Holonovel, Chapter 5 (Part 2)

Posted on Wed Nov 27, 2019 @ 8:51am by Commander Caleb Ryan & Civilian Opal Oliver (Deceased) Dr

1,383 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Holodeck 3
Timeline: MD10 2015

Shane shook his head. “Ah fear Ah am not expressing mahself well, Mrs. White,” he said. “There are...things in mah past Ah do not wish to bring into yer life. Things that might be dangerous. Ah prefer ta hold things loosely in case Ah need ta move on. Ah wouldn’t want ta give ya any false hope, ma’am, much as Ah...would like to be with ya’ll again,” he said.

Carrie looked at him with her mouth open, but then pulled up her dropped jaw. "Shane, I thought you were so shocked and horrified at my behaviour that you couldn't stay with a woman of such low morals," she explained, amazed to find that it might not be the case at all. He was concerned about his own past? How ironic was that?

Shane smiled.”Mah morals ain’t so high as Ah can make any judgment on that score,” he said. “But Ah wouldn’t want any part in givin’ anyone else cause ta talk as such about ya,” he told Carrie.

Carrie turned her large green eyes up to Shane's brown ones, about to bare her soul.

"That's very honorable of you, Mr. Black, but you should know that when my late husband met me, I was a saloon girl, and he married me and made me respectable. But those who still remember who I was don't consider that enough to make me someone they can't talk about, exactly as if that's who I still am. Many think that a woman who has that in her past can't be changed into anything else. It's said you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

So you see, Cousin Jarred is one of the many who are more than happy to keep reminding me, and anyone who will listen, that I'm not fit to have inherited this ranch nor the clean slate my husband hoped to give me," she explained with an honesty that was so open it was almost raw, and definitely very intense in its depth of confession and revelation. She held her breath to await his reaction.

Shane listened quietly. “Ah’ve met a lot of decent soiled doves,” he told Carrie quietly. “Ah hold nothin’ against that. But Ah’m sayin’ it still don’t help ta be havin’ rumors ‘bout what we get up to on that ranch.” The edge of town could be seen approaching up the road.

"I don't see how we could have avoided that. If you'd been a passer by who only spent one night in the barn and moved on, it would still have been fuel for those who want to make things up," she replied.

"And if it hadn't been you, then when they rode roughshod over my place while you were first here, that would still have happened, and it wouldn't be a rumour, because they'd have had their own ways just the same, and gone back into town to boast about it," she added, a tone of bitterness against a whole town that had done nothing about the attacks and raids from Jarred and his men resonating in her tone, albeit softly, since it wasn't Shane she was directing it at, but there nonetheless.

"Let's face it, Shane, you're the only reason I've not been robbed of everything, not suffered more than one attempted raid to steal my stock and food stuffs, probably my personal things, and most of all, I have no doubt, judging by the attitudes of those men who came out, they wouldn't have stopped short of rape, leaving me broken to die in the mud. You've saved my life, my sanity, my home, and my wellbeing. I dread to think of the mess I'd be in without you," she said earnestly.

"And anyway,look at you. How many of those women aren't making up rubbish just out of jealousy! You're so hot it hurts!" The unhappiness in her tone as she had spoken earlier vanished, and she smirked. "Don't pretend you're not aware of how much you affect every woman you walk past! There would be rumours if you'd only passed by in the next town over, and every single, unattached -- even married -- red-blooded woman in the county would be under suspicion with rumours flying." She grinned. lowering her eyes and blushing softly.

"I'm the luckiest person in the world, Shane, and if they know it? So? I don't care. I want them to eat their hearts out!" She chuckled and put her hand very softly on his forearm affectionately, but then withdrew it as it sent shivers down her spine just to touch him. "Sorry," she muttered, quietly apologising for touching him without his consent. She put her hands back into her lap and returned her eyes to the horses' swishing tails.

“It’s okay, Carrie,” Shane said, using her given name. “Don’t blame the town too much. They’re all afraid of Jarred. He owns half the town, an’ th’other half need his business too much ta risk angerin’ ‘im. It’s almost as bad as a railroad town. But they ain’t bad folk.”

They were entering town now, and Shane tipped his hat to a few of the local ladies as they passed. He stopped at the hitching post outside of the general store and saloon.

Carrie had to smile at the effect Shane tipping his hat to the townswomen seemed to have with the blushing and giggling and catches of breath that just went to prove what she had said a few minutes before. It didn't come as any surprise, but what did surprise her was the pang of jealousy she became aware of, quickening her own blood as he did it. His charming manners, his handsome smile, and the reactions in all the women without exception or relevance to age or type, all made her feel a surge of protectiveness. Within the few moments that she realised these and processed them silently, she was fortunate enough not to have time to ask herself if it was specifically protective, or actually possessive.

She felt a salve from the way he helped her down from the wagon seat, and filed the whole flush of thoughts and emotions away as she returned her mind to the stores they had come in to collect, and the heavy set, unkempt, gunslinger loitering ominously in the doorway of the saloon as well.

Shane eyed the man as he helped Carrie down. The man eyed him back. Shane just nodded and then ignored him until Carrie went into the store. Shane settled outside the store, one door down from the man outside the saloon. They pair kept their eyes on each other from under the brims of their hats as they lounged there.

Carrie took her canvas bag with its hooped handles and the list of supplies she needed. She put the smaller items into the bag, but she also needed a packet of flour and some coffee and was ticking off her list until she had it all. The bag was full, and there were more items to carry out, so she made the payment and was waiting for the store keeper to parcel up some of the larger items that wouldn't fit in.

Carrie was impatient to get out of there and to move on, because she was a little bit concerned about what might be happening outside, and although she hadn't heard any unusual noise, she was anxious to get away just to avoid anything getting started. She was always suspicious that Jarred would have something up his sleeve and was edgy about being in town every time they made their necessary trip for supplies.

The storekeeper seemed very slow and oddly silent, without any small talk or pleasantries as he packed up the parcels, but perhaps that was Carrie's imagination and angst. She moved towards the window to look out, but couldn't see anything. Finally, the storeman finished and she was able to thank him and put the parcels under her arm, balancing the bag handles in the crook of her elbow and hurrying to the door.

TBC

Cdr. Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer
DS5

Dr. Opal Oliver
Civilian
DS5

 

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