Return of the Mountain Man

The woman had gathered her children close to her and was fighting back tears. The man’s shoulders were slumped in defeat.

Sheriff Reese and Deputy Rogers walked up. “You vagabonds keep on moving,” the sheriff ordered. “Get on with you now before I put a loop on you all and drag you out of town.”

“I don’t believe I’m seeing this!” Sally shouted from the fringe of the crowd. Her hot eyes found Buck and bored invisible holes into his heart. She swung her eyes back to the merchants gathered on the boardwalk. “What is the matter with you people?”

“Warn her off,” Sam whispered. “You and me will get some grub and clothes for them people; give it to them on the outskirts of town. But warn her off, Buck. She’s treadin’ on dangerous ground.”

“How?” Buck whispered.

Sam grunted. “Good question, I reckon. That lady would stand up to an Injun attack armed with a broom, I’m thinkin’.”

“You people should be ashamed of yourselves!” Sally shouted. “Look at those children. Look at them! They’re starving.”

“This ain’t none of your business, Miz Sally,” Sheriff Reese said. “You just go on back home and tend to your knittin’.”

“Well, I’ll make it my business!” Sally flared, sticking her chin out and standing her ground. She looked at the ragged, starving family. “You people come with me. To my house. I’ll give you all a hot meal.”

“No, you won’t, Miss Reynolds,” the voice came from the edge of the crowd.

All heads turned to stare at Keith Stratton, mounted on a showy white horse.

“What do you mean, Mr. Stratton?” Sally asked.

“Those people are losers, Miss Reynolds,” Stratton said. “No matter what or how much one does for them, they will be begging again tomorrow. Trash. That’s all they are. All they ever will be. And you don’t own that house you’re living in. I do. You are staying there rent-free. And you are paid to teach school, not meddle in town affairs. Now please leave.”

“And if I choose to stay?” Sally asked.

“You will neither have a job, nor a place to stay,” Stratton warned.

“Stratton just stepped into a pit full of rattlers,” Sam projected accurately. “All dressed up in gingham.”

“Yep,” Buck said.

“I see,” Sally said. “Will you allow me the time to gather up my personal belongings, or do you intend to seize those along with the house?”

“You’re about to make a very bad mistake, Sally,” Stratton informed her.

“There is quite a popular phrase out here, Mr. Stratton,” Sally said. “It is said that out in the west, a person saddles their own horses and kills their own snakes.”

“I’m familiar with the saying,” Stratton said, his triple chins quavering as he spoke. The sunlight glinted off his diamond rings.

“Then I stand by that maxim, sir.”

“A what?” Sam whispered.

“Don’t ask me,” Buck said.

“You’re a very foolish and headstrong young woman, Miss Reynolds. But if that is your decision, then you have one hour to gather up your possessions and vacate that house.”

Sally nodded and looked at the ragged family. “You people come with me.”

Buck started toward Sally. She waved him back. “You have made your choice, Buck. So long as you work for the other side, I do not wish to see you.”

She winked at him.

Buck hid his smile, knowing then what Sally was doing. She was jeopardizing her own position in order to strengthen his own. Gal had guts, Buck thought. But where in the hell was she going to stay the night? he wondered.

“She’s going to stay where?” Buck shouted at Sam.

Sam backed up. “Easy now, partner.” He kept his hands away from his guns. “She’s gonna stay down at Miss Flora’s place.”

“A whorehouse!”

“It wasn’t my idea, Buck. It was Miss Flora’s. She likes Sally ’cause Sally was always nice and polite to them, ah, ladies that work the Pink House.”

“Sally Reynolds in a whorehouse!”

The red-headed cowpuncher-turned-gunslick took another step backward. The last thing in this world he wanted was for Buck to reach for those guns. Sam was fast, but Lord knows not nearabouts that fast. “Miss Flora done closed the doors to the Pink House, Buck. Shut ’er down tight. She’s been wanting to pull up stakes for a year. Take her girls and head out. Stratton and them blocked that move. Made her mad. Now she’s locked the doors to the Pink House. This is liable to bring things to a head ’round here, Buck.”

Buck began to relax as the humor of the situation struck him. He had been told that the Big Three built the joyhouse to keep their randy gunhands happy. If Miss Flora had indeed shut the Pink House down, a lot of gunhands were going to be walking around with a short fuse.