Calico Trail by David R Lewis

Author:David R Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: missouri, western, old west, 1880s, gunfighter, us marshal, cowboys and lawmen, cowboys outlaws
Publisher: David R Lewis

After Harmony brung me some dinner, I drifted off agin. When I woke up, Arliss was settin’ in the chair.

“I reckon yer alive,” he said.

“I speck I am,” I tolt him, “‘cause I damn shore ain’t lookin’ at no angel.”

He grinned at that. “How ya feelin’ boy?” he asked me.

“Tell ya the truth, Arliss,” I said, “I couldn’t kick a rock off the trail.”

“I doan reckon you could,” he said. “You was a mess, Ruben. There was blood plumb down yer back an’ onto yer saddle and even on Willie. I ruint my night clothes with it, gittin’ you down from yer horse. I didn’t think you’d make it, boy, an’ that is God’s own truth.”

“I guess yer the reason that you an’ me are even havin’ this conversation,” I said. “Thank you for that.”

“Hell, boy,” he said, “if you hadn’t took care a me when them Duncan brothers done for me, we damn sure wouldn’t be settin’ here anyways. You started this mess. It’s yer fault!”

That tickled me some, an’ we set there grinnin’ at one another, each of us thankful to the other one.

“There’s a apple pie out on the kitchen table,” Arliss said. “I figger Miz Clary brung it. She and Harmony are settin’ out on the porch, talkin’.”

“That’s some good news,” I tolt him. “Harmony could use some woman conversation right now. She’s terrible distressed.”

“She would be,” Arliss said. “Would you care for me to make myself available to her if she wants to talk?”

“I believe that would be a good thing,” I tolt him.

“All right,” he said. “I won’t push it, but I will encourage it to come up. Bunch a folks around town is concerned about you, Ruben. Musta been ten or twelve of ‘em told me to give you their best wishes an’ all.”

“Why, ain’t that nice,” I said.

“You are held in high esteem, son,” he went on. “A course, most people doan know you as well as I do. It’d be a terrible disappointment to ‘em if they found out the truth.”

I grinned at him then, an’ he chuckled some. “Ruben, he said, “they is fixin’ to bury that bastard that shot ya this afternoon. You have any idea who he was?”

“His first name was Pete,” I said. “That’s all I know.”

“You reckon it’d be best if them fellers he worked for just never heard nothin’ about him agin?” Arliss asked me.

“Probably would,” I said.

“All right with me,” he went on. “Whatcha want done with his truck an’ possibles?”

I thought for a minute afore I spoke up. “You git his firearms an’ such,” I said. “Give his horse an’ tack to Verlon, anything else that is cash or could be sold for cash, give that money to the old folks fund after the undertaker is paid.”

“I bet that any money an’ such he had has already gone that way,” Arliss said, standin’ up. “You are startin’ to float away, boy. I’ll git outa here an’ see to it. Rest, Ruben, an’ doan worry about nothin’.

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