Chapter 17
Posted: July 16, 2007 - 12:05:15 am

Friday night was a big night for the Cantina El Toro, as the place was crammed with people. Surprisingly, a good number of those people were women from the other saloons, as they took their breaks at the Toro listening to the Happy Hombres. I had given the Hombres some new material, including 'La Bamba' and 'Cucurrucucu Paloma'. I have to tell you that when Miguel Calderon, the Hombres' young tenor, polished off "Cucurrucucu Paloma" by stretching out the girl's name on the last note, the women went nuts. Even I was dragged into the show as I had to sing 'Ring of Fire', and my cobbled together version of 'I Walk the Line'.

What I refused to do was sing 'El Paso' without Feleena in the audience.

The upshot of our night was the Hombres wanting me to come up with some new material and for us to practice the songs Saturday afternoon and perform them Saturday night. Success was going to the Hombres' heads. I said I had a few ideas and sent them home happy. That night I sat down and wrote out a few of my favorites from Conway Twitty, including 'Hello Darlin' and 'Almost Persuaded'. I had been a huge Conway fan in my other life, and had a bunch of his songs memorized. I figured I wasn't going to bother old Conway belting out some of his love songs a hundred years early. Yeah, you bet your ass I was going to sing those two songs. The Hombres could have everything else.

Saturday the Hombres showed up at noon and I went over what I had with them. They loved Conway's 'Last Date' and the Freddy Fender songs I gave them. I figured that since Freddy was a fellow Tejano, (Spanish for Texan) he'd appreciate them singing his 'Vaya Con Dios My Darling' and 'Before the Next Tear Drop Falls'.

So anyway, after I tried out my two songs with them, they shuffled me off to the side and excitedly went through their new material. I was feeling sort of left out, until Anna Lopez dropped by for a surprise visit. I think I earned more respect from the Hombres when Anna came to see me than I'd have gotten if I gave them two hundred songs. The Hombres all knew her and her family, and were shocked that I was so close to them. When Anna asked if she could steal her 'son' for a few minutes, they all nodded dumbly.

Anna took me to the bootmaker because my gunbelt and holsters were finished. When we were in his shop, Anna took Joaquin's hand, her eyes shining with pride.

"Show him the beautiful things you made for him, Me Vida."

Joaquin smiled fondly at her praise and pulled the gunbelt out from under his counter. When he dragged it out into the light, my eyes bulged out. It was the finest looking rig I'd ever seen. The outside of the holsters had a couple of the same conchos as my hatband, in addition to some seriously nice hand tooling. The gun belt had one of the conchos between each group of five cartridge loops. There were twenty cartridge loops in two groups of five on each side.

When Joaquin handed me the rig, I noticed immediately how stiff the holsters were. When I asked, he said that he used thick bull hide for the insides of the holsters. He shaped the holster by soaking the hide in water and forming it to his own Peacemaker. When I slipped my Colt into the holster, it went in and came out smooth as silk. I paid Joaquin and thanked him profusely, then kissed Anna on the cheek and flew out of the bootmaker's shop, headed for the gunsmiths. I had about the finest two gun rig around; the problem was I only had one pistol.

The gunsmith recognized me and was surprised I was still in town. The last time he'd seen me, I was fresh off the cattle trail. I told him I was living in town now, showed him my new belt and asked what he had to fill the empty holster.

Before we get into what he sold me, I guess I need to explain about the pistol I inherited from Uncle Ty and about the Single Action Army revolver in general. The original Army model introduced in 1873 was strictly for the military. It was commonly called the cavalry model. It came with a seven and a half inch barrel. In the next year or so, the Army bought a model with a shorter, five and a half inch barrel, and called it the artillery model. Both pistols were chambered in .45 caliber. Colt also made civilian versions of the SAA chamber in various calibers besides .45.

The pistol Uncle Ty took off the man from Boston was a civilian model .45 with a five and a half inch barrel. It was almost identical to the replicas I used in the Sagebrush Wild West Show. The shorter barreled pistol was easier for me to draw and had a better balance for firing consecutive rounds at the same target. The gunsmith had a used pistol the same size and caliber as mine and in about the same very good used condition. The only difference between the two was the handgrips, a problem he solved by selling me two new sets of black walnut custom jobs.

Once again we went out back and test fired my new pistol. I had on my new gunbelt by then and practiced drawing and firing with each hand. I was faster right-handed and a better shot, but I was better than most people even left handed. I know I impressed the gunsmith as I smoothly drew and put a round in the center of the target in less than a second with each hand. I had practiced that move thousands of times in the ten years I worked for the Sagebrush show. I was fast and accurate as hell against a paper target, but I didn't know if I'd be as good when the target could shoot back.

Once back inside the shop, I wiped down the pistols, ran a cloth through the barrels and loaded five rounds into each of them. With a single action you always left an empty cylinder under the hammer to prevent accidental discharges.

I figured the new holsters and belt might cause me some unwanted attention at the Toro if some drunken cowboy wanted to duel, so I bought a small .32 caliber Smith & Wesson top-break revolver that came complete with a shoulder holster. I put the shoulder rig on under my vest and strapped on my new gunbelt. I picked up a box of ammo for each pistol and gave the gunsmith his thirty-five dollars. It might have been a serious case of overkill, but I felt ready for anything.

That night at the Toro was even bigger than Friday night, as we had our biggest crowd ever. The Hombres seemed to get better as their audience grew larger. I was hustling around like a maniac, trying to keep the bars afloat and four poker tables running smoothly.

About ten thirty, Feleena and her ever present three girlfriends from Rosa's showed up. I surreptitiously watched them take a table near the band. Feleena looked as coolly beautiful as always, as she disdainfully surveyed the crowd. I turned my head and spoke with the barman when I saw her start to look my way. I was involved in a delicate balancing act in how I treated Feleena. I had to keep letting her know I was interested in her, yet not willing to be her lap dog.

I guess the fellows didn't think I'd seen Feleena arrive, because after they finished the song they were playing, the guitar player started picking out the opening notes of El Paso. I walked over, picked up my guitar and sang the song for the first time for the Toro customers. The crowd seemed to like the song, but since I didn't do anything to point Feleena out, most of them didn't know who it was about. I rectified that problem with my next number, as I walked us over to within a few steps of her table. With my rendition of that quaver Conway put in his voice, I started off, "Hello Darlin'... nice to see you... it's been a long time..."

Well, I gotta tell you that song went over big with the women in the room. Hell, even Feleena smiled a little when I finished. I gave everyone a little wave and had the Hombres take a bow, and then I went back to work. When Feleena and her group left about fifteen minutes later, she detoured over to where I was standing and wished me a good evening. I considered that real progress, because they were the first words she had spoken to me since last Sunday at Mass.

I sang again at about eleven-thirty, by then most everyone working at the Toro was tired and the partiers were winding down. I hammed it up some during my few songs. Heck, overacting was something I was good at because of my time with the Sagebrush Show. I did my Johnny Cash numbers, then whipped out one of the new songs. For this one I led the fellows out into the tables again. When I came up to the table where a few of our dancers were sitting, I reached down and pulled Conchita to her feet. I sang 'Almost Persuaded' as I held her hand and she blushed crimson. I was dumbfounded when I finished the song and she pulled my head down for a steamy kiss. It was my turn to blush amid the hoots and catcalls from the dancers and patrons.

Sunday morning I wore clean but regular clothes to Mass and packed a cotton duster in my saddlebags. After church I was going to ride out to the Trujillo spread and talk to Carlos's family. I wasn't looking forward to having to tell them what I thought was going to happen, but the trip was necessary to gather more information from his father. I was going to try like hell to present mitigating circumstances to lighten his son's sentence.

Attending Mass was something I didn't mind doing at all. No, I didn't go to church to meet women, but I did like the sense of community that the mission represented. I took organized religion with a grain of salt, but I took comfort in the familiar trappings of the faith of both sides of my family tree.

Once again I waited with Melosa under our tree beside the church. This time there was a third wagon in the Lopez's convoy, as Anna was sitting on the seat of a buckboard next to a smiling Joaquin. It was almost like a parade, with Hector leading and Emilio bringing up the rear. The Lopez women were going fast. I walked to the back of Hector's wagon to help Maria down. As I sat her on the ground, I leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"I'm going to rent a buggy next Sunday and we'll ride together too."

Maria nodded and took my arm.

"I'd like that, Tyler. We would at least be able to talk without someone eavesdropping."

We hung out in front of the church again as everyone arrived. Maria gripped my arm possessively the entire time. The Lopezes were disappointed that I was going to miss dinner again, until I explained the reason why. Hector knew Carlos from buying mutton for his restaurant, and Anna knew the Trujillos from her days at the Hacienda of Juan Maria Ponce de Leon.

When cousin Miranda showed up, she latched onto my other arm, and the two women walked me into the church. In truth, I didn't think much about escorting them, as I had made the leap toward them being my little sisters. I found out later that it was a big deal for the two young women, because it gave them a chance to show their maturity.

I also found a measure of peace sitting there on the hard pew, listening to the priest drone on in Latin. I came up with a plan to try to free Carlos Trujillo right there on the kneeler. It wasn't a complicated plan, but it was one that, if I didn't handle things right, would have negative consequences for me. I also had a small fight with my conscience about trying to get Carlos off Scot free. I mean he was guilty of attacking two men with a knife, after all. It was one of those ethical dilemmas that I guessed would pop up often. It was going to be hard for me to put a client's interests above doing what I thought was right.

I saw Feleena for a few minutes after Mass. I actually had the opportunity to walk her to Rosa's surrey. Rosa had an impressive two horse coach that was too big to fit through the gate set in the mission's thick adobe walls. As we walked, she held my arm and we talked some. Well, mostly she talked actually.

"You are a strange man Señor Abogado. You know things about me I've never breathed to a single person. You write me songs that say you love me, yet you do not pursue me. I do not know what to make of you. If you are interested in me, why not come visit me at Rosa's?"

I stopped walking and turned her towards me.

"I don't want the parts of you everyone else can have. I want your heart. Until you decide that you can trust me with that, we don't have much to talk about."

Feleena looked at me with that unreadable expression again. She was about the only person I'd ever met that I couldn't get a read on at all.

"You want the one thing I promised myself I'd never give away," she said firmly.

I shrugged and gave her a smile.

"Never say never, my princess. I am a patient and persistent man. You will one day wake up, and realize I am all the man you'll ever want or need."

I had no problem reading the look she gave me after I said that. Her eyebrows arched up and her lips curled up in amusement.

"That day is in a future that only exists in your mind, Señor McGuinn."

I smiled back at her confidently.

"Perhaps, but I think that day is only around the corner. One day soon your heart will tell you that fame and fortune aren't enough. When that happens, it will lead you straight to me."

It was a hot, dusty, hour and a half ride out to the Trujillo's rancho. As I rode, I did some thinking about Pen's saloon and things we could do differently there. The Toro was one of the nicest saloons in El Paso already, but what if we really went upscale? What if we offered dinner, entertainment and a better selection of beverages? In other words, what if we turned it into a nightclub, or a gentleman's club?

Of course, I treated Melosa to some singing as we walked. My little filly was becoming quite the critic as I went through my repertoire, as I swear, I could tell by her step and the way she held her head, which songs she liked. Miss Melosa had some eclectic tastes, but she favored nineteen-fifties and sixties rock and roll. 'Alley Oop' was her all time favorite, but she liked Elvis's 'Jailhouse Rock' and 'Get a Job' by the Coasters too. I think the beat of those songs was her natural walking rhythm, because she really high stepped to them.

I had figured out a couple of new songs for the Hombres by the time we wandered into the Trujillo's yard. Rafael Trujillo, Carlos's father, came out of the house to greet me. Three generations of Trujillos lived in the rambling hacienda; it appeared that rooms had been added on as the family grew.

I was touched and pleased that they had held dinner for me. I don't know if they ate like this all the time, but the food was as good as any I'd ever eaten in either lifetime. I was a happy camper as I inhaled the hot and spicy meal.

After dinner, Carlos's wife, Inez, sent the children out to play while the adults talked. I opened the conversation.

"Señor Trujillo, I have an idea that might help your son, but it will require you to take legal action against the men who attacked you and killed your dog. Are you willing to do that?"

When he said he was, I asked him for a dollar so our dealings would be confidential. He surprised me by handing me a ten dollar gold piece.

"This is for representing my son, too," he said.

I took his money, then explained what I was going to try. They all listened carefully and agreed with me not to get their hopes up. Señor Trujillo said he would pursue getting justice from the men if I couldn't make a deal, and consequences be damned. Rafael was one tough old shepherd.

I headed back to town about four in the afternoon. It was late June, so it would be light well into the evening. I let Melosa pick the pace and she rocked me on back to town.

I rubbed Melosa down good and fixed her up with a nickels worth of oats before heading back to Molly's boarding house. When I walked into the parlor at a little after six, I was surprised to see Agent Gordon sitting in his usual chair, writing on a lap desk. I crossed over too him and shook his hand.

"How'd it go? Did you get your counterfeiters?"

Gordon gave me a toothy grin.

"Oh yeah, Toliver turned states evidence and sang like a canary. The counterfeiters were working out of a small shop outside of El Paso del Norte. I slipped over there with a few men and collected the plates, a pot full of money, and three printers, one of whom was the engraver of the plates. They are all in Santa Fe right now, awaiting trial. I set Toliver free after confiscating ten thousand dollars in fake notes and a thousand dollars of his own money. He said he was asking for a reassignment from working around here."

I nodded, not especially happy that Toliver got off without jail time, but I knew Gordon's priority was protecting the currency. It was smart of him to squeeze Toliver into giving up the entire scheme. I congratulated him, took a deep breath and then asked him for a couple of favors.
Joe J & Wet Dream-Girl
Chapter 18