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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3766223" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-ninety-seven, “Theater Night at the Lucky Lady”, Friday, June 16th, 6:15 P.M. Gonzales and Jake have arrived back in the elderly elf‘s workshop. Jake says, "Gracias Senor, I am certain that the McCoy's will appreciate their new found freedom, thanks to you. I will hold onto the documents that release them long enough to make it feasible they arrived by some courier to my attention. I trust that they will be appreciative and wish to reciprocate the service, at least enough to provide some information. If not, I will not black mail them for it, there certainly has been enough of that. Shall I assume you wish to remain anonymous as always if they ask about their benefactors?" Gonzales replies, "Absolutely, anonymity has worked well for me to this point." The wizards opens the magical doorway from his mansion leading back into his room at the El Parador and Jake departs. He makes his way to the Lucky Lady first to check on the play activities. Upon his arrival at the Lucky Lady Dance Hall and Saloon the first person Jake encounters is the typically unkempt prospector Ned Walters, who resides at the Saloon each weekend spending much of his hard-earned silver. He is almost unrecognizable to Jake, as Ned apparently arrived early in town and appears freshly bathed, his beard neatly trimmed back, and is attired in a brand new three-piece suit that from the tailoring must have come from Kelly's Dry Goods. Ned tells Jake that he is looking forward to playing in the tournament this weekend. Glancing at the clock, Jake sees that the play is scheduled to begin in forty-five minutes. He does not see any of the actors yet although several members of the orchestra have arrived and are setting up near the piano under the direction of Sandra Wainwright, who is presently arranging her cello. Cornelius Van Horne walks up to Jake and says, "It looks like we will be full for the tournament, I just received a telegram from Bat Masterson and Luke Short asking for both to be signed up to play. They expect to arrive tomorrow late morning." "We have no lack of gun fighters for our event. It would certainly be nice if they held their fire until they were out of the saloon." Jake shrugs. "There is something about poker and pistols." He replies, "I'm honestly not sure that the tournament is the main reason they're coming. Those two are among Wyatt Earp's closest friends, and didn't sign up until after the newspaper stories went out about his arrest." "Sounds to me that ol' Silver Jake Cook does not need to provide the entertainment over the next several days. I must remember to duck at the appropriate time." Jake laughs, stops and then laughs again. Van Horne replies, "Well, it should be lively at any rate." While they are talking Ned Walters head upstairs to his room. Van Horne tells Jake, "He's one of six tournament players who will be staying in rooms here at the Lucky Lady. Twichy Brooklyn, Brady Hawkes and Victor Muratz have already checked in too. We're still waiting for Jim Franklin and Willy Spinner, they're expected to arrive tonight." "I do not know much about any of them, did you pick those least likely to shoot each other to stay here?" Jake says with a smirk. He says, "Process of elimination, I excluded the fast-draw gunslingers like Hardin, Thompson and Maverick, since I didn't want them to have firearms on the premises. Likewise I eliminated the married ones like Lottie Dano and Anson Safford, otherwise their spouses could just go upstairs to retrieve a gun. On the subject of guns, I plan to make carried firearms one reason for tournament elimination. We'll be able to make an exception for Mrs. Barker since she is a Town Marshall but I don't see that we can extend that to you Jacob. However, there's nothing to say that the dealers can't be armed. How about whichever dealer you are with having a gunbelt with your Peacemaker, with you seated on that dealer's gun side, that way it will always be within your reach?" Jake replies, “Seems like a good plan," he palms his derringer and smoothly opens his hand to reveal it to Van Horne. "I have hardly ever fired this one, but it will be strange to be without it. I usually have it secreted for emergencies. No matter," he shrugs and it disappears as readily as it appeared, "we must follow the rules." His crooked half smile only punctuates the irony of his last statement. A quartet of wood Elvan musicians arrive, all of whom Jake recognizes from playing at the Davis/Ramirez wedding although Pedro Figures is the only one he knows by name. Pedro stops to say hello to Jake while the other three head over to the orchestra area to set up. Jake says, Buenos noches, mi amigo. A pleasure to see you. You are looking fit; is all well?" He replies, "Si, tonight I get to play music in the establishment owned by my friends. That is cause for celebration." Jake looks at him curiously, never having considered that Pedro might not have been or felt welcome outside the El Parador. "I am pleased to have you. I, um, trust you did not believe you were not welcome here. Mi casa es tu casa. (my house is your house)." Jake wishes them well on the performance tonight and leaves him to his business. Jake continues to busy himself as patrons start to arrive. Eventually Emily's Uncle came home, grim-faced from the hanging. They both walked over to the bath house and cleaned up, and by the time Humphrey arrived and they went to dinner Uncle Emery was smiling again. Emily was wearing one of the new dresses her Uncle had given her, a lovely deep pink with the tiniest bustle and a high neck. Some of her hair was pinned up in the back and the rest left to hang loose. Her cousins arrived and they headed off to the play. Katherine Kale and Edwin Booth arrive at the Lucky Lady a half-hour before the play is scheduled to start. Jeff Mills is standing by the door doing a gun-check. There is no admission charge but a box wrapped with floral paper and flowers is on a pedistal by the door with a card reading "Donations to support the arts" in flowery script. Harry Rote is seated at the piano playing out some light pieces of music. Seats have been set up to accommodate 120 patrons, with only a dozen full at this point. The orchestra is setting up, with Sandra Wainwright near her chello directing the musician. Pedro is there with his violin and waves to Kate. Nine of the twelve chairs in the orchestra area are occupied, indicating a few musicians may be running late, and play pianist Stanley Barker isn't present yet either. She waved back at Pedro with a smile. "I have never approved of arriving fashionably late to the theater," Kate said and opened her handbag. She dropped a couple coins in the box. "That is my friend Mrs. Wainwright directing the orchestra, and Pedro Figueres there with the violin. I lived in his Cantina when I first moved here; his family is now my family. His daughter is one of my partners at my ranch." The Barkers arrive, Helen stopping at the door to talk to Jeff Mills about security while Stanley heads up to see Mrs. Wainright. "I'll be back in a moment. I want to go up and say hello to Pedro and Mrs. Wainwright." She smiled at the elder Booth and made her way to the front of the room. Kate kissed the elf's cheek and asked, "Will Dorita get to see you play?" He replies, "Si, on Sunday at the Town Hall. Friday and Saturday night's at the El Parador will be hectic enough without both myself and Estaban for her to get away too." Kate says, "I wish I could have played here with you, although I'm enjoying not having any responsibility tonight so I can watch and enjoy. We probably could have arranged for Sonoma to come into town and help out but I didn't think of it. Have you been enjoying it all?" Pedro replies, "Si, it has been great fun, especially now that Ashley King is not with the company. He didn't want any of us Elves involved with the production." Kate comments, "Thankfully that wasn't up to him to decide. I have never worked out why he seemed to be holding out olive branches toward me, I suppose now I never will. Did the company have someone to take his place?" He answers, "Si, King was playing Escalus, the Prince of Verona. They moved Kevin Kelley up into that role, he was playing Friar John before that. They convinced Newman Sanders to take over that part, Sanders is one of the workers at Cassidy Lumber." Kate says, "That must have caused no small amount of confusion, but I have confidence everyone will be wonderful tonight. It just feels like a night for good things. Good luck, Pedro." Kate caught Sandra's eye and smiled, but didn't interrupt her and looked to see if anyone else had arrived. Edith Berman arrives carrying both her clarinet case and case with several percussion instruments which she arranges near her chair. Another man who Kate does not know arrives carrying a viola and sets up near the stage. It is almost time for the play to start when the final musician arrives, one of the army soldiers, who has three different types of drums with him. Kate made her way back to the seats that Edwin Booth was holding for them. "The soldiers couldn't have come just for that young man to play percussion," she said quietly. "Of course, I have grown a bit paranoid since I moved here." She looked over the crowd to see who was in attendance. Kate recognizes dozens of familiar faces, including Emery Shaw accompanied by his three children and his niece Emily. Also present are all of the members of Arcade's Gang except for Morgana, who is in the play. She settled down into her seat. "I'll have to remember to talk to Emery Shaw later." The Shaws had arrived at the Lucky Lady about fifteen minutes before it was time for the play to start, and Emily's eyes were busy taking in every detail. Even though it was set up like a theater she imagined the tables out and rough men at the tables playing cards and drinking. After he talked to a few people her Uncle led them all to seats and got settled in for the play. Act I begins. Sampson and Gregory, servants to the Capulets and Abraham and Balthasar, servants to the Montague family start a street fight, which is joined by Benvolio of the Montague family and Tybalt of the Capulet family. The fight is extremely dramatic, as all six use well choreographed sword fighting moves. Sampson and Gregory are both portrayed by two of the soldiers who had ridden into town with Estaban Fuente playing Mercutio. The capulet servants are played by Jose Ramirez and Coolie Fagan, neither of whom Kate was aware knew how to fight with swords. Tybalt is played by master fencer Hans Schmidt. Escalus, the Prince of Verona played by Kevin Kelley angrily learns of this fight, declares a death penalty for further feuding between the two families. Conrad makes his entrance as Romeo, who the audience learns is lovesick with Rosaline, played by Julia Barbeau, who will not return his love. His friend Benvolio, played by Kevin Tomlinson, tells Romeo to look at other girls. Meanwhile Lord Capulet, played by Don Wainwright, is keen for Paris to marry his daughter Juliet, played by Josephine Marcus. He plans a party to be held later that night. Romeo and friends decide to turn up uninvited, Romeo hoping to see Rosaline, whom he still pines for. Lady Capulet, played by Morgana Arcadiam, discusses the idea of marriage to Paris with Juliet, Paris portrayed by Army Sergeant George Ball. Juliet keeps her options open. The Nurse, played by Liza Brown, wishes Juliet every possible happiness. Meanwhile Mercutio attempts to cheer a lovesick Romeo up, telling him to be rough with love if need be. At the Capulet's party, Romeo who is disguised by a masque (mask), falls in love with Juliet on sight. Capulet stops Tybalt from attacking Romeo at his party, telling him there will be other opportunities. Both Romeo and Juliet learn that they are each enemies of the other's family... A Prologue sung by a choir dramatizes the conflict both Romeo and Juliet feel between their love for one another and their loyalty to their respective families. Act I ends. During the entire act the music has been on par with any other orchestra that Kate has ever heard. Jake Cook had taken a seat in the back of the room. He is only mildly interested in the play, his attention fading in and out. The expression on his face changes when Juliet, played by Josephine Marcus, takes the stage. He keeps to his seat for the balance of the act but the bored look is replaced by a more uncharacteristically sullen one. Kate applauded enthusiastically with the rest of the crowd. She had lost herself as easily here as she had at the theater in Boston or New York. A twinge of jealousy ran through her at how wonderful it must be to sit in that orchestra and make music. In the short time between acts she looked over to see how Edwin Booth was feeling. Edwin was watching the play very intently. The actors all depart the stage and house lights come up. "Intermission. The bar is now open," Harry Rote announces from behind the bar. The musicians stow their instruments and head away from the music area for the intermission. Stanley Barker remains playing at the piano until he is relieved by the Comique's pianist Warren Watson who removes several sheets of music from his leather satchel and begins to play. Stanley rushes over to his wife Helen who praises his performance at the keyboards. "If you don't mind," Kate said quietly, "I'm going to mingle a bit. Perhaps you'd like a few moments with your own thoughts." Mr. Booth stood when she did and nodded, allowing her to pass and taking his seat again. She straightened her pale-blue skirts and the pendant around her neck and went over to Emery Shaw. "Amazing isn't it? I expected good things from all these talented people, but even I'm astonished." Shaw says, "Well, I'm afraid that I am not one to judge. I've only been to the theater a few times. I did find them to be very good for the most part. That sword fighting was amazing." Kate says, "I had forgotten they'd planned to talk to some of the local soldiers about helping with the swordplay parts. I saw them come into town earlier and was a bit worried, thinking there were here about our high profile prisoner." Shaw says, "I think they're here for both reasons. I heard that they met with Deputy Sheriff Leslie and then posted a few troops as extra guards around the jail. Personally, I don't mind, provided that it helps keep things under control in town for this weekend. I'm more than a little concerned with the number of famous and infamous gunslingers who will be in our midst." Kate says, "I'm not comfortable with it either, and I'm going to have to be here tomorrow and Sunday. I'm hoping they'll all stick to cards, and the no weapons policy here will probably make it safer than most other places. The soldiers leader is Lt. Gamble; I'm not comfortable with him, either. Did Mrs. Perez speak to you today?" Shaw replies, "Yes she did. I feel awful about what happened. I should have held a meeting of the Cattleman's Association earlier this week. We would have noticed the absence of the Perez Family and sent somebody out to investigate." Kate firmly replies, "This isn't your fault, Emery. There were no issues to discuss; no rustling or reason to believe there would be anymore. Plus your niece arrived and needed your attention. Would you have called a meeting just to count noses?" He answers, "No, but with the election pending we could have discussed that again. Do you think we should hold one soon to discuss what happened with the Perez's? We talked about posting Indians at each ranch but never followed through on that, I wish we had." Kate says, "We still can. Remember we'd just had some emergency meetings after the whole fiasco with Anse King, and for most of the ranches getting into town for a meeting is a hassle. Emery, I know all about worrying over things I could have done to change things. All you can do is go forward." He answers, "I agree, starting with the debate on Sunday night. It appears we are now down to just three candidates, myself, Mr. Condon and Mr. Fisk. I plan to use the occasion to outline my vision for this community. Frank Condon is an able administrator but not a man of vision. Fisk is a man of vision but his is not one that I or many others wish to see. By the debate's end I hope that contrast is evident." Kate says, "I think they will. I'm more of an immediate problem solver; I'm anxious to hear what your ideas are to help this community grow without being irrecoverably tied to the success of the mines. And with your ability to see where your opponents talents lie, you should be able to separate yourself from them without having to belittle them." Shaw replies, "I have no intention of belittling either man. As I stated before, I find Frank Condon is an able administrator and would make a fine mayor once this town is established and settled, that time might be four years from now, it might even be two years from now, but it is not today. As for Fisk, his vision of the town is one of freedoms at the expense of personal safety, I plan to highlight that fact." Kate states, "I know you wouldn't belittle, I was trying to say you won't be negative and that will be a help. Apparently this is not my best day; my foot is firmly stuck in my mouth. And I know I did something wrong when I was dressing for the evening since no one has told me how lovely I look, and I know I look absolutely smashing," she teased, lightening the mood. He says with a smile, "Katherine, if I always took the time to stop to tell you have attractive I find you we would never have the chance to talk about anything else." Widened eyes betrayed her surprise even as she managed to control the blush that threatened. "That would be a shame, I enjoy sometimes saying just what I think." Changing the subject back, Kate says, "The Debate will go well. You've built a successful ranch and I'm sure you can lead us to building a successful town too. With room for everyone to live in it." "That is what I intend to do," he replies. "I know it. Is Emily settling in alright? I see your whole brood is here tonight, even if Ellen is with one of those Cartwright boys." He states, "Yes, Emily is doing just fine from what I can tell. She felt confined in Chicago, this will give her new opportunities. And my family came to town for the debate last night that was canceled. Humprey went back to the ranch last night and just returned but the girls decided to spend the weekend at my new house." Kate says, "It must be a bit crowded there, then, but I get the impression you don't mind." "There's never a thing called too much family," is his reply. She says, "Indeed. I wish... I would keep the independence of my life here but have my family nearby if I could. But that good fortune is yours. I should return to my escort. I'm being terribly rude leaving him to sit there alone. Enjoy the evening, Emery, and make sure to let me know if there is anything I can help with before the election. It's a busy weekend but I'll do whatever I can." Jake waits until the crowd disperses at the bar before having Harry pour him a triple Oredain tequila. He takes it outside by himself. "Well as I live and breathe, it is Mr. Jacob Cooke!" Even before turning around Jake recognizes full well the rich speaking voice of Commodore James Duvall, although it has been a good many years since he last had an opportunity to play at the gambling table of the former Mississippi Riverboat owner. "I am honored that the renowned Commodore Duval remembers me. I trust you are well? The Arizona desert is quite different from the Mississippi delta, I would not have pictured you this far from a stately stern wheeler plying the mighty river." The Commodore replies, "Well ever since my good ship The Lauren Belle grounded on that sandbar my luck hasn't been what it once was. I am hoping to reverse that turn of fortune this weekend. Can I safely assume that the Van Horne Tournament is what has drawn you to this place as well?" A smile finally breaks through Jake's troublesome mood, "Ironically, my good Commodore, just the opposite. The Lucky Lady," Jake points to the building behind him with his thumb over his shoulder, "is part mine. The tournament was drawn here because we had a suitable location and enough locals with the money and poker habit to get it started." Jake continues with a bemused look on his face. "You are correct in assuming that I would have traveled to the tournament if the tournament had not come to me." Duval looks up at the Lucky Lady and comments "A fine looking place Jacob, and chances are it won't run into any sandbars and sink." Jake answers, “True, but we still have to navigate man made calamities. Thank you, Commodore, I trust you will enjoy you time here. I think you will it is welcoming enough, perhaps you will stay on for a few days after the tournament before heading off to your next conquest?" He replies "Of course, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to see Wyatt Earp swinging from a rope." Jake is bit taken aback by the comment. "Do you have a personal interest in the matter or is it purely for the historical and entertainment value." He replies, "Oh simply for the entertainment. It will also give me a story to tell at future card games and gatherings." Jake nods and changes the subject. "Are you trying to win enough money to be back in the riverboat business, Commodore? Or are you working on your retirement nest egg?" He replies, "Ask me that on Sunday after I've won the tournament." Jake gives him a confident, easy smile, "I will ask you that on Sunday, sir, but it remains to be seen who will earn the title of best poker player this weekend. I expect it will be quite memorable, quite memorable indeed."</blockquote>

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