Fistful of Feet (6 page)

   The man was dead.

   Standing up, Calamaro holstered his pistol and stared down at the corpse. There was no doubting it. The man with the purple beard was as dead as a doornail. But why the hell were the beard hairs still moving? It was a macabre sight that made Calamaro walk quickly out of the room.

CHAPTER TEN

   Before he went to the brothel, Bluford Barnes decided to walk around the town and take in the sights. He wanted to be careful to steer clear of that Hard Candy Kid fellow but other than that, it should prove to be valuable time spent checking out the possibilities.

   As he walked past the barber shop, he heard voices behind him.

   One of them said, “Hey Nix, look at that guy dressed up like an Englishman. Must be lost.”

   “Shut up, Ryan. We got work to do,” said the other.

   The voices trailed off in the other direction and for that Bluford was grateful. In every town he went to, there were always a few troublemakers who would stop at nothing to harass a stranger, especially one dressed as immaculately as he. Besides, he didn’t consider himself a fighter of any sort and felt that there was no shame in running away from a confrontation if there was any chance of physical harm.

   He stopped at the General Store and looked out on the horizon. The Indians were still there, their camps a little bit closer now. That disturbed Bluford but he planned to be out of town before anything happened.

   Putting on a big smile, he walked into the General Store. He was greeted by a man with a bigger smile than his own.

   “Hello there!” the man said.

   “Good day, sir.”

   “What can I do you for?”

   Bluford shrugged. “Well sir, I don’t know if I even came in here for any one thing. I just came into town for a bit and thought I’d have a look around. You have a nice establishment here.”

   The man smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that. My name is Tom Duma.” He extended his hand and Bluford took it.

   “Bluford Barnes.”

   “What line of business you in, Mr. Barnes?”

   “Oh, a little of this and a little of that. Most recently I’ve been in the position of salesman.”

   Tom Duma’s eyes lit up. “Got anything of interest with you?”

   “Sorry, no. I don’t have my supplies with me at the moment.”

   Tom said, “Aw, that’s too bad. I’m always in the market for new wares. People in this town are always after something new. In fact, just last week a man from Rhode Island came through. You ever been to Rhode Island?”

   “No, sir, I haven’t. Heard it’s nice, though.”

   “Yeah, well, this man came through and brought a few boxes of things he was selling. Things from Tibet, he said. That’s somewhere in Asia, I believe,” Tom said. He pointed behind him at a group of jars filled with dark green candy-sticks. “Brought some candy called Tcho-Tchos. I wasn’t going to buy it at first being that I carry dozens of different types of candies from all over but some people in town had a taste of the Tcho-Tchos and insisted that I buy it for my store and so that’s what I did.”

   “They taste good, those Tcho-Tchos?”

   “Well, they’re not to my liking. Personally I think the things taste a bit too much like sweet fish but I never was one for the sweets. Of course I don’t know shit when it comes to that sort of thing. Hell, the Hard Candy Kid comes in nearly every day to buy one and that man knows his candy.”

   At the mention of the Hard Candy Kid, Bluford cleared his throat and said, “Well, I do regret that I don’t have anything to sell you but I would like to purchase a few items.”

   “I can help you with that, for sure,” Tom said. He tapped his fingertips on the counter. “But before I do, I have one question.”

   “Alright.”

   “Are you a drinking man, Mr. Barnes?”

   “Uh, well, I have been known to get my tongue wet with some whiskey on occasion, yes.”

   Tom said, “I think I might have something you’d be interested in.” He lowered his voice. “Ever hear of Ass Juice?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

   June left the starfish and walked back to her room. As she sat on her bed, she wondered if she’d ever get married and have children. An image of her future popped into her head. She saw herself making dinner for a group of baby starfish who were seated around a table.

   As she fantasized, her nausea subsided. June could feel her strength coming back. Her skin didn’t feel so hot and clammy. It was time to get back to earning some money.

   June freshened up, feeling more and more normal as she did so. In the back of her mind, she still thought about raising a family of baby starfish but now it was only a slight fantasy. When she was done getting ready, she walked downstairs and perused the room. There were a few strangers in the place and a few of them looked interesting. One in particular caught her eye. It was another handsome stranger, but not the one that Betty had been talking to.

   This stranger was tall and swarthy. He looked like he was one of those Italians. The man looked strong, too, as if he could ravage her for hours without breaking a sweat. June thought how nice it would be to stick her four feet in his face, make him lick her dirty toes.

   June wiggled her ass and made sure to keep the man in view. She hopped up onto the bar and sat there waiting for him look over at her. When he did, June would use all her feminine charms to lure him over.

* * *

   When Bluford came back from the General Store, he decided to finally visit the brothel. He was sitting at the bar when he saw the guy in the donkey mask. The man had come in with two other men. One was old and bearded while the other was tall and olive-skinned. It was a strange but intriguing trio. Bluford knew something was going to happen. There was just something about those men. So when the swarthy man walked over to the bar, Bluford said, “Excuse me, sir. Buy you a drink?”

   The man looked over but said nothing.

   That did not deter Bluford. “I’m sorry for bothering you. Just passing through?”

   “None of your goddamn business.”

   “The reason why I’m asking is because I can see you’re a traveler like me and…”

   “Shut up, will you?” The man was visibly agitated.

   Bluford said, “Got it.” He asked the bartender for a bottle of whiskey and then poured the man a drink. “Want that drink? Consider it payment for bothering you.”

   Some of the agitation left the man’s face. He took the drink.

   “My name is Bluford, by the way.”

   The man grunted. He took another drink and when he realized that Bluford was waiting for his name, he said, “Sergio.”

   “Pleasure to meet you, Sergio.”

   That was the extent of the conversation because then Sergio walked away and joined his friends.

   Bluford was disappointed. He wanted to know more about the man because he and his partners looked like they had a purpose for being in town. Men who were planning on taking money from people always had the same look. There was an intensity there that many people weren’t able to see but a professional confidence man could spot it pretty easily. Bluford wanted to know exactly what they were planning.

   And whether he could benefit from it.

* * *

   Leonard was just about to take his first sip of whiskey when Clayton slapped him on the back.

   “Hey old man, get a look at these girls! Really something, right? Makes my mouth water.”

   “Yeah, they’re pretty.”

   “Just pretty? They’re goddamn angels!” Clayton turned to Sergio. “What do you think? You like them?”

   Sergio was holding a glass of whiskey up to his lips without taking a drink. He was taking in the sights slowly, taking time to look at each and every whore. If he was going to spend money to be with a girl, he didn’t want his decision to be a rash one.

   “Yeah, Clayton. They’re angels,” Sergio said. “They just won’t stay that way after you get to them, huh?”

   Clayton laughed. “You got that right!”

   Finally Sergio took a sip and was reminded how much he loved whiskey. Back in Andersonville, they didn’t give the men anything to drink but tainted water. Sergio had quite a few friends who died due to the torture and neglect at the hands of those Confederate bastards. He’d seen men used in experiments involving animals and strange machines that cut off their feet. It was a miracle that Sergio ever survived so he vowed to savor every drink of whiskey.

   Leonard said, “You boys want to get your pricks wet, go ahead. I’m staying down here. Maybe join a poker game.”

   “I still don’t get why you won’t just pay for a screw. Not like you have much time left on this earth. You think they got pussy in Hell?” Clayton scratched his beard through his donkey mask and laughed.

   “Oh, shut the hell up and go pick out a girl so you can get it out of your system. We have to get to planning how we’re going to persuade the mayor to part with his gold.”

   Clayton laughed. “Persuade? That’s a good one.” He looked around and saw the two ladies at the bar and thought they’d both be nice to take up to one of the rooms upstairs. He’d heard that the whores in town had specialties and he had a hankering to experience it in person.

   He left the table and walked over to the women. They both turned his way and smiled though he had a suspicion that they were smiling sarcastically.

   Clayton said, “Hello, ladies.”

   The blonde one said, “Can we help you?”

   “Sure hope you can.”

   The brunette said, “You going to a costume party or something? What’s with the mask?”

   “Just something I like to wear. Found it in a prison camp next to a wooden donkey if you can believe it.”

   The two women laughed.

   “Name’s Clayton and you are?”

   “I’m Goldie and this is Blanche. We’re the Brady sisters,” the brunette said.

   “Sisters? You really sisters?”

   The women laughed but didn’t answer.

   “So, I got money to spend,” Clayton said. “You ladies want to welcome me to your town?”

   Clayton followed the women to their room. He wasn’t sure what he wanted. Whenever he was with a whore, he ended up asking for a hand job or a simple screw. But it seemed like a waste to ask for the same from these girls since Screwhorse whores were supposed to be so talented. “Hey ladies, let me ask you something. You two have a specialty?”

   They laughed. Goldie said, “We sure do.”

   “And what would it be?”

   In unison, the women burped loudly and smiled. “Let’s see your pecker,” Blanche said. Clayton sat down on the bed and pulled his dick out.

   “Start yanking,” Goldie said. As Clayton pleasured himself, the women instructed him while they leaned over and let out burp after burp into his face.

   Blanche said, “You like that? Can you smell what we had for dinner?”

   “We had four sausages,” Goldie said. “Each!”

   Even through the donkey mask, Clayton was overwhelmed by the warm stench of their belching. He used his hand on himself, stroking slowly at first and then picking up the pace when the burps became louder and more forceful.

   After ten minutes, he was close to finishing. “I’m ready, ladies!”

   Blanche put her mouth up to the nose holes of Clayton’s mask while Goldie put her mouth to his ear.

   As the ladies let out two thunderous burps, Clayton ejaculated onto the floor. Ecstasy rushed through his body as he deeply inhaled the smell of sausages.

   “So, about payment,” Goldie said. She wasn’t wasting any time.

   Clayton paid the women and stood up. “That sure was nice.”

   Blanche said, “Okay, honey, you go ahead downstairs and have yourself a drink. Come on back if you feel like having another go at the Brady sisters.”

   With a wide smile hidden by his donkey mask, Clayton buttoned his pants and left the room. The stories were true. Screwhorse really did have the best girls. When he got downstairs he saw Leonard talking to a whore who was on her knees examining his hands.

   “You have such beautiful hands. Look at these fingers. Beautiful,” the woman said.

   Clayton leaned close to Leonard’s ear. “What the hell’s this?”

   “This is Angie. She said she loves my hands,” Leonard said. He had told himself he wasn’t going to get a girl but this Angie just came up to him, going on and on about how nice his hands were.

   Angie said, “Your fingernails are beautiful, too. Hey. How about I take you upstairs?”

   “I don’t know. I think I’m just too damn old for what you’re planning to do to me.”

   “Oh, you are not!” Angie smiled. She brought her hand up to Leonard’s nose and caressed it. “You have a beautiful nose, too.”

   Clayton laughed. This Angie was one weird whore.

   “Well,” Leonard said. “Maybe you’d like my friend.” He pointed to Sergio.

   “Him? He looks scary, not nice like you. Are you sure you don’t want me? I’ll let you bind my feet.”

   “What?”

   “I’ll let you bind my feet. I learned it from a Chinaman used to come to town.”

   Leonard shrugged. “Not sure that’s something I’d enjoy.”

   “Guess it’s your loss, then,” Angie said. She looked at Clayton. “How about you? Care to take off that donkey mask so I could take a look at your nose?”

    “Sorry, sweetie, but no. The mask stays,” Clayton said. “Besides, Those Brady sisters were quite enough.”

   Both rejections made Angie get up abruptly and stomp away.

   Leonard cocked his head, turning his ear toward the door. “You hear that?”

   Sergio nodded. “Yeah, those goddamn Indians are making more noise.”

   “They got some nerve doing that so close to town, eh?” Clayton said.

   “Yeah and I don’t like it. I’d like to get the job done before anything happens. I don’t need to be trying to get out of town in the middle of a fucking Indian attack.”

   Clayton said, “Those redskins aren’t going to do a goddamn thing. They just like dancing around fires, eating buffalo balls and shit.”

   “Even so, keep your eyes open,” Sergio said. He drank one more shot of whiskey and then slammed his glass down. “Okay, I’m getting a girl now. Stay out of trouble, Clay, got it?”