When Silsby returned to the hotel in Kensaw he anticipated the usual happy greetings from Mildred. The high point of his trips was getting back to the renewed outpouring of her affections for him after a week or so of being apart. They couldn’t enjoy the pleasure of sexual intimacy anymore because of her pregnancy, but her joy at seeing him again and the resultant enthusiastic hugs and kisses made up for that.
This time, however, Mildred’s face wore an angry expression as he dropped his saddlebags by the door. Her mouth, capable of either sweet or sensuous smiles depending on her mood, was pursed into a tight-lipped grimace. She stood, arms folded over her large stomach, glaring at Silsby across the room. He smiled uncertainly. “How’ve you been, sweetheart?”
“Kind of disgusted.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m tired of this hotel,” Mildred said. “I’m tired of you being gone all the time. They’s nothing for me to do. I sit in this room all day ‘less I take a walk. I know ever’ inch of this town now.”
“That’s all about to change,” he said confidently.
She ignored his statement. “I need to buy some things. And the room rent is overdue. We’re almost out of money. “
“Well, darling, I didn’t bring any back this time,” Silsby said. “Me and the boys —”
“You and the boys! You and the boys! Cain’t you do anything on your own?” she asked. “Ever’ single thing in our life is wrapped around them three. Why cain’t we do things by ourselves? Such as getting a house to live in.”
He had never seen her so cranky before. “Me and the boys is old pals and we’ve made plans.”
“They’s a bunch of drunken cowboys,” Mildred said. “My pa was right about that.”
“I don’t want to talk about your pa.”
“Don’t pick on my pa!”
“I ain’t —”
“I think we should go visit your folks,” Mildred announced.
“I ain’t never gonna do that.”
“Grant Hollings said they was real nice.”
“When did you talk to Grant Hollings?”
“He came by here while you was gone,” Mildred said. “He told me as to how your parents was real nice folks.”
“My pa never beat Grant Hollings’ ass,” Silsby retorted.
“He’s a U.S. marshal.”
Silsby’s eyes opened wide. “I thought he was in the Army.”
“He ain’t in the stupid Army,” Mildred snapped. “He’s a U.S. marshal and he lives in Medicine Bundle.”
“Did he marry my sister?”
“O’course,” Mildred said. “Why’d you think he called on us?”
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Well maybe you’d be interested in the fact he’s got two kids,” Mildred announced. “That makes me an aunt and you an uncle.”
“I reckon it does.”
“Why didn’t you bring back any money this time?”
“Well,” he said, “things just didn’t work out.”
“Did you spend it?”
“O’course not,” Silsby said. “I always bring back ever’ cent with me. We had some bad luck. The horses we was going to pick up was already gone. But we got a sure thing going now.”
“Silsby!” Mildred snapped. “We got seventy-five cents! That’s all we got! Seventy-five cents!”
“Now, darling, just sit down on the bed a minute,” Silsby said, hoping to soothe her bad mood. “You’re started to look peaked.”
“I’m expecting. I’m supposed to look peaked.”
He noticed she wasn’t very pretty at that moment. Her face was round and full, and the angry expression on it did nothing to make her look attractive. He spoke carefully. “Let me explain what’s happening.”
Still angry, she sat down.
“We’re gonna help a man move a big herd of cattle to Wichita,” Silsby said. “He’s gonna pay us plenty for the job. When we’re paid off, we’re all going to Mexico and start that ranch we been planning on.”
“I thought we was going to Texas.”
“No,” he said. “We found out we can get a bigger place south of the border. Ever’thing is cheaper down there. The cattle, cowboy pay, land, ever’thing, see?” He once more tried to put her in a better humor. “You know what they call cowboys in Mexico?”
“How would I know that?”
“They call ’em vaqueros,” he said with a chuckle. “Ain’t that a funny way to say cowboy?”
She was not interested. “Why cain’t you and me have our own place?”
“We will later on, darling,” Silsby said. “But it’s best that us fellers start out together.”
“I got to throw up.”
Mildred walked across the small room to lean over a basin on the wooden commode. She gasped and vomited, then waited and did it again. She remained there and went through another spell of nausea. “I want some fried chicken,” she said.
“What?”
She vomited again, gasping and coughing. “I said I want some fried chicken. I’m hungry for fried chicken.”
“How can you —”
“I want fried chicken!” she yelled, then vomited once more.
“Where’s the seventy-five cents?” Silsby asked. “I’ll go down to the cafe.” Mildred, still bent over, pointed to the battered bureau. He found the money in the top drawer. After another look at his wife in the throes of nausea, Silsby went downstairs and out to the street to buy the chicken at the town’s cafe.
When he got back a half hour later with a covered plate of hot, freshly fried chicken, he found Mildred sitting on the bed. She was smiling. “Oh, good!” she said happily. “I’m so hungry.”
“You kind of remind me of Angelo Kennedy right now,” Silsby said, giving her the food. “Now can I talk to you?”
“Sure, darling,” she said, taking a big bite from a drumstick.
“Me and the boys is working on a cattle deal in Wichita for the next week or so,” Silsby said. “We’re gonna make a lot of money. It’s a sure thing, and we’re gonna take it and go to Mexico and start a ranch.”
“I know, darling,” Mildred said. “You told me how cheap it is down there.”
“Right,” Silsby said. “Now I want you to go stay with a friend of mine over west and wait for me there.”
“Cain’t I wait here, darling?” she asked cheerfully.
“No, sweetheart. It’d be handier if you waited over there.”
“All right, honey,” Mildred replied, still eating.
“We’ll come by there and pick you and Belle up for the trip south.”
“Belle?” Mildred asked. “Is Belle going too?”
“Sure,” Silsby said. “She’s Charlie’s sweetheart. They don’t want to part, so she’s going to Mexico too. You and Belle is real good friends, ain’t you?”
“Sort of,” she responded, devouring a wing, and speaking between bites. “I see her down in the lobby now and again.” She chewed the chicken for a moment. “You know what Belle does? She does with other men what you and me do in our bed and they pay her for it.”
“I thought you knew that without me telling you,” Silsby said. “But she’s gonna give it up to be Charlie’s woman.”
“That’s nice.”
“Can I have a piece of chicken?” Silsby asked.
“No.”
“Well, now, that’s fine, darling.”
“I like Belle,” Mildred said. “She comes and visits me. But I don’t like what she does. Poor Charlie.” She reached for another piece of chicken. “Don’t tell him.”
“He knows.”
She continued to chew, looking at him. “You mean to tell me that Charlie knows that Belle does it with other men and he don’t care?”
“It’s how she makes her money,” Silsby said. “She won’t do it no more when we have our ranch in Mexico.”
“Well, I should hope not,” Mildred said. “We need some money. We only got seventy-five cents.”
“We only got twenty-five cents,” Silsby said. “That chicken cost four bits.”
“Well, then you shouldn’t have bought it.”
Silsby showed a condescending smile. “I tell you what. I’ll take something over to Joe Dantry at his store and he’ll give us some money on it. Dennis and Tommy is gonna do that so’s they can have a good time tonight.”
“Is Charlie gonna get a loan too?”
“He don’t have to, darling,” Silsby said. “Belle gives him money.”
She started to cry. “I cain’t give you any money like Belle gives Charlie.”
“What?”
“Belle gives Charlie money and I don’t ever give you any,” she said, weeping.
“It’s all right, darling,” Silsby said. “I don’t expect you to. Now stop crying about it.”
She wiped at her eyes and took another bite of chicken. “You’re so sweet, Silsby.”
“You’re the sweetie.”
“Are you mad we cain’t do it no more ‘til they baby is borned?”
“Aw, no, honey! That’s normal when the wife is expecting.”
“You’re sweet.”
Silsby went over to their trunk and opened it up. “I got that little Derringer pistol. Joe will let me have five dollars on it. That’s enough to last us ‘til we leave for Ben’s place.”
“What is Ben’s place?”
“That’s Ben Shaw,” Silsby explained. “He’s an ol’ pal who used to be the cook on the Rocking H. You and Belle is gonna stay in his cabin ‘til we come by and pick you up to go to Mexico.”
Mildred grabbed the last piece of chicken and began eating it. “This is really good!”
“All right, honey.”
“I mean it, darling. This is really good!”
“I’m glad you like it,” Silsby said. He stuck the small pistol in his pocket and left the room. When he reached the lobby, he met Charlie and his paramour Belle LaTour coming in off the street.
Charlie greeted him. “Howdy, Silsby. Where you headed?”
“I’m gonna pawn this Derringer of mine,” Silsby said. He nodded to Belle. “How you doing?”
“Just fine,” she said. The woman was a slim, hard-faced whore with a raspy voice. Her hair was a mousy brown, and her mouth a rouged gash above a square jaw. “How’s Mildred feeling today? She was poorly yesterday.”
“She got sick and wanted some chicken,” Silsby said. “I reckon Charlie told you about our plans of going to Mexico.”
“He sure did,” Belle said. “And the sooner we get out of here the better. I was busier’n hell last week when some army boys come through. I spent most of Wednesday flat on my back with some soljer between my legs. When the last of them boys in blue finally finished, I was raw as a peeled onion. I cain’t take much more of that.” She gave Charlie a sharp nudge with her elbow. “Then this randy son of a bitch comes home and ruts on me.”
Charlie laughed. “Well, you’ll soon be the lady of your own hacienda down in Mexico. You’ll just have me to put up with.”
“I got to get that money,” Silsby said. “I’ll see y’all later.” He went outside and strolled down the street to the general store. When he walked in he noticed Joe Dantry was waiting on a couple of drifters. Silsby went straight to the back where loans were negotiated. He found Dennis Nettles and Tommy Chatsworth sitting on chairs against the wall. “I’ll bet you boys is here for the same reason I am,” Silsby said.
Tommy laughed, holding up an expensive watch inherited from a grandfather who reputedly took it off a wealthy Mexican he had shot in Del Rio.
“This has been in and out of here so much I’m starting to forget who owns it,” Tommy said. “Me or Joe.”
“Same with the shaving kit,” Dennis said. He had a fancy case that held a mug, straight razor, brush and mirror. The utensils had pure ivory handles. He won it in a poker game in the ranch bunkhouse one dark winter evening.
“This’ll be the last time,” Silsby said. “Then it’s off to Mexico.”
“You bet!” Dennis said.
Joe Dantry finished with the customers and came into the back room. “What can I do for you boys. The usual?”
“Yeah,” Dennis said.
They dropped their pawnables on the counter. Joe quickly produced the money and passed it over before gathering up the items. Silsby stuck his five dollars in his pocket and left his friends to return to Mildred.
Dennis and Tommy each had enough money for a single evening of diversion. With the routine formed long before, there was no need for discussion as they walked from the store and turned down the street for Pete Baker’s saloon. They always started their fun with a few drinks, then visited the back rooms of the hotel before returning to the bar to finish out the evening getting as drunk as physically possible.
The saloon was empty except for a couple of quiet drinkers when the two walked in. They bellied up to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks. The last whiskey they had enjoyed was in Ben Shaw’s cabin a few days earlier, and that hadn’t lasted long. Dennis and Tommy were in the mood to end the enforced period of sobriety.
An hour and a half of happy drinking went by before they decided to visit the hotel’s back rooms. Still under control, though staggering a bit, the pair of ex-cowboys left the saloon and went down the street. A wave at Pete behind the counter marked their entrance as they went through the lobby to the bordello in the back.
Belle LaTour, wearing a skimpy gown sat on a sofa with two other prostitutes. Another, their old friend Fanny, was by herself in a chair. It was an unwritten rule that they wouldn’t go to a room with Belle even though she was available. She was Charlie’s sweetheart and certain conventions had to be observed no matter what the circumstances.
Dennis took Fanny while Tommy chose a chubby girl named Wanda. The now deceased Fat Dora had always been his favorite, but with her gone he used Wanda as a replacement. She lacked about thirty pounds of being the dead whore’s equal, but Tommy hoped she would fatten up as time went by. With the move to Mexico in the offing, it looked like that was a dream that would go unfulfilled in Kensaw. He’d have to find a hefty señorita to satisfy his cravings after the move across the border.
It took less than fifteen minutes to complete the transactions, and the two left the hotel to get back to the evening’s main event. They used the last of their money to buy a couple of bottles, then retired to a corner table to wrap up the evening with some serious drinking.
“Hey, boys,” a voice greeted them. They looked up to see Arky Bob standing by their table.
“Hey, Arky Bob,” Dennis said. “What’re you doing in town?”
“I just sold a couple of hogs so I’m rich,” Arky Bob said. “It seemed like a good enough reason to get drunk.”
“A feller don’t need much of a reason to get drunk,” Tommy said. “Why don’t you get a bottle and a glass and sit with us? We got an extry chair here.”
“I’ll do it,” Arky Bob said. “Be right back.”
In a couple of minutes he had joined them, shoving his bottle in with their two. They started out with a toast to the old town of Kensaw in general and Arky Bob’s former cafe in particular. With that social requisite taken care of, the trio settled down for an evening of conversational drinking. “So what’re you boys up to?” Arky Bob asked.
Tommy grinned. “We got big doings. You bet your hog-raising ass we do.”
“Yeah,” Dennis said. “We’re on our way to Mexico.”
“Mexico?” Arky Bob asked, puzzled. “What’s this all about? Why are y’all going to Mexico?”
“To start a ranch, by God!” Tommy said. “Me and Dennis and Charlie and Silsby. We’re going to Mexico and start us the biggest damn rancho them greasers has ever seen.”
Arky Bob stopped drinking. “You four, huh? How’re y’all gonna manage all this?”
“We got big plans all worked out, don’t you worry none about that,” Dennis said.
“We’ll have the money and then some,” Tommy said.
Arky Bob topped off their glasses with more whiskey.