by Jordan Krall
“Yeah, well, this man came through and brought a few boxes of things he was selling. Things from Tibet, he said. That’s somewhere in Asia, I believe,” Tom said. He pointed behind him at a group of jars filled with dark green candy-sticks. “Brought some candy called Tcho-Tchos. I wasn’t going to buy it at first being that I carry dozens of different types of candies from all over but some people in town had a taste of the Tcho-Tchos and insisted that I buy it for my store and so that’s what I did.”
“They taste good, those Tcho-Tchos?”
“Well, they’re not to my liking. Personally I think the things taste a bit too much like sweet fish but I never was one for the sweets. Of course I don’t know shit when it comes to that sort of thing. Hell, the Hard Candy Kid comes in nearly every day to buy one and that man knows his candy.”
At the mention of the Hard Candy Kid, Bluford cleared his throat and said, “Well, I do regret that I don’t have anything to sell you but I would like to purchase a few items.”
“I can help you with that, for sure,” Tom said. He tapped his fingertips on the counter. “But before I do, I have one question.”
“Alright.”
“Are you a drinking man, Mr. Barnes?”
“Uh, well, I have been known to get my tongue wet with some whiskey on occasion, yes.”
Tom said, “I think I might have something you’d be interested in.” He lowered his voice. “Ever hear of Ass Juice?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
June left the starfish and walked back to her room. As she sat on her bed, she wondered if she’d ever get married and have children. An image of her future popped into her head. She saw herself making dinner for a group of baby starfish who were seated around a table.
As she fantasized, her nausea subsided. June could feel her strength coming back. Her skin didn’t feel so hot and clammy. It was time to get back to earning some money.
June freshened up, feeling more and more normal as she did so. In the back of her mind, she still thought about raising a family of baby starfish but now it was only a slight fantasy. When she was done getting ready, she walked downstairs and perused the room. There were a few strangers in the place and a few of them looked interesting. One in particular caught her eye. It was another handsome stranger, but not the one that Betty had been talking to.
This stranger was tall and swarthy. He looked like he was one of those Italians. The man looked strong, too, as if he could ravage her for hours without breaking a sweat. June thought how nice it would be to stick her four feet in his face, make him lick her dirty toes.
June wiggled her ass and made sure to keep the man in view. She hopped up onto the bar and sat there waiting for him look over at her. When he did, June would use all her feminine charms to lure him over.
* * *
When Bluford came back from the General Store, he decided to finally visit the brothel. He was sitting at the bar when he saw the guy in the donkey mask. The man had come in with two other men. One was old and bearded while the other was tall and olive-skinned. It was a strange but intriguing trio. Bluford knew something was going to happen. There was just something about those men. So when the swarthy man walked over to the bar, Bluford said, “Excuse me, sir. Buy you a drink?”
The man looked over but said nothing.
That did not deter Bluford. “I’m sorry for bothering you. Just passing through?”
“None of your goddamn business.”
“The reason why I’m asking is because I can see you’re a traveler like me and…”
“Shut up, will you?” The man was visibly agitated.
Bluford said, “Got it.” He asked the bartender for a bottle of whiskey and then poured the man a drink. “Want that drink? Consider it payment for bothering you.”
Some of the agitation left the man’s face. He took the drink.
“My name is Bluford, by the way.”
The man grunted. He took another drink and when he realized that Bluford was waiting for his name, he said, “Sergio.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Sergio.”
That was the extent of the conversation because then Sergio walked away and joined his friends.
Bluford was disappointed. He wanted to know more about the man because he and his partners looked like they had a purpose for being in town. Men who were planning on taking money from people always had the same look. There was an intensity there that many people weren’t able to see but a professional confidence man could spot it pretty easily. Bluford wanted to know exactly what they were planning.
And whether he could benefit from it.
* * *
Leonard was just about to take his first sip of whiskey when Clayton slapped him on the back.
“Hey old man, get a look at these girls! Really something, right? Makes my mouth water.”
“Yeah, they’re pretty.”
“Just pretty? They’re goddamn angels!” Clayton turned to Sergio. “What do you think? You like them?”
Sergio was holding a glass of whiskey up to his lips without taking a drink. He was taking in the sights slowly, taking time to look at each and every whore. If he was going to spend money to be with a girl, he didn’t want his decision to be a rash one.
“Yeah, Clayton. They’re angels,” Sergio said. “They just won’t stay that way after you get to them, huh?”
Clayton laughed. “You got that right!”
Finally Sergio took a sip and was reminded how much he loved whiskey. Back in Andersonville, they didn’t give the men anything to drink but tainted water. Sergio had quite a few friends who died due to the torture and neglect at the hands of those Confederate bastards. He’d seen men used in experiments involving animals and strange machines that cut off their feet. It was a miracle that Sergio ever survived so he vowed to savor every drink of whiskey.
Leonard said, “You boys want to get your pricks wet, go ahead. I’m staying down here. Maybe join a poker game.”
“I still don’t get why you won’t just pay for a screw. Not like you have much time left on this earth. You think they got pussy in Hell?” Clayton scratched his beard through his donkey mask and laughed.
“Oh, shut the hell up and go pick out a girl so you can get it out of your system. We have to get to planning how we’re going to persuade the mayor to part with his gold.”
Clayton laughed. “Persuade? That’s a good one.” He looked around and saw the two ladies at the bar and thought they’d both be nice to take up to one of the rooms upstairs. He’d heard that the whores in town had specialties and he had a hankering to experience it in person.
He left the table and walked over to the women. They both turned his way and smiled though he had a suspicion that they were smiling sarcastically.
Clayton said, “Hello, ladies.”
The blonde one said, “Can we help you?”
“Sure hope you can.”
The brunette said, “You going to a costume party or something? What’s with the mask?”
“Just something I like to wear. Found it in a prison camp next to a wooden donkey if you can believe it.”
The two women laughed.
“Name’s Clayton and you are?”
“I’m Goldie and this is Blanche. We’re the Brady sisters,” the brunette said.
“Sisters? You really sisters?”
The women laughed but didn’t answer.
“So, I got money to spend,” Clayton said. “You ladies want to welcome me to your town?”
Clayton followed the women to their room. He wasn’t sure what he wanted. Whenever he was with a whore, he ended up asking for a hand job or a simple screw. But it seemed like a waste to ask for the same from these girls since Screwhorse whores were supposed to be so talented. “Hey ladies, let me ask you something. You two have a specialty?”
They laughed. Goldie said, “We sure do.”
“And what would it be?”
In unison, the women burped loudly and smiled. “Let’s see your pecker,”
Blanche said. Clayton sat down on the bed and pulled his dick out.
“Start yanking,” Goldie said. As Clayton pleasured himself, the women instructed him while they leaned over and let out burp after burp into his face.
Blanche said, “You like that? Can you smell what we had for dinner?”
“We had four sausages,” Goldie said. “Each!”
Even through the donkey mask, Clayton was overwhelmed by the warm stench of their belching. He used his hand on himself, stroking slowly at first and then picking up the pace when the burps became louder and more forceful.
After ten minutes, he was close to finishing. “I’m ready, ladies!”
Blanche put her mouth up to the nose holes of Clayton’s mask while Goldie put her mouth to his ear.
As the ladies let out two thunderous burps, Clayton ejaculated onto the floor. Ecstasy rushed through his body as he deeply inhaled the smell of sausages.
“So, about payment,” Goldie said. She wasn’t wasting any time.
Clayton paid the women and stood up. “That sure was nice.”
Blanche said, “Okay, honey, you go ahead downstairs and have yourself a drink. Come on back if you feel like having another go at the Brady sisters.”
With a wide smile hidden by his donkey mask, Clayton buttoned his pants and left the room. The stories were true. Screwhorse really did have the best girls. When he got downstairs he saw Leonard talking to a whore who was on her knees examining his hands.
“You have such beautiful hands. Look at these fingers. Beautiful,” the woman said.
Clayton leaned close to Leonard’s ear. “What the hell’s this?”
“This is Angie. She said she loves my hands,” Leonard said. He had told himself he wasn’t going to get a girl but this Angie just came up to him, going on and on about how nice his hands were.
Angie said, “Your fingernails are beautiful, too. Hey. How about I take you upstairs?”
“I don’t know. I think I’m just too damn old for what you’re planning to do to me.”
“Oh, you are not!” Angie smiled. She brought her hand up to Leonard’s nose and caressed it. “You have a beautiful nose, too.”
Clayton laughed. This Angie was one weird whore.
“Well,” Leonard said. “Maybe you’d like my friend.” He pointed to Sergio.
“Him? He looks scary, not nice like you. Are you sure you don’t want me? I’ll let you bind my feet.”
“What?”
“I’ll let you bind my feet. I learned it from a Chinaman used to come to town.”
Leonard shrugged. “Not sure that’s something I’d enjoy.”
“Guess it’s your loss, then,” Angie said. She looked at Clayton. “How about you? Care to take off that donkey mask so I could take a look at your nose?”
“Sorry, sweetie, but no. The mask stays,” Clayton said. “Besides, Those Brady sisters were quite enough.”
Both rejections made Angie get up abruptly and stomp away.
Leonard cocked his head, turning his ear toward the door. “You hear that?”
Sergio nodded. “Yeah, those goddamn Indians are making more noise.”
“They got some nerve doing that so close to town, eh?” Clayton said.
“Yeah and I don’t like it. I’d like to get the job done before anything happens. I don’t need to be trying to get out of town in the middle of a fucking Indian attack.”
Clayton said, “Those redskins aren’t going to do a goddamn thing. They just like dancing around fires, eating buffalo balls and shit.”
“Even so, keep your eyes open,” Sergio said. He drank one more shot of whiskey and then slammed his glass down. “Okay, I’m getting a girl now. Stay out of trouble, Clay, got it?”
“Yeah,” Clayton said, adjusting his mask.
Sergio got up from the table and approached a whore who was sitting on the bar, dangling her feet. He had noticed her a while ago and could tell that she was looking at him. It was as if she had already picked him and not the other way around.
Then Sergio saw the extra foot that came out of each of her ankles. It would be the first time that he had a girl with four feet and he thought that might be just the thing to relax him before the job. He stood next to her and tried to smile as best he could. It came out like a frustrated frown.
He said, “You available?”
The older woman behind the bar answered for her. “No, she’s not. She hasn’t been feeling well.”
The young whore said, “Oh, Betty, I’m feeling better now.” She turned to Sergio and smiled. “What’re you looking for? My feet can give you one hell of a jerk.” She hopped off the bar. “My name’s June.”
Sergio said, “Let’s go upstairs.”
“You don’t waste any time, do you?
“No,” Sergio said. “I don’t.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Calamaro walked downstairs. Kersey was standing behind the front desk, shaking his head. “Those gunshots I heard?”
“Yeah,” Calamaro said.
“What the fuck for?”
“It was unavoidable. A man upstairs was knocking around a lady. You probably saw her running out, didn’t you? Well, her man didn’t like me interfering and so he started something I had to finish.”
Kersey sighed. “Yeah, should’ve known that Merrick bastard would go and do something like that. I don’t know why I even let him stay here.”
“I take it the sheriff will want to talk to me,” Calamaro said.
“Yeah, probably but that’ll cause me just as much trouble. I’ll see what I can do about sorting it all out.”
“Much obliged.”
“Just make sure you don’t make any more enemies in here, okay?”
“I’ll do my best,” Calamaro said. He took a step towards the door but then turned around. He said, “There a good place to eat around here?”
“If you want a hot meal, your best bet is Tom Duma’s place. He owns the General Store but Mrs. Duma also cooks meals there, too. Of course you could also try the brothel but the food isn’t too much to my liking. I figure that’s on account of the fact that people go there for the women not the grub.”
“I guess I’ll try the General Store. A hot meal would be good.” Calamaro walked out of the hotel. He walked down the street and saw a short, bald man punching a horse.
As Calamaro passed, the man said, “Hey you.”
Calamaro stopped. “Yeah?”
“You got candy?”
“I look like a child to you?” Calamaro laughed.
The man’s eyes glazed over. “You’re a funny guy, huh?”
“If you think so,” Calamaro said. He looked into the man’s eyes and for the first time in his life, he got goose bumps. The man’s eyes were milky and cold. They belonged in a dead man’s skull. Calamaro didn’t want to spend anymore time looking into them so he nodded and walked away.
From behind him, the man’s voice said, “If I see you again, you better have some candy. Some hard candy.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Nix knocked on William Lyons’ door. He didn’t like disturbing the man at his house but he was just too damned angry at that stranger to wait. Chaps and Ryan stood behind him.
There were sounds of children playing and then heavy footsteps. The door opened.
“What is it?” Lyons stood in the doorway. He was tall, blond, and good-looking, just the type of man one would expect to be running for political office. William Lyons was well-known for both his charisma as well as his devotion to his family and to the church. He was also known for his killing.
Nix said, “Need to talk to you. This a bad time?” He saw Lyons’ two sons running around a table, smiling and yelling up a storm.
“I’m with my family right now, you can see that. What the hell’s so important you can’t wait till tomorrow?”
“I, uh, just need to talk to you about a little situation we have. With a stranger. Some guy came into town and started some trouble.”
/> Lyons said, “That black eye of yours, that the trouble you’re talking about?”
“Yeah.”
Lyons lowered his voice. “Some cocksucker gives you a black eye and you come interrupt me spending time with my family? What do you reckon I do, go get a search party and lynch the cocksucker?”
Nix blushed. His face now almost matched his eye. “There’s more than that, Mr. Lyons. The guy punched me when I wasn’t even looking. That’s a plain old coward if you ask me, know what I’m saying?”
Lyons poked his head out of the door and looked at Chaps and Ryan. “Well, where the hell were these guys at? Why didn’t they do something? You telling me the three of you couldn’t handle one fucking guy?”
Nix said, “Uh, it’s not like that…”
From behind Lyons, children’s voices said, “Daddy! Daddy!”
“Nix, I’m going to go back in the house and play with my boys.”
“What are we going to do about it?”
“We’re not going to do anything. You want to take care of it, do it.”
Lyons slammed the door closed. Nix frowned and then turned back to walk down the stairs. Chaps and Ryan followed.
The front door opened again and Lyons stuck his head out.
“Fine, Nix. I’ll look into it. Just keep your ass out of trouble until I get back to you, you hear?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Lyons. Thank you.”
The door slammed again.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Rebecca Bywater was still looking out the window when she heard a woman’s voice from the room next door. “Give me that snake, you bastard! Give it to me! Let it spit! I want it comin outta my ears!”
She had never heard firsthand the sound of a woman actually enjoying sex. It was going to be something she had to get used to.
Rebecca fixed her hair, changed her clothes, and then walked downstairs.
Betty was behind the bar, talking to a large man who was smoking a red cigarette. When she saw Rebecca, Betty said, “Hey honey, I want you to meet someone.”
“Oh?” Rebecca said.
“Yeah, this here’s Black Boned Keith. He’s just been asking me if I got any new girls. I told him that maybe I did.”