California -- Fiction; Distilling, Illicit -- Fiction; Ryan, Casey (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Western stories
The Little Woman is game as women are made. She went with me to the
jail, and she met Casey with a whimsical smile. We found him sitting
on the side of his bunk with his legs stretched out and his feet
crossed, his good hand thrust in his trousers pocket and a cigarette in
one corner of his mouth, which turned sourly downward. He cocked an eye
up at us and rose, as the Little Woman had maybe taught him was proper.
But he did not say a word until the Little Woman walked up and kissed
him on both cheeks, turning his face this way and that with her hand
under his chin.
Casey grinned sheepishly then and hugged her with his good arm. I wish
you could have seen the look in his eyes when they dwelt on the Little
Woman!
"Casey Ryan, you need a shave. And your shirt collar is a disgrace to
a Piute," she drawled reprovingly.
Casey looked at me over her shoulder and grinned. He hadn't a word to
say for himself, which was unusual in Casey Ryan.
"It's lucky for you, Casey Ryan, that I remembered to go down to the
police station and get the proof that you were pinched twice on
Broadway just five days before Barney Oakes says he found you stalled
in the trail north of Barstow; and that you had been pinched pretty
regularly every whip-stitch for the last six months, and were a
familiar and unwelcome figure in downtown traffic and elsewhere.
"The sheriff who raided Black Butte admitted to me that it is utterly
impossible for the world to hold more than one Casey Ryan at a time;
and that he, for one, is willing to accept the word of the city police
that you were there raising the record for traffic trouble and not
moonshining at Black Butte. He doesn't approve of throwing dynamite at
people, but--well, I talked with the prosecuting attorney, too, and
they both seem to be mighty nice men and reasonable. I'm afraid Barney
Oakes will see his beautiful story all spoiled."
"He'll forget it when he feels the ruin to his face I'm goin' t' create
for him if I ever meet up with 'im again," Casey commented grimly.
"Babe sent you a pincushion she made in school. I think she made
beautiful, neat stitches in that C," went on the Little Woman in a
placid, gossipy tone invented especially for domestic conversation.
"And--oh, yes! There's a new laundryman on our route, and he PERSISTS
in running across the lawn and dumping the laundry in the front hall,
though I've told him and TOLD him to deliver it at the back. And
there's a new tenant in Number Six, and they hadn't been in more than
three days before he came home drunk and kept everybody in the house
awake, bellowing up and down the hall and abusing his wife and all. I
told him held have to go when his month is up, but he says he'll be
damned if he will. He says he won't and I can't make him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account