Chapter 2

Marty slowly became aware of raised voices around him. Shortly after that, he noticed the room in which he sat was different. There were no linen tablecloths. The tables and furniture were rough, well-worn unvarnished wood, not the pressed wood and faux elegant furnishings he remembered from the banquet. He and those he could see nearby were still seated in the same places in the room but the room itself, was rough. The walls were bare lumber, whitewashed for sure, but obviously without the fit and finish he was used to.

Marty heard the noise increase, then a shout from the stage asking everyone to please be quiet. He turned to see the man he knew only as Jones standing behind a podium, almost a pulpit. After near quiet was achieved Jones began speaking. He said, “I would normally thank you all for coming and welcome you to Pioneer Village but you really had no choice in the matter this time. You made your choice when you signed the contract and again when you all reported to us for work. I am sorry but what we did was necessary for the security of our venture. You were all at the banquet of your own free will after signing a contract to work for us for a minimum of two years. You have now begun the remainder of your job with us.

“I am sure you’ve noticed by now that this room is not as nice as you remember. You would be correct. You were given a mild hypnotic in your dessert and after dinner drink to facilitate your relocation to this facility.

“I know most of you will not be happy about this and many will be angry. I have to tell you that you are no longer in the year 2020.”

When they heard this people began yelling and talking loudly once again. One especially loud-mouthed man stood and said, “You really expect us to believe that? Bullshit! If this is the way you treat your employees I quit. I’m outta here.”

The man immediately rushed for the door and several others stood to follow. Jones stood watching them without speaking. They threw the door open and surged out, only to stop in shock. The front ranks were jostled out of the way as those following exited the room only to stop in shock also. They were standing on the steps and in the front of a fairly large church at the end of a four-block long dirt street. There were wooden buildings lining the street with men, women, horses and wagons pulled by various teams moving back and forth.

After allowing them to stand for a short time, Jones called out, “Now, if you would please return to your seats, I will continue the explanation you so richly deserve. Slowly everyone except the initiator of the exodus and two of his friends returned to their seats. The other three slowly walked down the street into town.

They walked out in front of a stage coach with its horses traveling at a fast trot. As the driver roared past, he yelled, “Ye dad gummed stupid galoot. Dontcha got enuf smarts ta get outta the way of a stage coach?” He cracked his whip and yelled, “Heeee Yaaaa, Giddy Up!” at the team.

Dumb cluck (Chuck) and his friends surged back and stared at the departing stage as the dust it raised slowly settled. Slowly they turned and walked on across the street and into the saloon through the swinging batwing doors. They bellied up to the bar and when the bartender asked, “What’ll it be gents” ordered beer.

When the beer was delivered, he said, “That’ll be six cents.”

Chuck looked at the bartender and said, “What?”

“That’ll be six cents. What are ya hard of hearing?”

“Six cents,” Chuck said disbelievingly. He looked at his friends and slowly reached into his pocket to pull out some change then without looking selected a dime and slapped it on the counter. He grinned at his friends and said, “Hell man you’re gonna get all of my drinking. I ain’t never drank a two-cent beer before.”

Chuck picked up the mug and took a big swig then spit it back into the mug immediately. He said, “FUCK THIS TASTES LIKE SHIT AND ITS HOT TO BOOT. What the hell’er you up to here?”

About that time the bartender looked at the dime before making change and yelled, “Hey, what are you trying to pull off here. This is not a ten-cent piece!”

“Fuck it isn’t,” said Chuck as he reached for it. He continued, “But it don’t matter I ain’t paying even two cents for this shit you call beer.”

When Chuck tried to grab the dime out of the bartenders hand, he knocked it to the floor. The bartender jumped back when Chuck lunged toward him. The three friends were standing at the end of the bar and the infuriated Chuck dodged around the corner and headed for the bartender, his face red with anger. Without a thought the bartender pulled his shotgun from under the bar, shoved it into Chuck’s belly and pulled the trigger.

After the loud explosion blood and parts of his spine blew out Chuck’s back and a surprised look came over his face as he dropped to the floor. His friends stood there in shock then one of them bent over and threw up on the floor. The bartender broke the shotgun apart and reloaded as he watched the two remaining men carefully. After he was reloaded, he said, “You want some of what he got?”

The two men backed away from the bar and one said, “No. We’re outta here.” They ran out of the saloon just as the sheriff arrived.

When the sheriff saw the two running men, he pulled his pistol and shouted, “Hold it right there ya galoots.”

The men skidded to a stop and Doug said, “Whoa there, Sheriff. We were just coming to find you or a policeman anyway. That damn asshole in there just shot our friend.”

“Well maybe we better get in there and clear this all up.” He waggled his pistol at the two and motioned to the door as he continued, “Now get in there until I find out what is going on here.”

As he came through the door, they saw the swamper pulling Chuck toward the rear door. Doug said, “What the fuck?” and started for the swamper.

“Hold it right there,” yelled the sheriff, then he turned to the bartender and asked, “What went on here Hiram? These two said ya just up and shot that there galoot Doby is pulling outside.”

“Yeah, I did Sheriff. He and them two came prancing in here like they owned the world and ordered three beers. That there galoot tried to pay for it with a counterfeit ten-cent piece.” He bent down and picked up the errant dime from the floor and handed it to the sheriff as he continued, “Here it is. Now you tell me what you think about that. Heck, it don’t look like it is even made out of silver. That there strip in the middle sure looks like copper to me. Then, when I called him on it thinking maybe it was a joke or something, he got all hot under the collar and came around the bar after me. Course I shot him. What would ya have did?”

The sheriff looked at the coin closely and laughed as he said, “That sure was some dumb galoot. This thing has a date of 2012 on it and it sure does not look like a ten-cent piece. And who the heck is this picture of on the metal?

The Sheriff looked to the men scattered around the room and asked, “That about what went on here boys?”

There were a lot of heads nodding yes and several verbal yesses. He looked at the two he was still covering with his pistol and said, “How about you two. That the way it went?”

Doug said, “Yeah, pretty much.”

“OK. Hiram, ya said these two just stood there and didn’t cause no trouble?”

“Yep. Nary a bit, just took off out of here when I told them to like their pants was on fire.”

“OK boys, I suppose you two are free to go but do not try to pull something like this again. I will not put up with it in my town.”

The sheriff turned to leave and Doug said, “Hey, what about him. He killed Chuck and you’re just going to walk off?”

“Why not. Seems like he had it coming to him.”

“You shitting me? You can just up and kill someone here in this town and the law just ignores it?”

The Sheriff got a steely look in his eyes and turned back to Doug. He said, “Watch what you say there pilgrim. I did not ignore it. I investigated and it was clearly self-defense. Now you let it be or we can take a walk down to the jail right now.” He had his hand resting on his pistol as he said this.

Doug looked at his eyes and shuddered mentally before he backed off. A very subdued two men walked rapidly out of the saloon and headed back to the church. When they arrived, the doors would not open for them when they tried. Finally, after several attempts and pounding on them they were opened by one of the men they had seen before all this started. He said, “What do you two galoots want?”