Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3966601" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Two-hundred-fifty, “You got to know when to hold them” , Tuesday, June 20th, 9:00 A.M. Chester and Clarisse visit the voting booth early in the morning. Being loyal to the party, he votes a straight ticket. He doesn't know much about Joseph Riser, but he seemed like a decent guy when Chester met him at some of the party meetings. He looks over the ballot and notes that he wouldn't mind most of the Council candidates. Even if the Unity party doesn't sweep the election, the government might not be half bad. As the teachers got their adjusted classes started, then Meghan left, returning about a half-hour later. Mollie then left, taking a little longer since the line had grown a bit by then. Kate's turn came around ten-thirty, and when she arrived the line was not too long. It moved fairly quickly, and soon she was in the Town Hall faced with her ballot. She smiled to think that there was almost no where else in the country where she would be allowed to do this. The choice for Mayor was automatic as she marked Emery Shaw's name. Chester's name was as quickly marked for Marshall. Looking at the Marshall candidates, he had a better chance then Kate had thought. Most people didn't know just what the lawmen had to deal with. She had an inside view and knew that Chester had been handling magic and supernatural creatures as well as human criminals. But Hank Hill was part of Arcade's Gang, something would work against him with many voters, and Moss Johnson was... well, Moss Johnson. She looked down the list of council candidates and began to check names. Vera Blake, Manuel Escobar, Esteban Fuente, Vidkin Gerhardtsohn. Kate had not voted straight for the Unity Party because she wanted to vote for Esteban Fuente, but it did open up another choice. She knew little of Joseph Reiser who'd come over from the Integrity Party. Judge Lacey was a fine man of course, but her eyes kept falling to Dr. Eaton's name. The doctor's ad in last night's late edition had caught her eye, and he truly seemed to be reevaluating his views and coming more toward the middle. The chance to work with others of a more moderate viewpoint could do him a great deal of good. That would be assuming, however, that mostly Unity party candidates were elected, and that was a large assumption. She hesitated another moment. She was ready to trust the Doctor as far as she was personally concerened, but not quite ready to trust the town to him. She marked the space before Judge Lacey's name and neatly folded the ballot. With a nod at the gentlemen in charge, she dropped the paper into the locked box and smiled. Whatever happened now, she'd had her say. Kate notes that Chumbley and Josiah Young are both out and about selling the newspaper that had come out very late the previous evening, which are filled with the last campaign advertisement thus slightly blurring the Judge's "No Campaigning on Election Day" ruling. She also notes that a number of Main Street stores have campaign signs up in their windows for the various political parties and candidates. She smiles when she sees that the Comique is hanging one with Jake's campaign slogan that reads "Do not let others tell you to choose between liberty and a safe place to live - vote the Unity Party". Jake's slogan was just a bit wordy, but it said what needed saying. There must be a balance between safety and liberty, and their party was pledged to seek that balance. In all the hustle and bustle of yesterday Kate had never gotten over to the newspaper office. She turned her steps toward Mr. Chumbley. "Skirting close to the edges of Judge Isby's ruling, Mr. Chumbley?" she asked lightly. He replies, "Oh no, he said that I could sell yesterday's newspapers today. These were printed and the first ones sold way before midnight, almost half an hour!" “Oh, I didn't say you weren't perfectly legal, Mr. Chumbley," Kate assured him. She continues, "I wanted to stop by yesterday but it was a busy day. I was a little disturbed by something in the early edition. You stated that the lady Al Brower had been seeing was Ruby. It wasn't, you know. I'd be surprised if Mr. Brower hasn't already been around to clear that up himself." Chumbly exclaims, "It wasn't? Oh, I'm terribly sorry! I haven't seen Mr. Brower today at all, he's been rather busy as of late since he now has to manage the Comique, and they were very busy last night with their new singer. So it was somebody else? I will have to print a retraction in tonight's edition. So who was it that he was in love with?" Kate says, "That's a question you'd have to ask Mr. Brower. He's such a nice man, I feel bad for him to suddenly have so much more responsibility for the Comique. Who is the new singer? I hadn't heard they'd hired a new one." Chumbley replies, "Her stage name is Penny Snow, she and her sister went by the name 'The Snow Birds'. She's the much better singer of the two sisters, the other one now works at the Gay Lady. They were regulars in Tombstone until the saloon where they sang at burnt down. I think her actual name is Penelope Sneirsohn, a Finnish name, her sister's real name is Antoinette but she goes by Annie for her stage name." Kate states, "I may have to stop by and hear her, we need to know what the competition has on the stage. And I'll be more comfortable at the Comique without Mr. Watson there." Chumbley replies, "Oh, she's very good. No Miss. West, but better than any other singer currently in town." A shocked look then crosses his face and he says, "Please keep that to yourself, I would hate for Clarisse, Fifi or Julia to hear that I said that." "You may depend upon my discretion," Kate said, thinking that he only had to insert the name of the other singer who had recently fled town to get his answer to the question of who was Mr. Brower's secret love. "And who could fault anyone for not quite living up to Ruby? I must get back to my school. Have a pleasant day, Mr. Chumbley. Make sure I'm one of the first to know how the elections come out." She gave him a charming little smile then headed back to the school. As she enters the schoolhouse Ginnie hurries up to Kate and in a hushed voice asks "So, who did you vote for?" Kate says, "You should know better than to ask that question, Ginnie," Kate said. "It's never anyone else's business who you vote for. But if you think for a moment, I'm sure you can guess. I didn't do anything very surprising." Ginnie says, "Let's see, Shaw for Mayor, Chet for Marshall, and for Council I would guess Manny Escobar, Estaban Fuente and three of the other seven Unity Party or Independent candidates." Kate replies, "See? You didn't even need to ask. Outside of the people you named I stuck to the Unity Party, so no more independents." Ginnie pauses for a moment and says "Ah, everybody except Riser then." "You," Kate said, giving the girl a quick embrace, "are too smart for your own good. Are you satisfied now that you've winkled my secrets out of me?" Ginnie replies, "Yep, I was pretty sure you'd vote for Estaban instead of Riser. Riser is not a nice man, he mistreats his girlfriend and has also been stealing silver dust from the assay office. I'll be happy when they finally catch him and promote Mr. Caudell up into his job." Kate says, “What? How do you know that? I didn't vote for him because I didn't know anything about him and I wanted to vote for Esteban." Ginnie replies "Luke and Jacob Wagner told me. After Peg Watkins caught Riser and his girl Jennifer Campbell fooling around at the Great Western she evicted them both and them moved into a house near the Wagners. He has a short temper and regularly hits Miss. Campbell." Kate states, "Why in the world does she stand for that. She had her own room before, she must be able to support herself. Although I suppose there's no hiding from someone in this town. What about the theft? How do you know about that?" Ginnie replies, "Jacob saw him burying something out back one night so dug it up to see what it was. Since Riser works for the County I had Jacob tell Deputy Sheriff Hunter, but he was killed before he could make an arrest. I don't trust those two new ones, Leslie and Nagle, so told the boys to keep it to themselves for now." Kate was silent for a moment. She was out of her depth with the legalities. It was possible that the town law couldn't do anything. "You're right not to trust Leslie and Nagle. Perhaps after the election I will speak a word in Nate Caudell's ear. Just so he and his employer can keep their eyes open." Ginnie says, "Well, his employer is Cochise County, his boss being the County Assayer over in Tombstone. What about talking to the County Sheriff? I think he's still in town." Kate says, "I don't trust that man either, Ginnie. And how will I explain to him knowing this? I certainly wouldn't want to drop your name or your friend's names to him. I wish I knew more about who Mr. Reiser's compatriots are, it would give me a better idea if Sheriff Behan is a good place to go." She replies, "As far as I know the only person that Riser spent time with other than Miss Campbell was Kirby Watkins." Kate says, "I feel better about going to Behan if Reiser is unlikely to have connections to the Cowboy Gang. Maybe I should talk to Mitchell Berg and see what he has to say..." Ginnie replies, "That's a good idea. He'll still be Marshal until tomorrow at noon." "It's a place to start. You should get back to your studies now, young lady. I'll go at the lunch break." True to her word, when the children all ran out into the sunshine for their lunch break, Kate hurried away from the school toward the Marshall's office looking for Mitchell Berg. She finds him near the front door to the Town Hall, keeping watch over the goings on. "Good afternoon, Marshall," Kate said, nodding pleasantly. "Can we have a word?" she asked, dropping her voice. He says, "Certainly, let's head over to the office. We're without prisoners for a change so there will be some privacy. This is about the fake Job Kane right?" She started them walking before answering. "No, to be honest, although I'd be interested in hearing about that if you're free to tell. Ginnie told me something when I got back from voting that needs to be passed on somewhere, I'm just not sure where." He waits until the reach the office, then enter and he locks the door. He heads over to his desk and sits down, gesturing to a chair for her to sit in. "Alright Mrs. Kale, what do you want to talk about?" Kate took the seat and sighed. "When I got back from voting today, Ginnie tried to guess who I voted for, and she was right, including the fact that I did not vote for Joe Reiser. She said she guessed I wouldn't because he has a short temper and strikes his girlfriend often. Then she added that he is stealing silver from the assayer's office. I asked her how she knew, and she said Luke and Jacob Wagner told her. Reiser recently moved near them, and one of the boys saw him bury something behind the house. The boy dug it up later and it was silver. I know children can have active imaginations, but Ginnie is usually quite good at filtering what is true and what isn't. If it's true it's very serious, and this man is on my party's ticket. He should not be on a council if he's stealing. We didn't trust any of the County Sheriff's enough to bring this to them, but I don't know if there's any other choice." He says, "Okay, I need to talk to the boys. If I head over to your school and go in through the back door can you think of a reason to send them both into the kitchen? That way we can discuss this without anybody else being there or knowing who spoke to me about this." She replies, "That wouldn't be difficult. I'm sorry to bring this to you, I'm sure you were looking forward to retiring from your Marshall duties and going back to being an attorney. I really should speak to my attorney, now that I think of it. And don't worry, I'm not in any trouble." Kate stood up and said, "Let's head over. It's lunchtime right now so we won't interrupt any lessons." He replies, "Let's go separately, no reason to make this obvious to anybody who might be watching." "Of course. I don't know what's wrong with me lately. Thank you Marshall." Kate got up and left the office, walking back to the school and joining the other teachers in the schoolroom. Not long after she returns to the school Kate sees Marshall Berg out the window, heading around to the back of the house. Kate walked outside among the children, stopping to chat here and they as they ate or played. She finally made her way over to the Wagner boys. "I'd like you to do me a favor please," she smiled at them. "There's a bucket in the kitchen by the door, would you run and fetch some water for me? We're almost out in the schoolroom." The boys do as they are told and do not immediately return. The lunch period comes to an end and everybody head back inside. A few minutes later the Wagner boys emerge from the kitchen carrying the bucket of water. Out the window Kate sees Marshal Berg walking along the alleyway back towards his office. Ginnie appears to be the only one of the children to have also noticed this. Kate says, "Thank you, gentlemen. You can set that down right by the door. I'll get rid of the old bucket later." The boys scrambled back to their seats and Kate continued on as if nothing unusual had happened. Throughout the morning at the Lucky Lady, Hawkes continues to consume heavily sweetened thick coffee for the entire morning, using the combined stimulation of the abundance of both caffeine and sugar to keep him alert and awake. However one consequence to that strategy is that he has to make frequent trips needed to the outhouse, causing him to miss approximately one of every six to eight hands dealt. During the five hours of play a total of 54 hands are dealt from which Maverick wins 22, Cook wins 20 and Hawkes wins 12. Most hands have been played at either the ante or at just one coin above with only a handful played above that although two of those larger pots were won by Hawkes, which is the only reason that he remains a player in the game. Cook and Maverick are now both tied for the lead at $ 22,500 while Hawkes pile has been reduced to a mere $ 4,000. As the clock reaches the hour of twelve Van Horne now calls for a one-hour meal break. He states that Job Kane will be the dealer for the next five-hour session and that the ante will be increased to two platinum coins. Harry Rote reminds Jake "Don't forget to vote, the polls close at 5:00 PM so this hour might be your only chance." Jake states, "Oh, right. Thank you Harry." Using the opportunity to stretch his legs, Jake walks leisurely to perform his civic duty. More accurately, keep his commitment to his friends. Jake walks briskly in, politely nods at the instructions, and votes straight party line for the Unity Party without even reading the rest of the ballot. Politely he deposits the completed form as directed, smiles and leaves. "There," he says out loud but to himself. Over the balance of the hour, he is tempted to nap but figures he is better off without it, having gone much longer than this without sleep. He eats lightly, drinks plenty of water and soaks up some Arizona sun out back of the saloon while juggling knotted rags. He ignores the odd looks he receives by those walking down the side street. His mind refreshed, and body exercised a bit he returns to the table two minutes before the scheduled start time. The Poker players resume their game at 1:00 P.m. Hawkes no longer has his coffee pot, ordering a glass of scotch and water from the bar instead. Job Kane arrives, looking physically much better than he had the day before. He is attired in his best suit and breaks the seal on a fresh deck of cards. Hawkes wins the first hand, Maverick the second and Hawkes the third, all played at the $ 1000 ante, thus no change. Maverick takes the next two hands, with Hawkes having called a $ 500 increase on the second of those having held a heart flush to Maverick’s quartet of fives. So after a half-hour of play Maverick is up to $ 27,000 with Cook now at $ 20,500 and Hawkes down to his last $ 1,500. Maverick and Cook both have decent cards on the next hand and raise by $ 500. Hawkes folds and orders another scotch and water. Maverick wins that hand as well with a full-house Queens over Threes to Cook’s full house Sevens over Jacks. Hawkes comments that with a single coin left he can’t meet the minimum ante. Van Horne walks over to the table and says, “As it turns out, I had minted 101 platinum coins of which you are only using 98 of them. If wouldn’t be fair to the souvenir collections to have coins that weren’t actually used in the game”. He then reaches into his pocket and hands each of the three players another $ 500 coin. Due to Hawkes lack of funds the hand is kept at the ante and Hawkes manages to win, leaving him with $ 3,000 to Cook’s $ 18,500 and Maverick’s $ 29,000. Hawkes folds on the next ante-level hand which Maverick wins. The next hand dealt proves to be a remarkable coincidence with of all things a three-way tie as each player has a ten-to-ace straight. Finding that odd Van Horne collects the cards which he hands to Jonathan Harker, who brings them over to young Gonzales, and a fresh deck is started. Maverick wins the next two hands, bringing his total up ot $ 33,000 which is now twice Cook’s $ 16,500 with Hawkes down to his final $ 1,000 yet again. Hawkes is now on his third drink and as the cards are dealt begins to sing: “You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run, you never count your money, when you’re sitting at the table, they’ll be time enough for counting, when the dealing’s done.” Once again Hawkes manages a lucky break, winning the hand with a flush to each of the other players’ two-pair and increasing his fortune back to $ 3,000 as the clock reaches the hour of 2:00 P.M. Though he has enjoyed playing with Hawkes, the man's perserverance is both vexing and remarkable. Jake has someone get him a black coffee and he continues to focus on the game. At around 2:00 PM Nate Caudell stops by the school and calls his wife Mollie over for a private conversation. Kate glanced over, but since it is a private conversation she doesn't try to hear it. She looked over at Ginnie, who was studiously ignoring the conversation, which probably meant she was trying hard to hear. It must be something serious or Mr. Caudell wouldn't have left the Town Hall today. After he leaves Mollie waits until an appropriate time to chat with Kate. Mollie tells Kate "Nate is out of work for the rest of week. They've arrested his boss, Joe Riser for stealing silver. The Cochise County Assayer Ben Chandler is on his way here from Tombstone to investigate so they've closed the Assay Office. Since Riser was the one who hired Nate he's now under suspicion too." Kate exclaims, "Oh no, Mollie. I'm so sorry. I... One of the children told me what they knew about Mr. Reiser, and I went to Marshall Berg so he could look into it and find out if it was just imaginative children or something real. It never even occurred to me it would put your husband under suspicion. Ruby always said I was too naive; apparently she was right." Molly says, "Relax Kate, Nate is innocent of any wrong doing. We just have to wait for that to be officially declared. In the meanwhile he will be available to help out here at the school the next three days if we wish to use him and his experience." Kate replies, "Certainly. I'd be glad of it, and I think some of the boys might be glad to have a man in the school for a few days. We do things rather unconventionally here, I hope he won't find us too unprofessional." Mollie laughs and says, "If Nate were a conventional man he never would have married me." "Look what he would have missed," Kate said fondly. She was seized with a sudden and completely inappropriate desire to tell Mollie what had happened last night. She could feel the blush crawling up her cheeks and said only, "I'm getting more unconventional by the day. Boston would hardly know me." Mollie replies, "And if I'm reading you right you would hardly know Boston again either. There's no way you'd fit back into that setting ever again, you've been given too much freedom here." "Yes, that part of my life is over," she said with only a hint of regret. "I could play the part, but I couldn't live my the rules. I'm hoping we'll get a town council that won't try to curb our freedom here, they're too precious to me to give up." Mollie gave her an understanding glance and they both went back to the students. The remainder of the school day passed quickly, and Kate found herself once again in the odd position of having no where she absolutely had to be. Votes wouldn't be counted until after five o'clock, so she turned her steps to the El Parador to go and get something to eat.</blockquote>

Verification