A Man's Harmonica is a Sacred Thing
It was early morning. Although the sun was shining, there was still a hint of chill in the air. The man walking up the path shivered a bit and pulled his coat more closely about him in response. Upon reaching his destination, the man sank to the ground beside a plain white headstone. Removing his hat, he leaned casually back, stretching his buckskin clad legs out before him. The sun shone down directly on the relaxed figure, dissipating the chill he had felt earlier. Closing his eyes, he began speaking softly.
"Hey there, pard." He paused a moment before continuing. "It's been a while since I been here last. A lot's happened in that time. We've all been pretty busy, but I reckon I owe it to ya to kinda keep ya up on things."
He paused again, reaching into his pocket and emerging with a small harmonica, which he began to absently twirl as he resumed speaking.
"JD and Casey are gettin' married next week. She finally got tired of his hemmin' and hawin' and she up and asked him. Buck hasn't stopped laughin' since."
"Speakin' of Buck. Well he's still the same ol' fellow. As a lot of the town's womenfolk could tell ya!" The man smiled, lips curling in amusement. "Josiah finally got his church up and runnin'. He actually has a respectable number of people attendin' services. Nice to know people can still surprise ya on occasion."
"Ezra sure surprised everyone, includin' himself, when he decided to stay in town. He's happily fleecin' all the newcomers in town and still tryin' to talk Inez into sellin' him the saloon."
"Nathan married Rain a while back. She's been a big help to him, nursin' and all. The townfolk come to him pretty regular now for doctorin'. So they're real happy."
"And me? Well, I'm still here. Judge Travis is lookin' into that bounty on my head. Me and Mary have been seein' quite a bit of each other. And I don't reckon he fancies his daughter-in-law married to some outlaw. I hope you don't mind too much. I figure you probably don't much care anymore." The man got to his feet and stood quietly, looking down at his friend's grave.
"I tried to warn ya, Chris. I thought you of all people would know better." Shaking his head sadly, the tracker continued, "I just did what I had to. I hope you understand. You should've listened to me when I told ya to keep your hands off my harmonica. A man's harmonica is a sacred thing."
Turning around, Vin Tanner put his harmonica to his lips and began to play a jaunty tune as he walked back down the path, towards the town.
The End