"Bounty hunter?!" exclaimed the black clad girl "Well don't go bounty hunting Noted Road Agent Thomas Gage Love, he's my favourite outlaw!" she warned him.
"I heard of him, never ran inta him though and not chasin' him ....or anybody right now," Turk assured the young miss then turned to Caroline, "She likes outlaws huh?"
"Yeah, well she's a bit............different in a lotta ways," Caroline smiled.
"But what's a drifter, I mean, I know what driftin' is - my mind's doin' it all the time - but, how'dya make money out of driftin'?" Ara frowned.
"The actual driftin' part you don't even make a thin dime but as you go to different places you might pick up various jobs. I once signed to a ranch to help them shoot a pack of wolves they'd been having trouble with. Funny thing was I never even hit one but still got paid when we wiped out the bunch," Turk grinned.
"Things don't always work out though. Like the time I joined another rancher to drive off some squatters on his land. Well, turned out a squatter had himself a family, wife and some young kids. I couldn't do it. I told 'em keep the damn money, I don't shoot wimmen and kids. Rode off," he shrugged.
"One of 'em tried ta stop me. I shot him though," Turk finished off his drink then.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Mr Flagg explained to Arabella what a drifter did, and it sounded interesting and exciting: you never knew what might come up next, but you might be faced with a job you didn't like: like she was scared Mr Fortner might make her do: the whole reason she'd left the saloon and the family she had grown to love over the last six months. She would never forgive him for that.
"The actual driftin' part you don't even make a thin dime but as you go to different places you might pick up various jobs. I once signed to a ranch to help them shoot a pack of wolves they'd been having trouble with. Funny thing was I never even hit one but still got paid when we wiped out the bunch," Turk grinned.
"Oooh, paid a fortune in gold and all for doin' nothin.!" she exclaimed "Just like I will be when I'm a famous actress!" she dreamed out loud.
"Things don't always work out though. Like the time I joined another rancher to drive off some squatters on his land. Well, turned out a squatter had himself a family, wife and some young kids. I couldn't do it. I told 'em keep the damn money, I don't shoot wimmen and kids. Rode off," he shrugged.
Arabella frowned and nodded earnestly "Good fer you, Mr Flagg! What did them ornery rounders you was with do, though, when you rode off on outta there?" she asked. He was Mr Flagg now that she was warming to him, not Mr Turkey.
"One of 'em tried ta stop me. I shot him though," Turk finished off his drink then.
Arabella looked at Caroline and pointed at Turk.
"I like him!" she declared. "My folks was squatters, 'cept the land was so poor, no one never came to claim it back. Pa said you had to sit on a sack of fertilizer just t'raise a umbrella. And it was on the side of this mountain too, everything was so gosh darn sidegogglin you wouldn't believe it. You know Mr Flagg, when Caroline first met me I was still walkin' around like this..." She started to walk around in circles, her body inclined to a 45 degree angle.
"Oooh, paid a fortune in gold and all for doin' nothin.!" she exclaimed "Just like I will be when I'm a famous actress!"
Caroline chuckled at that one. Not that there was anything wrong with the girl having dreams. Course dreaming about it doesn't make it come true, she knew that hard lesson alright.
"Well...I never was paid no fortune in gold, woulda been nice though," Turk was once again amused.
The in fact quite dangerous gunman at times now regaled the ladies with a few example stories of his 'jobs'.
"I like him!" Arabell declared. "My folks was squatters, 'cept the land was so poor, no one never came to claim it back. Pa said you had to sit on a sack of fertilizer just t'raise a umbrella. And it was on the side of this mountain too, everything was so gosh darn sidegogglin you wouldn't believe it. You know Mr Flagg, when Caroline first met me I was still walkin' around like this..." She started to walk around in circles, her body inclined to a 45 degree angle.
Turk laughed, she sure was a funny little thing.
Caroline rolled her eyes, "No she wasn't. She seemed perfectly normal ta me. Til she opened her mouth that is. She hated me."
Turk looked surprised, "Hated you? I didn't know anyone could hate you? What the devil, ladies?"
He suddenly snapped his fingers, "Oh wait! Besides that one ...Fergus? Somethin' like that?"
Caroline shrugged, "Oh yeah, well that jasper....he asked for it."
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Caroline rolled her eyes, "No she wasn't. She seemed perfectly normal ta me. Til she opened her mouth that is. She hated me."
Arabella nodded her head in complete agreement.
Turk looked surprised, "Hated you? I didn't know anyone could hate you? What the devil, ladies?"
"Sure I hated her!" Arabella told Turk "Comin' in here like she owned the place after I'd been queen bee; playin' the piana here for months and months. And there's been other times she's hated me, too, just cause I... well, I can't even remember why, they was such lil ol' things. But we always kiss and make up, don't we Cara'?" she smiled at her blonde friend, with an innocence that Caroline knew for a fact she didn't possess.
"We just carry on that-a-way, cause we's both so highly strung is all." she explained to Turk.
"Oh, but I bet everybody in Helena was nice as pie to you weren't they, Caroline, and you was nice as pie to them." she guessed.
He suddenly snapped his fingers, "Oh wait! Besides that one ...Fergus? Somethin' like that?"
Caroline shrugged, "Oh yeah, well that jasper....he asked for it."
Ara gasped "Why? What'd he do?" she asked urgently.
"And there's been other times she's hated me, too, just cause I... well, I can't even remember why, they was such lil ol' things. But we always kiss and make up, don't we Cara'?"
Caroline noted that cat who swallowed the canary innocent look, Arabella knew exactly why Caroline had been so frustrated and angry with her those times, this was an act for the newcomer but strangely she let the girl get away with it.
"Yeah, we do, hon," she nodded.
"We just carry on that-a-way, cause we's both so highly strung is all." the girl explained to Turk.
"That must be it," Caroline commented, personally she did not think she was high strung at all (conveniently forgetting all the times her sudden temper would result in her striking out at people - just ask the newspaper editor or that man who kicked the old dog).
Of course Turk would go and bring up that jasper in Helena. Arabella pounced right on that then.
Ara gasped "Why? What'd he do?" she asked urgently.
"Oh, Frederick Fergus...horse dealer he was. We talked whenever he'd come inta the saloon, you know how I operate. I'd chat with Satan if he buys me a drink. Not that he seemed bad at all. One day he wanted to show me his new horse, a real special one he sez. Now you also know me, I ain't one for horses. But he was so insistent, almost begging, and he'd just paid for like three drinks in a row. So I go with him to his stable but I was tellin' him I couldn't stay long, I was still workin' my shift."
Turk chuckled, "Fergus was quite the horse trader alright, he'd sell you a blind one and if you didn't happen to notice, yer tough luck."
"Well, I wasn't buyin' the fuckin' horse, just agreed to look at it is all. Anyhow, get in the stable and he changed somethin' fierce. Suddenly he was all over me, wanting to take me in his arms and kiss me. I refused but he wouldn't let go, sayin' somethin' about after all the drinks he'd bought me over the past months I owed him this."
"Finally I pulled away but in doin' so he tore my favorite dress and that got me mad," Caroline was on a roll now, "I grabbed him right by that long beard of his and then I gave him the hardest kick I could manage. Got him right in the...." she stopped then because Turk was already laughing and thought the location was obvious to her audience.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Turk chuckled, "Fergus was quite the horse trader alright, he'd sell you a blind one and if you didn't happen to notice, yer tough luck."
Like a lot of garrulous people, Arabella was less than patient with others of the same ilk and punctuated every sentence of Caroline's long winded story with a slightly impatient "Uh huh" or "Go on" or "then what happened".
"OK, what happened next?... Short version..." Miss Mudd prodded her along less than subtly.
"Well, I wasn't buyin' the fuckin' horse..."
"Language!" Arabella butted in, piously.
"... just agreed to look at it is all. Anyhow, get in the stable and he changed somethin' fierce. Suddenly he was all over me, wanting to take me in his arms and kiss me. I refused but he wouldn't let go, sayin' somethin' about after all the drinks he'd bought me over the past months I owed him this."
Arabella shrugged at this and looked at Mr Flagg "You can kinda see his point!" she said.
"Finally I pulled away but in doin' so he tore my favorite dress and that got me mad," Caroline was on a roll now, "I grabbed him right by that long beard of his and then I gave him the hardest kick I could manage. Got him right in the...." she stopped then because Turk was already laughing and thought the location was obvious to her audience.
"Right in the barn, huh?" Ara finished off the sentence.
"Well, that'll teach you to be so gosh darn pretty!" Arabella drew a slightly skewed moral precept from all of this. "You should try bein' plain lookin' like me, nobody ever tried to radish me in the barn, well 'cept that time Old Smokey ran up and started trying to get all spoony with mah leg!"
Arabella shrugged at this and looked at Mr Flagg "You can kinda see his point!" she said.
"No, no I don't, child," the man seemed a bit surprised the girl wasn't more sympathetic to her 'friend' over what was an unwarranted advance.
Caroline went on with the story despite or rather over Ara's pronouncements.
Right in the barn, huh?" Ara finished off the sentence.
Caroline rolled her eyes at that, "Yeah...of course."
"Well, that'll teach you to be so gosh darn pretty!" Arabella drew a slightly skewed moral precept from all of this. "You should try bein' plain lookin' like me, nobody ever tried to radish me in the barn, well 'cept that time Old Smokey ran up and started trying to get all spoony with mah leg!"
By now Turk was probably of the same opinion as the vast majority of people who knew Arabella that was certainly a strange girl. Caroline was about to correct her that it was 'ravish' rather than 'radish' but decided to let it go.
"So, tell me then, how long you stayin' in Kalispell?" she instead changed the subject.
"Not sure...depends," Turk shrugged, "Few days at least though."
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Well, Caroline's story came and went, and Arabella drew one big moral from it: the singer was just a great big tease and all these idiots were wasting their time throwing drinks into her. Like she didn't know all that already!
Poor Mr Fergus, she wondered if his bruised little testes ever recovered? And to think, he 'learned about women from her'. Oh well, Caroline was very beautiful, good fun to be with and a great singer, they were the important things in life, and Arabella loved her.
"So, tell me then, how long you stayin' in Kalispell?" she instead changed the subject.
"Well..." Mr Flagg started speaking and Arabella realised the pretty blonde was talking to him, not her.
"Not sure...depends," Turk shrugged, "Few days at least though."
"Well, you be careful where you go driftin' while you're here, Mr Flagg; big bounty-huntin' gunman like yourself: there's a range war a brewin' here, or so folks say, and both side's'll be lookin' fer quick draws, crack-shots and all round tough guys - don't you go getting drawn into all that." she warned. She liked this Turkey feller, and wouldn't want to see him getting shot all to bits.
"Not sure...depends," Turk shrugged, "Few days at least though."
"Well, you be careful where you go driftin' while you're here, Mr Flagg; big bounty-huntin' gunman like yourself: there's a range war a brewin' here, or so folks say, and both side's'll be lookin' fer quick draws, crack-shots and all round tough guys - don't you go getting drawn into all that," Arabella warned.
"Oh yeah?" already Turk was not quite sure he could place any stock in the strange teen's utterances even though he liked her, didn't mean he trusted her.
Caroline spoke up then, "Yeah, Ara's right. There's been trouble brewin' for quite some time. Things were tense when I first arrived even. There was one gun battle...thankfully not in town though. Up in the hills but three men died and a friend of mine got wounded, he was lucky."
"The two biggest ranches hate each other. Not sure what started it. But trust me, don't throw in with the Evergreen ranch...run by the Steelgraves. I don't like'em. I know that Elias Steelgrave, the owner is one nasty piece of work. "
"I see, good ta know," Turk believed Caroline completely, she'd never steered him wrong in the past.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Caroline spoke up then, "Yeah, Ara's right."
"See!" nodded Arabella, pertly.
"There's been trouble brewin' for quite some time. Things were tense when I first arrived even. There was one gun battle...thankfully not in town though. Up in the hills but three men died and a friend of mine got wounded, he was lucky."
"That's what they call 'dumb luck' and believe me, Mr Flagg, this feller is real dumb!" added Miss Mudd, helpfully.
"The two biggest ranches hate each other. Not sure what started it. But trust me, don't throw in with the Evergreen ranch...run by the Steelgraves. I don't like'em. I know that Elias Steelgrave, the owner is one nasty piece of work."
"Yeah, and the other side got Mike Wentworth and he saved my life this one time when a house fell on my head, so they must be the 'Good Side' - and he's one of the good fellers, even though he wears a black hat. That's all part of his mystique." Arabella filled in some important details.
"I see, good ta know," Turk believed Caroline completely, she'd never steered him wrong in the past.
Arabella nodded. "Maybe you ought to get a black hat, too, Mr Flagg, then you can have some more mystique too." She had recently learned the word 'mystique' and was determined to get her money's worth out of it.