GoT Poems and Stories

The Stranger Who Came to Yellowrock ♥ Western Genre ♥

The Stranger Who Came to Yellowrock ♥ Western Genre ♥

Yellowrock, a small town in Wyoming, lying in a valley where the Rocky Mountains stretch on forever. A large wood, near Harper’s Crossroad, holds the cemetery where numerous townsfolk are buried, who died when a flash flood hit the area in 1799. It's been told that many don't know they are dead, and are seen wandering through the cemetery. This is the story on the tragedy that happened so many years ago.

A crowd of people gathered together, their heads bent, listening to Preacher Tom give the service of their fellow citizen, Jake Albright, who died from a bad case of pneumonia.

“Gold, there’s gold down there!” Emily Goodwin yelled, jumping up and down.

Everyone looked where she was pointing, and sure enough a large gold nugget could be seen where Jake’s final resting place would have been. Emily was shoved aside, everyone wanted to get into that hole at once, but Joe Springer shot in the air, making everyone stop in their tracks.

“Can we be civilized about this? This is supposed to be a funeral, not a greedy riot on who gets to the gold first. It will stay where it is, because it belongs to the town now." Joe glared at everyone. "C'mon boys, let's dig another hole. so we can bury ole’ Jake here.”

Everyone looked down at their feet, truly chastised, while six men went to get their shovels to dig another hole. The other citizens wandered off until they were called back to finish the burial.

Emily entered her Emporium, and once again began taking inventory, mumbling. “I saw it first, that gold should be mine.”

“Hey lady, what are you mumbling about?”

Emily turned and blinked, surprised to see a strange man in the doorway looking at her with interest. Blushing a deep red, she shook her head at him. “Just talking to myself, that’s all. What can I do for you?”

“I’m a gold prospector from California, and I thought I heard you say gold.” He smiled at her. “By the way, my name is Ronald Gray. I'm planning on staying in these parts for a spell.”

“Well... In that case, welcome to Yellowrock. I might as well tell you then, we found a huge gold nugget in the grave on top of the hill. I just went a little crazy over it, that’s all.”

“Be careful, people are known to kill others over a little bit of gold.” Ronald warned.

“I will! I would love to be rich, but not if it’ll cost my life.”

That night, rain began to fall. Little by little, it rained harder until it was torrents that caused streams of water to run in streams down the street. The rain kept falling with no end in sight. Soon the streets resembled rivers, rushing along, threatening many of the houses and businesses. Anybody who tried to venture out was swept along by the rushing water. Yellowstone Lake was nearby, and with all the rain, too much water threatened its banks to overflow, which it did. Everyone was warned to sit tight until the rain stopped.

When the rain finally did stop on the third day, they still had to wait for the water to drain. Oh, so slowly it did, and the after effects showed the streets were so muddy; you'd sink like quicksand if you tried to cross them.

Emily looked around at the travesty that hit her small town. Was it because we went crazy over the gold while burying Jake? Are we being punished interrupting his prayer service? She knew she was being superstitious, but couldn’t help herself. She was taught that religion should not to be taken lightly.

The tenth day, she donned her boots and walked down to Yellowstone Lake, curious on how high it became. The sight that met her sent chills up her spine. She fell to her knees and prayed for the many bodies floating in the lake, the townspeople she knew and grew up with where now gone. Sobbing for her many friends she'll never see or talk to again, she stayed there, not wanting to move. Sheriff Wilson found her there, and helped her up. They walked back to their town and her Emporium. She was lucky, ten steps led up to the first floor and nothing was damaged. She sat down behind her desk, her heart ached for all that died.

As the days went by, and things began to look fairly normal again, nobody really knew why this happened to them. None of the townsfolk didn’t even bother with the gold.

"That gold is cursed, I'd stake my life on it." Betty Sands said to the crowd of people standing in front of the sheriff's office.

Emily walked inside and asked Sheriff Wilson, “By the way, did a Ronald Gray ever stay in the hotel? Have you even seen him? He came to my Emporium on the day we buried Jake. After that, it's like he vanished.”

“No… no Ronald Gray checked in. He must have been just passing through.” Sheriff Wilson sat behind his desk, swamped with death certificates to fill out, bodies to be buried. Emily sat down to help him with the large task at hand. “I wish I never saw that gold nugget!”

The days were long as the many who died were put to rest. Nobody really found out why this happened only to their town and their people, no other towns nearby didn't even get any rain at all. As the last person was put into the ground, Emily glanced up when the prayer ended, saying, "Amen!"

When she spotted Ronald Wilson standing next to a tree, around fifty feet away, she noticed he was holding something. When he saw her noticing him, he smiled and took out the huge nugget to show her; the very one she saw in the grave.

Without thinking, she took a revolver from her handbag and shot him, right between the eyes. Everybody jumped, looking around at what happened. Seeing Emily with her Gun, they followed her gaze to the man lying on the ground.

“You can arrest me, Sheriff, I’ll go quietly. That dirty, rotten, scoundrel was going to steal our gold. I couldn’t let him do that!” Shoulders slumped, she handed over her gun.

“Don’t arrest her, Sheriff! She was watching out for us,” the townspeople said in unison.

“I’m not going to arrest you, Emily. When you asked me about Ronald Gray, I checked up on him. He’s wanted in three states, California, Idaho, and Nevada. You just did my job is all.” Sheriff put his arm around Emily and walked with everyone back to their town, a little bit smaller now, but they all knew they will rebuild. Why? It's their town and they love it.

1,147 words