Paco Valdez
"There's an old Indian saying," You begin, "Money can always be found on the railway."
Annie gives you a look that tells you just how much she is buying into your 'old Indian saying'. "Old Injun sayin', huh?" She asks skeptically. "Trains ain't been 'round long enough to be included in old Injun sayings."
"Except the one I just said." You tell her with an air of defiance.
"Horse shit." She says, spitting on the saloon floor.
"I don't see that it matters if it is or not. The fact of the matter is that you asked me to decide, and I have decided on the railway." You inform her coldly.
"You always side with him." She tells you, standing up and taking down the full contents of the whiskey glass in one tip. The sets the empty glass down without making even the slightest of faces. She drinks like a man too, you note.
"He always sides with me 'cause I'm always right." Gus says.
"The hell you are." She says.
"It's not that Gus is always right," You say, "It's that you never is."
Her eyes shoot through you like bullets from cannons. Gus lays a hand on her shoulder. "What shit hole of a room did you get for us."
"Room 212." She says coldly. "I guess I'll go get the supplies for tomorrow's journey." She says to the two of you.
"See that you do." You tell her.
She casts one more dirty look at you and storms out of the tavern. Gus laughs, coughing a bit as he does, until his laugh turns into nothing but a coughing fit. You drink down your whiskey glass and order another.
Gus stays until his cigar is done and then pats you on the shoulder and leaves the tavern, telling you to make sure you don't get too drunk, as you'll most likely be leaving early in the morning.
You don't listen to him, taking pulls from glass after glass of whiskey long past the point of seeing double. You are seeing doubles of your doubles by the time you stand on wobbly legs and stagger out the door of the saloon.
It is dark out and you look up to the stairs to see about four hundred steps, but you figure there's only about a hundred really there. You stumble all the way to the hotel and make your way to the second floor, bumping and stumbling every step of the way.
You look around and see three rooms. You're not sure which one Annie said you were in. Damn your drunken stupidity. Which door do you reach for? (No going back and checking.)