"Smokey! Sic em, boy, sic em!"
Posted January 14, 2021 | Nellie Miggins
"You've got some nerve, woman!"
“That’s right, I have!” she agreed. “Question is, have you?” she challenged him.
"I never killed anyone in cold blood and I will not start today. I didn't even shoot back at you, when you put a bullet in my skin. You should be ashamed. You're the only one, who committed a crime. I barely took some food. And I didn't set fire to anything. Nor did I shoot anyone in a bank."
“Oooh, just an innocent ‘babe in the woods’ eh?” she said in mock sympathy “Well, I’m sure an honest judge and jury would find you not guilty, but that don’t play out round these parts. Soon as folks round here found out you was ‘spected of havin’ a hand in all o’ them crimes, a lynch mob’d have you out of that jail and hanging from a sour apple tree, kickin’ a jig in the air, before you could say ‘Jack Robinson’. Yep, real fond of ‘necktie parties’, folks in these parts!” she threatened, painting a lurid picture of the Englishman’s fate if she informed on him.
Then she threatened him with the sheriff, so Jay got uncomfortably close to her, looking down on her.
"What do you want from me, if you didn't already alert the sheriff?"
“Well, now that’s more like it. I’m a reasonable woman. I’m prepared to forget I ever saw you that night in Whitefish, if you can give me what I want.” She said, looking knowingly at him over her spectacles.
“There’s something you can give me that I need, if you get my drift. It’s a service a widow woman like m’self would normally have got from her husband, you understand.” The petite grandmotherly figure confided, looking him up and down in an appraising manner.
“Oh, I’ll pay you fer it, don’t worry about that. But I gotta warn you, if folks find out what we been up to, they might not be too understandin’!” Nellie said “The pair of us might get lynched!”
Retired Characters and NPC Writer.
Posted January 14, 2021 | Jay Ryker
If he had been thinking that the old lady was 'different', she just very undermined it with her statement. She would let him go and tell no one who he was, if he did what she was asking. The very odd part about it was what she was asking of Jay.
Husbandly services. Even at her first words his imagination ran wild but he told him that THAT couldn't be it. But then she said that the 'pair' of them would get lynched because folks around here would not understand.
He suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time and, if he had had a look in the mirror, was sure his reflection would be beet red.
"You are not suggesting that." He huffed, eyes wide open. It didn't escape his attention how she was giving him the once over with those lustrous old eyes, that had been deprived of the sight of a younger man for many years.
"I'm not sure you'd survive it, if I went to bed with you."
He flat out said, when he had wrapped his mind around the idea. But if that was what he had to do to save himself from swinging from the apple tree, so be it.
Posted January 14, 2021 | Brendan Connolly
So this thing the Lost Lake hands were cashing in on had to do with fighting? Brendan was intrigued, watching silently as one of the other hands alerted them to a ruckus - but not necessarily a fight. The news of this ruckus made Charlie happy, but Marty didn't let him celebrate prematurely.
After the other three hands had left, Charlie turned to Brendan. "While we wait I'd like to hear this long story of yours about Clara. I get the feeling it wasn't a pleasant experience."
Brendan sighed. Well, it had to come out. "It weren't. Wasn't. It was pretty near my first day, and I was ridin' the property lines with..." He stopped and debated mentioning Billy and Greer, then decided it would be better at the moment to let sleeping dogs lie. "...with two of the hands, an' we came to the Redmond farm. Bil - uh...the hands told me the Redmonds were squatters."
If he had to tell the story, he might as will give it some flair. He leaned forward and lowered his voice dramatically. "Now me bein' new to the area and to the ranch, I didn't know 'bout the Redmonds actually ownin' the farm...an' I didn't know that Clara was...what'd you say...prickly? The hands told me she was 'right friendly,' and so nat'rully I rode down to say howdy."
He sipped his beer and gave Charlie a chance to react or ask questions to what he had told him so far. After all, that was what good storytellers did.
Posted January 15, 2021 | Clara Redmond Lutz
“The Reb never talks about anything else: ‘Clara says this’, and ‘Clara does that’. Why I’m surprised she hasn’t asked you for a dance herself.” He smiled
"Oh my goodness, well I highly doubt she has any desire to do that though," Clara was truly surprised by that revelation.
But enough about Arabella, Clara changed the subject to wondering if he might be interested in simply chatting after the dance. And he was quite willing to do just that. He then asked about whether she noticed the condition of the moon on this very evening and she explained she had no chance to even see it yet.
“Oh, well, I can show you, if you like, that’s even more enlightening! It’s what’s called ‘The Old Moon in the New Moon’s Arms’.”
In case that sounded like too alarming an offer to the upright young lady, he added an unappetizing rider: “Of course, we could take The Rebel along with us, if you think that a chaperone would be in order.”
"Good gracious, if we took Arabella along neither of us would get a word in edgewise. No thank you, Jacob. She means well but ...well you know her so you know what I mean," Clara made her opinion clear.
"I trust you to be the perfect gentleman and besides, we will be just outside still right in town, my father will understand," Clara buttressed her argument.
"Smokey! Sic em, boy, sic em!"
Posted January 15, 2021 | Nellie Miggins
"You are not suggesting that." He huffed, eyes wide open. It didn't escape his attention how she was giving him the once over with those lustrous old eyes, that had been deprived of the sight of a younger man for many years.
Granny Miggins seemed a little surprised at Jay’s reticence, forgetting that she hadn’t really explained what she wanted him to do.
“Sure, what’s wrong with you? Nothing to get fidgety about. Normally I’d make use of my hired hands, but the only one I got at the moment is kinda old and past it, and I can hardly ask my Grandson to do it, he’s too young and inexperienced! I reckon you’d be all right though, just a matter of shoving a pole in a hole, after all.” She assured him.
"I'm not sure you'd survive it, if I went to bed with you."
“How DARE YOU!” Mrs Miggins exploded, shooting up form her chair “I never heard of such a disgusting suggestion in my entire life!” holding her hand to her heart.
“Go to bed with you?! And me nearly seventy!” (she was seventy nine, but who was counting?) “I’m outraged! You Britishers are sex mad! Last time one of you limeys tried to get jiggy with me, back in ’15, I shot him with a musket, so don’t try any of them tricks on me Mister Jay Ryker!!”
She had forgotten that, actually, she had already shot Jay.
“Go to bed indeed! What I want you to do is put up a bunch o’ this new fangled ‘barbed wire’ fencin’ fer me. Got a bunch of the stuff sent up from Helena and my Jacob can’t put it up on his own. I reckoned with your know-how, and the fact you owe me a little favor, you might help me out. Didn’t figure you’d be trying to get your hand up m’skirts at the same time, though!” she explained, still standing in a judgmental pose with crossed arms.
Despite her feigned outrage, she was secretly enormously flattered that Jay had, in her mind, tried to seduce her. He had gone from zero to hero in her estimation, not that she would let him know that, of course.
"Yes, Dear"
Posted January 15, 2021 | Jacob Lutz
"Good gracious, if we took Arabella along neither of us would get a word in edgewise. No thank you, Jacob. She means well but ...well you know her so you know what I mean," Clara made her opinion clear.
Jacob nodded, he knew that only too well from his visits to the saloon (purely on business visits to the back door, of course, he was teetotal).
“To be honest, I never knew a body have so much to say about so little, bless her.” It was true that she was an annoying chatterbox sometimes, and not much to look at, but she was the nearest thing he had to a friend outside of his sisters, what with living on a remote homestead on the outskirts of the ranch-lands.
"I trust you to be the perfect gentleman and besides, we will be just outside still right in town, my father will understand," Clara buttressed her argument.
Jacob couldn’t help but imagine being the father of such a beautiful and poised girl: and how protective he would be of her and suspicious of any gangly pimpled youth with slikum on his hair and a undersize Sunday suit on, that came a-sniffing round his daughter. In that position, he certainly wouldn’t ‘understand’.
“Oh, do you think we should ask him?” asked Jacob innocently, letting Clara be the one to say no, … hopefully.
Posted January 15, 2021 | Benjamin Barlow
"Very well then, I think I can force this old carcass of mine thru one more dance before retiring to my rocking chair for the evening," Benjamin nodded.
“That’s the spirit, pops!” she grinned, looping her arm through his and having to half walk and half skip to keep up with them as they took their places. To her delight, the caller called out a fast tempoed square dance that involved lots of spinning around and dozy does.
Actually Benjamin did not mind, he had done enough lively dancing in his younger years and none of his dance partners had found him wanting.
“Oh yippee, a fast un!” squealed Arabella, clapping her hands. “Now, I like it rough, so don’t hold back on throwing me all about the place, Cap’n … say, what’s yer name Mister, who’m I havin’ the pleasure with?!”
Benjamin blinked, "You might not want to use that 'I like it rough' line with menfolk, just a word of kindly advice."
"Yes, my fault. My name is Benjamin. Benjamin Barlow," he decided to forego the military rank, she already knew that anyhow. Besides he was not on duty.
Of course one drawback to such fast dances such as these it did make conversation much more difficult than a gentle swaying waltz. That might just be a blessing though what with this missy.
Posted January 15, 2021 | Clara Redmond Lutz
"To be honest, I never knew a body have so much to say about so little, bless her.”
Clara gave a look, a pleased look, "Well said, Jacob! You summed it up perfectly. I do like her but in small doses, I believe she has had a hard life and she means well."
The boy's idea to take her outside and check out this view of the moon seemed to still founder on Jacob's worry about her father might react.
"I trust you to be the perfect gentleman and besides, we will be just outside still right in town, my father will understand," Clara buttressed her argument.
“Oh, do you think we should ask him?” asked Jacob.
"No, I do not," Clara gave a quick survey about the barn then added, "I do not even see him right now. Probably having a beer and discussing the spring planting with a few of the other farmers. Now my father is not a drinker but on occasion does enjoy a bit of imbibing. He is entitled for he is a hard worker and a fine family man."
She had wanted to emphasize she and her father did have a good relationship, she was not one of those defiant willful teenagers. But to be honest the pair had never even discussed the topic of chaperones. Perhaps because she had never been out with a boy previously? Whatever.
"Besides....what with all this dancing and the crowd of people I must admit I am feeling a bit ....heated. I would truly appreciate a few moments outside to cool off with some fresh air," Clara was not above making something up on the spur of the moment if it aided her cause long as there was no harm done.
Retired Characters and NPC Writer.
Posted January 15, 2021 | Jay Ryker
On 1/15/2021 at 1:53 AM, Nellie Miggins said: “Sure, what’s wrong with you? Nothing to get fidgety about. Normally I’d make use of my hired hands, but the only one I got at the moment is kinda old and past it, and I can hardly ask my Grandson to do it, he’s too young and inexperienced! I reckon you’d be all right though, just a matter of shoving a pole in a hole, after all.” She assured him.
Jay was starting to squirm under the mental pictures of the old woman sleeping with hired hands or her grandson. Who was she?
And then the innuendo about a pole in the hole. Jay already picture himself in a bed with the old woman, both naked and the whole pole in the whole things. It made him feel slightly sick. Would he be able to do that to avoid prison? He had to.
Until she suddenly cursed him out for thinking such foolish things and telling him that this was all about some fence.
"A fence? You mean, no sleeping with you?" He let out a breath, he didn't know he'd been holding. "Oh...a fence. I guess, I could do that."
The greatest relief washed over him because he would much rather work for a week and tear his hands open than bed the old lady, who knew his real name for some reason.
" But no other demands, right. I'll do the fence for you and you'll keep your mouth shut. ...How do you know my name?"
I took an oath for this job. The oath says bring him in. That's what I'll do.
Posted January 16, 2021 | Charlie Wentworth
Charlie shook his head and laughed. "Well, those two hands you were with knew what they were doing. The one thing you can't do where Miss Clara Redmond is concerned is to make assumptions. They're libel to get you into some very hot water."
He took another sip of his beer before going on, "Now don't get me wrong when Clara is in a good mode, she's about the prettiest girl you're likely to meet. But that ain't often. Take tonight for instance, she's all dressed up like a fine lady but underneath she's still the same ole Clara. One wrong word and you're done."
Once again he took a sip of beer, "I like Clara in a way but she can be unpredictable as well. Here she was all fine and dandy looking after the Thornton kids and then one day she just ups and leaves without so much as word of good-bye. The two kids spent most of the winter asking and wondering why she left. Thankfully, Miss Sarah was there to take over their schooling but still there were times you could see that they missed her."
Finishing off the beer, he sighed, "I guess it would take a lifetime to figure out Clara and that's too long. What isn't long is the line at the bar. Care for another?"