High Lonesome

by T J Reeder

  The man grabbed for the directory but was too slow as Sandy removed it from the counter. The fool tried to slap her of all things. But she was faster then him and made him miss. The two by the door were dividing their attention between me and the fool at the counter. When he started around the counter I said “Don’t” that stopped him, he glared at me and asked me to say it again so I did. Jeeze this was sounding like a grade D Saturday afternoon movie of my youth, shit I could have written the dialogue. He headed right for me and asked why I was butting into his business so I told him the lady was my wife and that was it.

  While he tried to understand that May walked out of the bathroom and headed for the table, he said “Who’s this?” I said “My wife.” His eyes got big and he said “Shit!” as he tried to make it but he wasn’t in the same league with us. My 45 was in my left hand so I left him for May and took his buddies at the door who had woke up and were reaching too.

  May got hers with her little 380 that he never saw, Sandy got one with her 1911 and I think I may have hit one left handed by the door but Sandy just hosed both of them. I couldn’t hear again, I swear this shit is gonna deafen me. “Don’t cuss.”

  Sandy went back behind the counter while May and I headed for better cover, I headed for the back door and May got behind the bar off the lobby.

  It didn’t take long for the other four to head for the hotel, two by the front and two by the back. I had a shotgun sitting by the door so I was set when they charged around the corner and ran right into it. They never got off a shot, I felt bad for maybe half a nano second. They came to murder us for money and died with empty pockets, tough shit.

  I had heard the boom of May’s shotgun and the bark of Sandy’s 45 and when I got there it was over, seven people dead and gone in three minutes.

  This was crazy and it was just starting. We piled their weapons in back of the lobby desk and found the truck keys on the one May got first. I went to the truck and pulled it up to the front door and between us we started dragging them out. Then Charles showed up and several of the other towns folks who helped pile them in the truck. I said “Whoever hauls them out and dumps them in a gully way out of town can have the truck. Charles grabbed the keys and jumped in the truck laughing and was gone! Guess he wanted wheels.

  I went in to see the lady who owns the hotel and to offer payment for any damage; she was behind the counter and waved off any offer of pay but asked if she could pick out a gun or two. I gave her all of them. She said I was good for business! It’s good to be considered an asset.

  Charles was back in an hour and tried to hand me a small bag of coins, silver and gold, he had taken off the bodies. I said “Keep it.” He said I was good for business, I laughed.

  Later that night the doubts hit again, I was so tired of this shit, yet we seemed to attract trouble like a magnet attracts filings. We were three normal nice people who made friends wherever we went yet we seemed to be killing some asshole or other daily and we weren’t hunting trouble.

  Knowing me as they do the girls knew where my head was and waited for me to think it out. I finally said, “You know, when we are in the canyon at the lake we don’t have trouble but as soon as we try to just travel around we seem to piss off people.” The girls had learned to let me get it out before beating me up.

  Surprising me they both agreed but neither had any thoughts on how to change things. Trouble always came at us; we never went looking for it. Well sure, we did when we went after the cannibals and maybe another time or two, but that was different then this shit. I was really regretting not finishing this mess when we had the chance. One bitter old man with a spoiled out of control kid was now responsible for how much death before it was over.

  The solution might be to just go after him but if nobody knew he was dead the bounty hunters would keep coming. No, we needed to get him into town where it could be ended in public so word would get out. And there the plan was born. We had just had a fight and really who knew we won outside the townies? I went to see Charles for advice and information on this old man. Charles said nobody in the town really knew who he was or where he came from just that his kid had been a worthless waste of sperm that should have been buried long ago, like 5 seconds after he was born. I asked Charles how one could get word to the old man that we were dead and the killers wanted the bounty.

  He said he would think about it and get back to me. I rejoined the girls who were ready to spend the night in our room in the hotel so we did. I told them what Charles said and it seemed funny nobody knew the old guys name.

  The next morning Charles joined us for breakfast and said he would get a message to the old man’s compound and we would see what happened. He said if the old man brought all his men it might get nasty but the townspeople were behind us and we could expect some help, maybe not a lot but some. Charles of course said he would be there. I really liked this old man, he was a good troop!

  Charles sent word that we were dead but we took all but two of the bounty hunters with us and they were wounded so he needed to bring them their loot. Whoever went out there returned and said the old man was coming and wanted to see our dead bodies before he paid a dime.

  The next day we were ready, all armored up, girls loaded for bear with their sub guns. I stuck with my AR10 with a shotgun over my back and with my 45’s I felt like I weighed 400 pounds. One of the girls giggled and with a stage whisper said “Felt that way last night too” both laughed loudly. I hate ‘em! “Do not” came the usual answer.

  Just before noon Charles’ lookout sent word they were coming, several truck loads. We had decided to stop them in the middle of town and no talking, just hose them. But at the last minute I decided that maybe just taking the boss off the board might stop the game, no pay no work.

  I waited till they were right in front of the hotel and I stepped out from behind a pickup, I had left the AR10 behind the truck.

  When they stopped I realized they had no idea who I was, they hadn’t seen me so the old man got out surrounded with his people. He asked who I was and I said “Well, let me ask your men a question. How many of you liked the old man’s kid enough to die right here, right now for him? How many of you really give a shit about this old bastard? You all stay for the pay or the shelter? Is the food that good? From what the townspeople say the punk was a just waste of sperm.” Well I had him so confused he was still trying to understand me. I looked each of his men in the eye and said, “I’m the one who killed the kid, and if y’all wanna die for him then let’s dance, but if not get in the trucks and head out of here.”

  I saw them all looking around and knew they were looking at rifle barrels pointed at them, of course most had nobody behind them but they didn’t know that. The old man got it at last and started shaking so hard I thought he was gonna fall down, then he started screaming “Kill Him!!!” But nobody moved and then a few headed for the trucks then a few more until he was alone in the street. I saw May walking out of the Hotel with the 300 blackout in her hand; she walked right up to him and looked closer and said “Doctor Raddly? No wonder we never knew what happened to you! You slimy bastard, you helped do all this shit to the world then slipped out to your prepared place to wait it out? My brother died because of you and your friend’s plans.”

  Well I was stunned, Sandy had joined us and looked at me, we both shrugged. He was looking at May and suddenly recognized her and screamed out that she was a traitor and had ruined everything! As he reached inside his coat May raised the 300 and just hosed him, when it went click she looked at him and then spit on him then walked into the hotel with Sandy close behind her.

  I needed a drink. I headed for the saloon. Charles joined me as did several others, one handed me my AR10 I had forgotten. What a turn of events. Everybody wanted to know what that was all about so I told them what I knew and what I thought but left it at that. After a while the girls joined us, May had been crying, for her brother no doubt. She even took a drink from my glass and forced it down; mostly the
girls weren’t drinkers except in private with just the three of us and then usually wine. But the whiskey brought color back to her face.

  She looked at me and said “Raddly was in bed with the people behind the events that led up to the weapons being used, but he disappeared two days before they went off. Now I know why, the bastard.”

  It was over, but surely not in the way I thought it would end. Charles said the word was going out over short wave right now that it was done and the reward was rescinded due to the timely death of the man offering the reward.

  Now that this latest mess was settled I was really thinking about going back to the canyon or Texas and retiring. I knew the day I found the EMP had hit and then found the poor man in the ditch only hours after it that shit was gonna roll out of control but I had no idea it would be like this. Had we always been a people willing to do anything but held back by the thin screen called law? Was the world full of Murderers, Rapist, Slavers, Scum of all kinds that we lived with but never saw? One would think by now that they would be pretty well thinned out. Yet it seemed like every other day we were in the middle of a gun fight or heading to one or and I thank our lucky stars “finishing” one.

  I can’t understand it, the most famous of the old time gun fighters never got involved in crap like this, oh sure some Marshall in a cow town may have had a run in or two, but look at the most famous shoot out of all time, the “OK Corral” what, three dead and a couple wounded. John Wesley Hardin killed 20 or so men but took as many years to do it, hell the girls between them have out done Hardin in two years’ time total and make Wyatt Earp look like a limp dick piker. Doc Holliday was a different story so we won’t go there.

  I’m really beside myself with this. Don’t get me wrong, I believe 100% in defending oneself. I believe a person who tries to take from others by force gets what they deserve but spread a lot of pain and suffering until they get it. But how does this affect our problem with it? And why do we seem to attract trouble? If I knew a shrink I might ask them but I don’t. I wish Charley was here, he would have thoughts on it.

  We were free to move on and that’s what we did, we paid our hotel bill and stable bill, got what we could of supplies and lit a shuck out of there. I had no idea where we would go next but for now we are heading “up.” Up is always good, take the high ground. We didn’t push it but we didn’t stop to smell the wild flowers either. Just before dark we stopped at a small stream in a clearing where the stock could graze, fixed dinner and just collapsed by the fire depending on Walker to stay alert, as I watch him sleeping by the fire.

  I never realized how much being hunted takes out of a person, the eternal vigilance and only dozing not sleeping. Even the lay up in town wasn’t restful. Maybe I was getting too old for this crap. Sandy and May both snuggled close and Sandy said “John, stop thinking so much, we don’t hunt trouble, yes it finds us, but then, think how many people we may have saved by being there. Not everybody has the skills you taught us and not everybody is cut out for this life but for me and May we wouldn’t be anyplace else in the world.”

  May kissed my cheek and said “You know she’s right John, look at the good instead of the bad, everywhere we go we have helped people, even if it’s just buying supplies we are bringing new money into small communities just surviving like everybody else, we aren’t bad people.”

  My wives are the smartest two people on this old earth, both have an insight that is hard to believe and they are two of the funniest, happy loving people I’ve ever known. I’m blessed. Both of them said “Yes you are.” “Stop it” I said. They laughed and scooted closer if that was possible.

  I don’t know why or where these thoughts are coming from but I wish they would stop, doubts at the wrong time could cause hurt to one of my ladies and that would tear the heart out of me. So ok, I’ll stop doing it, they are right we have never done anything to cause a fight and in fact have run away from it until we couldn’t run any longer. So there, glad that’s settled, “Us too!” Came the thought, “Stop it!” “No!” Giggles. Actually I believe most of this stuff playing in my head is of my own doing and not really them; laughter. Sigh.

  We stayed in this camp the next day to decide where we were going next plus to see if anybody was interested in our trail. While relaxing we read the maps like a book, Of course we were all looking for the little mark that indicates hot springs, yes we are addicted to these thing but why not? We did locate a few within a couple of days ride so come morning we were up early and on the road, we did a loop every few miles to watch our back trail but saw nothing. Yet.

  We found the first spring and it wasn’t worth bothering with, too much sulfur and stunk so bad we smelled it a mile away. Own to the next one which being on the other side of the ridge might be better. It was and we didn’t even have to improve it since it was an old Elk hunting camp. The hunters must have used this camp for many years because it was really improved. Even had fire wood stacked.

  We set up camp and after putting the stock out to graze we hit nature’s hot tub and it was heaven, over to one side was the outlet where we soaped down and got clean with the soap flowing out right away. Nice. With morning we looked the area over and while it was nice we decided to move on.

  Two weeks later we were due west of Jackson Hole and were turning south, we decided freezing our asses off wasn’t the way to go. There are thousands of square miles of beautiful desert country we can explore in more comfort.

  And winter was snapping at our heels for sure, we didn’t have to urge the stock into stepping it out, they weren’t slowing down a bit, days passed into weeks, as we dropped lower and lower the land was opening up letting us make better time, I figured we could make it to Rock Springs and winter there if we had to, or rest up before the push home. Margo and Harry had become friends when we rolled east to look into what was going on there.

  We started early and rode late, stopping to camp where we found water at days end. We had water bags we filled in case we had to make a dry camp which we did once or twice. But it worked out because we watered at every trickle we found. It was funny how we suddenly couldn’t wait to get back to the low country which really ain’t that low. I guess events that happened just made us want to get back to the canyon lands where we had found more peace then any place and right now we were looking forward to just standing down for a change. But this trip was awesome and we had a blast.

  We rode into Rock Springs just minutes it seemed ahead of a bad storm; Margo and Harry were blown away when we popped in out of the gloom. The stock was put away in record time and they offered us a bed at their home, we accepted with no arguments. We woke to find a foot of snow on the ground and still falling, we had just made it. We headed to the nearest place to get breakfast dragging a protesting Harry and Margo along.

  Before we left the house I opened a pack I had kept closed since we left Harv and the canyon dwellers when they rolled out heading south for the Canyon lands. I called the girls into the bedroom after we had showered and dressed.

  They wear their necklaces all the time and when they came into the room both were wearing form fitting black jeans and matching tops. I handed each a rolled up bundle to open which of course excited them just because. They worked thru the knots as fast as they could which was how I made sure they didn’t sneak a peek before I was ready to give them their new goodies.

  They managed to get them open at the same time and rolled the bundles open and went quiet, for once I had got them! They were just stunned. They looked at me then the gifts then put them on. Harv’s family member who did the bear skin and the necklaces had made two beautiful winter coats from his wolf skins, he had lined them with Hudson bay wool trade blankets and when the hood was pulled up the wolfs head was the crown of the hood. They were beautiful, both hoods were trimmed with Ermine fur and they reached almost to the girls knees.

  The buttons were made from Elk horn and polished to a high shine. The hugs that followed were well worth the cost which was to be
paid when we meet up again. I’ve seldom managed to surprise the girls but the bear skin rug and the coats did for sure. When we met Harry and Margo in their living room they were blown away at the coats, they hadn’t seen the necklaces yet so the entire display was awesome!

  I looked at them and thought “I done good!” and heard “Oh yes you did!” in my inner ear I guess. We made quite an entrance at the local café and the girls, who always attract attention, really over did it this time. They had every eye in the place on them. Harry made the introductions and reminded the folks that we were the ones who dropped off all the supplies that helped them out plus the weapons that brought a round of smiles and a lot of handshakes.

  While we were eating the girls hung their coats on their chairs allowing everybody to see the bear claw necklaces which drew a lot of attention plus too much from a table next to us. I was watching the looks and could see something was sticking in their craw, but I wasn’t gonna worry about it. We had a good breakfast with Harry and Margo who wanted to know all about our trip, the bear story really got them going.

  That was when one of the women at the next table spoke up and said “So, you intrude in the bear’s area and just have to kill it. How crude!!

  I looked at her for a moment before saying “Well I guess I could have let the bear kill us, would that make it all better for you?” Her reply made me laugh out loud; she said “Well if you had stayed out of the bear’s home it wouldn’t have tried to defend itself.” Margo, seeing the looks the woman was getting from the girls stepped in and said that if the whole bear wolf thing offended her to leave. But she wasn’t having it, she said “Oh so if the mighty man is intruding in my home he will kill me and make a rug out of me?”

  I was doing my best to avoid this when one of the men with her said I would play hell doing that while he was around. Well shit, here we go again; I’m really ready for the canyon lands. Of course Sandy and May weren’t gonna keep quiet. Sandy said “Well what if I make you go away would that be better for us all? The woman was the main issue here; the man was just trying to fill a role he felt he needed to play. May spoke up and said “Look we have spent the last several months riding all over the mountains and are heading home now and we really don’t need any more shit out of a bunch of bark munching tree huggers!”