Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Now Playing: The Songbird of the West 
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Episode Ten of The Songbird of the West

Episode Nine concluded with:

Gun in hand, the detective crouched down on the porch and opened the front door. He was now only a few feet from a bald headed outlaw whose entire body pivoted quickly to greet the newcomer.
“Drop the gun.” Dehner ordered.
“I was about to say the same thing to you, stranger.” The gunman pointed his six shooter directly at Dehner. “I guess we got us what they call a stand off.”


Episode Ten


“All your pals are dead or seriously wounded, mister,” Dehner said. “Even if you kill me, there are lawmen all around this place.”
The gunman laughed derisively. “Well, there is one less lawman. I just shot your friend in the kitchen.”
As he pretended to look toward the kitchen, Dehner fired, a quick second before his adversary could pull the trigger of his six shooter. The bullet entered the outlaw’s shoulder. He slammed against the bureau, his arm flailing out and tossing his gun a few feet away. Instinctively, the outlaw began to scramble for the weapon. He was stopped by two bullets from Streeter’s .44.
The sheriff quickly ran toward Dehner, motioning with his gun at the two men he had killed earlier and the one he had just shot. “There are two more of them. They left to take the horses--”
“Curt and I took care of them. One is dead, the other wounded badly.”
The sheriff looked confused, as if he needed to take some immediate action but couldn’t think of what is was. “I stumbled over a rock or something out back. Those thugs opened fire on me but missed. I took out two of them; the third hid behind that thing.” He pointed at the bureau. “I was getting low on ammo. Good thing you and Curt came along.”
Streeter’s hands were shaking. The lawman seemed to be experiencing the jitters as well as the exhaustion-excitement that follows a life threatening encounter. Dehner understood the reaction.
“Hey guys,” Weldon shouted from behind them. He had come in through the window. “Don’t we have one more job to do here?” He pointed at the door to the room where Carrie was being held prisoner.
Tal Streeter laughed and ran a hand over his head. “Knew we had come here to do somethin’.”

***

Rance Dehner felt nervous and apprehensive. He stood erect and held his breath. There was an explosion of smoke followed by loud cheering.
Dehner was standing on a small stage in the Silver Crown saloon. The stage was located a few feet from the bar. With Rance were Tal Streeter, Curt Weldon and Carrie Whiting. Of the foursome, only Carrie appeared relaxed. That didn’t surprise Dehner. Carrie Whiting would be quite used to being on stage and having her picture taken.
A medium sized man wearing a brown suit and derby jumped onto the stage. He had been introduced earlier to Dehner as Felix Murphy, the town mayor. Murphy smiled at the large crowd in front of him. Today, the saloon was being turned into a theater for a few hours. The tables had been stacked along the side walls and the chairs set up in rows. There were a large number of women and children present.
“Thank you, Glenn,” the mayor addressed the man who had just taken the picture. Glenn Wilson was the photographer, reporter and editor of the local paper. “Glenn tells me that the picture he just took and the story of what happened to Miss Whiting yesterday will go all over the country and really put our town on the map!”
There was another round of loud cheering. Felix used the moment to whisper instructions to Carrie’s three rescuers. “You gents can vamoose off the stage now.”

Tomorrow: Episode Eleven of The Songbird of the West