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Purple Belt Entry: 6

*September 22, 1827- Palmyra, New York*

Will roughly dragged me into the barn. I could smell the cigars on his breath. "Will, if you don't let go," I warned. He laughed loudly and threw me onto the ground.

"Did you hear that boys? Little Johnny gonna hurt us!"

Three men standing in dim light of a lantern laughed. Two were holding guns. 

I jumped to my feet to see who was here. Will obviously. And his brother David. And- good glory- their idiot cousin Wallce. This night was going to go swell.

"Alright, boys," Will said, rubbing his palms together. "Do we have everything?"

"You only told us to bring the shotguns," Wallace said. "So, yeah?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Are we all in?" The men cheered. I, on the other hand, nervously and half heartedly said, "Yeah..."

Will turned on me. "What did you say Johnny?"

I took a step back, his rancid breath making me gag. "I didn't say nothing. I'm just worried we're doing this for nothing."

"Nothing?" David snorted. "We are going to be rich before the nights over. How can you call that nothing?"

I sighed and thought back to why we were huddling up in a barn, in the middle of night, with shotguns.

For a few years now, a man in town had been talkin' about seeing somethings. He claimed that there were some gold plates hidden up in the hills by his house. Everyone in town laughed at him. But after a while, the idea sounded less absurd. The Spanish had buried some treasure around these parts. And somehow this random man in town, found out about it first. The man's name was Joseph Smith.

Will and David's ears had perked up at the word 'gold'. They were both selfish and lazy, looking get-rich-quick-solutions instead of working themselves.

Honestly, it was why Smith wanted the plates that made us laugh and scorn.

Smith said that on these 'golden plates' there was scripture. Kind of like the Bible. And it was going to be his job to translate it. No one could see why he thought this. Nasty rumors began to circulate. 

Somehow, David had heard that today was the day for the retrieving of the gold bible. 

"Uh, Will?" I asked. "Why do we have to jump Smith in order to get the gold. Why don't we, you know, just go dig it up ourselves?"

Will laughed. "He's doing the hard work for us! We just have to club the skinny rascal and take the gold."

Like I said. Lazy.

Wallace opened the barn door and peeked out. "We better get going, Will," he growled. Will nodded and pulled out a club he had hidden under the straw. "Let's do it."

They exited the barn and jogged the quarter mile to the line of trees. "Alright," Will said. "Wallace, you're with me. David, go wait up at the bridge over the stream. Wallace and I will wait at the head of the trail to get him in case you miss. And Johnny, you're going to be the first one to see him. Go down the trail a ways and hide."

We split up. I ran down the trail to where I thought would be a good place to hide. I crouched down in the bushes. As I sat there, a dark feeling rose up in my chest. I suddenly knew that this wasn't a good idea. This is stealing. And murder! I couldn't do that. I thought back to my parents. They would be ashamed. A childish argument came to the front of my hid. Finders keepers, losers weepers.

That's it. I couldn't do this. Smith had found the gold fair and square. I decided I was just going to leave. But I stopped in my tracks. Will was still gonna kill him. I couldn't let that happen.

I turned around and ran back down the path. I stopped by a tree and looked for Smith. After a few more minutes, I saw someone running through trees. He wasn't going very fast with an obviously heavy load on his back.

 "Smith!" I whispered as loud as I could. He definitely could not hear me.

Suddenly David burst out of his hiding place with a whoop. Smith stopped suddenly and tried to run away. David ran to him and hit Smith's shoulder with the shotgun. Smith exclaimed and fell to one knee. David aimed at his head.

With a burst of speed, I launched over a fallen tree. I landed on David. He hollered in surprise and hit the ground. After he was done I stood up to tell Smith what was going on. Before I could get a word in he ran into me, his shoulder hitting my chest. I stumbled backwards. "Wait!" I gasped. "I'm here to help you!"

He stopped running and turned around. "What?" he said, out of breath.

I held my hands up. "There are two other men up ahead. They're planning on killing you for the gold."

Smith shifted the burlap sack in his hands. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'll... I'll even come with you in case they come after you."

In the darkness, I could see he smiled. "Thank you very much. I would appreciate that."

As we trekked through the dense trees, I offered to carry the burden for him for a bit. He laughed quietly. "I'm fine but thank you."

Suddenly I heard a roar behind us. I whirled around and saw David's big ugly head. He jumped on me and I went tumbling to the ground. Smith yelled but promptly pushed David off of me.

I saw two figures appear in the distance and my stomach clenched. It was Will and Wallace.

David came after me again. I punched into the dark, not really able to tell where his face was. I got him in the throat. I picked up a thick stick at my feet and smacked him in the head. David crawled away howling.

When I turned around, I saw both Will and Wallace on Smith. The gun must have been lost in their scuffle. I grabbed Wallace and kneed him in the stomach. As I did so, the palm to his massive hand slapped the side of my head. Right ear ringing now, I used my trusty stick to jab at his beer gut.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Will and Smith fighting. But Will couldn't seem to get a good punch in. Finally, Smith pulled the bag off his back and swung it around. With a dull thud, the contents of the sack hit Will in the head. He went down.

With their leader out, David and Wallace ran down the path, panting heavily.

Smith shouldered the bag again. "Thank you very much," he said. I nodded. "You better get back to your house," I said. "I'll watch this guy and make sure he doesn't follow you."

He nodded. He turned and ran down the path, eventually cutting into the trees.

I looked down at Will's unconscious body. Oh, I was going to pay for this one soon. But at least I wouldn't have guilt and shame on my mind.

*Just a little author's note: 

Obviously there's more to this story. It's kind of controversial so I tried to cut down all the bits that bring up arguments. Long story short, this is a story in Mormon history. It's very important to me. I understand if you don't agree with what I believe; that's life. But if you have any questions about the background to this story, personal message me or check out this link:

https://www.mormon.org/blog/who-was-joseph-smith-the-founder-of-the-mormon-church

Thanks!