Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3239802" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-nineteen, “Meeting Miss Turner“, Saturday June 10th, 1882, 6:30 P.M. Chester and the vampire hunters return to town as the sun is setting.  Chester says, "At least we know where they aren't. With the sun down, they'll have the advantage, so we'll have to pick this up at another time. See you all later." Chester drops off Lookout in the stable and brushes him down. Then he drops off his stuff in his room and washes his face in the wash basin. After cleaning up, he visits the Double Eagle to see Clarisse. She greets him with a kiss. "Evening stranger." Chester says, "Very funny. Let's go get dinner at the El Parador. I'm famished after riding to and fro today. How was your day?"  “Uneventful,” she replies.   Chester and Clarisse enter the El Parador to find a party in full swing. Clarisse says, "Oh, that's right, Mr. Fuentes is holding his political rally tonight. Shall we go in anyway?" "Yep. I'm not running against him, so we should be OK. Trick is to find someplace to sit."  Deputy Eduardo Rodriguez is sitting with an attractive female wood elf who Chester doesn't recognize. He gestures for Chet and Clarisse to come and join them.   Chester walk Clarisse walk through the crowd to the table. Chester tips his hat, "Evening, miss. I'm Chester Martin, Eddie's co-worker and this is Clarisse Townsend, my amour. How are you both tonight?"   Eduardo says, "Good so far, this party is just getting started. Estaban wants to ensure that he has the votes of all of the regulars here before expanding his campaign through the rest of town. He's hoping to draw new people too, but I doubt they'll be room for many more the way this place is filling up. Oh, Chet, let me introduce you to Sophia Oliveria."  Chester states, "Nice to meet you, Miss Oliveria. This is the first that Eddie's spoken about you before. Are you new to Promise City?"She replies, "I've been here a few times before back when it wasn't even a town, yet alone a city. I arrived here earlier this month for Anita Ramirez's wedding and decided to stay since the town has such handsome men here."  "Well the handsome men of the town thank you." Clarisse elbows Chester. He continues, "Ow. I'm taken, of course. But Eddie is almost as good. Right?"Eddie says, "Chet, why don't we go and get some drinks for the ladies, as crowded as it is it might be a while until a waitress finds her way over here."  On the way to the bar Eddie says, "Chet, I talked to Father Thomas Valdez earlier about his second cousin, Federico Luca, the rancher I mentioned a while back. He's run away to Mexico, the town of Naco just over the boarder south of Bisbee, around fifty miles away. Valdez doesn't know much but what he did hear is that Luca ran away because he thought that Wyatt Earp was going to kill him.""Hmm. We better leave no stone unturned. Let's tell Mitch first, though." Chester looks back at the table. "Clarisse isn't going to be happy about me going into Mexico. How do you feel about sticking one to the Deputy Sheriffs?"     Eddie says, "It's only a hundred miles round trip, shouldn't take us very long at all."  Chester answers, "Well then, I'm raring to go. I want to see this thing through. Those deputies aren't going to scare me off. We better get back to the ladies."  Eddie replies, "We will have to wait until tomorrow thought, you're working the night shift in town tonight."  Chester laughs, "I wasn't that eager to go. Tomorrow works good for me." Chester and Eduardo carry the drinks back to the table. "What were you ladies talking about?"  Sophia replies, "The play next weekend. Estaban will probably be playing Romeo during the Saturday night performance."  Chester says, "It'll be a big event. It isn't often something like that happens here. The whole town's talking about it. What's nice is that townsfolk are acting in it, rather than a traveling band. Josephine Marcus is directing, right?""Indeed she is," Sophia exclaims. She then goes on to describe what she knows of the play and those who will be in it.  Estaban assembles his band, of which Sophia heads up and joins in with a unique wooden wind instrument that somewhat resembles a flute except that his has a paired of tubes at the end. Clarisse grabs Chester and brings him out to the dance floor.  As Minerva and Nakomo make their way to the El Parador they notice that it is rather busy this evening. "Why don't we have dinner there?" Nakomo suggests. Minerva agrees and the pair enter the El Parador. They notice Chester and Clarisse and make they way over to the table to say good evening.   The Priestess asks, "How was your day today Deputy?"  “Fine,” he politely replies. Once they have eaten Minerva explains Senor Franjoluppi's situation to Nakomo "We must go back over to the Lucky Lady. I would appreciate it if you kept your ears open."  The two make their way back to the Lucky Lady. Conrad left Kate at the Lucky Lady and she went inside. She went behind the bar, put on her apron, and took a look around the room to see what needed doing.  Saturday night at the Lucky Lady begins quietly. The Barkers arrive and Stanley begins the night with some light Gilbert and Sullivan pieces. The usual fans of Mr. Barker's piano playing have arrived and taken seats near the stage. There appears to be fewer other patrons than usual, which is not surprising given that four separate rallies, most offering free food and beverages, are taking place elsewhere in town.Dressed to play poker, Jake arrives back at the saloon. He makes his rounds, greeting patrons and checking the saloon out before sitting down at his table.  Well, my leaving early shouldn't be an issue, Kate thought to herself as she got started. She made her way over to Jake and asked, "Any word on how our hunters fared today?"  He says, "No, I have not seen or heard from any of them."She nodded. "Hopefully Chester will be by before too long. Conrad and I will be going to the El Parador later, you should come by. Esteban's party is likely to go on late. And you never know what we might pick up there."   "I may. We'll see. Not like I have to get up early to go to church," Jake says with a winkKate laughed. "I have to get up for after church. I'm taking Austin Blake out to the ranch to see the operation, seems easier to sell our horses through an already established business. And I won't be competing with friends. Poor Minerva, how did she land such dissolute friends?"   "I doubt that the shepherd goes out for drinks after hours with his flock." Jake comments wryly.Job Kane makes his way across the room the Jake and gesturing to the table where Henry Weller, Ned Walters, Alfredo Garcia and Helen Barker are at comments, "Not enough regulars for two dealers tonight I'm afraid. Why don't I go get Bernice and spend the night with her and let you run the game tonight."    "Fine by me," Jake says with a smirk, "Likely she would rather spend the night with you than me. We both stay out of trouble that way."Stanley finishes up his playing with a Bach piece. Once done Helen gives him a standing ovation and then turns her chair around to play. By that time they are joined by Postmaster Eddie Palmer and rancher Forest Morand to finish out the table.   Absently straightening a wrinkle out of his white silk shirt, Jake welcomes the regulars. He chats with them while shuffling and then launches into the game.  Kate got the drink orders for the table and kept her ears open for any interesting bits of news she might pick up.The game begins. By the time a half-hour passes Forest and Helen have both won all of the hands, while Ned Walters and Henry Weller have lost most of the money played. Eddie Palmer has folded with every hand while Jake and Alfredo have placed minimum bets.  Kate wondered sometimes why Mr. Palmer played poker at all. As far as she could remember, she'd never seen him play to the end of a hand. Tony Lucky's table only has three people at it tonight, most of his regulars probably being at the either the Freedom or Liberty party rallies.  For tonight, Kate paid more attention to Tony Lucky's table than usual. Considering the lack of their usual players, she suspected she might hear a few interesting things there.Job Kane comes down from an upper floor arm-in-arm with his young lady Bernice Turner. Kate notes that the woman looks to be around the same age as her. The woman has on a royal blue high-collared dress and is wearing a black armband on her sleeve. Job escorts her over and suggests that Bernice and Katherine get to know one another. Meanwhile, a cleanly-shaved cowboy-type who Kate doesn't recognize enters the room, checks a long-barreled revolver at the door and then proceeds to quickly in the direction of Tony's table with his eyes squarely staring at the dealer and a sense of purpose in his walk.    "Mrs. Turner, why don't we go sit near the stage," Kate said as she watched the man approach Tony Lucky's table. As the man reaches the table Tony looks up and a startled expression crosses his face. Behind the bar Jeff Mills also notes the potential drama and assuming this is another irate husband reaches beneath the bar for a revolver. Instead of a fight however Tony stands and gives the man a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, getting a kiss back in return. Tony turns to his players and says, "I'd like to introduce you to my cousin Fran.." The cousin interrupts him, thrusting out his hand in greeting and saying, "Frank, Frank Lucky!""Oh, that's just what we need." She looked to Bernice with a wry smile and said, "I'm sure Job has warned you about Tony Lucky, who leaves a trail of angry husbands behind him. Let us hope his cousin isn't the same."  Kate then says, "It seems my employer thinks I need a break. Job has been anxious to get you here for some time."  Miss Turner replies, "Job has told me a lot about you Mrs. Kale. I....I was not able to get away before. No matter how much I wanted to I...it's hard to explain, but I wouldn't allow myself to go." Kate notices that as the woman speaks she nervously touches the dress collar on the side of her neck."I understand better than you might think," Kate said. "I went with my friends to Thomaswell over in New Mexico at the end of March. There were some creatures that needed destroying." She pulled down her own collar, exposing the two tiny scars that had been left after Greeley bit her. "After it couldn't take my mind it tried something else.  Before that though, while we were still here, another did manage to cloud my mind. I tried my best to convince my friend to leave a man she loved and go with the monster."A wave of emotion crosses Bernice's face. Rather than a breakdown or tears Kate instead senses an inner strength in the woman as she sits up firm in the seat. "Yes, the men rescued me. My....my mind has been clouded for quite some time. I was the victim of both my late husband and his Great Uncle. I am fortunate that they only drew sustenance from me and never actually killed me, although now that they have been found out that may not be the case if I meet them again. Job would not allow me to remain in Wilcox, but he has also indicated that it is not safe for me to stay here, this being a public place and not a private residence."Kate replies, "He's right about that. My friend lived here, and the creature was able to get into her room. I'd offer you a room in my home, but I run a school from the building and I'm not certain it would count as a private residence either. I do have a little house on my ranch that would work, but it's a mile out of town and the journey wouldn't likely be safe. And after all that talk, I'm going to tell you not to be overly worried. With so many people hunting them, it would be foolish for any of the creatures to come near you." Van Horne makes his way out of the bar as Jonathan Harker and Boston Harker enter the Lucky Lady. They make their way over to the table where Kate and Bernice are seated. Jonathan introduces his cousin and says, "Miss Turner, Boston has his own house at the western end of town, on the opposite side of Pine Creek. He'll move into your room here upstairs and let you stay there.""I remember the kind Mr. Harker from a few months ago when he told me a bit about mining," Kate said after Bernice thanked him. "It's a pleasure to see you again.  And it's nice to see you back no worse the wear for your afternoon," she added, nodding to Mr. Jonathan Harker.  He replies, "Yes, but we failed to find who we were looking for. I'd consider setting a trap for him here, make Mortimer think that Bernice is still staying upstairs, but that wouldn't be safe or fair to the other residents of this building."Kate states, "You're quite right, although most of the residents know about what's happening and probably wouldn't mind helping," Kate said. "If not a trap, what is your next move? Thomaswell was fairly deserted so finding out who was the problem wasn't as difficult. And I doubt I could walk around town checking everyone with a mirror. Have you any other ideas on where to look for them?"  He replies, "No, but we'll put our heads together tomorrow on that score.""I'd call that the start of a plan, at least," Kate said. "I'll spend some time going over what's happened here in the past and see if there's anything I've missed." Mr. Harker's went over to the bar to get a drink and Kate took a deep breath. "There must be an answer, there's just something we're missing.   Now, tell me about how you met Job," she smiled. "He was one of the first people I met here and has always been very kind."She says, "I met Job in Wilcox, he went there on a errand for a Mr. Tom Whipple who he worked for. Somebody skipped town owning his Lone Star Saloon a few hundred dollars plus another hundred to Job personally. So he found the man and got back what the man had for money. I was impressed that he did it through just talking without having to resort to violence or even the threat of violence, just the mention of Judge Isby's reputation did the trick."Kate laughed lightly. "I'm not surprised. From what I've seen Job prefers to settle things with reason, and Judge Isby is well known as a tough man who doesn't suffer fools lightly.  Mr. Whipple still owned this saloon when I started working here, although he sold it perhaps two weeks later. I was still in black then, although I put aside my mourning a few days after I arrived here. My late husband didn't approve of long mourning."Bernice replies, "I am totally confused about the whole idea of it now, I mean, Mortimer has been dead but he's still not dead. I want to remember the man I loved but not the monster he is now, so I keep going back and forth as to whether I should be in mourning or not."  "It seems as if you've worked out a compromise," Kate said, gesturing to the black armband the other woman wore. "The man who was your husband passed on when one of those monsters found and turned him, so I would count the time from then. But you must follow your own feelings. If you feel ready to put the past behind you and move on with your life then there's no reason not to leave symbols of your past life behind as well."  She replies, "I'll never be able to put the past behind me if there's a chance that I'll see his face again as a monster."Kate states, "We're going to take care of it. None of us wants these things running loose, especially those of us who were looking for Colin in Thomaswell. We have some reason to believe there are some personal grudges going on."  Job Kane finishes talking with the Harkers. He comes back and says, "Okay Bernice, let's go get you settled in for the night somewhere safer than here."  Kate offered her hand. "Have a restful night; you'll be perfectly safe in Mr. Harker's house. I hope I'll have a chance to talk with you again, and of lighter things."  Job, Bernice and the Harkers depart. When Minerva and Nakomo enter the Lucky Lady he goes to the kitchen in search of Ginny and Minerva approaches Tony Lucky's table. "Buenas Nochas, Senor Lucky, I see your cousin has found you." Is there room for another player?"  Tony says, "Pull up a chair Miss Minerva, I used to play regularly with your predecessor Anson Haggler, happy to have you at my table as well. So you've already met my cousin Frank. These other two guys are Fernwood Haskins and Gordon Holland."Minerva smiles congenially and nods to the men. "Si, I have met your cousin. So Senor Frank, will you be staying for the tournament?"  "Tournament? What tournament?" he asks.   Minerva states, "Oh, I am surprised you have not heard of it, Senor. everyone from here to Tucson must be talking of this tournament. I hear there is a substantial amount of money to be won."  Frank Lucky says, "Well, I've been spending most of the last week on the trail and I'm not much of a gambler. I just figured I spend the next week or so here with my cousin Tony before moving on to Texas.""You have come at a most opportune time, Senor Lucky. There is a wonderful play being performed here next weekend, perhaps you have heard of it? It is titled Romeo and Juliet." She places her fist over her heart. " Ah, such a tragic story. It is about an innocent young couple who are caught in the crossfire of their family's.. what is the word they use in Italy?” She pauses as if searching her mind for the correct English word.. I believe it is called a Vendetta? Si, That is the word” I am certain that the gods must endowed Mr. Shakespeare with Divine Inspiration in the writing of it. It is about a young man and woman whom the gods have destined to heal the rift between their two feuding families through their bonding. They are wonderful children, pure in form and action, blessed by the gods and loved deeply by their families. But the dark veil of hate rests upon the two powerful families’ like a shroud preventing them from recognizing the gods will. The Parents of both children presume, in their arrogance, to override the will of the gods. They persist in blaming one another for the sins committed by another who is no longer even alive and so, forbid bonding of the young couple. The gods punish the families by compelling the young couple, through a bizarre twist of events, to take their own lives, leaving their families devastated.” She sighs at the sadness of the tale and continues. “Si, Romeo and Juliet is a clear message from the gods that no good can come from holding a vendetta against another. The gods do not act without a reason. And I am certain that the performance of this play, here, in Promise City at this tumultuous time is meant to send a message to the People of Promise City, and those who are passing through, “ she says smiling at him, “to put aside old grudges and accept one another. To ignore such a message is to put oneself in peril of suffering equally tragic consequences. "She continues in a much lighter tone. "It is quite the work of art. Do you not agree?" "I believe that Shakespeare modeled his story on the Noble Italian families of old. They do not still practice the misguided tradition of Vendetta in Italy anymore, do they?" She asks turning to Tony Lucky.  He replies, "Oh, I've heard of the play before and sadly yes, in some parts of Italy family vendettas are still the norm."Minerva states, "Oh, that is simply awful. It is beyond my comprehension to understand why civilized people would behave so barbarically. I will pray for their damned souls, for I am sure that the gods will not allow such a crime go unpunished.  Ah, But enough of this dark talk. “the young priestess says flicking her hand in the air. “ For now we shall practice our skill with the cards. Perhaps Hermes’s will smile upon you this evening Senor Frank. She turns to Tony, "Senor, would you care to deal?" she smiles.</blockquote>

Verification