by David Watts
He hit the street just in time to see Sabo riding around the corner followed by an open wagon driven by Galen with Crissy sitting at his side, the extra horse tied on the back. Galen stopped in front of the Angel Dust just for show.
He sat there in the middle of the street.
Didn’t have long to wait.
Horse Diggins came out on the deck over the front overhang and shouted across the street. “Sheriff, arrest this man who stole my horse and wagon.”
Jake took a toothpick out of his mouth and flipped it in the street. He hooked two thumbs in his belt, looked up, and just shook his head.
Galen turned toward Horse. “You lost possession of anything you see here by sending your gunslinger to do your dirty work.”
“What’s to keep me from insisting you stole everything here?”
“Just the truth, Hoss. Just the truth,” he said. “Try it sometime.” He pointed one finger up at Horse. “You’re going to pay for this you worthless piece of shit,” he said and flapped the reins. “Haw,” he said, and started out of town.
Horse looked like he was going to draw on Galen but Jake took three steps into the street and raised his hand, poised above his gun.
Horse slammed his hand against the railing and disappeared inside.
*****
“Now that you’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest in town with that little side show of yours in front of the Angel Dust, tell me what you’re going to do next to make my life miserable.”
“Not to mention that Sabo and I. . .”
“Speaking of that, you stole my Indian, took off and didn’t even have the courtesy to leave a note of apology.”
“Half-Indian,” said Sabo.
“No time for courtesy,” said Galen. “You wouldn’t know what to do with courtesy, nohow.”
“You took the Indian with you. Couldn’t you have left a sign, maybe a couple of stones piled up on top of each other, or something? A knot tied in a clump of grass?”
Galen turned to Crissy who had watched the conversation trying to suppress her laughter.
“Don’t mind him,” Galen said, “he’s just jealous he’s not the one with the pretty woman.”
“Well now Galen, you may not know very much about women but you got that right. By the way, cut me in on your plan, now that you kidnapped the kidnapped woman and brought her here.”
“She’s going to live here.”
Jake nearly fell off her chair. “Hey,” he said and turned to Crissy. “Excuse me young lady, while shout at this man.”
She gestured as if inviting him through a door.
“It’s one thing if you bring home a raccoon or a prairie dog, but this here is a full grown woman,” he shook his finger at her, “and some people might think she don’t belong out here with two cantankerous men.”
“I expect she can keep her distance if she wants to.”
Jake sputtered and shook his head.
“She’s a full-grown woman, like you said. She can take care of herself. It’ll be a lot easier than where she was living before!”
“And of course, you had to go and flaunt it right out in front his establishment to make him madder than a ferret. Almost got both of you shot.”
“I knew you were there. Besides, he’s gonna find out anyway. You can’t stop a havalena once it’s on charge.”
Jake looked like he couldn’t believe the metaphor.
“One thing more,” Galen said, “what ya going to do about the fact that Horse masterminded this whole thing just to get me killed.”
“Have my ideas,” he said.
Crissy leaned over and put her hand on Jake’s arm. “I won’t be no trouble,” she said, sweetly. “And one thing more.”
“What’s that?”
“I can cook.”
Jake leaned back in his chair. His eyes lit up like a torch at a search party.
“Okay by me,” he said.
*****
Galen fixed up a place for Crissy up in the attic. There were windows under the steep pitched roof at both ends of the house, a single bed and a cedar chest in the room. Martha snuck away one early, early morning before anybody was up and brought her things.
“The place is different,” Martha said. “Horse is working on some project with his men so he pays less attention to the rest of us.”
“How are you? How’s Rosalie?”
“Both good. Well, good enough. It’s not the same without you. I mean, we’re so glad you’re alive. We thought you were a gonner when you got carried away like that in the middle of the night. Stories spread through town about how you managed to survive that horrible situation.”
“It’s done. Don’t want to think no more about it.”
“Sorry.” Martha paused and just looked at Crissy as if seeing her for the very first time. “I’d invite you to come see us but I guess you will never come back to that place.”
“Can’t imagine I would. It’d be too hard. Horse didn’t care if I got killed, or damaged, or even. . .” she trembled and could not go on. She took a deep breath. “Maybe some day,” she said.
Crissy stayed in her room most of the next several days mending body and spirit. A darker soul passed through her and left her with the deep eyes of the betrayed.
On the third morning she came down and helped Sabo with breakfast. The biscuits that morning were perfect and a new routine quickly set into the architecture of the days. Galen noticed the darkness in her eyes but there was a rim of light beginning at the edges. Everyone saw the hollowness she was carrying.
Yet the more she engaged the motions of her body in daily tasks, moving through the house, leaning over the table with fried chicken and rice, drying dishes and placing them in the orderly solitude of cabinets. . . the less burdened she felt. It amazed her how simple motions of the body could heal the soul.
She planted herbs in a little patch by the side of the house she’d fenced in to keep the jackrabbits and raccoons out, sage, and basil, and thyme and rosemary. . . the meals became savory, conversation at the table upbeat. There was a presence with her name on it drifting through the house extending to the walls on all sides. It encompassed the men like a shroud and replaced in them what they did not know was missing.
*****
Jake and Galen walked out to the corral. “Maybe we should steal the rest of them whores,” said Jake.
Galen laughed. “Sure about that?”
“This one’s turned out so well.” He clicked his tongue twice.
“Not against the idea,” said Galen and looked cross-eyed at Jake. “Yeah. But Horse and all his men would be at your front gate in fifteen minutes.”
“Nah. Truth is, he’s a pussy.”
“Not much he ain’t”
“Okay then, truth is, we could beat ‘em.”
“You keep talking like you know what truth is.”
“Always tell the truth.”
“Like hell you do.”
“I do. Maybe just a little sideways.”
“Well now there may be some element of truth in what you say but that don’t make it true.”
Jake stopped in his tracks and put his fists on his hips. “How much truth do you want?”
“All of it.”
“Well you gonna be looking a cotton-pickin’ long time for that.”
“How come?”
“Cause there’s not much truth in truth.”
Galen cocked his head to one side. “Okay. So there you go with your philosophical double-talk.”
“Okay smarty pants, you with your prairie dog knowledge. How much truth do you think?”
“It’s either true or it’s not.”
Jake stroked his chin. “Okay. Let me give you an example. Let’s say I say to you, you look great today. Now, basically, you look like shit. But if I’m looking at that left eyebrow of yours it looks pretty good. So you see I’m actually telling the truth.”
“That’s it?” That’s all it takes? Hell, if that’s how you think you c
ould call that horse over there a pig.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, they both got legs.”
Jake started walking, gesturing to the sky. “Okay, now let me think about that a little. That just might be possible.”
“Aw, you such a bad actor. How ‘bout you just shut up and go feed that pig, I mean horse.”
*****
Jebediah Tull made his rounds through town. He stopped by Ruth Ann’s to leave a blessing for her, went into the General Store and invited George to be his deacon, then sat on the porch next to Jigsaw Higgins.
“You know those men Horse drug into town yesterday?”
Jigsaw leaned his chair back against the wall so that only two legs were touching ground. He stroked his long grey beard like it was the back of a pet fox. “That I do,” he said.
“Thought you might,” said Jeb.
“Jigsaw looked at Jeb out of the corner of his eye. “Tell you what I think,” he said.
Jeb nodded just enough to wave the brim of his Texas Hickok just slightly.
“You got reason a plenty to know them pretty damn well yourself.”
Jebediah took out his gnarly briar pipe and started stuffing it with a tobacco that smelled a little like jasmine, a little like bourbon. He struck a match with his thumbnail and sucked fire into the bowl. “I do, Jigsaw Higgins,” he said. He snuffed the match with one quick shake of his hand and flipped it into the street. “That I do.”
*****
Down the street and up one floor Horse Diggins was finishing up a meeting with his new gang. Central to the plan was to take control of the town, to use intimidation or whatever. The gang members would be rewarded on the basis of the prizes they brought to Horse. The members who failed to produce would be dealt with.
Horse looked over his pride with the countenance of an alpha lion. “Time to put our plan in motion,” he said. “If anybody wants out, this is your last chance.”
The five men, all standing in various postures around the room gave no immediate response. Some appeared calm as still waters. Some indifferent, unaffected. One, the youngest, the one who got dragged into this by his cousin, had the appearance of someone pressed to the floor.
The young one raised his hand.
“Want something?” Horse said.
They young man stepped forward. “I think I’d better go home,” he said.
Horse glared at him for a long moment. “Sounds right,” he said. “Time for you to go home.”
Horse drew his gun and shot the boy in the head.
TEN
Pot roast with potatoes, onions and carrots descended to the dinner table that evening. Crissy had talked Sabo out of a slug of his dry aged beef from the smokehouse and gathered vegetables from various places.
Galen had decided to take Crissy with him when he went in to his office that day to see patients alongside him for two reasons: it would give her something to do that as well was useful to him, and he didn’t trust leaving her on the farm in case Horse sent mischief her way. They would be back home early enough for Crissy to get involved with dinner.
He’d put a note in his office window stating his hours were 10 to 1 daily except Sundays, otherwise come to the farm. Crissy received the patients in the outer office, learned to assist him with minor surgeries, suturings, and dressings. She had to get used to the fact that she was within a block of her former employer but she managed with modest difficulty and enjoyed interacting openly with other members of the town community.
Much to her surprise she faced less of a headwind going back into town than she thought. Some of the people were a little withdrawn at first given her past occupation but they warmed very quickly to her lively personality. And she, much to her astonishment, was beginning to feel like a normal human again.
New sections of her life were opening up. The work schedule being what it was, there was time to do both assisting in the office and helping Sabo prepare meals.
Now at the dinner table the conversation was brisk and a lot more interesting.
“I been thinking about this truth business you were pontificating about the other day,” said Galen.
Jake stopped his fork mid air. “Uh oh,” he said. “Watch out, everybody.”
“You just got the names all wrong.”
“I got the names all wrong.” Jake started putting sugar on his rice. Galen stared at him.
“I see that almighty judgment of yours coming my way,” Jake said. “And here’s what you need to know. Eating white rice is about like walking through a fog with your mouth open. I just added a little pizzazz to it.” He looked up. “Here try some.”
Galen made a face. “Back to the subject. Let’s take that example you said about me looking good only let’s put it on Lily.”
“Lily.”
“Lily.” He leaned back and caught a hold of Crissy passing by with a bowl of peas. “Crissy you might like this.”
She sat down at the table.
“Okay. Let’s say that you go see Lily like you always do and you wake up the next day and she looks at you across the breakfast table and asks, how do I look today darlin’. And what do you say? Without batting an eye you say, you look great, darlin’.
“So far so good,” said Jake.
“Now, she just got up out of bed and her hair is all messed up and she’s got crinkles on her face from sleeping all catawampus. . .”
“Wrinkles.”
“. . . she’s got crinkles on her face and you say she looks great.” Galen stopped and bounced his fork mid air like he was conducting a symphony. “That’s not the truth,” he said. “That’s a lie.”
“A lie.”
“Yeah, because she doesn’t look great. She’s all crinckles and messed up hair.”
“Wrinkles!”
“Now here’s the catch and this is where you got led astray.”
“Me, astray.” He nodded sarcastically.
“Yup. That lie you told says more about the truth of your relationship to Lily than the truth about how she really looks.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Maybe it’s a little too complicated for you.”
“Try me.”
“Okay. Your lie represents a level of kindness in your connection to her, and as such is a lot more true about the underlying intent of the question than it is about what the question asks. You see, she’s asking not so much about how she looks as she is how deep you’re willing to go for her. The answer you gave to her is kinder than the hurtful truth about how she really looks. You stay away from that truth and choose another, better truth to give her.
So your answer is not true at all to the question but it is true to the question behind the question. And in case you’re keeping score, that makes it a white lie. And that, my fine philosopher friend, is where you got your terms wrong.”
“That’s pretty complicated for a dumb ass.”
“Did I lose you back there somewhere?”
“I’m here. But it’s still pretty too goddamned smart for a gunslinger.”
“It’s cowboy logic.”
“How do you figure?”
“You know what that is. You just haven’t recognized it yet.”
“Recognized what?”
Galen bounced his fork again. “Cowboy logic. To know what’s happening you have to figure what’s behind what you see.”
Jake put the wedge of beef in his mouth and chewed absentmindedly for a moment. He put his fork down and placed his hands on the table. “I do believe you could be right about that,” he said.
Galen laughed. “You mean there’s truth to what I said.”
“Your laugh wasn’t lost on me. I got it. And to your question: Maybe.”
“See now, we’ve agreed that it has some truth in it . . . but is it enough to make you say the whole idea is true?”
“Ah. You done turned the tables on me.”
“See, that’s what you get for thinking everybody around you is a fool.”<
br />
“Nah. Some good will always come from that.”
*****
A man walked into George Pickens’ shop and started looking around. George recognized him immediately as one of the men Horse dragged into town the day before.
“Nice shop you got here,” he said.
“I thank you,” said George but his shaky voice betrayed his unease.
The man pretended to be interested in items on the shelves. He picked up canned peas and held them to the light. He dipped his fingers in the cornmeal and put some on his tongue. He took a stick of licorice from its jar and started chewing on it.
The man came up to the desk. He put his gun on the counter and tapped his fingers like he was playing an harmonium. “Nice store you got here,” he said.
George mustered some courage and said, “You said that already.”
The man glared at him. “I know what I said and I will say it as many times as I want because I wish to make an impression on you that I am going to buy this shop.”
George gasped. He gathered his senses. “It’s not for sale.”
“Oh I know,” the man said. “But it will be.”
He eyed George with an uncloaked threat in his eye. “It will be,” he said. He picked up his gun and left the store.
*****
George Pickens had a horrible afternoon. As he closed his shop for the day he went over the implications of the visit he’d just gotten. He knew what it meant. There would be threats to his family, maybe a little fire in the back store wastebasket. The offer would be well under the price he paid for the store and keep going down with each refusal. He’d seen this action before.
Not knowing what else to do he showed up on Parson Tull’s doorstep. His eyes darted and his hands were shaking. “I might have to withdraw from the position you kindly offered as the deacon of your church.”