Newbrassky

[Trinity]

The Frumpy Fairy Godmother finishes her coffee and heads back inside. On her way, she stops at the hammock to give the sleeping Trinity a light pat on his shoulder.

The FFG's light pat frighten's Trinity such that he falls out of the hammock flat on his face.  He gets up, brushes off his clothes, smiles and  asks her what the matter is.

[Scattered Thumbs]

Meanwhile, some miles North East of the ranch just before Sunset, Scattered Thumbs had finally found tracks, lots of tracks, but intriguing though, they seemed to have all been made by the same horse. There were tracks coming from the general direction of the ranch headed North East and tracks coming from North East and going in the direction of the ranch. Some tracks were fairly recent but there were also older ones. What's going on here? Scattered Thumbs asked himself. Could this be the Red Bearded Man that Delmonico fellow told me about?
And speaking of Delmonico, Scattered Thumbs couldn't rightly know what he thought about that fellow. All that talk about fish. Was he some sort of clairvoyant? How could he possibly know that Scattered Thumbs had been born in 1837 in a small fishing town the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? And he had put out to sea at the age of 10, having finally landed on Nantucket, from a whaler ship, in the distant year of 1852 absolutely fed up of sea life. And what about what he said of the Red Bearded Man? Was that to be believed? Or was Delmonico just expecting Scattered Thumbs to get him rid of a business partner? He decided he wouldn't trust much this Delmonico fellow. But then again he wasn't of a trusting nature. He even has a small box, where he keeps his matches, with the words "Trust no one" engraved on. 

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

The Frumpy Fairy Godmother comes back outside when she hears the thump. She helps Trinity up and gets him somewhat dusted off. Her voice is quiet.

"There was a man in a yellow duster who came around yesterday. He set my nerves on edge so you might want to be careful."

As she finishes her sentence, she looks up to see Stoney Pete entering the yard.
"And that man was with him."

[Stoney Pete]

Stoney rides up to the porch.  "Lookin' for a place rest my horse, get a cup of whatever is available and maybe swap stories or news you folks may have or need."

The woman seemed on edge.  Not in a rude manner, but one like a cat that's ready for fight or flight as the situation warrented.  Trininty, (or at least that who Stoney thought he was) was hard to read.  He still had sleep in his eyes and was recovering from his fall.  He fought the urge to check his, gun.  "It's stil there.", he thought.  "Your lookin' for info not confrontation.  Use force if you have to."  All this went through his mind while he looked at them and smiled his best smile, desperately hoping it did not look like a grimmace.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

She saw his fingers give that small twitch. "Oh lands, he's going for it!" she thought, but his hand relaxed so her own stayed away from the wand.
"You can stable the horse over there," pointing out the barn, "and I'll get some coffee. Eggs and biscuits will be up in a minute."

She was uncomfortable going inside the house. She didn't like showing her back to the man, and the spot on her back where the bullet could enter gave a warning prickle. As she went in, Daisy and Duke bounded outside to give the man a sniff.

[Stoney Pete]

Dogs.  Stoney liked dogs.  They were a good judge of character.  Hopefully these dogs would not be the exception to that rule. 

Stoney got off his horse and walked him to the barn.  He removed his saddle and curry combed him.  Every time he did this, the voice of his dad echoed in his head.  "Take care of you mount because he takes care of you.  You don't eat or sleep till your horse is taken care of."  Stoney removed some grain from his saddle bags and fed his horse, made sure there was water and headed out of the barn.

The dogs.  They were waiting out there.  As he walked to the house they followed.  Never aggressive, just watching him.  In fact their eyes were like that of the woman.  Like they were her eyes...

[Scattered Thumbs]

Miles away from the ranch Scattered Thumbs wakes up slowly with his body feeling sore. I'm getting too old for this outdoors livin' he thinks. I hope Stoney Pete is doin' all right at the ranch, He's easier to be trusted than me that's for sure. As long as he remembers there's no profit in tangling with that Trinity feller He'll be fine.
One thing that puzzles Scattered Thumbs, however, is how come that Trinity feller managed to stay away from the "wanted" posters. He must be smarter than he looks. And that makes him even more dangerous.
Scattered Thumbs decides to follow the tracks going North East trying to find their source. If he comes up empty he'll sneak back to the ranch next Monday.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

She was inside the house for a time, long enough for her to hide all the evidence of Trinity's operation. Sniffing out and stashing all the jugs took some doing. She checked Delmonico's door and it was locked, as usual.

Finally, she stepped back out on the porch. Daisy had gotten closer to the man, almost near enough for him to pet her, but Duke warily kept his distance.

She extended the mug of coffee to the man.

[Stoney Pete]

Stoney takes the cup, says, "Thanks.", and tip his hat to the lady.  He notices she has a wand.  He's curious, but minds his business.  Pondering what tact he may take he decides he can trust the woman.   She had sized him up and lying to her and avoiding the truth would only make any information she'd part with harder to aquire.

Throwing caution to the wind Stoney says, "Name's Stoney Pete.  I'm looking for information on a fella name of Slim.  Silver Creek Slim to be precise.  Tall, Red bearded fella.  Heard of him?"

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

"Red beared, you say? There's a lot of men with red beards. My father had dark brown hair but a red beard." She smiles a little as she looks at him. "Your beard looks red to me. Are you on a quest for self knowledge?"

[Stoney Pete]

"As you say, there is alot men with red beards.  I've managed to keep mine offn' any wanted papers.  As for self reflection, it must be done daily.  Can't spend you life cleaningup society without cleaning one's own house."

Stoney knew she was withholding information.  Being such a sparsely populated area she probably knew Slim, or at least his wearabouts.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

"But what if that portion of society doesn't want to be cleaned up? Why bother yourself with other people's business?"

In the middle of her sentence, the Frumpy Fairy Godmother's eyes grow wide as she spies Franken Bird joining Duke to stare at the man.

[Stoney Pete]

"I get paid to bring them in.  That makes them, my business.  As to what they want, it never enters my mind." 

Stoney looks over at Trinity.  He hasn't moved.  He also notices the womans eyes be distracted behind him, but does not turn around.  Remembering his left gun is still tied down he moves the coffee to his left hand.  Time to change the subject.

"You mentioned eggs.  That offer still open or has my profession closed that door?

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

Glad for the distraction, she opens the door and they enter the house. The biscuits are already made and she works on the eggs. Trinity follows in without saying a word and she makes a gigantic bowl of eggs for him which he sets upon eating. Claire sits at his feet, catching the numerous scraps from his shoveling. She makes a plate of eggs for Stoney Pete.

"Would you like some orange juice?"

[Stoney Pete]

"Yes, Please."

Stoney sits and eats.  Not sure who's won the first round...if anyone.  He does know he has no advantage.  She has not thrown him out on his head.  That's something.  Stoney decides to keep his mouths shut and not "voluteer" anymore info.

Authors note:  I'm outta here for the weekend.  Be gentile with my character.  He's but a few pages old.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

"Yes, Please."

Stoney sits and eats.  Not sure who's won the first round...if anyone.  He does know he has no advantage.  She has not thrown him out on his head.  That's something.  Stoney decides to keep his mouths shut and not "voluteer" anymore info.

Authors note:  I'm outta here for the weekend.  Be gentile with my character.  He's but a few pages old.

((I'll behave, but there's no accounting for Del. He'll do as he wants, we just hang on for the ride and try to fix stuff! Have a great weekend! AL ))

[Delmonico]

Delmonico sits in his office listenin' to all this and laughs at the bounty hunters runnin' around in circles.  The fishy one is followin' the tracks to trinity's #4 still and he ain't no revanooorer so don't care.  Fact few out here cares about moonshining unless the moonshiner is sellin' up North on the Lakota reservation. 

Delmonico watches the other ride straght west, right into that tangle of lakes where it all looks alike and a fella can bog down quicker than in jungle quicksand.  The Sandhills is no where for some fella from back east to be wonderin' around on his own.      There is a reason it was one of the last places explored in the West, folks were scared of it.  

[Silver Creek Slim]

Slim sits up and wipes the drool off his beard. He stands up and shuffles back upstairs to his bed.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

The Frumpy Fairy Godmother follows Slim upstairs and makes sure he gets his boots off and is tucked into bed. Rummaging through her reticule, she crumbles some eucalyptis and mint and places it under his pillow to help him to breathe. Giving him a gentle smooch on his forehead, she slips back out of his room, quietly closing his door.

[litl rooster]

 Litl' Rooster sure is glad he has become friends with the barber and has removed his red beard.  I knew when I seen that genuine imatation fish slicker....Things weren't Kosher in Nebrassky any more.....WARNING ...WARNING....... WARNING