The Rough Man
Louise jumped out of bed. For some
reason she had a foreboding feeling. She had it all last night, which is why
she had sitting up at night. Talking to Susan eased it a little, but now it was
back. Worse than ever before. She dressed quickly and quietly in order to not
wake her sisters. She made a breakfast, milked the cow and did a few other chores.
Her siblings began to wake and come out of their bedroom.
“Good morning, Louise!” Karen said
brightly. Susan looked cheerful and had a broad smile across her face, unlike
her distraught-self that had been running through fields last night. Alison
asked her usual question
“What’s for Breakfast?”
Susan laughed,” Oh, Allison!”
They
ate a scrumptious meal of hot bread with butter and oatmeal for breakfast.
Then Louise stood up, “Today will be my first time managing the shop all by myself, –“ all the sisters cheered, “–so I must leave earlier than usual.”
Then Louise stood up, “Today will be my first time managing the shop all by myself, –“ all the sisters cheered, “–so I must leave earlier than usual.”
All her sisters bade her good luck
and kissed her good bye. And Louise was off.
Running to the shop, Louise was
worried about being late. She
unlocked the door to the shop and stepped inside.
Two days went by very quickly for
Louise; her foreboding feeling never quite left; but at times, it was lightened.
On the third day, just after a pleasant customer had left, Josh came tramping
in. He dusted off his hands and stood there as if waiting for her to say
something.
“How was the trip?” she questioned
as she went back to wiping the counter.
“Eventful.” He said simply. “Thanks
for keeping shop for me.”
“Eventful is very…descriptive!”
Louise commented with emphasis on “descriptive”. “ You’re welcome.”
“You really want to know?”
“I’m a curious girl.”
“I can tell. But are you sure?”
“Yes, quite.”
“Really sure?”
“More than sure.”
“Quite certain?”
“Of course! I’ve said that the last
three times!”
The
young man had been taking a step closer to the counter each time the other
started talking and at this point he was at the counter opposite of Louise, both
leaning forward as they argued.
“I’m just checking.”
“I’m not squeamish if that’s what
you’re thinking.” Louise huffed.
“Okay!” He smiled mischievously, “I
went to a slaughter house–“
“Stop! You never said it involved
killing animals!”
“I warned you didn’t I?”
“I suppose,” then quickly looking up
she whispered, “customer” she backed away from the counter, in the embarrassing
realization that they were leaning toward each other, and someone might get
the wrong impression. Josh ran over to some boxes and began fixing things and
organizing them, as a rough looking man walked into the shop.
“How may I help you?” The Hanson
girl questioned politely.
“Do yez sell chewn’ tabacci?” He
said in crude English. He had a belt on carrying two revolvers. His hair was
greasy and his face red and scarred.
Louise, still smiling politely,
glanced to where Josh was fixing boxes in the corner; then said nervously, “How
much?”
He held up two bonny fingers that
were covered in grime, “Two.” Louise had a hard time not backing away because
of his stench. Rotten onions were the best comparison she could make to how he
smelled. His clothes seemed as though they had been washed in mud, and sweat was
the only cleaning liquid used. Brown drops of perspiration rolled off his face
and his eyes were squinty as if he’d been starring into the sun for days.
Louie leaned down and counted out
two packs. “Here you are, sir. That will be–“ Before he even paid, he grabbed
one pack and began to rip it open. Once he had accomplished this, but not without great difficulty by the way he went about it, he yanked out a piece
and tossed it into his mouth full of yellow stained teeth. After chewing a
while he spit on the floor
“Sir! Please, do not–“
“Don’t tells mez whats ta do!” He
growled loudly, this made Josh turn and watch. “This is theh worst tabacci I’s
a ever heed, give meh theh best cha have!”
Louise tried to contain herself,
“This is the best we have, sir.” She
spoke the last word through her teeth wishing she didn’t have to be so polite
to such a crude customer.
“Well yuz jest go find some, ya–“
“I will not,” Louise yelled slamming
her fist on the counter, “have such dirty language spoken in this shop!” She had a feeling she knew what
he was about to say. An ugly scowl formed across his face; his hands hovered
closer to his revolvers than Louise would have preferred. At that moment, Louise realized a crowd had
formed around the shop people peering in the window waiting…It was as if they knew
this guy caused trouble.
“Now sir," Louise breathed with
relief when Josh walked up, “You have what you asked for, please, leave–“
The dirty man lunged forward and
gave Josh a good punch in the gut. Josh flew backward hugging his chest and
groaning. “Don’ts tells mez whats ta do!” He shouted louder. The crowd out side
began to rage, it had grown larger in only a few minutes time.
Louise saw her opportunity; she’d
have to act fast. The man was turn away from her. Slowly leaning forward, she
darted her arm across the counter and grabbed one of his guns right out of its
holster, but her hand was a tad slow on the retreat and the man’s reflexes were
more than a little faster than hers. He pinned her arm down in seconds-splat.
Fire ran through her arm as she yelped in pain. Yet, she still held tight to
the gun. The rough man twisted the skin on her arm in opposite directions.
Louise screamed and let go of the gun. Her whole forearm burned as if hot iron
was wrapped around it. The throbbing crept up her arm until her whole right arm
was pulsing from pain, as if it had been covered in glowing red coals. Josh had
stumbled back over to the man and just as the rough man stood up from picking
up the gun, Josh sent a hard fist right to his stomach. The man doubled over.
Josh grabbed his shirt collar and smacked him in the mouth making him fall to
the floor and Josh stood over him with on of the revolvers in his hand. Louise
thought quickly and ran and grabbed the rifle for sale off of the wall; loaded it in
seconds and walked over. She pointed it at the man. And that’s when the sheriff
walked into the shop. Louise realized she didn’t need to be pointing the rifle
at the man because Josh already was. She slowly backed off and placed the
rifle back on the shelf.
“I see you have a trouble maker.”
The sheriff said as if it wasn’t already obvious, “Granger,” he talked to the
rough man, “When are ya ever gonna learn?” sighing and shaking his head he
made the man stand up. “When are ya ever gonna learn?” he said again under his
breath.
The man called Granger let out a
groan. “You throw…a pretty good…punch, boy.” He said between gasps. Josh flexed
his hand but didn’t reply.
“I’ll take care of him, Josh, you
just go back to what you were doing.” The sheriff said. The sheriff was an older
man with a mustache and small build. His kindly eyes radiated annoyance as if
he dealt with this man before. The crowd had already started to dissipate.
Josh handed the sheriff the gun,
“Thanks, Malloy, here’s the man’s gun.”
Sheriff Malloy took the revolver and
gave him a smile, “Thanks for teachin’ him a lesson, Sonny.”
With that, everyone left, except a
few people who actually came to buy some things.
Louise rubbed her arm. “You okay?”
Josh asked.
“Yeah, my arm is a bit twisted.”
“Here,” He ran to the back room and
came out with a wet cloth, “Put this on it.”
“Thanks, what about you?”
Josh looked at himself, “Just a
bellyache, nothing serious.”
“Who was that man?”
“Oh just the town bully. He sometime
get pretty rough if he’s been drinking.”
“You don’t say.” Louise laughed a
little as she wrapped the cloth around her arm. “Well we better get back to
work.” They finished the last few customers and cleaned up just as the sun
began to sink under its cover of the horizon. Stars began to take
visibility.
“Here is your pay miss Hanson. A little extra for the trouble today.”
“Uh, thanks but I really don’t need
extra for that.”
“Take it anyway.”
“Really–“
“Just take it.” He looked at her
intently.
“Alright, if you insist, I will.”
Louise took the money placed in in her bag. “Good bye!” she called behind her
back as she walked out the door.
…