Chapter 4

Lou walked through the door of the local gun shop. It was small and quaint inside and thus familiar to the rider. Sam walked in nervously behind her. Lou spied the man sitting behind the counter and greeted him, "Afternoon, sir." she walked up to the counter expecting to see firearms similar to her own.

The man stood with a smile on his face. He had a beard and light brown hair. He found two pretty girls just walked into his shop. "Can I help you two ladies?"

How Lou adored not being called a young man when walking into a store dressed in pants. She replied, "My…" she couldn't call Sam her 4th great granddaughter, "cousin is looking for a revolver." She then noticed a display case filled with black handguns that all looked much the same. Shaped much like the letter L and lacked any style. She found the handguns rather ugly looking.

"Revolvers are over here." he instructed to a smaller case.

Lou and Sam went to the small case and looked at the revolvers. Sam relied on Lou to help her pick something out. She found the revolvers seemed to lack the nipples for the percussion cap. "No nipples." she asked wondering why there was no nipples on the revolvers.

The young man and thought she said something suggestive, "I like nipples." he bantered.

"What?" Lou gave him a look. "I mean on the revolvers. Nipple for the cap?"

"You are looking for a cap and ball revolver?" he gasped.

"Yes!" Lou nodded.

He gave a funny look, "Why?"

"To go horseback riding on the old Pony Express trail." Sam informed.

"Take 38 with you." he told her. "You know anything about black powder?"

"She does!" Sam pointed to Lou.

"Over here." he gave a heavy sigh. He pulled out a revolver that looked just like Lou's. "1851 colt navy knock off."

Lou picked up the gun and gave a nod of approval. "We'll take this. Will need caps, black power and balls."

"Wads too?" he asked.

"Um…" Lou wondered what he meant.

He explained, "The wad that goes over the powder so you don't get a chain fire." He placed a small packaged of felt cut out wads before them.

Look took a look and agreed, "Two packages." She then added, "You have an extra cylinder?"

"I have to order it." he told her.

"Never mind then." she figured it would take too long to get.

Sam asked, "How fast to get another cylinder?" She looked the gun over.

"About 3 days." he replied.

"Order it then." she told him. "What's the difference between this revolver and the other ones?"

He took out a 38 special and swung open the cylinder. She could see straight through it. He stated, "Takes modern cartridges. You get more power out of this little 38 special than out of that 44 black powder." He opened a box of ammunition and placed a round before her on the counter top. "See!"

Lou picked it up. "Like a paper cartridge but made of metal."

The clerk asked amused, "Where have you been? The 1800's!"

Sam miffed, "As a matter of fact."

He cocked an eyebrow.

"I know black powder. We will take black powder." Lou insisted.

"Okay." he teased. "Gonna do a little cowboy shooting, ladies." He then added, "Least you don't need to do a background check on this." He started to gather the supplies and box the gun. "You need a holster?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

"Over there." he motioned towards the other side of the store.

Sam and Lou walked to the other side of the store looking at holsters. Lou picked out one that would fit the gun along with a gun belt. Sam spied the BB guns sitting near by. "Hey look, a Red Ryder BB gun but it's pink."

Lou gave a funny look, "A what?"

"This is so cool." she picked up the little rifle. "When I was a kid I wanted the BB gun from that move, A Christmas Story but my parents said it was for boys. This one is for girls."

Lou looked at what appeared to be a toy to her. "What are you going to do with that?"

"Put it on my wall." she grinned. She carried the pick BB gun to the counter. "This too."

The clerk laughed, "There are actual rifles behind me."

"I want that!" she pointed towards the BB gun. "I need BB's and a target."

"Over there." he motioned adding the BB gun to the bill.

Later that day

Upon making a final stop at Walmart, Lou sat in the passenger's seat looking out the window on the way home. She had covered more miles in a single day than she would have in a whole month of riding for the Pony Express.

Sam asked, "So…what did you think of Walmart?"

Lou came out of her thoughts and frankly replied, "It's very big. I'm still trying to figure out why everything cost so much money here."

Sam explained, "Inflation. More money in the system makes the prices go up."

"Maybe they need to put less money in the system then." Lou suggested.

"They can't," the doctor explained, "it would collapse the system. You know those silver and gold coins you had in your pocket when you came."

"Yes." she nodded.

"We don't have that in our money anymore. Your dollar coin is worth more than 1 dollar here because it's made of silver." she informed.

Lou puckered in thought, "Maybe they need to put silver and gold back in the money then."

"Maybe," she shrugged. "So, what ya think of Walmart?"

She gathered her assessment, "Well…it's big, it's ugly, the shoppers don't wear hardly any clothes…"

"Yup," Sam laughed.

Lou shook her head, "This generation has no decency."

Sam shrugged, "I suppose."

"They don't!" Lou insisted.

"But no one is dying of dysentery here." Sam mocked.

"The clean running water and the flushing commodes are a plus." Lou had to agree.

"If you could pick just one modern thing to live with, what it be?" she wondered.

"Clean running water and flushing commodes." Lou repeated.

"We call it a 'toilet'." Sam told her.

Lou counted on her fingers, "Don't have to fetch water and don't have to use an outhouse. That alone is noteworthy."

They rode in silence for a moment. Sam wondered, "You miss your friends and Kid?"

She confessed, "Everyday."

"We will figure this out." she promised.

"Not sure how." Lou concluded.

She decided to lift Lou's spirits. "How about some music."

"Okay." Lou agreed.

Sam turned on the radio to a popular station that played modern music.

Lou soured, "What kind of music is this?"

"Rock." she replied enjoying the tunes.

"It's terrible." Lou told her. She turned the volume down.

"There is an outdoor concert this weekend. How about I get us some tickets and we go. It will be fun." Sam suggested.

Lou agreed, "As long as it doesn't play rock."