With: Turk Flagg
Location: Wigfall Boarding House
When:  Aug. 1876
Time of Day: Afternoon

As soon as he was released Turk Flagg got back to what he had been planning on doing before he ran into the now deceased former neighbor of his from pre-war Kansas. He had gotten revenge for his little brother and for his family. But it's not like it made him feel any better to be honest. For Thomas was still long dead and his mother had died soon after the war's finish. She was never quite the same after that attack and when she took sick, she passed away rather quickly. Turk had not even been there for it or the funeral. He still planned someday to go back to Kansas, after all he had two sisters who were now married with families of their own. Yeah, someday.

Kalispell wasn't a big town at all but in the end he still had to ask a local citizen, an older woman, where might he find the boarding house or houses. She was obliging and pointed him in the right direction. It was called the Whigfellow house or something like that, the old woman talked so dang fast. From then on it was a short walk to the front porch of said residence. Sure enough, there was a small sign in one window indicating rooms were available. Yes, there was a hotel in town but Caroline had warned him away from that place as being too expensive. He wasn't looking for anything fancy, a bed and a roof would do.

Tromping up the steps of the porch he paused at the front door then knocked and waited. He stood ready to take his hat off should one of the female persuasion open the door and cleared his throat.

The door of the boarding house was thick, a bastion of sturdy local old-growth Ponderosa Pine, but not thick enough to muffle the sound of raised voices within. 

"HECTOR!! GET THE DOOR!!"

"IT'S HER TURN!!"

"NO IT AIN'T!!"

"YES IT IS!!"

"JEMIMA ANDREA WIGFALL, JUST YOU GET THAT DOOR!!!" etc. etc. 

There was a husky but definitely female "It ain't fair!" to be heard before the door opened suddenly and a young woman of some 19 or 20 Summers was to be seen, framed by the door jamb like an oil painting. The Wreck of the Hesperus, perhaps. She looked at Flagg dully. 

"You're the feller that shot that other feller." she told him. Like he didn't know. "You looking for a room?"

Sonofa..... there sure was a lot of shouting on the other side of that door, Turk couldn't help but think as he waited for someone to actually go ahead and answer it. Finally it was opened.

"You're the feller that shot that other feller." the young gal told him, "You looking for a room?"

"Both answers are  'yes'," Turk nodded as he removed his hat to a woman, kind of a grumpy looking one at that.

"Heard that you got reasonable rates unlike the hotel," he tacked on with a friendly smile, "Promise I won't shoot nobody."

"Both answers are  'yes'," Turk nodded as he removed his hat to a woman, kind of a grumpy looking one at that.

Jemima gave a po-faced, but approving nod. The feller didn't waste words, she approved of that. She didn't either. Not like Arabella, who would talk for hours about nothing. 

"Heard that you got reasonable rates unlike the hotel," he tacked on with a friendly smile, "Promise I won't shoot nobody."

"You should shoot the Hotel Manager, prices he charges." she commented dryly "I hear tell you go after outlaws." she added, clearly classing Matt Wentworth and his fancy prices into that bracket. "Come in." she said and led the way inside. 

She traipsed him through the hall, opening doors and giving a running commentary "Parlour, you can use that..." One of the inmates, a retiring looking gent, a commercial traveller, peered out from an armchair and nodded a howdy, while an open copy of The Telegrapher obscured the face and upper body of her brother. Another door.

"Scullery down there, you can have a hot bath, but that's extra."

"Dining room, when do you take breakfast?" she asked.

A shout from upstairs shook the foundations.

"WHO IS IT?"

"FELLER WANTS A ROOM!"

"GIVE HIM NUMBER SEVEN, IT'S CLEANED!"

"I KNOW, I CLEANED IT!!"

She led him up some creaky stairs (all the better for catching anybody who tried to clear out without paying!) and at the top, where the confines of the space pushed them close together, she looked Turk up and down (as far as she could in the close proximity) and with her beady little black eyes boring into his, asked "Why d'you shoot that feller?"

"You should shoot the Hotel Manager, prices he charges." the young woman commented dryly .

Turk had to chuckle at that one, "Nah."

"I hear tell you go after outlaws." she added, "Come in."

He followed her on in, "Sometimes I do, thank ya."

She traipsed him through the hall, opening doors and giving a running commentary "Parlour, you can use that..."

Turk glanced in, one of the occupants called 'howdy', Turk nodded, "You too."

"Scullery down there, you can have a hot bath, but that's extra."

"No thanks," the newest roomer replied. 

"Dining room, when do you take breakfast?" she asked.

"Whenever I  can get it," he responded cheekily.

There followed some more shouting to interrupt the tour.  But fortunately it didn't last but a few shouts and tour was back on, this time leading to the second floor and, no doubt, his room to be.

"Why d'you shoot that feller?"   She was blunt, this one.

"Before the war he burnt down my family's farm and shot down my kid brother in cold blood. I wasn't there that time. But this time, there he was - right in front of me," he answered calmly without hesitation.

"Scullery down there, you can have a hot bath, but that's extra."

"No thanks," the newest roomer replied. 

"Me neither." Jemima agreed. 

"Dining room, when do you take breakfast?" she asked.

"Whenever I  can get it," he responded cheekily.

"Ha. You're funny." the girl informed him. She didn't laugh or smile when she said it, but it wasn't sarcastic. She meant it.

They were upstairs now.

"Why d'you shoot that feller?"   She was blunt, this one.

"Before the war he burnt down my family's farm and shot down my kid brother in cold blood. I wasn't there that time. But this time, there he was - right in front of me," he answered calmly without hesitation.

The Wigfall daughter's little piggy eyes narrowed even further. "Good!" she spat "I'd have shot him, too." her head tipped in curiosity "That's why you refused the reward then, I guess? Everybody's saying you're like Robin Hood, but you just didn't want to profit from your brother's death." she concluded. She nodded slowly.

"Here's your room" she said, and fished in her apron pocket for a key. She unlocked the room and placed the cold metal into his hand. Her Ma considered it fancy that they had locks on the internal bedroom doors, but the customers seemed to like it. 

"I got one, too, in case you want me to come in and clean or bring you anything in the morning." she told him.

The girl was sympathetic alright.  "Good!" she spat "I'd have shot him, too." her head tipped in curiosity "That's why you refused the reward then, I guess? Everybody's saying you're like Robin Hood, but you just didn't want to profit from your brother's death.

"Never met this Robin Hood or even heard of him but you got the gist of it. This wasn't a bounty for me, it was eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Reward enough for me," Turk nodded.

"Here's your room" she said, and fished in her apron pocket for a key. She unlocked the room and placed the cold metal into his hand.

"Thank ya," he took it.

"I got one, too, in case you want me to come in and clean or bring you anything in the morning."

"Doubt that will be necessary but I will let you know should I change my mind. So when is this briefly discussed breakfast? I would fancy a breakfast I did not have to cook over an open fire in the middle of nowhere," he inquired.

"Doubt that will be necessary but I will let you know should I change my mind. So when is this briefly discussed breakfast? I would fancy a breakfast I did not have to cook over an open fire in the middle of nowhere," he inquired. 

"Breakfast's any time between six and eight, but if you know when you're likely to rise it helps us make sure you get fed prompt like." she told him. Her inert features actually looked a little misty eyed for a second. 

"I think I'd like to cook a breakfast over an open fire in the middle of nowhere one day." 

She glanced up at him. "I've lived in Kalispell all my life and never been out of it. I'd like to get out of here one day. I'm bored of it." she said with some feeling.

She glanced up at him. "I've lived in Kalispell all my life and never been out of it. I'd like to get out of here one day. I'm bored of it."

"Well, you look ta me close to adulthood. If you really feel that way, then by all means head on out into the world. Warn ya though, from one who's seen a bunch of it, it can be a hard place with it's share of good folk and bad. Keep watch for the bad. Especially as a young lady all alone," was Turk's blunt advice.

Jemima looked at him, thought for a second and nodded. "You're right. Something bad might happen to me out there, Mr Flagg. But if I stay here... nothing will ever happen to me. I'll just, well, I think I'll just become one of these buildings, Mr Flagg. Does that sound crazy?"

Sometimes she thought back to Porter James and her plan to run away and become pirates and, although it was the most stupid and laughable plan imaginable, she thought about it sometimes because it was the only plan she had to cling to.