Discovery
July 21, 2011
Response
to ‘Picture prompt challenge’ – write a story based on the picture using
100-500 words
Length: 500 words
*******
JD entered
the saloon and looked around. He frowned when he saw Vin
sitting alone at a table, apparently playing cards by himself. If it were Ezra,
JD wouldn’t have thought a thing of it. Ezra was always playing solitaire if
there wasn’t a game to be had, but Vin?
He walked
over to the table and sat down with a greeting. “Hey, Vin.
What ya doin’?”
Vin started
and pulled the cards to his chest as he looked up at JD. “Nothin’!”
Vin growled, folding the cards together protectively.
JD sat back
at the unexpected harshness of Vin’s response. Instead
of replying, he lifted his hand and caught Inez’s attention ordering a milk for himself before leveling a calm gaze on Vin. It
wasn’t like the laid back tracker to snap, unless he was worried or
embarrassed. JD watched the way Vin’s hand lay over
the cards and figured it was ‘embarrassed.’ “Didn’t mean to pry,” he said,
giving a nod of thanks to Inez as she left his mug.
Vin shifted
in his seat, but relaxed a bit. “Sorry, JD. Didn’t see ya comin’
and I…” he flipped the edge of the cards nervously with his thumb.
“Well, I guess if I didn’t want no one to know what I was doin’
I shoulda gone somewhere more private like,” he added
with a wry grin.
JD lifted
his eyebrows curiously, but shrugged. “It’s your business, ain’t got to share
if you don’t want,” he said nonchalantly, even though the curiosity was killing
him.
Vin smiled
and looked around to make sure no one else was hovering, then turned one of the
cards over. “Ezra called ‘em ‘flash cards.’ Ordered ‘em special for me to help with my readin’,”
he said softly.
JD looked
down at the face of the card and saw a picture of a mountain with the word
printed neatly below. Understanding lit his face as two things became clear at
once. The cards were special teaching cards and Vin
couldn’t read… or was in the process of learning now.
JD grinned.
“Hey, these are great,” he said, moving his hand toward the stack slowly as he
waited for Vin’s permission to pick them up. When Vin moved his own hand away, JD picked up the cards and
browsed through them. “Ma couldn’t afford anything like this,” he said as he
looked at the fancy drawn pictures and printing press words. “We’d go for walks
and she’d point things out then write the word in the dirt. Then she’d have me
spell it, say it and write it out myself,” he said with a fond smile handing
the cards back to Vin. He met the older man’s eyes.
“Let me know if you need any help. Figure we got a lot o’ dirt around here.”
Vin
swallowed the lump in his throat as he took the cards and put them in his
pocket. He nodded and smiled. “Sure thing, JD. You free to take a walk?”
The end.
Feedback is
greatly appreciated. JudyL
Note: I checked, flash cards were available during the late 1800’s