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"The Gun"

There are some things in live that are often overlooked. It's something you don't think about in the moment, but upon reflection you realize the affects of your actions and how they could have caused your future to turn out so much differently had you chosen another path. It's often these things we take for granted.
Walking endlessly through the wastelands, my horse carried my upon its weary back. It had been nearly a full day since I gave the poor girl a rest. I almost gestured for the horse to stop so that she could have a rest, when I saw something in the distance. It was a windmill. There was a spark of hope once again in me, we were finally about to be reunited by civilization.
My horse galloped toward the windmill until I saw a town coming into view, several buildings the sat on either side of a long dirt road. As we finally arrived into town I was beyond starved to the point I could barely walk straight. I stopped my horse in front of a store and tied her up on the post nearby. I made my way up the steps and through the door.
I looked around the store and realized I was all alone, not even the cashier was present. I saw a basket of apples on the shelf next to the front of the store. I grabbed two for me and two for my horse. She deserved it after the long trip we'd had.
I nearly dropped my apples when I heard arguing just beyond the back door behind the cashier's table. I ducked down behind it just as I heard the door fly open and the arguing continued, only clearer now. I heard grunts as if they were struggling. I looked over the counter just enough to see what was taking place. There was a big, husky man with a black cowboy hat, a thick, dark mustache, and a red handkerchief around his neck. He was trying to get the gun away from this middle-aged man with a blue collared shirt and a white apron. The person I could only assume was the bigger guy's partner, based on them almost wearing the same clothes, grabbed the gun, pushing the man in the blue shirt away. Just then the gun went off. I heard a ton of gasps and screams coming from outside as I saw so many people clambering into the building.
I stood up as the big guy's partner charged out the back door, leaving the man in the blue shirt holding the gun. The sheriff stepped into the building and asked to see if anyone saw this disaster take place. I would have said something, but I feared for my safety that the man that escaped might try to kill me. I stayed silent and the store owner got arrested. And I walked away with my horse and a few apples.

The next day, my horse and I awoke from our camp site in the wooded area just beyond the town. I was unable to shake the event I saw last night. I almost came clean when the sheriff had asked me what I saw. He said he asked around the people that were there and they pointed out I was in the building when they arrived. I would have told him but I was paranoid the big man's assistant was lurking around a corner and could come to kill me later on if I ratted him out.
I made my way into town to grab another bite to eat when a man in a black top hat ran around from person to person that were out and about, that a hanging was planned for tonight. I asked him who the man was that was being hanged and he replied with "The man that shot Big Wolf Bill." So that was his name.
I was appalled. If he killed an outlaw, why would his reward be death? I made my way to the city hall and spoke to the sheriff about it. All he had to say was he killed someone, now he has to pay the consequences.
"But he didn't kill anyone!" Oh no, did that just slip out?
"Excuse me, is there something you want to tell me, sir?" the sheriff asked, standing from his desk and narrowing his eyes at me. I realized I had no choice now, I had to come clean. I told him about what really happened, how the death was blamed on the store owner. He looked me up and down for a second. "You better now be lying to me, boy. Or it'll be you on that rope."
He let the shop owner go free and there was a manhunt for the outlaw's assistant.

"And that, students, is the story of how a man saved Chuck Franklin's life." The history teacher had finished her lecture to her class of fourteen year old's.
"What's the big deal about this Franklin guy?" a student in the front row asked.
"I'm glad you asked. Had the boy not come clean and Mr. Franklin would have died, further on down the line, ham radios wouldn't have been invented."
"What's the big deal about ham radios?"
"Well, if ham radios hadn't have been invented, the man responsible for microchips wouldn't have had the training to create micro chips. This would have snowballed into us not having phones, nor computers, nor even calculators. Heck, we might not have even won one of the world wars!"

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