Storm Rollin' In (Justice, Montana)

[Andy McCall]

True to form, the old man knew in his own way that something was up, and Andy wondered for a moment whether he possessed some ancient power from China that let him see the things that weren't in plain sight.

"Ain't no doubtin' it."

Again she thought of the night before, and with a sidelong look she grinned at Father Hu.

"Almost stayed with 'im last night, too. Awful temptin'."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

That was telling.

"You no make bed?"

He'd already long since figured Andy was a sort of modern hedonist, and had thought he had understood her ways to a large degree. She still had some ways of confounding that intuition.

[Andy McCall]

Andy absently took up the fork once more, drawing designs in the leftover grease on her plate.

"He don't see me, I think. When he looks at me, he's seein' someone else."

She gave a sorta apologetic shrug then.

"Might not bother some girls, but it bothers me. Man I'm with should be thinkin' o' me, not no one else."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Father Hu said little for once, a troubled look on his face. He was miles deep into contemplating what Andy was saying. What strife did Two Dollar Jim portend to this town?

He filed it away with pleasantries, taking Andy's hand as he liberated her of an empty plate.

"Come, I make you something nice."

He opened the rickety door of his shanty, and led Andy into one of the two rooms, one which was dominated by a series of three ink prints that had been made on newspaper stock with loving care.

"You pick and take. Only fifty cent."

[Andy McCall]

Andy let him lead her inside, a smile on her face as they passed through the doorway. It smelled so different in Father Hu's home; like spice and incense and something else that she couldn't quite put a finger to. Nothing like what most places in Justice smelled like. It was a welcome thing.

Eyes going to the prints he indicated, she looked at each one. All three were gorgeous.

She gave his gnarled hand a squeeze.

"You made these?"

[Hu Xaio Jien]

With no puffery to lay on his art that her compliment couldn't best, Father Hu nodded.

"I sell to people who pay, but only few in town buy."

He shrugged. He knew Andy fancied that sort of thing. The Mayor had taken some prints, provided that he keep it low profile. That was understandable.

"That one good thing about San Francisco. Dandies with money like pretty pictures."

[Andy McCall]

"Ain't that the truth," she answered wistfully.

Each print was unique and different from the other, but all three together were gorgeous. Father Hu had wonderful talents; was a shame not many people appreciated the arts in Justice.

Fishing a few dollar notes out of her pocket, she pressed them into Father Hu's hand.

"The middle one I think. I like it the best."

Andy gave a quick look around, then back to his face.

"You have any incense left? I'm almost out."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

"OK."

Hu carefully negotiated the somewhat-cluttered room, and fished through a couple of containers, until he found a bundle of brown sticks held fast with twine. He held them briefly to his nose, setting them aside while he produced three more bundles.

"You see if you like? I sell bundle, ten cents."

[Andy McCall]

A wide smile, and Andy took up the bundles that he passed to her, smelling at each one.

"I'll take them all."

Patting his hand that still held the two dollars she'd given him, Andy leaned over and gave his wrinkled cheek a light kiss.

"Keep the change."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

The old man's cheeks found a rosy hue as he smiled.

"Oh you my number one customer Andy McCall."

Hu laid the bundles parallel to each other, wrapping the entire collection in a bit of burlap, and tying both ends with twine as he handed them to her.

"Just burn one of each at a time. No burn together. They good by themselves, but no good with each other."

[Andy McCall]

Nodding sagely at his words, Andy took the incense from him and tucked them beneath one arm. She gestured to the print she'd chosen.

"It ok if I pick that up later, on my way home? I still got rounds to make an' I don't want it gettin' messed up."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu was dead-set on one-upping her.

"That no good. You let my son take it where you want it. He put it up and everything."

Which son that meant was another story. Hu had so many that even he was hard-pressed at times to keep track.

[Andy McCall]

Not quite expecting the offer, Andy only found herself nodding as she turned to hobble back outside.

""Guess jus' tell him to put it in my room."

Whichever son Father Hu sent to do the job mattered little to her, and strange as it was, the old Chinaman and his boys were the only ones that Andy'd let into her small cabin that was situated a short ways out of town. Plenty of folks knew where she lived, but none she'd ever invited.

She plucked the parcel of clothes up from where she'd set it on the 'sofa'.

"Which boy of yors you gonna send?"

Even she, after all this time, didn't know exactly how many the old man had managed to sire.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu scratched his beard absent-mindedly. This daunting task of micro-management was such that he had to count on the logistic brain of his wife to figure which one was best disposed to the task. She hovered in the adjacent room making meat pies as he rapid-fired an exchange in Cantonese. It lasted for nearly a minute, with his wife's tone getting a little sharper, and his tone getting a little more timid. He eventually nodded, and turned to Andy.

"Zhou Ping, he come home in one hour."

[Andy McCall]

It was always fun in its' own way to hear Father Hu and his wife going back and forth.

Andy started limping back toward her mare who was still waiting patiently.

"I'll be back through by then," she called over her shoulder while stowing the incense bundles in one saddlepack, and the clothes into another on the other side.

Some careful navigation and balancing brought her up, and she swung her bad leg over the saddle and down into the other stirrup.

Andy gave a parting smile to the old man as she took up the reigns, and blew him a kiss.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

"Wait."

He bade her to hold for a few moments while he rushed back into the shanty. He returned with a small, burlap-wrapped parcel.

"You no should walk and ride like that Andy. You take. Pay later."

It didn't need to be said what he was giving her.

[Andy McCall]

Oh she knew the look of what he brought to her, and Andy gave him a relieved sigh as she leaned down to take it from him.

Carefully she stowed it away in one of the few hidden pockets on the inside of a saddlebag. It wouldn't do to have it taken away.

She gave Father Hu a thankful smile.

"Your wife is a lucky woman to have such a caring man for a husband."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu smiled sheepishly.

"I thankful she no know English. She snore and have hairy pits. If she no cook good, I find young pretty girl like you."

[Andy McCall]

Andy gave a laugh at that, winking at him.

"Too bad for me then I suppose."

She urged her mare forward, leaving the old man behind. He was charming in the best of ways, and she enjoyed each visit that she had with him. Her stop had given her not only more incense, but apparently new clothes and even something take the edge off her dull yet constant pain. She toyed with the idea of taking a few drops before getting into Justice proper, but thought the better of it.

She was only here to give Mullins his clothes back after all. Didn't need to run the risk of endin' up in a cell right beside 'im.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor was up early, and took a walk about town. He kept a genial expression to him, but beneath that was a slow-burning sense of dread. His eyes panned from person to person, each greeting him and seemingly oblivious of the storm he could see on the horizon. He should be pleased, what with Crawfish Mullins now more or less toothless and removing a threat to law and order, but he wasn't. Mullins was a dullard, and his kin were at least the sort of villains who he could understand and play the game against. Two Dollar Jim emanated an eerie sense of wildness. A gale wind that you couldn't predict the direction. You only knew that it would be a hard wind.