Bill Brooks [Jim Glass 01] Rides a Stranger (retail) (epub

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.BILL BROOKSRIDES A STRANGERFor Carmen and Laura,God’s Own ChildrenContentsPrologueMy name’s Kip Mulligan and I own a saloon in…Chapter OneAfter I turned the badges into Captain Rogers in Eagle…Chapter TwoI rested a foot on the rail and waited for…Chapter ThreeHe’d been a worried man looking for an answer he…Chapter FourThe barkeep chipped me off a chunk of ice from…Chapter FiveShe had been waiting forever it seemed.Chapter SixI told her to think about it, that I planned…Chapter SevenWe walked over to the jail and went in and…Chapter EightI needed rest bad and I went to my hotel,…Chapter NineWhen the stranger offered her salvation, she took it.For…Chapter TenI made steady time, and after what seemed forever dawn…Chapter ElevenWe stayed ahead of them as though we were out-racing…Chapter TwelveMorning light had filled the room and I was…Chapter ThirteenThe metaphor, he told himself, was a boat adrift, its…Chapter FourteenThat son of a bitch Joe Bike was right about…Chapter FifteenA gun, a horse.What more did a man need…Chapter SixteenThe town was as I remembered it: just a town…Chapter SeventeenWe followed the railroad tracks.It seemed simplest.The country…Chapter EighteenFrom the diary of Maize Walker…Chapter NineteenDay broke.The woman slept beside me.Our lust less…Chapter TwentyI was already up and saddling my horse when Maize…Chapter Twenty-OneFrom the diary of Maize Walker…Chapter Twenty-TwoDusk brought with it the anticipated rain.Tom sat at…Chapter Twenty-ThreeWe started early, Tom and me, the light without the…Chapter Twenty-FourShe held the bottle of mercury in her hands, the…Chapter Twenty-FiveI was already awake and dressed when the knock on…Chapter Twenty-SixThey rode swiftly through the night of moonlit landscape.Tom…Chapter Twenty-SevenI’d heard rumors that the last of Custer’s men shot…Chapter Twenty-EightThe horse was starting to break down under their weight…Chapter Twenty-NineAs luck would have it—or fate, which he knew was…Chapter ThirtyHe woke and wept alone—away from his wife, where she…Chapter Thirty-OneI knew I’d never be able to locate Tom and…EpilogueAs they waited for the end they spoke of many…About the AuthorOther Books by Bill BrooksCopyrightAbout the PublisherPrologueThe Hondo Daily ReporterEyewitness Account of SlayingMy name’s Kip Mulligan and I own a saloon in Hondo County just outside Mordecai, New Mexico Territory.I have owned the place for three years and never seen such violence all at once.About noon, three men came into my establishment and took seats at a table and ordered drink and food.They were secretive in their manner and spoke in low voices.I took them at first to be cow-boys, for they were dressed like drovers and wore long dusters and spurs with small rowels.I brought them whiskey and stew and they took to it like they had not eaten in quite some time.I tried to make small talk but they were reticent to be engaged in conversation.One of them had his hair in a long braid that fell halfway down his back.That was the only outstanding feature among them.I noticed that their horses were all lathered when I stepped outside to empty a spittoon.They looked like they had been used pretty hard.My assistant, Miss Emily Rose Sherbrooke, entered the room shortly after the trio arrived and took up residence with me behind the bar.Some words were exchanged between she and the men not fit for print.I tried to intervene on her behalf after they insulted her, making reference to what they perceived her profession to be.Miss Sherbrooke has worked for me for several years and is an entertainer and nothing more, let the record show.It was at this point that I became concerned for our safety, for all three of the men acted gruff and in a threatening manner and I could see by then they were well-armed with revolvers.I asked Miss Sherbrooke to take her leave so as to calm the situation.She refused, calling one of them a son of a—! after he again insulted her looks.This is when he parted his duster back and showed us he was wearing a badge—the sort I’d seen whilst living in Texas and quite common down in that country, the sort the Rangers wear.I offered them a free bottle of spirits in order to improve the situation and they readily accepted, and I thought that pretty much the end of the matter even though Miss Sherbrooke was still distressed over the insults they’d cast her way.Things had settled down considerably by the time another stranger entered and approached the bar behind which I and Miss Sherbrooke were yet standing and ordered a glass of beer.He took notice of the painting I have hanging above the bar—a rendering of a nude entitled Eros in Recline, which I purchased a year earlier at an auction in Santa Fe in order to provide my customers some respite from the isolation of the territory, which only adds to a man’s great loneliness.The painting is quite revealing and free to view for any paying customer [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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