"The Showdown," flash fiction by Alain Gomez

The sun was hot and directly overhead.  Must be noon.  Peters would be here any minute now.  There was a jingle of spurs, a figure stepped out from an alley.  The townsfolk saw them and fled indoors.  Windows were bolted shut.

He spat tobacco juice.  "I didn't think you would come, Clancy."

"You thought wrong, Peters."

Peters scoffed and looked around casually.  "I guess so.  You don't strike me as fightin' man."

Clancy clenched and unclenched his fists.  "When a man comes home to find his wife murdered, things can change."

Peters pulled out some more chewing tobacco, like he had all the time in the world.  "You ready to die, Clancy?"

Clancy pulled his pistol out of its holster as fast as he possibly could.  Two gunshots echoed through the town.  Clancy laughed as he looked at Peters.  He felt a glorious moment of victory.  Then dropped to his knees and collapsed in the dust.

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