Lonesome Valley

Lonesome Valley is the first story of this book of twelve short stories. The characters include a retired army captain devastated by the lost of his wife and child, he is looking for lonesome. She has lost everything, together they fight to save the ranch and reclaim their lives. Other stories in the book include a wizened old sheriff and a young couple needing a start in life. A story about a women that buys a ranch and needs help to save it. A retired sheriff and bounty hunter whose early life in an orphanage changes his life and a woman that is hell bent on assassinating the one she thinks responsible for killing her brothers. In Desert Wind, the hero finds he doesn't like the loneliness of the desert after all and finds a gal seemingly tied to the desert. In 'Wishbone' the anger is taken out of the hero by children. In the last story of this series, 'The Anthill', the hero searches high and low for a bride but needs to be staked to an anthill in order to find her. In the story, 'Cookie', this parallel's my background at the WCC, the character was taken from a kid that I knew that was much like the hero, Cookie.

Lonesome Valley is the first short story of this book. Cassandra, the brave young lady in “Lonesome Valley” was inspired by a documentary on Annie Oakley. Annie Oakley was placed in an orphanage when her father died, she was released into a home that abused her, she returned to the orphanage. By the time she was fifteen, by hunting with her father’s rifle she supplied the family with meat and made money selling game sufficient for the family to live on.  Annie Oakley was such a good shot that she beat a renowned skeet shooter, he was so taken with her he married her. Even after coming from a horrid beginning she became known the world over for her shooting and also her very Victorian demeanor. Throughout her life she set and maintained high standards for herself. Annie Oakley was from the Southeast, I took her Victorian demeanor and unequalled shooting ability and put her in the lonesome foothills of the mountains of Montana.

The characters also include a retired army captain devastated by the lost of his wife and child, he is looking for lonesome. Meanwhile on her ranch far from the nearest town, she has lost everything, together they fight to reclaim their lives. Other stories in the book include a wizened old sheriff and a young couple needing a start in life. A story about a women that buys a ranch and needs help to save it. A retired sheriff and bounty hunter whose early life in an orphanage changes his life and a woman that is hell bent on assassinating the one she thinks responsible for killing her brothers. In Desert Wind, the hero finds he doesn't like the loneliness of the desert after all and finds a gal seemingly tied to the desert. In 'Wishbone' the anger is taken out of the hero by children. In the last story of this series, 'The Anthill', the hero searches high and low for a bride but needs to be staked to an anthill in order to find her. In the story, 'Cookie', this parallel's my background at the WCC, the character was taken from a kid that I knew that was much like the hero, Cookie.

(The pseudonym J.B. Patel is made up of scrambled first initials of my seven grandchildren.) 

I was born in a log cabin in 1940. We were a poor family, I had a lot of time to daydream. I dreamed of being a cowboy, dreams was about all we could afford. Dad suffered an accident and died in 1951. That same year Mom had her tenth child and the sheriff invited myself and a brother to the county jail for exploring the real estate of others. The very next day, my eleventh birthday, the judge sent me to the Child Center at Sparta, Wisconsin; a ward of the State until I reached twenty-one. A summary of my time at the WCC is archived in the Monroe County Historical Society section of the library at Sparta. While at the WCC on Friday nights we would be treated to a movie. My favorites were the Westerns. Many of my friends were Indians, they helped to shape how I write about Indians, always with a good sense of humor, almost always trusted friends. At the Center one thinks a bit like a cowboy alone on the range, one's daydreaming is of the ideal, whether in women, behavior, friends, or whatever. Nights were the most difficult at the Center. I went to sleep with my pillow on the window sill daydreaming as I gazed at freedom outside the fence. Since I retired I spend time writing down stories triggered by past experiences, friends, orphans, runaways, etc. Most all my stories are set in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, favored states for travel.