Friendly Threatening Gestures
by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Have you ever had the experience where you reckoned someone as hostile, or even an enemy, and it turned out that the person actually had your best interests at heart? Of course, people may not cotton to being coddling, so they speak their minds or simply take direct action — especially when something is important. 1873 Winchester rifle / Image credit: Ricce / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0 Here's an excerpt from Owen Wister's 1902 classic, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains: But all the while I was wondering about the Virginian: eating with him, sleeping with him (only not so sound as he did), and riding beside him often for many hours. Experiments in conversation I did make -- and failed. One day particularly while, after a sudden storm of hail had chilled the earth numb and white like winter in fifteen minutes, we sat drying and warming ourselves by a fire that we built, I touched upon that theme of equality on which I knew him to hold