Wild West

All for Mule-ears and Airtights - Karen

The willow trees swayed back and forth as I rode by the edge of the Red Dancing Lake. A small pitched camp was up ahead. On the left patched clothes hung from a tree. In the center, a pot bustled, spewing a savory aroma from the camp's fire. Out of a cloth-riddled tent, a man's hairy foot stuck out. I pulled the horse's reins to a halt, stopping inches from the tent. Noticing, beside the camp's fire, was a belt with a holstered lead pusher in the mud.

The naked, old man scrambled to his feet, revealing his stumped left arm. "How did you find me, 'Three Gun'?"

I drew my barking iron and adjusted myself on the saddle. "I suppose that's because of the easy trail you left behind. Mr. Benjamin, you really need to find another line of work."

Benjamin's eyes bulged, causing several lines to form on his head.

"Throw over your lead pusher, slowly," I said.

Benjamin sat up. "It don't got no bullets," he said with a guttural tone.

"It doesn't matter."

"Alright, don't shoot."

He threw it over with the holster. The lead pusher landed mere inches away from me, a navy model.

Benjamin's eyes shifted to his horse. "Can't you just let it go? Only some airtights and a few pairs of mule-ears, ain't hurt nobody."

I dismounted my horse. "If I let it go, Benjamin. How would that solve the crime? Would that be right and fair to the man you stole from?"

"I understand I do. Can't you pardon an old veteran of the war of the land just this once?"

"I can't."

"Look at me, deputy, there is no work that I can find, like this. I can't afford to pay the sheriff's law right now. Tomorrow morning my daughter will have the actual."

"The little one that picks pockets around the factories?"

"Yeah," Benjamin said, his dull eyes falling to the ground.

I placed a hand on my head. "The Sheriff — that's not law, that's —"

"It's all we can do with the hand we have been dealt."

"Put on some clothes Benjamin, you're not a bad egg, but I have to take you in."

"Okay, Three Gun."

"Nothing funny, don't run."

"I won't."

"Good, I don't want to shoot you. Besides, you can't outrun my horse, Sally."

Benjamin grabbed his clothes and fitted himself into his breeches.

"This all the items you stole?"

"Just the mule-ears now, the airtights are..." Benjamin's eyes shifted to the pot, and his stomach growled.

"In the pot?"

Benjamin pulled the shirt over his head. "Please, deputy, can I at least have some prog and some adam's ale before I go?"

"Fine, it's already done. Don't take too long."

Benjamin uncovered the pot and poured some into a wooden bowl he had on the ground.

"You want some?" he asked, pushing the bowl toward me.

"No, I am fine."

He smiled, exposing his gums. I turned to face the blue lake.

"Quite a beautiful place you picked to camp, Benjamin."

A twig cracked. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Benjamin running in the next direction through the thickets.