The Last Love Of Arthur Morgan

Saint and Sinner

They rode about a half a mile away from camp, to the old farm with the two story barn. It was the perfect place to set up some targets. Arthur collected some bottles from the group and placed them on the fence in various places. Lorna impatiently waited near the horses, anxious to get this process started.

When Arthur was done, he walked back to Lorna and handed her his pistol. She grabbed it and pointed it towards the ground, remembering what little her daddy did teach her that day she shot his shotgun.

"Come stand in front of me."

She moved in front of him and he positioned her feet and demonstrated how her arms and hands should be. She listened carefully and took note of everything he said, nervous that he might never repeat it.

"Never an' I mean never pull the trigger, that'll cause a kick back an' you'll hurt your arm." He paused, looking over her stance."Squeeze it gently. The only time you'll wanna pull the trigger is if you're in trouble. Let's hope that dont ever happen."

Lorna nodded and cocked the gun."My daddy doesn't even have a gun like this. At least I never saw him use it."

"I'm sure he does." He stood behind her."Alright, now aim for the bottle, but ya wanna be a little higher than the target."

She inhaled a sharp breath and raised her arm, aiming at the bottle, just a little higher than her sights and gently squeezed the trigger.

"Miss. Try again." He said from behind her.

She cocked the gun again, raised her arm, aimed and squeezed the trigger. Another miss! She grunted in frustration.

"What am I doing wrong?"

Arthur sighed and moved to hold her arm."Cause you're tense. Relax. The gun wont hurt ya unless you pull it on yourself."

She shook her head."That's morbid."

"It's the truth. Alright, aim for it again but don't shoot just yet."

She did as he instructed and waited nervously as he inspected her stance. He walked around back of her again and placed his hands on her hips, then placed his hand on her shoulders.

"Relax." He placed his hands back on her waist."Alright go on, try an shoot it again."

She swallowed as she aimed the gun at the bottle. She focused on it but not too hard, she took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. The bullet finally made contact and the bottle shattered. Lorna squeaked and jumped up and down.

"Alright, you ain't done yet."

Lorna nodded."Yeah but I finally did it!"

He smiled."Good job."

Arthur handed her some bullets and explained to her on how to properly reload the gun. After she successfully loaded the gun, she walked over to the next bottle and with Arthur's help again, she was able to shoot down the bottle the first try.

"Gettin' better." He encouraged.

She smiled and moved on to the next bottle.

Sometime while she was shooting, Arthur had moved from her side over to his horse. After she shot down another bottle, she glanced over to see him smoking a cigarette as he watched her. She smirked and aimed for the next bottle.

After shooting down all the bottles, Arthur showed her how to safely unload the gun. He was real careful in his explanation, no rushing her or making her feel stupid when she had a question. He was a real patient person and she appreciated it.

"Tomorrow I'll teach ya how to clean your gun."

"You mean your gun?"

He smiled and handed it back to her."Nah, I mean your gun."