Alone on the Range Part 0

Alone on the Range Part 0

                Well, before I load myself into this pine box let me do some recollecting. Let’s go back to where it all started the place we called home, before the Range. Before she parked us just miles from the planet we wanted to explore, that wench. We were so close. Let’s go back to our childhood days, just me and one eye, before he lost his eye. That was a mighty surprising thing, some cowboy lost his cool over a game of billiards and pulled a Lucy on one eye. He shot him right in the eye, luckily the bullet didn’t go any further. Them Lucys are mighty weak. Any gun named Lucy would have to be weak.

                We all piled on the cowboy and beat him senseless. We were going to kill him but the bartender stopped us, but anyway, before all that nonsense and hullabaloo.

                We met outside waiting for the school ship, a smallish hovercraft that picks up the kids to bring them to the school house. We always waited by the large cactus, it was just me for a few days then I saw a scrawny kid waiting by himself too. The rest of the kids gathered around the water hole, chucking rocks and what not into the water, just to watch them skip. I was never one for crowds, neither was one eye.

                He came up to me that day: “hey, cool satchel.” Said one eye.

                “Oh thanks, I’m Cecil, what’s your name?”

                “Clyde, mighty nice to make your acquaintance.” Said one eye.

                From that day forward we were inseparable. We sat next to each other during astro physics class, yeah that’s right, we’re pretty smart. We would stare into the sky during recess and imagine the unimaginable. What life was like way out there. Not just to the moon. We’ve been there with our parents on day trips before. We’re talking about way out there, light years away. That’s when we got thinking:

                “Hey partner, when we grow up we should buy a huge pasture ship. Large enough for cattle and all the stuff we’ll need for space travel.” I said.

                “Dang straight, that sounds great!” Said one eye.

                Our dreams started there, during those hot elementary school days. We spent study period reading about space travel.

                During the weekends we’d hangout at eachother’s  house and play cowboys and Indians and sometimes cowboys and robots. Cowboys and robots was always more fun.

                I remember this one time when we had a robot substitute. You couldn’t  tell he was a robot, except for his eyes. He never blinked! Some humans go awhile without blinking but this sucker never blinked. We messed with him bad, but he was too quick for us. It’s tough to outsmart a robot but it can be done. Well those were the glory days. I sure do miss one eye. He was one of the last to go.