Marion was right. I knowed he was. But I couldn’t git all the way out from under it. Them girls was our responsibility. It worried me some is what it done.
Homer come back purty quick, an’ him an’ me an’ Marion set out there on the porch for near a hour or better afore Miss Lotus come back out with fresh coffee an’ took a set with us.
“Are ya excited about goin’ to git them girls, Miss Lotus?” Homer asked her.
“Oh, very yes. Tomorrow Miss Jervis is coming to the store to talk to me some more about the journey. She, too, is excited. She has made all kinds of plans she told me, an’ she say this is all going to be fine. I believe her. She is very strong woman with very big heart.”
“Yes she is,” Homer said, smilin’ quite a bit.
Miss Lotus stood up.
“I must go now,” she said. “Might I have hugs?”
All three of us stood up then an’ each give her a little squeeze. She wished us good night an’ went inside. In just a minute or two, Mister Rafferty come out an’ leaned back into one a them rockin’ chairs.
“When are you boys an’ Fannie Marie fixin’ to head out an’ save the world,” he asked nobody in particular.
“We got another meetin’ with her comin’ up,” Homer said. “We’ll know more after that, I speck. She’s still workin’ it out.”
“She is a sharp ol’ gal,” Mister Raferty said. “She’ll have a plan, an’ a good’un at that. If you trust her as much as she trusts you boys, I bet things’ll git done. There is one sad part about the whole thing, though.”
“What’s that?” Marion asked him.
“Soon as you take to your journey, Miss Lotus will be gone from my house. I am shorely gonna miss her, but what she is fixin’ to do is a damn site more important than her doin’ dishes or deliverin’ coffee. I am some fond a that young lady. She promised me that she’d come back by now an’ then to keep me posted on what she’s doin’ and how her life is.”
“She’s a gift to all of us, I reckon,” Marion said.
The rest of us kindly nodded. I believe we all felt that way, too.
It was gittin close to dark an’ I had come to yawnin’ some, when Sheriff Hickman pulled up in front of the place, got down, tied his horse, clumb them steps an’ took a set in a rockin’ chair between me an Homer.
“Evenin’ fellers,” he said.
“Howdy Sheriff,” Homer said. “What brings you over here into the lap a luxury?”
“Well,” he said, “I brung you boys some news. Mister Rayland Craig ain’t with us no more.”
“Ain’t with us no more?” Marion said.
“Nossir. I took my late afternoon rounds today, an’ when I come back he had hung hisself with the sleeves a his coat. Looked like to me that he got up on the bunk, tied one sleeve to the cross member up at the top a that cell above the door, tied the other sleeve around his neck, an’ just stepped off. I was gone for just a half a hour or so. His feet was only about six inches off the floor, but I guess that was enough. One a my deputies is usually there, but Henry’s wife come to gittin’ near to havin’ her baby, an’ he took her to the doc’s office afore he come in. Him an’ me both missed it.”
We all set there for a minute or two, but nobody had nothin’ to say.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
I had whatcha might call a fair bit a restlessness that night. Finally, quite a bit afore dawn, I give up an’ got up. After I got dressed, I went an’ took to one a them rockin’ chairs on the porch. I was settin’ there, lookin’ out into the dark an’ kindly wrapped up in thinkin’ about my new baby daughter an’ such when somethin’ touched my shoulder. I durn near flew outa that chair from it. I whirled around to see what was behind me an’ there stood Miss Lotus in her white nightdress, carryin’ a oil lamp an’ lookin’ some shocked.
“Oh Roo-bin,” she said. “I so sorry. I not want to frighten you. Please excuse my action. So sorry. So sorry.”
I smiled at her then, an’ I could feel my heart thumpin’ along right smart.
“It’s alright, Lotus,” I tolt her. “I was back home an’ not aware a nothin’ else. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She looked at me some serious.
“You and I are only people awake,” she said. “I am up to make coffee. It very early. Why you not sleeping? Are you not well?”
That made me grin some.
“I’m fine, sweetheart,” I tolt her. “I was just dreamin’ about my home an’ family an’ warn’t much in touch with nothin’ else.”
She come around to the the front rail then an’ set that lamp down on a long table.
“Please tell me of your wife and children?” she said.
“I am blessed to have a wife and two children, a boy that’s about ready to start school, an’ a new little baby girl by the name a Melody.”
Miss Lotus smiled.
“I think they are blessed, too,” she said. “Oh, very yes. I go see coffee now. If ready, I bring you some.”
She scooted away then and left me to set in that rockin’ chair while my heart settled the rest of the way down.
It was comin’ into false dawn when Lotus showed back up with coffee on a tray along with cream an’ sugar.
“Are you awake, Roo-bin?” she asked, smilin’ quite a bit.
“I am this time, sweetheart,” I said, takin’ the tray from her an’ settin’ it down on the little table beside my rockin’ chair.
“It is good you dream about your family,” she said. “Dreams are how I can still be with my mother and father.”
The door opened then, an’ Marion Daniels stepped out on the porch.
“Good morning Ma-re-on,” Lotus said. “You sit. I bring coffee.”
Marion thanked her an’ kindly flopped down in the chair beside me.
“Yer up some early, Ruben,” he said. “Are ya alright?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “I was settin’ out here kindly asleep or somethin’ an’ was back home fussin’ with little Melody when Lotus come out an’ durn near scairt a visit to the privy outa me. The way I come up outa this chair an’ such didn’t do her much good, either.”
Marion was grinnin’ quite a bit.
“Nothin’ like scarin’ the hell out each other to make sure both of ya git yer day started,” he said. “That’s why I keep Homer around. Just one peek at him in the mornin’ keeps me awake all day.”
Miss Lotus come back with Marion’s coffee then an’ him an’ me set some quiet, watchin’ the town wake up.
Homer showed up about half a hour later, walkin’ out on the porch an’ carryin’ a cup a coffee.
“Boys,” he said, an’ took a set next to Marion.
“You alright, Homer?” I asked him.
“I been thinkin’ about that Craig feller,” he said.
“What about him?” Marion asked.
“When Hickman tolt us Craig hung hisself, I was surprised,” Homer said. “I thought he had a little more sand than that, but I was wrong. He was a coward an’ a worthless sonofabitch so wrapped up in his own needs that the thought a bein’ helt responsible for the life he was livin’ scairt him so much that he stretched his own damn neck.”
“Took the easy way out,” Marion said.
Homer nodded.
“Dirty shame,” he said. “I’d a loved to have seen that slave merchant danglin’ from a rope.”
Lotus come out then carryin’ a trivet an’ a fresh pot a coffee. She set both of ‘em on a little table beside Marion’s rockin’ chair.
“Miss Lotus,” Marion said, “I got a question for ya.”
“What you want to know, Ma-re-on?”
“How did you and Mister Craig get to town?”
“We come in buggy behind big black horse. Mista Craig use whip on him many times. Sometime, when I not what he call a good girl, he use the whip on me, too. Very pain.”
“Well, you doan havta worry about him no more,” Marion tolt her. “Craig is dead. He hung hisself in his jail cel
l yesterday evenin’.”
Miss Lotus kindly froze up for a minute, then shook herself some, an’ smiled a little bit.
“Some people say after die we come back for another life,” she said. “Maybe Mista Craig come back as young Chinese girl in crib in Deadwood waiting to be sold to someone like him.”
Homer smiled.
“You think that would be fittin’ punishment, do ya?” he asked her.
Lotus studied on things a bit afore she spoke up.
“No,” she said. “I wrong. I not wish that on any person, even him. Maybe he could come back as big black horse.”
That set the rest a us to smilin’ some. She give us a little bow an’ went back inside.
“Looks to me like that sweet young woman has a sour side,” Homer said. “Cain’t blame her for that.”
“With everthing she has been through,” Marion said, “I doan see how she ain’t some bitter agin the whole world. Miss Lotus has a bunch more goodness in her than her history might call for.”
I spoke up.
“We need to talk to Sheriff Hickman about where Craig’s horse an’ buggy is.”
“We do?” Marion asked me.
“Yessir. There’s a big black horse out there an’ a buggy to go with him. Might be worth somethin’. The dandy that Craig was, that horse an’ buggy could bring a dollar or two. I bet Miss Lotus would be some glad to have herself a nest egg stashed away someplace.”
“Helluva idea,” Homer said. “Let’s go git some breakfast an’ have a little visit with Hickman.”
Sheriff Hickman thought Homer’s idea was just right. As it turned out, Craig’s horse an’ buggy was at the same stable where we kept our horses. We sold that buggy an’ horse to Mister Milner for three hunnerd dollars an’ he was glad to spend it. The buggy was some less than terrible new but that black geldin’ warn’t but five or six years old. He was a fine lookin’ horse with a purty good attitude in spite a the way Craig had treated him. Mister Milner paid cash money, an’ we spit it three ways to a hunnerd dollars apiece. We figgerd that each a us could give Lotus a pile a money when we seen her again that evenin’, if any of us could stand to wait that long.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
It was a little after noon afore we got back to Rafferty’s. We’d et a late breakfast an’ warn’t none of us that was ready for dinner, so we just took a set on the porch an’ looked at the street. Marion had hardly a durn thing to say about the upcomin’ journey. He seemed a little upset. We’d been settin’ on the porch for a half hour or better afore he finally come to speak up.
“I reckon I need a shave and a haircut,” he said, lookin’ on down the way.
“That ain’t what yer after,” Homer snorted. “Yer hair ain’t near as long as I have seen it an’ you got a razor an’ a strop in yer possibles. Shave an’ a haircut my ass. Yer kindly aimed at that massage place, ain’t ya?”
“A little bit,” Marion tolt him. “I’m restless, boys. This thing is comin’ to a head and there’s a lot a stuff I’d like to know, and no way to find nothin’ out until we git back over to the Jervis house tomorra.”
“Ain’t used to havin’ ta wait on other people, are ya?” Homer said.
“I ain’t over fond of it,” Marion said.
“Kindly miss not bein’ in charge of the whole thing too, I bet.”
“I ain’t needful a bein’ in charge all the time,” Marion growled. “I just ain’t terrible pleased not to know what the hell is goin’ on. I’m used to puttin’ the pieces together, not settin’ on my backside while somebody else does it.”
Homer grinned.
“Must be awful hard for ya, meetin’ the world like a normal man,” he said.
“Hard enough.”
“You ain’t fixin’ ta run off, are ya?”
Marion glared at him.
“Anything else you got to say or questions you need to ask about me or my methods, Homer?”
“I doan know,” Homer replied. “I ain’t give it enough thought yet. How much time do I have?”
“Dammit, Poteet, why don’t you just lean back, mind yer own bidness, and leave me the hell alone?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Homer asked him.
Marion showed us his back then an’ stomped off down the steps.
“Have a good time, honey!” Homer yelled after him. “Me an’ ol’ Rube is rootin’ for ya.”
To tell ya the truth, I was kindly got. I mean, all of us picked on one another quite a bit, but it was most always done in fun. There warn’t a lot a fun in what had just happened. I didn’t know whether I should speak up about it or not. I set there lookin’ out into the street for a spell, kindly mullin’ it over a little bit. Finally Homer turned toward me.
“What’s on your mind, Rube?”
“I think you was rough on Marion,” I said.
“Yer right,” Homer said.
“Well damn, Homer,” I went on, “you just tore right into him. I ain’t never seen you pick at Marion like that. You was durn near mean to him. You alright, are ya?”
“I’m fine, boy,” Homer said.
“To tell the truth, I doan know if ya are, Homer. You shore pissed all over Marion’s boots. I reckon he’s some angry with ya.”
Homer smiled a little bit an’ spoke up.
“That’s whatcha call the object of the exercise, boy. Marion is in a unusual situation, Rube. He ain’t in charge. Doan git me wrong. Marion ain’t over needful a bein’ in charge. Several times he’s asked yer opinion on somethin’ an’ then let you go on an’ do what you thought was right. He’s done the same thing with me now an’ agin’ an’ you was there to see him do it. He don’t havta be the leader, but he is some needful a knowin’ as much as he can about any given situation. There’s a mess a stuff that’s bein’ set up an’ planned that nobody has set him privy to yet. The longer that goes on, the more it wears at him. Tomorra we’re fixin’ to meet with Miz. Jervis, find out what she’s put together, an’ see what else we need to git this team on the trot. I doan want him goin’ in there, chawin’ on the bit an’ snortin’ ‘cause his ruff is up. That’s why I went after him like I done. Now he’s pissed off at me. Most a that’ll wear off quite a bit tonight or tomorra afore we git to our meetin’. By the time we see Miz Jervis he’ll be gentled down some an’ less likely to kick or bite. After she feeds him, ol’ Marion might be gentled down enough he’ll even let me give him a pat.”
I grinned an’ shook my head.
“So you’d a lot rather that he was mad at you today or tonight, than mad when we go to see Miz Fannie tomorra.”
“Now ya got it,” Homer said. “It is a sacrifice on my part but I’m a helluva man, Ruben. I am totally willin’ to git Marion Daliels mad at me, to save him from gittin’ mad at Fannie Marie Hopeshell Jervis. I’m a trooper ain’t I?”
I grinned at him.
“I wanna be just like ya when I git big, Mister Poteet.”
“That’s a fine ambition, boy,” Homer said, “but doan waste yer time. It cain’t be done. I hate ta ruin yer hopes an’ dreams. I know you young folks need ‘em just to keep goin’, but there is only one a me. Sorry boy, but ya may as well give up. It’ll save ya a lot a frustration on down the way.”
I got up to fresh my coffee an’ smacked him with my hat. Homer set there an’ durn near giggled.
I reckon him an’ me set in them rockin’ chairs for a hour or better, just watchin’ folks go by out on the street an’ such. It was kindly peaceful is what it was, an’ I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was the middle a the afternoon I reckon afore Homer stood up an’ looked around.
“Feel like walkin’ for a ways, do ya?” he asked me.
“I feel like it if you do,” I tolt him.
Homer set off down them steps then an’ went to stridin’ out on down the walkway. It took me a little bit to ketch up with him.
“Where we goin’?” I asked.
“Over to Jenson’s Café,” he said. “I’m in need a one a t
hem ground beef sandwiches.”
“That’s a fair hike, Homer. You up to it, are ya?”
“That’s why I asked ya if you wanted to come along. I figger if I cain’t make it an’ tip over, you’ll feel sorry an’ tote me the rest of the way.”
He struck off then. I had to hurry a little bit to ketch up.
Homer set a brisk pace, an’ never slowed down a bit. Jenson’s Café warn’t but about half full, it bein’ the middle a the afternoon an’ all. Marion Daniels was settin’ at a table in a back corner. Homer went right over to him an’ we took a set. Him an’ Homer stared at each other for a minute, then Marion smiled a little bit.
“You feelin’ some better after yer massage an’ all are ya, boss?” Homer asked him.
“Homer Poteet,” Marion said. “Are ya alright?”
The two a them went to chucklin’ a little bit. I joined in.
It was a fine thing is what it was.
CHAPTER FORTY
It was a long evenin’ an’ a restless night for me, bein’ kindly impatient to git the whole thing set up with Miz Jervis an’ git on the trail. When I come out on the porch it was a ways past sunrise. I speck it was durn near eight o’clock or better. Homer was settin’ in a rockin’ chair drinkin’ on a cup a coffee.
“Mornin’ to ya, Rube,” he said. “Up some late ain’t ya, boy?”
“Didn’t sleep worth a durn,” I said. “Tossed an’ turned most all night long while you an’ Marion was snorin’. Speakin’ a Marion, he run off did he?”
“He did. Went an’ struck out on foot a little bit ago. Privy I reckon.”
I nodded an’ heer’d the door open behind me. Miss Lotus come out with some coffee.
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