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me alone,” he shouted.
     
    A tall cowboy sitting at another table, stood and walked over to Josiah’s table. “Is he bothering you, Rose?”
     
    “No, he isn’t bothering me, he’s just rude is all.”
     
    “You want to apologize to Rose, Mister?” asked the tall cowboy.
     
    “I don’t want to apologize. I haven’t done anything, I just want to be left alone and have a drink in peace,” Josiah replied.
     
    “It seems to me you need to be taught some manners,” the cowboy said. “Rose here, is just trying to make a living.”
     
    “Look, I don’t want any trouble. Miss, I’m sorry if I offended you, now could you just leave me alone?” Josiah said.
     
    “I think your problem is a yellow streak down your back,” the cowboy sneered
     
    “All right. That’s enough. You got no call to talk to me that way,” Josiah said.
     
    The cowboy shoved Josiah back against the table. Josiah came up swinging. The cowboy easily dodged the swings, and stepped inside the last one and in rapid fire fashion, hit Josiah in the face. The first punch broke his nose, the second punch would result in a black eye and the third knocked Josiah cold. He fell like a big rag doll, blood gushing from his broken nose.
     
    Rose was dismayed at the ruckus. She was new to the job and was afraid a fight would get her fired. She hurried to the bar and got a rag from the barkeep and came back to the table. She knelt beside Josiah and held the cloth to his nose and tilted his head back as he slowly cleared the cobwebs from his head. He tried to sit up, but Rose stopped him. “I was raised with four older brothers and I’ve seen a lot of bloody noses. This is the way Ma always treated them”
     
    “What’s your name, stranger?” she asked.
     
    ‘Josiah,” came the muffled voice through the cloth being held to his face.
     
    “Well, Josiah, you had better get over to the doc’s. Your nose looks like it has been moved sideways. I reckon it’s broke. Come on, I’ll help you get to the doc’s.”
     
    “Don’t need no help,” mumbled Josiah. He stood and wobbled to the door, pausing long enough to look at his reflection in the glass window of the saloon. “She’s right, I’d better go see the doc,” he thought. On two unsteady legs, he staggered down the street, then holding on to the rail, he climbed the stairs to Doc Williams’ office.
     
    Having been the Taylor’s family doctor since his arrival in Cheyenne ten years before, Doc Williams knew Josiah well. “What in the world happened to you,” he asked when Josiah walked into his office.
     
    “I hit a cowboy in the fist with my nose,” Josiah said ruefully.
     
    “I guess demon rum caused your mouth to run faster than your brain.”
     
    “Come on, Doc. It hurts to smile. Just patch me up so I can go home.”
     
    “Beulah is going to have your hide when she sees you,” the good doctor said.
     
    “She got me before I left. Everyone is on my case these days. Even Jud,” said Josiah.
     
    “I have no other patients. You want to talk about it?” asked the doctor.
     
    “Doc, since Caroline’s death, I haven’t been able to think straight. Everything makes me mad. Really mad.”
     
    “Is that what happened here?” the doctor asked.
     
    “Actually, it isn’t. I just wanted to be left alone. The cowboy wouldn’t let go. I guess he was trying to impress his friends and Rose. He crossed the line when he called me a coward and I took a swing at him. That’s when this happened,” said Josiah.
     
    “Lately, I’ve been taking it out on those closest to me. I even took a swing at Jud and then the run in with Beulah, two people I’ve longer than anyone else. Poor Rebecca is getting nothing from me.”
     
    “Why are you so angry?” asked the doctor.
     
    “It just wasn’t fair for Caroline to be taken so soon. I needed her, still do. So does Rebecca,” Josiah said in a rush.
     
    “So you think Caroline let you down by dying?” the doctor