Joe struck the strings of his fiddle one last time, then looked 
around the bar as he lay the fiddle down by his side.  There were the 
usual crowd of people present.  Some were dressed up for the party in the 
fancy western cowboy costumes, but most were still wearing their street 
clothes.  
      Suddenly Joe noticed a couple entering the bar from outside.  They 
were arguing.  The man was in the lead.  The woman was tugging on him as 
if to pull him back outside.  As she tugged, she tore off some of the 
fancy leather fringes of his jacket. 
      The man stopped very suddenly, and she almost ran into him. He 
looked at the woman, very slowly took the broken fringes out of her
hand, and then delibertly balled up his right fist and backhanded her 
across the cheek.
     Joe was over the railing fence of the stage and rushing to the 
couple in an eyeblink of time.  He grabbed the man's arm.  "Hey, you can't 
do that."
    The man looked at Joe in surprise.  "Oh yeah?"  Then he pulled his 
other arm back and bopped Joe in the nose.
    Joe was totally unprepared for it.  He was actually being hurt. 
Suddenly Joe was a ten year old kid again.  He needed to stop this guy 
from hurting him.  Very calmly, Joe pulled his arm back and gave a 
one-two punch, first hitting the guy in the chin, and then on the rebound, 
in the cheekbones.  It was a powerful punch.  The guy stepped backwards, 
and then fell in a heap unconscious to the floor.  Joe looked at his 
knuckles.  They were bleeding.