Chapter 21
The blue plasma light illuminated the inside of Crazy Hole while Alicia walked her horse out. Bart kept his head low and had a huge goose egg on his forehead. When he sensed he was outside by the sounds, he slowly raised his head.
Alicia looked around, and the area looked a little different. The bush that partially covered the cave opening was gone. There were large puffy clouds in the sky. It was Saturday, September 22nd, 1883.
The blue plasma light illuminated the inside of Crazy Hole while Angie walked her horse out.
"That blue light stung like hell," Angie said then looked around the area. "Did we go back in time?" she added.
"I guess we did. And that bush is gone from the cave opening, and the sky has more clouds," Alicia said.
Angie looked around. "I think we did," she said.
"Let's get these to off to jail," Alicia said.
Alicia and Angie got back on their horses sitting behind Bart and Charlie.
They rode off north towards Oak Creek.
Ten minutes later, blue plasma light illuminated the inside of Crazy Hole while Rusty walked his horse out in a rush as that blue plasma light also stung the hell out of him.
He looked around and saw the bush missing from the opening of Crazy Hole and saw the large puffy clouds in the sky.
"I went back in time!" Rusty yelled out and did a little victory dance in the dirt.
He got in the saddle of his horse and galloped off to the south, and headed east for the direction of Mountain Rock.
Alicia and Angie rode their horses through the desert with Bart and Charlie.
They rode for an hour then stopped when they had Oak Creek in view about one hundred feet away. They looked in awe at the sight of the old western town that time had erased.
"I don't believe it. It's Oak Creek. It's hard to imagine this place eventually vanished in the desert," Alicia said.
"I still can't believe I went back in time to the old west," Angie said.
"Let's take these two to the Marshal," Alicia said.
They rode their horses, with Bart and Charlie, into Oak Creek.
Alicia and Angie rode their horses down the main street of Oak Creek.
Sally, Ernie, Annie, Jacob, and some of the town folk of Oak Creek watched while Alicia and Angie rode their horses down the street with Bart and Charlie.
"Who are they?" Jacob asked Annie.
"Never seen those ladies before," Annie replied.
Rodney walked down the street and saw Alicia, Bart, Angie, and Charlie. He stopped by the town folk who stopped and gawked, and then Rodney's eyes widened with joy when he saw half of Bart's right ear missing. "Those must be Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler."
"How do you know?" asked Jacob.
"The one guy has half of his right ear sliced off," said Rodney.
Everybody nodded in agreement as they knew about Bart's right ear.
"I don't believe it. They got arrested by two women," Rodney said, and everybody chuckled.
Chester limped up to everybody while he looked at Alicia, Bart, Angie, and Charlie. "Who are the new folk?" Chester asked.
"Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler got arrested by two women," Rodney said happily the bank robbers finally got caught.
"But they're bald," Winston added.
"The one guy has half of his right ear missing," said Rodney.
Chester looked and nodded in agreement. "Yep, that's Bart."
"Probably a disguise so they won't get arrested," Jacob said.
"Looks like it didn't work," Sally said. "I never heard of women Marshal's. They must be good," Sally added and looked proud of a woman doing a man's job.
They all watched while Alicia, Bart, Angie, and Charlie rode to the Marshal's office.
Winston's eyes lit up with an idea, and he ran off in the direction of the train station. The Southern Pacific train with smoke billowing out of its stack was rolling down the track and heading into Oak Creek.
Alicia and Angie stopped their horses at the Marshal's office. They got out of the saddles of their horses and tied the reins to the hitching post.
Alicia looked up at Bart. "You're home," she said, then removed a small penknife from her pocket. She cut the tie wraps from the stirrups, then she reached up and tugged hard on Bart's arm. He fell off the horse and smacked into the ground with a thud.
"Ahhhh!" he cried out in pain.
"Oops!" Alicia said while she pretended it was an accident.
Angie chuckled at the sight while Alicia walked over and cut the tie wraps on Charlie's stirrups. She reached up and tugged on Charlie's arm. He fell off the horse and smacked into the ground with a thud.
"Ahhhh!" he cried out in pain.
"Oops! I did it again. Clumsy me," Alicia said.
Angie chuckled again.
They grabbed Bart and Charlie by their boots and dragged them up the stairs with a thump, thump, thump while Bart and Charlie's head banged on the steps.
All the town folk witnessing this event chuckled.
Inside the Marshal's office, Clint sat with his boots up on the desk. He was in deep thought about Alicia while he sipped his coffee.
John lay on his back in his jail cell bed in deep thought about his life being over in the morning.
The door creaked opened, and Alicia dragged Bart inside by his boots while the back of his head scraped along the wooden floor.
Angie followed and dragged Charlie inside by his boots while the back of his head scraped along the wooden floor.
Clint saw Alicia while she removed her gun case off her shoulder and placed it up against the wall.
"Ma-am," he said, then sat straight up in the presence of a lady. Then he looked at the ladies again and realized Alicia was inside his office.
He jumped up on his feet, excited to see Alicia. "What are you doing here?"
"I brought you two presents. Bart and Charlie alive and in the flesh," she replied.
He saw Bart and Charlie but didn't recognize them.
John heard this all the commotion from his jail cell and jumped up off his bed. He ran over and pressed his face between two cell door bars. "Angie!" he cried out.
Angie ignored John.
Clint walked over to the outlaws and looked Charlie over.
He looked Bart over and noticed his half right ear then saw the bump on his forehead. "I don't believe it. You caught them. How did you do it?" he asked, very proud of Alicia.
"Oh, I just tricked them into thinking we had the loot they wanted," she said, then removed their blindfolds.
Bart and Charlie looked around then frowned when they realized they were in the Marshal's office.
"Bart confessed to killing Elmer," Alicia said.
"No, I didn't. She's fibbing," Bart cried out in protest and tried to stand up. Alicia pushed him back down on his butt.
She removed the small recorder from her pocket, and she turned it on and played it for Clint.
"Yeah, how about that. I killed Elmer, and I saw on TV that John got hung fer it. Ain't I smart!" Bart said with an evil smirk then laughed a smart-ass laugh from the recorder.
Bart looked shocked at the small recorder that played his exact voice and his words.
Charlie looked shocked then got scared, as he suddenly didn't want to be associated with Bart any longer. This life of crime was no longer glamorous as he could feel the rope tightening around his neck, choking off his air supply.
"You killed Elmer, and then you let John take the rap. You coward!" Angie yelled out, then slapped Bart upside his head and knocked him on his side.
Clint grabbed Charlie's collar and pulled him up on his feet. He walked him over to the cell next to John's. He looked at the handcuffs, and he couldn't figure out how to release them.
Alicia rushed over and removed a key from her pants pocket.
He unlocked and removed Charlie's handcuffs.
Clint threw him inside the empty cell then slammed the door shut.
Clint walked over and pulled Bart up on his feet.
He walked him over to the other empty jail cell.
Alicia unlocked his handcuffs and removed them.
Clint threw him into the cell and slammed the door shut.
"I'll be having a word with Judge Peabody, and I'll make sure you both have your trial real soon," Clint told them.
"Marshal, may I have a word with you?" Charlie asked politely.
Clint walked over to Charlie's cell, where he waited at the bars.
"If I testify that Bart killed Elmer, will Judge Peabody let me go? Cause that's what really happened. Bart shot and killed Elmer. I didn't," Charlie said in a sincere voice. "The Kissing Bandit didn't shoot Elmer."
"I'll tell Judge Peabody what you said," Clint said.
"You bastard!" Bart yelled out while he shook the bars pissed. "I'll kill you, Charlie!" Bart yelled out furious and poked his arms through the bars of his cell door in a stupid attempt to strangle Charlie.
Charlie sat down on his cell bed, as he didn't care. Bart couldn't harm him, and he didn't want to see the end of a noose because of Bart.
Angie walked up to Clint. "Since we brought back the real killer of your deputy, can you let John go free?" Angie said.
Clint looked at Bart and Charlie and then John, who stood at his bars and silently prayed he would be freed.
"I'm sorry. I can't go against what Judge Peabody ruled. He'll throw a fit," Clint said.
"But you can tell him you have the real killers in jail. John's trial was a mistake," Angie pleaded.
"Sorry, but Judge Peabody will never admit he found an innocent man guilty. His ego won't allow that," Clint said but really wanted to let John free. "I can't do anything for him now."
Angie looked like she wanted to break down and sob. "I don't understand, Bart already confessed," she said.
"Angie, they're going to kill me in the morning," John cried out from his cell.
"They're going to kill me in the morning," Bart imitated John in a whiny tone. "Take your noose like a man," Bart said then sat down on his bed.
"I know John. I saw your lifeless body swinging at the end of a noose, on the History Channel," Angie told John while she walked up to his cell.
John rubbed his neck and swallowed hard. "I wanted to be famous, not dead," John said, then his eyes welled up.
Angie stuck her hand between the bars of his cell door. She rubbed John's cheek. Then she grabbed the back of his head and smacked his forehead into the bars.
"Ahhhh! Why did you do that?" John said, then rubbed his sore forehead.
"Because you're a moron for having that obsession with old western outlaws," Angie scolded.
Angie walked over to Clint and Alicia.
"There has to be some way we can get him out of here," Angie pleaded.
Clint looked at Alicia and Angie. "You're a law woman, you know how things work," he told Alicia.
Alicia thought for a second. Then her eyes lit up with an idea. It was a rough idea, but she thought it could work. "I know how we can have a win, win situation," Alicia said and felt confident this idea would work.
"Let's talk about my plan over dinner. I'm starving from that ride," she told Clint and Alicia.
John, Charlie, and Bart watched while Clint escort Alicia and Angie out of the office.
"You're dead, Mathers," Bart said with a smart-ass laugh.
John sat down on his cell bed and was worried sick.
Charlie sat down on his bed and was worried sick.
Bart lay on his bed and whistled Camptown Ladies, as he didn't have a care in the world. Or at least he pretended.
Outside the Marshal's office, Clint saw old man Bucky Younger while he walked down the street.
"Bucky," Clint called out.
Bucky turned around. "Yes, Marshal," he responded.
"Watch the place for me. I have three outlaws in the cells. I'll be back after dinner," Clint said.
"It'll be my pleasure," Bucky said.
"Thanks, Bucky. Coffee is piping hot on the stove and makes sure we don't have any gawkers wanting to use my office as a sightseeing place," Clint said then escorted Alicia and Angie down the street.
They headed toward the restaurant.
Bucky went inside the Marshal's office and saw John, Bart, and Charlie in the jail cells.
He walked over to Clint's desk and grabbed a coffee cup.
He walked over to the stove and poured a cup. He walked over and sat down at Elmer's old desk, and he sipped his coffee. All of a sudden, he got a dull pain in the middle of his chest. The pain went away, and Bucky ignored it, sipping his coffee.
John, Bart and Charlie glanced at Bucky.
Meanwhile, out in the desert, Rusty got lost. He finally rode upon a town and saw it was Mountain Rock.
He rode his horse down the main dirt street.
He rode to the Sheriff's office and saw the "Funeral For Marshal Paulson To Be Held On Saturday" notice on the door.
Rusty saw the Mountain Rock Saloon down the street.
He rode off down the street and stopped at the saloon.
He got out of the saddle of his horse and tied the reins to the hitching post.
Inside the saloon, four saloon girls were standing by the piano player. Four cowboys played poker at a table.
Jimmy Templeton sat at the bar. Jimmy was easy to pick out because he always wore four rings on the fingers of his right hand. He believed it helped his aim when firing his pistol. He drank shots of whiskey from a bottle at the bar. Another cowboy drank shots of whiskey at the other end of the bar.
The bartender cleaned glassed with a rag that didn't look very clean.
Rusty walked up to the bar four feet from Jimmy. "Whiskey," he told the bartender.
The bartender laid a bottle of whiskey on the bar with a shot glass. Rusty gave the bartender a silver dollar.
"Bartender, who can I talk to about being a town marshal of this lovely town?" Rusty asked.
"Judge Wilbur Peabody over in Oak Creek," the bartender responded.
Jimmy heard the "Town Marshal" word and moved down the bar five farther down the bar.
Rusty noticed and immediately got suspicious of Jimmy.
Rusty drank his whiskey and kept an eye on Jimmy as his gut told him this cowboy would be up to no good sooner or later.
Then Rusty spotted the four rings on Jimmy's right hand. Jimmy Templeton! He cried out in his head, and his old detective gut had him feeling that this outlaw was up to no good. He decided he would keep an eye on him.
At the Oak Creek train station, Winston sent out a message through the telegraph.
"Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler were arrested and are in the Oak Creek jail. The Kissing Bandit will be hung tomorrow morning at eight," the telegraph stated.
In due time, Stone Valley, Mountain Rock, Phoenix, and Rattlesnake all had the news about Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler, and John's hanging.
In the train station at Mountain Rock, Robert read the telegraph message that arrived from Oak Creek. His eyes widened at the message, and he rushed out of the train station.
In the saloon, Rusty sipped his whiskey when Robert busted inside the saloon.
Jimmy took a gulp of whiskey from his shot glass.
"I just got a telegraph that Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler were arrested and are in the Oak Creek jail," Robert addressed everybody in the saloon.
"Isn't the Kissing Bandit going to be hung in the morning?" the bartender asked.
"Yep. A bunch of us are going over first thing in the morning to watch," Robert said.
Jimmy slammed his shot glass down, jumped up and knocked over his bar stool, furious.
Rusty watched with suspicious eyes while Jimmy stormed out of the saloon.
Rusty gulped down his shot of whiskey then rushed out of the saloon.
Rusty stepped out of the saloon, and he looked around and saw Jimmy gallop his horse down the street.
Rusty untied his horse's reins from the hitching post. He hopped in the saddle of his horse then galloped after Rusty.
In the Oak Creek jail, John lay on his bed, stared at the ceiling, and wondered if Angie and Alicia would get him out of this mess.
Charlie lay in his bed, stared at the ceiling, and wondered if he would be found guilty of killing Elmer and be hung.
Bart sat on his bed, and then he broke out in a song. "De Camptown Ladies sing this song, Doo-da, Doo-da," Bart sang out, as he wasn't concerned and figured he would find a way to escape.
Jimmy galloped his horse in the desert with Oak Creek off in the distance.
Rusty galloped his horse and followed Jimmy at a safe distance behind.
Alicia, Angie, and Clint ate dinner at the restaurant. Their meal consisted of steak, potatoes, and corn with bread and coffee.
"How does my plan sound?" Alicia asked, then shoved a piece of steak in her mouth.
Clint sipped his coffee and thought for a second. He smiled. "I like it, and it should work," he added.
"You won't miss it?" Angie asked Alicia a little concerned.
"Don't worry, I'm a marksman," she replied, then sipped her coffee.
Angie still felt a little concerned but figured it was worth the risk, as John would die anyway.
"Now, we shouldn't be seen at all tomorrow morning," Clint added.
Alicia and Angie nodded in agreement.
Jimmy rode his horse into Oak Creek.
Rusty followed a safe distance behind Jimmy.
Jimmy rode his down some side streets then rode to the rear of the Marshal's office.
He rode his horse up to the barred windows. He peaked in one of the windows and saw John on his bed.
He moved his horse down the next window and saw Charlie asleep on his bed.
He moved his horse down the next window and saw Bart on his bed.
"Bart," Jimmy quietly called out into the window.
Bart's face appeared at the bars of his cell window. He saw Jimmy outside on his horse. He grinned, as he knew Jimmy could get him out. Bart looked at Bucky, who dozed off while sitting at Elmer's desk.
Bart stood up on his bed and went to the bars.
"Jimmy. I'm glad you're out of Yuma and found me," Bart quietly said.
"How did you get caught?" Jimmy quietly asked.
"Don't worry about that, just get me out of here," Bart quietly replied. "I need you to save my bacon!"
"I'll get a rope and pull these bars away," Jimmy quietly said.
"Not now. Marshal Bartley will be back any minute. Let's wait until they hang that Kissing Bandit scoundrel in the morning. Then we can slip away quietly without being noticed," Bart told Jimmy quietly.
"I'll also bust Charlie out," Jimmy quietly said.
"No, that yellow-belly offered to testify against me. Let the bastard stand trial for killing Elmer," Bart quietly said.
"Okay, boss. When I see the crowd gathered at the gallows, and this Kissing Bandit guy on the gallows, I'll bust you out," Jimmy quietly said.
Jimmy rode his horse away from the window.
Bucky still dozed off at Elmer's desk.
Rusty stepped out from the corner of another building, as he heard Bart and Jimmy's conservation. He got in the saddle of his horse and rode off.
He tailed Jimmy while he rode Main Street.
Jimmy rode down Main Street of Oak Creek and headed out of town.
Rusty followed Jimmy, a safe distance behind him.
Clint walked Alicia and Angie to the hotel, and they went inside.
He walked them up to the front desk, where Jacob worked.
"Marshal Bartley, do you need your room back?" Jacob asked.
"No, Jacob, I want these two beautiful ladies to have my room for the night. They just rode in from Phoenix. I'm staying at my office since I have a full house of outlaws," Clint said.
"Are you ladies here for the hanging of the Kissing Bandit? This hotel is full of visitors from other nearby towns," Jacob asked excitedly about the upcoming event.
"Yes, we are," Alicia replied.
"We're reporters for a newspaper in Dodge City," Angie blurted out.
Clint looked surprised at her response and wondered if Jacob would buy her story.
"Female reporters. That's a first," Jacob said. Then he thought for a second. "I witnessed the Kissing Bandit first hand. I was in the Oak Creek National bank when he robbed it. Then he kissed Sally," he said. "I think she's in love with the Kissing Bandit," Jacob added with a chuckle. "If you want to use me in your story, my name is Jacob Nelson," he said.
Angie looked pissed, and Alicia noticed. She placed her arm around Angie's shoulder. "Oh, I'm sure the Kissing Bandit just did that for show. I don't think he wanted to get romantically involved with other women," she said.
"I talked with the Kissing Bandit, and he told me he had a girlfriend that he really loves. This kissing was just a show," Clint added to calm down Angie.
Angie felt a little better.
"Well, I better get back to the Marshal's office," Clint said.
"Good evening, ladies, and I'll see you at the hanging," Clint said and walked away.
"I'll take you ladies to Clint's room," Jacob said then walked around from behind the counter.
He walked to some nearby stairs and walked up to them. Alicia and Angie followed Jacob.
Clint walked down the street to his Marshal's office.
Clint went inside his office and found Bucky asleep at Elmer's desk with his boots propped up on the desk. He looked at the jail cells and saw John, Bart, and Charlie sound asleep.
Clint wanted to slam his fist on the desk like he would Elmer but decided he didn't want to wake up his prisoners. So he lightly shook Bucky, who woke up. Clint motioned he could leave the office.
Bucky stood up and yawned, then moped still half asleep to the door. He left the Marshal's office.
Clint blew out the kerosene lanterns and walked over to his bedroll near the wall. He bedded down on his bedroll and stared at the ceiling. He wondered if he was doing the right thing.
John had a nightmare.
In John's nightmare, he stood at the gallows with the noose tight around his neck. It was so tight that he had a difficult time breathing. Then the bottom of the gallows fell out from under his feet. He dropped, and the noose got instantly tighter. He dangled and saw Angie in the crowd that cheered. Angie was clapping.
John woke up from his nightmare in a cold sweat and gasped for air. He shot up and looked around and realized he was still in an old western jail cell.
He lay down and stared at the ceiling, and he was too scared to sleep. He figured he would take a dirt nap before too long, so he might as well enjoy what little time he has on this Earth.
Clint was on his back on the Marshal's office floor, and he couldn't sleep and just stared at the ceiling.
Angie and Alicia shared Clint's small bed. Two guys would never do that in a million years, but the ladies didn't see a problem with sleeping together.
Alicia was sound asleep.
Angie stared at the ceiling, and all she could think about was if John would die in the morning.
Off in