June 19, 1900

Tombstone. 

Early this morning I woke up and walked around town. I found a man who knew my name and told him that I had gotten my citizen papers last night. I told him I couldn’t seem to sleep and then headed over to the hotel. 

Later, I walked over to the hotel and Adrianna made me some breakfast in the dining room. “Miss Adriana!” I said then. “I saw a picture this mornin' by the jail. Did you know they'll arrest someone for loud boots? Do you think my boots are quiet enough?” 

“No honey, I didn’t know that,” she chuckled. 

“His name was um... Mac MacLeary... Does that mean he looks at you a lot... like that um.. learing word?” 

“Of course they are. I really need to check on that picture, honey, but I think Tombstone has different problems than loud boots.” 

“I couldn't sleep last night. Was too excited cause my paperwork came through!! All cause I behaved so well in the courthouse yesterday!” 

“I’ve seen you there, angel,” she smiled. 

“I guess Mr. Adrian liked me!! He wants me to stay!” 

“What happened in the courthouse yesterday?” 

“Miss Angi got to come home and make us chicken.” 

“I am happy she does come home, princess. You kids really need a matron like her.” 

I saw a boy outside peering through the door, with his face pressed to the glass, and asked, “Who’s that?” I pointed to the boy as she made more breakfast for me.

“Oh, I didn’t see him… Wait a second, will be right back,” she said and went over to the boy hid around the corner. “You don’t need to be scared, youngin’,” she said to him. “Just come in and have a nice breakfast with young miss Nat there,” she turned to me. “Would you mind if he sat with you?” 

I nodded excitedly and watched as the boy walked in slowly. “Maybe he's hungry, Miss Adri.” 

“Well, Miss Nat, this young gentleman is… uhm... what is your name young man?” Adriana asked. 

“He looks older than me,” I observed and he looked over at me and shrugged. 

"He probably is, princess,” she nodded. 

“Does he talk?” I asked. 

“I don’t know… not sure,” she shrugged. 

The boy pulled at his overalls as he looked at the food on the table. “Jimmy.” 

“Jimmy! Have a seat, Jimmy!” I grinned. 

“I will get him the rest of the eggs, I think,” Adri said. “If he starts talking, make him sit with you. I will be back in a few,” she laughed and stepped into the kitchen. 

“You gonna sit?” I looked over at Jimmy. He walked over and took a seat, keeping his hands in his pockets. 

“Well, you made him move.. good job Nat,” Adriana smiled, coming back. “Well, young man, a gentleman would take his hands out of his pockets while sitting with a lady.” When Jimmy looked up at her with a look as if to say ‘for me?’ she said, “Yes, Sir, this is for you….” 

“She makes real good breakfast,” I told him. “Much better than the orphanage.” 

“I am trying, Nat,” she nodded. 

“Though they'r not as good as Mr. Alex’s eggs,” I said but then covered my mouth. “I sorry ma’am..” 

“Oh, I am sure Miss Angi makes good breakfast too,” Adriana chuckled and looked at Jimmy who was eating like he hadn’t eaten in days. “Take your time, young gentleman. There is enough for you to eat.” 

“You just get to town, Jimmy?” I asked him. 

“How ya take it?” I heard Pet shouting from a distance. 

“Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Adriana asked. 

“Cream and sugar please!” Alex shouted back and I smiled, hearing him. “Mr. Alex! Come inside!” I shouted back to him. 

“You know Mr. Alex, Nat?” Adriana looked at me. 

“He was the first person I met. He took me fishing yesterday,” I smiled. 

“I am sure he is outside with miss Pet, but he will hear you, honey. You are loud enough,” she winked at me. 

Alex came in and I greeted him and told him that Adri made breakfast, but that his eggs were better. I told him that Angi didn’t have to go to the rope last night because of the trial going really well. 

“Ad and and and… Guess what else!” 

“What?” 

“Mr. Adrian wants me to stay!!! He gave me my citizen papers last night ‘cause of how I acted in court! I was so well behaved and didn't throw a lolli like Sabi! She was mad at the lawyer lady and threw the lolli at her.” 

“Well, that’s great!” he chuckled. “I’m proud of you for behaving.” 

“We have tough kids here in Tombstone, I think," Adriana observed. 

“And I told her I wouldn’t join her gang. Then Miss Angi came home with us and made us chicken.” 

“Sabi threw a lolli?” Adriana asked. 

I remembered Jimmy was there and looked over at him. “You’ll like Miss Angi.” 

“So no rats for dinner?” 

“Are you gonna stay at the orphan house or do you have a mommy and daddy?” I asked Jimmy. 

“See you’ve found a friend,” Alex looked over at Jimmy. 

“This is Jimmy.” 

“Hi Jimmy. Jimmy, this is Mr. Alex,” I introduced. 

“Go to the kitchen, young gentleman,” Adriana ordered. “There is a sink where you can wash your hands... I see they really need some water…” 

“Hello,” Jimmy looked up at Alex. 

“Hey Mr. Alex I heard a bunch more shooting last night. But I stayed inside.” 

“That’s good you stayed inside.” 

Jimmy stood and went into the kitchen and Adriana talked about how there was a fire in the hotel. She told me that she thinks Jimmy is nervous and I asked Alex if Trin knew about the fire there. I decided to write a note and asked Adriana if they caught the person who did it, but no one was around.

“Lot did, I called him a coward,” Adriana said about the person who made the fire. “He went in a emptied some of the oil lamps... then set them on fire.” 

“Did anyone catch him?” I asked her. 

“Nobody was around. Just me and him… The lady who was sitting on the bench earlier… I told him I will tell the sheriff, he just laughed at me.” 

“You and the lady at the bench were there?” I looked at her. 

“She seemed to be his… um… well she called him ‘boss’.” 

“What’s her name?” I looked from one to the other. 

“I think he called her Lisa… but I am not sure about it,” Adriana said. “Oh, and Kenzie was around too. And Mr. Easyrider.” 

“I don’t know. I just saw her now,” Alex shrugged. 

“Mr. Alex do you know her?” 

“No, I don’t.” 

“When’d the fire happen? Last night after all that shooting?” I asked curiously. 

“Almost early morning…” 

“You’re awfully curious there, Sherlock,” Alex chuckled at me. 

“I think you will become a detective day,” Adriana said. 

“Miss Trin said she wanted help.” 

“I think so too,” Alex nodded. 

“Remember she said…” I stopped when I saw Jimmy come out of the kitchen. “Jimmy!” 

“I told him that I will apply to become law… and he better never meets me armed on the street.” 

“Wanna go somewhere with me? Or are you not done eatin’?” I asked Jimmy and he nodded slightly. 

“Nat will show you around, young man,” Adriana said. “And you both don’t forget to take a cookie with you. I just made some fresh ones, the other once burned last night….” 

I jumped up excitedly and reached for a cookie and wewnt over to hug Adriana. “Thanks for breakfast, Miss Adri!”

“You are most welcome, little lady,” she smiled. “Come back anytime if you need anything. And take care out there.” 

“Thank you,” Jimmy walked over to her. 

“Welcome little gentleman.” 

“Mr Alex do you wanna come?” I asked him. 

“Where are you going?” he asked. 

“Maybe Jimmy would like hanging out with a boy too. I wanna go put this in Miss Trin’s mailbox. Tell her about the fire. So she can inveastimagate it.” 

Jimmy took a cookie and smiled and Alex said, “I could walk over there with you.” 

We walked outside and Alex thanked Pet for the coffee and then a woman asked me, “Well hello there little one, ready for a little candy now that you’ve had your breakfast?” 

“Candy? I don’t take candy from people I don’t know their names.” 

“Very good, My name is Lisa,” the woman smiled and Alex nodded to me. “And yours?” 

“See Jimmy, she wears pants like me,” I pointed out. “Lisa. Hi! I’m Nat and this is Jimmy!” 

“Well nice to meet you both,” she reached into her pocket and pulled out two suckers. “Here you go, one for each of you.” 

“Thanks, ma’am!” I took one of the suckers and smiled. 

“You are quite welcome.” 

“Thank you,” Jimmy said as he took the sucker. 

Aly walked over then and asked Aeryne how the shoulder was feeling as she greeted Alex. They talked about the fire at the hotel and I told Aly that I was heading out to Trin’s office. Aly payed attention to the conversation about the fire and I showed Jimmy the orphanage and how it wasn’t so bad. 

Black Diamond. 

We went to put the note in Trin’s mailbox and then headed back towards town. 

Tombstone. 

I pointed at the schoolhouse and said, “We’re early.” 

“School? I never been to school before.” 

“Really?” 

“No...my ma and pa didn’t let me go to school. Say I stay and work the farm.” 

“Oh… What happened to them?” 

“Pa is in prison somewhere, and my ma she died. I been kinda just going from place to place usually on my own.” 

“Oh wow. What’d your pa do?” 

“They said he killed a man for cheatin gamblin.” 

Sabi ran over then, out of breath, and I introduced her to Jimmy. He asked what we do in school and we headed inside. I ran up to the front and said, “I could teach! Mr. Sherlock was a great detective! He used things like fingerprints and looking at people to solve cases! He could tell who did something with only hearing about the case for like five seconds. He already knew who did it.” 

“How does lookin at people help?” Sabi asked curiously. 

“Well he could see like their behavior and stuff. How they were nervous or um.. If they were helpful. Usually the nervous people are involved in stuff.” 

“Who is Sherlock?” Jimmy asked. 

“Sherlock Holmes! He’s the greatest detective ever! He lives in England. He’s kinda like Miss Trin.” 

I heard the door open and Sabi greeted the woman as Miss Traci. The lady observed, “Some new faces. and I spun around.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry I was just... I was teaching about Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Cause no one was here yet. Do you know who he is?” 

“Well he was a interesting person for sure,” she nodded. 

“He could figure out who did a crime with like five seconds,” I said and sat down beside Sabi. 

“Miss Traci?” Sabi giggled. 

“If you rule out everything the thing that is left however improbable must be the answer,” Miss Traci said. 

“My sister might be a lil late. She forgot to clean out the stables and had ta finish before she comes,” Sabi told her. 

“Ah okay. So now who has been in my classes before? Sabi, I know you have. Well I have been having a series on art appreciation.” 

“I’m no good at art,” I frowned. 

“But I think you guys might have missed some of the earlier classes,” Miss Traci said. “Well it is pretty simple really. Art is something normally visual… something you see. But not always it can also be something you hear like music.” 

“I’m good at music!” I exclaimed. 

“But it is created by the artist. And it is normally something that is pleasant to see or hear or touch or feel. But not always. The important thing is that when you read books like school books, that goes into yer head.” 

“I like to read!” I put a hand over my mouth. 

“But when you see a piece of artwork, or hear music, or watch dance, it goes to yer heart. It goes inside you and it makes you feel something,” she said and I looked down to my belly. “What you feel might be happiness or wonder, or curiosity, or even anger or horror. But, art goes to yer emotions--to yer heart. It goes inside you and it sits there and later on you might think on it and you might smile or frown, but art changes you in some way. Art comes in many many forms.” 

Poppy came in and Miss Traci greeted her. “Hello Poppy and thank you for helping with my horse.” 

I looked back at Jimmy in the back seat and raised my hand. “Miss um… Teacher?” 

“Yes?” 

“Can I go back and sit with Jimmy so he’s not alone?” 

“It’s okay you are there, as long as he don’t mind. So art comes in many forms,” she went on and I moved back to sit beside Jimmy when he nodded. “We have gone over painting and drawing.” 

“Sorry I’m late,” Nora muttered as she walked into the schoolhouse and sat down. 

“And we went over jewelry making,” Miss Traci went on. “And we did some on architecture, which is the design of buildings and public spaces.” 

Jimmy smiled for the first time as I sat beside him. Nora leaned over and looked at me. “Uhh... Psst -- Nat -- girls’ side, huh?” I chuckled at her and shook my head, knowing the teacher said it was okay to sit there. 

“Each kind of art is known as its ‘medium’,” Miss Traci went on. “And taken together all the mediums are known as the media. So today we are gonna talk about another of the media. One you might not think about as art at all. I’m talkin about how language is written down and becomes recorded into symbols, which are the letters and words of the language. Who can tell me what language we speak here in this country mostly?” 

I raised my hand and when she called on me I said, “English.” 

“Correct. And the English language itself has a lot of words from other languages too.” 

“Sometimes French and Spanish and German,” I went on. 

“Yes there is a lot of Spanish spoken in these parts too,” she nodded. “Because Mexico was settled by the Spanish. And they brought their beautiful language with them.” 

“And um that native thing Mr. Kris used,” I remembered. “He said some word that started with a Y in court. What was that?” 

“My paapaw spoke Irish,” Jimmy said. 

“Navajo, Nat. He were speakin’ in the Navajo,” Nora told me. 

“But the main languages are English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Japanese and Chinese,” Miss Traci said. “But there are dozens and dozens of other languages, like Irish and Celtic. Norman, Polish, Arabic,” 

“Irish like you?” I grinned at Jimmy. 

I turned and beamed when I saw Miss Angi walk into school and waved to her as Sabi asked, “How come we all don’t just speak one big language?” 

“Well that is a pretty good question.” 

“I know! I know!” I raised my hand. 

“Ok blurt it out then.” 

“It’s in the Bible! The tower of babbling!” 

“What did that story say?” she smiled.

“Well, the people made this tower right? And they wanted to be like God but he didn’t want that. So he confused them and gave a bunch of languages. So they’d always remember he was more powerful than them. Right?” 

“Oh yes, that was where they all babbled like dummies right?” Jimmy asked. 

“Pretty good,” Traci smiled and I giggled and nodded. “Well people who live in the same area speak the same language but as people moved around.” 

“That don’t sound very nice,” Sabi said. 

“Yeah but they were gonna fight Sabi. God was protecting them from that. Right Ma’am?”  

“The languages all changed a little bit and here we are now with so many,” Miss Traci said. “That’s what the Bible says.” 

“The symbols used to write down a language,” Miss Traci went on. “Is called the alphabet. The word alphabet itself comes from the Greek language where the first two letters are alpha and beta like ‘A’ and ‘B’.” 

“I read it to Mr. Alex perfect,” I said, pointing to the wall of alphabet letters. 

“So the symbols are the writing system for the language. Some are so the symbol takes a sound,” Miss Traci said. “Like in English. And when you put the letters together you can sound it out.” 

“Wait…” I raised a hand. 

“Yes?” 

“The alphabet is art?” 

“Indeed it is and I will show you how. Some languages the symbols represent a whole word. And some languages use all different symbols but some use our own characters. Now no one is sure where writing began but it is probably in China, where explorers have found what may have been writing on the backs of ancient tortoise shells. So this is probably the very first writing in history. t looks kind of like Chinese in a way. And it happened about six thousand years ago. We do know that the ancient Sumerians had a writing system about three to five thousand years ago. and it was a complete alphabet of their language. They lived in the middle East between two rivers called the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some people think that was the garden of Eden,” she said as she showed the writing on a board at the front. “And it is probably where the tower of Babel actually was.” 

“See?” I grinned and whispered to Jimmy. 

“Their writing was called ‘cuneiform’, which is pronounced que nee i form, which means ‘wedge-shaped’. They used reeds and pressed them into clay tablets to write stuff down.” 

“I can’t read or write,” Jimmy whispered at me and shook his head. 

“That’s why we’re here!” I whispered back to him. 

“It started out very symbolic,” Miss Traci went on. “Where the letters or shapes represented things. But over time it kind of changed into a more sound-like system.” 

“That’s real queer, Ma’am,” Nora said and I nodded, agreeing with that. 

“But it is pretty. Someone took the time to make the symbols meaningful and attractive.” 

“Real nice,” Miss Angi nodded.

 “So that is art, huh?” Miss Tracie asked. Of course anyone who comes to my classes knows that I almost always talk about ancient Egyptians and they had a writing system called heiroglphics, which is pronounced hi ro gliph iks.” 

“Well that makes sense.. But…” I raised a hand. 

“Yes?” 

“You said art makes you feel, right?” I asked. 

“Moses!” Jimmy hollered. 

“Uh huh,” Miss Traci nodded. 

“What does the alphabet make you feel? Smart?” I grinned at Jimmy.

“Well tell me what you think when you see these hieroglyphics. Do you feel maybe a sense of wonder Or amazement?” 

“How’d she know?” I nodded. 

“Remember they did this four thousand years ago… When explorers found Egyptian Hieroglyphics they didn’t know what they meant but they knew they were beautiful. Not until a stone was discovered. In Memphis in Egypt during a war between the British and the French, that they were able to decipher the language. The stone was called the Rosetta Stone.” 

Jimmy raised his hand and when Miss Traci said he could speak he said, “Miss Teacher, how can this happen 4000 years ago? It’s only 1899.” 

“Yes so the year would have been about 2,000 BC we say. Is that the same thing is written in three languages. What is special about the Rosetta Stone… Egyptian Hieroglyphics, a later writing system from Egypt called Demotic, and ancient Greek. Since they knew the Greek and most of the Demotic they were able to figure out the hieroglyphics.” 

“AHHH! THE DEVIL IS SPEAKIN AGAIN!!!” Sabi cried out then. 

“What they discovered was even though the hieroglyphics are very symbolic,” Miss Traci went on. Like birds and swords and turtles and so forth. They actually represented sounds just like our alphabet. So now the explorers can go into an old tomb or whatever and read what is on the walls. Now some writing systems are very symbolic. Like Chinese and Japanese Kanji. What they are though is very beautiful, truly an art form. Many Chinese and Japansese artists take great pride in the way they make their symbols on paper. The art of beautiful writing is called ‘calligraphy’. Japanese calligraphers often combine a simple drawing or painting with their calligraphy. Just like I did with the Haiku poem we came up with in class last year.” 

“I thought it was called cursive?” I asked. 

“Well we have cursive writing which is an art form if you do it well.” 

“What’s the difference?” I nodded and asked. 

She dragged a frame out and Sabi said, “Well... if letters and words can be art, how about numbers? I can write some numbers real pretty like!” 

“Chinese do your laundry, and the Japanese were sword fighters…” Jimmy said to me. 

“Yes and in fact in Arabic where we go next they do numbers in a special way as well,” Traci nodded and I giggled. “Here is the Haiku poem we did in class and I put Japanese on it, like the calligraphy on the board… and it reads from top to bottom and it says, ‘Desert morning calm, grainy visions of dust clouds, hot rocks beneath.’ Another writing system that lends itself to calligraphy is Arabic. Arabic is spoken in the Middle East and it goes from right to left. Some other languages such as Hebrew go from right to left as well. Chines and Japanese go from top to bottom. And ours goes…?” she looked around. 

“Left to right!” We all answered. 

“The Bible was written in Hebrews right?” I asked. “Some of it?” 

“Correct. Well the Bible was written in Hebrew, Greek, and a language called Aramaic But it was translated first into Latin. And then finally into English. The Persian language as well is very flowing and lends itself to artistic expressions by calligraphers. I think it is really beautiful. But remember what I am showing you is words that say something. They might be a poem. The Persians are great poets. Or it could just be a shopping list. But they put some thought into making it look good, just as you all should when you try to write cursively. Remember that art goes to yer mind and heart. Beautiful writing gives y’all more than one feeling. It is a combination of what is said together with how it is written. For thousands of years, writing was on clay and stone. And sometimes on papyrus which was made by reeds growing along the Nile River and sometimes on paper like we have now. But paper was very very expensive to make, so calligraphers and writers were very careful about how they used it. Monks, writing in their monasteries for hundreds and hundreds of years, kept copying religious writing, mostly the Bible from generation to generation and published them in handmade scrolls and bound them by hand into thick books. They would very carefully copy from older texts and scrolls onto newer ones. Over time their work became very elaborate and beautiful and often they would start pages or paragraphs with large exquisite letters and designs. This was called ‘illumination’. Which means to bring out light which also means understanding. So during the dark ages, which were around the year 900 to about 1500. There were some books but they were VERY expensive. Very rare and done by hand. Letter by letter one at a time.” 

“Not until a man names Johannes Gutenburg,” she continued. “A German publisher who invented moveable type. Did printing and publishing really advance.” 

“That’d take a real long time, letter by letter…” Nora muttered. 

“Oh yes. It might take fifty monks ten years to do a whole Bible. One of them! But we would not have it today if they didn’t do their work for hundreds and hundreds of years. So anyway mister Gutenberg, around the year 1439, invented the printing press, using moveable type. What that means is that the letters are carved into wooden or metal shapes and many of them are kept in boxes. And the printer would have to assemble them together and put them in a holder thing and over them with ink and then press them down on the paper and you would have one page of a book printed! Then you could do that over and over and over and have as many copies of that page as you needed. And then you do the next page and so on, but if you think about it it is a LOT quicker than letter by letter. Of course, the first book he published would have been what, do you think? We have talked about it several times,” she looked around. “A book we all know about, even if’n we don’t read it like we should.” 

“The Bible?” Nora guessed. 

“Yes! The Bible!” 

“I was gonna say that but thought it was too easy of an answer,” I grinned. “Like when you say Jesus at church cause it’s always the right answer.” 

“Don’t be shy, let it rip out if you have the answer,” Traci grinned and pushed the board out of the way. “So I have something to show you,” she said and showed a printing press she’d set up.  

“That’s in the news office!” I exclaimed, my eyes growing wide. I frowned as I watched Jimmy leave and then turned back to the front.

“This here is a replica of an original Gutenberg printing press. He was way ahead of his time, huh?”

“Huh. Ain’t that somethin’,” Nora commented. 

“That’s um... That’s what they use to make the paper, isn’t it?” I asked. 

“Many people say that the invention of moveable type was the single most important invention for a thousand years. There is not question that it began an industry of publishing books and newspapers and it ended the dark ages forever! Here is how it works. The printer puts the type on the wood thing under the screw and fastens it in there. Then puts a piece of paper on the bottom, then inks up the type, then turns the screw like this, then out comes a printed page.” She removed the page and put a blank sheet of paper down. “Then does it again so that is the printing press, and yes it is still done a lot like that. But big city newspapers have big giant automatic presses now. Today printing and publishing is a huge industry and we have books and newspapers being published every day. We learn about what is going on in the world from our major papers called the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Enquirer, the Washington Post, even the Tombstone Epitaph and our own Bee! Newspapers investigate and publish news and bring information to us. They can also influence what happens. The war last year between the United States and Spain began to a large extent because of the influence of a newspaper called the New York Journal. That is called ‘yellow journalism’, where newspapers get people to think how they want and it is an art form of its own. Our ability to read the written word in books and papers gives us a real opportunity to learn and know that is happening in the world around us. It has been a long journey from the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians…. published decrees and documents using their beautiful hieroglyphics…” 

Nora raised her hand and asked, “Well, uh… You say as them papers make us think what they want, an’ that’s yellow journalism. Well, is that ’cause they’s lying t’ us in a certain way t’ make us think stuff?” 

“Exactly,” Traci smiled. 

“Papers lie?” I asked and wondered who else was lying. 

“The strength of a democracy is in freedom of speech and that is guaranteed to us in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. But… newspapers also have a duty to report the news correctly.” 

“They shouldn’t lie, Ma’am,” Nora said. 

“Yes it is a real problem and got us into a war with Spain, which we won and now we have the Philippines and so forth. But it was done to sell newspapers, which isn’t right. So always remember this. My daddy taught it to me and it was ‘believe half of what you read’. Meaning in the newspapers, always question what you read, think about it. This way you learn and grow. So anyways… Although you might have not thought about the printed word as an art form, indeed it is. And one as simple as the written word has so much power and influence on us and has done more to shape where we are as a a people than anything for the last two thousand years. Now do I have any last questions?” she asked but no one held their hand up and she dismissed the class. 

We thanked her for the class as we jumped up and she said we had good questions today. “Remember,” she said. “Think, read, enjoy.” 

I waved and headed back to the orphanage. 

*** 

This afternoon I wandered over towards the hotel hearing someone playing guitar. I waved to a lady and she introduced herself as Miss Pet, a preacher. 

“Miss Pet, we talked about the Bible this morning in school!” I told her. “And one kid asked why we didn’t all speak the same language right. And I raised my hand and said it was cause of the tower of babbling and God didn’t want them all to be smarter than him, so he confused them!” I smiled proudly. 

“Um you were here with Jimmy. I heard ’em call you Natalie," Pet said to me and then giggled at my story from school. “That’s kinda right.” 

“Nat. I don’t usually wear dresses.” 

“Ooooh may I call you Nat also?” she asked. 

“This is miss Nat, I met her the other day miss Pet,” Trent said. 

"I don’t usually wear dresses,” I nodded. “But I got my pants dirty while explorin’ after school.” 

“Miss Nat, want to see the latest good stone I found in the desert?” Trent asked. “Miss Pet, I showed her the nice turquoise I found the other day, would you like to see it?” he asked and I nodded, knowing it gave Miss Angi luck in the courthouse. “This one is an opal.” 

“Oooh um Trent, can you take her inside for a cookie please?” Pet asked. 

“Well miss Kimmee, I do believe I have two warrants for your arrest, one for having weapons unholstered and shooting law, and another for theft . You’re under arrest,” I heard miss Aly say and turned a bit. “I need everyone to clear the street, find the nearest building and get in. now!” she shouted into the street. 

“Nat, inside please,” Pet said to me. 

“Miss Nat, can I get you a cookie?” Trent asked me. 

I frowned and went inside and told Millard he looked all official in his outfit, but he wasn’t saying much. I heard Ben say that Aly was going to get shot and I called for Alex. He told me to stay inside and I backed up, hearing gunshots. I hid in the corner, crying, since I was too scared to be close to the gunfighting. Trent asked if I was hurt but I just looked away and hid. I ran outside and went back to the orphanage where it would be safe.