Dust blew over the barren landscape. Tumbleweed rolled through the desert and piled up on the side of the buildings.
The buildings made up the main street, the only street, of Cody, Wyoming.
Outside the saloon, Jensen swept the wooden decking. As soon as the brush removed a layer of sand, the wind blew a fresh covering across the street.
Opposite, the doors to the hotel gusted open and closed until the proprietor, Johnson, still dressed in his sleeping clothes, angrily appeared and locked them.
Kitty watched him disappear back inside. The girls would get a long sleep this morning. The station wagon was due in this afternoon and the Carrington cattle drive would arrive around noon. It would be a busy night in the rooms upstairs.
Railroad agents had passed through a fortnight ago, surveying the land. Rumour was the tracks would be coming before the end of the year. The Iron Horse would arrive soon after.
After that Cody, Wyoming would become the latest boom town way out west.
And Kitty Malone was ready to make the most of the opening frontier when it arrived.
Written as part of Sunday Photo Fiction. Write a story of around 200 words based on the photo prompt given (above). Hosted by Susan Spaulding. For more details visit HERE.
To read more of the stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.
Kitty would find it strange today upstanding that the railway was usurped by the car, but I was there in spirit with buffalo bill,
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Thanks Michael, she would indeed find it very different.
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Wouldn’t be the West without Miss Kitty, would it?
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Every frontier town has to have one 🙂
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wouldn’t it be interesting to go to different periods of time where something that was coming that would change the known world (in this case trains; then cars; flight’ and all things of the past that brought big change, and in each of these, there was a Kitty and a brothel. Well, I’d find it interesting, matching the time period with descriptions of the landscape, clothing, language style, and Kitty.
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It really would, nice idea for a book that…
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Great sense of place and time — I could hear the door banging, and see the sand blowing across everything, while Miss Kitty waits, hoping the wind heralds the coming of new fortunes.
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Thank you Joy
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wonderful description of what the town must have been like back in the day. Those towns thrived and survived by those with the will to succeed.
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Thanks Susan
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Another desert town in boondocks is going to get a face-lift. Good for her. Nice story telling.
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Thank you
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You really set the scene well. I could visualize it all in my mind’s eye. Good job.
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Thank you
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Why am I thinking of “Miss Kitty” of Gunsmoke? I suppose every Western town had to have a Kitty….and with all the Western movies I’ve seen (and visiting the modern Western U.S.) I really enjoyed this story.
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Thank you Alana
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A nod to the oldest profession 😉
Smart Kitty.
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Thanks Jules
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Yes, I agree. You set the scene very well, Plus, i like the way you use your verbs. They help build a sense of time, place, and bring characters to life. Very well written, Kelly.
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Thank you Neel
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Love the laid-back nature to this – the rolling tumbleweed, the pernicious sand, and Kitty’s anticipation of business to come.
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Thank you 🙂
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Great atmosphere building Iain, looked very real.
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Thank you
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