‘Waste of time. They won’t catch that bank robber by huffing and puffing,’ said Harry Dade, when he joined me for breakfast at Annie’s. I couldn’t disagree.
I came back to the jailhouse with some food for the kid, and took it to him on a tray with some fresh coffee.
‘Open up Plato, I’ve got my hands full.
The kid seemed surprised when he lifted the latch and his cell door creaked open.
‘You alright, kid?’
‘Yes sir, I’m fine but the door… it wasn’t locked.’
‘Any reason it should be? Listen kid. Setting aside the fact that it don’t come easy for me to lock you in jail, and setting aside the fact that you got nowhere to run anyhow, I’m a trusting fella. Now sit down and eat your breakfast.’
I knew all along the kid wasn’t bad. Green as grass, sure, and the more I talked to him the more I liked him.
‘Did your pa say where he was going?’
‘No sir.’
‘Got any kin?’
‘No sir.’
‘Friends?’
‘I had a dog once. Name was Spot.’
‘Where are you from?’
‘Ma once told me we lived near Hayfield.’
‘Where is that?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Do you know anybody in Hayfield?’
‘No sir, I’ve never been there.’
Since Emmett left me in charge I figured it’d do no harm if Plato were to join me on my rounds. Good old Valance, huh? No, the kid smelled something awful and I wanted to get him over to the bath house and out of his stinking clothes.
‘Have a good long soak Plato, and be sure to use plenty of soap. Listen; that gun the sheriff took from you; I’ve always wanted a gun like that. Wouldn’t swap it for some new duds, would you?’
‘I could do with some, I guess… and new boots.’
‘Alright, it’s a deal; new duds and new boots. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
Shirt, pants, hat, vest and underwear came to a whole lot more than I expected, and four dollars for a pair of boots set me thinking the kid wasn’t as green as I thought. He sure was grateful though. It warmed my heart to see the look on his face when I dropped everything off at the bathhouse, and left him to get dressed while I called at the bank next door.
‘Yes, by a lone woman, average height, slim build, tight pants’ said the clerk. ‘Just me, her and nobody else. I didn’t expect her to take the sack of nickels I threw on the counter, but she grabbed it and ran. She had to be raw to flee with so little, don’t you think?’
Raw puts it kindly, I reckon. Dumb puts it closer to the truth but whoever the mystery woman was, she’d still robbed the bank and there seemed little chance of finding her. Plato was waiting at the door when I came out. Hell, I almost walked right past him. He looked a different kid.
‘Hey look at you! Boots fit alright?’
‘Yes sir’
‘Good. Those pants are bit big but you’ll grow into them… so my ma used to say.
Now, how would you like to walk the town with me?’
‘Yes sir!’
‘Alright, you can be my unofficial helper, but quit calling me sir. Deputy Valance will do, okay?’
‘Yes sir Deputy Valance.’
From the moment German Herman mistook Plato for my nephew, we sure had a lot of fun. Ain’t that we purposely lied to anyone, but going along with the notion spared us any awkward questions. Plato played his part, calling me Uncle Valance whenever he could, and when he pushed his luck one time and I straightened him out with a cuss word, it was good to hear him laugh. He was still laughing when we turned down the backstreet.
‘This is where I had trouble the other day, Plato.’
‘What kind of trouble?’
‘Varmint trouble. A man called me out in the street, just a little ways ahead.’
‘Was he mean?’
‘As mean as they come, but I marched right up to him and talked him down.’
‘Were you scared?’
‘Me? Course not.’
‘I’d have been scared.’
‘You would, huh? Well maybe I was a little bit scared, but you can’t let the other fella know that. You gotta take a deep breath, puff your chest out and stand tall.’
‘Then what?’
‘Well, you just take a step forward and hope for the best, that’s what.’
Emmett was waiting for us when we got back to the office. He wasn’t happy that I’d taken the kid out, and neither was I when he put Plato back to his cell. Well, Emmett had his say and I had mine, most of it, anyhow, till I blew up and walked out.
Walking out the way I did helped nobody, I know that, but I needed a drink and I needed it bad, and I felt better once I’d got my hands on a bottle of whiskey.
It was getting late when I returned to the office and apologized. I thought Emmett might have apologized too, but he just grunted from behind his desk.
‘Listen Emmett, having your ma die young’s gotta be tough on any kid… and to get dumped in the middle of nowhere by a pa that don’t want you no more, well, that’s downright sorrowful. The kid don’t belong in jail either.’
‘He took a shot at me, remember?’
‘Aw c’mon, he only wanted to scare you off. Put yourself in his shoes. You have done the same thing, wouldn’t you? Besides, he’s lucky he didn’t blow his face off with that old single shot. He just needs someone to take care of him, that’s all.’
‘Someone like you, maybe?’
‘Well no… though it ain’t the worst idea I ever heard. I could get used to it, I reckon.’
‘Forget it. You’d be a step up on what he’s got now, I’ll give you that, but there’s a whole lot more to raising kids than taking them out and playing the town… and that woman of yours might have something to say about it too. Could be she’s intent on raising her own young uns, have you thought about that? I don’t believe the kid belongs in jail either, but killing him with kindness isn’t the answer, ‘less you want to see him hurt again?’
‘So what are we gonna do?’
‘I don’t know. Let me think on it. We’ll discuss it in the morning.’
‘You said that last night.’
‘I can’t help it if I have other things to worry about, not least a bank robbery. That reminds me; you had a visitor earlier; Granny Applegate.’
‘What the hell!’
‘Shh! Not so loud, you’ll wake the kid.’
‘Danged woman’s a plague on me.’
‘You know that meeting I had to go to this morning? Well, since we have no leads on the woman that robbed the bank yet, it was put to the vote and carried unanimously that every woman within ten miles should be questioned about their whereabouts on Wednesday afternoon. Someone must have told Granny Applegate ‘cause she was beside herself with excitement when she came in here this afternoon. Anyhow, you’ll be pleased to know you’re invited to visit her house and search her tomorrow. That ought to give you something to sleep on.’
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