Do Not Disturb

Who do you think was sitting on the porch when I got back from town today? Miss high-and-mighty Houston, that’s who.

‘Hello Levitt. Glad to see me?’

‘I ain’t sure yet.’

‘Nameless is, he jumped all over me.’

‘He did, huh? That dog has no principles.’ 

‘Have you missed me?’

‘Nope’

Sure I’d missed her, but I was mindful not to bare my soul again. Rejection is something a man never forgets. Ain’t likely to either, since the heartache and pain is like nothing he’s ever known, ‘cept from a kick in the nuts, maybe. Since my visitor had neither horse nor buggy, I steered the conversation that way. 

‘How’d you get here?’

‘Cecile brought me.’

‘When’s she coming back for you?’

‘I’m not planning on going back. I want to stay here with you.’

Hell, I wasn’t expecting that. I guess I was pretty much done for when she clasped her hands on my shoulders and said she wanted us to make a new start, but I figured one of us had to be sensible. 

‘You’re a fine woman Miss Houston, a real fine woman but…’

‘Oh Valance, will you stop being so damn formal. Call me Housty, like you did before, like you did when you saved me from the fire, remember? I was slipping away to another place when I heard your voice above the crackling timbers. C’mon Housty, let’s get you out of here, you said. You sounded so forceful, so strong… so heroic.’

So I called her Housty and tried again, brushing her hands from my shoulders as I took another shot at being noble. I explained why a woman like her shouldn’t waste herself on the likes of me; the whiskey and sin, the lying and cheating…

‘And the whoring, let’s not forget that!’ Housty snarled. ‘Alright cowboy, I know exactly where this is going. You’re happy to get your comforts with some two bit whore but I’m not woman enough for you!’

Then the crazy woman whacked me on the jaw. Grabbing her fired her up all the more. She wriggled and she scratched, and when I spun her round and got her in a bear hug, the little wildcat caught me on the shin with a back-heel that sent the two of us tumbling. She was still kicking and screaming when I pinned her on the floor. 

‘Lemme go, lemme go!’ 

Hell, I wasn’t letting go, not while she was snarling like a bobcat in a sack. I just lay on top of her and held her wrists good and tight till she quit bucking and her temper burned out. A couple of minutes, that’s all it took, but it was beautiful while it lasted. Her knees were still drawn up and we were still perfectly aligned when she realized the ‘ol Valance impaler was knocking at her door.

‘You bastard,’ she gasped between breaths.

‘Is that what you want? Well, is it?’ I said, as I forced myself upon her. ‘How would you like to be another notch on my bedpost?’

With a fire in her eyes she thrust right back at me. ‘How would you like to be another notch on mine?’ she said.

‘Fine by me,’ I said, before I kissed her and whispered something dirty in her ear. ‘But I ain’t letting go till I see you smile.’

Well, she did smile. Reckon I did too, when I threw her over my shoulder and carried her into the house.

With thanks to Houston A W Knight