Uncertain: Day 4

Word Count: 24,006

Summary of Events:

Joseph was sitting around thinking about the disappearance of Hazel's niece and nephew when he remembered he'd forgotten to put his horse away for the night; once he'd done that he noticed that there was a lot of light coming from Main Street. At Main Street he discovered a sizeable crowd, all assembled to hear his old nemesis speak. His nemesis out-and-out lied to the citizens of Cimarron about his participation in the Civil War, which infuriated Joseph, who meant to see the truth told . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

     A wide and more genuine smile on his face than the one which he’d had earlier, Lavern surveyed the crowd and his gaze locked on Joseph.

He could tell Lavern had recognised him by the fact that the smile had fallen off of his face and he looked somewhat affronted.

Joseph let a small smile curl over his mouth and started forward on the street — where the majority of the throng was gathered — his footsteps generating more dust than sound.

“Oh, right, there’s another part to my story I believe you folks would be keenly interested in hearing,” Lavern said.

The crowd quietened and Joseph stopped, just what was Lavern going to do now?

“It wasn’t just when we ran away from home that me, my father, and my brothers were pursued by people intent on forcing us to fight for their wretched cause,” Lavern said as the crowd hushed even more. “We were pursued many times across the backcountry by people, and it was only because we were willing to go into the swamps to hide that we were able to escape safely.”

Nervousness started to seep into Joseph’s breastbone; just where was Lavern going with this?

“One of my most dogged pursuers, the only man that ever instilled in me fear that I might actually not be able to get back to the hideout my family and some other dodgers had established was one of the most crafty, evil, and devious men I ever have known,” Lavern went on, something of an ominous and dramatic tone coming into his voice that only added to Joseph’s fear. “And he was a man all of you know.”

“Dear God no,” Joseph whispered, horror crashing over him like a fearsome avalanche.

“He is your sheriff,” Lavern said. “Joseph Sheldon.”

The crowd didn’t make a sound. Not even the coyotes and wolves that lurked in the mountains behind Lavern made a sound — as if they were just as shocked by Lavern’s declaration as everyone else.

“I don’t blame you for being shocked and alarmed,” Lavern said. “He is a master deceiver. He nearly convinced me to go with him willingly, in fact, but I managed to see through his deceit and get away at the last of all moments. I’ve shared all of this with you only to warn you: anything positive you may’ve thought about your sheriff is nothing but a falsehood. He is a threat to this town and the safety of the Union. He wants nothing more than to see every single man who dared fight for or support the Union dead, and I guarantee you that every Union man who can be blamed for a crime will be, while every Confederate who does will get away scot free.”

“I knew it!” a man shouted “I knew it all along! He’s a menace!”

Similar cries sounded from elsewhere in the crowd until the whole assemblage was in a furore.

Joseph felt like he’d been shot — even though he hadn’t actually ever been shot before despite the many attempts that’d been made at him — his entire reputation had been eviscerated in less than an hour.