But Mr. Favor is always scowling, I thought clinging on to hope that
shouldn't
exist. I looked in the crowd again but couldn't find
him.
"Anything else?" the kind hangman asked before pulling the
lever.
Don't hang us.
"A priest or something," Mushy said.
The sheriff
sighed, eager to hang us. "Stop stalling!"
The hangman sent the sheriff a glare, although I must admit, even with his face
covered and his black garb,
he looked familiar...
My eyes widened when I figured it out, and judging by the sudden crinkles around
his eyes, he was smiling.
"Rowdy," I
whispered.
"We're gonna get you two out of here," he whispered back.
I
looked at Mushy and the two of us smiled.
The sheriff looked up, kind of
confused, but knowing that asking would waste
time, he just said, "Here's
your priest."
I looked up to find a whiskered fella in a wide black hat and
black garb as
well. I was baptized into the Catholic church, and judging by
Mushy's request,
(unless he was just stalling,) he was Christian. But when it
comes to hanging, I
guess it doesn't matter what you are. But for one thing,
I certainly wasn't
Jewish.
Which explains why I was trying my hardest not
to laugh when Rabbi Wishbone
walked up the steps to face us. He gave us a
small smile, and we smiled softly
back.
He began to read out of a Bible in
front of him, and I couldn't help but think
'a reading from the book of
Wishbone.'
"If the world hates you," he said in a powerful voice, "Know that
it has hated
me before you."
Amen to that.
"And that John Molar is a
dirty rotten liar!"
Confusion arose in the crowd.
"It's true!"
We all
turned to see where the voice was coming from. It was on the second
story of
the bar. Mr. Favor held an awake John Molar at gunpoint on the balcony.
"It's
true!" John screamed again. "We started to beat up the girl, and the man
hit
us to make us stop! It was self defense! It was self defense!"
Rowdy and
Wishbone got rid of the garb, and helped us out of the nooses and we
ran down
to Mr. Favor.
"Well," Wishbone said. "I guess he's seen the light."
Mr.
Favor handed John over to the sheriff as we ran up to him.
It felt kind of
strange, but I hugged Mr. Favor. "Thanks Mr. Favor. I guess I
owe you
one."
"I'll say," Rowdy replied.
"I'm real sorry for everything I said," I
quietly whispered to Mr. Favor.
"I am too," he replied, letting go and
noticing my blood stained shirt. "You're
hurt!" he said.
"It happened a
few days ago. We'll worry about it later."
"Back at camp," Mr. Favor
said.
"But Mr. Favor," Mushy said, confused. "I thought we were-"
"Nah,"
Mr. Favor said. "You can have your jobs back."
I smiled.
A smiling Jesus
walked up to Mushy and me with horses, and we swung on.
"Oh, and Cinnamon,"
Mr. Favor called. I turned my horse around.
"Yes Mr. Favor?"
"Leave the
fighting to me."
I smiled. "Definitely. Oh, and thanks to all of you. For
everything."
Mr. Favor smiled back. "Of course."
Mushy and I led the
way.
"Did you mean that back there?" Mushy asked innocently.
"What?" I
said, because a lot had just been said.
"That you loved me," Mushy said,
sounding ashamed for some reason, and looking
down.
I smiled. "Of
course."
He looked up, and looked at me, smiling.
I didn't ask any
questions.
I didn't want to, because everything had turned out just
fine.
"Well," Rowdy said. "You know what they say."
We looked at each
other and smiled, and together, Mushy and I said "No noose is
good
noose."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Thanks to all my family and friends!
I
guess I'm going to turn this into a series, so be sure to watch for Part
5
coming soon!
Enjoy!