Brothers in Blood

by Lee Lejeune

The marshal stepped closer to Sunshine and looked him in the eye. He had an unflinching gaze, enough to frighten the pants off a bullfrog.

  ‘So you’re the man who killed the Cutaway brothers,’ he said. Sunshine bowed his head.

  ‘Well, not exactly, Marshal.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Jordan Rivers piped up. ‘That was one of James Cutaway’s bunch. I seed it myself.’

  ‘That’s the truth,’ Jeremiah Gibson affirmed. ‘We were trying to rescue Bart Bartok. We succeeded, too.’

  ‘I saw what happened to James Cutaway,’ Elspeth said. ‘James Cutaway had just shot Sheriff McGiven, then he turned his gun on Mr Shining and Mr Shining shot him in self-defence.’ Elspeth could hardly get her words out, she was so overcome by the memory of that scene. The marshal turned his attention on Sunshine.

  ‘Those Cutaways left wives and children. You might not know that, Mr Shining.’

  ‘I guessed that might be so,’ Sunshine admitted.

  At last the marshal’s grim face broke into a smile.

  ‘You know those Cutaways were once the richest ranchers for miles around here. Old man Cutaway and his father before him were the wealthiest men in the county, but they let their money run through their hands like water. Now it’s all gone back into the ground.’

  Bethany took out her pipe and spoke.

  ‘That’s why those boys wanted to get their hands on my land. They thought it would make them rich again.’

  ‘That’s likely the truth, Mrs Bartok,’ the marshal said.

  ‘And that’s why those brothers came to shooting at each other. They both wanted the whole of the pie instead of just a share.’

  The marshal nodded solemnly.

  ‘Each wanted to be king of the castle, Mrs Bartok.’ He turned to Sunshine again. ‘There’ll have to be a hearing on this, Mr Shining. I guess you know that. I’ll need to talk to the judge about it.’

  ‘Well, I’ll be here whenever you need me,’ Sunshine said.

  After the marshal had ridden away nobody spoke for some minutes. Then Jeremiah Gibson piped up again.

  ‘Well, there’s a lot of long faces around here, but I want you all to remember that shindig I invited you all to come to on Saturday. Me and my lady will be looking forward to greeting you all. So don’t let her down, because she can’t abide being disappointed!’

  That gave rise to loud guffaws of laughter. Everyone knew Eveline Gibson was cut in the old frontier jib, tough as hickory on the outside and soft as new butter under the skin.

  The shindig wasn’t disappointing either. Jeremiah Gibson had invited a few local farmers who could play the fiddle and squeeze the squeezebox or beat out a passable rhythm on an old tin drum. They weren’t too tuneful but they scraped and squeezed away in time with the old tin drum and everyone enjoyed the dance. Sunshine and Elspeth were prancing around together and really enjoying it.

  ‘Well, I’ll be damned!’ Sunshine said to Elspeth, ‘I didn’t know I could dance so well.’

  ‘I’ve got news for you, Sunshine,’ she whispered back, ‘You’ve got a few things to learn in that department.’

  Sunshine chuckled and thought to himself, Sure, and I’ve got a lot to learn in some other departments, too.

  Suddenly the band stopped playing and Jeremiah Gibson called everyone to order.

  ‘Now listen up, folks. Our good friend and neighbour Mrs Bethany Bartok here has something to say.’ He stepped aside and Bethany Bartok took his place. For once she didn’t have her stubby pipe in her mouth.

  ‘Well, good folks and neighbours, I have an announcement to make.’ She gave an eloquent flourish of her hand. ‘My daughter Elspeth, who as you all know has just got back from the East—’

  ‘We know that,’ Jordan Rivers shouted.

  ‘Get on with the announcement,’ Eveline Gibson piped up.

  ‘OK, OK,’ Bethany retorted. ‘I just wanted to say Elspeth and Mr Shining have decided to—’

  ‘Hitch up together,’ someone suggested.

  ‘Well, what I mean is. . . .’ Bethany left a significant pause. ‘Well, what I mean is . . . they aim to get married,’ she finished in a rush.

  There was a momentary silence, then everyone cheered and stamped on the floor.

  ‘Strike up the band,’ Jeremiah Gibson shouted.

  Those so-called musicians might not have been top-notch, but they made up for any shortcomings with their enthusiasm, and soon they were scraping and squeezing and banging away like the beginning of the world had come. Even Bart joined in the dancing like a man whose joints were in peak condition.

  In the interval, when everyone was sitting down and enjoying some good strong liquor, Bart suddenly appeared before Sunshine and grasped his hand.

  ‘So, you’re gonna marry my sister,’ he said. ‘I’m right glad about that.’ Then he started pumping Sunshine’s hand up and down so hard it was fit to come off. ‘And I’ve got to thank you for rescuing me from those killers.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘They would have killed me, you know.’ He held up a handsome gold watch. ‘Lookee here. I got my watch back, too.’

  Sunshine was pleased about the watch but he was even gladder when the band struck up and everyone started to dance again.

  Next morning Sunshine and Elspeth were sitting at table enjoying their breakfast of flapjacks and honey and beans when Bethany spoke again; this time she did have her stubby pipe in her hand.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about the future,’ she said. ‘Not my future but yours.’

  ‘But Ma, you’ve got a future too,’ Elspeth protested.

  Bart said nothing; he was still sleeping off the effects of his gyrations and an excess of strong booze. Bethany raised an eyebrow.

  ‘My future isn’t important. It’s your future that counts.’ She tapped with nervous fingers on the table. ‘I see now, I’ve been damned selfish.’

  ‘How so?’ Elspeth asked her. ‘I’m the one who’s been selfish, leaving you and going East like that with those horrible people.’

  ‘Well,’ Bethany said, ‘I guess we’re all selfish at times. That’s what human nature is like.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘What I wanted to say is, I wanted to keep the farm going for your pa’s sake. He had worked so hard to keep it together and he was a good man, so I felt obliged for his sake. . . .’ she paused to swallow hard . . . ‘to keep this farm in the family.’

  ‘We all appreciate that, Ma,’ Elspeth said quietly.

  ‘Sure you do,’ Bethany agreed. ‘But that’s not all I have to say.’ She wrinkled her brow in thought. ‘I’ve been thinking about that part of land we call “the Badlands”. I had a dream last night.’

  ‘A dream?’ Elspeth echoed.

  ‘Yes, I do dream,’ Bethany said. ‘I know you think that I’m a crazy old woman who’s gone completely off her rocker.’

  ‘Why don’t you tell us about the dream, Mrs Bartok?’ Sunshine said.

  Bethany smiled. ‘In this dream my husband came to me just as plain as I see you. Then he spoke.’

  ‘What did he say?’ Sunshine asked. Bethany was still smiling wistfully.

  ‘He told me about the farm and the Badlands. He said: “Don’t fret about that, Bethany. You can keep the whole farm. You don’t need to sell off anything to anyone. But, if you want to hold everything together, you have to agree to have the Badlands developed because there’s oil under the earth there and it’s worth a mint of money.’

  ‘You mean Pa said all that to you?’ Elspeth exclaimed.

  Bethany nodded. ‘That’s what he said. Of course, I don’t know whether it was him or whether it was me talking to myself in my sleep. But it was real to me.’

  Sunshine and Elspeth looked at one another in amazement.

  ‘Well,’ Sunshine said, ‘it doesn’t matter one way or the other, does it? As long as your dream is telling you the truth.’

  Bethany gave him a sidelong glance.

  ‘You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, boy, and that’s what we need in this fami
ly.’

  ‘So what are you going to do?’ Elspeth asked her.

  ‘I’m gonna get myself a good lawyer and then I’m gonna get the place surveyed. And if there’s oil under that good earth I’m gonna sink a well and bring it out for the good of my family.’

  Sunshine and Elspeth looked at one another.

  ‘Are you sure you want to do this, Mrs Bartok?’ Sunshine asked her. Bethany nodded again.

  ‘I know you two don’t want to work the farm. It isn’t your style. You might want to open a school or some kind of academy. If I get that black gold out of the ground I can make good use of it for the benefit of the family. After all, it isn’t being rich that counts, it’s what you do with what you’ve got. So now that your pa has spoken up good and clear, that’s what I aim to do.’

  Elspeth looked at Sunshine and smiled.

  ‘Well, if that’s the way you and Pa want it then we need to be grateful. But what about Bart?’

  Bethany rolled her eyes.

  ‘I don’t like to admit this, but truth is I spoiled that boy and if I give him money he’ll use it like the Prodigal Son in the Good Book, then come back for more until I’m cleaned right out. So I aim to keep my purse strings tight and if he wants to make himself useful, so much the better for that.’

  There’s no happy ever after ending in this story, since the world is full of trouble and woe. But there are occasional glimpses of sun shining through the clouds. As everyone had suspected there was oil under the Badlands. With good advice and prudence and a lot of support from Elspeth and Sunshine, Bethany was able to set up a company and make herself comparatively rich – rich enough, indeed, to finance an academy in town that became the talk of the whole county.

  Elspeth went East again to meet Sunshine’s family and train as a teacher, and Sunshine studied art at the same time. When they opened the academy they became quite famous. Sunshine still had his haircut and an occasional shave at The Close Shave, We Do You Good. In fact, he became quite friendly with owner Stan Baldock.

  One morning while he was sitting in the barber’s chair, his friend the barber looked out across Main Street.

  ‘Well I’ll be damned, Mr Shining,’ he said. ‘Well I’ll be damned!’

  ‘Not necessarily, Stan, not necessarily,’ Sunshine said. The barber pointed across Main Street.

  ‘You see that hombre riding past by the saloon over there?’

  Sunshine looked across Main Street and saw a man he’d never seen before sitting like a scarecrow on a grey horse. With his unkempt white beard he looked as old as Methuselah. His clothes were dusty and tattered as though he had indeed worn them for centuries.

  ‘Who the hell is that?’ Sunshine asked. The barber nodded grimly.

  ‘Well, it’s not Old Father Time, though it’s hard to tell the difference. No, that’s old man Cutaway, the father of those two boys you gunned down.’

  ‘You mean that’s their pa?’ Sunshine said, aghast.

  ‘That’s him,’ the barber affirmed. ‘He’s the last of the big ranchers around these parts. The wives and children of those two Cutaway brothers have disappeared from the face of the earth and nobody knows where they are. Lost his wife and his two sons and now he lives alone in the big ranch house, which is falling apart. They tell me he’s quite out of his mind these days. Just shows you how the great ones fall, doesn’t, Mr Shining?’

  ‘It sure does,’ Sunshine said. ‘It sure does.’