can’t…”
Letty opened the door.
“Baa… baa.”
Eulis’s eyes popped.
“Ole Rolly is a goat?”
Forney grinned. “Yeah, he’s right stubborn, but—”
Letty swung the poker and hit the goat on the large hump of bone between its horns. The goat reeled as if it had been pole-axed and sat down with a thump.
“Buuu.”
“Same to you,” Letty said, then slammed the door in its face.
She set the poker back against the wall, poured herself a cup of coffee, and then sat down as if nothing untoward had happened.
The men stared at each other, then at Forney, waiting to see what he was going to do. Both Shorty and Big Bill knew that Forney was right fond of that goat.
Forney glared at the woman then cleared his throat.
Letty looked up, letting her glance slide over him as if he mattered not at all, then let it settle on Eulis.
“Brother Howe, I think I will retire to my bed and leave you men to your visit.”
Then she stared at Forney, daring him to speak against what she’d done. “It’s been a very tiring and disappointing end to a long, dusty ride. I certainly hope my sleep will not be disturbed as our arrival and meal has been.”
A red flush spread from Forney’s neck up his face and disappeared in the thick brush of hair on his head. He kept thinking of Rolly sitting out there on the porch and wanted to tell Sister Leticia what she could do with herself, but he didn’t dare. Gibson Stage Line had hired him to take care of the passengers, and letting an outhouse collapse on one, and a female at that, wasn’t what they’d had in mind.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Forney said, and got up from the table.
“Where you goin’?” Shorty asked.
“Reckon I’ll tie ole Rolly up for the night.”
Letty blew on her coffee and then took a small, dainty sip, grimaced from the strength of it, and then downed it like a field hand before disappearing behind the curtained off corner of the room where the sleeping cots were set up. She chose the one against the wall and crawled beneath the cover and lay down. The bed clothes smelled like wood smoke and didn’t feel all that clean, but she was too weary to care. She was almost asleep when a thought occurred. She got out of bed, dug through her bag for her pistol then put it beneath her pillow before getting back into bed.
A short while later the others began to retire. Eulis took the cot next to Letty while Boston and Morris chose cots closer to the door. Shorty and Big Bill took the ones that were left, while Forney climbed the ladder to the single bed in the loft.
A few minutes ensued of boots hitting the floor and belts and buckles coming undone. Letty heard Shorty and Big Bill converse briefly about tomorrow’s journey. After that, someone hiccupped as another burped. Someone else cursed softly about the length of the cot versus the length of his body, and then all went silent.
Letty waited until their breathing slowed and they were on the verge of sleep. Then she took the gun out from under her pillow and sat up in bed.
“Gentlemen, I have endured the stench of men’s bad digestion, and even ruder behavior in sharing it since seven o’clock this morning. As if that wasn’t enough, I was buried beneath an outhouse full of crap. So I want you to know that my point of endurance has come and gone. Sleep well, but know that I will shoot dead the first man who passes gas within my vicinity tonight.”
Boston Jones sat up with a jerk.
Morris fell off the cot, hitting the floor with a thump.
Shorty muttered beneath his breath while Big Bill just gathered up his bedclothes and headed for the door.
“Where you goin’?” Shorty muttered.
“To the barn,” Big Bill said.
“Wait a minute,” Boston called. “I’ll go with you.”
“And me,” Morris added.
Shorty sighed then sat up in bed and looked at Letty.
“Lady, you wouldn’t really—”
She cocked the gun.
He grabbed his covers and his boots and lit for the door.
“What’s goin’ on down there?” Forney called.
“We’re sleepin’ in the barn,” Shorty said, and shut the door behind him as he went.
Letty pointed the gun at Eulis.
“What about you?”
“What about me?” Eulis mumbled.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll shoot you in your sleep?”
Eulis snorted softly in his pillow. “No, ma’am.”
“Why not?” Letty asked.
“If I’m dead, then you’re without a preacher, which means Sister Leticia is dead,