After Lila finished off the last of Rash’s bullets, they made their way out of the dead end canyon.
“Can I have some of that?” Lila asked as Rash took another dip from her pocket.
“What? Cloves?”
Lila nodded and Rash passed her a good-sized wad, which she stuffed in her mouth and crunched down on. Seconds later, her eyes began to water. Then her confident grin dropped into a frown and she spat the little buds to the ground.
“They taste like pennies!” she said, licking her sleeve to get rid of the flavor. “Hot pennies. And they made my tongue go numb. Why do you eat those?”
Rash just laughed. “Come on,” she said.
“Where we going now?”
“To the barn. We’re out of ammo. Need to resupply from the bags I left with Jenny.”
“And then what?”
“Then you escape this place.”
Lila stopped. “Escape?”
“Hell yes, escape. You can’t stay here. Not with those wolves howling at your door.”
“What about Dandy?”
“Cut him loose. He’s dead weight dragging you to your death.”
“But I can’t leave him.”
“Of course you can.”
“I’m only twelve. And a girl. A half-breed girl. There’s no place for me without him.”
“Then make a place,” Rash said. “That’s what I did. Ain’t nobody gonna make one for you.”
“How?”
“First you make yourself scarce. Then fierce. I’ve got paper money and gold in my bags. It’s yours. I’ll even get you out of town, but then I never want to see you again.”
Lila crossed her arms. “I’m not leaving Dandy. I promised auntie Inge.”
“Look, girl,” Rash said, grabbing the kid’s hand and dragging her along the path. “I don’t think you quite apprehend the current state of affairs. Fouch and his boys are coming back tonight to take you by force. We have to get you out of here. Dandy can’t protect you.”
“But you can.”
“I’m old. And slow.”
“You told me slow was good and fast was bad…”
Rash glanced at her disfigured fingers. “Soon enough I’ll be as useless as Dandy.”
“Then I can take care of you both. We can all live together…”
“Shut up about that. I ain’t saddling you with two invalids. Besides, there’s still Fouch and his boys to worry about.”
“If you’ve got money,” Lila said, tugging against Rash’s hand, “why don’t you just use it to pay off Dandy’s debt?”
Rash scowled at her. “I don’t bail out cowards. And I certainly don’t pay off thugs like Fouch. Now shut up or I’ll do what I should’ve done in the first place and steer clear of your problems.”
They walked in silence the rest of the way to the barn. When they reached it, they found Dandy outside, kicking at the dirt by its doors.
Rash gutted the growing slurry of clove in her mouth. Getting Lila out of there peacefully just got a lot more difficult.
“Beautiful day, ain’t it Miss Rash?” he asked.
She followed his gaze toward the young sun, which already burned bright despite its tight grip on the horizon. Perspiration dotted her forehead and shaded the curling ends of her sodden silver locks. It was hot, and well out of character with autumnal expectations. She wondered briefly if this was what the hell would feel like.
“You know what they call weather like this?” she asked.
“Tell me.”
“Indian Summer. It ain’t real. Just a last gasp of heat before winter sets in.”
She made to enter the barn, but Dandy stepped into her path.
“Did I ever tell you about my military service?” he asked.
“No,” she replied, annoyed by his clumsy attempt to delay her. “But the kid says you lost your arms at Gettysburg.”
Dandy raised his eyebrows and glanced at a flushing Lila. “My niece is real fond of telling tales. Probably had me accepting Lee’s surrender at Appomattox personally. Did she mention she was born a Nipponese Princess?”
“She was?”
“Absolutely not,” he said with a nervous laugh. “She ain’t even Nipponese. Her mother was a full-blooded Norwegian that bedded a Chinaman for a night and spat out his seed nine months later. Never heard from him again.”
“So you didn’t lose your arms at Gettysburg?”
“No. Made it through the war with body intact. Never even got east of Tennessee, though Gettysburg may have been preferable to Stone River and Chickamauga. Wasn’t until the magazine went up at the Bodie Mine in ’79 that I lost my hands.”
“Interesting,” Rash said. “Now get out of the way so I can tend to my horse.”
Dandy refused to budge, so she grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground. Then she tore open the barn door. And froze.
Jenny was gone.
“What did you do with my horse?” Rash demanded, looming over a sprawled Dandy.
He shuddered, unable to look her in the eyes. “Fouch took it…”
“And how did Fouch know where to find her?”
“I… I told him.”
Since her Colt was empty, she drew her side knife.
“No!” Lila screamed.
Rash turned to her. “Why not? He’s got no purpose. Just makes life harder for you.”
“He’s my uncle!”
“Fine,” Rash said, sheathing her knife. Then she peeked into the barn again and frowned. “Where are my bags?”
The old cripple swallowed hard. “Fouch took everything. Said it bought me an extra month.”
“A month? There was fifty in paper and twice that in gold in there. Enough to clear your entire debt, no doubt.”
“I didn’t know.”
Rash sighed and stepped away from the barn.
“Where you going?” Lila asked.
“To get my horse back. And maybe wake a few snakes.”
“But you don’t got any bullets. You’ll get killed.”
“Maybe.”
The kid scampered to her side and seized her hand. “I’m coming with you.”
“Like hell you are,” Rash said, wrenching free. “The time for that is done. Your deadbeat uncle saw to that.”
“What if you die? What’ll stop them from coming back and taking me?”
Rash picked out the foot of the draw up ahead and made her way toward it. “You’re a smart girl,” she said. “You got a month to figure it out. Least you can shoot now.”
Lila faltered. Rash could hear her tears, but didn’t bother turning around to see them. Soon enough, the kid ran off, back to the awkward embrace of her useless uncle. Less than useless. A liability. A burden.
