HOW THE WEST WENT NUMB 
 "I just heard that Loner the Cowboy is coming to stop Sagebush!" 
 "Loner the Cowboy! Why, I've never actually met him, but legend has it that 
he's the greatest in the west!" 
 "I see a stranger coming now! It must be him!" 
 "Howdie, folks!" 
 --"Please don't tell me that YOU'RE Loner the Cowboy, who's supposed to stop 
Sagebush!" 
 "He is! (sob) I asked him not to tell me...(sniff)!" 
 --"Er...scuse me, Loner. There seems to be some mistake! Legend had it that 
you were some great COWBOY!!" 
 --"Well, call me old fasioned, son, but where I come from, cowboys wear 
cowboy HATS! Now, what ya doin' wit' dat fool pot on yer head?" 
 "Er...yeah...Well, what's wit' yer ridin' on dat COW instead of a HORSE?" 
 "Well, I said I was a COWboy, not a HORSEboy." 
 "Hoo-yeah...Okay, 'nother thing, Loner, you seem a might young to be a 
cowboy. Ya look like you can't be more than 10 years old." 
 "Again, you have to pay attention to the key words. I'm a cowBOY, if I was 
grown, I'd be a cowMAN." 
 "Know somethin', Sheriff? This guy might fall just a bit short of what we had 
a-wanted'." 
 "Let me talk to him...er...Loner, you say that you're here to stop Sagebush, 
but how fast can you draw a pistol?" 
 "Just watch." 
 "There, I drew it in no time at all." 
 --"Loner, do you know ANYTHING about handlin' a rustler?" 
 --"Do you even know how to FIGHT?!?" 
 --"Now, if I could only figure out how to WIN some." 
 "Okay, Loner, you can't shoot, fight, or anything. Just how do you intend to 
stop Sagebush?" 
 --"Yeah, HOW?" 
 "Like this?" 
 "Wow! He used the handle of the pot on his head to knock out Sagebush!" 
 "Ah, now that he's unconscious, I can finally take him to jail!" 
 --"Nice work, son." 
 --"Why, thanks, Ma'am, it was..." 
 --"Hey, you!" 
 --"Sorry...I..." 
 "Eh?" 
 "Well, that's why they call me the Loner! G'dyup, Bossy! Mother wants me home 
in time for supper." 
 
Scroll down! Read story! :-) 
Once there was a Western town terrorized by an evil, 
murdering rustler named Sagebush. 
 
No man or woman in the 
small town seemed to be able to stop him. 
 
Not even the brave and mighty sheriff himself. 
 
Then one day, they got some good news. 
 
 
 
 
 
--"Oh, but I am, Sheriff, I am! The one and only!" 
 
 
--"I am!" 
 
--"Well, if you must know, a friend of mine is using my cowboy hat for a 
fishbowl, so I have to wear this pot instead." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--"I should. I watch professional rustlers rustle each other every day on 
TV." 
 
--"Sure I do. I've been in a lot of fights." 
 
--"!?!?!?!" 
 
 
--"Would you believe...?" 
 
CLANG!!!! 
 
 
 
--"Oh, Loner, you are a HERO!" 
 
CLANG!!! 
--"EEK! You and that pot handle! When you turned around, you knocked out 
my husband!!!" 
 
"I did?" 
CLANG!!! 
 
--"Be careful!" 
 
CLANG!!!-- 
"Now, look what you've done!!!" 
 
CLANG!!! 
 
"Oh, dear..." 
 
And so, thanks to our hero, The Loner, the once unruly town would now 
be peacful and quiet, at least for a while since everyone was to remain 
unconscious for the next several hours. 
THE END