Friday Flash Fiction
  • Home
    • Opportunities at FFF
    • About Friday Flash Fiction
    • Terms & Conditions
  • 100-Word Stories
  • Longer Stories
  • Poetry
  • Authors
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E-F
    • G-I
    • J-L
    • M-O
    • P-R
    • S-V
    • W-Z
  • Submissions
    • 100-Word Submissions
    • 500-Word Submissions
    • Short Poetry Submissions
    • Writing Good Flash Fiction >
      • How to complete the Entry Form
    • Appeals/Feedback Request
    • Contact FFF
    • Technical Stuff >
      • Terms & Conditions
      • GDPR Compliance
      • Duotrope
    • Support FFF

The Lone Ranger Rides Again, by Mark Tulin

2/7/2018

 
When I was a kid, I rode a wooden hobby horse named Silver and imagined that I was the Lone Ranger.

I got a bunch of grass from the backyard and made believe it was hay. I brushed Silver's long mane and hindquarters and made sure that I talked to him low and soft because I wanted him to relax. “A calm horse was better at riding than a nervous one,” my father said.

When there were bad guys to catch, I whistled for Tonto, who had his own horse, and I hopped on Silver and yelled: “Hi-Yo Silver! The Lone Ranger rides again!”

Tonto and I caught cattle rustlers, bank robbers, and the guys who were on the Most Wanted posters and put them all in jail. They were no match for Tonto and I because we knew how to draw our guns faster than any bad man in town.

After a long day of chasing bad guys, Tonto and I would relax by the campfire and roast some weenies, heat up some beans and eat all the grub with our fingers, something that my mother disliked.

Sometimes when I rode Silver, my dad used to sing “I’m an Old Cowhand” and make believe he was John Wayne just to get my goat. He would call me a “pilgrim” and act like he was a tougher cowboy than me. Once I got mad at him for mocking Tonto and me, and I shot him a couple times with a six-shooter.

“Ya got me,” dad said, holding his heart and falling backward. He dropped right on our green shag carpet and stayed down for a while to make like he was really dead. Of course, he’d get up later when mom asked him to take out the trash.

I shot a lot of bad guys back when I was the Lone Ranger, but the one thing that I didn’t do was shoot Indians because my mom told me that I had to respect all kinds of people and not just good cowboys.
Ortensia
12/7/2018 08:40:07 am

I love the story but the name of your pal made me giggle all the way”tonto”in Italian means dull/booby😳

mark tulin link
17/7/2018 02:23:11 pm

that’s funny. then the lone ranger better get a new sidekick. 🙂


Comments are closed.

    Longer
    Stories

    Longer Friday Flash Fiction Stories

    Friday Flash Fiction is primarily a site for stories of 100 words or fewer, and our authors are expected to take on that challenge if they possibly can. Most stories of under 150 words can be trimmed and we do not accept submissions of 101-150 words.


    However, in response to demand, the FFF team constructed this forum for significantly longer stories of 151-500 words. Please send submissions for these using the Submissions Page.

    Stories to the 500 word thread will be posted as soon as we can mange.


    Picture
    Please feel free to comment (nicely!) on any stories – writers appreciate it.
    Just at the moment, though, we're moderating some of them so there might be a slight delat before they appear
    .

    One little further note. Posting and publishing 500-word stories takes a little time if they need to be formatted, too.
    ​Please note that we tend to post longer flash fiction exactly as we find it – wrong spacing, everything.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture
Website by Platform 36