“Jules?” Billy called.
Jules looked back toward Billy.
“Would you see if you can find me some horehound candy? I’m just real partial to that.”
Jules smiled and nodded. “Sure thing, Billy, I’ll bring you some back,” he promised.
“Thanks,” Billy said with a big smile.
After they bought the supplies, they walked out of the store and Pearlie tied the bag of groceries to his saddle horn.
“Let’s find us a saloon,” LeRoy suggested.
“I don’t know, I think we should get on back,” Pearlie said.
“Pearlie, come on, Smoke said we could stay in town for a while. I plan on havin’ a couple of drinks, and maybe eatin’ in a place where I can sit in a chair at a table. What do you say?”
Pearlie stroked his chin as he considered it, but didn’t say anything.
“Look, you’re our boss,” LeRoy said. “So if you say we got to go back, why, we’ll all go back. I’m just tellin’ you that Smoke did say we could stay for a while.”
Pearlie sighed, then nodded. “All right,” he said. “You can stay. But just remember what Smoke said about staying out of trouble. Oh, and be sure and get back before nightfall tonight.”
“We will,” LeRoy promised.
“Mike?” Pearlie said.
“I’ll look after ’em,” Mike promised.
Pearlie nodded again, then mounted his horse. “Before nightfall,” he said again, and the others nodded at him.
The cowboys watched Pearlie ride off before they started looking for the saloon. Then, finding it, they tied up to the hitching rail out front, pushed through the batwing doors, and strode up to the bar, catching the bartender’s eye.
“Jules, I don’t want to embarrass you or anything in here, so, what’ll it be? Beer or sarsaparilla?” Mike asked.
Jules thought for a moment. He had tried beer before, and he didn’t particularly like the taste, whereas he did like the taste of sarsaparilla. On the other hand, he was now a working cowboy, doing the same job as the other cowboys. He decided he should drink as the others as well.
“I’ll have a beer,” he said.
“Good man,” Mike replied.
After ordering beers for each of them, LeRoy asked the bartender where they might find a whorehouse.
“Ain’t nothin’ exactly like that in Braggadocio,” the bartender replied. He pointed toward the stairs. “But we got a top floor here with private rooms and beds, and half-a-dozen whores that look as good as any you’re goin’ to find in some big city somewhere.”
As the bartender was talking, he saw Jules take a sip of his beer, then make a face at its bitterness. The bartender looked at LeRoy as he pointed to Jules.
“Ain’t this here boy kinda young to be runnin’ with you fellas? Most especial if you are talkin’ about whores and such.”
Jules’s eyes narrowed. “Mister, you got somethin’ to say about me, you say it to me. Don’t be talkin’ around me.”
“All right, I’m tellin’ you, I think you are still a little too wet behind the ears to be in here.”
Jules took another swallow of his beer, this time making certain not to react to the beer’s bitter taste. “You know, I heard there was lots of young fellas no older’n me killin’ and dyin’ in the late war. If it was to come down to that again, do you think I would be old enough to go to war?”
“Well, I reckon you might be,” the bartender admitted.
“So that means I’m old enough to die?” Jules asked.
“I suppose so.”
“That makes me old enough.”
The bartender had a puzzled look on his face. “How does that make you old enough?”
“Well, now, a fella doesn’t get any older than dead, does he?” Jules asked.
Suddenly, the bartender laughed. “I reckon you got a point there, boy,” he said. “Yes, sir, I reckon you got a point.”
“Whereat is a good place to eat?” LeRoy asked.
“Jenny’s Place, just next door,” the bartender replied.
“Well, sir, me an’ my friends is goin’ over to this here Jenny’s Place to get us somethin’ to eat,” LeRoy said. “Then we’re goin’ to come back for some serious drinking and to make a run on them whores. Don’t you let them get away.”
“Oh, don’t worry none about that. They’ll be here.”
The cowboys left the saloon, then turned into Jenny’s Place, which was next door. Their orders came quickly, but while Mike, Andy, and LeRoy wolfed down their meals, Jules merely picked at his food.
“You plannin’ on eatin’ the rest of them taters?” LeRoy asked Jules. When Jules shook his head, LeRoy took Jules’s plate and shoveled the uneaten potatoes off onto his own.
LeRoy spent the rest of the meal instructing Jules on the proper techniques of whoring. “You’re prob’ly thinkin’ you should get yourself a real young whore, ain’t you? Maybe someone about your own age?”
“I don’t know,” Jules replied in a mumble.
“Come on, boy, pay attention,” LeRoy said. “I’m tryin’ to learn you somethin’ about whorin’ here.”
“LeRoy, leave the boy alone,” Mike said.
“I ain’t doin’ nothin’ wrong,” LeRoy replied. “I’m just tryin’ to learn the boy a few things. You got no trouble with that, do you, boy?”
“No,” Jules said. “It’s just that…”
“It’s just what?”
“If Pearlie was still here, I don’t think we’d be doin’ this.”
“Doin’ what?”
“Talkin’ about goin’ with whores and such,” Jules said.
“Yeah, well, Pearlie ain’t here,” LeRoy said. “And he didn’t say don’t go with no whores now, did he?”
“No.”
“So that takes care of that. Now, how ’bout what I asked you a while ago? If you was to have your choice betwixt a young whore and a old whore, which one would you choose?”
“I’d choose the young whore, I reckon.”
“Why?”
“Well, ’cause I’m young,” Jules said.
“Uh-huh, and that’s just where you’d be makin’ a big mistake,” LeRoy insisted.
“Why would that be a mistake?” Jules asked.
“Because if she’s that young, she won’t be a’knowin’ a whole lot more about it than you, for all that she is a whore,” LeRoy explained. “What you need is to find yourself the oldest one in the place. See, that way, there ain’ no kind of way she ain’ never been rode, an’ no kind of man she ain’t never throwed. Besides which, the older the whores get, the younger they like their men. An old whore would be a real good one for breakin’ you in.”
Mike laughed. “LeRoy, will you leave the boy alone? You’re as full of shit as a Christmas goose, you know that? Don’t go listening to him, Jules. He’s just tryin’ to make sure he gets the youngest and prettiest one for himself. By the way, you goin’ to eat the rest of your steak?”
Without answering, Jules forked the rest of his steak off his plate and onto Mike’s.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” LeRoy said to Mike. “I for sure don’t want the prettiest one. The prettiest ones think their good looks is all they need. The ugly ones, now, will do whatever you want ’cause they want to stay on your good side. Unless you get one that’s ugly, but don’t know that she’s ugly.” LeRoy laughed. “Them’s the worst kind, ’cause they figure they’re pretty enough for looks to get them by, and they don’t try none at all. An ugly woman that thinks she’s pretty and don’t try…well, you sure don’t want that kind of whore if you can help it.”
Mike laughed. “I keep tellin’ LeRoy he ought to write a book. I mean, as much as he knows about whorin’ ’n all.”
“That’s a fact all right,” LeRoy said. “I could write me a good book.”
“If you could write,” Mike said, and all around the table laughed.
“Boy, you’re lookin’ a little peekid,” LeRoy said to Jules.
“You feelin’ all right?”
“Sure, I feel fine,” Jules said.
Though he wouldn’t tell the others, he had butterflies in his stomach just from thinking about being with a woman.
When they returned to the saloon after their meal, they found a table and sat there having a few drinks while they were waiting.
As they waited, Jules studied the women who were at the moment working the men for drinks. One seemed to have a softer smile and a gentler disposition than the others. Somehow she seemed less threatening to him.
“If we do this, that’s the one I want,” he said to the others, pointing to one of the women. It was the first comment he had made in several minutes.
“What do you mean ‘if’ we do this? Of course we are going to do this,” LeRoy said. LeRoy turned to look. “Which one is it you’re a’lookin’ at?”
When Jules pointed her out, LeRoy shook his head. “No,” he said. “That ain’t the one you want. Give me a few minutes, I’ll find the right one for you.”
“I don’t want you to find one for me,” Jules insisted. “That’s the one I want.”
“Boy, you didn’t listen to nothin’ I said, did you?” LeRoy said.
“That’s the one I want,” Jules insisted.
Finally, LeRoy shook his head. “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you none.”
Even as they were talking, one of the women came over to the table where the four men were sitting. Putting a hand on her hip and thrusting her hip out provocatively, she leaned over the table. “The bartender says you fellas want some company tonight.”
“Company, yeah,” LeRoy said.
The woman straightened up. “First, we must get the unpleasant business of money out of the way. Our company will cost you gentlemen a dollar each, or two dollars apiece for the whole night.”
“We can’t stay all night,” LeRoy said. “Fact is, we can’t stay very long a’tall so we was wonderin’, I mean, seein’ as we can’t none of us stay very long, we was wonderin’ if maybe you’d give us a cheaper price.”
“My, my, ain’t you boys cheap? Sorry, boys, but we can’t give it to you no cheaper’n a dollar. But if you are willin’ to pay for it, why, we can sure show you a good time.” The woman smiled. “My name’s Tillie.”
“Tillie, I’m layin’ me a claim on you right now,” LeRoy said. “And the young’un here”—LeRoy pointed to Jules—“wants that one over there.” He pointed to the girl Jules had chosen.
“Have you ever been with a woman before, honey?” Tillie asked Jules.
Jules felt his cheeks burning in embarrassment. “No, ma’am,” he answered, barely mumbling the words.
“Then you’ve made a wise choice,” Tillie said. “Doney is just real good with young boys who’re doing it for the first time. It’s almost as if she has a calling for it.”
Tillie signaled the other three whores, and they came over to the table to stand beside her. She made the introductions, ending with Doney.
“Doney, this little sweetheart is one of your specials, if you get my meaning,” Tillie said.
“She means he ain’t never done it before,” LeRoy added, and Jules felt his cheeks flush again.
“Is that right?” Doney asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Jules replied in a quiet voice.
Doney reached out to take Jules’s hand in hers.
“Don’t you be worryin’ none about it, honey,” Doney said to Jules. “We’re goin’ to have us a fine time, you’ll see.”
“Well, shall we all go upstairs?” Tillie invited.
“I reckon so, unless you’re wantin’ to do it right down here on the table,” LeRoy said. “And I’m that ready I’m about to bust.”
“Well, we certainly don’t want to see him bust, do we?” Tillie said, laughing. “Come on, ladies, I do believe these gentlemen are badly in need of our services.”
As they all climbed the stairs, Jules was certain that everyone in the saloon was watching them. But as they reached the first landing, he happened to glance into the mirror hanging behind the bar, and it didn’t appear that anyone in the saloon was paying the slightest bit of attention to him and his friends. He was surprised by that, but it did make him feel a bit less embarrassed.
Once he and Doney were in her room, Doney shut the door behind them, then lit a single candle. She turned and smiled at Jules as she began stripping off her clothes. Jules watched, spellbound, as the smooth skin of Doney’s shoulders was exposed. Then she turned so that he saw only her back as she removed the rest of her clothes. Calling on all the tricks of her professional experience, she used a shadow here, a soft light there, and a movement to hold her body just so. As if by magic, she seemed to lose so many years in age and gain so much in mystery that she became as sensual a creature as anyone who had ever appeared in Jules’s fantasies. Finally, raising the corner of the sheet, she managed to slip into bed using the shadows in such a way that he wasn’t sure whether he had seen anything or not.
She looked at Jules and laughed.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you just going to stand there like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like that?” Doney said. She pointed. “Honey, you still have your clothes on. Do you plan to keep your clothes on?”
“Oh,” Jules said.
Jules just stood there.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
Doney sighed. “Honey, are you going to undress or not?”
“Oh,” Jules said again. “Uh—Doney, would you mind if we…?”
Jules paused in mid-sentence.
“If we what?”
“If we—uh—didn’t really do anything? I mean, you can keep the money. It’s just that—well—I don’t think my ma would approve.”
Doney smiled and patted the bed. “Sit here beside me, honey,” she said.
Jules sat down.
“Unless I miss my guess, your friends are waiting just outside the door.”
“Waiting outside the door? Why would they be waiting outside the door?” Jules asked.
“To see if you really do anything,” Doney said. “If they don’t hear anything going on in here, they are going to tease you unmercifully.”
“Oh.”
Doney’s smile broadened. “I tell you what. Let’s give ’em a show.”
“What do you mean?”
“Start bouncing up and down on the bed,” Doney said.
Now, as he understood what Doney was suggesting, a broad smile spread across Jules’s face.
Outside the door, LeRoy, Andy, Mike, and the three women with them were straining to hear what was going on inside.
“How come there ain’t nothin’ happenin’?” LeRoy asked.
“Give ’em time, honey,” Tillie said. “The kid is green. Doney will have to work on him for a while.”
Suddenly, from the other side of the door, they heard the bed squeaking. LeRoy grinned broadly.
“There they go!” he said. “Hot damn, they are at it now.”
The squeaking of the bed became more pronounced; then the squeaking was joined by squeals and groans.
“Oh, honey, oh, honey!” Doney was saying. “Oh, honey, yes, you are wonderful! You are magnificent!”
“Damn!” Mike said. “What’s that boy doin’ that’s so great?”
“Honey, that’s not a boy,” Tillie said. “Sounds to me like he’s all man.”
Inside the room, Jules and Doney continued to bounce on the bed. Then, as she held up her hand as a signal, Doney’s squeal reached a climax.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” she shouted. With a cutting motion of her hand, she signaled for them to stop.
“Okay, honey,” she whispered. “Wait a minute, then go on out. I promise you, you won’t be teased.”
“Thanks,” Jules said.
“You’re a sweet boy,” Doney said. “Come back and see me in a couple of years.”
The sun
was setting as the four young cowboys returned to the encampment.
“Well,” Smoke said. “All back in one piece, I see.”
“Yes, sir, Smoke. You said get back a’fore sundown and that’s just what we done,” LeRoy said.
“Did you have a good time?”
“We had a fine time,” LeRoy said. “But I don’t reckon none of us had as fine a time as Jules here.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, sir,” LeRoy said. “He had him a fine time. Just ask him. Maybe he’ll tell you about it. He won’t say nothin’ at all to us.”
“Well, I’m glad you boys had a chance to enjoy yourselves. That means that by tomorrow, you’ll all be bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to go.”
“Yes, sir, we will at that,” LeRoy said. “Come on, boys, let’s get the horses into the remuda.”
“Sally held some supper for you,” Smoke called to them.
When the other cowboys left, Jules hung back for a moment.
“Uh, Smoke?” he said.
“Yes?”
“Uh, truth to tell, I didn’t do nothin’. Me’n Doney just made ’em think I did. But, don’t tell ’em, all right?”
Smoke smiled, then reached out to squeeze Jules’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Chapter Fourteen
One morning, less than a week after their stop at Braggadocio, Smoke noticed that Billy Cantrell seemed a little detached. While the others laughed and joked over breakfast, visiting for the last few minutes before getting the herd under way, Billy was walking around the encampment, pulling stems of grass and sucking on the roots, snapping twigs and smelling them, and scooping up handfuls of dirt to examine them very closely.
Smoke had already done those same things, and he knew exactly what Billy was looking for. He walked over to talk to the young cowboy. Billy looked up at him, but before he could say anything, Smoke spoke up. “I know,” he said.
“Do you?”
“Billy, I was sucking on grass roots before you were born. I know exactly what you are doing.”
“What’s the name of that river you say we’ll be crossing next?”
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