Chapter 5
Back in 1883, John's horse gave a little cry from inside Crazy Hole while the blue plasma light stung both of them. John had a tight hold on the reins to prevent his horse from running off.
John rushed his horse out of the cave, and the horse soon calmed down.
John walked his horse away from Crazy Hole. He looked, and Bart's saddlebag vanished. John looked around thinking that it fell off. It wasn't anywhere around on the ground. It dawned on John that the saddlebag now belonged to Bart, so of course he wouldn't have it in his possession in 1883. He got in the saddle on the horse.
He rode off and crossed a small creek that wasn't there in 2006.
He rode his horse to the north from Miners Needle.
John rode his horse like a pro through the mountains. While he rode his horse, he wondered how he would act as an outlaw in his mind. He even whipped out his pistol a few times while he practiced.
John stopped his horse when he saw Oak Creek fifty feet away. He looked in awe at a town that is alive but was long gone years before he was born.
Oak Creek had a dirt main street. In fact, all the streets were dirt.
It had a train station, cabinet maker, general store, barbershop, Court House, a Marshal's office with three jail cells, doctor's office, a restaurant, a hotel, the Oak Creek National bank, a saloon called the Prickly Cactus, a livery stable with a Blacksmith, a church, a dressmaker and suit shop, a schoolhouse and a graveyard to the southeast of the town. To the northwest was a stockade with cows and pigs to supply the restaurant with food.
There was a smaller dirt street to the west that had small homes for the town folk.
John rode his horse toward Oak Creek.
A little while later, John entered Oak Street from the east.
He rode the horse down the dirt Main Street into Oak Creek and still looked in awe at the sight of history before his eyes.
He rode past the train station to his right with Harvey Robbins' Cabinetmaker and Undertaker Shop across the street. Behind that shop to the south was the graveyard.
He rode a little farther and saw Fred Boone's Barber Shop to the right and Gus Master's General Store across the street.
He rode past the Court House to his right with the Marshal's Office across the street.
Ken and Ester walked near John down the street by the Court House.
"Hey there, what's happening?" John said while he smiled at them from his horse.
Ken and Ester stopped and looked confused while they watched John as he rode his horse down the street.
"What's happening? Why we're walking. That's what's happening. Isn't it that obvious?" Ken told Ester while they looked back at John while he rode his horse down the street.
Other people from Oak Creek walked around town and looked at this newcomer with curious eyes.
John rode farther down the street and passed a restaurant to his right with Doc Bartholomew's Office across the street.
John stopped his horse at the Oak Creek First National to the left and next to the Doc Bartholomew's Office.
While he got out of the saddle of his horse, he heard the faint sound of a piano being played. It came from the Prickly Cactus Saloon was across the street. Someone played a classical tune.
John stood by his horse and looked at the bank. He got nervous and started to chicken out. He took a deep breath of courage when he decided to go for it. He tied the reins of his horse to the hitching post. He looked at the door to the bank and again debated if he should continue. He stood there and pondered for a few seconds. He loosely tied the reins to the hitching post.
Inside the Oak Creek National bank, Sally Burns waited by the door. Sally's boyfriend, Danny Cook, was a skinny, mild and meek man, and he stood in the front of the line for the teller. Annie Nelson waited near Sally while her husband, Jacob Nelson, waited in line.
Buddy Woods, Jacob, Howard Jones, and Winston Smith stood in line at the teller's counter where the bank teller, Rodney Springer, a skinny timid man worked.
John entered the bank, looked around, and saw the "Monday, September 10, 1883" on a calendar on the wall behind the teller.
John strutted over to the Rodney's window. The men in lined looked pissed, as it looked like John was trying to cut in line.
"Ah, excuse me, but the line is back there," Howard said and pointed to Winston in back of him.
The bank teller, Rodney, looked up from his work and saw John and he nodded in agreement that he tried to cut in line in front of Ernie.
"Sir, you'll have to wait in line," Rodney told John. "Like everybody else."
John looked at the men in line who looked back at John.
He looked at Rodney, who looked at John. They all waited for John to get at the end of the line.
John's hand shook while he drew his pistol out of his holster. He raised his pistol, and his hand shook. He aimed it at Rodney. His hand shook so badly, he dropped his pistol on the floor.
Everybody stared at John, who looked down at his pistol. They all chuckled, and that pissed off John.
John thought for a second and quickly grabbed his pistol and decided to find the courage and finish the job he came to 1883 to perform. He mustered the meanest look he could create and rushed over and pressed the barrel of his pistol into Ernie's temple.
"Remove your guns and throw them to me," John called out and pressed his barrel harder into Ernie's temple.
All the men removed their cartridge belts with pistols in their holsters and threw them at John's boots. John cautiously bent down and picked up the three cartridge belts with pistols and slung them over his left shoulder. He aimed his gun at Rodney.
"Give me," John said in a squeaky voice then cleared his throat. "Give me all the money," John said and held out his bag at Rodney across the counter.
"I said, give me all your gold and silver coins or this guy gets shot in his head," John yelled out while he shoved his cloth bag at Rodney keeping his gun aimed at Ernie, who was about to piss his pants.
Rodney swallowed hard and got shaky nervous, as he didn't want Ernie shot. He quickly opened up his cash drawer and removed a handful of gold and silver coins and dumped them into John's bag. He handed the bag back to John, who snatched it from his hand.
John pointed his pistol at everybody and felt like an outlaw.
Everybody got nervous and remained still.
John strutted backward like an outlaw to the door with his pistol aimed at everybody.
He stopped at the door. Then John thought about how he could go down in history as a unique outlaw. Something people would remember. He looked at Sally, and he had an idea.
He walked over to Sally by the door. He looked her square in her eyes. She looked scared. He thought for a second then he smiled with an idea. He grabbed the back of her head and gave her a romantic kiss on the lips.
Ernie looked pissed but was too weak to come after John.
He released Sally from his romantic grip.
He turned around and faced everybody.
He tipped his hat and took a bow. "The Kissing Bandit alias John Mathers thanks you," John said.
Sally discreetly waved goodbye to John, while he rushed out the door. Anne looked jealous as she wanted a kiss.
John rushed over to his horse and eyed the area to make sure the Marshal wasn't coming after him. He rushed over to the hitching post and untied the loosely tied reins and held onto his bag of loot and stolen cartridge belts slung over his left shoulder while he quickly hopped in the saddle of his horse.
He turned the horse around and galloped down Main Street heading out of town.
Inside the bank, they all looked at each other and wondered if it was safe to come out of the bank. Sally had a little satisfying smirk on her face, and Ernie looked jealous.
Rodney walked out from behind the counter.
He walked to the window and cautiously peeked out the curtains. Everybody gathered behind him.
"Is it okay to go outside?" Jacob asked.
"Yeah. He's gone," Rodney said while he continued to peek out the window.
"We better tell the Marshal," Howard said.
Rodney opened the door, and they all exited.
They walked away from the bank and stood in the street. They looked in both directions for John, and he was gone. Sally looked a sad little John was gone.
They all rushed down the street.
In the Prickly Cactus Saloon, Clint Bartley, with his Town Marshal's badge pinned to his shirt, played a beautiful classical song on the piano and he was an outstanding pianist. Two sexy saloon prostitutes, Nancy and Jennifer, stood by the piano they listened and admired him.
Three cowboys played poker at a nearby table with Elmer, Clint's deputy.
The saloon doors slammed open, Rodney and everybody from the bank raced over to Clint.
"Marshal Bartley! The bank was robbed by some outlaw who kisses women!" Rodney cried out loud over Clint's piano playing and stopped at the piano.
Clint struck a lousy chord during his song. He jumped up from the piano and looked baffled as Rodney and everybody stopped at him. "What?" Clint asked Rodney as he now wasn't sure he heard him correctly.
"Someone robbed the bank, and he kissed Sally on his way out," Rodney said.
Sally had a little satisfying smirk, and Ernie noticed. He got a little jealous again, but he was too chicken to say something to her.
"He also stole our guns," Ernie said while he looked back at Sally hurt that she liked John's kiss. "And he had his pistol at my head. I thought this mean outlaw was going to kill me," Ernie said and looked like he would piss his pants at any moment.
Everybody in the saloon looked curious.
Clint looked pissed.
"Was it Bart Stone? He's never kissed women before. Or was it Charlie Chandler. He might do something like that," Clint asked.
"It wasn't Bart or Charlie. I never saw this kid before. Must be some new outlaw in the area. He said his name was John Mathers, the Kissing Bandit," Rodney replied.
Everybody nodded in agreement that they never saw John before.
"His clothes did look a little strange," Howard said.
"How strange?" Clint asked.
"I never saw that brand of Levi's before," Howard replied.
"Okay, an outlaw with different Levi's. I better go hunt him down," Clint said. "He should be easy to find," he added with an air of confidence.
Everybody in the saloon watched Clint while he raced to the saloon doors.
"Clint will catch him," Winston said. Everybody nodded in agreement.
Clint ran down to his Marshal's office. He untied his horse and jumped on.
He galloped his horse off down the street.
John galloped his horseback to Miners Needle. He looked back over his shoulder. Nobody chased after him, and he felt safe.
He rode his horse back to Crazy Hole.
John got out of the saddle of his horse and noticed the horse's tracks. He wondered how he could protect himself?
He saw a small bush nearby, and it gave him an idea. He ran over to the bush and snapped off a branch.
John rushed down twenty feet to a small creek he galloped his horse through. He erased the tracks up to the horse.
He laid the branch down and quickly removed his shirt and used it to cover the horse's eyes. He walked the horse to the entrance to Crazy Hole.
John rushed back and quickly erased the horse's tracks.
He rushed back inside the cave.
He walked his horse inside Crazy.
He walked his horse to the dead end and the other tunnel. "I want to go back to Saturday, August 26, two thousand and six," he said.
He walked this horse into that tunnel and that blue plasma light stung the yell out of him and his horse again.
Meanwhile, Clint rode his horse along the same path John used. He came to that small creek and lost sight of the tracks.
He walked his horse down the creek and hoped he would pick up John's horse tracks.
The Oak Creek Marshal's office was plain and simple with a wood floor, two desks, and three small jail cells. A potbelly stove where a pot of coffee was always fresh and hot. One desk was for Clint, and another one was for Elmer. He relaxed with his boots kicked up in a chair at his desk with his hat tipped over his eyes while he slept.
The office door opened, and Clint entered weary and disappointed. Clint noticed Elmer while he slept at his desk with an occasional snore. He slammed the door shut.
Elmer jumped up, his chair fell back, and he slammed hard on the floor.
Clint chuckled at the sight of Elmer.
Elmer saw Clint and stood up and got his chair upright.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack in my old age?" Elmer asked.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Clint responded.
"Well, I take it you didn't get this Kissing Bandit?" Elmer said while he looked at the three empty jail cells.
"Naw, it's like he vanished, Elmer. I lost him somewhere around Miners Needle," Clint said.
"You know what the Indians say about Miners Needle?" Elmer said.
"That's nothing but hogwash," Clint said while walked over to his desk and grabbed his tin coffee cup.
He walked over to the stove and poured a cup of coffee.
He walked over to his desk and sat down. He sipped his hot coffee.
"Oh. While you were gone, Sidney found some skeleton bones of a human and a leather bag about ten miles north of town," Elmer said.
Clint thought for a second. "I don't recall hearing about someone missing," Clint said.
"There was the name Peter Yoemans marked on the inside of the leather bag. Must have been some old miner," Elmer suggested.
"Maybe. Let's bury the bones at the cemetery," Clint replied.
"I'll get that in work tomorrow," Elmer said.
The office door opened and Gertrude Perkins, a thirty-two-year-old plain and simple woman who desperately wanted to find a husband, entered with a freshly made apple pie under a cloth. She was the school teacher for Oak Creek.
Clint and Elmer glanced at Gertrude.
She gave Clint a bashful and warm smile while she walked over to his desk.
"Gertrude," Clint said politely.
"Marshal. I heard you chased after the outlaw that robbed the bank. I baked this pie figuring you might be hungry," she said then laid the pie on his desk and removed the cloth and revealed the apple pie.
"Mmmm! Apple, my favorite," Clint said while he sniffed the pie.
Clint opened up his desk drawer and removed a knife. He sliced a piece of pie and grabbed it, and took a huge bite.
"Mmmm. You always bake the best pies, Gertrude," Clint said.
"Thank you. I can bake you some sweet desert any time you desire, Clint. If you were my husband," Gertrude said with a sweet tone and hoped Clint would accept her offer.
Clint chewed his pie and ignored Gertrude.
She took his non-response as a rejection and looked hurt.
Elmer glanced over at Clint, upset over his non-response.
Gertrude walked away, rejected, but she was still determined to get Clint to marry her one day.
Elmer watched as Gertrude opened the door and left their office.
"You chicken or something? Don't end up like me, old and alone. Go marry her and raise some little Bartley's," Elmer told Clint in a fatherly tone.
"The women here are too boring for my taste," Clint said while he gobbled up the rest of his slice of pie.
Clint licked the remaining apple pie off his fingers. He sat down and sipped on his coffee. He thought about the outlaw that slipped away.
Elmer rolled his eyes with Clint's refusal to get married.
"Howard said this outlaw wore strange-looking clothes," Clint said.
"That's what I hear," Elmer replied while he walked over and couldn't resist Gertrude's apple pie. He pulled out his knife and sliced a piece of the pie, grabbed the slice with his fingers and munched on it.
"Reminds me of that kid that wandered into town on foot a few years back," Clint said.
"Yeah, the one that went inside the general store," Elmer replied with a mouth full of pie.
"Folks said he wore strange clothes and shoes," Clint said.
Elmer swallowed his pie. "I remember. Maybe these strange clothes are some kind of a trademark of some new outlaw gang?" Elmer asked.
"That's possible," Clint responded then sipped his coffee and thought about the outlaw, John Mathers, the Kissing Bandit.