Tucked safe away in the jail, away from interested friends and general busybodies, Vin sat at the desk and stared at the empty paper in front of him. He'd been trying to write something down for Nettie, but nothing was coming.
The jail door opened and Buck came in. He set a sheaf of wanted posters onto the desk and got himself some coffee. "What's you working on there?" he asked.
Vin looked down at the paper not sure how to answer. "Something for Nettie."
"She got you writing out a hundred times 'I will not cuss'?" Buck asked with a smile.
"Nettie cusses more'n I do," Vin said but couldn't decide what else to say. Buck tossed back his coffee and set the cup down.
"I'll leave you to it, then," he said and started for the door.
"My life," Vin said, not sure he meant to. "She wants me to write my life. Only – " he gestured to the blank paper. "Can't seem to grab hold of anything to set down."
"When you wrote that poem, how'd you write that?" Buck asked.
Vin shrugged. "I saw Mary's advert and just - there it was."
"And this?"
"It's all snarled up and solid, like vines on a rock wall."
"Lotta stuff you don't want t'think about, I reckon," Buck said. Vin swallowed hard but didn't answer. "Maybe you're thinking too hard on it," Buck went on. "Lord knows you got enough behind you to write three lifetimes, but maybe you just write about the beans, sugar, and coffee."
"You want me to write about supplies?"
"Yeah, beans, sugar, coffee. Beans is what you need to survive, coffee is what warms you up and gets you going, and a little sugar makes either of 'em easier to swallow. Write your life about them," Buck said and shrugged. "It's as good a place to start as any, I reckon."
"Yeah. Yeah, I reckon it is."
"I'll see you around," Buck said and left the jail. Vin stared after him for a while, beans, sugar, and coffee, then picked up his pencil and began to write.
A/N: if anyone is interested, I've started posting my western novel on my blog: maurlougen d0t wordpress d0t c0m