though there was three feet of snow on the level, the school was packed. Brie and I stood in the back. Evan Blythe and that kid I knocked silly the first night were seated in the front, along with those guys who were with that war wagon in the square, that I passed the first night I came here.
“Is that Evan Blythe’s son?” I whispered to Brie.
“Yes, he’s a total bully.”
“And those other three?”
“Gun hands, some of the same strip that you ran out of town yesterday.”
No one was getting up to handle the meeting, everyone was starting to fidget. “Who’s going to run the meeting?” I asked my soon to be wife.
“I don’t know, they are all scared of the Combine.”
“Alright, you stay here.” I said, as I worked my way to the front of the room. The room grew silent as I stood in the front.
I cleared my throat, “Who’s the school Marm here?”
A young woman in her early twenties stood up. “I am.” She said, with a slight tremor in her voice.
“Well Mam, do you know the Parliamentary Rules of Order?”
“Yes, we’ve studied them in class.”
“Good, then you come up here and conduct this meeting. I’ll be the Master-at-arms. No one that isn’t recognized by the Chairwoman, that’s the school Marm here. Will be allowed to speak. The purpose of this meeting, I take it, is to elect a city council and then a mayor, and then the city council and mayor to appoint a new town marshal. And let me say this unequivocally, anyone who tries to intimidate any one else, will be shot by me…” Then I turned and went and stood to the side.
That last part probably wasn’t any part of the rules of order, but it was necessary. The school Marm did a good job, except when it came time to vote. She started to have a show of hands. I stepped forward and said, “Perhaps we should have a secret ballot. Let’s pass out paper and everybody write down who they want, of the one’s who have been nominated, and then the Marm and I will tally them. Any objections?”
Evan Blythe’s son raised his hand. The chairwoman recognized him. “How come you get to count? You’re not even a citizen of this town.”
“Because that’s just the reason why, because I am new here and impartial. Now if you don’t know what impartial means, it’s simply that I don’t know any of you, so I don’t take sides.”
Paper was passed out, along with pencils. As they deliberated, I watched their faces. The Wise River combine, were whispering back and forth, Evan had been nominated for Mayor. Plus his son and been for a council member. There were seven openings for council. Evan Blythe had marked his ballot, then he stood up and stared around the room, trying to catch the eye of anybody who looked up. No one looked up. I said:
“Blythe sit down and keep your evil eye to yourself.” He glared at me, he started to bluster, “shut up also.” I said, loosening my right hand gun in its holster. I had counted the people here, there were one hundred and ten, not counting myself, I didn’t plan on voting.
All of the ballots were passed up front, we sat down and counted them, marking the results on a piece of paper. Then we counted the total votes, there were a hundred and twenty ballots. The school Marm and myself looked at each other. We compared the hand writing, the duplicates had all voted for Blythe or his son. We separated the ten. I took them and went and stood in front.
“Funny thing, there are a hundred and ten people present, not counting me. And we have a hundred and twenty ballots. These ten match the handwriting of ten who voted for Blythe and his son. Now I would say they are trying to cheat, wouldn’t you?”
The place erupted in yells and curses. “Now hold on, I am going to burn these ten false votes. And then we will announce the winners.”
I went over to the big pot bellied stove and tossed them inside. I gave the school Marm the high sign to announce the winners. It turned out that most of the shop owners were on the council and guess who was the mayor? No, it wasn’t Brie. It was Klaas Bleecker, the Blacksmith. Blythe and his son were shut out. They stood up, Blythe said, “This isn’t over!” Then they stomped out.
Brie came over and kissed me, “Well Howdy, I get to kiss a council member.” I said. “I certainly didn’t want it, but I guess I’ll serve, for awhile anyway.” She said.
Most of the people filed out into the snow. The new council members and the Mayor stayed. They came toward me, we’ve decided to offer you the job of Marshal.”
“Me, why you don’t know anything about me. Surely there is someone more qualified.”
Brie said, “You’re right, we don’t know much about you. I guess that’s what makes you the most qualified.”
“Well, I guess I could do it, till you find someone else.” We all left, Brie and I went by the Marshal’s Office and I picked up the badge. And all the keys. I locked the door.
As we walked back to her place, she said, “You know, I wasn’t kidding, we don’t know much about you. Last night we were supposed to talk and tell each other about our past. I told you, but somehow, you didn’t tell me anything.”
“I didn’t? I’m sorry. I’ll try and correct that. But it would just bore you.”
“Let me be the judge of that. For you see when you love someone, anything about them is not boring.”
“Alright, I tell you what, if you want you can shave this beard off of me, then you will be able to see the real me.”
“That’s a deal, I don’t like your beard anyway. But I’m going to leave your mustache. And are those buckskins you have on the only clothes you have?”
“I’m afraid so, I was thinking about buying some new clothes. Would you help me do that?”
“You bet I would. We can do that today.” Brie tried to skip, but the deep snow made that impossible.
“Alright, but I have to get my saddlebags, Jim is watching them for me.”
“Your horse is watching your saddlebags?”
“Yep, he’s better than a bank. If someone would try to take any of my tack, he would kick their heads off.”
We went to the barn, then into the small side door. The main door was snowed shut anyway. Jim nickered at me. I went over and hugged him. Then gave him some oats. My bags were hanging right beside him. Brie said, “here I will carry one of them.”
“I don’t think you can, here give it a try.” I handed her one of them. She dropped it. “What in the world do you have in there?”
“Filthy lucre. That’s all.” I said.
“Lucre? Oh, you mean money. How much do you have?”
“I don’t know for sure. More than I need, and that’s a fact.”
“Where did you get it?”
“I
