preview

Imal A Short Story

Decent Essays

Sunlight streamed down on the desert surface as just under the sands, bruised knuckles punched through the flimsy wooden top of a makeshift coffin. As the dirt poured into the closed space, the unfortunate person inside packed the dirt towards her feet and the sides of the rectangular box. After enough sand and dirt was freed, the woman sat forward and crawled up and out, using her upper body strength to pull her out of her own sandy grave. As she stood up, blinking in the blaring heat, the woman, Imala, gripped her shawl down to cover her dark skin from the sun. Her long dark hair was pulled into a braid, easy for her cowboy hat to sit atop her head. Upon feeling the sun’s heat on the top of her head, she cursed in Apache.
“Where’s my hat?” …show more content…

These words spoken by a sheriff or businessman could spur hope in the hearts of men, but the only thing this missionary was spurring was confusion.
“How do you mean?” Imala inquired, sipping from her drink. Eli was nervously fixing his collar, obviously considering whether he should confide in her.
“I presume you’ve heard of ‘the River,’ yes?” Imala was intrigued now.
“Everyone this side of the Mississippi has. Sweeps up gold in its wake,” she responded.
“Precisely. Well, it’s not a River at all. What everyone’s been hearing of is actually a locomotive. A train, probably run by criminals, stealing gold from towns and coming back to a ghost town I saw once while out traveling,” the missionary explained. Imala studied his face, looking for signs of jest or lies, but she settled that he was telling the truth, strange as it seems.
“You want someone to bring it back here?” she carefully proposed.
“Someone has to bring these men to justice, and this town could use some of its money back... I also reckon there will be enough for reward if you help me.” Imala eyed the man.
“Why me?” she pondered, “Why not sheriffs or even criminals who will get the job …show more content…

In an instant, Imala kicked a couple of long wooden boxes and many other supplies that were lying on the floor out of the door to the room thrusting them out of the train. Sebastian whipped his head to look, and in his distraction, Imala drew her revolver and shot the criminal in the leg. He cried out in pain and she tackled both him and Sebastian out of the door, off the train. Forgotten in the fight, Eli got up, appearing stunned and realized he now had to take the controls.
Meanwhile, the skirmish continued outside while the three figures rolled out onto the desert sands with a thud. Imala was still outgunned, but now Eli could take the train back to Grace.
“You’ve really done it now, missy.” The boss attempted to get up, but Sebastian decked her across the face for him. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at her, but the criminal started shouting.
“Wait, wait, wait!” the boss cried out angrily as Sebastian paused. “You see the shovel and box?” Imala and Sebastian glanced over to the pile of items Imala had kicked out of the moving train including boxes and tools. “I have an idea. Missy, pick up that shovel and start

Get Access