Whore's Bastard

Eleven year old Sam lives a miserable life in 1870s Goodnight, Texas, a tiny town which has since disappeared from the map. His mother is alcoholic and supports her booze addiction by prostituting herself. Sam, although highly intelligent is rarely allowed to go to school because the towns people don't want their children associating with a Whore's Bastard. He spent several months in an orphanage run by a pompous "preacher" who was even crueler than the people in Goodnight. He was rescued from that horror by a "Big Red-headed Cowboy" who had shown up occasionally during Sam's childhood. In a drunken fit of anger, Sam's mother tried to kill the town Marshall and was herself killed. Sam, not wanting to be retuned to the orphanage, headed for Amarillo. On the way, he met a Mexican boy whose life was equally miserable. The boys decided to head for Santa Fe where they would not be known. A fortunate coincident just west of Amarillo changed the boy's lives for the better.