The Golden Mean

It was a dark and stormy night . . .

Therefore, stumbling down the path was already a given, what made it even more difficult was the wet ground.  His hiking shoes were well made and gripped the rock surfaces, but the small damp pebbles made it seem like he was skating down the path at times.  He had to keep going even though the pain in his left side was killing him.  "I have got to reach the river, to rest, eat, and to plan my next move," he thought to himself.

"What the hell happened back there. . ." was upper most in his mind.  He knew starting late might be a problem, but as an experienced hiker, he felt that reaching the river where he could camp would be easy.  And it was! Except . . .

Seeing a small light on in the cabin was a complete surprise.  Approaching the cabin, he had yelled twice, "Hello, the cabin," with no response.  He was even more surprised when he looked through the smudgy window and past the dirty curtains to see her.

At first, she looked calm just sitting there painting at an easel.  Artist, he thought.  From what he could just make out, she was painting a bar scene.  As he straightened up, he looked around the area in front of the cabin. "Nothing." he thought.  As he moved toward the front door, he made some noises to alert the woman that he was there.  He had knocked on the door, with no response from the woman.  Carefully he opened the door and stepped inside, just as lighting lit up the sky around the cabin, and the deep roll of thunder pounded across the valley and echoed down the canyon.

Gone! Where did she go . . . ?

That was when he caught the slight movement from the left side of the room, and turned to look right down the barrel of a rifle. "Now wait a minute,” he said as he raised his hands. "I don't want any trouble, I was just passing through and saw the cabin with the light on.  No need to get hostile!"

"Shut up," she said, “just raise your hands and turn around, one move and I'll blow your brains out."

In an instant, he had heard two shots ring out.  The sound of falling glass was followed by searing pain on his left side.  Then he was down on the dirty cabin floor and passing out.