Chewing Rocks

by Alan Black

  She could hear gasps of surprise around her. She knew this was the first time some of the crowd had heard these charges.

  She spat at the man. She had the strange thought that spitting was not very princess-like, but she was so angry it hurt to swallow.

  She said coldly, “I invoke my right to self defense and to face my attackers. You want a fight with me? Right here. Right now. Fair duel in front of these witnesses.”

  Franklin had not stepped out of the jail compound. He looked around hesitantly.

  Deputy Kramer put the sole of his boot against Franklin’s butt and pushed the man sprawling into the street. “I told you not in my jail, Franklin. Face her in the street. Fair fight, you hear?” He pulled his weapon. “Or I will burn you down myself. That goes for you too, Sno. A fair duel. You hear, Ben?”

  Sno looked over at Ben, “My fight. You watch for anyone else. Franklin is all my problem.”

  Ben nodded.

  Franklin sputtered and climbed to his feet. “Wait. You said I get the choice of weapons?”

  Before anyone could answer, Evelyn Queene shouted from just inside the compound. “Sheriff Bob, you have got to stop this. This is barbaric.”

  Sheriff Bob shook his head. “It would be more barbaric to let a murderer walk free. I could not stop this if I wanted to. This is her right to demand a duel. And frankly Miss Queene, if she did not fight this piece of filth of yours, then I would have to. I cannot condone his conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder in my jail compound.”

  Queene sputtered, “But, she is just a girl. You can’t let her fight that man. He may not be as tall as she is, but he is still twice her size.”

  Sheriff Bob nodded, “Right.” He looked over at Sno. “Miss Whyte, do you want to appoint a champion to fight this duel for you.”

  A voice in the crowd shouted, “I’ll fight him for you, Sno.”

  The crowd laughed as Johnson slapped Norm on the back of his head. Sno shook her head.

  Sheriff Bob looked back at Queene. “Nope. I don’t guess she wants a champion at this point.”

  Franklin shouted, “Hey! What about me? Don’t I get to get someone to fight for me?”

  Sheriff Bob said, “No. She is the aggrieved party, you are the accused. She can have a champion, you can’t. If you can’t handle the consequences you shouldn’t have tried to kill her. You can call for arbitration, but that will only determine whether you are guilty or not. If you are found guilty you would find yourself right back here. Do you claim to be innocent of her charges?”

  “No,” Franklin said. “You know I ain’t innocent. But neither is Cooper, McNally or Hunter. Hell, for that matter,” he pointed at Queene, “neither is she. Queene put us up to it. It was her and that assistant of hers, what’s his name.”

  Queene shrieked back, “I don’t know what you are talking about, Franklin. You can consider yourself terminated by Queene Mines. We disavow ourselves of you and your actions.”

  Sheriff Bob looked puzzled, “I thought you already fired them? Back before they ‘stole’ your ship?”

  Sno interrupted, “Enough, Bob. All in good time. Cooper is dead or he would be first.”

  Franklin said, “Hey! She killed Cooper. Doesn’t she have to answer for that?”

  Hunter said quietly, “No. I killed Cooper; not Miss Whyte or her bodyguard. Me. And I will answer for it anyway I have to.”

  Franklin looked at Sno. “I thought you killed Cooper in a knife fight?”

  Sno shook her head, “How did you know Cooper was coming after me with a knife? I think you just proved that you were in on the attempt to ambush and kill me. What did the Sheriff call it: conspiracy to commit murder?”

  Franklin looked thoughtful. “Just you and me? No interference from anyone?”

  Sno shook her head, “No one will stop us. It is just you and me. I set the time, the place and the terms. You can choose the weapons. You want to go back to throwing rocks at me?”

  “I knew you couldn’t take Cooper with a knife,” Franklin snarled. He glanced at Hunter, “And that coward probably had to sneak up on him from behind. Cooper may have been a fat man, but he was the second best blade handler I ever knew.”

  Sno’s smile was a tight lipped, teeth bared, cold kind of grin. “And you’re the first?”

  Franklin grinned. “Knives.”

  Sno nodded, “Knives. My terms are…only until first blood is drawn.

  Franklin said, “First blood only. I thought you were tough?

  Sno smiled, “First blood is enough to satisfy me. After that we are quits. I will hold no more complaints over you.”

  Franklin said, “I cut you and then I go free? This just keeps getting better all the time.” He looked around the crowd. “Someone got the loan of a knife?” A dozen hands held out a variety of weapons. Franklin chose a butterfly knife and flashed it a few times, flicking his wrist, opening and closing the blade.

  Ben stepped between Sno and Franklin. He stared into Sno’s eyes. “You okay with blades?”

  Sno shrugged, “I have never been in a knife fight in my life. But, you still have to stay out of this, rule of law. Whether you are my bodyguard or not, you can’t interfere.”

  Ben nodded, “At least you had sense enough to quit at first blood.”

  Sno smiled, “I will admit that it was not my first inclination, but it seemed that calling for first blood was more princess-like.”

  Without another word he opened the short jacket he was wearing. There were half a dozen knives strapped to the inside.

  Sno pulled one loose. It was a medium sized blade, sharpened on both edges with a leather bound handle. She held it loosely in her left hand and gave the point a few tentative flicks through the air. She moved toward Franklin and dropped into an awkward imitation of his crouch.

  She shrugged, “This ought to work. Now you get back to work, Ben. You are supposed to be watching the crowd, remember?”

  Franklin laughed and stepped close. “Come on, girlie. If I have to quit at first blood, let’s see if we can make it a good one. What do you want cut? How about I put a slice across that pretty little face of yours?” With each phrase Franklin twirled the knife, tossing it from one hand to the other. “How about I cut off one of your little boobies? They are small, but I think I can get one or the other.”

  Sno stood up and lowered the point of her knife. “What are you going to do? Try to talk me to death first. I thought you were some kind of expert knife fighter not an expert bullshit artist.”

  Franklin lunged at Sno, aiming a backhand slash across her stomach. Sno slipped sideways and twisted, but she felt the knife blade slide across her left arm.

  Chapter 22.0

  Sno felt Franklin’s knife blade slide across her arm, but it was a fraction of a second too late. Her sideways twist caused her to turn into the man’s thrust. By the time his steel met her skin the point of her borrowed blade was jabbing up under his chin and driving deep into his brain.

  For a second, Franklin looked at Sno with a startled expression on his face. Sno gave a slight twist of the blade and pulled it loose from Franklin’s skull. The bald man dropped in a loose heap onto the pavement.

  “Frak me,” Someone in the crowd said into the silence.

  She thought, “ ‘Frak me’ is right. That was too easy.” Sno leaned down over Franklin’s body and wiped the knife blade clean on the dead man’s clothes. She straightened up wondering to herself why she wasn’t feeling ill or upset. She thought, “In the movies, when people kill for the first time they vomit or cry or…or…or something. Me? Damn. I feel, well, not good. Just nothing.” She shook her head, “Maybe I am going to need to visit a shrink or something.”

  She slid the knife back into Ben’s jacket. “Thanks.” That was all she could manage aloud.

  Ben nodded, “I get it. Just because you’ve never been in a knife fight doesn’t mean that you don’t know how to use one.”

  Sno nodded, “Yeah, you saw that old movie, too
?” She gestured with her head towards Franklin’s body, “I guess he hadn’t. It seemed to make him a bit over confident.”

  Ben pointed at her arm, still not taking his eyes off the crowd. “You need a doctor, maybe stitches?”

  Sno shook her arm, “I don’t know, maybe just a bandage. I’ll check it in the medical tent.” She turned, grabbed Hunter by the arm and pulled him back into the jail compound. “Come on, buddy. It has been a rough day for both of us.”

  Hunter replied, “Yeah, but harder on Cooper and Franklin.”

  Sno answered, “Not really. They are out of it. We are the ones who have to live with killing somebody for the rest of our lives.”

  Hunter looked pale. “Oh, my God! I killed Cooper.” He pulled away from Sno’s grasp and dropped into the grass on all fours. He began to dry heave on an empty stomach.

  Sno patted his back and said, “Hang in there, Hunter. You did the right thing.” She wanted to tell him she knew how he felt. She had just taken a life. She had killed a man. She did not even feel anything about it. Sno thought, “If I felt something then I could at least say that I was in shock or traumatized or something. How do I feel? Crap. I can’t even tell how I feel.”

  “Come on, Hunter. Maybe you should go over to the kitchen and put something in your stomach.”

  Hunter stood and shook all over like a wet dog. “Food! I couldn’t keep anything down. I’ll bet you couldn’t eat anything either.”

  Sno thought to herself, “Actually, I am kind of hungry. Pizza sounds good.” But she smiled at Hunter, “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe later. I’ve got to go look at this arm. Maybe you can give me a hand bandaging it.”

  Hunter nodded. He looked a little better now that he had something to do. “Come on. McNally is still in there, but your guy can watch him.”

  Sno immediately had a vision of Prints Chalmers. “My guy? He’s…” Then she realized who Hunter had been referencing. “Ben. Yeah okay.”

  “Killer!” Queene’s voice shrieked at Sno. “You killed that poor man. He didn’t stand a chance and you know it.” Queene had followed behind them as Kramer relocked them all in the compound.

  Sno held up her left hand. The blood from the cut had been running down her arm and was dripping off her finger tips. “He had more chance than I gave him credit for. This is not a threat Miss Queene, just a warning: this isn’t over.”

  Queene turned pale and fled across the compound to the women’s tent.

  Sno turned and stepped into the medical tent.

  McNally looked up at her from his seated position in the med-box. His glance slid over to Hunter then to Ben and onto Sheriff Bob. He looked at Sno as Hunter helped her peel out of the top half of her coveralls exposing the gash across her left arm.

  Finally, McNally spoke. “I heard Queene say you killed Franklin. But, it looks like he got to you first.”

  Sno smiled. “Not really first. This was kind of a dying twitch. You might want to remember this when you and I meet in our duel.”

  McNally looked stricken. “What do you mean, ‘our duel’?”

  Sheriff Bob said. “Where did you think this was all going?”

  McNally replied, going pale. “I didn’t have nothing to do with what Franklin and Cooper just tried. I’ve been in this tent ever since I got locked up.”

  Sheriff Bob laughed. “Great guns, McNally! This last little dust up is the least of your worries. You’ve got other charges as big as conspiracy to commit murder to worry about.”

  McNally said, “I am injured. I can’t fight back.”

  Sno shrugged. “I will wait to kill you until a doctor certifies you’re healthy enough to be killed.”

  Hunter said, “Speaking of doctors, you need to get one in here to stitch this up.”

  Kramer had just stepped into the tent overhearing Hunter, replied, “A doctor is already on the way. Sno, you have only been locked up for…what? Half an hour and already I got two dead bodies. And please young lady, cover up, would you? I am a married man and all.”

  Sno laughed, “Come on, Kramer. I’ve still got my bra on. Besides everybody this side of Mars remembers how you met your wife Mabel at Tammie’s Topless Tittie Bar and Grill.”

  Kramer snorted, “Everybody remembers except Mabel. But even in her best days she didn’t look like you. In any event, there are too many men in here for you to be sitting around half naked.”

  Hunter was packing gauze around Sno’s arm trying to staunch the flow of blood. He glared with defiance in his eyes at Kramer. “I am not leaving until you get a doctor in here to fix Miss Whyte’s cut.”

  Ben shrugged, “I am under contract to go where she goes.”

  McNally all but shouted. “I can’t go anywhere; I am strapped into this freakin’ box.”

  Kramer looked at Sheriff Bob. “Well, Boss. You seem to be the only one in here who doesn’t have a purpose.”

  Bob shrugged and turned to go.

  McNally shouted. “No. Sheriff, you gotta stay. You can’t leave me alone with those three. They already killed Cooper and Franklin. I need your protection. They will kill me if you leave me alone.”

  Bob shrugged and sat in a chair next to the med-box. “There you go, Kramer. It looks like I get to stay too. Maybe you should go check on Miss Queene.”

  Kramer looked around the tent. “Yeah, I don’t guess I have any reason to be in here either if the sheriff is going to stay on protective duty.”

  McNally looked as if he had won a small victory. “Yeah, the sheriff has to protect me.”

  Sno smiled coldly, “His protection won’t last forever.”

  Sheriff Bob looked down at McNally. “She is right. Once a doctor certifies you as fit then you will face her in a duel. Or you can call for arbitration and then face her in a duel.”

  McNally said, “Wait. Not so fast. How about me making a deal?”

  Sheriff Bob raised an eyebrow at Sno. “Her call. What do you say, Miss Whyte.”

  Sno said, “What’s the deal, McNally?”

  “I can give you Evelyn Queene.”

  Sno laughed. “I already have Evelyn Queene. She is locked up in here with us.”

  McNally said, “Yeah, but she is slippery and smart. I can testify she was helping Franklin, Cooper, Hunter and me. Her and that Wallace guy worked to set the whole thing up.”

  Hunter said, “She doesn’t need you for that. I’ll testify against them both and against you. I am not even asking for a deal.”

  McNally said, “Yeah, but listen, Sn…I mean, Miss Whyte. You need me for corporation in the trial.”

  Ben said, “It is corroboration during arbitration, not corporation.”

  The sheriff nodded. “McNally is right. Hunter is good, but you can’t lock Queene down on just one guy’s say so. It takes at least two in a group of co-conspirators to witness against a third.”

  Sno said, “So what makes you think Queene will ask for arbitration?” At the look on the faces around she snorted. “Yeah, stupid question. What do you want in return, McNally? And before you respond, try to remember that just a few short weeks ago you had me strapped naked to your galley table. Because believe me, I have not forgotten that.”

  McNally looked around him, “I don’t know what you got. I don’t want to die. Prison?”

  Sheriff Bob shook his head, “No prisons on Ceres. Duels to whatever level the complainant calls for, to the death, first blood or anywhere in between.” He starred pointedly at Sno, then continued, “There are money damages, but you are broke. There is indentured servitude, but I don’t know who would want you.”

  McNally looked puzzled, “Indented what?”

  Sno answered, “Slavery, doofus. Maybe for life, maybe for less. But the sheriff is right. Who would want you?”

  McNally cast his eyes about him. “Um. I can work in your warehouse?”

  Sno shook her head, “Nope. Whyte Mining is automated or Dad does it.”

  “Mining crew?”

  “I wouldn’t put you with
any decent crew that works for us and I sure as pigskin would not take you on a ship with me.”

  McNally became desperate, “Okay, I can clean floors, windows, toilets. I don’t care. Sell me to someone else. I just don’t want to die.”

  Sheriff Bob said, “So you want to call for arbitration and then throw yourself on Miss Whyte’s mercy?”

  McNally said, with relief in his voice, “Yeah. That’s it. If I gotta go down, at least I am taking Queene and Wallace with me.”

  Sno nodded. “Okay, I’ll bite. I am not feeling very merciful right now. I may change my mind later, but I am willing to see where this goes.”

  Kramer called from just outside the tent. “Doctor is on his way from the gate. Queene is calling for him first, but I’ve got to send him in here first.”

  Sheriff Bob looked stricken, “Queene? What is wrong with her?” The sheriff hustled out to the tent.

  They could hear Kramer’s voice fading in the distance. “Not a blessed thing, she is just claiming she needs something to calm her nerves.”

  Ben called out, “Hey, Doc Brown. In here.” The doctor ambled into the tent as if he was not in a hurry and had no particular place to be.

  A gravelly voice said, “Hi, Ben. How is Toby? Strapping young boy; good set of lungs. Good you let him get birthed on Earth. Better for early development coming into life in full gravity.”

  Sno snorted, “Quack.”

  Doc Brown replied, “Don’t that beat all? Sno, I haven’t seen you since you bit Rodney Leffert in the leg. You were about six?”

  Sno said, “No, you old goat. I bit Rodney Leffert’s tongue last year. He tried to kiss me and put his tongue where it didn’t belong. I bit Carlos Morales in the leg when I was six.”

  Doc Brown chuckled. “So, who did you bite this time?”

  Sno held up her left arm. The blood soaked bandages were evident. “Small knife wound, Doc.”

  Doc Brown said, “You’re responsible for that mess in the street? I stopped by to certify the cause and time of death on the way in here.” He began to peel away the crude bandage job that Hunter had applied.

  Sno shrugged. “Yeah, that was mine.”