Louie often lay awake most of the nights now, remembering his earlier life. With only one shot of whiskey at bedtime, his mind had become clear enough to be uncomfortable. He would quickly close his eyes and slow his breathing during Kitty's periodic checks on him, and then resume his dreaming thoughts.
When Kitty went up to look in on Louie after Doc left, she saw a reflection in his open eyes from the lamp on the bedside table.
"Louie, are you all right? Why are you still awake?" Concerned that he might be in pain, she sat down in the chair by his bed and turned up the lamp.
"Miss Kitty," Louie softly said, 'I wasn't always a drunk."
Kitty's sympathetic blue eyes teared up. She leaned closer and picked up his boney left hand in her hands, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Oh, Louie, of course you weren't. Maybe you should try to sleep some now." She smiled warmly at him, put his hand under the covers, and started to get up from the chair.
"Miss Kitty, did you know that I was born and raised in Franklinton, Ohio? My parents were both teachers with the local school there, and raised me, their only child, to take over from them someday."
Eyes open wide in surprise, Kitty slowly sat down again and looked anew at the slight, old man with the sad, faded blue eyes in a careworn face.
Louie took a shallow breath, and continued.
"My life was planned out from birth. You'd never know it looking at me now, but I was a very smart child. My parents had me reading by age four. All I did was read, study, and recite. I never had any other people in my life other than my parents. They kept me home and taught me themselves, not wanting to expose me to the bad habits of other children.
"Maybe you should try to sleep now, Louie. I'm sure Doc wouldn't mind if I gave you one more drink tonight." Kitty was worried how even talking seemed to drain Louie, and how his breathing was more strained.
"No, no, please, Miss Kitty! Just a little longer. I need to tell this and I need to tell this to you." He struggled to sit up in the bed, but could not defeat the weight of the quilt.
Gently easing the frail old man back down, Kitty smiled and stroked his cheek.
"It's all right, Sweetie. Go on, but not much longer tonight." Kitty noted how the "town drunk" had not even mentioned her offer of another drink.
Louie gave this lovely woman who was so kind to him a small, crooked smile.
"Thank you, Miss Kitty. You're my friend, like the Marshal."
Closing his eyes for a moment in thought, he continued.
'When I was seventeen, I was shipped off to the University of Pittsburgh to earn a double degree in history and literature, with an emphasis on poetry. I never thought to question or make my own choices. I studied hard and was an honor student at the top of my class until my last semester before graduating."
He opened his rheumy eyes, now sparkling with a happiness Kitty had never before seen in them.
"What happened?!" Kitty leaned forward in her chair.
The old man whispered, "tomorrow…bring the Marshal, too," closed his eyes, and slept.