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out the corner of his mouth, as he pointed the gun at us.
    It was Billy the Kid.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight
     
     
    William Kelly was born in Hatfield, PA, sometime during the summer of ’31. He was the oldest of what would blossom into a four-boy family over the next seven years.
    His parents were farmers. His father, Richard, was given the family farm after his own father had passed a few years before William was born.
    William had a normal childhood for any kid growing up in Hatfield at that time. He would wake up at sunrise, help his father with chords on the farm (something that he loved to do) , then he’d head off to school (something that he preferred not to do.)
    At school, he did his best to learn what he could, but he was always anxious to get back home, to the farm, to help his father wrap up any duties before sundown. After setting up for the next morning, he and his father would head into the house and enjoy the supper that his mother, Ethel, had been preparing for the last several hours.
    After supper, the family would sit in the living room and read or talk about their day. Three or four days out of the week, Richard would read stories to his children. William enjoyed them all, but he grew to love one book in particular: The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid by Pat Garrett. The book was old and worn; it belonged to his grandfather from when he was a boy, but it didn’t matter to William. He was enthralled by the adventures of Billy the Kid, and whenever he had a chance he was playing with his brothers, shooting down the dangerous desperadoes as the famous lawman, or robbing stagecoaches as the notorious bandit.
    As he grew and learned to read, his father would buy him Dime Western Magazines whenever the family had money to spare. After a couple of years, he had a stack of them. He loved the stories by Walt Coburn, but his true affection was always with The Kid. He began to idolize the famous outlaw, especially when, for his tenth birthday, his father bought him a cowboy hat, a toy gun and took him to the picture show to see Billy the Kid . It was a new flick at the time and it fascinated William, not only because he loved the story, but it was also the first color flick he had ever seen. That may have been the happiest day of his life; sitting with a huge grin on his face, beside his father, wearing his cowboy hat and aiming his toy gun at the screen whenever Billy the Kid shot someone in the film.
    After the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor, Richard was sent to fight in the Pacific. William, being the oldest, was forced to leave school and get a job to help earn money for the family. He missed his father and the fun times they had. He still read his dime westerns, but it was only when he had time, which wasn’t very often.
    In 1944, the Kelly family was dealt a blow that tore them apart; Richard was killed in battle. At first, they were able to keep afloat. William continued working and his mother cared for his younger brothers, but she would soon suffer a nervous breakdown. She never recovered and was sent away. The boys never saw her again.
    The boys were split up, sent to orphanages. William wanted no part of this. All he wanted was his father to come back so that the family could reunite. He ran away and returned to the family farm, but it didn’t belong to them anymore.
    With no one around to handle the finances, the bills went unpaid, and the local bank took the farm. They had since sold it to a neighbor of the Kelly family. When William returned, he broke in the house and fell asleep in his bedroom.
    The next morning, William was awakened by the new owner. He was pointing a rifle in William’s face. The new owner asked why he was in his daughter’s bedroom and not with his crazy bitch of a mother. William responded by snatching the rifle from the new owner and shooting him dead. Then he went throughout the house and killed the new owner’s wife and mother. He told the daughter to run and