Posted April 20, 2022 / Caroline Mundee

Caroline handed over the cups to Mammy, either she or Arabella had the job of washing dishes, it wasn't the responsibility of the saloon gal. She reached into her dress pocket and withdrew her small flask then opened it and took a strong gulp of it. Now she could have went back to the bar and just poured some from any one of the booze bottles there but that would have meant being back out ........there. And to think, in just a short time, she would have to get up on stage smiling and singing away as usual. She just did not feel like it though.

That's when Fortner entered the kitchen and obviously was looking for her. Now what?

"Let's head to the office. There's something I gotta tell ya," the man ordered.

She so just wanted to tell him to go to hell but kept her self control and nodded, "Fine."

Without another word she followed him into his office then. As he turned to face her, she stood there arms crossed eying him with simmering anger.

Posted April 21, 2022 / Ben Simons

Ben watched as Potee left the saloon followed soon after by Arabella. The sting had come quick and fast for the farmer with a little help from Caroline. Fortner was certainly getting his money's worth out of his star employee.

Knowing that there was nothing much else to do, he decided it was time head back to the White Rose to check on how the renovations had been proceeding today. Besides he didn't feel like watching Fortner and Potee looking smug and he certainly didn't want to be around if Potee decided to make good on his promise to return. He had had his fill of seeing men seeking revenge after losing badly a few years ago in Abilene, when one poor sodbuster came back with a bottle of whale oil and poured it over a saloon girl, who too, was just helping out her boss. It had happened quickly, and the sodbuster lit the girl on fire before anybody could stop him. The girl didn't survive the burns she had received, and the sodbuster ended up getting hanged for murder.

The more he thought about it, he came to the conclusion that the Star Dust was a place to be avoided. From what he had seen so far, he didn't like Fortner's way of doing business. With Priest as his accomplice, there was no knowing what they would get up to next and he didn't want to be a part of or know about it.

Staying away from the Star Dust might put a bit of curb in his poker playing but there were a few possibilities. His cousin Matt might allow him to host a few games at the hotel and if that failed there was always the White Rose. He could easily adjust the plans to add a room or two for gambling.

With that in mind, Ben said farewell to a couple of his friends who were in the saloon and made his way out.

Posted April 25, 2022 / Caroline Mundee

Well, they were now in his office, Caroline and her boss. Not that she wanted to be there but she was told to follow him in and he was in charge. She watched as he pulled a bottle of expensive bourbon from a sideboard and half filled two glasses.

"Here," he said to Caroline, handing her a glass; he kept the other for himself.

She took it, she never turned down drinks, but the anger was still apparent on her features.

"Please sit," he continued, nodding his head to a comfortable club chair against the wall. He took the other one, opposite her.

"Alright," she sat down and took a sip of the liquor.

"I suppose you're mad as Hell, and I don't blame you, but let me tell you about what we've got here." He reached inside his coat and removed the Deed to what used to be Potee's homestead. "Here's the deed to the homestead, and in that safe," he pointed to a safe that sat in the corner of the office, "is another document, and do you know what?"

"Nope," Caroline left her answer as brief as possible.

"It's an assayer's report on an ore sample from that stretch of land. I've had that report for a long time, and it cost me dearly to get it. It's tells us that there is a vein of gold in a section of the stream that runs through that homestead. Good quality gold -- the best."

Caroline huffed, she should have known, then sipped the bourbon. Obviously he wasn't done yet.

"I wouldn't be telling you all this if I didn't have plans to cut you in on the find. You're smart and you helped us out, and you can be rewarded for that if you want. It can make you a rich lady, Caroline. Like I've said, The Montana Queen. With that money you can see to your own wants, but if you feel the need to salve your conscience, there'll be plenty of money to donate to whatever and whomever you want."

Aha, the part where the man now attempts to bribe her, again that was what she would have expected, he was quite predictable but then most men were. Caroline let him continue, he had more to his spiel.

"I've been pursuing this site since before Potee got lucky and beat me to the land office. The strike might put Kalispell on the map. I mean, really on the map. And it would help businesses all through town and out of town. Believe me. If Potee kept that land he'd never have discovered gold, and if he had, as stupid as he is, he'd squander it. You saw today. He's hardly man enough to handle anything like this."

Yeah, Potee was not a likeable fellow and an idiot on top of it. But it still rankled her, that Fortner had to bring her into this scheme of his. He could have got that damn deed another way. No, instead she got dragged into the mud.

He waved the deed in front him where he sat.

Caroline downed the last of the drink without even a blink then stood up.

"Thanks for the drink, boss. I'd congratulate you for you gettin' the deed but the whole thing makes me sick. Making me even sicker, I played a part in it. And that's on me. But yer happy so enjoy it," she finally spoke, trying to sound measured, calm.

"Oh, I ain't gonna perform tonight. I don't feel good. I'll make up for it tomorrow, put on two shows or somethin'. And don't you worry none, if Potee brings in the marshal or somebody about this. I won't say a goddamn thing against ya. I ain't no friend of the law. I told you when we first met, I'm a loyal employee. And I fuckin' meant it."

With that she suddenly spun about and headed out the door, straight in the direction of her room.

Posted April 26, 2022 / Arabella Mudd

Arabella looked in vain for Caroline until Sally Adams told her that the sultry saloon singer had been pulled into the new 'Office' that Fortner had carved out of the old spare downstairs room where they'd used to keep the brooms and mops. Those cleaning implements now joined the other junk piled in one half of Arabella's bedroom. After that, said Sal, she'd walked straight out of the office and gone up to her room "Looking like she'd lost a dollar and found a dime!" in the old prostitute's picturesque phraseology.

The little pianist didn't follow it up there and then. She needed to talk to Caroline when they were alone and the dust had settled. For now, she put on her best smiley face: she would be the happiest, most satisfied employee imaginable... while she planned her escape.

So it was, she filled in the slack by playing tunes on the piano: tinkly, happy tunes that chimed with the atmosphere of alcohol fuelled, frenetic, somewhat forced jollity that pervaded the place after Potee's humiliation. As she knocked out another chorus of Listen to the Mocking Bird she wondered how many others in the bar were disgusted by what they'd seen and were covering it: it was easier to go along with the cruel cheat of a helpless drunk than to oppose it in any way. The last man who had stood up to Fortner... well, his blood still stained the saloon floor.

Yep: Horace Potee, Frank Grimes, Caroline Mundee... Arabella had a feeling that the victims of franklin Fortner's machinations were only just starting to be counted, and she wasn't sticking around to be put amongst their number...

Posted April 28, 2022 / Arabella Mudd

Micah arose, stretched all lanky 6'2" of himself, and then walked over to where Arabella played the piano.

Arabella turned as she was playing, seeing the figure of the old man approaching.

"Howdy, Mr McGregor!" she smiled, tinkling away.

It went against her musical grain to finish a tune in the middle of a phrase, but she finished playing Listen to the Mocking Bird as soon as was decently possible and twizzled round to face him on her Piano stool.

"Hey, young Miss," he said when she'd finished a piece. "When you have a chance will you come by my table and visit with me for a minute? I need t ask you something."

"Oky-dokey, Mr. M." she agreed.

When she could, she skipped over to the lanky feller's table.

"What can I do you fer?" she asked jauntily, actually quite glad to be distracted from the thoughts of what had happened tonight and what she was planning to do about it.

"You want me to fetch you over a drink or play a special request?" she guessed, picking on the two things that the fellers usually asked her for at work. There was a third thing she was increasingly being asked for as she grew up into more of a womanly figure. She was even thinking of making up a little rosette to wear that said "Please do not ask staff for a kiss, as refusal often offends."