Aaron Howard’s Oscar

When the Baron gets to town it is late. He sets the response to the train robbery in action, dispatches the necessary authorities, repair crews and transportation for the passengers.

Baron: You organize a posse. I'll arrange something rougher.
Sheriff: Sure thing Baron.

He visits the telegraph office, rousts the operator from his cot and sets the electric pulses tapping out across the country. He has refined a list of men he thinks he can hire easily if he offers a premium wage. He summons these men from various locations and sends the general word out for them in case they have strayed from the specific locations the Baron has on his list. He does this quickly and excuses himself for the night. He leaves the well-tested machinery of the railroad's organization to run on its own til morning while he moseys his way across town to do some business before he rides out to his estate.

The Baron goes to the saloon. There are other watering holes but this is the singularly most successful saloon. He walks in with Gertrude on her leash and eyes the meanest sons of bitches in the joint. It's a couple guys the Baron met before and hoped he'd never meet again. They know this. Once, he paid these two boys to crush a push to unionize on his railroad. They did their job with lead pipes and four foot Stillson wrenches and enjoyed it. The Baron always hires the Valkyr Boys for jobs like this. They form the foundation of the Baron's muscle.

They are from this town. Together they farm a little spread outside town they took over when they were fifteen and their parents mysteriously perished in a house fire. They aren't the best farmers. They're in town every night they can, causing a ruckus drinking and terrorizing anyone silly enough to drink in the same bar they've chosen for their night's reverie. Brawls are common once the Valkyr Boys get drunk. And not so uncommon when they're stone sober.

They don’t get invited to the society parties.

The Valkyr boys are playing checkers. The Baron orders drinks for the three of them and pulls a chair up to their table. The bartender brings a bowl of water over for Gertrude, returns to the bar and brings three beers. Bartenders have learned to serve Gertrude first lest they risk loss of limb. No man makes the mistake of saying he deserves to be served before the dog.

Bjorn is the smarter of the two brothers. Leif is not without his talents. He's the numbers man. Bjorn deals with his half of the brawn handily. Bjorn is the older of the two and slightly larger. Both men are large enough to convince nearly any average man that what the Valkyr Boys say goes without question, or else.

Bjorn: Evenin Baron. What brings you to town?
Leif: I heard you had a little railroad trouble.
[Gertrude growls]
Baron: That's why I'm here boys.
Bjorn: We was thinking we'd be seein you.
Baron: News travels fast.
Leif: Anything for a diversion. Farming's not a helluva lot of fun.
Baron: I hope I don't have much work for you but, I know that’s not likely going to be the case.
Bjorn: Whodunit?
Baron: I don’t know. That's for you boys to find out. I was incapacitated.
Leif: Pigheaded.

At this Gertrude growls below and shakes the table. The Baron shoots Leif a malicious dart of a glance and swiftly transfers his rage to laughter.

Baron: I always knew that old boar would get another shot at me.

The Valkyr boys laugh with the Baron.

Baron: I am planning to amass a task force to deal with these train robberies. A group of men to act as emissaries to any aggressors. This situation needs to be remedied immediately.
Bjorn: You mean you're making your own posse?
Baron: In a way, yes, but I am not strangled by certain aspects of the law a posse might be bound to abide by.
Bjorn: How many? When they gettin here?
Baron: I don't know how many will be able to respond. I do know the offer would be hard for them to pass up.
Leif: What about us?
Baron: Your compensation will, of course, be more than generous.
Leif: I like the way you talk Baron.

He lays a small bag of gold coin in the middle of the checkerboard disrupting their recently neglected game. The gold in the sack clinks as it displaces the red and black wooden coins.

Bjorn: We'll ride out to your spread first thing in the morning. We got some business to attend to yet in town.

As if on cue the fancy lady across the saloon winks at the Baron as his eye wanders around the room. She pauses to say hello here and there as she slowly crosses the room

Baron: Tell me when this runs out.

The Baron indicates the bag of twenty dollar gold pieces.

Leif: Now, we drink.
Bjorn: To the railroad.
Baron: Cheers.
Gertrude: Woof.

Their glasses clink. Suds slop onto the table. Bjorn wipes the suds off the checkerboard as he pockets the bag of coin. Leif sets the checkers up fresh.

Miss Hortense comes over to fraternize with the checker players. She is the premiere fancy lady in this town.

Hortense: You boys look like you're done talking business.
Leif: Now we drink.
Hortense: How ya been Baron?
Baron: I've been better.
Hortense: You haven't visited me in a while.
Baron: That, Miss Hortense, is the least of my troubles.
Hortense: Touchy.
Bjorn: Come sit over here honey, the Baron doesn't need any more distractions.

Hortense pulls up a chair of her own and sits next to Gertrude who is rather fond of her. Hortense pets Gertrude.

Hortense: There's no good work in this town tonight. I'm drinkin with the boys.

Gertrude growls.

Hortense: Yes, you too Gertie.

The Valkyr boys go so far as to buy the Baron a couple drinks. They offer cigars. He declines in favor of his own fine cigars. Miss Hortense offers the Baron a match. She says she has enough matches to build a fire in his boots. She keeps Gertrude happy.

The Valkyr boys are brawny, bearded brigands. Men with eyes for meanness and money. Which makes it hard for them to convince themselves of the arts of farming. They see it as more tedious than being a librarian or a coal miner.

The Baron's driver is outside falling asleep in the carriage. Finally, the Baron tires of the Valkyr boys and the foamy beer. He succumbs to the overtures of Miss Hortense, exits and awakens the driver.

Hortense climbs into the carriage beside him. Immediately she works to make him forget the last few days and his hard times. By the time they roll past the last building in town she is the only thought possible for the Baron's tired mind.

The wheels on the carriage spin illusion as they turn through dusty ruts in the primitive road. The shades on the windows are not drawn. There is little defintion between objects and ideas in the dark.

Hortense sits close as she can to the Baron. She works on his worry. Her hand touches the rough stubble on his unkempt face as she whispers sweetness in his ear. It is hard to shave on a train. His eyes widen and clear as Hortense melts closer. His hands search taffeta and tulle for openings in Miss Hortense's moral fabric. He overcomes a variety of fastenings to touch the fancy lady's ivory skin.

Light begins its day's work and trees stand black against the brightening horizon.

They ride out of town to the acres and barbed wire fences of his sprawling estate. The caretaker has a goodly blaze in the master bedroom. All the guns in the place are cleaned, oiled and laid out on the dining room table.

When they get out of the carriage Hortense wears only the Baron's coat. The light is more than a hint. The coat hangs open as the Baron assists her dismounting the step from carriage to earth. She knows where to lead the Baron's mindless form. Up the fine staircase and down the hall to the towering oak doors of the master bedroom. Inside to the pillars called a four-poster canopy bed.