Doc looked at Hickok. Hickok said “I think this might the
answer for you John. I know it is an answer for me. You just have to let it
happen. I reckon you will fancy it if’n you give it a chance.”
They each went to one of the bedrolls and sat down. The
girls came over and took their hats and jackets and hung them on a peg on the
wall at the head of their spot. Doc glanced at the naked girl. She was slim and
dirty with small conical breasts. Bald as an egg in her lady parts. She seemed
young but not that young. She certainly knew her business.
The room was dark except for some oil lamps placed against
the wall. The girl murmured something in her Chinee palaver and pushed his
chest down so until he was supine on the bedroll. It seemed to be on a small
mat or mattress so he was not on a cold floor. Doc felt the cold Kansas wind
blowing through the kinks in the poorly constructed walls.
The naked prostitute squatted next to him and handed him a
pipe. She gave him a view of her naked rosebud. Doc had not seen one in such
close proximity before. As a medical man he was naturally curious. It did not
slant in any different direction. One question answered.
She handed him a long pipe with a small earthenware bowl
attached to a long metal pipe. She indicated in sign language that he should
put the pipe in his mouth. As he held it the girl put a small round pill of
opium into the bowl. She then stood up and brought the lamp over to him. It was
low slung and she pulled the end of the pipe and placed the bowl over the heat
rising from the lamp. It slowly began to heat the drug and vapors began to be
directed by the heat of the lamp. The girl motioned to him to suck on the end
of the pipe. He took the pipe into his mouth and sucked gently. He felt the
smoke migrate into his diseased lungs. He coughed and hacked for a long moment.
Perhaps this was not the right thing for a lunger to do. But he was nothing if
not stubborn. Eventually he got the rhythm. He would draw the smoke into his
lungs….hold it in his lungs…..and exhale slowly.
Mostly he felt peace. A sweet sticky taste filled his mouth.
The odor was pleasant yet pungent. He glanced over at Wild Bill. He was stretched
out as well sucking on his pipe. His girl was busy on him. As busy as Bill was
on the pipe. Doc felt relaxed. The most relaxed he had felt since he left
Georgia. All of the stress had washed out of his body. He had a feeling of euphoria.
No worries. No care. Just a feeling of contentment and warmth.
He felt the girl knell between his legs. She unbuttoned him
and reached into his pants and took him into her hand. Into her mouth.
He felt good.
21 comments:
Knell. Little does he know the bell being slowly rung is his own, but at this point little does he care.
Rosebud may be his last cogent thought for a while.
The pipe would have been metal, probably brass, and the stem would be made of reed or bamboo.
Opium, being opium, he will have some very interesting dreams, at least at first. But like all opiates, all he will want upon regaining consciousness is more opiates. Was there a rehab facility in Abilene?
Replace "slow slung" with "low slung".
Love the frisson. There's a lot of pipe smoking going on in that scene and it seems peaceful but it could explode at any second.
Only if someone mixed some gunpowder in with the opium.
Oh, wait, I see what you are getting at. Never mind...
Oh, wait, I see what you are getting at. Never mind...
It's just Troop's fellicitous word choices. ISWHDT
Chasing the dragon!
That did it! An addict's life for me. :^{I
That did it! An addict's life for me. :^{I
High diddle-thee-dee!
Fiddle de dee
Too much euphoria for me.
I need to take my mind off the inviting loveliness of checking out,
and the filthiness of the infested bed roll
And seek refuge in facts.
Where is this happening? Abilene, Texas, or Abilene, Kansas? Big Nose Kate is supposedly a Texas acquisition and right now the cold prairie wind is blowing through the kinks in Kansas where he was reported to have been "visiting an aunt".
There's also art involved with the story, which could be a useful tool in the Dakota sage.
The Bull's Head Tavern in Abilene had been established by gambler Ben Thompson and his partner, businessman and fellow gambler Coe. The two entrepreneurs had painted a picture of a bull with a large erect penis on the side of their establishment as an advertisement. Citizens of the town complained to Hickok. When Thompson and Coe refused his request to remove the bull, Hickok altered it himself.
Too many Abilines, too little time.
Both of them full of cow pies.
It is the Kansas one. Remember I am putting Doc in places he wasn't in real life. I am tracking the story of the conflict of Coe and Hickok with the tragic denouncement.
Doc was not there at the time as he was too young.
It's fiction you know. Just sayn'
Opium will be involved. It didn't happen that way in real life but I think it makes for a more interesting story.
Poor Doc, right place, wrong time.
Alfred Seelye was about to arrive in Abilene (1890), set up a lab and start selling Wasa-Tusa along with his Magic Cough and Consumption Cure.
The Jeff Bridges version of Wild Bill included some memorable opium scenes. Either that or that naked Chinese woman who used to hang around here made me think that was the case.
But that's not important now - what's important is that we get Troopski sorted out and back to work on his books.
After giving altogether too much thought to the subject, I think that your ND story needs to have some killin's.
As I have written here before, I used to be a big fan of the work of Stephen Hunter, back before he got morbidly obese and stopped writing good books. He wrote some of the most memorable shoot-outs that I ever read. I won't list them, but they are impressive - Mr. Hunter knows a thing or two about shooting and he talked to people who had been in actual gun fights and he paid attention to what they said. Steal from him and you will do well. I especially liked when his hero shot Ted Turner and Jane Fonda and Bill Ayers. That was a good one.
I don't like any of the characters in the Julia story and I can envision a scene wherein every single one of those miscreants is dealt with in such a way that they will no longer cast a shadow upon the good earth.
A drive-by, a berserk shooter, a gang war between Mexicans and Indians with our protagonists caught in the cross fire, a visit to an oil rig just as it explodes, a car crash where they all fall into a ravine and become buzzard food - there must be 50 ways to lose your losers, just sayin'.
Kill 'em all, Trooper, let Allah sort them out.
Hey Sixty, even Peckinpah had to rein in his love of violence if only a little bit to make the watchable Wild Bunch. When he just let 'er rip it was pure nihilistic dreck. It being most of his other movies. Which leads to Troop and the elusive theme. Go wild with the blood and guts as long as there's something behind the violence. Like MORE violence! No, youse nose what I'm sayin'.
I'm not sure it amounts to anything, but for the record I have NOT read much in the way of fiction story telling in years, maybe a dozen plus. It usually bores me to tears, especially with psychological character and scene development that never ends, plus imaginary scenes that just don't happen in real life...like most gun fights are much simpler than usually written by story tellers.
The odd thing is that I have enjoyed reading the Joey Gallo and Doc Holiday series of Troop's. As I have said before, very nicely uncluttered with crap.
I like bare bones Ari. That's my style and I am sticking to it.
Thank you very much for the kind words.
Trooper is a sober, non hunter, Hemingway. Do you have any six towed cats.
Towed - sounds like a city thing.
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