He looked at her with puppy dog eyes and said with a pout, “I guess you really have to go, huh?”
She nodded and hugged him. “Yes. And I’m as sorry to leave as you seem to have me go.”
He looked up, “As I seem to have you go? What do you mean, ‘seem to’? Of course I’m sorry to see you go. Even if it’s for a short time.”
They hugged again and spread the blanket out as far as it would go, as they didn’t want to roll onto the sand and scrub brush.
Back in town, the couple stopped by the sheriff’s office. Bob tapped on the open door and he and Anne went in. Cal sat at the wooden desk reading an old newspaper that he found being used as a drawer liner.
“Hey, you two,” he said getting up, “c’mon in outta the sun.” They entered and he pointed to two wooden chairs facing his desk as he sat back down. “What’s up?” he asked with his hands clasped on the desk.
“Just talking about the best way to use the new found assets and wondered if you could call the elders back for a meeting tonight?”
“No problem. Around seven?” He grinned and added with a wink, “Some o’ them folk sleep real early.”
“Seven is fine. At the Community Hall?”
“The Hall is good. See ya there, partner.”
“Oh,” added Bob as they stood, “let me ask you. Do we have an assayer and where are the artists located?”
“Yep! Elias West is an assayer. He been doin’ assay work for over twenty years and is settled in the Silver Exchange Office. And as for the art people, well, ya can’t miss them. They live in a house behind the Pick Axe and Mining Supply store an’ their house is always lit up like a circus with oil lamps of all different colors. Lisa Caputo is the head o’ the group. Real nice bunch o’ people.”
“Thanks, Cal. See you tonight,” said Bob as he looked around for Anne. He suddenly spotted her in the first cell with the barred gate closed.
“I always wanted to see the inside of one of these,” she said grinning.
“Ya can just slam the cell door closed an’ leave her here if ya want, partner,” kidded Cal as he dangled the keys to the cell door.
Anne jumped out fast and the couple left laughing.
Bob insisted on driving and they both climbed up onto the carriage and he adjusted the top for shade. He deftly turned his horse to head down towards the assayer’s office. Once there he tied up at the hitching post outside of the office and casually noted that there were more horses tied to hitching posts up and down Main Street as well as wagons loading and unloading. Bob grinned as he saw a few of the younger boys pouring fresh water into the horses’ watering troughs. He shook his head as he thought, Man, this town really has a life of its own. He felt he had become somewhat of a scout as he noticed new ruts in the hard-packed sandy street from where more wagons and carriages were making an impression of their own in this century.
Bob and Anne opened the door to the office and a tall, thin man with thick glasses and long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail greeted them from his desk.
“Mayor and Miss Dallas! So nice to see you both. What can I do for you?”
Bob noticed the beautiful set of weights and measures that lined the wooden shelf behind his desk as well as the bronze scale. He offered his hand and they shook as he pulled out the single chair for Anne.
“Mister West? Correct?”
“Yes, but please, call me Elias.”
“Very well, Elias. I hear that you’re running the assayer office and wanted to meet you. Can you tell me the price of silver?”
“Well, Mister Mayor, when I left for this tour it was $18.44 a Troy ounce. It might be higher right now, but that’s the going price as I know it.”
Bob placed the silver nodules on his desk and asked, “Can you tell me what these will bring?”
The couple watched as Elias placed them on the scale and gently added the weights on the balancing side. He looked and took a pencil and after scribbling a moment, said, “About nineteen dollars, mayor.”
A smiling Bob put them back in his pocket, shook the man’s hand and said as they left the office, “Thank you, Elias. I hope to keep you busy very soon.”
A few minutes later, as they approached the house where the artists lived, they saw what Cal was talking about when he said you couldn’t miss it. A post was driven into the ground in front of the white house with blue trim and a shingle hung from it in the shape of an artist’s pallet. The wording said, ‘Art Overcomes All’ and they tied up at the post then opened the white wooden gate to walk on the yellow, pebbled path.
“Follow the yellow bricked road,” said Anne admiring the fact that each pebble and stone had to be hand painted, yellow.
They went up onto the porch and saw that a thin chain with a small bell was screwed onto the door’s surround. She pulled it, creating a sweet sounding jingle. Footsteps sounded and the door opened to show a tall, longhaired brunette girl of about twenty-five, wearing a long, multi-colored smock and a big smile as her green eyes flashed behind her rose-colored granny glasses.
“Mayor McKillop, Miss Dallas, hello. What brings you here?” she asked as she offered her hand and pushed back a few wisps of her long hair with her other hand.
Bob shook it and asked as Anne shook the artist’s hand, “Hello. I assume that you’re Lisa?”
“Yes, sorry about that. I’m Lisa Caputo. Come on in of the sun.”
They entered the house and immediately the sweet smell of burning incense filled their senses. The room was decorated brightly with flowered curtains and matching furniture coverings. An easel was set up near a window and they saw that she was painting the view outside her window.
“Can I get you some iced tea?”
“No thanks,” they answered in unison and Bob added “I just wanted to invite you and your group to a special meeting this evening at seven, in the Community Hall. Think you can make it?”
“Us? The art group? Sure we can make it.”
He looked around and went on, “Great. How many art people are there living here?”
“Six. Myself, Joanne Coughlin, Fran Schmidt, Edith Goodmin, Thomas Dell and Jon Chan.”
“Once again, great! We’ll see you there at seven.”
She walked them to the door and after their goodbyes and the door closed, Bob and Anne could easily hear Lisa as she excitedly called the other artists to tell them the news.
They walked the carriage into the barn and left their horse in Tim’s care before going home, washing up and feeding Samson.
As usual, the darkness came fast and they headed over to the Community Hall surrounded in the Coleman lamp’s circle of light. It was ten of seven and as they were the first to arrive, they sat in the front row. Cal and Jean entered next and by seven the entire group of invited people were there.
After ’hellos’ all around, Cal suggested that Bob take the podium to address them and he did.
“Hello all, and thanks for making this meeting on such short notice.” Smiles and nods all around told him to proceed and he did.
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Rattlesnake Haven Jewelry & Linen
“I have no notes, just wanted to chat with you and see if what I propose sounds good for the entire town.” He looked at them and realized that he wasn’t nervous standing up there all alone…of course Anne’s presence helped him immensely.
“It’s sort of an open secret,” he continued, “that silver was found within the town’s boundaries and after some thoughts on how best to use it, Anne Dallas gave us a great idea. Why not turn the silver into an income for the entire town? We can have our artists create silver pins, figures, and rings and just about anything they can come up with. We sell the jewelry in Bransville and over the Internet and the proceeds will be shared with the people of Rattlesnake Haven and with that they can buy livestock or anything they need to keep the town afloat.”
A combined yelp came from the artists, all-sitting together, and Bob knew before even asking that they were excited about
the project. “And also we can have those creative ladies who work in linen, create dresses, and anything else they can come up with to put on the market.”
Cal raised his hand and Bob nodded to him. Standing, he hitched up his slipping gun belt and pants and said, “Mayor, this is mighty generous o’ ya but I’m wondering what will happen when some other folks find out that the residents of Rattlesnake Haven get a share just because they’re part of the community? Won’t they want ta move in?”
Anne raised her hand and stood. “If I may offer a suggestion: why not have the residents of Rattlesnake Haven sign a charter making them original members and, although others might live in Rattlesnake Haven later on, they cannot receive any of the profits that the originals do?”
Bob looked around and saw only smiles and nods. “Well, that’s settled then. Now we have to rent a store in Bransville and have our local artists and seamstresses fill it with products from our town.” He smiled as he nodded and continued, “And I know just the right lady to run the place.”
Feeling that the meeting was at an end, Bob said, “If that’s all, why don’t we all go home and eat?”
The group left the hall and the artists all talked excitedly about the projects they were thinking of doing as they walked off into the night.
As it was Anne’s last night there, Bob cooked her favorite dish: baked salmon with parsley sprinkled over the white sauce, which covered it and the small white potatoes and onions. A bottle of chilled white wine topped it off. After a desert of town-made apple pie and coffee, they sat in front of the fireplace sipping the rest of the wine and both found out that Samson did indeed, snore.
“So,” Bob asked, “when do you leave New York and return to Bransville?”
“Probably around five or six weeks,” she looked over the top of her glass and added with a smile, “Will you and Samson keep my spot open?”
He grinned back, “I spoke to him earlier and we both agree that it’s here permanently.”
“Permanently, huh?” she tweaked his nose and in the morning both still needed their sleep.
After a sunrise breakfast, Bob decided to give both of their tired bodies a much smoother and cooler ride so he loaded her gear into his SUV and drove her back to Bransville. They had coffee at her place and she finished packing in time to catch her noontime flight back to New York City. At the gate he spotted Tom, the weatherman, in dark glasses making as though he hadn’t seen him and Anne kiss goodbye as she boarded the aircraft.
After the aircraft departed he stopped at Edward and Katey Pushkin’s house as he thought, Maybe I’ll catch them in for lunch.
The door flew open on the first ring and Katey said as she hugged him, “Well, the City Slicker returns for a good cup of coffee.” She grinned as she closed the door, “How the heck have you been, Mayor Bob?”
“Just fine,” Bob said as he removed his hat and pushed back his matted hair, “What about you and Ed?”
“Fit as fiddles. Wait one and I’ll see if Edward will put that darned model car down and join us.” She went to the door to the basement and called down, “Ed, come on up, we have company.”
A few minutes later he and Bob were pumping hands as he said, “How the heck ya been, City Slicker?”
“I been needing a good cup of coffee, partner. Can I buy one here?”
“I was just about to have my lunchtime coffee break so your timing is perfect.”
“Wait one moment,” Bob said as he left and went to the car and returned with a pie tin covered with aluminum foil. “Apple pie,” he said placing it on the table.”
“Are you a baker as well?” asked Katey with raised eyebrows.
“Naw, not me. It’s straight from Kay’s Diner.”
Ed tried to open the foil and was rewarded with a slap on his hand by Katey. “Ow!” he said as he rubbed his hand, “Kay’s Diner? Have you reopened the place?”
“Nope, not me. One of the people from the tour group you contacted did, and she’s the best thing that happened to Rattlesnake Haven as that started a whole chain reaction of others opening other stores and the town is now pretty close to being self-sufficient because of the bartering that they do.”
The three sat at the table and Katey poured the coffee and put pie plates out.
“You mean,” asked Edward sitting forward at the table, “a tour group came through?”
“Yes. And of course, I thank you for getting the word out so fast.”
Edward shook his head as he sat back and stretched his legs out under the table. “Partner, how long have they been there?”
“A few weeks. Why?”
“Because I just started to send out the advertisements yesterday. I had to put brochures and mailing envelops as well as introductions letters and other stuff into the mail and online so it’s just now getting out. That group must have just stumbled on Rattlesnake Haven by chance.”
Bob looked perplexed as he rubbed the stubble on his chin and said, “I can’t remember what Cal said about finding Rattlesnake Haven. I naturally thought that they read an advertisement from you. Oh well, I’ll just ask when I get back.”
Katey put a slice of pie in front of each of them and then said as she passed them forks, “So you say that the place has become a bartering town? That’s the way it was years back: I sell you a pound of grain and you pay me in coal or rum or wheat or whatever you grew or made. It worked back then so why not now?” She took a bite of her pie and rolled her eyes, “Boy! This is good pie and I ought to know as I work in a bakery. Sure wish we had a bunch of these to sell.”
“That’s one of the reasons I stopped here today,” said Bob sipping his coffee. “Let me tell you about the silver artwork and our plans with handmade linens.”
After he finished telling them of all that had happened the past few weeks he turned to Katey and said, “So, when we open the store here in Bransville, I’m going to need someone to run the place and I thought, why not Katey Pushkin?”
“Me” she said sitting up straight, “but what do I know about selling art?”
“Hey, you don’t sell art, you present art and allow it to sell itself. The person will either buy it or not. Meanwhile, you and Ed will be one of the original townies sharing in the profits. What do you say?”
She shrugged her shoulders and said, “I-I guess, so. I mean it’s either work in the bakery…“
“Or,” Bob cut in, “in your own place.”
Edward nodded and added, “Hon, you always wanted ta leave the bakery, so why not help our friend out an’ take him up on his offer?”
She grinned, stood and with a smile and extended hand, said, “Deal! I’m in.”
Both Katey and Ed took the rest of the day off and the three sat and made plans. As the sun started to set they persuaded Bob to join them for dinner and sleep over before setting out for Rattlesnake Haven in the morning.
After a breakfast of coffee and the rest of the apple pie, Bob drove over to Pearl’s and filled up his SUV with more supplies before driving off to Rattlesnake Haven as Katey and Edward checked out a local store that was for rent.
Over the next few weeks the artists had Bob purchase a smelting furnace that they used to melt the silver from the nuggets and pour the silver liquid into wax molds they created, producing earrings at first and then as they gained experience, more intricate works of art.
Visiting Lisa, Bob apologized for the poor artwork that he showed her of a sketch he did of a ring. It was in the shape of a rattlesnake about to strike and he asked if she could reproduce it.
Two days later, he said as he slipped it on his finger, “This could be the symbol of the Rattlesnake Haven Arts and Crafts Company.” A big smile on Lisa’s face said that she agreed with him and one week later Bob and Cal made the first delivery to Bransville in the buckboard.
The store that Katey had rented in Bransville was painted almost entirely in a deep blue, black color and lit with overhead LED lights. The effect was immediate when she placed the silver
jewelry in the black velvet presentation boards as the lights of the LEDs bounced off them.
A second room, behind black velvet curtains, was well lit by ornamental oil lamps rewired with modern flickering light bulbs that showed off the linen work created by the Ladies Linen Arts of Rattlesnake Haven. Dresses adorned the six mannequins from town while table coverings and shawls were draped over chairs. The store was almost immediately filled with friends of the Pushkin’s and other residents of Barnesville and, as Christmas was less than two weeks away, Katey found that she needed a resupply almost immediately.
Bob invited Cal, Ed and Katey to celebrate by having lunch in Mortimer’s, and after tying the horse and wagon up in the parking lot, he kidded the young parking lot attendant by asking if he wanted to hold onto the keys.
After a steak dinner a few drinks, Edward asked, “Cal, how did your tour group find Rattlesnake Haven?”
“Heck,” the big man answered as he licked the beer foam from his mustache, “we just sorta stumbled on her.”
Bob looked and tried to remember the first night that they arrived as he thought, I thought he had said they were heading to Rattlesnake on purpose? That’s a little different than just stumbling on her. He shrugged and went on, Oh well. No matter.
“How soon will you be able to restock the store?” asked Katey sipping her orange colored drink.
Bob looked up at the ceiling as he said, “I’m pretty sure that the art group is ready to send in another supply of jewelry, and the linen ladies were finishing up some of their creations, so I’ll say the day after tomorrow the latest, but I’ll double check and call you tonight.”
“Perfect!” said Katey passing Bob an envelope containing the day’s proceeds.
Cal sat back and patted his stomach as he said, addressing Bob, “Best we set out fer home, partner. Jean said that there’s a special dinner tonight.”
Bob waved for the bill and after good byes all around the two men rode out of town and off into the desert. On their way home Edward shook his head and said with a grin to his wife, “Sure looks like that City Slicker friend of ours went completely cowboy on us, hon.”
Romance in a Ghost Town Page 31