“You’re quitting immediately and that’s final,” Martha said.
Maggie was having a good time, sitting on her father’s shoulders as she watched fireworks explode in the air in all sorts of pretty colors.
Bullock, on the other hand, was feeling and looking exceptionally morose.
“A man can’t go back on his word,” Bullock said, the matter not being anywhere near final in his estimation.
“Oh don’t give me that,” Martha replied. “You’ve held the job less than a day. Quit tomorrow and no one will say a word about it.”
“I signed up for a year,” Bullock said. “I’ll give this town a year.”
Maggie clapped as a firework burst into a bright green blaze.
“You’ll give this your life,” Martha said.
“Maybe,” Bullock replied.
Another burst. This one orange.
“And ours,” Martha said.
“I’ll never let that happen,” Bullock said.
A purple burst.
“Seth,” Martha said. “I know you. You’ll never turn a blind eye to this Swearengen man’s crimes and yet it sounds like the entire town will turn on you if you ever cross him. If remain the sheriff and avoid doing the job, you’ll hate yourself. If you do your job, we’ll all be dead. Take…the…star…off.”
Bullock smiled as he felt his hat lift off of his head. He couldn’t see it but he could tell by the giggles that Maggie had swiped it.
“You really think that will fit you?” Bullock asked his daughter.
“Where did the boom booms go?” Maggie asked, the hat covering her entire head.
Martha grinned as she took the hat off of Maggie’s head and returned it to her husband’s cranium.
Six bursts, one right after the other. Purple, green, orange, red, white, and blue.
The husband and wife joined hats.
“Why are you making me be an ogre?” Martha asked.
“I’m not,” Bullock replied. “That’s not you, just like me backing down wouldn’t be me.”
“Ugh,” Martha said. “Mule headed stubbornness.”
“Its what you love about me,” Bullock said.
“Says you,” Martha replied. “You’re fooling yourself if you think you can be the sheriff you want to be in this town and still keep us all alive.”
Bullock looked up at the veranda of the Gem Theater. Al was down to the last butt of his cigar. Across the night air, their eyes locked.
Al straightened out his hand and brought it up to his forehead in a mocking salute. Bullock nodded.
“It’ll be slow,” Bullock said. “And it will take a long time, but somehow, I’ll turn this town around.”
Bookshelf Battle 