Chapter 6
It was 6:00 in the evening, and Josh walked over to Paradise Lane and headed to the Paradise Fisher Dining Hall.
The Dining Hall contained a vast dining room with seventeen tables for the seventy residents. Six cooks, six waiters, and six waiter assistants/dishwashers worked in the Dining Hall.
Josh walked up to the doorway to the Paradise, where Abby Willis, a forty-year-old cute woman with red hair and was six months pregnant, performed duties as the host of the Dining Hall. Abby stood at the doorway with a clipboard in her hand and looked bored.
"Good evening, ma-am, my name is Josh Bryant," he told Abby and wanted to sound the part of being in the old west, but Abby could care less.
Abby scanned down the list of names on her clipboard. "Mister Bryant, you're seated at table twelve," Abby told him with a little pretend smile.
"Thank you, ma-am," Josh replied, then he stepped into the Dining Hall.
Abby watched while Josh walked into the dining room, and she looked bothered while she rubbed her pregnant belly.
Josh walked through the Dining Hall, where everybody was seated and waited to eat.
A few of the people gave Josh smiles for greeting while he walked through the maze of tables where people whispered amongst themselves. Josh's eyes lit up when he saw Jenny sitting at table four while he walked to his table.
He finally walked up to table twelve, where Sara, Linda, sat with two other men.
"Hi Sara and Linda," he said the second he walked up to the table.
The two men saw Josh while he walked up to the table.
"I'm Willard Peabody," a twenty-five-year-old average looking nerd said from the table next to Linda.
"I'm James Abramson," a sixty-year-old thin-framed man with salt and pepper hair said from the table and sat next to Sara.
"I'm Josh Bryant," he said while he sat down in the empty seat by the other side of Sara.
Then eight waiters started bringing plates with a ten-ounce steak, green beans, and corn on the cob and a glass of milk to the people at the tables.
Walt, a fifty-five-year-old chubby man, was the waiter for tables eleven and twelve. He walked up with two cheap dinner plates in his hands and placed them in front of Sara and Linda.
Kimmy, his twenty-three-year-old assistant female assistant with long shoulder length hair, brought two tall glasses of milk.
Then a few minutes later, Walt had steak dinners in front of everybody at table twelve with glasses of milk.
Charlie Fisher entered the Dining Hall with four other cowboys named Henry, Lou, Greg, and Manny.
Charlie and his four cowboys walked through the area and looked at everybody like prison guards.
"I can't believe that woman killed in our hotel killed herself," Josh said to Sara while he cut his steak.
"I know. How sad," Sara replied.
"We heard about Mindy," James added while he ate some green beans.
"What a shame. She must have been bummed out about being pregnant," Willard replied, then took a sip of milk.
"Who was the guy in her room? Her husband?" Josh curiously asked.
"That's her brother, Bob. He said he brought her here to escape her abusive husband," James said while he cut his steak.
"He must have got her pregnant just before she came to Paradise," Josh said, then he ate a piece of steak. "He must have really screwed up her head," Josh added after he swallowed his steak.
Willard opened his mouth to say something but kept it shut the second he saw Charlie walk over to their table with the four cowboys.
"I need Sara, Linda, and Josh to stay here after your breakfast in the morning for orientation," Charlie told the three newcomers.
Charlie walked away, and the four cowboys followed like obedient servants.
"Orientation?" Josh asked James.
"Yep. You get assigned a work detail," James replied.
"Work?" Josh replied, confused. "I thought this was like a vacation."
Sara and Linda didn't like hearing that either, and they looked a little concerned.
"Everybody has a job to do. I work at the General Store," James told Josh, Sara, and Linda.
"I work in the garden," Willard added while he held up his corn on the cob.
Josh glanced back at Charlie while he left the room with his cowboys. "How did Charlie get to be the deputy and recruiter?"
"He's the Sheriff's brother," James responded, then he took a sip of milk.
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Josh said.
"We better hurry up and finish. We only have 30 minutes for each meal," James said, then ate some more steak.
Josh looked at little bothered while he ate some green beans.
The Dining Hall was quiet except for the sound of steak being cut by knives.
The sun dropped below the mountains two hours ago, and the land of Paradise cooled down to seventy degrees.
Josh walked out of his hotel room and decided to walk around town a little to kill some time. Life without television or a computer was different for Josh.
He walked down Paradise Lane and saw the full moon, and the sky was sprinkled with hundreds of twinkling stars.
Torches with small flames provided some light down all the streets.
Josh walked by the Paradise Saloon, where he heard a piano play a song that he didn't recognize. He also listened to little laughter while everybody had a good time inside drinking and playing poker.
Josh walked toward Doc Holloway's Office, where the central area lantern just turned off, and the front door opened.
Jenny stepped out of the office in a long plain brown dress and walked off the porch to the street.
"Hello," Jenny said the second she saw Josh while he walked to the office.
"Hi," Josh said while he walked over to Jenny.
She looked at his forehead. "I see your bump is looking a little smaller," she replied while she looked over the bump.
"The pain has gone away," he replied.
"I'm glad," she replied, then looked down the street.
Josh fidgeted a little while he debated in his mind if he should ask. "May I walk with you? I was thinking of walking around Paradise to get familiar with the place. I would love a tour guide," he finally asked, feeling a little brave.
There was a brief moment of silence while Jenny looked at Josh. "Actually, I was thinking of taking a ride on the Paradise Express. It relaxes me so I can get a good night's sleep," she replied with a warm smile.
Josh looked disappointed. "I understand," he said then walked away.
"But, I would love some company," she called out.
Josh turned around and smiled over the opportunity. "I would love an evening train ride."
Josh and Jenny walked down the street.
"I can't believe the doctor cut off that man's leg yesterday," he said to get their conservations going.
"Poor Sidney came here with gangrene, and we use old western medical techniques," she replied and didn't look proud of yesterday.
"Don't you have medicine to knock you out?"
"Of course. But Holloway's a drunken quack," she said without thinking and cringed, thinking Josh would repeat what she said. "I'm sorry, but I've shouldn't have said that. I take it back," she quickly added.
"Actually, I thought he was a quack also," he replied.
Jenny looked relieved, believing she could trust him.
"Why would they let a quack be the town doctor?"
"He's the Marshall's cousin," she quietly answered.
Suddenly gunfire was heard from a nearby alley. That startled Josh, and he turned around after they stopped dead in their tracks.
"Get back here!" someone yelled from the alley.
Jerry Barrow, a twenty-eight-year-old man, ran out of the alley while pulling up his pants.
Cowboy Butch ran out of the alley with his pants around his ankles and was pulling up his boxer shorts. He aimed his Colt 45 pistol at Jerry, who bolted past Josh and Jenny.
Josh immediately shielded Jenny for protection.
Butch fired his pistol at Jerry; the second Jerry bolted down a side street.
Butch tried to run after Jerry and forgot he had his pants around his ankles and fell flat on his face into the dirt.
Josh grabbed Jenny's hand and rushed her down Paradise Lane.
Jenny smiled while Josh rushed her down the street. "No man has never done that for me," she said.
"Well, pretty lady, it's just the daily duty of a cowpoke," Josh replied while he did a goofy John Wayne walk down the street.
Jenny chuckled at the sight of Josh's goofy walk.
Butch got back up on his feet, pulled his pants back up to his waist. He wiped the dirt away from his mouth.
He looked around for Jerry and was pissed while bent down and picked up his cowboy hat. He turned around and stormed off down Paradise Lane.
Then Josh stopped his goofy walk and looked concerned while he glanced down the side street, Jerry bolted down.
"I wonder what happened back there to cause that cowboy to fire his pistol?" Josh asked and looked a little concerned.
"It's in our best interest not to get involved with cowboy matters," Jenny said in a warning tone.
Josh looked over at Jenny and saw her concerned look.
A few minutes later, Jenny and Josh walked to the train station, where the Paradise Express waited at the dock with engineer Sheldon working the engine during the night shift.
They walked past cowboy Nate who leaned against the train station building and smoked a cigarette. Nate kept an eye on Jenny and Josh while they walked to the passenger car.
Jenny and Josh walked to the front door of the passenger car, where he assisted her up the small steps.
Inside the passenger car, there were two lit torches on each side of the passenger and provided a little light.
Jenny and Josh walked down the aisle.
He sat down in one of the twenty bench seats near the front with her by the window.
Jerry Barrow cowered down low and nervous on the floor of one of the seats near the middle of the car.
He snuck aboard when Nate had his back turned to the train.
"All aboard!" the night shift train station employee Niles called out while he walked up and down the dock.
Nate got on the passenger car from the rear door and immediately sat down a seat by the door.
The whistle of the Paradise Express blew while it jerked and moved away from the dock.
Josh looked out the window while the train picked up speed and moved down the track.
"So I take it that riding the train is free?" he asked Jenny.
"Your hotel room is free, your food is free, and the train ride is free. You do get paid for your work so you can buy toiletries and other stuff from the General Store," she replied while she looked out the window while the Paradise Express rolled down the track, and the whistle continued to blow.
Nate reclined in his seat and tipped his cowboy hat forward over his eyes.
From Jenny's window, they watched while the train rolled down the tracks they saw cowboys, Chester, Bubba, Tim, and Lester while they sat around a campfire with rifles next to the dirt trail that led to the mansion off the main dirt trail. They passed around the whiskey bottle and eyed the Paradise Express while it rolled down the tracks.
"Is that some type of security gate for the mansion?" he asked Jenny while they looked at the cowboys who looked back at them.
"Yeah," she replied.
Then Josh's eyes widened when he saw cowboy Tim. "There's the bastard!"
"What, bastard?" Jenny said while she looked at Josh.
"The cowboy that hit me when they robbed the stagecoach during my first. I thought that Charlie said he would be fired.
"It's to our best interest," she responded while she held Josh's hand.
"I know, not to get involved with the activities of the cowboys," he interrupted her and finished her warning statement.
The Paradise Express rolled down the tracks, and Josh saw the huge mansion to the right.
"Who lives there?" he asked.
"The Marshall of Paradise."
"He must be some kind of Marshall to live in a huge fancy mansion," he said.
"Yeah, he's something alright," replied Jenny while she looked at her window to avoid looking at the mansion.
"Why did you come to live in Paradise?" he curiously asked her.
Jenny looked sad while she thought about her life. "I was going to marry Rodney and thought he was my soul mate. Until I came home unexpected and found him in bed with another man," she said.
"I'm sorry about that," Josh replied.
"Why are you here?" she curiously asked.
"I caught my girlfriend with another man the night I was going to ask her to marry me, and I hated my job with a passion," he said.
From the windows, the full moon lit the grassy field a little while the train rolled down the tracks.
Jenny placed a hand on Josh's hand. "I'm also sorry."
Jenny and Josh looked out the window and enjoyed the view of the moonlit grassy field.
The train rolled down the track and headed into the forest.
"Maybe we could take a horse ride in the country someday?"
"We're only allowed to ride the train. The horses are restricted for cowboys only," Jenny replied.
"That's too bad," Josh replied and started to wonder that maybe Paradise won't be such a fun place.
Jenny and Josh watched while the train rolled down the tracks through the forest.
It was quiet in the passenger car while the Paradise Express rolled down the tracks and came out of the forest and headed through the desert.
Jenny and Josh were quiet while they looked out her window and saw the desert that was visible from the full moon.
Jerry peeked over the seat he hid and saw Nate relaxed in his seat with his hat tipped over his eyes.
Jerry slowly got up and tiptoed to the front door by Josh and Jenny.
Jenny and Josh felt Jerry's presence and looked at him while he tiptoed to the front door.
"That's the guy the cowboy fired a shot at back in Paradise," Josh said while they watched Jerry tiptoe to the front door.
Jerry leaped off the train the second he got to the front door.
Jenny and Josh watched while Jerry tumbled in the desert, then he quickly got up and ran toward the mountains.
Gunfire echoed inside the passenger car while Nate fired a shot at Jerry from the rear door.
Jenny and Josh turned around and saw Nate while he looked out the rear door.
Nate looked at Jenny and Josh. "You two better mind your own business," he said with a threatening tone.
Jenny and Josh turned back around and kept quiet while the train rolled down the tracks and made the loop back to Paradise.
The rest of the train ride was quiet for Jenny and Josh while they privately thought about the recent events with Jerry and the cowboys.
After they got off the Paradise Express while it was at parked the train station, they had a quiet walk through Paradise Lane were very few folks were walking around.
Jenny looked at her watch and saw it was 9:45 p.m. "We better get to our rooms. Curfew starts at ten," she said.
"Curfew? Nobody said anything about curfew?" Josh replied.
"I guess it's their way of controlling crime," she said.
They walked a few a little farther down the street and got close to Doc's Holloway's office. "I live in a hotel room on that side of town," she said while they got closer and pointed to the hotels located in Blaine Lane.
They walked to the entrance of Blaine Lane by the Paradise Undertaker's building.
"Thanks for allowing me to accompany you on the train ride," Josh said with a warm smile.
"Thank you for the protection earlier," she replied.
Josh looked at Jenny, and he hesitated, and then he looked nervous. He quickly gives her a kiss on her cheek.
"Goodnight, Jenny," he said.
"Goodnight, Josh," she replied, then walked Blaine Lane and headed to her hotel.
Josh walked across the street and headed to the entrance of Fisher's Lane, located next to the Paradise Laundry, and headed to his hotel with a spring in his step while he had lovely thoughts about Jenny.