The Cowboy's Scars

November 20, 2010

It was in the wee hours of the morning, the sky was still dark with no trace of sunlight. The croaking of toads could still be heard and in a nearby farm, a cock crowed signifying the approaching sunrise. Connor Mcjunkin was awakened by the barking of his guard dog, Buddy beside the front door. He stood up, stretched his body while walking to the front door to open it for Buddy to go out and relieve himself.

Walking out the door dressed in cotton pants and a shirt, Connor sat down on a wooden chair on the front porch and gazed out at his ranch. His chest felt tight with happiness and pride when he saw his small acres of land which he toiled day and night on. Getting a loan from the local bank had proven to be a test of his confidence. It had taken time and lots of paperworks were signed but in the end, the loan was approved and disbursed to him. He had no idea what he would have done if the loan had been denied.

Being abandoned at the orphanage when he was a baby didn't really set him up for life. He was adopted at the age of seven by farmer Armstrong, a local farmer who brought him home to his farm where he along with a couple of older kids tilled the land, planted and took care of the animals while attending the nearby school. He was clothed, fed and housed by the farmer which he paid for by doing menial work on the farm and around the house. As he grew, so did the burden of work he did. Keeping the animals clean and well-fed, leading a small group of people in tilling the land, planting the seeds, tending to the plants, working with the farmer to make scarecrows, harvesting, repairing broken fences and links in the farm and fixing leaky roofs were just a few of his daily chores. The farmer was kind to him but very distant while his wife, a stout lady with a sharp mouth and fast hands didn't hesitate to land a few knocks on his head when she felt he was being playful and slow to do his tasks. He generally kept out of her way and just did his work.

Owing to Connor's frequent absence from school due to farm work, he had failed in 8th grade and had been mandated to repeat the grade which resulted in him graduating from high school at the age of 19. As farmer Armstrong took care of all his primary needs, he only started getting paid when he turned 16 and the money was vastly reduced compared to what other farm workers were paid. As a result of this, he was barely able to save enough money to move out. He just needed enough money to be able to pay for a few weeks of rent in the town boarding house till he could find a way to get funds and buy his own ranch which had been a lifelong dream of his.

It took him an additional year and some months to save enough money to afford a few months of rent and move out of the Armstrong farm. He was extremely grateful for what the Armstrongs had done for him but he knew without a doubt that they wouldn't do another thing for him and farmer Armstrong had told him it was high time he moved out and got his own life. They didn't give him a dime as he was leaving and Connor didn't bother begging for any. While the farmer shook his hand and said " good luck Connor, you'll do well" which to be honest meant a lot to Connor, his wife said" finally, he's out of here" with a relieved smile on her face. Connor didn't bother deigning that comment with a reply and just left.

He moved to the boarding house and started applying for a bank loan. As he had never had a bank account, the loan process was long and ardous and only got approved after two months. He got a few acres of land, bought some livestock, and lots of wood for construction. He got to work immediately and built a little wooden cabin where he kept the only property he had, an old bed he had gotten for a very fair price in town. He also constructed a small but sturdy barn where the animals and building tools were kept.

It had taken him about four months of unwavering hard work to turn his empty acres of land into a promising sight and now, sitting on the porch in the still dark-grey morning sky, Connor felt a deep sense of satisfaction when he saw his land that was blooming with hay and grass, his locked barn with his animals inside and a place that he could call his own, to lay his head down and sleep at night. He was turning 21 in a month's time and couldn't be more proud of how far he had come in life.

He sat there with his dog by his side till the sun came up in various hues of calming colours and the sky brightened up. He stood up and the dog ran across the short distance to the barn door and waited expectantly with his tongue out. Connor closed the door to his cabin with a smile on his face and crossed the yard to open the barn door wide, going in to loosen the animals from their posts and let them out for the day.

"Slow down Buddy" Connor said as his dog sped pass him. Buddy ran back to his side and let out a bark while shaking his tail excitedly. They were on their way out of town where Connor had gone to sell the week's produce from the farm. Whistling a tune to himself with a bounce in his step, Connor was satisfied with how the day's sales had gone. With the way things were going, he would be well underway with a quarter payment of the loan in a short while.

"Good day to you Connor" came a voice which startled him out of his reverie. "

"Good day to you too, Adam" he replied. Adam Matthews was an old schoolmate of his in high school. Short and a bit on the round side, he was a jolly good fellow who was always nice to everyone. He now worked in the department store as a cashier.

"I just popped out of the shop to take in some fresh air" Adam continued. "Yes, it must be quite stuffy in there I presume" Connor replied with a chuckle. "Indeed it is," said Adam, " seems you're going back up to your place" he continued. " Yes I am, couldn't bring my horse with me to town as we had a very busy morning and he is tired" Connor said with a nod. "I understand, one of these days I will come for a visit and to lend a hand in a task or two," Adam said. "Alright, that would be very much appreciated" Connor replied with a laugh and they clapped each other on the back and went their separate ways.

Quite a few appreciative glances and smiles were thrown his way by some ladies but Connor just smiled politely at them and tipped his hat to some. He knew he wasn't bad to look at, at 6'3" in height with muscles that were defined by years of hard work, strong legs encased in his jeans and boots, he also had closely shaved blond hair, grey eyes and a small beard he kept neatly trimmed, it wasn't a surprise he had admirers but he felt like he wasn't yet ready to have a woman in his life. There would be time for that later. He continued on his journey home.

When they were on a field with tall trees that was a short way from home, Buddy ran into the distance and ran back to him barking wildly. " What's wrong, boy?" Connor asked as he sensed something was amiss at the way Buddy was barking. His first thought was that perhaps there were thieves up there hiding behind the trees but when Buddy just kept on barking in the direction of home before running towards the direction, Connor knew that wasn't the case because Buddy wouldn't have ran back in the same direction if there really was danger up ahead. He ran after the dog as dread settled in his stomach.

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As he got out of the field and closer to his ranch, he could see some commotion in the distance and increased his speed. Getting closer, he saw smoke rising from his barn and his heart fell to his stomach. It was clear that his barn had caught on fire and that a few neighbours were trying unsuccessfully to quench the fire with buckets of water. In a short while, he arrived at the barn yelling " what happened? Jesus Christ, what happened?". About three people started talking at once but Connor focused on grabbing a bucket of water to throw into the fire. Barnaby Collins, who owned a farm along the road told him " Mcjunkins, I saw smoke rising from your farm a very short while ago and I rushed here to see that your barn was on fire and other neighbours were already here trying to quench it" It still made no sense to Connor as he asked " But how.... why...... what started the fire?" " We have no fucking idea man" another neighbour replied sadly. The fire service were on their way but it would take time before they could get here. Endless buckets of water were thrown on the unrelenting fire which only increased its ferocity. It was getting bigger and the roof was almost fully on fire with wood falling as the sides of the barn was rapidly burning. His animals were making a lot of noise inside and they couldn't run out because they were tied to their posts. Tears blurred Connor's vision as he saw his entire life going up in flames. " My horse, my cattles, my sheep, my entire life and future is in there" he said with so much pain and heartbreak in his voice. His neighbours rallied around him while still throwing buckets of water on the fire.

Connor saw red and before any one suspected what he was about to do, he ran inside the burning barn. Yells of " Connor no!!! Wait!! Stop him!!!" came from behind him as he raced into the barn while covering his head and face with his hat. He went straight to untie his animals from their posts and release them from their pens. He untied his horse and opened the stalls of the cattles and sheep and chased them out of the barn where he was sure his neighbours would hold them. After freeing and chasing out the last animal, he kept his head down and also ran to the entrance. It was at that moment that a beam fell from the roof and because he was facing downward, he didn't notice it until it almost hit him. He jumped back to avoid the falling beam and in what seemed to him like slow motion, he ended up slipping and falling down. In a reflex action, he tried using his hands to shield his face but when his hand fell on burning wood, he yelled and rolled away from there, thereby pressing the left side of his face on hot pieces of fallen wood. He used his gloved hands to push himself to lay down on a safe place on the ground and was overcome with the nerve-wracking pain that assaulted his body.

He knew, he just knew that he had caused irreparable damage to himself. His arms felt like they themselves were on fire, he saw that his leg had gotten close to a burning piece of wood and fire had caught on his jeans which he alternated between using his gloved hands to pat down and hitting it on the floor to quench it. His face was so hot tears dropped endlessly from his eyes which made the burning feeling in his face worse. He forced himself up on his feet but the pain he felt on his face almost knocked him unconscious and he got to his hands and knees to try searching for the exit through the overwhelming smoke. The smoke made this feat seem impossible and the barn started collapsing around him as the fire got bigger. He felt fear resonate deep in his bones and he tried calling for help but the smoke filled his breath and he started coughing. He tried calling for help again when he saw his dog, Buddy, running into the barn amidst yells of "stop the dog " from outside. The dog who seemed to be able to see well jumped over burning logs and ran straight to him and nudged him with his nose. " That's a good boy," Connor crooned with a raspy smoke-infused voice. He held until the dog with hands that burned and stood to his feet while bending over. The barn was falling at an alarming rate and he knew they had seconds to get out of it before everything comes crashing down. Connor couldn't see past his nose but Buddy navigated the exit more easily. They quickly got to the exit and immediately they exited the barn and Connor saw the grass, smoke-filled skies and his neighbours running towards him, everything went black.

December 6th, 2015

The excited chatter in the staff room of Great Minds Preparatory School was enough to cheer everyone up but today that didn't include Rosemary Douglas. Kind of ironical because she was well known to be the liveliest person among the bunch of teachers. She felt an elbow press into her side and turned to see her friend, Annabelle Jenkins, looking at her worriedly.

"What's wrong Rose, are you feeling sick?" she said to which Rosemary shook her head "no Annie I'm not, just a little under the weather today." " Well just think about the salary we're about to get in a few minutes time, that is guaranteed to brighten up your mood" Annabelle continued with a laugh to which Rosemary just smiled slightly and nodded.

Truth is, the salary she was about to receive was the main cause of her moodiness. It's a known fact that teachers don't get paid well but, teachers at the little preparatory school she had been teaching for the past two years of her life, get paid even less. It wouldn't even be dramatic to call the pay peanuts. She had been managing just fine regardless, between her salary and her mum's salary, the family was fed and clothed, but as of four months ago the small insurance company her mum had been working at as a receptionist had folded up rendering her mum and all the other workers jobless. Her out-of-work mum, thirteen years old sister and eleven years old brother were all depending on the 23 years old Rosemary's salary to eat and survive. The money was stretched thin enough and now that the school was closing for the long holiday, she couldn't help wondering how her family was going to survive.

With her mum finding it difficult to get another job, Rose thoughts had gotten quite fixed on the idea of getting a second job to make ends meet but now that the long holidays was staring her in the face, she knew she had to get one, FAST!!!.

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" Mum, I'm thinking of getting a job as a cook or cleaner on one of the richer farms in the area" Rose said to her mum who's face immediately became swarmed with guilt. " Rose I'm so sorry you have to work this hard" was the reply she got " it's just that there are no jobs forthcoming, no one wants to employ me because the only working experience I have is working as a receptionist for a company that got folded up. You are supposed to be resting this holiday, not thinking of how to cater to a family" she continued. Rosemary smiled slightly while her mum talked, she couldn't help noticing how good her mother looked despite having had a tough life. With her shoulder length chestnut brown hair and piercing green eyes, it was easy to understand why she had won the town town beauty pageant three times a row in her teenage years. Although the years hadn't been kind to her, with the death of her husband five years ago from a road accident to the burden of catering for 3 children thrust suddenly upon her. Regardless of all these happenings, she looked beautiful in her 50's and Rosemary thanked God she had been lucky enough to be blessed with her mum's green eyes but her bright red hair was courtesy of her dad although the two characteristics did go quite well together, she thought.

" It's okay mum. This is just going to be temporary until you get a job" she said to her mum " but for now, let's come up with a list of farms we think might need an house help" " Okay" her mum acquiesced, " let's start with the McGregor farms, they might need help" Getting a piece of paper and pen from her bag on the table, Rose wrote that down. Her mum listed a couple of farms including Mr George's ranch, the Smith's farm and what should have been her first option, Mister Mcjunkin's ranch who was one of the richest farmers in their community.

"What's funny guys" Rosemary asked her younger siblings who had started giggling when she mentioned Mcjunkin's name.

It was Rhoda, her sister, who first replied while still giggling "Freak" at which both Rose and her mum's face both paled. Charlie, her brother then chimed in saying " some kids at school said he's such a freak and a recluse".

It was at this point that her mum snapped " shut your mouths right there, that young man has been through the absolute worst in this life and it's disgusting that people, including my own children will talk about him in such a disgusting way and call him such names. He is someone you should look up to for how far he has come in life and the fact that he rarely comes out in public shouldn't be enough reason for anyone to trash talk him. If I hear such words again from your mouths, you will be grounded for life" she finished with a hard face.

The infamous barn fire that almost took Connor Mcjunkin's life had happened around the same time that Mr Douglas had died and their family had been too wrapped up in their suffocating grief to go check on the poor boy but Mrs Douglas frequently prayed for him when she prayed for her own children. " I haven't seen him since the incident and prior to that, I only saw him from a distance but how is he supposed to come out and socialize when this is how people speak of him" Rosemary said to her siblings" and I know it's not only because you're kids, those kids you heard it from must have adults around them who think the same way"

" Rose, mum we're so sorry. Please we're sorry" Rhoda said looking like she was on the verge of years. " We will never say such things again we promise" Charlie said. " It's okay" said their mum. " I will try Mcjunkin's farm, mum" said Rose " who knows, he might need help around there".