Excerpt from an as of yet untitled book

*Okay, so I got this story from a dream I had that was soooo realistic. Jackie (the main character) is a modern day girl who goes to sleep one night and wakes up in a prairie in the 19th century Colorado. Enjoy!!*

Jackie was in the middle of a prairie. Yellowing grass was spread out all around her, and large clumps of dirt were plainly seen. Clouds of dust churned across the wide expanse of land that was almost completely bereft of trees. Fear gripped at Jackie’s mind and she hoped with all her heart that she was dreaming.

The sound of a fire crackling caused her to turn around. Part of her wasn’t surprised at all to see a young cowboy around Jackie’s age crouched by a campfire stirring a liquid in a tin pot with a black horse standing behind him. The cowboy looked up and met her gaze with a kind, friendly smile.

“Mornin’, miss,” he said with a Western accent. His bright blue eyes twinkled with humor and his tanned face crinkled with a smile. Jackie was in shock, but decided that she had to be in a very realistic dream and would wake up within minutes. She might as well play along.

“Um, good morning,” she replied. The cowboy stood up, a tin cup in his hand, and ladled the brown liquid from the pot into it.

“Want some?” he asked in his slow, deep voice.

“What is it?”

“Coffee, miss. What else?” the cowboy replied, appearing to be amused by the question.

“Oh, um, okay, yeah, I’ll have some. Thanks,” Jackie said. The cowboy smiled amiably and handed her the cup. Jackie returned the smile, but made a face as soon as she tasted the coffee. “Ugh, this definitely isn’t Starbucks material,” she muttered, handing the cup back to the cowboy who laughed.

“You sure do talk funny,” he said with a chuckle.

“My New York accent isn’t that bad!” Jackie protested.

“Is that how New York people talk? I was thinking they’d be more smart soundin’ an’ all,” the cowboy said with a grin.

“Are you implying that I don’t sound smart?” Jackie asked, glaring at the stranger.

“Nah, ‘course I ain’t sayin’ that. I only meant I thought they’d be more high an’ mighty like,” the cowboy smiled. His smile was so infectious that Jackie couldn’t help but reciprocate the action. They were silent a moment as Jackie pondered when she would wake up from this odd dream and the cowboy fed his horse. “Whoa, boy”, “easy there”, and “Now don’t you want some a these tasty oats?” could be heard from where he was standing, and Jackie felt somewhat soothed by it.

As the boy finished feeding his horse, he turned to Jackie and asked, “So what are you doin’ way out here all alone anyways?”

“Um, well, I don’t really know,” Jackie said, unable to come up with a suitable answer. The cowboy didn’t look convinced that she really didn’t know.

“If you don’t wanna tell me, that’s fine. Ain’t none of my business, anyway, I guess,” the cowboy said nonchalantly. Jackie felt bad that she couldn’t come up with a good excuse. “I’m Sam, by the way.” Jackie smiled.

“I’m Jacqueline Forger, but you can call me Jackie.”

“Miss Forger is jus’ fine for me,” the cowboy grinned. Jackie laughed, thinking that Miss Forger was probably the proper thing for a cowboy to call a young lady. “D’ya need a ride somewhere, Miss Forger?”

“I guess to the nearest town, if you don’t mind.”

“Course I don’t. I’m going there myself.”

“Okay, awesome. Thanks!” Jackie said. The cowboy chuckled when she said awesome, amused by her ‘New York slang’. Jackie stood up, brushed the dust off her clothes, and suddenly realized that she was wearing an old, 19th century style dress.

“Somethin’ wrong, Miss Forger?” Sam asked, observing Jackie’s shocked expression. Jackie reminded herself that she was in a dream where anything could happen and shook her head.

“No, nothing’s wrong.”

“Alrigh’, then. Let’s git goin’,” Sam urged gently in a cheerful manner. Jackie walked over to Sam, who easily lifted her up onto his horse. Jackie clutched the saddle-horn and swallowed hard. Her cowboy grinned, kicked dirt over the fire, then swung himself onto his horse in front of her, so that Jackie had to hold on to Sam’s waist in order not to fall off. “Miss Forger, this is Solomon the Wise. Solomon, this is Miss Forger; be nice to her, ole boy,” Sam said formally. Jackie laughed.

“Solomon the Wise? You named your horse ‘Solomon the Wise’?” she asked with a laugh. Sam spurred his horse forward and stroked his horse’s mane fondly.

“Sure I did. I got great respect for Mister Solomon the Wise from the Bible.”

“And what better way to show your respect for him than to name your horse after him?” Jackie giggled.

“That’s jist what I thought,” Sam said good-naturedly. The cowboy tugged his hat a little further over his head, glanced back at Jackie, then suddenly spurred his horse into a canter. Jackie let out a small scream and held onto Sam tighter. He laughed and as he slowed his horse down, said, “What’s the matter, Miss Forger? Ne’er been on a horse afore?” Jackie took a deep breath and shook her head.

“No, I haven’t. So don’t you dare do that again.” Sam chuckled and shook his head.

“New York people sure are strange, yesiree.”