I tuck the makings outa my pocket and rolled me a cigareet and lit it, and then I just set there a smoking and looking over all a the faces in the saloon. I kindly reckernized some of them from the last time I come through. The sheriff what didn’t have no use for bounty hunters come in and looked around, and he spotted me right off and give me a straight hard stare. I smiled and touched my hat brim to him. He turned around and left the place. Final, I tuck me a sip a whiskey.
Then a little gal come a walking toward me a-smiling real wide, and I reckernized her as the one what had made up to ole Dick Cherry before and had went upstairs with him. She come on over to the table and set her ass down right beside me, a-leaning over toward me real suggestive-like.
“Is that glass waiting for me?” she said.
“It’s a waiting for a friend a mine,” I said, “but if you wanta fetch yourself another one, I’ll be tickled to buy you a drink.”
She set back a little like as if I’d insulted her, but then she recovered from it right quick and smiled again. “All right,” she said, and she got up and headed for the bar. She come back fast with a glass and put it on the table. I poured her a drink. “So,” she said, “you’re waiting for someone.”
“That’s right,” I said.
“I know you from some place.”
“From right here. I was in here a while back with ole Dick Cherry. You oughta remember ole Dick. You tuck him upstairs with you.”
She wrinkled up her nose like as if she was a-thinking real hard. “I don’t recall the name,” she said. “I take a lot of men upstairs.”
“I bet you do,” I said. “Well, ole Dick, he was a wearing all black, and sporting two six-guns. He was doing all he could to look like as if he was a bad gunfighting man.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember now. Yeah, you were sitting right here with him. Now I recall it, it turned out that you were the real gunfighter of the two. They called you—Kid. Kid something.”
“Kid’ll do,” I said.
“Well, Kid, I think maybe I went upstairs with the wrong man last time. You want to go upstairs with me now?”
“I told you I’m waiting on a friend.”
“Not Dick Cherry?”
“No. He’s in jail waiting to be tried for robbing a stagecoach of a fat payroll.”
“Did he do it?”
“He sure did.”
“What’ll they do to him?”
“Prob’ly stick him in a prison cell for about a hunnerd years is all.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“Say,” I said, “if you wanta hang around here and drink my whiskey with me, we can go upstairs after a while whenever my friend shows up and I buy him a drink is all.”
“Okay,” she said. She had done finished her first one, and I poured her another. I was still a-sipping at my first one. I didn’t have no intention a getting my ass drunk, leastways not yet that early in the evening.
“What do they call you?” I asked that gal.
“Lulu.”
“I ain’t been in a saloon yet anywhere in this big country what didn’t have a Lulu a-working in it,” I said.
“You never found one as good as me,” she said.
Now, you might be taking me for a pretty terrible bad feller seeing as how I had just a couple a days before said that I thunk that I was a-falling in love with a real fine and respectable lady, and I had went and got her settled in a house and a office and ever’thing, and had even gone so far as to say that I would take me a job and get my ass back to her just as soon as ever I could, and here I was already a-fooling around with another whore. All I can say about all that is that I did say I was a-falling real hard for ole Doc, and I really was, too, but I was a long ways from dead, if you get my meaning.
Just about then, ole Moose Marlowe come a-walking into the saloon, and he stopped just inside the door and commenced to looking around. He seed me final, and he stood there like as if he weren’t sure what to do. I lifted up my bottle towards him, and he come a-walking over. When he come close, I said, “Have a seat, Moose,” and I poured him that extry glass full and shoved it over to him. He set, and he picked up that glass and tuck him a drink.
“That’s good whiskey,” he said.
“I only buy the bestest,” I said.
“Thanks, Kid,” he said, and he tuck another drink. “That’s real big of you.”
I give a shrug. “What’re friends for?” I said. You see, I was a-trying to see what ole Moose would do, and how he would react to the way in which I was a-treating him. Like I said before, I knowed that he wouldn’t try to fight me face to face when I had my gun on me, but I did figger that he would try something sooner or later if ever he could slip up behind me. I didn’t mean to give him that chance, but I was a-thinking that maybe I could make him think that he had that chance but only I’d really be ready for him to try something. Anyhow, he finished off that drink, and I poured him another.
“Say, Moose,” I said, “I’d kindly like to go upstairs with ole Lulu here for a little while, you know, but I really hate to lose this here table and ’special my chair here. If I was to go on upstairs, and if I was to leave you this bottle a good stuff, would you set here and drink my whiskey and save my table and chair for me?”
“Yeah,” he said. “You can count on me.”
“Thanks, ole pard,” I said, and I stood up taking Lulu by the arm, and she stood with me. “Come on, sweetness. Let’s go on up there.”
“All right,” she said, a-smiling wide and a-hugging my arm. “Let’s go.”
We started in a-walking toward the stairs, and I heared someone back behind me say, trying to keep his voice low, but I still heared it, “Hey, Moose, who the hell is that?”
“That’s my good friend, Kid Parmlee,” Moose said. “And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t rile him. They say he’s a regular Billy the Kid, but I’m here to tell you, he’s more than that. Way more.”
I reckon ole Lulu heared it too, ’cause she squeezed my arm real close then and kindly laid her head over against me. We dumb on up them stairs, and she led me down the hall to her own room. We went in, and she closed the door. I watched to make sure she set the latch from inside. Well, she stripped off right quick, and she sure was a pretty little thing all nekkid like that, and her hair was all blond, and I mean, all of it. Well, we was at it for might near a hour, and she give me the best time what she knowed how to give.
I felt a mite guilty though on accounta my Doc, you know, and I went and give that little Lulu twice as much money as what she asked for. I tell you what, I sure enough made her happy when I done that. She washed us up some, and we got dressed back up. I strapped on my Colt and set the hat on my head, and we went back downstairs. I seed right off that ole Moose was still a-setting at my table, and he hadn’t let no one else set there, neither. He smiled whenever he seed us a-coming.
“You got to go circulate now or what?” I asked Lulu.
She give a pretty little shrug. “I don’t have to,” she said.
“Well, come on back and set with me a spell if you’ve a mind.”
“Be glad to.”
We made our way back to my table and set back down.
“Thanks, Moose,” I said. “Say, you do know ole Lulu here, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I know Lulu. Hi, Lulu.”
“Hi, Moose.”
“A feller I know come over here and wanted to sit down and drink some of your whiskey,” Moose said, “but I told him no and made him go away.”
“Good for you,” I said. I looked at the bottle. “Hell, Moose, you didn’t drink much of it your own self.”
“I didn’t want to drink too much.”
His glass was damn near empty, so I picked up the bottle and poured it full. I looked at Lulu and she nodded, so I poured her another one. Final I poured my own glass full. I started to just only take me a sip on accounta not wanting to get my ass drunk, you know, but then I got me this real kindly strang
e feeling about ole Moose, and I went and tuck a good gulp. I leaned over close to Lulu and whispered in her ear.
“Say, did you ever take ole Moose upstairs?”
“No,” she said. “He spends all his money on whiskey.”
“Would you take him up?”
She give one her cute little shrugs. “If he had the money.”
I tuck some outa my pocket and give it to her, and her eyes popped way wide open.
“Go on,” I said. “Ask him.”
“Oh, Moose,” she said, and she smiled wide and batted her eyes at him.
“What?”
“You want to go upstairs with me?”
“Oh, I ain’t got that kind of money.”
“Come on, Moose,” she said. “It’s all taken care of.”
“What do you mean?”
I give him a nudge with a elbow. “Go on,” I said. “Go with her. It’s all right.”
Ole Moose, he turned damn near purple in his face, but he got up, and then Lulu got up and walked over to him and tuck him by the arm and led him acrost the floor and up the stairs. I felt good about that, and I went on ahead and drunk my whiskey like I didn’t have no worries in the whole world. I knowed I would have some time to pass before them two come back, and so I rolled me a cigareet and lit it and set there a-smoking and a-drinking whiskey.
I seed that damn sheriff come back in, and this time he come right on over to me where I was a-setting. He never waited to be invited. He just pulled out a chair and set down a-giving me a long hard look.
“Set down, Sheriff,” I said. He ignored me.
“Where’s your partner?” he said.
“In jail.”
“That’s a good place for him. As far as I’m concerned, it’s where you belong, too.”
“You got a right to your opinion, Sheriff,” I said, “but if you was to ask them down at End a the Trail, they’d tell a sure enough different tale on me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“That’s right. Why don’t you ask them sometime? By the way, it was me what put ole Dick Cherry in jail. Figger that one out if you can.”
“I don’t have time for games,” he said. “How long are you planning to be in town?”
“I’ll make you real happy and ride outa here at first daylight,” I said.
He shoved back his chair and stood up. “See that you do,” he said, and he turned around and walked away.
“Hey, Sheriff,” I called out, and he spinned around fast a-drawing out his shooter, but I was just a-setting there with my both hands up and empty. He looked a little embarrassed, and he put away his gun. Then he tuck a couple a steps back towards me a-looking real mad.
“What?” he said.
“What the hell’s your name anyway?”
“Go to hell,” he said, and he stormed on outa the place. A few folks laughed or sniggered at him as he left. I tuck me another drink a-draining my glass, and so I poured it full again. I had finished my smoke so I went and rolled another one. I fooled around like that till I final seed ole Moose and Lulu a-coming back down the stairs. Ole Moose sure had him a big grin on his face, and Lulu was a-looking up at him like as if he was something real special. I wondered when I seed that if it was a for real look or if she laid that on all a her customers after they was all did. I tried to recall did she look thataway at me, and I sure couldn’t call it up. Anyhow, I had drunk me enough, that I was sure glad they was a-coming back to save me my table again, on accounta I needed real bad to get up and go out back. I reckon you know how come. When they set down, I told them. I got up and started in toward the back door when I heared the familiar sound of a revolver a-being thumbed back ready to shoot. It flashed through my head that ole Moose was a whole lot smarter than what I had give him credit for being, a-waiting for just that time to draw down on me. As I was a-reaching for my Colt and spinning, I heared a voice call out.
“Kid Parmlee, you son of a bitch.”
I whirled ready to shoot, but I never had time. You see, it weren’t ole Moose atall what had drawed down on me. It was a total stranger what I had never before saw in my whole entire life that I could recall, and he was sure as hell ready to blow a great big hole in my bony back. He mighta too, ’cept that ole Moose, he acted real quick. He seed what that bastard was a-fixing to do, and he was up on his feet with a chair in his hands and over his head in a flash, and he brung that chair down hard on that would-be shooter’s head. God, but it made a sickening sound, and I guess it crushed that ole boy’s skull. He dropped like a sack a shit.
Well, ever’one in the place commenced to talking all at once, and someone run out the door, I guessed to fetch the sheriff. Lulu, she went and hugged onto Moose. I was about to piss my pants, so I said, “I’ll be right back,” and I went on and done what I had set out to do in the first place. When I come back in, the sheriff was there, all right.
“I knew there’d be trouble when I saw you here,” he said to me.
“I didn’t do a damn thing,” I said.
“He never either,” said Moose. “I hit that man. He was fixing to back-shoot the kid.”
“I can back Moose up there,” I said. “I heared the click a the hammer and turned around in time to see the shooter aimed at me, but ole Moose here got him before I could draw and fire. He saved my life.”
“Well, he won’t get a medal for that,” the sheriff said. “Who else saw it?”
Several folks spoke up, and all a them backed up Moose, and so the sheriff cussed some more and got a couple a boys to haul out the carcass. Then he give me another one a them looks.
“First thing in the morning,” he said.
I set down and picked up my drink as the damned sheriff was a-walking off.
“Who was that man, Kid?” Lulu asked me.
“I never seed him before in my life,” I said. “Likely his name was Pigg or Hooks, though. There don’t seem to be no end to them two families.”
“You really leaving in the morning?” Moose asked me.
“I got to,” I said. “I got me a chore to finish up in Fosterville.”
“Can me and Lulu ride along with you?”
“What? What for?”
“Me and Lulu, we want to get hitched up.” He looked down at Lulu, and she looked up at him and smiled. “Ain’t that right, Lulu?”
“It sure is, Moose.”
“Well, I be damned,” I said. “Who’d a thunk it? Well, yeah, that’s fine, but how come you don’t just get hitched up right here?”
“Lulu’s gonna quit this kind a work,” Moose said, “and I just thought it would be easier for her if we got out of here, you know.”
“I reckon you’re right about that,” I said.
“And I need to go find me a job.”
“Yeah. That makes sense, too.”
“There’s one other thing.”
“What’s that, Moose?”
“Someone has got to watch your back for you.”
Chapter 21
Ole Moose got a couple a horses and saddles for him and Lulu to ride on, and we waited till the next morning after we had us a big breakfast, and then we lit out west a-headed for Fosterville. Now in case you’re a-thinking that I’m some kinda blockhead, I ain’t. I told them two that I weren’t about to settle on down in Fosterville on accounta I had me a good job lined up over in End a the Line. I never told them about ole Doc though. Anyhow, I did tell them that we’d be a-making a long trip and then just turning around and re-tracing a bunch a steps to get back out to End a the Line, but ole Moose, he said that didn’t make no difference with him. He was a-trailing along with me to watch my back, and Lulu was a-trailing with him, and that was that. So I never argued with him none about it. Actual I was kindly glad for the company. A long trail can get right lonesome.
And it was sure enough interesting about ole Moose anyhow. I mean, for someone what wanted to kill me so bad to a done a total and complete turnaround the way he done and become a good friend and a perteckter like tha
t was unusual to say the leastest and just about downright amazing to contemplate on. He sure was a-looking after me. Whenever we stopped to make a little camp and fix us up some vittles, why, he even pulled the saddle offa Ole Horse on accounta he said I was too little for heavy work like that, and then whenever we got ourselfs ready to move on, he’d saddle Ole Horse back up for me. It was kindly nice in a way, but in another way it was embarrassing as all getout. Hell, I can saddle a horse all right. I reckon you know that well enough about me by now.
We had made us a camp for the night the first night out, and the next morning we was a-fixing us up some food and coffee. Now in case you was to get some other idee about it, I want to tell you that Moose and Lulu was just as nice and polite as they could be during the night. They made theirselfs separate bedrolls and each one slept the night in his and her own bed. They wasn’t about to do nothing else, if you get my meaning, with me alone there in the same camp with them. I thunk that was real admire-able of the two of them.
Anyhow, the next morning, like I said, we was whomping us up some breakfast, and I was a thinking back on ole Zeb’s biscuit and wishing that we could a had some, and ole Moose, he kindly stiffened up and stared off at our back trail.
“Two riders coming,” he said.
I turned around to look, and he was right all right. They was two riders a-coming straight at us. They was yet a ways off, and they was moving along real casual. I figgered it was going to take them a little while yet to get on up to us. The coffee had boiled long enough, and I poured me a cup. Moose, he wouldn’t have none. All a his attention was on them two riders. He just stood there a-staring at them and a-waiting for them to come on up close. I seed him kindly check the slide a his shooter in its holster, and I thunk that if it was to come to a shooting, he’d just as well stay out of it. He weren’t none too good with a gun.
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