"I'm just sayin'," J.D. Dunne replied to his mentor and best friend. He grabbed his glass of milk and took a swig, followed by a bite from his bean-filled tortilla.
"Just sayin' what?" Vin Tanner asked as he sat down at the table, followed closely through the batwing doors of the saloon by the leader of the men hired to protect the town of Four Corners, the men now famously known as The Magnificent Seven. The regular table of the regulators of the dusty high desert town was also occupied by the former preacher Josiah Sanchez and the town's healer, Nathan Jackson. Chris Larabee sat heavily next to Vin.
"J.D. here was wonderin' about ol' Ez is all," Buck Wilmington replied as he took a long pull on his mug of beer. The barely there foam on the top of his beverage found a temporary resting place on his mustache. It wouldn't be there long. The dry desert air would take care of it if a napkin didn't soon find its way to the town Lothario's face.
"What now?" Nathan asked, looking over toward the man in the red jacket, ready to take whichever side of this discussion saw the worst in their resident gambler. He and Josiah had been involved in their own discussion, but talk of the southerner always piqued Nathan's interest. Vin and Chris both sent a silent warning to the former slave; he'd have to have been blind to miss the intent. The black man had a tendency to think the worst of their seventh, and three years of working together and getting to know the man better had not stopped that old habit from rearing its ugly head on occasion, even to this day. One misguided comment from the man at their first meeting seemed to have kept Nathan wary, despite what qualified as friendship, hard-earned and won though it was. And at times, precarious. Glares from Vin and Chris often were missed in Nathan's single-mindedness on the subject of the other man who, like himself, hailed from the south.
The man in question, Ezra P. Standish, was holding court over at his table, entertaining some trail hands, a visiting businessman and the whiskey drummer that he and Inez Recillos had transacted business with earlier in the day. It seemed a relaxed atmosphere over at the poker table, with Ezra regaling the men with story after story – none of the other lawmen knew what Ezra was saying – but his distraction at telling a good story seemed to be affecting his bottom line: he was raking in just enough winning pots to keep him ahead of the game. The con man was clearly in a good mood, and not inclined to wring the last coin from each man's pockets.
"I was just saying that we ain't really seen Ezra with anyone, except Li Pong," J.D. replied to Nathan's query.
"What J.D. is askin' is whether our Ezra is a stallion … or a pretty little filly." Buck hadn't meant the description in a negative way, not really. The fact was, Ezra was as pretty of a vision as walked the streets of Four Corners, man or woman.
Vin frowned at the comment. "Don't see as it's any o' our business, Buck," he countered.
"Well I know it don't matter … "
"No, it don't," Vin interjected.
"Don't think most folks would agree with you, Vin," Nathan said.
Buck frowned at the healer but responded to Vin. "I'm not sayin' it does." Buck could sense the tracker's hackles going up in defense of their friend. "I think I just made that clear."
"Don't see as it's right to be talkin' 'bout him when he's sittin' right over there." 'Or any other time' , Vin thought to himself. The former bounty hunter gave Buck a stare that said they should hang up this conversation along with yesterday's laundry. But Buck seemed inclined to ignore the suggestion, or more likely, missed it altogether. Buck was nothing but single-minded about sex, whether about his own dalliances, talking about his dalliances … or anybody else's.
"The kid's right. Even when we can't find him gamin', we ain't never found him wrapped up in the arms of a pretty lady."
"Not everyone's like you, Buck," Chris said, not needing to elaborate on the enthusiasm with which the ladies man participated in his favorite activity. A series of 'No kidding', 'Thank god' and 'Praise the lord' was heard around the table.
"What do you think, Josiah?" J.D. asked.
"Well, J.D., I think that it ain't none of my business."
"But God, the Bible … "
"The Bible is not perfect," Josiah interrupted.
"It doesn't matter what the Bible or any of us thinks," Chris said.
"You think if Ezra's … if he does … "
"J.D., just spit it out," Vin said, annoyed.
"Well, if he's … like that, can we trust him?" A glance at the men at the table found Nathan nodding his head in agreement with the thought. Vin shook his head in disgust, Buck in disappointment, more at the kid than Nathan; this kind of thinking was expected from Nathan, and even Josiah, though they'd found the man who was fixing up the church far more open-minded than most men who'd practiced preaching. Buck thought that he'd mentored J.D. well enough for the young man to know that if it was love, it didn't much matter how you got there, or who you got there with.
Or in Buck's case, how many you got there with.
"Why in the hell are we having this conversation?" Chris asked. His anger had grown since he'd stepped in to the middle of this discussion.
"It's a legitimate concern," Nathan said.
"No it ain't," Vin bandied back.
"If he's lyin' 'bout this, the way he lies … "
"First, Ezra don't lie. Not to us. Not anymore. And it ain't lyin' when you choose to keep what should be private, private." Vin stood up and re-positioned himself at the bar, watching Ezra and his poker playing opponents carefully. He was pretty sure he and his fellow peacekeepers had talked quietly enough that no one at the other table could hear, but if any of them did and didn't like what they heard, the Texan wanted to make sure he was in position, if needed.
"Nathan, does it really matter to you what Ezra does in the privacy of his own room?" Chris asked. Inez brought over a bottle and several shot glasses. The former gunslinger quickly poured himself a drink and downed it, slapping the glass on the table in anger. Ezra looked up from his game with a worried frown. Chris gave him a slight shake of the head, letting the observant gambler know that everything was all right. The tall blond could tell from the look on his friend's face that he wasn't completely convinced of that truth.
"Chris, it ain't just me who won't like it if what J.D.'s thinkin' is true. And I'm pretty sure that if the good, decent folks around here heard about it, they'd have somethin' to say," Nathan replied.
"You best keep this under your hat," Buck said, looking first to Nathan, and then to J.D.
"But … " J.D. started.
"It's all speculation, J.D. It ain't right," Chris said. "And I will tell you this," he said, pointing his finger at J.D., but making it perfectly clear that the warning was for any man who sat amongst them, "if this … rumor gets out, it won't be Ezra who is asked to leave. You got that?" he demanded.
"Yeah, Chris. I get it. I wasn't going to say nothin'. I was just … like you said. Speculating."
"Best you speculate on something else, J.D." Buck said as he rubbed his young friend's neck with brotherly affection.
"Nathan?" Chris asked.
"I ain't sayin' nothin'. If it's true, it will get out eventually."
"Why would it?" Josiah asked. "Seems to me that if it's true, Ezra is doing his best to be discrete. It's all of us sitting here talking about it that's indiscrete." Chris once again caught Ezra looking their way. Josiah's voice could carry, but he was speaking in a hushed tone. Did the con man hear what was just said?
"I suspect we all got better things to do and better things to talk about," Chris said.
"Yikes," Buck said as he checked his pocket watch. "I got me an appointment … "
"Yeah, yeah," J.D. said. "Go. We don't need the details."
"Yer lookin' a little green there, J.D. Green with envy," Buck said as he removed his tall frame from the room and headed out the door for his next rendezvous.
Vin rejoined the group. "Looks like Ez is breaking up the game."
"Vin, I'm sorry … " J.D. said. Vin nodded in recognition of the apology.
"Gentlemen," Ezra said as he stepped up to the table with his friends seated around.
"Ezra," Josiah said. "Join us?"
"Mah ears are burnin'," he said as he took a seat. "Was Ah a topic of conversation as Ah worked over at the other table?"
"You call that work?" Nathan asked. "Takin' money from hard working men? Men who actually worked for their dollar?"
"There is not a more predictable man on our planet than you, Mistah Jackson," Ezra returned.
"Didn't look to me like those men were too upset by what happened over there," Josiah said.
"All of those men shook Ezra's hand. That's got to say something," J.D. offered.
"Thank you J.D.," Ezra said warmly.
"Don't mean … "
"Mistah Jackson, Ah believe the phrase 'Beating a dead horse' describes your predictability perfectly in this case." Chris shook his head, understanding that Ezra was just baiting the healer.
"That ain't it." Nathan was interrupted by the return of Buck, looking disappointed.
"What happened?" J.D. asked.
"Miss Sally requested that we re-schedule for later this evening." Buck looked around. "What's happenin'?"
"Ah was just about to satisfy Mistahs Dunne and Jackson's curiosity."
"You were, eh?"
"Indeed Ah was." The saloon had cleared out, the drinking establishment was usually its most quiet between the noontime meal and the after work crowd. The Seven, Inez and the businessman and whiskey drummer the only ones left, the two men playing a quiet game of cards in a far corner table as they waiting for the next stagecoach that would take them to the next towns on their routes.
"Ez, you don't have to do this," Vin said.
"Ah know that. Oh, before Ah get started, you gentlemen will want to know that the configuration of the saloon is such that the venting that allows the heat to rise to warm the second floor also carries your voices, quite clearly." His friends looked back to him as though they were in the sights of one of the con man's many weapons. "Now that Ah have your undivided attention, suffice it to say that you placed me in quite the precarious position with my poker playing companions."
"Damn," Vin said.
"You gonna need help with any of those men?" Chris asked seriously.
"Oh, no. We separated amicably." As he shuffled his deck of cards, Ezra looked over to the businessman, who caught the glance. They shared a nod, the whiskey salesman looked over, too, and then both men laughed heartily, some sort of inside joke that Ezra appeared disinclined to share with his fellows.
"Ezra, I'm sorry. It was my fault. I started … "
"You weren't alone, kid. Can't have a conversation with just one person participating," Buck said.
"Yes, well, Ah will only discuss this once. Though Ah may not have been raised in the most … upstanding possible way by Maude Standish, mah dear mothah did teach me to be discrete and to keep mah private affairs … private." To J.D. he said, "Li Pong and I never shared ourselves in that way, Mistah Dunne." To the group he said, "Ah have enjoyed many affairs. Ah do not deny mahself such pleasure."
"You gonna give us any detail, Hoss?" Buck encouraged. Chris and Vin rolled their eyes. J.D. slapped Buck's arm; Buck took hold of J.D.'s hat and tossed it behind the bar. With someone like Buck around, it was amazing that everyone's sexual proclivities weren't completely known to everyone in town.
"Roberta, Matilda, Frances, Stephania, Brianne."
"Yeah," Buck said, his eyebrows raised high on his forehead, a huge smile of anticipation graced his handsome face. He was clearly excited to be getting some dirt from their friend. "So?"
Ezra stood, pocketed his deck of cards, and replied, "Or was it Robert, Matthew, Frank, Steven and Brian?" He grinned wickedly at his friends and headed up to his room for a nap before the evening's card playing, where he hoped to do better than he'd been able to do this afternoon with the distraction of 'the conversation'. He'd done well explaining away the talk from the other table, and kept the players distracted with enough detail of his sexual exploits, embellished in his own inimitable way, to make even Buck Wilmington blush, when he wasn't completely green with envy himself. Ezra had done well enough to convince the men that there was no way he could have sex with another man; the southerner knew that no matter what his preference, it would always be better for his own safety to explain away any suspicion. Ezra would never understand, much like Buck had said, why it mattered where love, and even simple comfort, came from.
Ezra heard Vin's snort of laughter, imagining the tracker watching the shocked expressions on the visages of the rest of his friends. He smiled bigger as he headed up to his room. He was likely to dream of Jacqueline from New Orleans and fit in a little self-pleasure while he lazed on his extremely comfortable feather bed.
Or was it Jack?
The End.