“Remember how we died” David Bodam the passed soul of a cowboy asked his old friend John Bowdan the passed soul of a banker as they  sat  at their  old white table.”Yea I remember it like it was yesterday” John remarked back to his old friend.”It began so long ago it seemed like eternity and maybe it was”.” Towns seemed to spring up out of the desert like Cacti. Our town of Wellsburg in the ‘old’ territory of new mexico was one of these towns. “ I remember nothing ever happens really in Wellsburg no robbers  tore the place up, the plague stayed well enough away and the natives were pretty friendly to us. It was a good life , too good, so good it made the townspeople restless like a small child. The saloon Shootin Horseshoe was always crowded no matter the time of day, shots rang out all during the night as folks tried to hunt damn coyotes out in their fields, and no matter the time you could always find some way to empty your pockets of cash. And I guess that’s where the story really begins. In that old saloon I had just got my second or ,maybe third whiskey after maybe four pints ,one too many. I wobbled back over to my table and crashed into you and that is where everything started to go downhill from there you came at me fist flying one even landed right on my nose and i am pretty sure i came out of that bar with one less tooth than when i came in. After that I was not thinking clearly and with the crowds around us so loudly i could not hear my own thoughts and feel their voices vibrating the whole of my being. I rammed my fist right  into your gut and kicked your gonads so hard you sang like a showgirl. Though apparently Luke had been shouting at the top of his lungs for the fight to stop but he was drowned in the sea of cheering. Though it seemed like you heard him because it was after that that you challenged me to the ‘Old Fashioned Duel’ one week from sunday on main street so that ‘I may settle business’. It didn’t seem possible for the crowd to get any louder both they somehow managed it, it seemed so loud that the people backed east would be deafened. The sound was just excruciating so painful that it seemed preferable to be mauled by a bear.The next day or maybe two are just a blur. after I slept off the alcohol it was about noon. I got out of bed I got up and  went to dig up my grandfather’s old service revolver. I dug that out of a trunk that looked older than i was, I went to Jonah the old carpenter to take measurements for a coffin just incase you somehow got off a lucky shot before i shoot you I remember he gave me it for free. ‘Because it will be an interesting show. Make all us town folk proud’ The next day after I got done at the bank, I saw a  poster advertising our duel as if it were some staged thing in the circus like someone wasn’t going to die that day but like some rodeio show you see back east. So i went to the bar to drown my sorrows in whiskey and i must have been very successful because the next thing I remember was waking up in my home asleep on my floor in front of the bed. Sunday was rapidly approaching so I decided  to get some practice in so I got my six shooter and went into the bush. After about an hour of searching I found the perfect target a bird sitting on a rock with his back to me I took the revolver and pointed it towards the bird’s chest and I pulled the trigger the gun rocketed upwards yanking it self out of my hands landing on the ground next to me. The smoke stung my eyes and obscured the bird. When the smoke finally cleared the bird was gone. It flew away during the commotion. It was clear I was going to need more practice before sunday if I was going to have any chance.I picked up the revolver of the ground and went looking for more birds. The shot scared all the birds  in the area, I had to walk for another thirty before I found another target a beautiful roadrunner sitting down resting on the rocks. I raised my revolver looked down the sights and this time braced myself. I pulled the trigger and the sound rang out from the chamber smoke was everywhere and the revolver nearly yanked out of my hands again. When the smoke cleared it looked like I had shot a pillow, feathers were every where and the bird was nowhere to be seen. It took over half an hour to find it ten yards down behind the rocks it was resting on.  After that success I took the fowl home and went to bed. It was now the day before the duel after I got up and had my breakfast of bird and bread I went  to the church for the obligatory day of prayer for our souls no matter the outcome of the duel. when I arrived at the church it was packed as if everyone in the next five counties had come here to pray for our souls. It seemed like the church would burst at the seams if I walked in, so I took a deep breath and entered. The church was silent as if the sound was sucked of the room. It was only after the priest got there that sound flooded back into the room, by the time it was over it was already past midnight. We all went home it was was going to be a long day tomorrow. When I woke up in the morning I felt a cold shiver run down my spine and i could swear that just for a second that I saw the grave face of death. I only know now how right I was. I got up and got dressed into my sunday best and went off to church for confession and penance. After that loaded my revolver and went towards main street. When I got there it was like the harvest festival, stalls lined the streets, children were at play all over the road and the sweet mouthwatering smell of pies and roast beef lingered in the air. It was almost noon when I found you sitting at a pie stall before I could get to you though the Town's new clock tower rang out twelve bell. It was time I still wished that could forgive you for your transgressions but there was no time. It seems like time was standing still to watch even the air stood still the loudest of children stood quite as we walked our paces. It seemed like for ever before Luke counted down to one and even more still before either of us did anything but when it happened it happened quick. First there was the smoke than the ringing of the barrels. We shot so fast it only sound like one shot. When the smoke was finally clear and i saw your corpse lying there I was so happy I didn’t even notice the crowd. It wasn’t until I turned around to see the grave face of death look into my soul did I realize what had happened. We were both dead.