Chapter 17
It was 2:30 a.m. on Friday morning; Paradise was quiet, and the sound of hammers finished four hours ago.
Josh crept out of his hotel room, and his shadowy figure gingerly walked down the back streets and got to the rear of Doc Holloway’s Office building. He rushed inside the building.
Josh rushed into the bedroom by the back door, peeked under the bed, and he saw six bottles filled with clear liquid.
He grabbed all the bottles and rushed out of the doctor’s building.
Josh rushed back to the General Store with the six bottles of clear concoction and went inside.
Josh quickly opened up one of the boxes of whiskey and removed a bottle.
He unscrewed the cap of the whiskey bottle, then he opened up the rear door and poured some of the whiskey out into the dirt. He removed the cork out of one of the concoction bottles and poured some into the whiskey bottle then screwed on the cap.
Josh repeated this process for all the whiskey bottles in the boxes.
He also went outside and raked fresh dirt over the puddle of whiskey.
After the boxes were restacked inside the General Store, Josh rushed over to the closest outhouse, and he dropped all the empty concoction bottles into a bucket of waste.
He ran back to his hotel room in the quiet night and tried to get some sleep.
It was 5:00 a.m., and Josh woke up when he heard the sound of Maggie ringing her bell down the hall. He quickly gathered up his towel and other toiletry items and headed out of his room to the bathroom.
After his bath, Josh sat alone at his table in the Dining Hall and ate the standard scrambled eggs, bacon, and milk.
In Marshall Fisher’s mansion, Jenny, Anita, and Marshall Fisher sat at the dining room table, eating their breakfast, which consisted of a ham omelet, grits, coffee, and toast.
Jenny and Anita picked at their omelets and looked upset.
“I hope everybody had a good night’s sleep. I know I did,” Marshall Fisher told the ladies with a smile, then he sipped some of his coffee.
Anita wanted so bad to confront him about what she heard last night, but she recalled that when she questioned about that rape case and how he slapped her and told her to mind her own business. She just kept quiet and picked at her omelet with her fork.
Marshall Fisher noticed that both Jenny and Anita picking at their omelets. “What’s the matter, you’re not eating?”
“Ah, I guess I’m nervous about the big day tomorrow,” Anita replied, then she sipped some of her coffee.
“Me too,” Jenny added, then she ate a small piece of her omelet.
Bernard entered with two different styles of white, old fashion wedding dresses in hand. He walked up to Fisher. “Sir, these arrived from the dressmaker,” he said, then held up the two dresses.
Marshall Fisher looked the dresses over. “Jenny’s dress will be the one to the left. And Anita’s dress will be the one on the right,” he told Bernard.
“As you wish, sir,” Bernard replied, then walked out of the room with the dresses.
Fisher gulped down the rest of his coffee. “I need you both on stage for a toast with everybody. We’ll do it at high noon. And Anita, make sure shit for brains Josh knows about this,” he told the two ladies.
Jenny nodded that she understood his orders.
“Yes, daddy,” she replied and didn’t take too kindly to him, calling Josh names.
Fisher got up from the table and walked out of the room.
Anita and Jenny eyed each other and were afraid of saying anything.
After breakfast, Josh walked down Paradise Lane and saw Nora while she walked like a zombie down the street.
He looked concerned and walked over to her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Nora looked at Josh and looked lifeless. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” she quietly replied, then she moped down the street and headed to the saloon.
Josh looked concerned while he watched Nora mope down the street.
Josh headed back to the General Store and looked so determined to get out of Paradise so he could turn this place around.
Josh walked inside the General Store, where Melvin looked anxious from behind the cash register. “Take over the store. I’m heading out for a couple of hours. And don’t forget to deliver the bottle of whiskey to the mansion. The wagon is parked out back,” he said, then walked out from behind the register.
“Yes sir,” Josh replied, then he watched while Melvin rushed out the door with a horny grin on his face.
Anita walked into the General Store and still looked bothered from last night.
“Good morning,” Josh said the second he saw her and noticed her bothered look. “Are you okay?” he asked a little concerned.
“Yeah, just a little wedding jitters,” she replied as she didn’t want to tell Josh about Nora’s rape.
Josh looked at Anita and felt like a jerk knowing she would be deeply hurt when he left her at the altar tomorrow.
“Oh, father wants you at the stage at high noon for a toast,” she said.
“A toast?” he asked.
The sound of a Colt 45 being fired was heard outside on the street.
Anita and Josh looked concerned and rushed outside to the street.
A crowd rushed down Paradise Lane and headed to the saloon where another crowd gathered.
Josh and Anita rushed over to the crowd outside the saloon, where people stood in a circle and looked down at the dirt.
“What happened?” Anita asked.
“Nora grabbed a pistol from one of the cowboys and rushed outside and shot herself in the heart,” a middle-aged woman said.
Anita instantly knew why Nora ended her life, and her eyes welled up.
Josh had an inkling of what could be the reason, and he fumed inside.
Anita stepped away from the crowd. “I’m not feeling too well, so I’m going to the mansion,” she told Josh then rushed away down the street.
Josh glanced at Anita while she rushed off to the mansion then he glanced down at Nora’s dead body.
A little while later, Josh stood behind the cash register, and business was slow.
The rear door of the store opened, and Jenny peeked inside.
Josh saw her and rushed over to the door.
“Someone named Nora just shot herself an hour ago,” Josh told her and looked upset.
“I heard Marshall Fisher and some of his goons raping her last night in the mansion,” Jenny said, and she looked pissed.
“More reason why we need to get out of here and turn this place around,” he told her and gave her a quick kiss on her lips.
Jenny reached inside one of the pockets of her dress and removed a folded piece of paper. “Here are the instructions for the machine,” she said and handed him the paper.
Josh unfolded the paper and glanced at the paper. “We’ll leave this hell hole right after the toast,” he told her then gave her another kiss.
“Just make sure you don’t drink any of that stuff,” Jenny told him.
“I will,” he replied, and then they kissed.
While they kissed, they didn’t notice Maggie, who stood in the store and heard their entire conservation. Maggie rushed away in a panic.
Josh closed the door after Jenny rushed away down the back alley.
He then walked over and waited behind the cash register.
It was now 9:56 a.m., and Melvin returned from his romp at the Paradise House and some shots in the saloon.
“Take the whiskey over to the stage. Then you’re done for the day,” Melvin said while he walked through the door.
Josh walked through the store and opened the back door. He grabbed one of the boxes of whiskey and took it outside.
After all the boxes of whiskey were loaded into the wagon, Josh climbed aboard and drove off down the alley.
Josh drove the wagon down toward the end of Paradise Lane and saw a couple of workers putting on the finishing touches to the wooden stage.
He stopped the wagon by a table to the one side of the stage. He got out and immediately started unloading the bottles out of the boxes and placing them on the top of the table. He opened up one of the boxes and started removing the whiskey bottles
Jenny walked out of Doc Holloway’s Office with her suitcase with all of her clothes in hand.
She saw the stage and Josh setting up the whiskey bottles on the table.
Josh turned around and saw Jenny.
Their eyes made a brief contact while he placed some more bottles of whiskey on the table.
She walked away and headed down Paradise Lane toward the mansion.
A little while later, Josh had the whiskey bottles placed on the table and saved six for the Indians.
He drove the wagon down Paradise Lane and parked it behind the General Store.
He returned back to his hotel room to relax for a little while before the party started.
Down at the end of Paradise Lane, Marshall Fisher walked around with cowboys Tony, Steve, Mark, Tony, and Ray and checked out the wooden stage.
“Nice job,” he said while he walked up the steps and stood on the stage.
Maggie rushed down Paradise Lane with cowboys Wesley and Paul.
“Marshall, Marshall!” Maggie called out.
Marshall Fisher saw Maggie and the two cowboys run over to the stage. “What?” he asked while he walked down the steps of the stage.
“Marshall, I overheard Jenny and Josh talking inside the General Store. They’re planning on sneaking out of Paradise after the toast,” she sang like a canary.
“What?” Marshall Fisher asked to make sure he heard correctly.
“I overheard Jenny and Josh talking in the General Store about escaping Paradise right after the toast,” Maggie told him again.
“Find that turd, Josh Bryant, and bring him to me at my office!” Marshall Fisher ordered his cowboys.
Cowboys Steve, Tony, Steve, Mark, Tony, and Ray rushed off down Paradise Lane.
Maggie strutted back down Paradise Lane proud that she earned some brownie points with the Marshall.
Josh sat on his bed and glanced over the instructions that Jenny stole from the mansion.
His hotel room door slammed open, and Josh jumped up, startled, and let go of the instructions. The paper floated down to the floor.
Cowboys Tony, Steve, Mark, Tony, and Ray stormed inside Josh’s hotel room.
Josh saw the instructions on the floor and tried to grab it with his boot and move it under his bed. He couldn’t, and the paper was exposed.
Steve and Mark each grabbed one of Josh’s arms and brought him to his feet.
“The Marshall wants a kind word with you,” Steve said while they walked Josh to the door.
Tony saw the paper on the floor, picked it up, and checked it out. He looked pissed when he shoved the paper in a pants pocket and walked to the door.
Cowboys Tony, Steve, Mark, Tony, and Ray marched Josh down Paradise Lane.
Harold walked down Paradise Lane, and he saw the cowboys while they marched Josh to the Marshall’s Office.
Inside the Marshall’s Office, Marshall Fisher was pissed while he paced back and forth furious while Charlie sat at his desk.
The door opened, and cowboys Tony, Steve, Mark, and Ray marched Josh inside.
“We found the turd,” cowboy Steve said then threw Josh to the floor.
Marshall Fisher pulled Josh up by his hair to his feet, then he got in Josh’s face. “What’s this I hear you’re running off with Jenny?” he yelled and sprayed a little spit in Josh’s face.
Josh shook with fear while he looked into the fire in the Marshall’s eyes. “I, ah, I ah.”
Marshall Fisher punched Josh in his stomach.
Josh dropped to his knees in pain.
“Here, Marshall. I found this on the floor of Josh’s room while we were leaving,” he said the second he removed the instructions from his pants pocket.
Marshall Fisher looked at the paper cowboy Tony handed him, and he got furious when he realized they were the instructions for the glass booth. He kicked Josh on his side.
Josh dropped to the floor and buckled over in extreme pain.
“Put that turd in the other jail cell,” Marshall Fisher instructed his cowboys. “Come, Charlie,” he said, then he stormed over to the door.
Charlie got up from behind his desk and walked over to the door.
Cowboys and Mark and Steve picked Josh up from the floor and walked him to the other jail cell.
James watched while they threw Josh into the cell door at the same time Marshall Fisher left through the door with cowboys Mark and Ray.
Cowboy Steve slammed the cell door shut, and he left the office with cowboy Tony.
It was quiet in the Marshall’s Office.
“What did you do now?” James asked from his cell.
“Marshall Fisher learned that Jenny and I were planning to escape from Paradise,” Josh replied from his cell.
“And you were going to leave me here?”
“No. We would come back and rescue everybody,” Josh replied.
“Well, I guess that won’t happen now, and the only way we’ll escape is by a rope tight around our necks,” James replied.
Josh and James sat down on their jail cell beds and looked scared.