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EMAIL: backeracres@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, I’m not making any money at this or any other
endeavor, so please don’t sue me. It would cost you a lot more money
than I will ever have, anyhow.
RATING: G
NOTES: I’m into simple titles, I guess. I still think there should
be
a Blue, but it just isn’t landing. Mog is out there, maybe it’s heading
like a meteor for her right now. Just simple ramblin’s. If you like
it,
great, if not, keep it to yourself.
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Mary was surprised to see Vin Tanner among the revellers tonight. He
had never attended any other community function in Four Corners, other
than to hang about the fringes and watch for trouble, but tonight he
actually seemed to be trying to enjoy himself. It was funny, though,
he
didn’t seem to be having a very good time.
The town had decided to throw kind of a founder’s day celebration. It
really didn’t matter what the reason was, it had seemed that since
the
seven men had come together in Four Corners, people had been thinking
about a future here. So they had come together to have a dance and
box
social.
Buck and JD were having a wonderful time dancing--JD with Casey and
Buck with any female with two legs. He just plain loved women, and
they, in turn, loved him back. For a while, anyway. When his charm
wore
off, well . . . luckily, the regulators occassionally were called to
ride.
Ezra had turned away from the card table tonight, and was entertaining
the children with his card tricks. Mary thought he was endearing when
he carried on an adult conversation with the children, who looked to
him with pure adoration.
Rain had come, and was dancing ocassionally with Nathan, though she
seemed every bit as uncomfortable as Vin. Mary surmised it was because
there were still plenty of people in town who didn’t think Negroes
belonged at dances with the white folks, and she admired the
courage
it took for Rain to attend anyway. Nathan had earned the respect of
most of the town with his skills at taking care of people, and they
saw
him as their doctor first, and a Negro second. She hoped someday
they
would see him as their friend.
The preacher was weaving a tale with several of the older widows in
the
corner. They were all interested in Josiah for one reason or another,
mostly since they seemed to think he had brought God to Four
Corners.
All fine, upstanding Christians wanted a good church to go to, and
it
didn’t hurt that the preacher was a fine looking single gentleman.
Chris had come too. She had noticed him immediately upon his arrival.
But he always came to any town gathering. It was his duty, wasn’t it?
He was painfully polite, and watching the goings on carefully. And
he
watched her. She knew he did. Because she watched him. Their friendship
had grown, and they chatted easily, sometimes even sharing a silence
comfortably. But there was never anything more. No dance, no shared
meal, nothing. Just friends. Mary sighed.
“Stubborn, ain’t he?”
Vin’s voice startled her so thoroughly that she lurched forward,
bumping into him and dumping half her cup of punch down the front of
his coat. He looked down at the spreading wetness and blushed.
“Sorry, didn’t mean---”
“I’m so sorry Vin, I just wasn’t paying attention, I was thinking of
something else . . .”She looked down at his jacket. “I don’t think
it
will hurt it . . .” she began, then blushed with embarrassment herself.
“Nope, don’t guess it will, it’s seen worse, ain’t it?” He grinned and
gazed back at her.
She smiled and nodded. He was painfully honest, both with himself and
others.
“You could just go ask him. “
“What?”
“You could ask him to dance. You could get old and die ‘fore he gets
around to askin’ you. It ain’t he don’t want to, Mary. He’s just
stubborn as hell.”
Mary blushed, a deep red that started in her cheeks, spread across her
face and crashed to her toes. Had she been staring at Chris? She shook
her head. She couldn’t even speak.
Vin had come this far, though, he wasn’t gonna quit now. Hell, he’d
wasted enough of the evening hanging uncomfortably around, trying to
figger out what to do about Chris. Patience was not something he was
gonna waste on Chris Larabee. He thought a lot of Mary Travis and knew
Chris did too. If he didn’t, he sure wouldn’t be here right now. He
wasn’t gonna be around forever, and Chris needed lookin’ after. Mary
had what it took to do that. He knew it. He wasn’t much for plans,
but
he figgered he knew one thing he could do that’d get Chris over here.
He took a deep breath.
“Mary, “ he leaned his head over to her, closer, so he wouldn’t have
to
look in her eyes. This was difficlut enough without that. “Did you
tell
him you been teachin’ me to read?”
She shook her head. She liked Vin, very much, but he was making her
uneasy now. He was very close, and he was one who valued his
space.
Chris had seen Vin in the newspaper office more than once, and she
even
had the feeling he was jealous that Vin might be making a move on her.
But she knew how difficult it was for Vin to ask for her help,
and she
wasn’t going to tell Chris, no matter how it looked. That was up to
Vin.
“Good. Didn’t think you would.” She heard him take a deep breath.
“Dance with me?” His eyes darted quickly to hers, a tiny nod given to
her that she couldn’t refuse him, and took her hand and pulled her
firmly after him. “I ain’t too good at this, but hopefully, I don’t
gotta last long.”
She was too stunned to pull away. And so was most of the rest of Four
Corners. Vin spun her up to him and pulled her into the waltz. He
glanced over at Chris, just once, and plunged on with the dance. Buck
sailed by both of them, giving a knowing grin that Vin returned. Mary
had the distinct feeling she was being played worse than Vin’s
harmonica. And then she understood. And blushed again.
It didn’t take long for Chris to rise, make his way across the dancing
area, and nudge Vin firmly in the side. Vin looked triumphantly into
Mary’s eyes and smiled, a warm, generous and victorious smile, then
he
stopped moving and leaned in very close, “Take care of him, ‘case we
can’t?”
She nodded, again unable to speak, as she released Vin’s hand and took
up Chris Larabee’s.
The tracker turned and swept away from the other dancers, slipped into
the darkness that laid just outside the gathering and disappeared.
Chris thought, just briefly, he heard a whoop of joy come from the
general direction Vin had gone, but he couldn’t be sure, because he
was
dancing with Mary.
