I remember the day like any other.
The old men told their tales of Pilgrim and other stories as they smoked from their pipes or cigars, laughing and having a good time as a handful of kids listened and laughed along. Young men stared in awe quietly from their seats, pretending not to care. And, the skeptics just shook their heads at any of it being any service to the truth they knew of the world. By the time it all felt like a normal day, a mother popped out of nowhere and started scolding the old men with a fury unbound, spitting about how they were filling her boy’s head with nonsense and even used the word “toxic masculinity. Despite the drama, the old men were calm as they sat and smoked. Then the mother finally asked what they had to say for themselves. Without missing a beat, one of them spoke and said, “You’re welcome to keep your boy from listening to us, but I urge you to at least keep your eyes focused on the school you send him to because a bad thing is brewing there. Pilgrim will come in your time of need, though, but I pray you’ll have the wisdom to not get in his way.” Unsatisfied with his response, the mother took her son and left.
Sure enough, not more than a week later, the boy went missing and the mother was in a state of disarray. Police and everyone else looked high and low for the boy, but none looked into the boy’s school or the teachers working there. Just then, I saw Pilgrim strolling into town, looking just like the rough-and-tumble frontiersman as the old men described, with a Winchester rifle on his back and a shiny silver Peacemaker strapped to his hip. As if to sell the air of him stepping out of a bygone age into the present, he began looking all around him from shoulder to shoulder as if he misplaced his steps somewhere along the line.
Wasn’t long until he made his way to the woman, put a hand over her shoulder and told the woman to go home. She wiped off her face then went back home, but I followed the legend close behind as he made his way to mansion I had never seen before. Pilgrim took one look at the gate then took out his revolver. The gate opened, seemingly from intimidating it, and then he shot two guards down. After a moment of silence, he put his revolver back then took the rifle off his shoulder, pointed it at one of the windows, and fired. He then put the rifle back before running toward the mansion, and in no time at all, he caused a hell so furious the mansion blew up right as he was exiting it. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see such a sight. But, the boy was saved by his hands.
Pilgrim disappeared after taking the kid home. On the next day the school was investigated by a detective from out of town. Justice was served quickly, but no one talked about Pilgrim to the detective, not even the mother nor the old men. However, when the case was wrapped up, the detective came to me. I expected him to ask me about the details of that night, but he gave me a smile and his eyes told me he knew everything without being told it. Then he shook my hand and told me to pass a message to Pilgrim: Whoever or whatever you are… Thanks, Pilgrim.