The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard

by Elmore Leonard

  "What've you decided, Will?"

  "I've got my kids to think about."

  "It's your problem." Hillpiper said this in a kindly way, stating a fact. "If you've decided not to go through with it, that's your business."

  Will Calender nodded. "I suppose I should pay her stage fare back to Tascosa."

  "That would be nice, Will," Hillpiper said mildly.

  Calender thanked him and went out, down the stairs and into the street. Crossing to the other side, he felt awkward and self-conscious.

  The suit coat held tight across the shoulders and he could feel his big hands hanging too far out of the sleeves, and with nothing to hold on to.

  It's gotten hot, he thought, pulling his hat lower. Maybe the dryness makes it easier on some people, but it's still hot. And then he thought: I'd better tell her before I buy the stage ticket.

  DICK MADDOX was still in front of the hotel, but now more men were there. It had gotten around that Maddox was having some fun with Will Calender, so they drifted over casually from here and there, the ones who knew Maddox standing closest to him, laughing at what he said. The rest were all along the hotel's shady ramada. One of the men saw Calender coming and he nudged Maddox, who looked up, then pretended he wasn't concerned, until Calender was close to the hotel entrance.

  "You change your mind, Will?"

  Calender stopped and breathed out wearily, "If you showed as much concern for your own business, you'd be a well-to-do man."

  "You can't take kiddin', can you?"

  "Why should I have to?"

  "You got a lot to learn, Will."

  Calender shrugged, because he was tired of this, and went inside.

  The boy was sitting alone, with his heels hooked in the wooden rungs of the chair. When he saw his father he jumped up quickly.

  Calender looked about to be certain the woman was not in the lobby.

  "Where is she?" he asked the boy.

  "She went upstairs. All of a sudden she just started crying and went upstairs."

  "What?"

  "It was when they started talking. We were sitting here, and then her chin started to shake--you know--and then she run upstairs."

  "Who was talking? The men outside?" The boy nodded hurriedly, and Calender could see that he was frightened and trying to hide it and at the same time was not sure what it was all about.

  "What did they say?"

  "Just one of them, the rest were laughing most of the time. He was telling them"--the boy said it slowly as if he'd memorized it--"he said some women didn't know their place. They think they can live in the gutter then go out when they want and brush against people like nothing's coming off. He was talking loud so we could hear every word and he said a man would be a fool to marry a woman like that and have her brushing against his kids with her gutter ways. It was like that, what he said. Then he spoke your name and he said he'd bet anybody five dollars American you'd changed your mind now about getting married.

  That's when she run upstairs."

  The boy frowned, looking at his father, watching his eyes go up to the room. "Why'd he have to say things like that? We were sitting here talking--getting acquainted."

  Calender looked at the boy and saw that he was grinning.

  "You know she never once asked me how old I was or if I knew my reader or things like that. She talked to me about affairs and interesting things like I was grown up, like Ma used to do. And, Pa, she called me Jim! Can you imagine that? She called me Jim! If her hair was darker and her nose a little different, I'd swear she was Ma!"

  "Don't say things like that!" Calender was conscious of his voice, and he said quietly, "There's the difference of night and day." "Well, her voice is different too, and maybe she's a speck taller, though that could be the hat. I never seen Ma in a regular hat. But outside of that, they sure are alike."

  "You know what you're saying, comparing this woman with your mother?"

  The boy looked at him questioningly, but the trace of a smile was still on his face. "I'm just saying they're alike, that's all. Maybe they don't look so much alike, but they sure are alike." The boy smiled; he was sure his explanation was clear because he understood it so well himself.

  Calender was looking at the boy closely now. "What if she's done something bad?"

  "Pa, little Molly's doing bad things all the time. That's just the way girls are. Most times they're not doing serious things, so they have more time to get theirselves into trouble."

  Calender's eyes remained on the boy. Calender asked: "You think Molly will like her?"

  "Couple of bad women like them will get along just fine." The boy grinned.

  Calender left him abruptly, going up the stairs. In a few minutes he came back down, and in front of him was Clare Conway.

  They walked across the lobby. Nearing the door, the woman hesitated and looked up at Will Calender. She was unsure and afraid. It was in her wide-open eyes, in the way her fingers held the ends of the crocheted shawl. Then she moved on again as if not under her own power--when Will touched her elbow and said to the boy, "Come on, Jim."

  And when they were out on the ramada the woman's eyes were looking down at her hands; she could feel Will Calender holding her elbow, she could feel the guiding pressure of his hand, and moved to the right along the ramada, along the line of silent men, hearing only her footsteps and the footsteps of the man at her side. The hand on her elbow tightened. She was being turned gently, and there was no longer the sound of footsteps and when she looked up a man was close in front of her, a man with heavy beard bristles.

  "Miss Conway," Calender said. "This is Mr. Maddox. He's had such a keen interest in our business, I thought you might like to meet him."

  "Now, Will--" Maddox said, looking at Calender strangely.

  "And, Dick," Calender went on, "this is Miss Conway. Isn't there something you wanted to say to her?"

  "Will--"

  "Maybe you'd just like to tip your hat like a gentleman."

  Maddox was staring at Calender almost dumbfounded, but slowly his face relaxed as he realized what Calender was doing in front of all these men and he said mildly, grinning, "Now, Will, I don't know if I want to do that or not."

  Calender's fist came around suddenly, unexpectedly, driving against Maddox's jaw, changing the smile to lopsided surprise and sending him back off the ramada into the street. Calender followed, and hit him again and this time Maddox went down, his hat falling off in front of him. Maddox started to rise, but Calender came for him again. Maddox hesitated, then eased down and sat in the street, looking up at Calender.

  "One other thing, Dick," Will said. "I hear you're taking bets there isn't going to be a wedding today." He glanced back at the crowd of men in the shade. "Who's holding the stakes?"

  There was a silence, then someone called, "Nobody'd bet him."

  Calender beckoned to the man. "Come here." He brought a fivedollar gold piece out of his pants pocket and gave it to the man. "Dick Maddox'll give you one just like this. Now you add the two up and have that much ready for me when I get back."

  He walked to the ramada. The tension was gone. Some of the men were whispering and talking, some just looking out at Maddox still sitting in the street.

  The boy's face was beaming as he watched his father. Clare came toward him.

  "You ripped the seam of your coat up the back," she said.

  He felt her hand on his back pulling the cloth together. "Gives me a little more room," he said, conscious of the men watching him.

  "It's your good coat, though," the woman said. "I'll mend it soon as we get home."

  Chapter 22 Jugged.

  Original Title: The Boy from Dos Cabezas.

  Western Magazine, December 1955.

  STAN CASS, HIS elbows leaning on the edge of the rolltop desk, glanced over his shoulder as he said, "Take a look how I made this one out."

  Marshal John Boynton had just come in. He was standing in the front door of the jail office, one finger absently st
roking his full mustache. He looked at his regular deputy, Hanley Miller, who stood next to a chair where a young man sat leaning forward looking at his hands.

  "What's the matter with him?" Boynton said, ignoring Stan Cass.

  Hanley Miller put his hand on the back of the chair. "A combination of things, John. He's had too many, been beat up, and now he's tired."

  "He looks tired," Boynton said, again glancing at the silent young man.

  Stan Cass turned his head. "He looks like a smart-aleck kid."

  Boynton walked over to Cass and picked up the record book from the desk. The last entry read:

  NAME: Pete Given.

  DESCRIPTION: Ninteen. Medium height and build. Brown hair and eyes. Small scar under chin.

  RESIDENCE: Dos Cabezas.

  OCCUPATION: Mustanger.

  CHARGE: Drunk and disorderly.

  COMMENTS: Has to pay a quarter share of the damages in the Continental Saloon whatever they are decided to be.

  Boynton handed the record book to Cass. "You spelled nineteen wrong."

  "Is that all?"

  "How do you know he has to pay a quarter of the damages?"

  "Being four of them," Cass said mock seriously. "I figured to myself: Now, if they have to chip in for what's busted, how much would--"

  "That's for the judge to say. What were they doing here?"

  "They delivered a string to the stage line," Cass answered. He was a man in his early twenties, clean shaven, though his sideburns extended down to the curve of his jaw. He was smoking a cigarette and he spoke to Boynton as if he were bored.

  "And they tried to spend all the profit in one night," Boynton said.

  Cass shrugged indifferently. "I guess so."

  Boynton's finger stroked his mustache and he was thinking: Somebody's going to bust his nose for him. He asked, civilly, "Where're the other three?"

  Cass nodded to the door that led back to the first-floor cell. "Where else?"

  Hanley Miller, the regular night deputy, a man in his late forties, said, "John, you know there's only room for three in there. I was wondering what to do with this boy." He tipped his head toward the quiet young man sitting in the chair.

  "He'll have to go upstairs," Boynton said.

  "With Obie Ward?"

  "I guess he'll have to." Boynton nodded to the boy. "Pull him up."

  Hanley Miller got the sleepy boy on his feet.

  Cass shook his head watching them. "Obie Ward's got everybody buffaloed. I'll be a son of a gun if he ain't got everybody buffaloed."

  Boynton's eyes dropped to Cass, but he did not say anything.

  "I'm just saying that Obie Ward don't look so tough," Cass said.

  "Act like you've got some sense once in a while," Boynton said now.

  He had hired Cass the week before as an extra night guard--the day they brought in Obie Ward--but he was certain now he would not keep Cass. Tomorrow he would look around for somebody else. Somebody who didn't talk so much and didn't have such a proud opinion of himself.

  "All I'm saying is he don't look so tough to me," Cass repeated.

  Boynton ignored him. He looked at the young man, Pete Given, standing next to Hanley now with his eyes closed, and he heard his deputy say, "The boy's asleep on his feet."

  "He looks familiar," Boynton said.

  "We had him here about three months ago."

  "Same thing?"

  Hanley nodded. "Delivered his horses, then stopped off at the Continental. Remember, his wife come here looking for him. He was here five days because the judge was away and she got here court day. Pretty little thing with light-colored hair? Not more'n seventeen. Come all the way from Dos Cabezas by herself."

  "Least he had sense enough to get a good woman," Boynton said.

  He seemed to hesitate. Then: "You and I'll take him up." He slipped his revolver from its holster and placed it on the desk. He took young Pete Given's arm then and raised it up over his shoulder, glancing at his deputy again. "Hanley, you come behind with your shotgun."

  Cass watched them go through the door and down the hall to the back of the jail to the outside stairway, and he was thinking: Won't even wear his gun up there, he's so scared. That's some man to work for, won't even wear his gun when he goes in Ward's cell. He shook his head and said the name again, contemptuously. Obie Ward. He'd pull his tough act on me just once.

  PETE GIVEN OPENED his eyes. Lying on his right side his face was close to the wall and for a moment, seeing the chipped and peeling adobe and smelling the stale mildewed smell of the mattress which did not have a cover on it, he did not know where he was. Then he remembered, and he closed his eyes again.

  The sour taste of whiskey coated his mouth and he lay very still, waiting for the throbbing to start in his head. But it did not come. He raised his head and moved closer to the wall and felt the edge of the mattress cool and firm against his cheek. Still the throbbing did not come. There was a dull tight feeling at the base of his skull, but not the shooting sharp pain he had expected. That was good. He moved his toes and could feel his boots still on and there was no blanket covering him. They just dumped you here, he thought. He made saliva in his mouth and kept swallowing until his mouth did not feel sticky and some of the sour taste went away. Well, what did you expect?

  It's about all you deserve, buddy. No, it's more'n you deserve.

  You'll learn, huh?

  He thought of his wife, Mary Ellen, and his eyes closed tighter and for a moment he tried not to think of anything.

  How do I do this? How do I get something good, then kick it away like it's not worth anything?

  What'll you tell her this time?

  "Mary Ellen, honest to gosh, we just went in to get one drink. We sold the horses and got something to eat and figured one drink before starting back. Then Art said one more. All right, just one, I told him.

  But, you know, we were relaxed--and laughing. That's hard work running a thirty-horse string for five days. Harry got in a blackjack game.

  The rest of us were just sitting relaxed. When you're sitting like that the time seems to go faster. We had a few drinks. Maybe four--five at the most. Like I said, we were laughing and Art was telling some stories.

  You know Art, he keeps talking--then there's a commotion over at the blackjack table and we see Harry haulin' off at this man. And--"

  And Mary Ellen will say, "Just like the last time," not raising her voice or seeming mad, but she'll keep looking you right in the eye.

  "Honey, those things just happen. I can't help it. And it wasn't just like last time."

  "The result's the same," she'll say. "You work hard for three months to earn decent money then pay it all out in fines and damages."

  "Not all of it."

  "It might as well be all. We can't live on what's left."

  "But I can't help it. Can't you see that? Harry got in a fight and we had to help him. It's just one of those things that happens. You can't help it."

  "But it seems a little silly, doesn't it?"

  "Mary Ellen, you don't understand."

  "Doesn't throwing away three months' profit in one night seem silly to you?"

  "You don't understand."

  You can be married to a girl for almost a year and think you know her and you don't know her at all. That's it. You know how she talks, but you don't know what she's thinking. That's a big difference. But there's some things you can't explain to a woman anyway.

  He felt a little better. Facing her would not be pleasant--but it still wasn't his fault.

  He rolled over, momentarily studying the ceiling, then he let his head roll on the mattress and he saw the man on the other bunk watching him. He was sitting hunched over, making a cigarette.

  Pete Given closed his eyes and he could still see the man. He didn't seem big, but he had a stringy hard-boned look. Sharp cheekbones and dull-black hair that was cut short and brushed forward to his forehead.

  No mustache, but he needed a shave and it gave the appea
rance of an almost full-grown mustache.

  He opened his eyes again. The man was drawing on the cigarette, still watching him.

  "What time you think it is?" Given asked.

  "About nine." The man's voice was clear though he barely moved his mouth.

  Given said, "If you were one of them over to the Continental I'd just as soon shake hands this morning."

  The man did not reply.

  "You weren't there, then?"

  "No," he said now.

  "What've they got you for?"

  "They say I shot a man."

  "Oh."

  "Fact is, they say I shot two men, during the Grant stage holdup."

  "Oh."

  "When the judge comes tomorrow, he'll set a court date. Give the witnesses time to get here." He stood up, saying this. He was tall, above average, but not heavy.

  "Are you"--Given hesitated--"Obie Ward?"

  The man nodded, drawing on the cigarette.

  "Somebody last night said you were here. I'd forgot about it." Given spoke louder, trying to make his voice sound natural, and now he raised himself on an elbow. Obie Ward asked, "Were you drinking last night?"

  "Some."

  "And got in a fight."

  Given sat up, swinging his legs off the bunk and resting his elbows on his knees. "One of my partners got in trouble and we had to help him."

  "You don't look so good," Ward said.

  "I feel okay."

  "No," Ward said. "You don't look so good."

  "Well, maybe I just look worse'n I am."

  "How's your stomach?"

  "It's all right."

  "You look sick to me."

  "I could eat. Outside of that I got no complaint." Given stood up.

  He put his hands on the small of his back and stretched, feeling the stiffness in his body. Then he raised his arms straight up, stretching again, and yawned. That felt good. He saw Obie Ward coming toward him, and he lowered his arms.

  Ward reached out, extending one finger, and poked it at Pete Given's stomach. "How's it feel right there?"

  "Honest to gosh, it feels okay." He smiled looking at Ward, to show that he was willing to go along with a joke, but he felt suddenly uneasy.