Regulator, chapter 10
“It’s good to see that you boys can see when you’re in the presence of greatness.”
The story turns back to Charlie Atrium and Angus Thorn as we meet a new character, Efrain Guerra.
by Frank A. Spring
“Oh, now, don’t be like that,” Charlie said sweetly to the disgusted man who’d just handed over the best part of his bankroll on the flip of a card and was now fleeing from the table as if it had bitten him. “Your luck just needs to warm up a bit, is all,” this last as the door of The Old Farmhouse slammed behind the distraught gambler. Fine, be like that.
“This is your idea of low-profile, is it?” Angus Thorn, seated nearby with his back to the wall, asked quietly from behind a newspaper.
“It is my intention to appear a successful and dashing gambler on the order of the late Doc Holliday,” said Charlie. “Not depriving these good men of their coin would in itself blow my cover.”
“Who exactly are you hoping to convince with this appearance?”
“Myself, mostly.”
Charlie glanced up from counting his winnings to see Thorn’s dark eyes looking intently at him before they swept back over the saloon.
“I don’t believe you read those papers,” Charlie said. “I believe the news of the day means nothing to you, and you value that publication only as a kind of camouflage or deer-blind.”
Thorn sniffed.
“In fact,” said Charlie, “I’m not convinced you can read at all.”
If Charlie had successfully needled Thorn, a goal he had set himself for reasons that were obscure to him, he never got a chance to see, for at that moment The Old Farmhouse’s doors swung open.
There are in this world some people who are so unfortunate that they will never know the satisfaction of Making An Entrance; their arrival on a scene may be noticed, but it is never an event unto itself. This was not and would never be a problem for the man who walked through the doors of The Old Farmhouse.
He was not, in the most technical sense, tall, but his carriage and easy swagger magnified him, resplendent as he was in a suit of dark clothing set off by silver accents, his boots gleaming almost as much as his splendid belt buckle, his handsome, olive-toned face sporting a perfectly tapered mustache, altogether a character as serious as he was polished. Is it possible to be a dignified dandy? It was for him.
He strode easily in and nodded at Maggie, who excused herself from the attentions of the three miners propping up the bar and went to pour the newcomer a dram.
“Buenos,” he said, placing his hat on the bar.
“Señor,” she replied.
The miners glared at the newcomer.
“El aca?” He here?
“He is,” Maggie replied. “And one other.”
As the newcomer nodded and drained his glass, the miners, still glaring, exchanged a few quiet, angry words, offended perhaps by having lost the barmaid’s attention, or the complexion and language of the man who took it.
They peeled themselves off the bar and advanced on him with evident intent; the dapper man smiled, shook his head slightly, and squared up to them.
“Look here-“ started one of the miners.
“It’s good to see that you boys can see when you’re in the presence of greatness.” Clara Laurent, standing on the balcony above them, cut through the tension like a bell. Everyone looked up. “I assume you’re about to offer to buy Efrain Guerra a drink?”
The miners’ eyes widened.
“You’re Efrain Guerra?” said one miner who found his tongue quicker than his wits.
“Si,” said the dapper man, his smile not reaching his eyes. “Y tú eres?” And you are…?
“I, uh” stuttered the first man before one of his colleagues gently got his arm and said “We’re leaving. Sorry to have disturbed you, sir.”
“De nada,” Guerra turned back to the bar.
“How’s things in Albuquerque?” Maggie asked conversationally, and Guerra was on the point of answering when his eyes narrowed and and his hand moved over his hip as the third miner made a furtive dash back toward the bar.
“Marshal,” the man said quietly, “I truly am sorry to disturb you, but I really would like to buy you a drink, and if it’s alright I’d admire to shake your hand.”
Subscribe to The Experiment to keep up with future chapters of Regulator. Check out Frank Spring’s previous contributions to The Experiment which include “Neither Gone Nor Forgotten,” “Oh, DaveBro,” and “In Praise of Gold Leaf.” For legal reasons, I want to make clear that Frank Spring owns the rights to Regulator, free and clear. Follow him on Twitter at @frankspring.
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