Trouble In Town

“There goes another one.”

“Would you stop it? If that gal turns around and spots you looking at her, then that fellow at her side is going to wring you neck.” Paul smiles. “Not that I would mind, of course.”

“Oh, he would be flat on the floor before he can even blink.” Nat boasts.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Should I call him over so that we can test your theory?” Paul is thoroughly enjoying the situation.

Nat glances at the man whose shirt is tight around his bulging muscles.

“Nah...He would probably be too intimidated by my superior form.”

“Superior what?” Paul surveys Nat. “When exactly was the last time you looked in the mirror? I would have rather said ‘Nah, he would be too ashamed to fight an inferior form like me’.”

Paul bursts out in laughter as Nat glares at him.

“Come on. Let us go and get some food to feed this inferior form, shall we?” Paul teases.

“Not funny.”

This only makes Paul laugh harder and many people turn to shake their heads at them.

A few minutes later, Paul and Nat walk up the library steps with a slice of bread in hand. Nat takes a bite of his slice and looks up at the library’s sign.

“You now what?” Nat says with a mouth full of bread. “I am not going to be whipped with words by that Miss Betty again. You are on your own, partner.”

With this, Nat dashes down the little steps and runs into the bar on the other side of the dusty street. Paul quickly eats his bread before opening the library door. He takes a step in, but the spurs on his boot seem to rattle like a herd of cattle with bells around their necks. He glances around for the greatly feared librarian, but she is luckily nowhere to be seen. Sighing happily, he enters the building and closes the door behind him. He walks as softly as he possibly can over to the cooking book aisle. After searching through the rows of books, he takes one and flips through its pages while turning to the right. He frowns at the book before looking up...right into Ms. Betty’s face! Her green eyes are blazing and her facial expression shows her disdain for him.

“Howdy, Ma’am!” He musters a rather warm smile.

“Lower your voice!” She glances down at the book in his hands. “Before you take another book, I want the previous one back.”

“Well, you see, Ma’am. I don’t have it anymore.”

“What happened this time? Did the cow eat it?”

“No, no, no, Ma’am.” Paul glances away nervously. “It caught fire and burned to ashes.”

Shock is written all over Miss Betty’s face.

“IT DID WHAT?!” Her voice is loud, but still a whisper. “How could you let that happen?”

“I...well, I was making an apple pie and the oven caught fire, then the pie caught fire, then the cloth that I was using caught fire, and then I accidentally threw the cloth onto the recipe book and it caught fire. I do apologize, but that book had strange recipes in it anyway.” He chuckles until he sees the unforgiving look in the woman’s eyes.

“PUT THAT BOOK DOWN AND MARCH RIGHT ON OUT OF HERE!” She orders him.

He nods and puts the book down before starting towards the door.

“Take off those noisy shoes!”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Paul takes off his boots and walks as calmly as possible to the library door while the people stare at his dirty socks that has holes in them. Once outside, he quickly pulls his boots back on. He looks up at the bar when someone is thrown out. It is Nat. Paul sighs and shakes his head. Crossing the street, he thinks about all of the possible trouble that his friend could have gotten into.

“What did you do now?” He inquires while picking up his dusty friend.

“That good-for-nothing scoundrel cheated me out of my money and when I pointed it out, he had his gang throw me out.” Nat huffs in anger.

“By ‘good-for-nothing scoundrel’, do you mean Walter O’Malley?”

″’Course.”

“Did you call him that in his face?”

“Yeah. He ought to know it.”

“Great! Just great!”

“You will go and get my money back, right?” Nat pauses for a second, “And say ‘hi’ to Penny for me?”

“I will get your money back, but I am not going to be the carrier of your love messages. You can go and tell her yourself.”

With this, Paul marches into the bar.

A few minutes later, a man is thrown out of the swing doors and is immediately followed by four more men. Paul walks out and his calm demeanour does not even hint at the fact that he had just fought and messed up the whole bar.

“You will regret this!” Walter sneers.

Paul makes as if he is going to charge at him and this causes the five men to quickly get up, jump onto their horses and flee out of the town.

“Here is your money,” Paul holds it out to Nat, but retracts it just as Nat reaches out to take it. “My fee is actually twice this, so I will take this and you can come and work to pay off the rest.”

Nat gapes at his friend who nonchalantly climbs onto his own horse before steering it out of the small town.