Library Notes
October 10, 2003
By Pansy Hundley, Librarian.
Aren't our gunfighters the cutest things? However, you must remember that they are tough hombres. Why, I have Wanted Posters on all of them here at the library, so I know how dangerous they are. They're so BAD, our Farmersville Policemen just stood and watched when they came to town!
Those dudes came strolling in, with one of two of them staggering and weaving and stumbling, looking for trouble. But at least there were a couple of sheriffs following them into town.
One of those sheriffs had a mite of trouble with his two deputies. They were not the two brightest coins in the money sacks. The sheriff had to take his hat off a coupla times and beat 'em with it. That certainly shows that good help is hard to find.
We had card cheats and goat rustlers and horse thieves and back shooters and stagecoach robbers running around in our fair city, with sheriffs in pursuit. There were shotgun blasts and hollering and six-shooters blasting away. There were bodies lying on the ground. Things were a mess, but the good guys won.
There are some of those gunmen walking around this town in disguise as I speak. If you want to see their wanted posters and identify them, come on down. Let me name them for you!
There's Fast Draw Roger, with the biggest reward, a mere $50,000. He's wanted for murder,
robbery and treason, and hides behind a sheriff's badge. I threatened to turn him in Saturday for the reward. The other sheriff said he would if the reward was that high. But I told him he couldn't because I was first.
Blackjack Todd is a woolly-lookin' bugger, wanted for stagecoach robbery and cheatin' at cards. Don't know if he shot anyone, but he has a price of $1,000 on his head.
Big Bad Bob is here also. He wasn't in town for Old Time Saturday, cause his brother was mighty sick. But he's a bank robber and a horse thief, passes himself off as a school teacher and is worth $10,000.
Lightning is a chicken stealing son-of-a-gun and has only $500 on his head, cause chicken stealing's not as bad as murder and horse thieving.
Cheatin' Charley is a double-barreled back shooter and cheats at cards too. You can be $12,000 richer if you can catch him.
Dangerous Dave is wanted for goat rustlin', will take a horse that don't belong to him, if given the opportunity, and has shot a judge in the foot. That judge must be plenty mad, cause a $10,000 price is on his head.
Preacher Man Dave seems to have lost his religion, because there's a reward of $5,000 on him. He's been preaching without a license and has robbed the mails. He wasn't in the melee Saturday, as he usually is, because he's sick.
Dead-Eye Joe, with a poster offering $3,000 is a hired gun and he trains gunfighters for hire.
Didn't I tell you they were a motley bunch? They've left town and moved on, hopefully, except maybe the ones seen around town in disguise.
We'll be lucky if we don't have bounty hunters moving through town, looking for some easy money. Could you call catching some of this crowd "easy money"? I think not. Just keep your eyes open and stay on your guard, in case gunfire opens up again. This is supposed to be a quiet town too. Maybe it'll stay that way, at least until the next Old Time Saturday.
Let's sneak a book in, while we can, and read about "Fatal Tide", a new mystery by Iris Johansen.
"Melis Nemid is treading in dangerous waters -- and she's about to be dragged under. As a marine researcher, Melis knows all too well the dangers that can lurk under even the calmest surfaces. But not even she can guess how deep the darkness runs. Only one oceanographer ever came close to discovering the deadly mystery that lies beneath the sea -- and he's disappeared from the face of the earth.
Now Melis is the last one who knows the truth. And someone is determined that the truth will die with her.
For what Melis knows about the deep-sea mystery is only part of a nightmarish past torn by violence. She thought she had put that past behind her when she arrived at her Caribbean island home to research dolphin behavior.
But her peace - and her life -is about to be shattered by the arrival of a savage killer. Someone - for reasons unknown even to Melis - is cutting a path of destruction and death that leads directly to her.
Only one man can save her - a man who claims to be a fellow oceanographer. He will seek to gain Melis' trust, getting close to her secret and her life. But what this enigmatic man really wants, Melis may not discover until it's too late. Because whoever is after her knows her nightmares intimately, and soon she will be forced to relive them all over again.
Except for the final nightmare.
The one she can't possibly survive."