Gunslingers and Fools

Flashback - Avery Summers

1893, Summers' Camp

"Avery!" Joe yelled, curled over the campfire.

Avery ignored him, closely observing the hare that was hopping around in the field from afar.

Joe stood up straight, squinting his eyes to try see what Avery was doing.  "Avery, dinner!"

Avery's head quickly jerked back, a grin formed on her dirt stained face. "Coming Pa!" She announced running towards the fire, her carefree locks flowing through the wind. She circled the fire and halted right next to her father. Joe let out a chuckle and scuffed his hand on her head.

"You can't keep your face clean for more than five minutes, can you?" Joe sighed as he handed Avery a plate of a barely edible dinner.

Avery giggled and sat down next to the fire, "Ain't my fault."

Joe joined her, plonking himself down, his gun belt chattering. "That so?"

"Yup." Avery replied before picking up the piece of cooked beef and stuffing her face like a pig.

"Avery Summer, you have no manners, do ya? If your mother saw you eat like that, you'd be in massive trouble." Joe laughed as he done the same thing. He had absolutely no manners, but neither did Avery.

Avery couldn't hear him, she was too busy enjoying her dinner. She was starving— all she had for breakfast was a bread roll.

Joe began to talk, his lips smacking and his teeth chewing. "Your momma would kill me if she saw how I was raising you."

Avery's head immediately turned to face her father; whenever her father mentions her mother, she feels her stomach drop. Avery's eyes narrowed and her brows creased. Her father didn't like seeing her upset— Avery was usually a happy girl, carefree and full of positivity. "Why?"

Joe felt a wave of regret wash over him, he knew how she reacted when he brought up her mother. "She'd want you to have a roof over your head." Joe clutched onto the grass, reluctant to say more.

The crackling of the fire and soft breezes was all Avery knew, and she didn't have a problem with it.

Avery simply just sighed and furrowed her brows. She hardly knew her mother, so logically her mother's opinion shouldn't and didn't really have an effect on her. Avery turned her head forward and looked down stubbornly, "Well I like it. I like camping and being outdoors. I can't imagine living indoors— What a boring way to live."

Joe let out a small smile; maybe he was doing this parenting thing right.

'Click-clack, click-clack'

Joe's back sprung up, the smile faded off his face and instead turned into a straight line. He quickly swallowed his food and flung his head left and right. Horses.

"Avery, darlin', go put that plate back in the wagon." Joe gave Avery a crooked smile and a fake warm tone, then quickly stood up.

Avery grumbled, "I'm not finished yet." She still sat there not moving.

Joe felt sweat roll down him, "Avery, just do it, sweetie." Joe said more sternly.

"No."

"Don't sass me, Ave."

The more the horses trots got louder, the more the knot in Joe's stomach hurt. He looked down at Avery who was completely clueless, still enjoying her meal, hell maybe she was even gonna take seconds while she was at it. "Ave, come on."

"Pa, would you please let me!—"
Suddenly, three men on horses burst through the bushes, their shotguns pointed at them.
"Alright— hands in the air!" One of the men shouted.

As Joe put his hands up, the shine off of the men's badges hit his eyes. They were lawmen.

Joe sheepishly chuckled, eyebrows creased.
"Fellers, what seems to be the problem here?" Joe has a coy grin across his face. He didn't even want to know what Avery was thinking right now.

Avery's eyes widened, she dropped her plate and quickly planted her hands in the air and stood up. "Dad— what—" Avery's voice was shaky, she couldn't even finish her sentence before the lawmen cut her off.

"You are Joe Summers, correct?" The lawman in the middle spoke.

Joe nodded, god, Avery shouldn't have to witness this.

"We are arresting you for the murder of Mary-Beth Tucker." The lawman stated sternly. Before Joe could even reply, the other two lawmen jumped off their horses and slowly stomped to Joe.

"Mary-Beth Tucker? That's not true—"
"You have the right to remain silent, sir."

Avery was trying to process this; Mary-Beth Tucker, where had she heard that name  before? Avery scanned what felt like all the words, sentences, paragraphs, images that were stored in her brain. Then it hit her. Momma.

"That's my momma!" Avery blurted out, still saucer eyed and suffering from a shaky jaw.

Joe's head turned immediately, Avery will never forget that look he gave her. His eyes were squinted, his eyebrows held in a powerful crease, his mouth drooped all the way down.

What felt like in a blink, the lawmen were hushing Avery's father away. Avery was frozen still, rain started to fall from the sky. Her heart ached, worst than it ever had before. The man who raised her, took care of her, provided for her, taught her how to live was getting stolen from her.

Avery's eyes twitched, he was stowed on the back of the middle lawman's horse. She felt her pupil's shrink. She regained her ability to speak and move again when the horses started trotting away.

"It was a gang attack!" Avery screeched, tears in her eyes.

"IT WAS A GANG ATTACK!"