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21
Sha
She felt the same as the leaves. There had been a time of pouring sunshine and growth and beauty; and then the world had turned and everything had changed.
A pity that I’m not like those bright, lifeless leaves, able to lift on the wind and be whirled away forever.
But I’m a woman, not a leaf, and Cherokee needs me. That ankle of hers will never be the same.
Maybe one day I’ll get used to Whip’s loss the same way Cherokee is getting used to her changed ankle. Maybe one day the pain will no longer surprise me, making me feel as though it has just happened all over again for the first time.
As Sha
«Five pounds?» scoffed the miner. «Hell’s fire, man, back home I have me a redbone hound what whelps bigger pups than that there miserable hunk of bacon.»
«Then maybe you oughta go back and smoke one of them pups to et with your beans, rather than waste my time with all yer whining and —»
Murphy’s words stopped cold when Prettyface walked out from behind a stack of dried goods near the front door. The storekeeper stepped back from the counter so quickly that the scales jumped, rattled and settled into a new weight.
«Three pounds and some for good measure,» the miner said with satisfaction. «That’s more like it. Folks in Canyon City tell me you’re a real cheeseparing son of a bitch, but I guess they was thinking of some other Murphy.»
The storekeeper grunted unhappily, took the miner’s money, and sacked up the remaining supplies without another word. When the miner turned around with his supplies in hand, he spotted Sha
«Well, Lordy me, would you look at this sweet little thing,» he said, walking toward Sha
«Neither,» she said tightly. «I’m Silent John’s…widow.»
Murphy’s eyebrows shot up but he kept quiet.
The miner halted. He looked chagrined at his error, but was no less eager to talk to Sha
«Sorry, ma’am,» said the miner. «Mean no insult. No one told me there was more than two women loose in Echo Basin. Can I make it up to you over supper?»
«Thank you, no.»
«Can I come calling?» he asked, walking forward again.
Prettyface’s upper lip lifted in a rippling, gleaming snarl.
The miner stopped dead.
«There would be no purpose in calling on me,» Sha
«And if you’re of a mind to just help yourself anyway,» Murphy said from behind the counter, «this here gal belongs to a man called Whip Moran. He told me that most particularly, just ‘fore he went off looking for gold. He been gone a month or two, but he be comin’ back soon enough, and there be pure fiery hell to pay if’n his woman is bothered.»
Sha
«Whip?» asked the miner unhappily. «Be that the one what sent them four Culpeppers straight to hell?»
«Yeah,» Murphy said with malicious pleasure. «And if that ain’t enough to take the starch out of your pecker, Whip’s brother is a gunfighter called Reno.»
The miner looked even less happy.
«And Whip told me right forcefully,» Murphy continued, «that Caleb Black and Wolfe Lonetree think of this little gal as one of the family. Any man goes to botherin’ her will answer to them. And her dog ain’t no bargain, neither.»
Sha
The thought of Whip trying to see to her welfare from afar was another knife turning deep in Sha
There was no doubt that Whip had cared for her very much.
But not enough to stay.
May God keep you, yondering man, Sha
And may it want you in return.
«Excuse me, ma’am,» the miner said politely. «I’ll be getting along, now.»
Sha
«The dog is betwixt me and the door,» the miner explained.
«Prettyface,» Sha
After another seething snarl, Prettyface subsided. When Sha
The front door of the mercantile slammed shut behind the miner, shoved by a gust of cold September wind.
Sha
That was what had forced Sha
«Good afternoon, Mr. Murphy,» Sha
Murphy grunted.
«And Mr. Murphy?»
He grunted again.
«Keep your thumb off the scales,» Sha
The storekeeper gri
«He didn’t have to. I’ve known for years that you cheated me. Silent John accepted it as the price of doing business close to home. But I don’t. If that means going into Canyon City for supplies, I will do so.»
«No need to get your water hot, missy. I’m not about to go and get in Whip’s bad graces.»
«Or mine?»
«Or your’n,» Murphy agreed. «Folks what is smart enough to come in out of the rain don’t have no trouble with me.»
«Good. My pack mule is outside. Please load the supplies for me when you’re done.»
«Cost you three dollars extra.»
«One.»
«Two.»
«One and two bits.»
«You drive a mean bargain, missy.»
«Not really. You load Betsy and Clementine’s supplies for free.»
«They throw in a little, uh, extra for my trouble.»
Murphy leered cheerfully.
«One dollar and two bits,» Sha
Sighing, Murphy nodded.
Sha
«Add these to the total, please,» Sha