carts. The woman, Natalie, wore silk scarves to cover what was left of her hair, a lavender scarf the afternoon Vincent appeared at her door. He told her through the screen he thought it was time they met. She said from the chair she sat in most of the day, “It’s open,” closed the book she was reading, a finger inside holding the page, and watched him come in in his khaki shorts and T-shirt.
“You didn’t have to get dressed up on my account.”
She liked his smile and the way he said, “I was right. I’ve found someone I can talk to.” “About what?” “Anything you want, except golf.” “You’re in luck. I don’t play golf.”
“I know you don’t. I checked.” She liked his weathered look, his cap of white hair, uncombed. “You’re here by yourself?”
“On my own, the first time in fifty-seven years.”
She laid the book on the table next to her. “So now you’re what, dating?” He liked the way she said it, with a straight face. “If you’re interested, Jerry Vale’s coming next week.” “I can hardly wait.” He said, “I like the way you wear your scarves. You’ve
got style, kiddo.”
“For an old broad? You should see me in a blond wig.”
“A woman can get away with a good one. But you see a rug on a guy, every hair in place? You can always tell.”
“That’s why you don’t comb your hair?” Again with the straight face. He shook his head.
“I made a decision,” Vincent said. “No chemo, no surgery. Why bother? I’m eighty years old. You hang around too long, you end up with Alzheimer’s, like Howard. You know Howard? He puts on a suit and tie every day and calls on the ladies. Has no idea where he is.”
“Howard’s been here. But now I think he and Pauline are going steady. Pauline’s the one with all the Barbie dolls.” Natalie paused and said, “I’ll be eighty-two next month.”
“You sure don’t look it.”
“Not a day over, what, seventy-five?”
“I’ll tell you something,” Vincent said. “You’re the best-looking woman here, and that’s counting the maids and the ones that pass for nurses. Some are okay, but they all have big butts. You notice that? Hospitals, the same thing. I’ve made a study: The majority of women who work in health care are seriously overweight.”
The Westerns
The Bounty Hunters (1953, the first Elmore Leonard novel)
The old Apache renegade Soldado Viejo is hiding out in Mexico, and the Arizona Department Adjutant has selected two men to hunt him down. One — Dave Flynn — knows war, the land, and the nature of his prey. The other is a kid lieutenant named Bowers. But there’s a different kind of war happening in Soyopa. And if Flynn and his young associate choose the wrong allies — and the wrong enemy — they won’t be getting out alive.
From the novel:
Rellis’s lip curled, grinning. “Mostly when I see a pissant I just step on him.”
“Rellis — ” It came unexpectedly, with the sound of the screen door closing.
As Rellis turned his head sharply, the grin died on his face.
Flynn stood in from the doorway. He came on a few strides and stopped, his eyes on Rellis, his right hand unbuttoning his coat.
Rellis wasn’t loose now. “I ... was just asking where you were, Flynn.”
“I heard you asking.”
“Listen, I didn’t have any part in killing your friend.”
“Rellis,” Flynn said quietly, “you’re a liar.”
“You got no cause to say that.”
Flynn moved toward Rellis. “It’s said.” He paused, watching Rellis’ eyes. “I’m going outside. I’ll expect to see you within the next few minutes ... with your gun in your hand.”
The Law at Randado (1954)
Phil Sundeen thinks Deputy Sheriff Kirby Frye is just a green local kid with a tin badge. And when the wealthy cattle baron’s men drag two prisoners from Frye’s jail and hang them from a high tree, there’s nothing the untried young lawman can do about it. But Kirby’s got more grit than Sundeen and his hired muscles bargained for. They can beat the boy and humiliate him, but they can’t make him forget the job he has sworn to do. The cattleman has money, fear, and guns on his side, but Kirby Frye’s the law in this godforsaken corner of the Arizona Territories. And he’ll drag Sundeen and his killers straight to hell himself to prove it.
From the novel:
Frye felt the anger hot on his face. “Doesn’t killing two men mean anything to you?”
“You picked yourself a beauty,” Sundeen said to no one in particular. “Why does he pack that gun if he’s so against killin’?”
Jordan said, “Maybe it makes him feel important.”
“Now if it was me,” Sundeen said, “I wouldn’t pick a deputy that whined like a woman.”
Jordan was looking at Frye. “Maybe that’s what this deputy is ... only dressed up like a man.
Sundeen grinned. “Maybe we ought to take his pants off and find out.”
Frye held his eyes on Sundeen. Just Sundeen — he felt his anger mounting. “Sundeen, if you want to try, stop by the jail tomorrow.”
Escape from Five Shadows (1956)
No one breaks out of the brutal convict labor camp at Five Shadows — but Corey Bowen is ready to die trying. They framed him to put him in there, and beat him bloody and nearly dead after his last escape attempt. He’ll have help this time — from a lady with murder on her mind and a debt to pay back. Because freedom isn’t enough for primed dynamite like Bowen. And he won’t leave the corrupt desert hell behind him until a few scores are settled ... permanently.
From the novel:
“I’m giving you warning now,” Renda said, including all the convicts. “One more out of line and somebody shoots. You’ll even think before spitting over the side of the wagon. You hesitate one second when you’re told to do something, you’re dead. You take one step in the wrong direction and you won’t know what hit you.”
He turned to Bowen suddenly. “You understand that?”
Bowen nodded, looking up at Renda.
“Listen,” Renda said, “I’ll tell you something else. That stunt you pulled a while back ... jumping off the wagon. You wouldn’t get just twenty days for it the second time.”
He looked over the convicts. “You get past the guards, the Mimbres have got orders to take your scalp. You won’t be brought back here ... just part of you. To prove you’re dead.”
Last Stand at Saber River (1959)
A one-armed man stood before Denaman’s store, and the girl named Luz was scared. Paul Cable could see that from the rise two hundred yards away, just as he could see that everything had changed while he was away fighting for the Confederacy. He just didn’t know how much. Cable and his family rode down to Denaman’s store and faced the one-armed man. Then they heard the story, about the Union Army and two brothers — and a beautiful woman — who had taken over Cable’s spread and weren’t going to give it back. For Paul Cable the war hadn’t ended at all. Among the men at Saber River, some would be his enemies, some might have been his friends, but no one was going to take his future away — not with words, not with treachery, and not with guns.
From the novel:
Cable stood over Dancey with the Walker Colt in his hand. It was cocked and pointing directly at Dancey’s head. Joe Bob and Royce said nothing.
Dancey said, “You’re not proving anything with that gun in your hand.”
“I don’t have anything to prove.”
Royce said, “You think we won’t be back?”
