The Starshine Kid: Arroyo Grande
Part 9 of 20
Signals in the Wind
Joseph and Ebba Stokkeland lay dead
near what little remained of their prairie schooner. Their son, sightless since
he was four years old, lay next to their lifeless, blood-soaked bodies. The
marshal could see the empty stares of fright gripping the two victims’ cold,
dead faces. Picking the lad up, Marshal King moved away from the smoldering
wagon over to a small grassy area next to a spring fed pond, where he
questioned the boy at length.
Adam King was very familiar with
these types of immigrants, folks who come to the new land to escape the hard
times in their own countries, desiring to find a hope and a more bountiful
future in the American heartland.
“You’re quite a shot with that
pistol, son,” Adam attempted to comfort the boy and point the boy’s thoughts in
another direction for the moment.
“My pappy taught me to shoot. My
name’s Elias, Elias Stokkeland.”
Adam continued, “And you got a keen
sense of hearin’.”
“That come natural. It just sort of
grows like a bush on the prairie, but I also practiced with my hearin’ a lot by
listenin’ to things and learnin’ what sounds different kinds of things make. I
also practiced hearin’ how far away a noise was.”
“That’s quite a feat, Elias,” the marshal
praised. “Can you fill me in a bit on what went on here?”
The boy told the Starshine Kid the
frightful tale of how his family came to being attacked and robbed by five
outlaws, and how the men beat his father and mother before shooting them. He
informed Marshal King that he had heard the names of two of them, “One was
called Calvin James and another, Calvin Paul.”
The Starshine Kid immediately
recognized the names. Two of the Connors brothers possessed a feature not all
that uncommon among certain family groups, two sons with the same first name.
King had encountered a family once who named their fourth son with the same
Christian name as their first son; they had forgotten they already had a son by
that name. To offset the problem the couple called the fourth son by his middle
name instead of his first.
Marshal King whistled for his horse.
Once the animal arrived he took his canteen and gave the boy a long drink. With
the boy drinking, the Starshine Kid considered his options in light of the
current circumstances.
“You lay here quiet, ya hear, I’ll
be right back, son,” Adam said. “I need to send a message right quick.”
The boy obeyed.
Taking the only piece of canvas
remaining from the prairie schooner’s cover, the Starshine Kid laid it over the
rising swirls of smoke then removed it methodically at varying times. Smoke
billows rose up high into the sky above, climbing to kiss the clouds that
graced the heavens overhead.
Just before darkness engulfed the
surrounding horizons, a band of five Indians joined Starshine and the boy. Adam
conversed with them for a while before coming back to the grassy area to
address the youth.
“Elias, these fellows I was talkin’
to are gonna take care of you for a spell, if that’s ok with you. I got to run
these outlaws down that did this and—"
“But them are savages, Marshal,
Indians. I heard ‘em come down the trail and they ain’t ridin’ with saddles. I
heard no leather creakin’ when they was ridin’, and…” the boy paused shortly, “I
heard you talkin’ Indian to them, too.”
“Yes, they are Indians, Elias, but
you’ll be a lot safer with these friends of mine than most any other place I
can think of right now. They won’t hurt you, in fact,” the Starshine Kid took a
long breath, “they will probably treat you like a royal king.”
“They’re savages and they’re in our
land, Marshal.”
“They were here in this land long
before the rest of us, son, and one day when you are grown and wiser, I hope
you will come to understand who the real savages are."
“Ok, Marshal. You know what’s best.
You’ll be buryin’ my folks, won’t ya?”
“Yes son, they’ll be getting’ a
proper burial.”
“And you’ll read some portion from
the Bible?”
“I will, son. Your parents would be
a might proud of you, ya know.”
After gathering up enough rocks for
the two rural graves, Marshal King completed the task at hand, then watered his
horse and proceeded onward, onward into the starlit darkness of night.
Following the light of the moon, the
Starshine Kid made his way along the trail left by the outlaws as the moonlight
swiftly faded away and dark clouds filled the sky overhead. Reading sign proved
far too difficult to do any longer. Sensing a storm, the marshal rode toward an
outcropping of large boulders in the distance. Finding a large hallow area
under one of the rocks, Marshal King took refuge as lightning, followed by loud
crackles of thunder, flashed in the distance.
Seven miles away, the marshal calculated from the
time of the flash until the sound of the thunder.
The empty loneliness of the night
provided ample opportunity for the Starshine Kid’s contemplation of that fine
line between reality and illusion. This particular night, however, was both
mystical and surreal. The charcoal-gray color of the atmosphere enveloped the
earth like a dome. The cloud-filled sky appeared far out of his reach, as
though it had ascended to a much higher altitude than usual. He felt a peculiar
silence, a calm that was unnerving. It was not a particularly cold night, but
an eerie feeling of uncertainty that surrounded that rare electrical storm
seemed to have a chilling effect upon him.
Over the years the Starshine Kid had
spent many a night out under the peaceful canopy of stars that gracefully
stretch across the heavens like a comforting blanket, but this night felt
unusually special to him for some reason. The lightning flashes that rippled
across the sky seemed to echo some sense of overwhelming power; a visible voice
that reminded him that this planet is only a tiny speck of dust floating
through an incredibly vast universe; a universe that is but a pebble in the
palm of God’s powerful hand. The lightning, that beautiful display of the
grandeur of Almighty God, was like a personal thank you from the Creator for
another night of keeping watch over humanity in his generally thankless
lawman’s job.
Jagged bolts of glaring light scattered
themselves across the atmosphere, graceful whispers upon the sky, whispers with
the awesome power to destroy the noblest of trees. Starshine enjoyed observing
the arrows of light strike the horizon with monumental force. Red, blue,
yellow, and varying shades of each could be seen reflecting upon the cloud
cover.
He remembered something Jesus, the
Christ, once said, ‘For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part
under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son
of Man be in his day.’ Though not a particularly over religious man
himself, he thought, What a
wonderful sight that will be; the long awaited return of the world’s Savior.
The tranquility of this night’s show
of light was soon to end, but Marshal King knew the memory of this natural
scene of electrical force would remain etched upon his mind like an ancient
petroglyph until his own short vapor of life on earth ended. As the sky
lightened in color, a crimson and yellow sunrise appeared to the east. This
sunrise was one that had not been emphatically longed for by Adam. He had
wished, if possible, that it could have been postponed or avoided altogether. A
night of splendor had completed its course. Flowers awoke across the peaceful
prairie, unaware of the passing events of the night. Birds sang in gratitude
for another day of precious life, while trees rustled in the gentle morning
breezes; and the Starshine Kid, he propped his head up on his saddle for a few moments
of desperately needed sleep.
*** Part 10: Ghost Mountain ***
________________________________
The Starshine
Kid: Arroyo Grande
By Royce A
Ratterman
© All Rights
Reserved
Cover Art &
Illustrations by Erlend Evensen
The characters,
locales, enterprises, entities, and events herein are entirely fictional and
intended for educational and entertainment purposes. Content portrayals do not
reflect any actual events, locales, entities, or any individuals living or
deceased.
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