, dazed and confused, and then he was startled when he saw Maggie standing near his bed with her hands on her hips.
“It’s time to get up!” she yelled, then turned around and walked out of his room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Josh got out of bed and walked to his stand-up closet.
Eighteen minutes later, Josh was back in his room, fresh from his bath, dressed in a cleaner pair of Western attire. He made sure he didn’t take longer than his allowed fifteen minutes in the bathroom, as he didn’t want a visit from Maggie, the bathroom police.
Josh grabbed his Cowboy hat and left his room.
Josh walked over to the row of two wooden outhouses assigned to his hotel.
There was a line of five people who waited their turn, and Josh walked up behind Sara.
“Good morning, Sara,” he greeted her with a smile.
Sara sniffed the air. “The morning doesn’t smell so good,”
she said jokingly.
Josh sniffed the air. “I know what you mean,” he replied lightly.
They looked sick over the stench from the outhouses, and Larry, a forty-seven-year-old man in front of them, noticed.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the smell in about a month or two,” he said, but he didn’t appear happy with life in Paradise.
“I sure hope so,” Josh replied.
“I do not like Paradise so far,” Sara quietly replied while she pinched off her nose to stop the stench from filling up her nasal cavities.
Josh pinched off his nose. “I know what you mean,” told her with a nasal tone.
Ten minutes later, Sara and Josh finished their business in the outhouses.
Sara and Josh walked down Paradise Lane and entered the Fisher Dining Hall.
Sara and Josh were seated at table twelve, and Walt brought them their scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuit plates. Kimmy brought everybody at the table their glasses of milk.
The dining room was filled with small idle chat while everybody ate breakfast.
Fifteen minutes later, people started getting up from their tables and headed out of the dining hall to start their workday.
Charlie Fisher entered the room with Cowboys Henry, Lou, Greg, and Manny.
They all walked over to table twelve. “Don’t forget, I need Josh, Sara, and Linda to stay for orientation.
Willard and James finished their breakfast, got up from the table, and headed to the door.
After a few minutes, Sara, Linda, and Josh were the only people left in the Dining Hall except for Charlie and his Cowboys.
Marshall Blaine Fisher entered the Dining Hall with a Marshall’s badge pinned to his black shirt. Blaine had a full head of white hair, a white handlebar mustache and goatee, two Colt 45 pistols in a holster, and a clipboard in hand. He was also known to always puff on a Cuban cigar, which he illegally obtained through his connections.
Tony, Ray, Mark, and Steve were all Cowboys in black shirts with two Colt 45 pistols in their holsters, followed by Blaine like obedient servants. Cowboy Tony was the meanest Cowboy in the bunch of Cowboys and would take a bullet for the Marshall.
Josh looked surprised when he saw Blaine. “Oh my god, it’s Blaine Fisher. I thought his daughter said he was traveling around the world?” Josh said.
Charlie walked up and smacked the back of Josh’s head.
“Shut up, boy. You shouldn’t be talking about the Marshall like that.”
Josh couldn’t believe Charlie’s attitude toward him, and while he watched Blaine strut up to their table, he started feeling bad in his gut.
“Good morning, and welcome to Paradise. I’m Marshall Fisher,” he said while he looked at his clipboard. “Say here with I call out your name,” he said, then paused. “Josh Bryant.”
“Here.”
“Sara Cooper.”
“Here.”
“Linda Bronson.”
“Here.”
Marshall Fisher looked up from his clipboard while he puffed on his cigar. “Good, now.”
“I changed my mind. I want to go back home,” Sara blurted out, interrupting the Marshall.
Marshall Fisher looked irritated when Sara interrupted him.
“You just got here, little lady.
“I know, but Paradise isn’t for me,” she said, looking like she would cry any second.
Fisher thought for a second, then motioned to Charlie to come over.
Charlie walked up to Marshall Fisher, who whispered in Charlie’s ear.
Charlie nodded; he understood, walked away, and headed to the door, and his four Cowboys tagged behind him.
“You can leave tomorrow afternoon, Sara,” Marshall Fisher said with a smile.
Sara looked relieved she would be out of his place.
Fisher looked back at his clipboard. “We have Sara and Josh working the gardens, and that shift starts at seven thirty in the morning,” he instructed.
Sara looked baffled. “Why am I working if I’m going back home?”
“Until you leave tomorrow, you’re a resident of Paradise, which means you will work for today’s meals. Do you understand?” he replied and glared at her.
She looked intimidated, nodded in agreement, and figured that working would help today go by faster.
“Now, you two will be meeting with Bo Whitfield in front of the General Store. Linda will work at the Paradise House of Pleasure. Everybody works Monday through Saturday, and you’ll be fed lunch at your work site. There’s one exception: the ladies of the Paradise House of Pleasure only get Sunday mornings off,” he told everybody.
“Excuse me, did you say Paradise House of Pleasure?
What’s that?” Linda interrupted him and didn’t like the name of that place.
“It’s the place where my Cowboys can relieve stress thanks to pretty women like you,” Marshall Fisher replied with a smile, which showed off his brown stained teeth from smoking.
The Cowboys near the table all smiled while they looked at Linda and had nasty thoughts of getting naked with her.
Linda thought for a second, and then it dawned on her, and she looked furious. “No way in hell!”
Fisher nodded at his Cowboys.
Cowboys Tony and Ray grabbed Linda and yanked her out of her seat.
Josh looked at Cowboy Tony; something about him seemed familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint where he’d seen him before.
The Cowboys escorted Linda away toward the door.
“I want to go home!” she cried while they walked her out of the Dining Hall.
Marshall Fisher looked at Josh and Sara. “Payday is on Fridays. Now go meet Bo at the General Store,” he said. Then he turned around and walked back to the door, and Cowboys Mark and Steve tagged along like obedient little doggies.
Sara’s eyes welled up, and Josh looked concerned while they exited the table.
Sara and Josh walked out of the Dining Hall and headed to the Paradise General Store, the next store. Both of them were speechless about what had just happened back in the Dining Hall. Sara and Josh walked over to the General Store, where Willard waited along with Gary, Ernie, Gail, Dave, and Harold.
Jenny walked out of the General Store and smiled when she saw Josh with the other folks.
“Good morning, Josh,” Jenny said with a warm smile while she walked up to him.
Josh smiled, and Paradise was now a place he enjoyed.
“Good morning, Jenny.”
“What are you doing out here?” she asked,
“I’m working as a gardener.”
“Very good. Thanks to you, we get to eat some healthy vegetables,” she said with a smile, then walked down the street toward the doctor’s office.
Josh looked happy while he watched Jenny walk down the street. Then he looked a little scared when he saw the Indian Chief Merijildo, a seventy-year-old Indian with long white braided hair. At the same time, he rode bareback on his horse down Paradise Lane. Four Indians on horses followed Chief Merijildo, and they surrounded Jerry Barrow, who rode on a horse with his hands tied behind his back.
“It’s him,” Josh said the second he saw Jerry tied on the horse.
“Who?” Sara asked.
“We saw some Cowboy shoot at him last night while he ran out of an alley and pulled up his pants. Then he got on board the Paradise Express and jumped off when he was in the desert.
The Cowboy fired a shot at him,” Josh told everybody while he looked at Jerry, who was scared to death.
Willard looked bothered at the sight of Jerry, and he turned and looked away.
While Chief Merijildo and his Indians rode to the Marshall’s Office, his eyes lit up at Sara’s beauty. He glared at
Sara with love in his eyes while they stopped at the Marshall’s Office.
The Chief ’s glares gave Sara the chills, so she looked away.
The Indians dismounted off their horses and tied the reins to the hitching post.
Then, two Indians pulled Jerry off his horse, and he landed on his back with a painful thud.
The two Indians grabbed Jerry by his arms and walked him inside the Marshalls office.
Bo Whitfield, a bully of a man who was a close friend of Blaine Fisher and had a shotgun in his saddle, rode up to everybody in a wooden wagon pulled by a horse.
“Are you two, Sara Cooper and Josh Bryant?” Bo asked.
“Yes,” Josh answered.
“Hop in the back of the wagon,” he told them.
Josh, Sara, Gary, Ernie, Willard, Gail, Dave, and Harold all hopped in the back of the wagon.
Bo turned his horse around and headed down Paradise Lane toward the entrance.
While the wagon rode down the street, Sara and Josh saw Chief Merijildo and his four Indians walk out of the Marshall’s Office with one of the Indians carrying a small wooden case of whiskey bottles.
Sara got the chills again, and Chief Merijildo smiled while he watched her in the wagon.
Chief Merijildo turned around and went back into the Marshall’s Office.
Josh looked back at the Indians. “Are those Indians a threat?”
“Don’t worry, Sheriff Fisher has them under control,” Bo said while they rode down the street.
Josh and Sara looked relieved.
The wagon drove past the Paradise House of Pleasure, a two-story house with eight small bedrooms on the second floor.
The first floor was a parlor and bar for entertaining the guests before they spent their hour of pleasure with a whore.
On the front porch stood the Paradise House of Pleasure.
Four whores named Candy, Sadie, Prudence, and Sweet Pea took a smoke break while Linda stood with Cowboys Tony and Ray.
Then Casey, the fifty-five-year-old two hundred fifty pounds of pure bitch madam, walked out to the porch. She was once a whore that Blaine Fisher frequented when he was married to Laurie’s mother.
“This one is fresh meat and just arrived a little while ago,”
Cowboy Tony told Casey.
“Good,” Casey said, then grabbed Linda by her arm and forced her inside the Paradise House of Pleasure.
Cowboys Tony and Ray went inside to christen Linda into the Paradise House of Pleasure.
The remaining four whores waved and blew kisses at the guys inside the wagon.
Josh and Sara looked concerned with the scene they witnessed with Linda and knew the Paradise House of Pleasure was a whorehouse.
Three Cowboys walked over to the front porch of the Paradise House of Pleasure.
One Cowboy grabbed Sweet Pea by her arm and took her inside, and another grabbed Prudence by her arm and took her inside.
The remaining Cowboy grabbed Sadie by her arm and took her inside.
Everyone remained quiet in the back of the wagon as Bo rode down the dirt trail and left Paradise.
It was later that day, and Paradise warmed to eighty degrees.
The garden contained broccoli, carrots, green beans, lettuce, potatoes, and zucchini.
Next to the garden was a large cornfield.
Next to the cornfield were apple and orange trees.
The sound of wood being cut from power saws from the sawmill that housed eight workers was far off in the distance from the fruit trees.
Under a large oak shade tree near the garden, Cowboys Nick, Butch, Howard, and Billy relaxed while their horses grazed in the grass. The Cowboys drank whiskey from a bottle while they eyed the garden and cornfield.
In the vegetable garden, Harold Nicholson was a thirty-year-old chubby geek with glasses. He looked exhausted while he picked green beans and placed them in a bushel basket.
Josh, Sara, and Willard looked exhausted in the cornfield while they picked corn and dropped it in bushel baskets.
When Sara and Josh reached the end of her row, she saw Chief Merijildo and four other Indians sitting on their horses.
Chief Merijildo eyed Sara, and a smile grew on his face.
Sara saw the Chief and leaned over to Josh. “That Indian is here, and he’s giving me the creeps,” she whispered.
Josh looked over at the Chief and his four Indians. They turned around and rode off toward the forest.
Sara’s eyes welled up, and the train whistle was heard as it rolled down the track near the garden.
Willard walked out of his row in the cornfield and carried a bushel basket full of corn to the wagon. From the shade tree, Butch took a drink from the whiskey bottle and spotted Willard while he walked over to the wagon. He smiled at the sight of Willard and then passed the bottle onto Nick.
“I got an itch to scratch,” he told his Cowboy buddies, who grinned as they knew what Butch meant.
Butch stood up and walked over to his horse, and jumped in the saddle.
Willard grabbed an empty bushel basket and walked back into the cornfield. He started picking more corn at the row next to Josh and Sara.
“Willard, I need to see you,” Butch called out from his horse at the edge of the cornfield.
Willard looked nervous, pretending he didn’t hear Butch’s request.
“Willard! I said I want to see you, and you can’t fight it. So let’s get it over with!” Butch yelled out, a little pissed.
Willard hesitated to come out of the cornfield. “Don’t make me come in there after you,” Butch threatened.
Willard hated life while he placed his basket down in the row, reluctantly walked down the row, and headed toward Butch.
Josh and Sara got curious and quietly inched down their row to the end.
They both peeked out of the cornfield and saw Butch walk his horse to the forest with Willard walking behind him.
“What the hell is going on?” Josh quietly asked Sara.
“I don’t know, but I can’t wait to get out of this place,”
Sara quietly replied while they watched Willard follow Butch on his horse to the forest.
“It’s best if you just ignore some of the things you might see around here,” Gail quietly said while she pushed her way through some corn stalks from the next row with a basket full of corn.
Gail walked past Josh, and Sara left the cornfield and headed toward the wagon.
Josh and Sara looked at each other, fearing the worst for Willard.
“It’s not break time!” Bo yelled from the wagon when Josh and Sara poked their heads out of the cornfield.
Josh and Sara quickly return to their work, picking corn.
Bo looked and saw Butch while he walked his horse to the forest and saw Willard trailing behind him. He didn’t like it but knew he had to shut his mouth.
Butch walked his horse into the forest, then dismounted.
He waited by his horse for Willard to walk over to him.
Butch walked over to a nearby tree and waited. Willard reluctantly walked over to Butch.
Butch unbuckled his belt and lowered his pants to his ankles. He then dropped his boxer shorts to his ankles.
“You know the routine, Willard,” he said with a horny grin.
“Please, I don’t want to do this anymore,” Willard pleaded.
Butch removed one of his Colt 45 pistols from his holster
“Now, now, Willard, don’t make me waste a bullet shooting you in your stupid brain,” he threatened, then cocked his pistol.
Willard walked up to Butch, and he dropped to his knees.
He wanted to vomit while he stared at Butch’s naked crotch.
Fifteen minutes later, Willard walked back into the cornfield, looking sick and ashamed.
He remained quiet while working in the garden for the rest of the day.
Sara and Josh felt it was best not to quiz Willard since he looked upset.
It was quiet during the journey to Paradise. At the same time, Sara, Josh, Gary, Willard, Gail, Dave, and Harold all walked exhausted behind Bo’s wagon, where the back was packed with bushel baskets of vegetables, fruit, and corn.
Jenny was alone in Doc Holloway’s Office since the doctor was at the saloon for his afternoon whiskey drinking. She just finished sweeping the floor, and it was a slow day, as nobody was sick. She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was 4:30 p.m., while she placed the broom in the closet and walked to the front door.
Jenny stepped out of Doc Holloway’s Office, glanced down Paradise Lane, and saw Bo’s wagon before the Dining Hall. Her eyes lit up when Josh walked out of the Dining Hall.
While walking to the wagon, Josh looked down Paradise Lane and saw Jenny standing in front of the doctor’s office.
Josh waved at her, and his eyes lit up when he waved back.
“So, I see you fancy someone,” Sara said while she walked up to Josh.
“Yeah, she’s special,” he replied while eying Jenny.
“The sooner you get these baskets into the dining hall, the sooner your workday ends,” Bo yelled at the two.
Sara and Josh grabbed a basket of corn and walked back to the Dining Hall.
They passed by Willard, who had his head down and was still in deep thought about today’s forced event with Cowboy Butch.
All the fruit, corn, and vegetable baskets were taken into the kitchen area of the Dining Hall.
Josh, Sara, and Willard waited with the other folks by the empty wagons.
Bo walked over and checked the back of his wagon.
He looked and was satisfied all the baskets had moved into the Dining Hall.
“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning. Have a great evening,”
Bo told his crew. Then he climbed up and sat in the wagon seat.
He grabbed the reins and drove the wagon away.
Then, a wagon driven by Russell drove down Paradise Lane with slabs of beef from the slaughterhouse barn.
The wagon turned down a back alley and headed to the rear of the Dining Hall.
Sara and Josh walked down Paradise Lane, and Willard tagged quietly behind them.
They returned to their hotel on Fisher’s Lane, went to their rooms, and relaxed before dinner.
It was 6:00 p.m., and Josh sat at table twelve with Sara, Willard, and James. Linda’s seat was empty since the whores never leave the Paradise House of Pleasure, and they have their own private dining room.
Dinner was quiet at table twelve while everybody ate their slabs of steak, green beans, baked potato, and a glass of milk.
“Do we get steak every night?” Josh asked James.
“We get ham on Friday and Tuesday nights,” James replied.
Josh didn’t look thrilled with having only steak and ham for dinner.
“We heard they might be stocking the lake with fish in the future,” James said while he cut another piece of steak.
Josh still didn’t look thrilled with the dinner menu.
Sara looked excited about leaving in the morning.
While everybody was in the Dining Hall, eating their dinners, Charlie stepped in the doorway with his four Cowboys.
He looked the place over and left when everybody seemed to be content with his or her meals.
Then, a few minutes later, Josh couldn’t hold it any longer.
“Willard, why did that Cowboy take you into the woods?”
Willard looked down at his steak dinner and got embarrassed. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.
Willard ate his steak, avoiding eye contact with everybody at the table.
Josh shrugged it off and then looked at Sara. “What time are you leaving tomorrow?”
“I’m supposed to see the Marshall tonight sometime after dinner,” she replied with a smile, thinking about going home.
“You might want to reconsider,” James said with a fatherly tone. “Why?” Sara asked.
James opened his mouth to answer.
“May I have your attention,” Charlie called out from the doorway of the Dining Hall.
The room got quiet, and all eyes were on Charlie and his four Cowboys. “Marshall Fisher needs everybody out by the courthouse right now,” he called out, then turned around and left. His four Cowboys stayed behind and watched while people got up from their tables.
“What’s going on?” Josh curiously asked James.
“You’ll see in a minute,” he replied and didn’t look very happy.
Willard looked pale and sweaty when he got up from the table.
Josh and Sara got up from the table and followed the crowd out of the Dining Hall.
It was a full moon, and the night sky was filled with twinkling stars.
Josh, Sara, Willard, and James followed out of the dining hall to where a wooden gallows had been wheeled out in front of the courthouse across the street.
The gallows had a hanging noose in the center of the street. The platform was ten feet off the ground, providing a view for all seventy residents of Paradise.
Thirty-four black shirt Cowboys walked the edge of the crowd. They had a hand on their Colt 45 pistols in case someone got unruly.
At the Paradise House of Pleasure, Casey, Linda, and the other seven whores stood out in the street and looked at the gallows.
In the crowd, Josh and Sara stood slack-jawed the second they saw the noose and knew this wouldn’t be a pretty sight.
Then Josh’s eyes lit up when he saw Jenny near the crowd’s edge. He tried to get her attention, but she looked bothered by the sight of the noose.
The door of the Marshall’s Office opened, and Marshall Fisher, with another Cuban cigar in his mouth, walked out and headed to the gallows.
Then, the Cowboys Tony and Steve escorted Jerry Barrow, who was handcuffed, out of Marshall’s Office. Cowboys Mark and Ray walked out of the Marshall’s Office and followed the other Cowboys.
Charlie stepped out of the Marshall’s Office and stood on the front porch. He looked at the gallows and then eyed the crowd.
Marshall Fisher walked up the steps of the gallows.
Marshall Fisher walked on the platform of the gallows and headed to the noose. He faced the crowd and waited for Jerry to arrive.
Tony and Steve walked Jerry up the steps to the gallows.
Mark and Ray walked up the steps to the gallows.
Jerry dug his heels into the wood while he fought from being escorted over to the noose. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”
he screamed out.
Steve punched Jerry in his kidneys, and he dropped to his knees in pain.
Tony and Steve dragged Jerry over to the noose.
Steve pulled Jerry up by his hair and stood him before Marshall Fisher.
Marshall Fisher addressed the crowd, who looked upset with what was about to happen. “It gives me great displeasure to stand before you with another individual who thinks he can just up and leave Paradise without permission,” he told the crowd.
“No!” Jerry cried out while Steve placed a noose around his neck.
Tony struggled to tighten the noose around Jerry’s neck while fighting to get free.
“I was raped!” Jerry screamed muffled while the noose was tight around his vocal cords.
Marshall Fisher nodded at Mark, who moved a wooden lever. The trap door opened under Jerry’s boots, and he dropped into the opening. His neck snapped, a sound that would haunt the minds of most of the town folk of Paradise.
They silently watched in horror while Jerry’s lifeless body dangled from the rope.
Bob Jackson stood in the middle of the crowd, hatred in his eyes, as he watched Marshall Fisher walk over to the steps of the gallows.
Josh and Sara looked in horror at each other, and her eyes welled up.
“I’m never leaving this place,” she whispered while her lips quivered while glancing back at Jerry’s lifeless dangling body.
The town folk quietly walked away from the gallows and headed to their hotels.
Bob walked down the street and headed to the saloon.
Sara sobbed, and Josh comforted her while they walked down Paradise Lane to their hotel.
While he walked Sara down Paradise Lane, he saw Jenny as she turned down one of the side streets and headed to her hotel.
Sara and Josh sat on her bed in her hotel room a little while later. The sound of horses galloping down the street was heard from her bedroom window.
“I can’t believe they hung a man for trying to leave this town. I thought Charlie said we could leave if we didn’t like Paradise,” she said while she wiped tears away from her eyes.
“This was a bad idea. A horrible idea,” she added while more tears filled her eyes.
Josh placed an arm around her shoulder to comfort her.
Her hotel room door slammed open, and Charlie entered with Cowboys Alfred, Tim, Bart, and Jesse trailing behind him.
“Sara, Marshall Fisher wants to see you about your departure from Paradise,” Charlie said. At the same time, he walked up to her bed and looked serious.
Sara got scared to death at the sight of Charlie and the Cowboys.
Charlie walked over and grabbed her by the arm.
She tried to fight him off while he lifted her off the bed.
“I’ve changed my mind. I want to stay,” she pleaded while her eyes continued to well up.
Sara dug her heels on the floor while Alfred and Jesse each grabbed one of her arms. They escorted her to the door.
Josh stood to protest, but his eyes widened the second he sat Cowboy Tim strut over.
“One move and I’ll repeat what I did the other day,” Tim promised while smirking and patting one of the handles of his Colt 45.
Josh sat back on Sara’s bed and watched while they escorted her out of the room.
Josh peeked out one of her bedroom windows and watched. At the same time, Charlie and the four Cowboys escorted Sara down the street and headed toward Paradise Lane.
He walked out of her room and heard a thud in the hall.
He looked and saw Bob on the floor by a room door and rushed over to help.
“Are you okay?” he asked while he shook Bob.
“I’m fine,” Bob slurred out his words.
Bob reeked of booze, and Josh immediately knew he was stinking drunk. He helped Bob to his feet, where he swayed. “I hate the fucking bastard,” Bob slurred out his words.
“I know you do,” Josh replied, not knowing who he meant.
“You better get some sleep. Where’s your room?” Josh asked.
Bob looked around the hall, then he squinted at the number on the door by him. “There,” he slurred out his words.
Josh held Bob up, and both almost fell over while Josh opened the door for Room 2.
Josh walked Bob into the room and plopped him on the bed. Bob immediately fell asleep.
Josh walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Josh walked down the hall and went inside his bedroom.
An hour had passed, and Josh lay in his bed, unable to sleep because tonight’s events had filled his head.
When his room door opened, he saw Willard and rushed inside in a panic. “They’re taking Sara away!” he told Josh quietly the second he got to bed.
Josh shot up in bed and looked concerned. “What?”
“Come quick,” Willard called out.
Josh got off his bed and followed Willard to the door.
Josh and Willard ran out of the hotel and down the side street.
They ran down another down the back alley and stopped at the corner of the Paradise Court House.
Josh and Willard peeked around the corner of the building and saw four Indians who stood by their horses. Then the door
to the Marshall’s Office opened, and Cowboys Tim and Alfred manhandled Sara outside while she kicked and squirmed to free herself from their grips.
“No!’ she yelled out in a panic and tried to fright from their grips.
They walked her over to the four Indians.
Charlie had a massive smile while he glanced at Sara being escorted to the Indians.
Sara kicked Alfred in his knee, and he dropped to the ground in pain.
Sara squirmed and almost slipped away until Tim whacked her on her head with the butt of one of his Colt 45s. She dropped down to the ground, out cold.
Tim and Jesse picked up Sara and carried her to the four Indians.
Two Indians grabbed Sara and threw her over one of the bareback horses.
Charlie walked up to the Indians. “Tell Chief Merijildo I hope he likes his new bride.”
The Indians smiled and got on their horses, with one of the Indians on the horse with Sara.
They rode off down Paradise Lane and headed out of town. Tim helped Alfred get up out of the dirt. “I need a drink,”
he told Alfred, and they walked down the street to the saloon, with Alfred walking with a limp.
Josh and Willard moved away from the Court House corner and returned to their hotel.
A little while later, Josh and Willard sat on his bed in Josh’s hotel room.
Willard’s eyes well up, and Josh noticed.
“What happened in the forest today?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Willard replied, looking upset. You can trust me.”
“Please, it’s embarrassing, and I can’t stand it anymore. So I’m getting out of here,” Willard replied, looking determined.
“How? They hung Jerry, and Sara got taken away,” Josh said, looking concerned.
Willard thought for a second. “That’s the risk I’ll be willing to take.”
Josh looked at Willard, and then he realized that it must have been forced sex in the woods when he remembered seeing Jerry Barrow run out of that alley, pulling up his pants.
“Did that Cowboy rape you?” Josh quietly asked.
Willard hesitated while he looked at Josh’s concerned eyes.
“That asshole Butch makes me give him a blowjob a couple times a week. In fact, he forces his way on a few of the young guys here in Paradise,” Willard replied, then he started having the dry heaves while memories of blowing Butch ran through his mind.
Josh felt sorry for Willard and knew why he wanted to leave.
“I’ll rather have a noose around my neck that suck on that bastard’s cock again,” Willard replied and looked determined.
“You don’t know how to activate the machine that transports us back home,” Josh said.
“I’m a genius with computers. I’ll find a way,” Willard replied, looking determined.
“Then why did you choose to live here in Paradise?”
“I needed some easy money, so I became a hacker and almost got caught. I figured I could hide out here in Paradise until things cooled down, but I think it’s safer to go home.”
“Paradise doesn’t sound so safe,” Josh replied.
“Why don’t you come with me?” Willard asked.
Josh thought for a second, but thoughts of Jenny filled his mind. “I’m stuck here and don’t want a noose around my neck.
So I’ll wait until there’s a one hundred percent guarantee I can get out alive with someone that means a lot to me.”
Willard shook Josh’s hand. “Good luck, my friend, and when I get out, I’ll come back with the police,” he said, then got off the bed.
Josh watched while Willard rushed out of his room and thought that Paradise could be a beautiful place under honest leadership if he succeeded.
A little while later, Josh got into bed after brushing his teeth. He tried to sleep, but he tossed and turned while thoughts of today’s events were stuck in his mind.
It was Friday morning, and Josh only slept for two hours, waking up exhausted.
After Josh took his fifteen-minute bath, he dressed, went to the stinky outhouses, dropped his clothes off at the Paradise Laundry, ate breakfast, and then waited by General Store with the other folks for the wagon.
While they waited, they heard horses coming down Paradise Lane from the entrance. They saw four Indians riding bareback with Willard on a lone horse with his hands tied behind his back.
Josh saw the fear in Willard’s eyes when they rode past everybody.
Bo drove his wagon up to everybody.
“Let’s get going,” Bo said while he stopped his wagon by Josh and everybody.
Everybody climbed in the rear of the wagon.
Bo snapped his reins, turned his wagon around, and headed out of Paradise.
While the wagon rode down the street, Josh glanced down the street, watching the Indians escorting Willard into the Marshall’s Office. He looked away and wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, at the Indian camp by the mountains, Sara was dressed in a female Indian outfit, and she sat next to Chief Merijildo outside his teepee.
On the other side of Chief Merijildo sat Diana, a twenty-five-year-old female with auburn hair and freckled pale white skin, and she was four months pregnant. Sara and Diana both looked lifeless while six male Indians danced around them in some type of wedding ceremony ritual. All the other male and female Indians sat nearby. They watched the ceremony that would make Sara the second wife of Chief Merijildo.
A few minutes later, the Indians stopped dancing, and an older Indian woman walked up with a multi-colored blanket.
She spread the blanket out on the dirt in front of Chief Merijildo.
Then, two Indian females walked up, each grabbing one of Sara’s arms.
Sara got concerned when they brought her to her feet.
Then, the two female Indians started to undress Sara, who fought back when she realized what they were doing.
But the two female Indians won, and they removed Sara’s Indian outfit, and she stood bare ass naked in front of the whole Indian tribe. She immediately tried to cover her naked body with her arms and hands, but the two female Indians forced her hands and arms away.
“No!” Sara said while they saw Chief Merijildo stand up and remove his Indian outfit and stand there naked with his saggy, wrinkly skin.
The two Indians worked to move a squirming Sara down to the blanket.
Then, two other female Indians rushed over and helped, and they forced Sara down on her back on the blanket.
“No!” Sara screamed while the Indians spread out her legs and arms and held her down on the blanket. “Rape!” she screamed while Chief Merijildo climbed on top of her. “No!
No!” she screamed out and tried to squirm away the second Chief Merijildo penetrated her.
Sara closed her eyes while they welled up, and Chief Merijildo grunted while he had his way with her.
It took three minutes, and Chief Merijildo was finished.
He climbed off Sara, and the entire tribe cheered an Indian cheer.
Sara glanced at Chief Merijildo’s wrinkly, saggy, naked skin, and she felt sick. Then she bolted up, covering her mouth with her right hand.
She ran over to the backside of the Chief ’s teepee and got on her hands and knees. Chuckles from the Indians were heard while she vomited into the dirt.
Back in the garden, Josh looked depressed while he picked corn and dropped them into a bushel basket. His thoughts flipped flopped between Jenny and Sara.
It was 4:00 p.m., and the wagons were loaded with bushel baskets of vegetables, corn, and fruit.
“Let’s head back to Paradise,” Bo told everybody while he climbed up his wagon and sat in his seat. He snapped the reins, and the horses pulled the wagon toward the dirt road.
Josh and the rest followed behind the wagon.
The other four wagon drivers followed Bo, and the other workers walked following their assigned wagons.
Fifteen minutes later, Bo drove his wagon down Paradise Lane and stopped before the Dining Hall.
Josh and everybody immediately started grabbing and talking the baskets into the dining hall.
While Josh carried a basket of corn into the Dining Hall, he looked down the street and saw Jenny while she stood outside and waved. He smiled, and it was the sight of her that made Paradise worth wild.
Ten minutes later, all the wagons were unloaded except for a bushel of apples in Bo’s wagon.
“Josh, take those apples to the General Store, then you can head to the bank. Today’s payday,” he said, then climbed up his wagon and sat in the seat.
Josh removed the basket of apples from the rear of Bo’s wagon.
Bo snapped the reins, the horse pulled the wagon down the street, and the other four wagons followed.
Josh looked down the street and saw Jenny while she walked back inside the doctor’s office.
Josh carried the basket of apples to the General Store and went inside.
The inside of the General Store was full of clothes, medicine, toiletries, candy, and occasional fruit.
Melvin was the sixty-five-year-old, chubby, and balding manager of the Paradise General Store. He got this job because he was a close chum to Blaine Fisher. He also invested $100,000
into constructing Paradise’s land, which entitled him to other fringe benefits.
James swept the floor while Josh entered with the bushel of apples.
“Bo said to bring these apples here to the store,” Josh said while he walked up to the counter where Melvin worked behind the cash register.
Melvin looked at the basket and looked over by the candy rack. “Place it over by the candy,” he said, then went back to work tallying up today’s sales.
Josh walked the basket of apples over to the candy rack and placed it on the floor.
Josh walked over to James, who was sweeping near the back door.
“Are they going to have a hanging later?” he quietly asked James.
“I heard Marshall Fisher had another court session today,”
James quietly replied.
“I saw the Indians bringing Willard in this morning,” Josh quietly said.
“What did he do?” James quietly said and stopped sweeping.
“He told me he was going to escape from Paradise,” Josh quietly replied.
“Doesn’t that dope know that there’s no escaping from Paradise,” James quietly responded and looked upset with Willard.
Melvin looked over at Josh and James and looked bothered.
“James, I want you to take inventory of the entire store.”
“I’ll see you at dinner,” James told Josh, then he walked to a broom closet on the other side of the room.
Josh walked to the front door of the store and went outside.
Josh left the store, walked down Paradise Lane, and headed to the bank.
Inside the Paradise National Bank, Cowboys Clint and Richard stood guard by the front door and kept a watchful eye on the customers.
Josh entered, walked over, and stood in line behind the other workers from the garden.
Ten minutes later, Josh’s turn was to see Jackie, the female bank teller.
“Name,” Jackie asked when Josh approached her window.
“Josh Bryant.”
Jackie looked at a piece of paper; then, she opened the cash drawer and removed some bills.
She handed Josh four $1 bills.
Josh looked at the bills and saw they looked like real money but had Blaine Fisher’s picture instead of George Washington’s.
“This looks like counterfeit money,” Josh said while he looked at the bills.
Cowboy Clint rushed over, grabbed Josh by his arm, and rushed him to the door.
“What did I do?” Josh asked and looked baffled.
Clint was quiet while Richard opened up the door for Clint.
Outside the bank, Clint marched Josh to the Marshall’s Office, where numerous townsfolk watched.
Charlie sat inside the Marshall’s Office with his Cowboy boots kicked up on the desk. He played a tune on his harmonica.
Marshall Fisher had his boots kicked up on his desk while he slouched in his chair with his Cowboy hat over his eyes while he took a catnap.
From one of the two jail cells, Willard lay on his bunk and looked scared while he stared at the ceiling.
The door opened, and Clint rushed Josh inside by his arm.
Charlie stopped playing his harmonica, and Marshall Fisher sat up and took off his hat.
“What happened?” Marshall Fisher asked.
“This dork commented that our money is counterfeit,”
Clint replied.
Marshall Fisher and Charlie got up from behind their desks and marched over to Josh, pissed.
“Are you going to be giving me more trouble, Mister Bryant?” Marshall Fisher asked.
Willard got off his bunk and walked to his cell bars to see what was happening with Josh.
Josh’s eyes widened when he saw Willard in the cell, and Willard looked scared to death.
Charlie walked up to Clint and Josh.
Marshall Fisher nodded at Charlie.
Charlie punched Josh in the stomach.
Josh dropped to the floor and buckled over in pain.
Marshall Fisher pulled Josh up by his hair and got in his face. “I’m seeing that we’ll have to teach this boy some manners.
Take him to Wilbur, and I want this turd helping out for the rest of his shift,” Marshall Fisher said while he looked at Charlie.
“Yes sir,” Charlie replied then.
Charlie grabbed Josh’s arm and escorted him to the door with Clint trailing behind.
Marshall Fisher returned to his chair, sat down, and kicked his boots on his desk.
Willard walked back to his jail cell bunk and sat down.
Charlie and Clint escorted Josh to the outhouse row by the hotels on Fisher’s Lane.
They walked up a “Use Outhouse On Other Side of Town” sign at the beginning of the alley leading to the outhouses.
They escorted Josh over to seventy-year-old Wilbur, who was strained. He lifted a wooden bucket with rope handles and placed it on the rear of a wooden wagon with three other buckets.
When Josh was escorted past the wagon, the stench of human waste from the buckets was overpowering, and he started to get dry heaves.
Charlie got a smirk over the sight of Josh. “Wilbur.”
Wilbur looked at Charlie. “What?”
“The Marshall wants this turd to help you for the rest of your shift,” Charlie said, then threw Josh into the dirt.
Charlie and Clint turned around and rushed away as the stench started making them sick.
Wilbur walked up to Josh while he stood up.
“The job’s simple. We drag the buckets of shit and piss out from under the outhouses and put it in the rear of the wagon.
Then we empty them in the pit in the forest and put them back under the outhouses,” he told Josh.
Josh pinched his nose and nodded, indicating that he understood the instructions.
Wilbur walked over to an outhouse and unlatched a door at the bottom. He reached underneath the outhouse and dragged out a wooden bucket where some waste splashed onto the dirt.
Wilbur looked at Josh, who stood there, pinching off his nose.
“Get your ass over here and help,” he barked.
Josh grabbed one rope handle while Wilbur grabbed the other handle.
The bucket sloshed while they carried it to the wagon, with Josh having dry heaves.
They both lifted and placed in the rear of the wagon.
Wilbur walked over, climbed the wagon, and sat in the driver’s seat.
Josh stayed at the rear of the wagon, and Wilbur noticed.
“We’re not done yet. Climb aboard,” he ordered Josh walked over, climbed up, and got in the wagon’s seat next to Wilbur.
Wilbur snapped the reins, and the horse pulled the wagon away. Wilbur drove the wagon down a smaller dirt trail deep into the forest a little while later.
“You must have pissed off Marshall Fisher to get this duty today.”
“I called his money counterfeit when I was at the bank.”
“Ouch. I pissed him off big time, and he put me on permanent outhouse duty,” Wilbur replied and looked upset. “I
guess you can say I’m the head turd,” he added with a chuckle, then looked sad.
Josh chuckled and then looked sad.
“The bastard had my wife working as his cook,” Wilbur added.
“Had?”
Wilbur wiped away a tear. “My wife Dorothy died, and Marshall Fisher buried her without a funeral and told me a week later. So I punched him in his mouth, hence this job,” he said with anger still brewing inside while he thought about that day.
“This place isn’t Paradise, and I can’t believe you get hung for trying to leave,” Josh replied. He looked sad while he thought about Jerry being hung and Willard waiting in jail.
“Everybody had their reason for coming to Paradise, believing it would be a better life. Boy, were we duped,” Wilbur said. “I guess my life back home wasn’t so bad after all,” Josh replied.
“The grass is often never greener on the other side,” said Wilbur.
Josh nodded in agreement while Wilbur drove the wagon to a huge hole.
He stopped the wagon and climbed down off the wagon.
Josh sniffed the air and got the dry heaves over the strong stench of human waste.
“It’s time to unload,” Wilbur said while walking to the wagon’s rear.
Josh got down from the wagon and walked over to Wilber.
He helped Wilbur remove a bucket of crap from the back of the wagon.
They walked the bucket over to the pit of human waste.
They dumped the bucket’s contents into the pit, where some waste splashed at them.
His eyes widened, and he rushed over to a tree and immediately dropped his hands and knees.
Wilbur laughed at the sight of Josh on his hands and knees, vomiting.
Josh stood up and looked pale.
“Did I ever tell you the problem I have?” Wilbur asked Josh while he walked back to the wagon.
“No,” Josh replied when he got to the wagon.
“I have this problem in that everything I eat turns to shit,”
Wilbur said with a grin.
Josh looked at the pit of shit and turned around, and bolted back to the tree. He dropped to his hands and knees and vomited again.
Wilbur laughed from the wagon at the sight of Josh.
Josh got up, still pale, and walked back to the wagon.
“Please be nice,” he pleaded while climbing up and sitting beside Wilbur.
“Okay,” Wilbur replied, then snapped the reins, and the horse pulled the buggy away from the pit.
The farther and farther the wagon drove away from the pit, the more and more Josh quit feeling like he was going to vomit.
It was 5:30 p.m., later that evening, and Josh finished his crap detail and returned to his hotel room, where he immediately soaked in the bathtub.
A light tapping on the bathroom door was heard, and the door slowly opened.
Josh sat straight up and looked irritated. “I still have five minutes,” he yelled out, thinking it was Maggie performing her duties as the bathroom police.
The door continued to slowly open, and Josh quickly covered his crotch.
“Stupid maid,” Josh said under his breath while the door creaked open. Then his eyes lit up with joy the second he saw Jenny enter the bathroom with a clean pair of pants and a shirt.
She closed the door behind her and smiled at the sight of Josh. “Rub a rub dub, sexy man in a tub,” she winked.
Josh loved her comment.
Jenny held up clean clothes. “I heard about your details, so I thought you could use some fresh clothes.”
“Paradise sure doesn’t smell like Paradise,” he replied.
Jenny hung his fresh clothes up on the hooks on the wall.
“I know. You better hurry before that maid busts in here and arrests you for excessive tub time,” she jokingly said, then winked at Josh and left the bathroom.
Josh looked at his fresh clothes and smiled at the thought of Jenny being thoughtful to him.
A little while later, Josh walked out of his hotel and headed to the Dining Hall, afraid they might hang him if he didn’t show up for dinner.
Josh just made it into the Dining Hall before the doors were closed. He rushed to table twelve and eyed table four, where Jenny was already seated.
Josh sat down next to James, and they both stared at the three empty seats.
Walt dropped off their steak dinners with corn on the cob, broccoli, and mashed potatoes.
Kimmy came up behind Walt and dropped off their two glasses of milk.
James started cutting his steak while Josh suddenly lost his appetite.
“Did Sara go home?” James asked while he looked at the empty seats.
Josh opened up his mouth to respond but shut it the second he saw Charlie standing in the doorway with Cowboys Bart, Jesse, Sam, and Jimmy.
“May I have your attention?” Charlie called out from the door to the Dining Hall.
It was quiet in the room, and all eyes were on Charlie.
“Marshall Fisher wants everybody outside by the courthouse. You can finish dinner afterward,” he addressed everybody.
The room was quiet while everybody got up from their tables and headed to the door.
Josh and James walked out of the Dining Hall with all the other folks and stood in the street. They saw the gallows in the middle of the street.
Josh and James both knew this was meant for Willard.
The door to the Marshall’s Office opened, and Marshall Fisher, with another cigar in his mouth, walked out and headed to the gallows.
Then, the Cowboys Tony and Steve escorted Willard, who was handcuffed, out of Marshall’s Office.
Cowboys Mark and Ray walked out of the Marshall’s Office and followed the other Cowboys.
Charlie stepped out of the Marshall’s Office and crossed his arms on the front porch. He looked at the gallows and then eyed the crowd.
Marshall Fisher walked up the steps of the gallows.
Marshall Fisher walked on the platform of the gallows and headed to the noose. He faced the crowd and waited.
Tony and Steve walked Willard up the steps to the gallows.
Mark and Ray walked up the steps to the gallows.
Willard dug his heels into the wood while he fought from being escorted over to the noose. “Please don’t let them kill me!” he screamed out to the crowd of town folk who felt sorry for Willard but knew they couldn’t save his life.
Steve punched Willard in his stomach, and he dropped to his knees in pain.
Tony and Steve dragged Willard over to the noose.
Steve pulled Willard up by his hair and stood him before Marshall Fisher.
Marshall Fisher paced back and forth while he addressed the crowd, who looked upset with what was about to happen.
“It gives me great displeasure to stand before you with another individual who thinks he can just up and leave Paradise without permission,” he told the crowd.
“Please don’t kill me!” Willard cried out while Steve placed a noose around his neck.
Tony struggled to tighten the noose around Willard’s neck while he fought to get free.
Marshall Fisher got in Willard’s face. “I built this beautiful place for people like you. People who wanted to get away from their miserable lives. And you repay me by trying to leave?”
Marshall Fisher yelled in Willard’s face.
“I was forced to perform oral sex on Butch the faggot!”
Willard screamed out in a muffled tone while the noose was tight around his vocal cords.
Butch looked at the gallows from the edge of the crowd he monitored and was furious with Willard’s comment.
“And now, this guy lies in my face about one of my good Cowboys who keep crime out of Paradise!” Marshall Fisher told the audience.
A huge wet spot formed in Willard’s crotch while he peed his pants, afraid of dying.
Marshall Fisher nodded at Mark, who moved a wooden lever. The trap door opened under Willard’s boots, and he dropped into the hole. His neck snapped, and that was a sound
that would again haunt the minds of most of the town folk of Paradise.
They silently watched in horror while Willard’s lifeless body dangled from the rope.
Josh’s eyes welled up when he saw his short-term friend’s lifeless body dangling from the noose.
Marshall Fisher looked satisfied while he looked down at Willard’s dead body. “Get this piece of trash out of here,” he ordered his Cowboys.
Cowboy Steve removed a large Bowie knife and started cutting at the rope.
After a few minutes of Steve cutting through the rope, Willard’s dead body dropped to the dirt with a thud.
“To brighten up this sad moment, we’re having a dance in the dining hall in two hours, and the drinks are on me. Besides, everybody can have Saturday off from work except for the General Store, which will close at noon that day. So please go to your rooms and freshen up, dance, and have a great time tonight,” Marshall Fisher told the town folks while Cowboys Steve, Ray, Mark, and Tony walked down the steps and went underneath the gallows.
The Cowboys grabbed Willard by his arms and legs and carted him to a wagon beside the Marshall’s Office.
Marshall Fisher walked down the steps of the gallows and headed to his office while the Cowboys tossed Willard’s dead body into the back of the wagon.
Everybody started walking down Paradise Lane somberly and headed toward their respective hotels.
Bob stood in the street with a fire in his eyes while he eyed Marshall Fisher when he walked to his office.
Bob walked away and headed toward the saloon.
Josh saw Jenny, and his eyes lit up. He headed to her to ask her to dance tonight. But he stopped dead when he saw Marshall Fisher walk over and chat with her.
While walking down a side street, he was disappointed and headed to his hotel.
Two hours later, Josh and the rest of the town folk of Paradise headed to the Paradise Dining Hall for the dance.
Inside the Dining Hall, all the tables were removed for the party. All the chairs were placed against three walls so the residents could sit and relax if desired.
Against the fourth wall was an area for the band, which consisted of Paul, the fiddle player; George, the banjo player; Lenny, the guitar player; and Hank, the stand-up bass player. To the right side of the band was a makeshift bar that served beer, whiskey, and apple juice.
The band was tuning their instruments while the folks entered the room in fresh clothes.
Josh entered the room and immediately scanned the room for Jenny but couldn’t find her amongst the 20 folks who had already arrived.
He walked through the waiting folks and headed to the bar.
“Beer, please,” Josh told the Paradise Saloon bartender Wendell, who had a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth.
Josh spotted Bob Jackson, who sat depressed in a seat by the wall and drank his mug of beer.
Wendell spat some tobacco into a brass spittoon while pouring some beer from a keg into a glass mug and then handed it to Josh.
He turned around and took a sip of beer while he looked the room over for Jenny.
Flocks of town folks entered, and Josh continued his search for Jenny while sipping his beer and walking around the room.
After ten minutes of walking around all of the town folk, Josh finally saw Jenny, in a new brown dress, while he stood near the door.
He walked over to her. “Hello, Miss Burns, you look lovely tonight,” he said.
“Thank you, mister Bryant, and I should add that you look handsome tonight,” she replied warmly.
Josh looked a little nervous and hesitated to say something.
“So Jenny, may I accompany you at this dance?” he asked with hopeful eyes.
Jenny responded for a few seconds, and Josh thought she would turn him down.
“I would love for you to accompany me at the dance,” she replied lovingly.
Josh held Jenny’s hand, walked her over, and placed the empty beer mug on the bar.
The band started playing a slow song.
“May I have this dance, my beautiful lady?” he asked while holding his hand.
Jenny smiled while accepting his hand; then they walked to the center of the room, where other couples started slow dancing.
Josh placed his arms around Jenny, and they started slow dancing with the other couples.
“What the hell is going on here?” he whispered into his ear as he felt he could trust her.
“It’s best to forget things that you recently saw. Marshall Fisher can make your life miserable if you complain about anything,” she whispered back in his ear.
“I was lied to by Charlie,” he whispered back into her ear.
“We all were,” she whispered back into his ear.
“Fisher didn’t build this place for us. He built it for his own sick perversion to be a dictator,” he whispered back.
“I know,” she whispered.
“We need to find a way out of here,” he whispered.
“We’re stuck here for good, so pretend you love this place,”
she whispered.
Josh looked determined to find a way out of here but didn’t want to leave Jenny behind in this hellhole.
A hand appeared and pulled Josh apart from Jenny. “I’m going to dance with her,” Marshall Fisher said with another cigar in his mouth while he pushed Josh out of the way.
Marshall Fisher grabbed Jenny, forced her body up against his, and started slow dancing with her.
Jenny turned her head away from the cigar smoke that irritated her eyes.
Josh got pissed at that sight but decided to leave it alone when he saw Cowboys Tony, Steve, Ray, and Mark near him.
Steve and Tony each grabbed one of Josh’s arms.
“She’s his date for the evening,” Steve said while he and Tony walked Josh away and took him over to the bar.
“Give this boy a beer,” Steve told Wendell, the bartender.
Wendell poured Josh some beer in a mug and handed it to him. Steve and Tony walked away and headed back through the crowd to Marshall Fisher.
Josh stood by the bar and sipped his beer while he eyed the crowd, dancing at the sight of Jenny.
The song ended, and Josh finally saw Jenny while Marshall Fisher talked with her by the door. He grabbed Jenny by her hand and walked her to the door.
Jenny glanced back at the crowd and saw Josh at the bar.
She looked concerned while Marshall Fisher walked her out the door and went outside.
Josh rushed through the crowd, headed to the door, rushed outside, and walked to the front porch of the Dining Hall. He looked down Paradise Lane and saw Marshall Fisher escorting Jenny with the four Cowboys to his mansion.
Cowboys Jesse and Bart walked up to Josh. “Get back inside the dance,” Jesse told Josh. “Nobody is allowed out of the dining hall until the dance ends,” Bart glared.
Josh returned inside the Dining Hall and hated every minute of the dance, as all he could think about was Jenny being with Marshall Fisher.
After the dance, everybody was allowed to leave the Dining Hall and return to their hotel rooms. Josh glanced back at Fisher’s mansion and silently prayed that the Marshall didn’t have his way with Jenny. He moped to his hotel room.
Josh finally fell asleep around 3:40 a.m. Saturday morning, but when he did, he tossed and turned from another dream.
In Josh’s dream, he and Jenny could get a wagon and ride into the forest.
Josh stopped the wagon by the lake, which was a sandy beach. Got out of the wagon and then assisted Jenny out like a gentleman.
He then removed a blanket and picnic basket from the back of the wagon, and they walked hand in hand to the sandy beach.
Josh laid the blanket out in the sand and placed the picnic basket in one corner.
Josh held Jenny’s hands and gazed into her eyes, and then their lips met. Their kissing turned passionate, and he slowly lowered her to the blanket. Josh got on top of Jenny and passionately kissed on the blanket.
Josh was suddenly pulled off Jenny, staring into the eyes of Cowboys Steve, Tony, Mark, Jesse, Bart, and Ray.
Marshall Fisher walked over and glared at Josh. “She’s my girl now,” he yelled and punched Josh in his stomach. “Take him away, and I’ll be along a little while later,” Marshall Fisher told his Cowboys.
Steve and Tony each grabbed one of Josh’s arms and walked him to another wagon. They threw Josh in the back, and then Steve and Tony got inside with Josh while Mark and Ray climbed up and sat in the driver’s seat.
“No!” Jenny screamed out while the wagon drove away.
Josh turned around and saw Cowboys Bart and Jesse forcing Jenny down on the blanket while Marshall Fisher had his pants down around his ankles and was raping her.
Josh tried to get out of the back of the wagon to help Jenny, but Steve and Tony’s grips were too strong.
He listened in horror to the screams of Jenny while the Marshall raped her.
A little while later, the wagon stopped at the Marshall’s Office. Steve and Tony grabbed one of Josh’s arms and dragged him out of the wagon.
Mark and Ray rushed to the front porch and opened the door to the Marshall’s Office.
Steve and Tony escorted Josh into the Marshall’s Office and rushed him over to one of the jail cells.
They threw him inside the cell, where he hit the floor with a thud. Steve slammed the door shut and walked away.
Josh sat down on the bunk in his jail cell, and the screams of Jenny being raped filled the air.
Then, he heard the faint sound of a bell ringing. The bell ringing got louder.
Josh looked around the cell for the source of the bell ringing.
“Get your ass out of bed!” Maggie’s nagging voice filled the air.
Josh looked around for Maggie, and she was nowhere to be found.
Then he felt an invisible slap across his cheek.
Back to Josh’s reality in Paradise, it was 5:00 a.m., and Josh opened his eyes and saw Maggie standing over him while he lay in bed.
“Get your lazy ass out of bed!” she yelled while she rang the bell in his ear.
Josh jumped up in a panic and looked dazed and slightly confused while staring at Maggie.
She chuckled while she walked to the door and left his room.
Josh exited the bed, grabbed his towel, toothpaste, and toothbrush, and left his room.
He walked down the hall and found two other people waiting in line for their fifteen-minute turn in the bathroom.
“Ah, man,” he said while waiting in line.
Forty-five minutes later, Josh rushed his bath, was out of the bathroom, and dressed in fresh clothes.
He left the hotel and rushed down Paradise Lane to the Dining Hall.
Josh entered the Dining Hall after being checked in by Abby.
While Josh walked through the maze of tables, he saw table four and noticed Jenny needed to be seated. He got concerned while he continued through the labyrinth and walked to his table.
He sat down next to James. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you, good sir,” James replied.
Josh glanced at the doorway, hoping to see Jenny enter the room.
Walt walked up to the table with two scrambled eggs and bacon plates and placed them before Josh and James.
Kimmy walked up with two glasses of homemade apple juice and set them in front of Josh and James.
“What are your plans for today?” James asked while he scooped up some eggs with his fork.
“I don’t know. Maybe take a train ride,” Josh replied while he glanced at the door for Jenny.
“I’m off duty from the General Store at noon; if you can wait until then, I would love to tag along,” James said, then took a sip of milk.
“Ah, sure,” Josh replied while he glanced over in the area of Jenny’s table and saw her empty seat.
“Great, meet me outside the General Store at noon,” James replied, then munched on a slice of bacon.
“Sure,” Josh replied, looking a little concerned for Jenny’s whereabouts.
Josh and James continued to eat breakfast with some idle chitchat.
After breakfast, Josh walked with James to the General Store.
After James went inside to report for work, Josh walked down Paradise Lane.
Josh walked down the street and went to Doc Holloway’s Office. He saw the “Closed” sign in the door window but still peeked inside, searching for Jenny.
He stepped off the porch and looked concerned while he walked down Paradise Lane.
Josh walked up and down Paradise Lane a few times.
He then walked up and down Blaine and Fisher’s Lanes and was soon utterly bored after he saw all the sights he could see in Paradise.
He returned to this hotel room and relaxed until it was time to meet with James.
At high noon, Josh walked over to the General Store, where James was waiting on the porch.
They walked down Paradise Lane and headed to the train station.
Josh and James waited at the dock of the train station, where eight other town folks were waiting for a ride.
The train whistle was heard, and a puff of black smoke was visible while the train rolled down the tracks and headed to the train station.
Everybody at the dock stood in line for the Paradise Express.
The train stopped, and everybody started boarding the passenger car.
Cowboy Doug sat in the rear of the passenger car and kept a watchful eye on the passengers.
Josh and James sat down on the left side of the passenger car. The train whistle blew, and the Paradise Express pulled away from the station.
Josh watched while the train rolled out of Paradise and headed toward Fisher’s mansion.
Josh eyed Fisher’s mansion while the Paradise Express rolled down the tracks.
“What brought you to Paradise?” Josh curiously asked James while the train started to roll down the tracks and headed through the grassy field.
James glanced out the window. “Well, I worked for a major aerospace program for thirty years. Then, our politicians in Washington canceled the government program we worked on, and I was out of work for a year. Then my wife died of cancer, and I moped around for another couple more years, feeling sorry for myself. Then I found out about Paradise and figured I could start a new life here,” James replied.
“Some Paradise,” Josh quietly said in a sarcastic tone.
“I know, but we can’t leave, so we must tolerate it and pretend we love it,” James quietly replied.
“I know,” Josh quietly responded but still looked determined to find a safe way out of his hell hole.
“How did you get the easy duty working at the General Store?”
“I worked the gardens at first, and when Mickey, an old man, died of old age, Marshall Fisher put me in there. I guess I got lucky,” James replied.
Josh and James remained quiet and looked out the window while the Paradise Express rolled down the tracks through the forest.
Josh and James remained quiet and looked out the window while the train rolled down the tracks through the desert.
The Paradise Express rolled around the bend, and Josh and James saw four Indians camped near the mountain cave.
“What are those Indians doing there?” Josh curiously asked James.
“Marshall Fisher pays them in whiskey to guard the cave for anybody trying to escape,” James replied. At the same time, he looked out the window and saw the Indians passing around the whiskey bottle.
Josh and James stared out the window while the Paradise Express rolled down the tracks with the mountains to the left.
“Paradise sure is a beautiful place,” Josh said while he looked at the mountains. “Except for the criminals,” he muttered under his breath.
They both looked at the windows and saw the Indian camp.
Josh’s eyes lit up. “There’s Sara,” he told James. James looked and saw Sara sitting outside Chief.
Merijildo’s teepee. “It looks like the Chief has another wife,” James replied.
“Another wife?”
“A little while back, another young girl named Diana was taken away by the Indians when she asked Marshall Fisher if she could go home,” James replied.
“I wondered what happened when a guy asked the Marshall if he could go home,” Josh curiously asked.
“He’s the pleasure property of some Cowboys that like guys,” James replied.
Josh stared at the Indian camp while the Paradise Express rolled down the tracks and felt so sorry for Sara.
Josh and James were quiet during the rest of the ride back to Paradise.
After the train ride, Josh and James returned to their hotel rooms and relaxed.
Josh paced back and forth in his room, so bored without a life of television or DVD movies.
Josh left his hotel room after twenty minutes of boredom and pacing to kill some time. He walked up and down all the streets where numerous other couples were also walking to fight boredom.
After walking the streets numerous times, it was time for lunch, and Josh met James back at the Dining Hall, where they were served ham sandwiches and milk. While he ate his sandwich, Josh looked around the room, searching for Jenny, but she was nowhere to be found. He was concerned but knew he couldn’t ask anybody for fear that the Cowboys would take him to Marshall Fisher.
Josh and James ate lunch with idle chitchat.
After lunch, Josh walked over to the Paradise Saloon, which was packed, as some folks chose to drink and play poker to kill boredom.
Josh stood at the bar, drank a few beers at twenty-five cents a mug, and listened to Ralph, the day shift piano player while playing old Western songs on the old standup piano.
After spending thirty minutes in the noisy saloon, Josh left and walked up and down the streets of Paradise again.
Josh walked down the alley behind the Paradise House and saw four outhouses reserved for the whores.
One of the outhouse doors opened, and Linda stepped outside.
“Josh!” she said the second she saw Josh walking near the outhouses.