Border Dogs by Ralph Cotton

Author:Ralph Cotton [Cotton, Ralph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101655832
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2011-01-02T16:00:00+00:00

The only light burning in the little Mexican town of San Carlos came through the dusty window of the crumbling adobe cantina. Payton Parker, his brother Leo, and McCord eased their horses along the rutted street, past a sleeping hog that only raised its dirty head and grunted, then dropped back in its bed of dust as the three riders moved on. A goat bleated somewhere in the darkness, and they heard its small hooves click away deeper into the velvet night.

“I bet ole Delbert’s got one of the women pinned and poked by now,” McCord said, pushing up his battered hat brim as they edged over to a hitch rail outside the cantina. “Hell, maybe both of them.” They got down and spun their reins.

Payton Parker looked around in the darkness, then stretched his back. “Well…he can pin and poke all he wants. When we get back, it’s our turn.”

Leo Parker looked embarrassed. “That’s no way to talk, Payton. Those women ain’t done us no wrong.”

“Wrong?” Payton shook his head. “What’s wrong got to do with it? I’m just talking about us getting what’s coming to us. They’re women, we’re men. It’s only natural we’re going to do what men do, huh?” He jostled his crotch, nudging Leo with his elbow. “They’d think there’s something wrong with us if we didn’t.”

“That’s right,” McCord said. “They’re wondering why we haven’t already. They might even think we don’t like them.”

Leo looked back and forth between them as they walked toward the open door of the cantina. “She said she’d kill you if you laid a hand on her. I believe she meant it.”

“Leo, Leo.” Payton shook his head, threw an arm across his brother’s shoulder, and chuckled. “They all say that. But they never mean it. It’s just a woman’s way…but deep down, they’re wanting it just as much as we do, maybe more. You and me are gonna have a long talk once this is all over.”

“Still, I don’t like it,” Leo said. “They’re served their purpose. Now we oughta let them go.”

“Their purpose?” Payton and McCord laughed as they walked into the cantina and across to a bar made of boards spread between two wooden barrels. Payton raised his voice a bit to the old man behind the bar. “Juan, hola, mi amigo! Bet you’d just about given us up.”

“For three nights I have kept this place open, waiting to hear something.” His voice was wary, agitated. “Where is Bowes? Always he comes with you, no?”

“Oh…” Payton Parker took his time, looking around the filthy cantina. “Not this time. Bowes and Zell got caught up in a little problem. They sent us three to handle the deal.”

There were only two men in the cantina. One was the owner, Juan Verdere. The other man was Juan’s partner and bodyguard, a Frenchman named Paschal. He stood at the far end of the bar with a double-barrel shotgun lying along the rough boards. The fingers of his dirty gloves were worn off back to the second knuckle, his fingers grimy, the same color as the stained leather.

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