The hardest part of this was keeping to only 250 words! By careful editing, it is exactly 250 words not counting header and footer.  Great idea Di.

Johnny sat alone in Morro Coyo’s only cantina.  It was very late, morning actually. His newly met father’s words rolling over in his mind. ‘I don’t know what to think of you.’ Why they hurt so much, Johnny wasn’t sure….but hurt they did.

He nursed the beer waiting for Day to return and hoped his brother’s plan had not cost them their lives.  Why he cared, he wasn’t sure but he was honest enough with himself to know he cared.

After leaving his father’s house, he rode for several hours trying to make up his mind.  The recent events in Mexico, fresh in his memory.  If he had any sense, he’d turn tail and head out.  It was a fool’s game they were playing. Day and his well armed men against a tin solider and a handful of cowboys.

He swore he’d never get involved in something like this again and here he was, ready to face impossible odds.  ‘For what?’  He asked himself.  ‘A brother he’d just met? A father he’d hated for most of his life? A chance for a family and a home?’ 

Johnny moved a bit as he felt the thickness of the thousand dollars push against him offering slight comfort for what he was about to do. He chewed on his lower lip and made his plans.  At the sound of horses galloping through the tiny town, he raised his head, blue eyes sparkling with resolve and went out to take hold of his future.

The End

June 2004