Romance in a Ghost Town Read online

  He fumbled in the dark and found the candle he had taken from the hardware store, opened a matchbook and lit the candle. He lay in the vehicle and although he was tired, looked around by the feeble light of the one hundred years old wax candle. Finally satisfied that he was the only living creature in the SUV, he snuffed out the candle and, smelling the sweet scent of the burnt wick, slowly relaxed. Now onto my next test, he thought. He closed his eyes and slowly relaxed each part of his body as he tested his theory that sleeping in Rattlesnake Haven kept ‘the dream’ away. I’ll know soon enough, he recalled thinking when he woke up the next morning.

  Once again the bright sunlight was his alarm clock and sitting up fast he hit his head on the cushioned ceiling as he thought, Another whole night’s sleep without ‘the dream’! This is incredible! I love it! He looked up at the sun through the tinted glass and said, “Thank you, dad. I know you’re watching over me…and mom too.”

  He opened the tailgate and swung his legs out, but before they touched the earth said, “Whoa, Bobby Boy. Remember last night’s happenings: anything can be out here waiting for the unwary klutz from New York to step on them.” He shook his head as he pulled his legs back in. “Lessons learned: Checking before stepping!” He shook his boots out over the edge of the tailgate and slipped his feet into them before finally stepping out and stretching. He quickly took his gun, loaded it, put it in the holster and strapped the belt on. Next he grabbed his sunglasses and hat and went to use the Community Hall’s washroom…this time he brought his LED light.

  Back at the Chevy he had a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs on an almost-soft Kaiser roll smothered in butter and a cup of the still-hot coffee. “This hits the spot,” he said as he looked at the stack of wood still in the vehicle. “First step: empty the car. Second step, grab some nails from the hardware store and start laying some new sidewalk down. Third step, remove the grime from some of the windows I took the boards off and somewhere in between, have lunch.”

  Bob grinned as he remembered the refuse on some of the streets of New York as he put the garbage in the plastic bag and put it in the car. No littering here, he thought keeping his grin. Next, he unloaded the rest of the wood from the SUV and trailer then stopped back at the car and had a Coke.

  Finished, he walked across the street to Jax Hardware and opened the door. Once again the only light was from the open door behind him. I’m going to fix that right away, he thought as he opened the first window and saw the boards that he had become used to seeing. Using his proven method of pushing on the bottom of the board with his cane until it went out and away from the window, he then pulled down and the old nails gave way leaving the board in his hand. He popped the rest of the boards in the window and then moved on to the other two windows and soon the old store was flooded in daylight. He smiled at his work and choosing a carpenter’s canvas pouch, tied it around his waist and filled it with nails from one of the barrels. He then grabbed a hammer and crowbar and left closing the door behind him.

  Back at the SUV, Bob put on a pair of knee protectors and with the crowbar, easily pulled up the first board of the sidewalk. He placed it to the side and replaced it with a new board and using the hammer and nails from Jax, secured it in place. He sat back on his knees and looking at the old board, smiled as he thought, Boy! Not only have I started sprucing up Rattlesnake Haven, but, I now have a new supply of firewood to boot!

  The sun reached its zenith and Bob’s stomach matched the alarm he had set on his watch as both said it was time for lunch. He stood and looked back to where he had started and happily saw that he had almost half of the town’s length completed…that’s half of just this side of the street, he thought as he looked across the street. He grabbed his cane and after stretching his back muscles, walked back to the SUV.

  He found that he was ravished and really enjoyed the usual lunch: a tuna salad sandwich, cup of warmed up tomato soup and coffee followed by an apple. As he cleaned up he thought, Should I continue doing the sidewalk or stick with my plan? He grabbed a Coke from the cooler and answered his own question as he popped the lid, “Stick with the plan, dude. Start up the generator and then move onto the windows. Tomorrow you can finish the sidewalk…and save your back too.”

  With his mind made up, Bob went into the large hall and rolled out the generator. Getting a five-gallon can of gasoline, he unscrewed the gas tank’s cap and filled it to the top. Recapping it and using a few sheets off of a roll of paper towels, he carefully wiped off the spillage. “Okay, here goes,” he said as he gripped the pull handle and gave it a yank.

  The quiet of Rattlesnake Haven was disturbed after over one hundred years as the motor caught and smoothed into a soft, muffled purr. A very happy Bob stood back, took out his cell phone and attached it to his charger. He put the charger in one of the ports and watched as the battery light showed that his phone was being charged. “Contact!” he said to himself as he removed the charger and hit the kill switch on the generator. He was satisfied as quietness once again returned to his town. Next, he rolled the generator back into the Community Hall, took an armful of paper towels and two squirt bottles of Windex spray and returned to the house he started to call, ‘Home’.

  Bob attacked the first window with the powerful cleaner and after five minutes stood back and admired his handy work. I can do the inside and outside of the bottom floor, he thought, but only the inside of the upper floors. Oh well, better than nothing. Let’s move on, Mister Clean.

  Three hours later he rested on the porch and looked into the interior of ‘the home’. “Good job, Bob,” he said as he wiped his forehead. He reentered the house and as he cleaned the inside windows realized that his day was coming to a close as the sun was going down. “Damn!” he said looking at his watch, “Six-twenty! Boy, time fly’s when you’re having a good time.”

  Back at the SUV he felt tired and grimy. “Got to figure out a way to take a bath or shower out here. Then again,” he grinned, “it keeps the rattlesnakes away.”

  He made a dinner of hot beef-barley soup and a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich topping it off with coffee and a slice of apple pie. He was glad that he had brought along a change of clothes and used the remaining sunlight to change into them. Smartly, he left the dirty clothes on top of the car’s roof rather than bring them inside while he slept.

  Once again he admired the full sky of stars that seemed to surround his car and he thought, This is really cool! It’s like being in a spaceship flying through the galaxies. This night however, was slightly different as the moon was almost full and he realized that if he looked hard enough he could make out the town’s main street by the moonlight. He lay back and felt the soft pull of sleep coming on when slowly the image of Anne Dallas appeared in his mind’s eye. It wasn’t often that he had the chance to have a conversation with a woman and now he found he had a soft spot for her, but as usual he quickly pushed the vision away. She is coming here tomorrow; he thought and quickly answered that thought with, Is she? Maybe not. After all, I’m sure her boyfriend doesn’t want her to. And even if she did, so what? She’s just looking for a story.

  He peeked through one eye as he stirred and saw the sunlight just as it started to define objects. Early wake up call, he thought as he sat and opened the tailgate. Following his new morning ritual he shook his boots out, put them on, exited the SUV and put his gun on before closing the tailgate and using the hall’s latrine.

  The New Yorker had a breakfast of hardboiled eggs on a buttered roll and coffee. It was as he was placing his refuse in a plastic bag that Bob noticed something in the sand-packed street.

  Animal footprints? he thought and remembered they were known as paw prints, not footprints. Stupid, City Slicker, he thought as he studied them. Wonder what they are? I don’t see any toe prints and anyway, what kind of an animal has no toes and why way out here in the desert? He suddenly shivered and looked around. Hey, stupid! Whatever it was, it was here last night next to the SUV. He noticed that they seemed to
have stopped next to the car. Boy, what timing! Is this what happens when I get a full night’s sleep? He took a picture with his cell phone and hopped back into the SUV.

  Bob entered Bransville at eleven a.m., called Edward and by noon they sat in Big Hank’s Burger Joint enjoying greasy burgers and a coke.

  “You sure you took that at the town, partner?” asked Edward as he popped a fry into his mouth.

  “Yep! Just this morning and right next to my SUV. Any idea what it came from?”

  Edward sat back and gave big laugh as he looked once again at the picture of the paw print on Bob’s cell phone, “Boy, partner, you sure do come from the city. Ain’t you never seen a hoof print before?”

  Bob grabbed the phone and looked at it with his mouth open wide, “A hoof print? You mean like from a horse?”

  “Sure do, partner.”

  “But, do horses live out there?”

  “Heck yeah,” said Edward still wearing his big grin, “The Spaniards brought them here from Spain. They’ve been around for hundreds of years. They multiplied after a few escaped.”

  “What do they eat?”

  “Scrub brush, a few types of cactus and plants. Heck, if they been around all this time, believe me they are eating just fine.”

  “What about water?”

  “They can smell water miles away. They just hoof the ground a bit and it springs up.”

  “Boy. Who would have known?”

  “Bet if you put some hay out, they’ll come around more often.”

  “Ah, do they bite?” Bob asked sheepishly. Another big laugh from his friend and Bob shrugged his shoulders, “Well, heck, what do I know about horses? I mean the History Channel doesn’t mention that.” He asked again, “So, do they bite?”

  “Only if ya try to ride them. After all they most probably have never been saddled and won’t stand still for it.” He took another bite of his burger and went on. “Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about them. They’re shy and you probably won’t ever see them close enough to worry about being bit.”

  “Well, maybe I’ll bring out a bunch of hay just in case.”

  “Anyhow, how’s it going out there? Don’t you get lonely?”

  “Too busy to get lonely. Before I know it it’s time to sleep.”

  “Still sleeping in the car?”

  “Yep! But,” answered Bob as he wiped ketchup from his mouth, “there’s one place that I’m sort of partial to. It’s a house behind one of the stores.”

  Edward looked with a furrowed brow and asked, “House? Are there houses there?”

  “Yeah! There are about thirty-five stores including the hotel, sheriff’s office and Dust Off Tavern along with the forty houses.”

  “Wow!” said Edward sitting back and looking around before he said in a low voice, “Boy, Bob, if Jim hadn’t been such a wuss, he would have looked around some more and seen what he really had. I’ll bet you anything he just saw the main street with the stores and completely missed the houses.” He scratched his chin and went on, “Heck, I know I did.”

  “Would that have changed his mind about selling it?”

  “Bet it would have changed the price, partner.” He smiled as he drained his coke, “Hey, partner, good for you.”

  “I just don’t want him to get upset with me, Ed.”

  Edward shook his head and said, “Bob, let me tell ya, Jim is a lotta things, but he’s a fair man. He won’t get upset with you, about him not seeing what he had all along. He’ll just kick himself in the butt when he’s alone. But like I said, he’s a fair guy.” He patted his stomach and asked as he unbuttoned a few of his shirt buttons to make room from the meal. “So, what’s next on your agenda?”

  “Well, I finished half of the sidewalk on one side of the street and intend to finish the second half tomorrow,” he paused and took a sip before asking, “Oh, do you know Anne Dallas?”

  “Sure,” said Ed bobbing his head, “She’s always coming in to see Jim about stuff that she’s writing about. How do you know her?”

  “Actually,” said Bob with a slight twinge as he remembered how they met, “we met on the airplane my first trip here. But, I met her again in the hotel and she wants to come out and see the town so she picked tomorrow to visit.”

  “Mmm,” Ed said with a smile, “That could be good news for you because if she likes what she sees, she’ll write it up good and maybe folks from right here in Bransville will want to be the first to visit Rattlesnake Haven. Could be the beginning of paying itself off.”

  Bob shrugged as he placed his elbows on the table. “I’m not sure the town will be ready so soon for visitors.”

  “Well, Katey is bothering the heck outta me to visit so we can hit the cleaning project together and move the timeline up a bit. What do ya say, partner?”

  Bob shrugged, “I sure don’t want my friend being hassled by his wife on my account so I say. Sure. Let’s set a date.”

  Ed looked up at the ceiling as he calculated, “Well, if Anne’s going out there tomorrow, when does she come back to Bransville?”

  “I imagine she’ll be coming back tomorrow afternoon.”

  Ed squinted, “You mean she’s gonna go there and stay for two hours before turning around and leaving to get back before dark? I don’t think so, partner.”

  Bob’s brow wrinkled as he thought out loud, “Boy, I didn’t think of it that way. I better tell her.” He looked around and said, “Do they sell newspapers here?”

  “You mean so you can get the telephone number of her job?” At Bob’s nod he said as he pulled out his cell phone and passed it to him, “I have her number right here as I’m always calling her for Jim when they are working on a project together. Here copy it down.”

  Bob took his cell phone out and dialed her number. After two rings she answered: “Bransville Speaker, Anne Dallas speaking. How may I help you?”

  “Ah, hi,” said Bob, “It’s me, Bob McKillop. How are you?”

  There was genuine excitement in her voice as she said, “Bob! Nice to hear from you. Hope you’re not cancelling out trip?”

  “Uh, no, not at all. In fact I’m calling to see if you were still on for it?”

  “I sure am. I have my cowgirl duds all ready. Still meeting at nine?”

  “Yes,” answered Bob, happy that she sounded genuinely up-beat to hear from him. “Uh, Anne, I don’t know if I told you, but it’s a four hour plus drive there so it’ll be close to one o’clock when we get there and in order to be back in Bransville before dark, we’d have to leave around three in the afternoon. So that gives you just about two hours to see what you want to see. Is that good for you?”

  Suddenly he detected disappointment in her tone of voice as she answered, “But I thought you stayed overnight?”

  “Well, yes, I do, but…“

  “So, can’t I do the same? I mean eight hours plus of driving for a two hour show-and-tell…well, it just seems like a person might fall asleep while driving back.”

  “Uh, well you are right about that. Do you have a sleeping bag?”

  “Yep! Packed and ready. Anything else?”

  At the upbeat tone in her voice Bob grinned and shrugged and, suddenly realizing that she couldn’t see him, said, “Uh, no. That’s it. See you at nine tomorrow…or,” he quickly added, “eight if you want to join me for breakfast in the hotel’s dining room.”

  This time it was he who couldn’t see her grin as she said, “Breakfast sounds great. Looking forward to it. See you at eight. Bye.”

  Bob closed his cell phone and looked at a smiling Edward who said, “Hey buddy, sound like you might have a lady-friend there.”

  Bob shook his head and answered, “No way! It’s nothing more than a piece for her column.” He looked down at his dirty clothes and went on, “I better go wash and change.”

  “Yep. Get ready for your date, partner.”

  He ducked as Bob good-naturedly threw a balled-up napkin at him and said, “I’ll let you know when she is coming back to B
ransville so you and Katey can make plans to visit. Okay, partner?”

  “Okay by me, partner.”

  After lunch Bob drove over to the hardware store and passed the owner his roll of twine. After the man measured it he said, “Sixty-three feet. Not bad, not bad at all. I‘ll set you up with a pump, eighty feet of rubber tubing, wire, the motor and the solar panels to run her, plus batteries for night pumping. He looked out the storefront’s window and quipped as he used his hand to block out the sun, “With the sun in these parts you’ll have water shooting up outta the well like crazy. Do you have a holding tank for the water?”

  Bob shook his head, “No. Never thought of that. Do you have any?”

  “I can sell you a twenty-gallon stainless tank and if you want to go larger later on, you can swap up. I see that you have a rack on your truck.”

  “Yes. Can we tie it to the top?”

  “Sure can, partner. It’s light as heck, just large, that’s all.” He pressed an intercom and speaking into it, said, “Ken, will you bring out the twenty-gallon stainless steel water tank and strap it on to the white SUV out front? Then bring out a Sun Guard well-water pump motor, panels and eighty feet of hose and wire and add a package of filters to that plus a dozen rechargeable batteries. The unit we’ll put in the trailer he’s got hitched to the rear.”