Now Playing: The Witch of Cooper, Arizona
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Episode Three concluded with:
David Martin kept close to the Burkes as they left the saloon. A
crowd of people followed behind them. Judy Martin joined her husband as they
hurried off the boardwalk
“What has gotten into these
people?!” Judy asked.
David Martin did not try to answer his wife. He was grateful that the crowd was
staying behind them. No one was trying to injure Vicki or her uncle. Not yet.
Lamar and Vicki were walking toward a buckboard that stood in front of the
mercantile across the street and down a few stores. “That’s our wagon,” Lamar
Burke shouted above the cries of “Leave!” “Go away!” and “We don’t want no
witches here.”
Vicki once again laughed in a girlish manner. She broke away from her uncle,
ran to the buckboard, and did a quick hop to get on board. The girl
reached under the bench and pulled out a black box. Then she stood on the bench
and held the object up for all to see. “My magic box!”
Episode Four:
Judy
Martin eyed the box carefully. “Looks like a hat box.”
“Vicki, come down, please!” Lamar
had reached the buckboard. The pastor and Judy were beside him. The crowd
behind them had grown larger as curious town folks joined the saloon patrons.
Everyone seemed fascinated by the magic box, though the mob froze at a few
steps from the wagon as if scared of the young witch and her magic powers.
“What does your magic box do,
Vicki?” A man’s voice shouted.
One of the saloon girls chimed in,
“What does a witch keep in her magic box, potions of some kind?”
Vicki
smiled at the mob in front of her. “Witches can cast good spells too. Witches
can sometimes do nice things for people. What nice thing do you people want a
witch to do for you?”
Her question engendered a brief
moment of silence, which was broken when a male voice shouted, “Make us rich,
Vicki!”
Laughter followed as more people
began to shout, “Make us rich!” The shouts were sarcastic but Vicki didn’t seem
to notice. She laughed along with her scoffers.
“Everybody wants to be rich. So, a
witch will make you rich!” Vicki Burke
reached into the magic box and pulled out a large wad of money. She quickly
tossed it upwards and laughed in an almost hysterical manner as the bills got
caught in a mild breeze and then scattered throughout the crowd.
A shocked silence froze the mob. One
barfly picked up two bills, examined them and yelled. “Money! Vicki Burke can
make money appear out of nowheres!”
The main street of Cooper began to resemble
a battleground as people scrambled to grab as many bills as they could. Fist
fights broke out and some men drew their guns. David Martin jumped onto the
wagon. Standing on the bed, he tried to make his voice heard above the tumult.
“People, come to your senses! That
money is not yours! We have to--”
“We’ll pray for forgiveness on
Sunday morning!” Came one shout. A woman’s voice could be heard yelling, “You
never helped the poor this good, preacher!”
David Martin could spot the sheriff,
Buck Stephens, at the edge of the crowd. The lawman’s gun was drawn. He was
arresting three men who had planned on using their firearms to get to the cash
now lying on the ground. The three hardcases were arguing with the sheriff who
had handcuffed one of them. The pastor realized that Buck had his hands full
and it would be a while before he could help with controlling the mob.
Tomorrow: Episode Five of The Witch of Cooper, Arizona
