Published Works by Phil Hardy

"LONE OAK" is now a screenplay and is on its way to becoming a feature length film. Get the books that inspired the movie now.

"Lone Oak" BHC Press

"Vengeance Is Mine" BHC Press

  The snow swirled around him in ever deepening drifts. It fell so thickly that to see, even a few feet in front of him was almost impossible. The temperature continued to drop and the winds increased. Visibility was now zero.

  Had it come to this? Had his life slid so far down the path to destruction that here, in this frozen wasteland, it would end with none to mourn or even notice he was gone? Not even a pauper’s grave, but to have his bones visited only by scavengers?

  He pulled his coat tighter around him and trudged forward through the now knee-deep snow. His feet felt like stones in his boots. If he survived, he was pretty sure some, if not all, of his toes would not. A gust of wind clawed at his hat and his left hand clamped it down tight to his head having forgotten that he had secured it earlier with the scarf.

  The scarf; She had made it for him and he had worn it, carried it with him in all of his travels and never let it out of his reach. He thought it had been a pledge of sorts. He chuckled at his naivete. The fog of his breath added to the already thick ice that coated his mustache and beard. A pledge? Ha! She had laughed in his face when he returned after saving a few hundred dollars and asked her to marry him. Her father had him run off the ranch while she laughed. She had broken his heart but the scarf, at least kept his hat in place and his ears warm.

  When was that? Five, six years? Maybe that. Maybe more. He couldn’t remember, didn’t want to remember. It seemed funny to him now. He couldn’t even remember what she looked like or even the color of her hair. He kept the scarf for… He wasn’t sure why but he was glad he had it now.

  He continued to wade forward in the snow, keeping the wind at his back. He was drifting now, much like the cows he had punched, ahead of the wind in hopes of finding shelter.