Chapter 5

Melinda gave me a stern look and I decided that I’d been, as Mrs Quincannon used to say, voluntold.

“Logan, would you help my man, Emmanuel, drag Brendan out of here and into the street, once Doc is done with him.”

“Now Melinda,” Doc protested. “This man is unconscious and cut real bad. I’m gonna need to get him to my office so I can stitch up his face. And keeping it as clean as possible is important.”

“OK, so I’ll have Logan and my man drag him to your office.”

“There ain’t gonna be any dragging! Damn it woman!” Doc started before being cut off.

“Doc, unless you wanna go without for a long time, I suggest you drop it.”

“Melinda, I understand your anger. Please let’s carry him to my office?”

The owner of the sportin’ hall sighed in resignation. She nodded her agreement and turned to Logan.

“Logan, would you and Emmanuel do as Doc asks? Emmanuel go get the plank out back. We haul a lot of drunks out of here, Logan. Doc will lead you to his office. Don’t drop Bolt on his face ... in the shit ... on the street ... too many times ... by accident.”

“I’ve no reason to drop Brendan, Melinda. Now Clete, on the other hand, might want to stomp on him a little more.”

I heard a soft sounding voice and turned to see Silvy stir like she was waking from a long sleep. Clete was still holding her in his lap.

For the first time, I noticed that other women were walking in the back door and that reminded me of what sort of business I was standing in. All of the women were pretty, in a rough and used sort of way. Some had their breasts on display others had removed their dresses to appear in only their corsets and stockings.

I must have flushed because Melinda came to me and gently grabbed my crotch before kissing my cheek.

“You know if I’m not enough for you, we can bring in another girl.”

“Another girl? What would she do while we do what we were doing? Sit and watch?”

“Oh my. It’s so easy to forget that you don’t know a damn thing about women or sex.”

“I don’t drink much either,” I said half joking. “Just hang on a bit please, Melinda.”

Emmanuel came in the back door with a plank as I walked over to where Clete was helping Silvy to her feet. Once she was on her feet, she was shaky like a new foal. He had his arm around her to support her and tried to pick her up but she refused the action.

“I’m OK, love. I’m OK,” she said quietly.

I tapped his shoulder and said, “Clete, I’m going to help carry Branden over to the Docs place then I’m going to get a drink at the saloon. If you’ve got a little time, I’d like to talk to you before it’s time to turn in.”

“I’ll get Silvy settled in her bed and meet you back here in the bar here in Melinda’s place. It’s quieter and cleaner. It should take me about a half-hour to get her settled. OK?”

“I think that’ll do, Clete.” I looked at the Doc and said, “Doc, let’s head over. You lead the way.”

Emmanuel took Branden by the boots and I took hold of him under his arms and we proceeded to place him on the plank. We lifted the plank and exited by the front door and across the street. The doc was moving a little faster than we were and I soon lost track of him but Emmanuel knew the way.

“Emmanuel, do you do this often?”

“Carry many.”

I nodded figuring that he was not going to be a great conversationalist. We got across the street and Emmanuel stepped up on the boardwalk, I followed. He turned left into what looked like an ally. Instead, the way went back about six feet and then left again into a door.

Emmanuel instructed me to go in first. I figured he knew the best way and that this was the angle Branden needed to be in order to line up with the Doc’s office table. Instead, as soon as I was inside the door Emmanuel twisted his end of the plank and dumped Branden onto Doc’s floor. As soon as Branden hit the floor Melinda’s man and headed for the door dragging the plank behind him.

“Emmanuel! Where are you going?”

“Boss told me bring. I bring. Now I go,” and off he went.

“Doc! Doc!” I called out.

“What are you yell ... Where did Emmanuel go?”

“He bring. He go!” I said picking up Branden’s legs as I nodded towards the door.

“OK. Drag him in here.”

Doc walked through a door and I followed, tempted to drag Bolt by the boots and letting his head bounce as it would. But I just wasn’t that mean so I took him by the neck of his coat. Once inside the door, Doc pointed to a table. And I dragged Branden to the table. I lifted his back on to the flat surface and then his hips and followed with his legs. He was a twisted mess so I straightened him out.

“OK, Doc. Anything else?”

“No. You leaving town now?”

“Nope. I’m going to the bar in Melinda’s for a drink with Clete then I’m going to get some sleep cause Clete is staying with Silvy. He surely has a thing for that girl.”

“You gonna be staying with Melinda?”

“I was told that I was, but I don’t know that I agreed to do that.”

“Well if you do I’ll let you in on a secret. I check out the girls every month for bugs and diseases and such. Melinda is clean as a whistle.”

“Melinda told me that, and I suppose that’s important, but I don’t know why.”

“Logan, ain’t you ever been with a sportin’ girl? They can carry all sorts of bugs and worms and diseases. They pick’em up from cowboys who get’em from having relations with other women or even animals.”

“Oh.”

“Well, Melinda has never had any of that stuff since I been seeing to her and her girls these past ten years.”

“OK.”

“Are you sure you’re not leaving town?”

“Yeah, for tonight I’m staying.”

“The Bolt brothers will be looking for their brother and then they’ll want to even the score when they find him.”

“Even the score? How the hell do they want that? They’re already down a brother and a half! How far down must they go?”

“There are still four brothers, one of them is real hothead. If you’re going to stay please be careful.”

“I always am, Doc. By the way, thanks for what you did for Silvy.”

I walked out of the doctors office and went back to Melinda’s place. I walked through the full length bat-wing doors and slowly walked to the bar. I got a shot of whiskey and went to a table. I’d no sooner sat down than a rough looking old man came to my table and stood behind me.

“Son, if I was one of the Bolts, you’d be dead. I saw what you did to Branden and those Bolt boys will be coming for you. You need to sit with your back to the wall and with no space behind you. Those boy have no prohibition to shooting a man in the back.”

I turned, looked at the man, and explained, “I’m a little new to things like this.”

“Well, you better learn fast or you’re going to be dead fast. I don’t care for the Bolts. They’ve beaten me a few times and way back when they killed my son.”

“Why didn’t you shoot them?”

“I’m not much of a man. I couldn’t do it. But I don’t want to see a young fella like you get shot.”

With that the old guy walked back to a table with a bottle of whiskey on the far side of the saloon and I got up and moved my seat so there was no room behind me and I could see both the front and back doors. That’s when Clete came in the front door. He looked around and found me. Walking to the table he sat and said, “Sitting with your back to the wall. Good move.”

“Thanks. I got some good advice from the old guy over there.”

“Who? Oh him. That’s Riley Price. The Bolts took his ranch, killed his son, took his daughter. As far as I know the boys used her until they were tired of her and then sold her up in Canada. I don’t know if she’s still up there whoring or not...”

“How’s Silvy?”

“She’s fine. I put her to bed and she gave me a kiss.”

“Clete, what are you going to do with her? I mean, how do you deal with the fact that other men are having her? Maybe even one or all of the Bolts.”