HAUNT DAWGZ STORIES

WORTH MORE THAN GOLD

1849...California's gold rush.

Frank Kennedy turned his head to the muddy edge of the creek, and spit. "Gosh darn-it! I've worked too hard to wind up with nothing! These other slitherin' snakes find nuggets! I know my claim is in the right spot...I can feel it!"
"Hey Frank, no one wants to hear your belly-achin'! That's why no one likes you. That, coupled with the fact you're as mean as a bull, and kinda ugly, for that matter."

"Shut up, Clyde. Don't make me come over there!"
"Ah, Frank...I was just messin' with you. You're more than just kinda ugly." Clyde chuckled.

Frank was not a very well liked man, usually condescending and verbally abusive to people, along with just being plain mean. Once he killed someone's dog because the dog's wagging tail accidentally knocked over his cup of coffee. His location along the creek to look for gold was next to a younger man named Clyde Atkins. Clyde was genuinely a nice man who was friendly, humorous, and when he had extra of anything, was routinely giving.

Frank began to dig with his axe along a creek bed that has proven to be a good spot to pan in, producing a good amount of gold flakes and small nuggets, but never anything big like Frank dreamed of. He dug for over an hour, sweat dripped in his eyes causing them to sting. Frank wiped his eyes with a dirty red bandana he wore around his neck. As he dug, some of the creek water began to backfill the hole he was trenching. So Frank laid down his pick, got on both of his knees, and used his cupped hands to scoop the water out of the hole. "This is too much dang work!" he shouted as he scooped the muddy water. When the water was almost gone he continued to use his hands to scoop the wet mud. "Look at me. A grown man, digging in the mud like a foolish kid." Frank straightened up to ease his back pain. He removed his hat and wiped his forehead. "All these other skunk smelling, beaver looking, rats around here seem to have decent luck here. It's not fair!" After a few more minutes of scooping, the sun was just at the right angle to reveal something shiny in the mud.

Frank removed his glasses and wiped them with his bandana. He put his glasses back on as he focused on the mud. "Oh yes! Yes!" His back pain was no longer a factor as he quickly reached in the muddy hole to grab the shiny object.

He took his hat off and scratched his head. "What the heck is this thing?" he said softly. He picked it up and brought it to the stream to run water over it for a second to get a better feel for what he had. After it was cleaned off, his eyebrows furrowed as he scratched his head. "What the heck is this darn thing?" He had never seen a modern, electronic tablet before. How could he? It was 1849.

He took the tablet into town and asked around, even checking with the County Sheriff. "Sheriff Mallick, have you ever seen anything like this before?" The sheriff turned the tablet every way, looking puzzled and shaking his head. "Nope. Sorry Frank. It looks like a small window, but it's not. It looks sorta futuristic." Sheriff Mallick took a deep breath then let it out in one big sigh. He chuckled for a second before saying, "Here Frank, take this darn thing." The sheriff handed Frank back his unknown device. Frank shook his fist at the sheriff. "Well what good are ya? You're no help at all! I hope you trip and fall on train tracks right before the train comes!" He turned and walked out the door onto the wooden walkway, adjacent to the dusty street. After the door closed Sheriff Mallick smirked and shook his head. "Boy Frank is an unpleasant guy!"

Frank explored the device and discovered a button on the side of the tablet. He pushed it, and the tablet turned on. The tablet started showing a video, which of course is not yet known to man for about another one hundred years into the future. Frank again removed his hat and scratched his head. "Now what in the world is this? How is there life in this thing, moving pictures?" The video showed the entire street in front of him, showing from east to west. "Hey, that's me!" He was amazed that he could see himself in the tablet, still standing on the sidewalk, holding the tablet. The video suddenly showed an approaching horse drawn flatbed wagon coming from the east. The horses got startled and ran up to the walkway in front of the sheriff's office, causing the right side of the wagon to strike Frank, knocking him down. The horses calmed down and re- entered the street and continued their journey, while Frank stood up and grabbed his knee in pain. Frank looked up from his tablet and just like in the video he just saw, Frank heard two horses that were pulling a flatbed wagon approach rapidly. The horses went up on the walkway, and the right side of the wagon struck him, knocking him down. He stood up and grabbed his now painful knee, just like the video had previously showed. He was slightly injured, but okay. Frank shook his head. "Well I'll be! Is this some magical future telling gizmo? Nah, impossible!"