A Man's Pride

Change, For Better

Seven years later...

"How much longer?" asks the little girl named Judith who sits between an aged Arthur and Ana.

Ana stifles an impatient sigh; her naïve child had been pestering her about the long ride to Valentine for the past hour. She couldn't fully blame her, they'd never spent this long on the road before. Their spread-out travel from west to east had nearly taken four months.

"I'll answer your question after you count every piece of grass in that field," she nods to an area of farmland that stretches out farther than the eye can see.

Her daughter groans dramatically, sinking into her seat. She climbs onto the back of their moving wagon to find something to entertain herself with, settling on playing with a wooden horse Arthur carved for her a few years ago.

Arthur chuckles, finding humour in the impossible task presented to such a young mind. "We're almost there, kiddo. Just hang in for a bit longer..." He lightly slapped the horses with the reins to speed up.

Ana readjusts herself to a more comfortable position. She glances at Arthur, who hasn't changed much despite time passing. His scarcely grown out dirty blond hair now has a few streaks of grey. Nearing the age of forty, his strength hadn't faltered. He was thriving compared to the days of illness that almost ended his life.

"You still set on Valentine?" she asks, scooting an inch closer to him.

"Of course, why? Not up to your fancy standards Miss Fetcher, or should I say Mrs. Callahan?" he asks jokingly. They were known as the Callahan family to strangers, which was pretty much everyone at this point. It was a decent alias until some locals questioned why Judith looks nothing like her supposed father. Ever since then, Ana used coffee grounds to match her daughter's dark hair.

"My standards flew out the window a very long time ago, Arthur. I guess staying there for a bit won't hurt. I'd just like to find someplace where they let girls into their schools... I heard they do in Blackwater."

He pauses at the recollection of a place he has no desire to return to. "Blackwater? You think that's safe?" he lowers his voice just enough to avoid suspicion from Judith, "having a price on your head ain't something that disappears into thin air. Last time I checked we're still worth at least twenty-thousand."

Ana huffs, feeling aggravated by his paranoia. It was his fear of being caught that kept them moving from town to town. "It's been seven damn years and they stopped chasing us five years ago. We need to stop running from the ghosts of our past eventually, Arthur. It's for my daughter's sake and you know it."

He peels his eyes off the road, narrowing them and turning to her. "You mean our daughter. We've gone over this..."

She softens her tense expression, furrowing her brows with guilt. "Shit, sorry. It was just a slip of the tongue."

A high-pitched voice joins the conversation, obviously having overhead what was said despite their efforts. "Mama, did you just say shit?"

Ana looks back at her child with discipline. The girl was at the age where she absorbed everything like a sponge. "Be careful with your words, sunshine. Once they leave your mouth, they're gone forever. Now you best practice your reading, there's no proper place for illiterates amongst civilized folk."

It was nightfall by the time they reached Valentine. They rented a room at the local hotel which had been renovated since their last visit. Judith drifted off not long after being tucked into bed. Ana and Arthur escaped to the balcony overlooking the wholesome livestock town which left them both feeling nostalgic.