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"Revenge, Renewal and the Promise of a New Year" (Boot Hill/D&D)
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1831675" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter Thirty-three, “The Tip Thieves”, January 6th, 1882:</strong></p><p></p><p>"Welcome back Katherine & Maggie." Jake says quickly "Did either of you empty the tip cups before you left?" When they say no Jake says "quick one of you ladies take the piano" to Nanuet, "You there, they tell me you are a friend of Ruby & Katherine’s, if so follow me and stay out of sight. Just scare the crap out of a couple of two-bit thieves if I get into trouble, OK?" Jake smiles and doesn't wait for an answer and is out the door. Katherine offers to take the piano, grateful to avoid returning to waiting tables for a few more minutes. She wasn't terribly worried about the tip cups. Ruby had probably emptied them, pleased with whatever amount was there.</p><p></p><p>Jake quickly looks left and right, locating what he thinks are the two men a distance away in the dark. Jake doesn't see them. Nanuet asks "Who are you looking for." Jake replies "Two petty thieves. They just left here." Nanuet remembers the men that he and the ladies had just passed out on the street and replies "Two humans, one six-foot tall with long mustache with jeans, black shirt and brown leather vest, the other a few inches shorter with beard, jeans with chaps, white shirt and red bandana?" Jake says "That's them." Nanuet points east down main street and replies "They went that-a-way".</p><p></p><p>"Can you find them in the dark?" Jake asks as he is moving in the direction Nanuet pointed. Nanuet says "Should be able to." Both men hurry down to the corner of Fremont and Main and look in both directions. Jake sees a pair of men up a block north at the next intersection, partially illuminated by light coming from the windows of the Palace Saloon on the opposite corner. "Is that them?" he asks. "I think so," Nanuet replies. The men then turn right onto Sierra Street behind the Papago Cash Store and Corral. The corral currently has around twenty horse in and the men he remembers were definitely wearing riding clothes.</p><p></p><p>In between songs Ruby talks to Kate. "Did you enjoy some fresh air? I bet it's nice out tonight. Was that Nanuet that walked in with you? I invited him here but he said he wanted to get to bed early tonight, something about tomorrow morning? And why did Jake go running out of here? It looked like Nanuet followed him." Kate replies,"Yes, it was Nanuet. I believe he was getting ready for sleep when we met. I don't think he'll be staying long. And I told you all about tomorrow morning, remember? We're going to help the Cartwright's get their cattle back. I asked you and Jake to come along. Oh yes. Jake seemed worried that the tips cups were empty. He seemed to think someone stole out of them and went to bring them back."</p><p></p><p>Two blocks away, Jake bolts towards the corral hoping to get close to them before they see him. Jake and Nanuet both run across Fremont street and run by the front of Fly's Boarding House and then pass Bauer's Union Market. Peering around the southwest corner of the Union Market they see the corral. The corral itself is shaped like a large "L" the inside of the L being the Papago Cash Store. They then see both of the men they are looking for opening up the gate to the northeast corner of the corral. </p><p></p><p>Nanuet and Jake bend down and hurry across to the corral fence and follow it the fifty-feet back, mostly covered from view by the fence and horses in the corral. The two men walk through the corral and over to the back door of the store where they ring a bell. The door opens up and a man with a key ring comes outside. Next to the door is a table with saddles on top and below. The storekeeper collects a coin from each man then unlocks two padlocks that each have a saddle chained to metal hooks on the table. The man goes back inside and shuts the door as the two men each pick up their saddles and start to make their way over to some horses in the center of the corral. Nanuet whispers to Jake "How do you want to handle this? Meet them at the gate to the corral or get them before they get that far?"</p><p></p><p>Jake replies "Up front and honorable won't work with these scum. Nanuet, try and get behind them just in case." With that Jake is off. He gets through the corral fence and gets as close to the men as he can without them seeing him, trying to stay in shadow, but before they can put down their saddles. </p><p></p><p>"Gentlemen, there were a few good folks watching you wondering where is your contribution to the tip cups at the Lone Star. If you catch my meaning. Those talented and pretty ladies deserve better than that don't you think? Now I'm sure that it was just an honest mistake on your part and we don't need to get the Marshall involved, do we? You can come on back and put it in yourselves or we can bring it back for you." Nanuet slips inside the coral fence and also moves as quietly and in the shadows as he can. He works his way behind the two men but keeps himself where he will be able to cut them off if they head towards the coral gate.</p><p></p><p>The man closest to Jake is caught off guard, standing beside his horse and still holding the saddle in both of his hands. The other one is a bit further back, where Jake cannot see him due to the horse in the way. "Who are you? What are you talking about?" the man exclaims. Jake answers "If you think there is some mistake we can all walk over to the saloon nice and friendly like and let the witnesses say whether they just saw you two leaving the Lone Star or not and tell their story."</p><p></p><p>That man looks around, apparently doesn't see anybody, and slowly bends over towards the ground to set down his saddle. Nanuet is around ten feet away from the man. There was a horse between them but the animal is now starting to wander back and out of the way. "Hold on. Give me a second to put down the saddle," the man states. </p><p></p><p>Sir, you wouldn't be thinking of putting down that saddle and going for your gun I hope. I'm a peacable man, but if your hand moves to your gun belt you'll be fillin' a box in boot hill tomorrow morning”. Jake then yells off to the side "Jeff, I think you ought to leave the others here and go get the Marshall, I'm not feelin' too good about them being civilized." At the sound of the name "Jeff" the man in front frantically turns his head from side to side, trying to see where Jake's partner is. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, the other man has put down the saddle. He remains low and crouched down, still blocked from Jake's field of vision by his friend's house. The horse between this man and Nanuet has wandered off leaving Nanuet nine feet behind the man's left side. The elvan Indian's infravision then sees the man reaching for his gun.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet had pulled out his knife and quietly attempted to sneak towards the man with the gun. His Indian tracking skills were good and what little sound he made was muffled by the sounds of the horses in the corral. So he was nearly upon the man when Jake made a reference to "Jeff", alerting both met that he was not along. </p><p></p><p>The man with the gun extended his gun arm in the direction of Jake's voice and began to stand. Nanuet charged forward. There wasn't time to try to get the gun away from the man, so he instead grabbed the gun arm and pointed it straight up into the air as the shot was fired. Nanuet continued to hold the arm upward with his right arm while pulling out his knife with the other and holding the blade up to the man's throat. "Drop the weapon" he commanded and the man complied. Meanwhile, the other man dropped the saddle and raised both of his hands up above his head saying, "Don't shoot! I give up!"</p><p></p><p>Jake figured at this point it would be a good idea to have his gun out, so he drew and cocked his faithful Colt and stepped forward. "Now there is a nice sensible man." Jake looks the two over and says, "OK, who's got the money you stole. Or do we wait for Jeff to get back with the Marshall? I think we have attempted murder to add to petty larceny. And you over there, it would be a good idea to drop that gun, my friend with the knife is going to get nervous and his hand has a goodly shake when he does."</p><p> </p><p>"What the Sam Hill is Going On Out Here!" a voice bellows from the back doorway of the Papago Cash Store. Jake, Nanuet and the other petty thieves look up to see the owner of the store standing in the doorway and pointing a double-barreled shotgun in their direction. Jake also realizes what this must look like to the store owner, an armed stranger and an Indian trying to rob two of the man's paying customers.</p><p></p><p>"Crap." says Jake under his breath. Then loudly, "You are just in time sir, these two snatched some money at the Lone Star and I was just asking them to bring it back when one of 'em took a shot at me." Jake thinks for a moment reflecting on the inherent selfish nature of most mankind and comes up with an idea, albeit a poor one. </p><p></p><p>"I don't think they were going to steal anything from you, but who can tell with thieves. We were just trying to solve this without a lot of fuss... you know explaining to the Marshall, court time, bad feelings and retribution later..." Jake pauses, where the heck am I going with this. "want to help us, I'm sure it won't take much of your valuable time." Then in a lower voice. "It's getting harder here for you two to just do the right thing, better offer to give us the money back quick before the Marshall gets here..." Jake thinks to himself, this seemed like a good idea at the time.</p><p></p><p>"Just get the hell off my property!" the man yells back. Nanuet and Jake assist the two gentlemen, along with their horses and saddles, out of the Papago and shut up the corral behind them. The store is near the northeastern edge of town and it only takes a few minutes to get over the nearest hill and out of sight. Along the way Jake talks to Nanuet about how deadly and ruthless Marshall Wyatt Earp is and of how many men he's killed for minor infractions. </p><p></p><p>They then stop and Jake tells the men "What's your decision. Return the money to us or do we go see the Marshall." The man in the chaps removes a leather pouch from his pocket and hands it Jake. He looks inside, seeing it filled mostly with coins but a few bills. "Where's the rest of it?" Jake comments. </p><p></p><p>"That's all from the tip cup," that one says. Nanuet has his hand on the other one's shoulder and applies some pressure. The man pulls out his wallet and empties it of four one-dollar bills, handing them back to the elf. "That's it, we're broke," the first one exclaims. Jake takes both of the men’s firearms and puts them into the saddlebag on one of the horses and latches it shut. "Now go. Don't let me ever see your faces at the Lone Star again," he exclaims. Both men hastily ride out of town. </p><p></p><p>Back at the Saloon things were winding down for the evening. After Jake had called for a break his players had all left, and Tony Lucky's table decided to call it a night as well. Several people stuck around for Ruby's final set of songs, but now that it was over they began to finish up their drinks and head out as well. It was now around 11:30 PM and only a dozen or patrons were still at the tables or bar. </p><p></p><p>Jake and Nanuet still hadn't returned and Katherine was starting to worry. Kate goes looking for Maggie and finds her cleaning a now empty table. "Maggie, would you mind if I stepped out for just a minute? Jake and Nanuet aren't back yet, and I'd like to check on them. I'll come back to help you tidy up." She wondered if she should bring Ruby, and decided against it. "Could you keep an eye on Ruby? I shouldn't be gone long."</p><p></p><p>Katherine heads outside and is surprised to find Judge Lacey standing just a few feet from the Saloon doors. He is wearing a starched white shirt, dark bow tie, and what looks to be a brand new tailored suit of the current style popular in the East, that she remembers having seen earlier that day on a hanger in his store. His shoes have such a shine that the light from the Saloon reflects off of them. Since this morning he has gotten a haircut and his mustache is neatly trimmed. She thinks that she also smells cologne. </p><p></p><p>He is holding a bouquet of cut flowers in his hand and he says "Good evening Mrs. Kale Would you please be so kinds as to ask Miss Ruby to come up to the door. Her singing this evening was exquisite and I would like to give her these to show my appreciation." "Of course," Kate smiled, holding back a slight laugh. </p><p></p><p>Ruby had been thinking to herself about tomorrow. Sure, some patron of the bar was still talking to her but she learned to be good at doing two things at once and was only paying half attention to the man, a prospector she thought. Her thoughts were really centered on one thing. She had nothing appropriate to wear the next day, not to go riding out into the desert or mountains for sure. No store would be open early enough to get something and she had no money anyway. Katherine only had one outfit she had just bought and being a Native American Sonoma was a lot smaller and well, less curvy, then Ruby. She wasn’t that worried about it but something told her it would be important. Then the sound of Katherine’s voice interrupted her train of thought. </p><p></p><p>Katherine called for Ruby. "There's a gentleman here who would like to speak to you. Can you step out for a minute please?" Katherine took a couple steps back in and said quietly to Maggie. "He really is a gentleman, but keep an eye on her anyway." She stepped back outside. "Ruby should be out in just a moment, Judge Lacey. I'm sure she'll love the flowers. I hope you'll excuse me?" She smiled again and hurried down the street.</p><p></p><p>Ruby wondered who it was as she excused herself and bounced out the door. She saw Judge Lacey standing there, all spiffy, flowers in hand. “Judge Lacey, what are you doing here, and all dressed up none the less? I figured you would be home this late.”</p><p></p><p>Mr. Lacey replies "Um...err....well.....ah.......these are for you." and thrusts the flowers forwards. Ruby takes the flowers from him. He stops fidgeting and rather abruptly stands up straight and at attention. He then states in a fast direct voice a short speech he appears to have rehearsed "Your singing this evening was the most beautiful music that I have ever heard. I wanted to give you these as a token of my appreciation." </p><p></p><p>He then waits for a response from Ruby. She smiles. His body then finally relaxes somewhat and he says "I...well......thank you for bringing some joy back into my life. I was wondering if you might be available on Sunday to join me for a mid-day meal at a cafe in town?"</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, two blocks away, Jake and Nanuet return to Fremont Street and head south to return to the Saloon. Just as they are nearing Main Street they see Katherine rushing out towards them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 1831675, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter Thirty-three, “The Tip Thieves”, January 6th, 1882:[/B] "Welcome back Katherine & Maggie." Jake says quickly "Did either of you empty the tip cups before you left?" When they say no Jake says "quick one of you ladies take the piano" to Nanuet, "You there, they tell me you are a friend of Ruby & Katherine’s, if so follow me and stay out of sight. Just scare the crap out of a couple of two-bit thieves if I get into trouble, OK?" Jake smiles and doesn't wait for an answer and is out the door. Katherine offers to take the piano, grateful to avoid returning to waiting tables for a few more minutes. She wasn't terribly worried about the tip cups. Ruby had probably emptied them, pleased with whatever amount was there. Jake quickly looks left and right, locating what he thinks are the two men a distance away in the dark. Jake doesn't see them. Nanuet asks "Who are you looking for." Jake replies "Two petty thieves. They just left here." Nanuet remembers the men that he and the ladies had just passed out on the street and replies "Two humans, one six-foot tall with long mustache with jeans, black shirt and brown leather vest, the other a few inches shorter with beard, jeans with chaps, white shirt and red bandana?" Jake says "That's them." Nanuet points east down main street and replies "They went that-a-way". "Can you find them in the dark?" Jake asks as he is moving in the direction Nanuet pointed. Nanuet says "Should be able to." Both men hurry down to the corner of Fremont and Main and look in both directions. Jake sees a pair of men up a block north at the next intersection, partially illuminated by light coming from the windows of the Palace Saloon on the opposite corner. "Is that them?" he asks. "I think so," Nanuet replies. The men then turn right onto Sierra Street behind the Papago Cash Store and Corral. The corral currently has around twenty horse in and the men he remembers were definitely wearing riding clothes. In between songs Ruby talks to Kate. "Did you enjoy some fresh air? I bet it's nice out tonight. Was that Nanuet that walked in with you? I invited him here but he said he wanted to get to bed early tonight, something about tomorrow morning? And why did Jake go running out of here? It looked like Nanuet followed him." Kate replies,"Yes, it was Nanuet. I believe he was getting ready for sleep when we met. I don't think he'll be staying long. And I told you all about tomorrow morning, remember? We're going to help the Cartwright's get their cattle back. I asked you and Jake to come along. Oh yes. Jake seemed worried that the tips cups were empty. He seemed to think someone stole out of them and went to bring them back." Two blocks away, Jake bolts towards the corral hoping to get close to them before they see him. Jake and Nanuet both run across Fremont street and run by the front of Fly's Boarding House and then pass Bauer's Union Market. Peering around the southwest corner of the Union Market they see the corral. The corral itself is shaped like a large "L" the inside of the L being the Papago Cash Store. They then see both of the men they are looking for opening up the gate to the northeast corner of the corral. Nanuet and Jake bend down and hurry across to the corral fence and follow it the fifty-feet back, mostly covered from view by the fence and horses in the corral. The two men walk through the corral and over to the back door of the store where they ring a bell. The door opens up and a man with a key ring comes outside. Next to the door is a table with saddles on top and below. The storekeeper collects a coin from each man then unlocks two padlocks that each have a saddle chained to metal hooks on the table. The man goes back inside and shuts the door as the two men each pick up their saddles and start to make their way over to some horses in the center of the corral. Nanuet whispers to Jake "How do you want to handle this? Meet them at the gate to the corral or get them before they get that far?" Jake replies "Up front and honorable won't work with these scum. Nanuet, try and get behind them just in case." With that Jake is off. He gets through the corral fence and gets as close to the men as he can without them seeing him, trying to stay in shadow, but before they can put down their saddles. "Gentlemen, there were a few good folks watching you wondering where is your contribution to the tip cups at the Lone Star. If you catch my meaning. Those talented and pretty ladies deserve better than that don't you think? Now I'm sure that it was just an honest mistake on your part and we don't need to get the Marshall involved, do we? You can come on back and put it in yourselves or we can bring it back for you." Nanuet slips inside the coral fence and also moves as quietly and in the shadows as he can. He works his way behind the two men but keeps himself where he will be able to cut them off if they head towards the coral gate. The man closest to Jake is caught off guard, standing beside his horse and still holding the saddle in both of his hands. The other one is a bit further back, where Jake cannot see him due to the horse in the way. "Who are you? What are you talking about?" the man exclaims. Jake answers "If you think there is some mistake we can all walk over to the saloon nice and friendly like and let the witnesses say whether they just saw you two leaving the Lone Star or not and tell their story." That man looks around, apparently doesn't see anybody, and slowly bends over towards the ground to set down his saddle. Nanuet is around ten feet away from the man. There was a horse between them but the animal is now starting to wander back and out of the way. "Hold on. Give me a second to put down the saddle," the man states. Sir, you wouldn't be thinking of putting down that saddle and going for your gun I hope. I'm a peacable man, but if your hand moves to your gun belt you'll be fillin' a box in boot hill tomorrow morning”. Jake then yells off to the side "Jeff, I think you ought to leave the others here and go get the Marshall, I'm not feelin' too good about them being civilized." At the sound of the name "Jeff" the man in front frantically turns his head from side to side, trying to see where Jake's partner is. Meanwhile, the other man has put down the saddle. He remains low and crouched down, still blocked from Jake's field of vision by his friend's house. The horse between this man and Nanuet has wandered off leaving Nanuet nine feet behind the man's left side. The elvan Indian's infravision then sees the man reaching for his gun. Nanuet had pulled out his knife and quietly attempted to sneak towards the man with the gun. His Indian tracking skills were good and what little sound he made was muffled by the sounds of the horses in the corral. So he was nearly upon the man when Jake made a reference to "Jeff", alerting both met that he was not along. The man with the gun extended his gun arm in the direction of Jake's voice and began to stand. Nanuet charged forward. There wasn't time to try to get the gun away from the man, so he instead grabbed the gun arm and pointed it straight up into the air as the shot was fired. Nanuet continued to hold the arm upward with his right arm while pulling out his knife with the other and holding the blade up to the man's throat. "Drop the weapon" he commanded and the man complied. Meanwhile, the other man dropped the saddle and raised both of his hands up above his head saying, "Don't shoot! I give up!" Jake figured at this point it would be a good idea to have his gun out, so he drew and cocked his faithful Colt and stepped forward. "Now there is a nice sensible man." Jake looks the two over and says, "OK, who's got the money you stole. Or do we wait for Jeff to get back with the Marshall? I think we have attempted murder to add to petty larceny. And you over there, it would be a good idea to drop that gun, my friend with the knife is going to get nervous and his hand has a goodly shake when he does." "What the Sam Hill is Going On Out Here!" a voice bellows from the back doorway of the Papago Cash Store. Jake, Nanuet and the other petty thieves look up to see the owner of the store standing in the doorway and pointing a double-barreled shotgun in their direction. Jake also realizes what this must look like to the store owner, an armed stranger and an Indian trying to rob two of the man's paying customers. "Crap." says Jake under his breath. Then loudly, "You are just in time sir, these two snatched some money at the Lone Star and I was just asking them to bring it back when one of 'em took a shot at me." Jake thinks for a moment reflecting on the inherent selfish nature of most mankind and comes up with an idea, albeit a poor one. "I don't think they were going to steal anything from you, but who can tell with thieves. We were just trying to solve this without a lot of fuss... you know explaining to the Marshall, court time, bad feelings and retribution later..." Jake pauses, where the heck am I going with this. "want to help us, I'm sure it won't take much of your valuable time." Then in a lower voice. "It's getting harder here for you two to just do the right thing, better offer to give us the money back quick before the Marshall gets here..." Jake thinks to himself, this seemed like a good idea at the time. "Just get the hell off my property!" the man yells back. Nanuet and Jake assist the two gentlemen, along with their horses and saddles, out of the Papago and shut up the corral behind them. The store is near the northeastern edge of town and it only takes a few minutes to get over the nearest hill and out of sight. Along the way Jake talks to Nanuet about how deadly and ruthless Marshall Wyatt Earp is and of how many men he's killed for minor infractions. They then stop and Jake tells the men "What's your decision. Return the money to us or do we go see the Marshall." The man in the chaps removes a leather pouch from his pocket and hands it Jake. He looks inside, seeing it filled mostly with coins but a few bills. "Where's the rest of it?" Jake comments. "That's all from the tip cup," that one says. Nanuet has his hand on the other one's shoulder and applies some pressure. The man pulls out his wallet and empties it of four one-dollar bills, handing them back to the elf. "That's it, we're broke," the first one exclaims. Jake takes both of the men’s firearms and puts them into the saddlebag on one of the horses and latches it shut. "Now go. Don't let me ever see your faces at the Lone Star again," he exclaims. Both men hastily ride out of town. Back at the Saloon things were winding down for the evening. After Jake had called for a break his players had all left, and Tony Lucky's table decided to call it a night as well. Several people stuck around for Ruby's final set of songs, but now that it was over they began to finish up their drinks and head out as well. It was now around 11:30 PM and only a dozen or patrons were still at the tables or bar. Jake and Nanuet still hadn't returned and Katherine was starting to worry. Kate goes looking for Maggie and finds her cleaning a now empty table. "Maggie, would you mind if I stepped out for just a minute? Jake and Nanuet aren't back yet, and I'd like to check on them. I'll come back to help you tidy up." She wondered if she should bring Ruby, and decided against it. "Could you keep an eye on Ruby? I shouldn't be gone long." Katherine heads outside and is surprised to find Judge Lacey standing just a few feet from the Saloon doors. He is wearing a starched white shirt, dark bow tie, and what looks to be a brand new tailored suit of the current style popular in the East, that she remembers having seen earlier that day on a hanger in his store. His shoes have such a shine that the light from the Saloon reflects off of them. Since this morning he has gotten a haircut and his mustache is neatly trimmed. She thinks that she also smells cologne. He is holding a bouquet of cut flowers in his hand and he says "Good evening Mrs. Kale Would you please be so kinds as to ask Miss Ruby to come up to the door. Her singing this evening was exquisite and I would like to give her these to show my appreciation." "Of course," Kate smiled, holding back a slight laugh. Ruby had been thinking to herself about tomorrow. Sure, some patron of the bar was still talking to her but she learned to be good at doing two things at once and was only paying half attention to the man, a prospector she thought. Her thoughts were really centered on one thing. She had nothing appropriate to wear the next day, not to go riding out into the desert or mountains for sure. No store would be open early enough to get something and she had no money anyway. Katherine only had one outfit she had just bought and being a Native American Sonoma was a lot smaller and well, less curvy, then Ruby. She wasn’t that worried about it but something told her it would be important. Then the sound of Katherine’s voice interrupted her train of thought. Katherine called for Ruby. "There's a gentleman here who would like to speak to you. Can you step out for a minute please?" Katherine took a couple steps back in and said quietly to Maggie. "He really is a gentleman, but keep an eye on her anyway." She stepped back outside. "Ruby should be out in just a moment, Judge Lacey. I'm sure she'll love the flowers. I hope you'll excuse me?" She smiled again and hurried down the street. Ruby wondered who it was as she excused herself and bounced out the door. She saw Judge Lacey standing there, all spiffy, flowers in hand. “Judge Lacey, what are you doing here, and all dressed up none the less? I figured you would be home this late.” Mr. Lacey replies "Um...err....well.....ah.......these are for you." and thrusts the flowers forwards. Ruby takes the flowers from him. He stops fidgeting and rather abruptly stands up straight and at attention. He then states in a fast direct voice a short speech he appears to have rehearsed "Your singing this evening was the most beautiful music that I have ever heard. I wanted to give you these as a token of my appreciation." He then waits for a response from Ruby. She smiles. His body then finally relaxes somewhat and he says "I...well......thank you for bringing some joy back into my life. I was wondering if you might be available on Sunday to join me for a mid-day meal at a cafe in town?" Meanwhile, two blocks away, Jake and Nanuet return to Fremont Street and head south to return to the Saloon. Just as they are nearing Main Street they see Katherine rushing out towards them. [/QUOTE]
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