Mojave Desert Fiction

COW WELLS
By Ron Feller

The burning sun was at high noon and beating down on the desert sand. The old man was stumbling forward a few steps and then fell to his hands and knees only to get up after a few shaky steps to fall again -- Then do it over again. He had been in the Mojave Desert for three days, lost his horse the second day and drank the last few drops of water several hours ago. His lips were dry and cracked, his skin was brown and dry like old leather. His clothes were dirty and torn to shreds, his feet burned from the hot sand.

Johnny Fortune was his name and he had left the last town across the desert in a big hurry after a problem in a poker game. Johnny wasn't cheating, just being real lucky for a change, but several of the other players believed he was. Johnny did what he thought was best, get out of town in a hurry. He didn't have time to get any supplies and had to make it on two full canteens and a few pieces of jerky in his saddlebags. The jerky was gone and so was the water and he didn't know how far he had come and how far he had left to go. He thought about lying down and resting but decided that was not a good idea.

Off into the distance he saw what looked like a town. A town where there would be people; water and food. Then he could get the much-needed rest he needed. But first he had to get there.

Encouraged, he moved at a somewhat faster pace than he had been, but it was several hours before he came to the outskirts of the town. A faded hand carved sign reading "Welcome to Cow Wells" marked the entrance.

He walked down the dusty, deserted street. There were a few weeds growing here and there and as he came upon the hotel there was an old pump with a trough in front of it. The trough was dry but maybe the pump would work. He took the handle and began to pump it up and down. After a few minutes he began to wonder if there was water in it or if the well was a dry. The pump made a choking sound and out came some rusty water. He quickly took his well-worn hat and put it under the pump to catch the water. When the hat was full he grabbed it and drank from it being careful not to drink too much too fast. He then poured the rest of it over his head to cool himself off. He then pumped some more water into the hat and after drinking his fill; he laid down in the shade of the watering trough and passed out.

He awoke several hours later, he heard piano music coming from the saloon across the street. Who ever was playing was really going at it playing some old favorites. Johnny decided to go to the saloon and have a drink.

Upon entering the saloon he saw that there were several people sitting at the bar. He ordered a whiskey that he quickly drank and then ordered a second. Looking around the room he saw four or five men sitting at a table in the back playing poker and several others sitting at tables having drinks. There were several dance hall girls in the room and one came over and asked him to buy her a drink, which he did. While looking out the window he noticed that there were people walking by and horses tied to the hitching posts on the street. It was beginning to look like a busy little town. There seemed to be more people the he had first thought. Johnny had a few more drinks, flirted with the girls and really enjoyed himself for a while, He decided to play some poker. He went and sat at the poker table and antied up. It seemed that his luck was still pretty good at cards as he won a few hands, lost a bit, but overall he was winning.

The card game broke up several hours later. Johnny thought he'd walk over to the hotel restaurant to have a big steak, fried potatoes and lots of coffee, as he was still thirsty from his trip across the desert. To finish off his meal he would have a big piece of apple pie. Then he would get a room for the night. He didn't make it, he went to sleep right there in the chair at the card table. He slept soundly. Dead out.

In the morning he got up, had a drink, and asked the bartender how to get back to civilization. He was told it was about 50 miles to the next town near the edge of the desert. Johnny knew that there was no way he would ever make it without a horse so he decided that he needed to get back into a poker game and work up a better stake than he had. A few more dollars would get a good horse and some supplies for the trip out of this damn desert. So he sat down at the table and had them deal him in.

He lost the first hand or two, then won some, and it would change back and forth. He would win and then would lose. In the long run he ended up winning a considerable amount of money. When the game broke up he had another drink at the bar before going out in search of a good horse, at the livery stable he talked to the owner who had several horses that he would sell. Johnny picked out a big bay gelding and the owner of the livery also threw in an old, well worn, beaten up saddle. After saddling up the horse, Johnny led it down the street to the water pump to fill his canteens for the trip across the desert. As he neared the pump he slipped and when he fell he hit his head on the water trough; and then, blackness.

Two days later three riders came across the desert into Cow Wells. Riding down the street they found Johnny's body laying by the watering trough with an old beat up saddle and two canteens full of water. One of them said to the others, "I wonder why he had this old saddle that was half missing and where did he get the water in the canteens? This pump hasn't worked in years and I know that this well has been dry for near forty years. He had some money on him, almost 700 dollars. Where did it come from? Each time I go through this old ghost town, it's a little worse than it was the time before. Even the hotel has just about all collapsed into a pile of fire wood. Up until a few years ago there was a hand carved sign at the edge of town saying "Cow Wells." That was the name of the town but even that's been gone for sometime. The saloon fell down several years ago. There isn't much left of the old place. What do you think happened to him? It looks like he died of thirst but he has two canteens full of water and where did that come from? I don't know except that sometimes strange things happen in these old towns.

They buried Johnny Fortune in a grave marked only by a small hand made cross in the cemetery at the edge of town with the other citizens of Cow Wells.

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