Cowboy

By Dr. Mohsen El-Guindy

Cowboy is the story of a boy hating his drunken father because he saw him beating his mother all the time. e mother suffered injuries and fractures that led to her death, a natter that made the boy rebellious, violent, and also compassionate towards weak women.

When the boy reached the age of youth, he deserted his father

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writers Branding LLC
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639453849

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COWBOY

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Mohsend El- Guindy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

(Ebook) 978-1639453849

The views expressed in this book are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 1

Thomas Brown, an agricultural worker, was a violent alcoholic. When drunk, he becomes verbally abusive and violent, he beats his wife and slam her head on the door. His drinking problem left his wife mentally and physically broken. His child, Mason Brown, hiding in the corner, watched terrified this misery for years without being able to interfere to save his mother. Mason takes his soft toys to try to comfort his mother when she wouldn’t leave the bathroom.

Every day the father leaves for work and come home drunk in the middle of the day. His yelling could be heard within half a mile, Mason would see his father stumble and fall by the gutters, try to wake up, fall again and sleep on the road. Seeing him like that the mother would be terrified and would hope that he got safely home, without causing a scene for their neighbors. But often he’d fall and shriek causing everyone to come out and see the drama, which was highly embarrassing, painful and traumatic for the mother and her son Mason.

Somehow, the father would get inside the house and continue yelling abuses at his wife. She tries to calm him down, ask him to eat something so he could go to sleep. But all the liquor inside of him would keep him going for hours, continuously blabbering, and yelling. Often, he’d throw plates of food and things at her and Mason. After a few hours, he’d be drained of his alcohol and would go to sleep. And then Mason and his mother would have their dinner, really quietly so as not to wake him up again and they would go to sleep. But he’d often wake up in the middle of the night and start yelling at them. He’d then ask for a meal and continue the cycle of yelling and arguing with his wife for another hour and more.

After two bottles he was happy but when he hit the third bottle Mason and his mother would hide as he became aggressive, argumentative and violent. Mason hid his head under his pillow at night, trying to block out the noise and the arguments while crying. Mason hated his father for being an abuser. He didn’t understand his mother for staying with somebody who had abused her.

And this had been going on for years. Sometimes there were worse days, Thomas would get really mad and chase his wife down the street. Sometimes he’d come back with his head shaven, terrifying them. Sometimes he’d keep throwing stuff, causing his wife to panic and cry. Every day, he would pick a fight with his wife over trivial issues. His wife and Mason were fed up with his behavior. Mason was angry and sick at himself for doing nothing about it; for not ending this man’s life and providing some solace to his mother. His mother was hospitalized several times after he hit her, and once she fell into a coma but recovered, and then died six months later as a result of violence.

Through his childhood Mason had to go through the traumatic experience of bearing with an abusive drunk father. The violence of his father impacted his behavior. He became aggressive and vengeful. He developed hate towards his father and was unable to control his anger and showed aggression to the peers.

One day Mason’s father came home drunk and started to quarrel. He started beating Mason ruthlessly under the influence of alcohol. He was like out of his mind, delirious. Mason was panicked, lost, and all the anger that he had locked down for years, came bursting out. His father had no right to do this, He was done with this, with all this abuse, all this fear, being helpless. He was not helpless anymore. Enraged, Mason threw mean punches to his father’s face swift and hard. The father fell on the floor, screaming and clutching himself, rocking in the fetal position.

Mason now 17, wanted to escape from where he was. He left the house and did not return to it again. He tried to find peace somewhere else, but there was no calm yet. Mason escaped from his father by joining the army. He joined the Confederate States army commanded by General Robert Edward Lee. Mason fought with Lee’s army from 1862 until its surrender in 1865. In the army, he was able to exercise his violent tendencies of killing, destroying and burning. He became proficient in martial arts; skilled pistol shooter; quickly pulling the pistol from the holster and launching it at the opponent. He was billed as the fastest gun in the Confederate army, able to draw and fire in 0.3 seconds. He also excelled in rifle shooting.

After Lee’s army was defeated and discharged Mason had to find another job to earn a living. There were many factors encouraging people to go West. The Homestead Act, 1862 allowed homesteaders to claim 160 acres of land free if they lived and worked on it for five years. The prospect of free land was very attractive to people who could never have afforded a farm back home. Land, mining, and improved transportation by rail brought settlers to the American West. The railroad beside facilitating westward expansion, also escalated conflicts between Native American tribes and settlers who now had easier access to new territories.

Mason decided to move West and work as an agricultural worker. The train stopped in Denver Colorado. Mason got off the train with two pistols on both sides and a high hat over his head. He walked to the nearest inn and ordered a glass of whisky. He drank the whisky in one gulp and asked for an empty room. The barman who was also the inn owner, pointed to a room upstairs.

Bed and breakfast ten dollars a week. Said the barman.

Mason climbed the stairs to his room. He looked around, white light from outside coming in through the windows. The walls were cracked; there were leakage marks on the ceiling. It smelled a little damp. The room smelled of stale air and old wood. Mice skittered across the floor. There were so many it sounded like rain. He lay on the bed gazing up at the ceiling. His heart was broken. All this anger, and his father’s violence with him and his mother had been hanging on him for years. He fell into a deep sleep. After two hours he woke up to a female voice singing. He could hear the music coming from downstairs. He recalled that he had seen a piano in the corner of the bar. He took a bath and went downstairs to hear the singing. There was a pretty woman playing the piano and singing. The piano sounds filled the room like sunlight, her voice was hanging there like particles of dust: glistening, soft, everywhere.

He leaned against the bar watching her. He liked her voice and the song lyrics:

There was a fair lady who lived on the plains,

She helped me herd cattle through hard stormy rains,

She helped me one season all through the roundup,

She would drink with me from the cold bitter cup,

She loved the red liquor which serves a man so,

She was a fair lady as white as the snow.

Their eyes met. She smiled at him and he smiled back. When she finished singing, he clapped his hands and shouted bravo. She walked to him.

Stranger here? She said with wondering eyes.

Arrived this morning. Would you like a drink?

I certainly would like to.

They sat at a table and he ordered two whiskies. He drank his glass in one gulp. She sipped her drink slowly enjoying the taste of the good whisky.

She said: Whisky soothes the mind, relaxes the body, and warms even the coldest heart. I drink to pretend that my life is more interesting than it is, to escape from everyday problems.

So, you have problems in your life. Tell me about yourself.

I am the victim of the atrocities of war committed by union soldiers against confederate soldiers and civilians? I lived in the Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia which was the breadbasket of the Southern forces. Union Gen. Philip Sheridan unleashed a hundred miles swath of flames in the Shenandoah Valley that left vast numbers of women and children tottering towards starvation. The valley from Winchester to Staunton had but little in it for man or beast. The Shenandoah Valley remained a barren waste.

I saw that myself. I was a soldier in the confederate States army under General Lee. I feel your pain. He said comforting.

They burnt some sixty houses and all of the barns, storing hay, grain and corn. The fire spread for fifty miles south of Strasburg. It was a hard-looking sight to see the women and children turned out of doors at this season of the year. The barns were all burned; chimneys standing without houses, and houses standing without roof, or door, or window. The civilian population of the Valley was affected to a greater extent than was the populace of any other region during the war. She said with tears in her eyes.

"We southern women faced the prospect of invasion without male protection. Union troops committed rape while invading the Southern states. During wartime I was repeatedly raped by union soldiers. This has destroyed my life. I thought for a long time I was going to kill myself. I felt that I do not belong and cannot connect with others. I was sort of trying to place myself in this world where I wasn’t that Mirena anymore. I felt an outsider because of the shame I can bring. I felt flawed, faulty, not as good as everyone else. What made things worse was that my parents died in a house fire." The stored tears flowed and the sobs wracked her body.

Oh! I am really sorry to hear that. I know it is hard to move forward with your life without the rape affecting your everyday living. I was a soldier in the confederate army and I know the misery of war. ‘To the victor go the spoils’ has been a war cry for centuries, and women classed as part of the spoils of war. War rape has been downplayed as an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of sending men to war. War rape has in the past been regarded as a tangible reward to soldiers, and as a soldier’s proof of masculinity and success. He said patting her hand tenderly.

You have a beautiful name – Mirena. He said trying to change the subject.

She said with a sad smile covering her face: I offer sex in exchange of money to earn my bread. I do not have any other means to make money to meet my basic needs. I was forced into it for survival. I also sing, singing brings people in, because it’s all about the owner selling as much food and alcohol as he can.

How much do you get paid?

Few bucks.

I want to help but I do not know how. I want to make it comfortable for you so you will not have to go through that.

Oh, how kind of you to think of me like that. Do not bother about me. I can take care of myself.

If you need anything just tell me. I am living in the room upstairs.

I am the other room next door. She laughed.

You cannot change the past. Things end. People change. Life goes on. Live your life and be happy. He said realizing that there was little more he could do or say to console her.

I came here to start a new life. She said leaning her head back and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She scrutinized him with experienced eyes. He was strong, tall and handsome. His eyes were wide and black that shone with the light of everything will be okay.

He ordered two more whiskies.

How about you? Tell me about yourself. She said sipping her whisky.

I was born into poverty, family discord, and parental alcoholism. My father drank heavily. He was an alcoholic. My mother has made endless sacrifices and lived a meagre existence because of his drunkenness. He never really cared about what mother was feeling, he only cared about himself. He started getting angrier and abusive towards her, He would hit her, push her around, he broke her teeth and bones. She had been hospitalized several times because of the injuries he caused her. After leaving the hospital, she went back to live with him who then knocked her down, kicked her and choked her into unconsciousness. This time she stayed in the hospital for three weeks. She died of organ failure not long after she got out. I don’t understand how men can brutalize women like that. she was completely traumatized by what he had done to her. Men who hit women and dehumanize them are cowards. I left the house and never returned to it again. I joined the army and after the war ended, I came here to start a new life. Mason eyes glistened with tears.

Her heart went out to him. Things will get better. Everything will work out in the end. Believe in yourself and follow your dreams. Have you decided to search for a job? She said holding his hand across the table.

Not yet. I need to get hired fast. But how can I get a job with no experience?

What kind of work do you want?

Ranching and livestock business are growing faster than any other agricultural sector in the country.

"I know an old farm owner seeking a full-time assistant. Before I worked here, I worked as a maid in his house. The man was managing his small farm with his son. They cared about me. They treated me as one of their own. No discrimination, we eat together on the same dining table, and chitchat. A few miles from his farm is a huge ranch owned by a greedy man who wants to take over the old man’s farm for a small price. The greedy man has thousands of head of cattle and wants to expand into the grazing land by taking over the old man’s farm. The greedy man