Fistful of Feet (10 page)

   Bluford put his cards down on the table. “Sorry, boys, but I guess I’m folding this hand.” He took the money he had won so far, got up, and followed the black man to the corner of the bar. Then he said, “So, who is it that wants to see me?”

   The man said, “I do.”

   “Hey, what is this?” Bluford got nervous. He took a step back.

   “Don’t you worry. I ain’t going to hurt you. I work here. Name’s Stacklee. I just wanted to give you a little warning is all. I see you over there playing cards. You play a slick game.”

   “Yeah? I’ve always been pretty lucky. Nice of you to notice.”

   “Lucky? Shit. Too lucky. Personally, I don’t care if you take money from assholes like Frank over there but if people start catching on, you can have a problem on your hands and that means I’ll have to break it up. Betty doesn’t need that kind of trouble.”

   
Bluford smiled. “Are you kicking me out?”

   “If I wanted to kick you out, I would’ve done it. In fact, the sheriff was just here and I could’ve just told him I had a cheater in the place,” Stacklee said. “But the way I see it, a man’s entitled to one warning before he gets his ass kicked out.”

   Bluford was starting to like the guy. He was straight-forward and honest even to a cheater. He was smart, too. Not many people could spot Bluford’s tricks.

   “I do appreciate it, Mr. Stacklee. Let me ask you, though. Was it that obvious?”

   “Probably not to anyone else but I know a thing or two about card sharps. I grew up around them.”

   “As did I. Guess we have something in common.”

   Stacklee nodded. “Yeah. But that don’t mean I’m going to let you start any trouble here, okay? Just be careful not to piss anyone off. And don’t rip off any of the girls, got it? That’s one thing I’m not going to stand for. Consider this your one warning about that.”

   “One thing I’d never do is steal money from a lady. You don’t have to worry.”

   Stacklee nodded and walked away. Bluford slowly walked back to the table but decided that he was done playing cards for the night. Now it was time to buy a girl. He had enough extra money to get a nice one.

   He was scanning the room for a potential whore when he saw one standing against the bar. She was tall and had the reddest hair that he had ever seen. Her breasts were average but her ass belonged to a woman twice her size. It jutted out like a balcony. She was wearing tall boots that looked like they were originally tan but were now dark brown from being caked with filth.

   Walking with a confident stride, Bluford approached her and smiled.

   “Good evening, miss.”

   The redheaded woman smiled in return. “Hello there. You looking for some company?”

   “Indeed I am.”

   She grabbed his arm. “My name’s Lily. Follow me and we can discuss the details.”

   The two of them went upstairs and into Lily’s room. She stood in front of the bed and said, “So? What’s going to tickle your fancy today?”

   “To be honest, I don’t know.”

   Lily sat down on the bed and stretched. “What about my hair? Most men who come to me seem to like my hair.”

   “Really?”

   Running her hands through her thick red hair, Lily said, “Yeah, there was this one guy who would come by every Sunday morning asking me to choke him with it. He just loved it. He’d sit right there on the floor and I would crouch over him and lean my head over and stuff my hair down his throat while her played with his pecker.”

   “Well, your hair is very pretty. Can’t blame the man for wanting to get closer to it.” Bluford laughed. “I think I’d be interested in something like, maybe we get to screwing and you slap me, hit me a little bit, maybe scratch my face.”

   Lily said, “You want to get beat up a little bit? I think I can oblige. I’ve done that before and I’m not ashamed to say I think I’m pretty good at it.”

   They discussed the price for the screw and then Bluford took out the small jar that he bought from Tom Duma. Lily looked at him strangely and said, “That’s not what I think it is, is it?”

   “I don’t know,” Bluford said. He took a swig from the jar. “What do you think it is?”

   “Ass Juice?” She shook her head. “You stupid son of a bitch.”

   As Lily took off her clothes, Bluford felt the alcohol burning through his body like hot pins and needles. Red and brown sparks cascaded in front of him. Lily appeared to be covered in shimmering sores. Her breasts expanded until they were the size of bulging potato sacks. A dark red shell appeared over her crotch. The shell bubbled and then cracked, opening up like a flower, spilling inky darkness down Lily’s legs.

   Bluford rubbed his eyes. The sparks disappeared and Lily was back to normal except for a tiny patch of red tattoos above her pussy that wasn’t there before. Bluford was left with a burning skull and an aching erection.

   Lily climbed on top of him.

   So then they got down to it, screwing furiously, starting on the bed and then moving to the floor. All through it, she slapped him in the face and hit him in the chest. He grabbed her ample ass and squeezed it which only made Lily hit him harder. When she saw that Bluford was near climaxing, she scratched him right across the face while screaming, “Take that, you filthy son of a bitch!”

   Afterwards, Bluford fell asleep, his face still bleeding from the scratches and his brain still burning from the Ass Juice. Lily left the room and walked downstairs.

   She said to Stacklee, “I got a man in my room, asleep. I’ll wake him up when I come back. I just need some fresh air.”

   “That’s a waste of a room.”

   “I’ll charge him for the time. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll stay the night and we’ll get a few extra bucks out of him.”

   Stacklee said, “Yeah, Betty will like that.”

   “Be back in a few minutes,” Lily said. When she got outside, she walked to the General Store. Tom Duma was stacking fruit jars on a shelf.

   “Hey,” Lily said.

   “Lily.” Tom nodded. He put one more jar away and then crouched down, reaching into a cabinet under the counter. “You need more so soon?”

   “Yeah.”

   “These things will catch up with you someday.”

   “What do you care? You get your money, don’t you?”

   Tom shook his head. “You know I don’t care much about money.”

   “Your wife does,” Lily said.

   “Don’t worry about her.” Tom took a black jar out of the cabinet and put it on the counter. “Here they are.”

   Lily put cash on the counter and picked up the jar. She unscrewed the top and poured the contents out.

   “Hey! Don’t do that!” Tom said.

   “I just want to check them.”

   Out of the jar fell three green scorpions, each having two tails. Lily picked one up and held it by the head. The two tails waved as she stuck one into each of her nostrils and then sniffed deeply. The pinchers on the tails detached from the scorpion and went straight up Lily’s nose.

   The creature struggled to get away but failed. Lily dropped it to the floor and crushed it with her filthy boot.

   Tom said, “You had to do it here? Couldn’t wait till you got back?”

   “Does it matter? You’re getting paid either way.” She put the two remaining scorpions into the jar and then walked out of the store with them. Behind her, Tom shook his head and looked over the counter at the scorpion guts on the floor. It was such a shame, an innocent little creature having to die like that.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

   Leonard looked at Clayton and thought back to when the two of them first got together. It was right before they had run into Sergio escaping from the prison camp. Leonard remembered hearing a very drunk Clayton Blood boast about his brother Jackson and how he shot four lawmen with only two bullets. How that was possible, Leonard wasn’t sure. Still, he listened to the man in the donkey mask go on and on about the infamous Jackson Blood.

   After most of the crowd around Clayton left, Leonard had approached him.

   “So that true? Your Jackson Blood’s brother?”

   Clayton slammed down his shot glass. “Damn right!”

   “You in the same business?”

   “You asking if I’m a thief?”

   Leonard smiled. “Yeah, that’s what I’m asking.”

   From then on, the two men were like father and son though the relationship was often shaken up by Clayton’s short temper and Leonard’s stubbornness. The addition of Sergio to their group added a certain foundation and focus. It also helped that the new man had a plan.

   Sergio had said, “There’s a town in Nevada. Has a lot of gold. I know where it is and how to get it.”

   The prospect of a big score was enough to get Leonard and Clayton on board. Besides, the two of them had never planted any roots anywhere so traveling to the west was just as good as any other plan.

   So now they were in the town of Screwhorse. Leonard was waiting on Sergio to get done with his whore so they could start preparing for the job. Clayton was smoking a cigar through his mask.

   Leonard said, “You enjoy those two whores?”

   “The Brady sisters? Yeah, they were fine.”

   “What do you think of the one Sergio picked?”

   Clayton laughed. “One with the four feet? That’s something new. I bet she knows a lot of little tricks.”

   Leonard took a sip of whiskey. “She probably spends a fortune on shoes, too.”

   A snort came out of Clayton’s nose. “Damn right.”

   They sat in silence for a minute and then Leonard said, “You think Sergio’s acting a little different since we came into town?”

   “Different how?” Clayton said.

   “I don’t know. More angry. Like he’s going to burst any minute.”

   “Didn’t notice it but the man never really was a cheerful son of a bitch, you know?”

   Leonard nodded. “Guess a prison camp will do that to a man.”

   “Sometimes it seems like he wants to talk about it and then he shuts up. I have a feeling he won’t be right until he tells someone everything about his time there.”

   “I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” Leonard said. “The shit that happens in one of those camps is the kind of shit men keep locked in their hearts until they’re dead and buried.”

   “So I probably shouldn’t ask him about it, then?”

   Leonard widened his eyes. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

* * *

   Sergio had never been with a girl who had four feet before and to be honest, he never thought they existed. It wasn’t bad, though. She fucked like any other whore except she used her toes as if they were fingers, massaging his whole body especially his scrotum which got a lot of attention from all four of her pinky toes.

   When they were done, he stood up and looked out the window. June asked him what he was looking at.

   He said, “Nothing.”

   “You looking at the Indians?”

   Sergio ignored the question.

   June said, “Fine. They’re plenty of windows downstairs. Why don’t you go look through those, then?”

   Sergio let out a heavy sigh and got dressed. He took an extra dollar out of his pocket and gave it to her. “Something extra.”

   June didn’t respond. She just looked at him and wondered why he looked just as tense as he was before the fuck.

   As he was leaving the room, Sergio said, “Be seeing you.” He went downstairs and saw his two partners playing poker with a group of cowboys. Sergio stood behind Leonard and said, “Let’s go.”

   As they got up, Clay took the money he had won. Black Boned Keith was one of the cowboys at the table and he didn’t like that Clayton was leaving without giving him the chance to win his money back.

   Keith said, “You best stay here and play a few more hands. I didn’t come back into town just to give my money to some asshole in a jackass costume.”

   Clayton tilted his head. “What’d you say?”

   “You heard me. Sit back down and play.”

   Leonard shook his head. It was a shame that young men were always so hot-headed. It always got them into trouble.

   Clayton slammed his fist on the table. “Fuck you.”

   Black Boned Keith smiled and then drew his gun, pointing the barrel at Clayton’s crotch.

   As Clayton tensed up, Sergio put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Give him his money back, Clay.”

   “What? Now wait a minute…”

   Sergio said, “Do it.”

   Keith lowered his gun. He watched in delight as Clayton put the money down on the table and stormed away.

   “Mighty kind of you,” Keith said, smiling at Sergio.

   “I wasn’t being kind. Just smart. I didn’t want my friend to splatter your brains on the wall. That’d cause trouble for me and I don’t have time for that. You have your money now so shut the fuck up.” Sergio stared Keith down, not worrying about the gun being lifted again.

   Leonard tapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go, Sergio.” They walked out.

   Outside, Clayton was standing on the porch of the brothel, the cigar still hanging out of the mouth-hole of his mask. “Shit, Sergio. Should’ve let me have at that bastard. You know I could’ve taken him, no problem.”

   “I know. Then the sheriff comes and locks you up. What then? Me and Leonard have to finish the job by ourselves that is if the sheriff didn’t lock us up, too.”

   Clayton groaned. “Shit.”

   “You really needed that cowboy’s money? After this, you’ll have more gold than you know what to do with,” Sergio said. “Just think of the gold.”

   Clayton took the cigar out of his mouth and flicked it into the street. “You’re right. All that gold. I can almost taste it.”

   The sound of drumming echoed through the street. Sergio said, “Those Indians are making a lot of noise.”

   Leonard said, “Yeah and it’s making me nervous. Let’s go.”

   Before they had come to town, the three of them had decided that staying in the hotel was not a good idea. Instead, they’d set camp out behind the church alongside the small graveyard. Small town pastors usually didn’t mind strangers staying near church. It provided the congregation with more souls to save. Sergio, however, had no intention of getting religion. He had a plan and God had no part of it.