Chapter 14

I really enjoyed being back in show business. I worked on some routines where I shot both guns simultaneously and on others where I shot one gun right after the other with my right hand or with my left hand. There was no question that Betty was a good dancer, though never up to Sally's standard, but I was the star of the show.

I knew that people would pay money to see me shoot, so I started a soft-sell to the Evans family that we should stop traveling and settle into a place where we could put on our show and charge admission. I started the selling routine on Betty, and then on Molly, until all three of us were working on Hank. Hank actually held out longer than I thought he would, but he gave in eventually.

Given my greatest wish, we would have headed directly for Santa Fe and set up there. Unfortunately, we just were not ready for that level of audience sophistication. We needed to stick to small towns that were hungry for any sort of entertainment—places where we could hone our act so that it would pass muster in the big city. I suggested that we start out with the next town that had a hall big enough to hold my shooting space requirements. The third town we visited had such a hall, so Hank and I went to see the owner to ask about renting it for the evening. He said, "On day or one week, the price is the same. There is so little call fer a concert hall in this town that I've been thinkin' on burnin' it down."

With that kind of offer, we decided to stay a week. This should tell us a lot about the quality of our show. Particularly, we would know how good we were by how well the crowd stayed up for our last performance. Of course, the crowd fell off as the week progressed, there simply were not enough people in town to give us new customers by the end of the week, but we were all surprised at the number of people who showed up for our last performance. Nevertheless, we made more money in this one week than we made in any week selling elixir.

Hank was ecstatic and bragging about how he'd had the great idea for us to perform in a hall. None of us argued with him; if he wanted to believe that, we sure didn't care. We moved on and found another hall to perform in. And we kept it up, until even I thought that we had a good act worthy of Santa Fe. We had gradually been working our way in that direction, so we got there about the time the weather started getting cold.

Hank and I, well, mostly me, found a hall suitable for our act and rented it for a month. Hank was a little reluctant to commit for that long a time, but I insisted on it. I had never told him that I could cover for us if we ever ran into any financial difficulties; I was afraid that the knowledge might color his relationship with me. Anyway, I was prepared to stand the loss, if it came to that.

I got the Evans established in a small house while I returned to Madam Anna's establishment. Anna and all of her stable were as happy to see me as I was to see them. I was hardly in the front door saying hello to Jed, the bouncer, when Anna came rushing in and had me installed in her bedroom. I had dinner that night with her extended family. I told them why I was back in town, and they all wanted to see our show. I had hoped that they would feel that way, so I had brought enough tickets for the entire group, including Jed and Hattie. I did ask that they give us a few days to polish our performance in the new location before they showed up, but I assured them that I was anxious to show off for them.

It took a full day to get everything arranged, so we were in town for five days before our first performance. That time was needed, among other things, for our presence to be announced to the public. I took out a large ad in the Santa Fe newspaper as well as having handbills distributed.

Finally, the big day arrived, and, strangely enough, I was the only one who was not worried. Of course, I had the usual "stage fright" that all performers get, but I knew it for what it was. Hank, Molly, and Betty were almost petrified when they looked out and saw a nearly full house. I had insisted that we charge 50 cents for a ticket, and Hank had nearly fainted at such a high price, but I insisted that our show was worth it, and we could easily sell the tickets. I think that it was the high ticket price coupled with the size of the audience that really worried him; he feared having to return all that money if the spectators hated the show. We had over 200 customers, and that was enough to pay our entire expenses for a week, so whatever we made the rest of the week was just gravy!

Hank opened the show with a simple monologue describing very loosely what was coming up in the show, and he tripped up a few times from nervousness, but the audience laughed and thought that was part of the show, so no harm was done. In fact, I considered having him make those same "mistakes" for every performance.

The actual show opened with a nice 15-minute dance by Betty. She received polite applause, but I thought that her dancing deserved better than that. When she finished, Hank came back out to introduce me. I had him use exactly the same words that I remembered Jake using to describe my qualifications as "the best pistol shot in Texas." He talked for about five minutes, and both of us could see that the audience was getting a little impatient, so I came out a little earlier than we had originally planned.

I had switched my .44-40s for .22s so that I would not deafen the audience. I said that I knew that they were disappointed that I was using such a light gun for my performance, but I wanted them to understand that I was doing so in an effort to save their ears. I illustrated my point by rapid fire from the .22 into the target about 30 feet away, then repeated the same exhibition with my .44-40. The noise from the .22 was easily heard throughout the hall, but they were not prepared for the roar from the .44-40, especially in rapid fire. I holstered my pistol and stood there for a full two minutes to give them time for their ears to recover. I said, "I hope you now understand why I do my demonstrations with the lighter .22 caliber pistol." That produced the expected laugh, and we proceeded with the show.

I did what for me were relatively simple demonstrations and then called on Betty for another dance and some songs. This time, she got the applause that I thought she deserved. We alternated my shooting with her dancing and singing for the rest of the show. My grand finale was rapid fire from both double-action .22s. By the time I had fired all nine shots from each of those two pistols, the hall was rattling with noise and reverberations from even those small pistols. The show closed to a standing ovation for all of us!

By the time we had been in business for the entire winter, we were playing to sell-out performances for every show. We were literally making more money than we could spend. I was happy and the Evans were happy. Then it happened, along came spring and Hank got the wanderlust. I told him that I was not interested in going back on the road, but he couldn't take it any longer. All three of the Evans gave me an ultimatum: they were leaving! I could go back on the road with them and they would love to have me, but they were going whether or not I did.

I gave them their share of our earnings and waved goodbye. It had been fun, but my heart was just not in wandering around the country. I had gotten used to the easy life, and that was what I thought I wanted. I closed the show down and went back to being an assistant bouncer and fuck-toy at Madam Anna's. That lasted about six months before I got itchy feet. I really liked living with Anna and her stable, what man in his 20s wouldn't? But there was really nothing for me to do except sit around, unless I was amusing Anna or one of her girls. My problem was that I was BORED!