Chapter 3

"What's your name, Darling?" Doc asked.

"I'm Charlie. Charlotte O'Connor."

"Ah. Charlotte. Lovely name. Where are you from?" He could hear her accent, southern like his. He wanted to know from where though. He had an idea. But he had to make sure.

"Uhm, it's Charlie," She gave him a small smile, "And I hail from Savannah, Georgia."

"Ah, down south, I see." Doc stated just to start up a conversation.

"Obviously, uhm, I got to go," Rene grabbed her knife and stuck it in the back of her belt, secured. Found her black hat and placed it on her head and put her auburn hair tucked inside of it. "I'd like to thank you all for the hospitality. I really appreciate it." She also grabbed her sack and began to leave out the door. She felt dizzy but continued on.

"Wait, don't leave just yet." Allie pleaded again. She worried about Charlotte, er, Charlie. She was nice as far as she could tell. She just was a little odd. What woman wore men's clothes and carried weapons? And Allie wasn't so sure if Charlie could handle herself just yet.

"I apologize… Wait, where's my canteen?" Rene asked.

"Right here, Darling," Doc slurred holding up her canteen.

Charlie took it from him after looking into his eyes for a moment. She looked at him oddly and continued on her way out the door. She was headed to a saloon. She had to earn some more money playing faro so she could buy herself a horse. Her horse was taken from her. She was just glad she didn't get too attached to her.

As she stepped outside, the darkness covered her. Nighttime. A lot of people will be gambling then. Her feet started to walk down the streets of Tombstone. Tombstone. She read this off a sign.

She was looking at all the little shops around the burg as she walked. She passed a bunch of saloons but decided not to go in any of those. Then she saw it. The Oriental. It appealed to her so she made her way up to it. She swung the doors open and strolled in. She spotted an open seat at a table and sat down there. This saloon had quite a bit of people in it. Cowboys. Let's see how this goes. Maybe I can cause some trouble with them. Well, more likely, they'll start the trouble. I'll just be here to instigate it. She grinned to herself. She didn't like them and was willing to un-nerve them.

When she sat, she took her hat off and put it to the side. Her hair flowed down. She put her hands on the table indicating she was ready to play.

XXXX

It's been a while since she first entered the saloon. She had lost her sense of time.

"Why, you little bilk!" One of the cowboys raised his voice at her. The others looked at her. How could she win? This was a man's game.

"Oh, I'm just coppering my bets," Charlie said calmly yet full of charm. Although she knew she wasn't preparing against loss, she said it anyway. She was always good at gambling and dealing with numbers. "We'll see. Maybe when the night is done, you'll be paying a very long visit to the local bone orchard."

"The hell you are!" another one of the cowboys yelled.

"Come on now fellahs," She said this in a mocking sort of tone where her southern accent shone brightly. "Ya'll are just a bunch of blowhards, you know?" She laid down another hand of winning cards. She couldn't hide her smile. She saw their anger growing.

"If you wasn't no woman, I'd slap you so hard you'd be half way down the Mexican border!" The first cowboy couldn't keep down his temper.

"Ike! Calm down you tub of blubber!" This was Bill. Curly Bill Brocious. "This is just a nice, friendly game amongst strangers." He wasn't doing too badly in the game. Therefore he shouldn't be mad at this stranger. She was obviously drunk, as were the majority of people there.

Ike turned red. He hated when his boss embarrassed him like that. Sometimes, he just felt like rebelling. Of course he did this all the time. But, not to his boss. Not his friend. He let out a heavy sigh.

Ringo strolled into the Oriental. In a flat second he was at Bill's side at the faro table.

"The lunger ain't here yet, huh?" Ringo was waiting for Doc. He felt like picking a fight that night. And Doc Holliday was just the perfect person for him to provoke. This might be a very promiscuous thing to do, but he didn't care.

Charlie's eyes widened. Lunger?