Caleb hears his father rustling around in his bedroom. He sits at the dining table, waiting for the “ceremony” as his dad had called it.

A few minutes pass and Pa emerges from his room. He is carrying a leather satchel in his right hand.

“Forgot how much shit I had laid on top of my bag.” Pa starts to catch his breath as he sits at the table.

“Is the card in this bag?” Caleb starts to run his fingers over the tooled leather.

“The card is in here.” Pa pats his chest. “That’s why we need to have a ceremony. You don't just deal cards out of your body like a damn poker game.”

Caleb moves his hand as his father opens the leather satchel. “I have some old gear that I used when I got this card.” A heavy pistol makes a thud on the kitchen counter. Caleb watches as his dad also pulls out a holster, a dusty box of bullets, a bowie knife, a bedroll with a native pattern, and a flask with the letters OM engraved into the metal.

“Oscar McGraw,” Caleb says under his breath as he runs his finger over the flask. Pa stares at him with a steady eye as Caleb grabs each item.

“My name won’t do you any favors away from this farm, Caleb. It’s just the only flask I have. You are going to need it when this card calls to you.” Pa stands up and pours another shot of whiskey into his mason jar.

“Pa, where did you get all this?” Caleb shakes his head with confusion.

His dad chuckles a little, “I’ll save that story for when you bring that new card home.”

Pa lights a candle in the middle of the table and closes the shutters around the house. The light slowly snuffed out.

“There are many ways to take a card. You can kill a man, and you can find his card laid on his chest like a bad hand in blackjack. If you’re lucky, he will have a few cards on him.” Pa extends his hands across the kitchen table, towards Caleb.

“I need you to repeat everything I say when I start. Do you understand me?” Caleb can feel how serious his father is by the tone of his voice. Even the air is still like it knows what is happening.

“Yes sir.”

Pa takes a deep breath. “This might make you feel nauseous or blackout. Just hold on as long as you can. I will be here to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

Caleb nods in agreement.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Pa puts his hands on his own chest and makes a quick wince in pain. There, in his hand, is a glowing card. Caleb notices that it looks like a normal playing card.

Pa flips the card around to reveal that the card is the 10 of Clubs. In the middle of the card is a picture of a cowboy in an empty river, drinking from a whiskey bottle.

“Take this card and repeat after me.” Pa closes his eyes and begins the ceremony.

“I walk the dry places, I drink the bitter waters, and I make them sweet. In thirst, I find strength.”

After Caleb repeats the phrase, he feels the card grow warm, as though it’s responding to his voice and presence. It’s subtle but unmistakable, as though it’s choosing him in return.

Caleb sees the candle flicker its light for an instant, then he feels himself falling. His vision blurs and turns almost black. Gentle but firm hands grasp him before his body hits the wood floor. Panic begins as Caleb tries to find his way in the darkness.

He sees light at the edge of his darkness. Caleb is hit with a rush of wind, like riding full speed on the back of his favorite horse. His vision begins to focus on the light ahead and he notices that it’s the card. The card grows until it fills the entirety of Caleb’s vision. He again sees the cowboy in an empty river, but this time he notices the cowboy’s features.

The card’s cowboy has sandy blonde hair that barely touches his shoulders. It’s covered by a dark brown cowboy hat with a curled brim and a dented crown. A day-old beard and a thick mustache. Eyes like a cloudless summer day. Then Caleb realizes who he is looking at. The man in the card is him.

The cowboy blinks. Caleb sees the cowboy come alive in front of him. A wide grin shines on the cowboy’s face. Caleb lays frozen as the man slowly walks towards him.

“Howdy there, Caleb.” The cowboy takes a swig out of the whiskey bottle in his hand. “You look just like your daddy. I was wonderin’ if I would ever get to meet you.”

Caleb tries to talk, but the feeling of sand fills his mouth. Extreme thirst starts to take over.

“This will probably be the last time we talk like this, new friend.” The cowboy finally reaches Caleb’s feet. He reaches his hand out towards the stunned young man. “You ready to get this show on the road?”

Caleb tries to say anything, but dirt starts to pour out of his mouth like a dust cloud behind a wagon.

“Ah, seems like the curse has already begun. Take a swig of this.” Caleb’s doppelganger shoves a whiskey bottle in his hand. “In thirst, we find strength. Say it.”

Caleb puts the old bottle up to his lips and drinks the fire in. He sputters a few incoherent words out, but the desert he feels in his mouth starts to subside.

“In thirst,” Caleb begins to catch his breath, “we find strength.”

The cowboy puts his hand on Caleb’s shoulder and gently takes the whiskey bottle back. “There’s a good man. That ain’t so bad, huh Caleb?”

Caleb stares at the mirror of himself. Warmth begins to fill his veins, and his thirst is completely gone. “Is that it?” He finds confidence in his voice.

The cowboy releases a weasel like laugh and takes a swig from the bottle. “You are your daddy’s son, ain’t ya? It’s quick and painless. I’ll make sure you know when it’s time for another swig, you hear? The cowboy starts to walk away from Caleb.

He pauses after a few paces, “Oh, and find me another card, would ya? It’s lonely out here. Maybe that card your daddy is talking about will have a good-looking woman on it?” Another mischievous weasel laugh explodes from the wanderer. And then, like a mirage, he is gone in the distance. Caleb starts to feel another rush of wind and his vision starts to return. He can feel himself blinking and the sound of his father’s voice starts to fill his ears.