Dangerous Men by Michael Katakis

Author:Michael Katakis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner UK
Published: 2020-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

GEORGE LAZLO

A Very Cold Autumn

It was an unusually cold October. The predictions were for a hard winter.

Late autumn was Walt’s favorite time of year. He loved the clean, cold air, with its bite and how it stung when he inhaled fast. Driving north he remembered his family’s camping cookouts that came at the end of the busy summers.

The women would prepare a few weeks before while the men tended to the cattle and the other chores that the ranch demanded. The tradition took place in the last week of September. George, Catherine, Walt and some of the ranch hands, along with a few neighbors, would pack up supplies for three days.

After saddling the horses, Walt guided everyone to a corner of the ranch.

Once there, horses were fed and a large fire was made. The women unpacked the pots of chili and made biscuits in their camping ovens while the men pitched the canvas tents. Old Rollie, one of the ranch hands, played his fiddle and the couples danced under the evening sky that showed a million stars.

Walt rolled down the window. The cold autumn air rushed in and mingled with his memories. It was fun to play them back like an old recording. The sharp pain brought him back. He focused on the landscape, trying to get his bearings, and struggled to keep the truck under control. He swerved left, nearly crashing into an oncoming car, and then turned right into a ditch, hitting his head on the wheel.

He never lost consciousness but it took a long time for the pain to subside. His hand fiddled around in the bag and found the pills that the doctor in Chicago had given him. Dr Petrosian told Walt that in a month or so the pain would be bad and that the pills would help, at least for a while.

Walt was determined to hold off for as long as he could. He had to have his wits about him. He tossed the pills back in the bag.

George Lazlo had moved out of Park County seven years after Ringer took possession of the Lesser ranch. The Livingston Enterprise reported that its former county commissioner and one of Livingston’s most prominent citizens was moving to a large ranch in Glasgow, Montana. The editorial went on to say that George Lazlo had done good service for the people of Park County and would be missed. The author, who, by the way, was Lazlo’s cousin, also extended the county’s good wishes and thanks.

What the editorial had not said was that Lazlo had been quietly encouraged by the city attorney to leave town. Lazlo always had a weakness for young girls, and while he had been a powerful commissioner he had been able to silence legal assaults with cash or threats. It was different now but even though Lazlo wasn’t a commissioner any more, he knew where the dirty secrets were buried. The city attorney was well aware of that because he had gotten a lot of pressure from family values Republicans who didn’t want their own transgressions known.

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