It was a bit of a process to get Archie on the back of Lewiston's horse. Archie refused to help, and what really pissed Lewiston off was he had to ditch his freshly lit cigarette to get him on the back of the horse. Eventually Archie was laid up on the back of the horse across his belly and his wounded ass up in the air. It was far from a relaxing ride for either of them. Archie complained the whole way and Lewiston made sure it was a bumpy ride for him. But nonetheless, they made it to town.

Lewiston rode up to the doctor's office that was next door to the jailhouse. Both the deputy and the sheriff rushed over to the lawyer as he hitched his borrowed horse.

"Good! You found him." Herman said.

"Yep. He needs a doctor though." Lewiston responded.

"He shot me in the ass!" Archie declared.

"Deputy!" The sheriff began to order, "Please help Archie inside so he can see the doctor."

"Sure thing," Runnels said as he pulled Archie off the horse. He screamed out in pain the moment his feet hit the ground. The deputy then put his arm around Archie and did his best to help him walk as Archie complained.

"Where'd you find him?" The sheriff asked.

"Up over some hills that way." Lewiston pointed in the direction that they came from. "We were jumped by two men, though. Left their bodies there."

"Damn it!" The sheriff said, discouraged. "Alright, I'll go take a look after I'm done dealing with this."

"Dealing with what?"

The sheriff pointed back to his office with his thumb at a little Indian boy who was handcuffed to a post on the porch.

"Some farmhands found this kid." Herman informed. "Seems like he escaped from the boarding school. We're sending him back today."

Lewiston was astonished by this information as he said, "It's forty miles from the nearest school. How'd he get so far out on foot?"

"He didn't," Herman said as he looked back at the boy. "Seems like he jumped a train to get here and hopped off before it reached the station. We sent a wire to the school. They're sending someone here for him now." Herman looked back at Lewiston and told him, "I better get his things together before they get here."

The sheriff walked off and went back inside the office. Herman tried giving the boy a little wave, but he instead just looked away from the old man.

The boy had to be no older than twelve years old. His black hair had been cut, but it was starting to grow out some. The uniform he wore was dirty and was tore up from his long journey.

Lewiston was impressed. The first year he was sent to the school, he tried to escape the school multiple times after they sent his brother away. He felt so alone and only wanted to be with his loved ones again, but every time he escaped, he was caught. The furthest he ever made it out was five miles. This boy beat him eight times over.

"A train?" Lewiston said to himself in amusement. "Brilliant!"

He couldn't help but meet this boy who accomplished a feat that he could only dream of at his age. The sun was hot as it shined down over them. The boy stared down at the ground, not looking at anyone else. He wanted to be alone, but not looking at anyone was the closest he was going to get. A shadow fell over him, making the boy look up in curiosity. Lewiston could tell that the boy thought his time was up and the school had finally come to get him.

"Bozho, nikan," Lewiston greeted him. Meaning hello, friend in their language. The boy's eyes got big as he pointed at Lewiston and asked, "Anishnabe?"

Lewiston sat down beside him on the porch with a smile on his face. He pointed to his top hat and told the boy, "Important nishnabe."

For the first time, probably in a while, the boy smiled at Lewiston and in his excitement, started speaking in his native tongue. The boy was relieved to finally have someone to share his language with and speak it in the open. That is when Lewiston had to disappoint the boy a little when he put up his hand to stop him and said, "I'm sorry. I don't remember what that means. They beat most of the language out of me. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

He stopped talking and nodded. He knew exactly what he meant.

A whip cracked in the air, causing both the boy and Lewiston to look up. There they saw a strong old nun driving a two seated cart being pulled by a mule. She cracked the whip again, making the mule move up the road a little bit more, before it came to a stop. The boy immediately got nervous and clutched the handcuffs chain. Lewiston saw this and pointed.

"Is that them?" He asked.

He nodded. He was on the verge of tears, for they both knew what was going to happen next. The boy was going to receive a beating. Possibly by that whip the nun was holding. It was a lot to expect a child to receive that kind of punishment, but this was the world they lived in. Cruel as it may be.

"Hey," Lewiston said to get his attention. "You're going to be okay."

The boy kept staring at the nun and her whip as she was making her way down from the wagon.

"Look at me," he told the boy. The boy listened. "You're going to be okay. If I can survive that school, you can survive too. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded again. Lewiston pulled out his pocket watch and gave it to the boy.

"Just a reminder that it's possible." He told the boy and smiled. The boy looked at the silver pocket watch and opened it. On the inside lid he saw the drawn smiley face. He gave Lewiston a quizzical look and pointed at the face.

Lewiston smiled and said, "What? That? I had a friend who loved to smile. Told me that smiling made everything better. That picture just reminded me of her is all."

The boy closed the watch and took a deep breath. Lewiston put his hand on his shoulder.

"Just get through this. And remember," the boy looked up at him as Lewiston told him, "Smile!"

They both smiled at each other. Lewiston's smile was hopeful and encouraging, where the boy's was the smile of someone trying to put on a brave face. The kind of smile that shielded all the hurt and sadness someone may feel inside. Lewiston knew that smile well and he didn't have the heart to tell him that putting on that smile didn't get any easier to do.

A gentle presence walked up behind them. They both looked to see the sheriff standing behind them, holding a small rucksack that Lewiston guessed the boy must have traveled with. In a kind voice the sheriff said, "It's time to go."

As the sheriff undid the handcuffs, he looked over at Lewiston and said, "Migwetch." Thank you.

Lewiston stood up and watched as the Sheriff took the boy to the nun who stood by her wagon. Arms crossed with the whip still in one of her hands. Once Herman guided the boy over to the Nun, she snatched him up by the wrist and started to drag him away. She stopped once she saw that he was holding onto something in his hand. She pried his hand open and saw the watch. She took it out of his hand and tossed it to the ground. She then pushed the boy up onto the cart and drove off. It wasn't until they disappeared over the horizon that Lewiston could finally not hear the nun yell at the poor boy.

Quietly, Lewiston walked over to the watch that was tossed onto the dirt road. He stared at it for a moment. He almost felt like he was looking at all his hope in that watch. Fallen to the ground and covered in dirt. The more he heard the details of Archie's case, the more it felt impossible to get him off the charges and if he couldn't get Archie free, then he wouldn't get his brother's file, and then he wouldn't be able to bring him home.

David. The name of his younger brother he tried so hard not to think of, because it brought him too much pain. Lewiston had originally hidden his brother when the soldiers came onto the reservation to round up all the kids to send them all to the boarding school. It worked for a little bit, but a few days later, a week at most, David was found and brought to the school. For taking both of his children, their father protested and camped outside the school for weeks. In order to get rid of him and to send a message to anyone else who may dare protest, the school took David and shipped him off to a different school. God only knows where to go. The last time Lewiston saw David, he was kicking and screaming, followed shortly by darkness. Archie hit him on the back of the head to quiet him and it did its job for sure. Lewiston lost consciousness and when he came to, a few hours later, David was long gone.

"Are you alright?" A voice called out. Lewiston looked over in the direction the voice came from and saw Mrs. Harper standing on the other side of the street.

"I'm fine." Lewiston said as he picked up his watch and wiped the dirt off.

He was always good at keeping his feelings hidden, but for some reason, it wasn't working this time. For some reason, Eva Harper could tell he really wasn't fine at all. She walked across the street and looked at him with her highly sympathetic blue eyes and asked, "Could you use some company?"

"No," Lewiston said, "but I could use some trouble."

Without saying another word, he took her by the hand and started leading her by the hand. He stopped when he saw Runnels running out of the doctor's office shouting, "Hey! The doc finally got that bullet out of his ass. He's being patched up right now."

"Thank you. Can you keep an eye on him for a little bit?" Lewiston asked the deputy.

"Sure. Want me to take him to his room?"

"No," Lewiston said as he looked at Eva. "Put him back in a jail cell. It'll be harder for him to escape from there."

"You got it." The deputy said.

And with that, Lewiston continued to lead Eva Harper down the street and into the saloon, up the stairs and into the lawyer's room. He slowly closed the door. Once the door clicked, signifying that it was locked, Lewiston turned around and looked at her. She had already taken off her jacket. There was no question on what they were there to do. No need to fake it with light talk. Just passion. Not for each other. No. There was no romanticism here. She had a job to do and he, Lewiston, needed to relieve some stress. The cracks were showing. He couldn't hide from his feelings anymore. His anxiety, his loneliness, could no longer be quelled with just the smoke of a cigarette. Only a woman's touch and blinding pleasure would do.

A final yell of pleasure escaped from both of them. They didn't know how much time passed, just that the sun was now lower in the sky. Side by side they laid in bed. Sweat poured from their bodies as they began to catch their breath. Lewiston rolled to his side and gave her a kiss as a thank you. Without another word, he got up and began walking around his room, looking for his clothes. They were scattered, but thankfully they were in close proximity with each other.

He now had his pants, shirt, and vest on. He walked over to the window as he started to tie his bow tie. The town was quiet, just like all towns are, right before dinner. Soon the town's population was going to explode with life and wouldn't stop until midnight as the townspeople looked for companionship, love, and everything else in between.

"Can you tie me up?" Lewiston heard Eva's cool voice reach his ears. He turned around to see that she had slipped her dress back on and had her back turned toward him. An immodest amount of flesh showing from her back.

Lewiston walked over to her as she continued to have her back to him as he said, "I don't know the proper way to do this."

"Doesn't matter," she said, "It just needs to be good enough for me to get home."

He smiled and tightened the dress the best that he could. By the time he was finished, much less of her back was seen. She walked over to the chair where she had hung her jacket over when she first came in.

"Do you plan on staying in Atwood long?" she asked as she put her jacket on.

"As long as I need to," he answered.

"I guess what I'm asking is if you're going to stay after the trial is done?"

Lewiston couldn't help but smile at this question as he responded, "Probably not."

She looked at him with her big blue eyes and said, "Really?"

"Mrs. Harper. We both know what's going on here. We don't need to pretend it's something else."

She cooly walked over to him and placed her hand on his face as she said, "Just because it isn't anything else, doesn't mean I want it to stop."

She gave him a nice long, deep, kiss.

"Think about it." She said and left.

The moment the door closed, he patted down his pockets. In his left pocket was his money. In his right pocket, his pistol still rested, waiting for action. He rushed over to the table where his jacket was thrown. He picked it up and threw it on. He then quickly patted his pockets down. In his left jacket pocket, his cigarettes and in his right, his pocket watch. He felt relieved when he saw that she didn't steal anything.

He looked across the room and saw his top hat sitting on the dresser. He walked over to it and stopped when he saw his reflection in the mirror. He took a deep breath and looked himself in the eyes as he told himself, "Remember. She's using you." And without saying another word, he grabbed his hat and left his room.