Blackjack

45

We left the hotel and walked for a half-block on the boardwalk before either of us said anything. Daphne spoke up first and asked about my work. She wanted to know about my lawman history, and about how I met and began working with Virgil and how we ended up in Appaloosa. I gave her a brief version, starting with my days at West Point, through fighting Indians, then becoming an itinerant lawmen and up to being current-day marshals.

“Dangerous,” she said.

“Can be.”

“But danger is your business,” she said.

“Not all of it,” I said. “But some.”

“I just can’t imagine.”

“It’s a profession.”

“Oh, it’s more than that,” she said. “Why, it’s upholding values of good versus evil and... protecting the innocent.”

“If you are making me out to be chivalrous,” I said, “you’re not going to get any argument out of me about that.”

“Obviously, though, from what you told me, with your history, you have...?”

“What?”

“Had to shoot people?”

“Some.”

“And obviously you must be good at your job?”

“Why’s that?”

“You’re alive.”

“Ha!” I said. “And glad of it.”

“And I imagine some of those you have shot have died?”

“Yes.”

“Besides the Indians, during the battles, you have killed others, too, I assume?”

“I have.”

She nodded as we strolled a little.

“Fascinating,” she said.

“You think?”

“I do,” she said, “and I’m sorry, I will say no more, other than it’s exciting.”

“What’s that?”

“You?”

“Me?”

She stopped walking.

“It excites me,” she said. “What you do.”

We were standing on the boardwalk in the dark, and she took a short step away from me and put her back to a post.

“Who you are... interests me.”

“You interest me, too,” I said.

“I’m glad,” she said.

“From the moment I saw you walking with your parasol.”

I moved closer to her. She pulled her shoulders back some, and the movement lifted her chest a little.

“Tell me about you,” I said.

“What would you like to know?”

“How come you are not a married woman?”

“Oh, I... I don’t hold as much stock in that notion as other women,” she said.

“Why?”

“I enjoy my independence, I guess.”

“So you have never been close to the altar?”

“Oh, well, I must admit there was one time, but... I don’t know. I just decided it was not the right thing... And you, what about you?”

I shook my head.

“Not me,” I said.

“And why not for you?”

“Guess my line of work has kept me from it, mostly.”

“Mostly?”

I nodded.

“It defines you,” she said. “Work. What we do.”

“I guess,” I said. “And how ’bout you. How does a beautiful woman like you become a mathematician?”

She laughed.

“I’m not a mathematician,” she said.

“You do multiplications and such, don’t you?” I said.

“I’m a bookkeeper,” she said.

“How long have you been working for Pritchard?”

“A long time now,” she said. “I started as an apprentice, then, after some time, one thing led to another and I got the job.”

I moved a bit closer to her.

“Go on,” I said.

“No,” she said. “You go on...”

“Me go on?”

She nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “Go on and kiss me.”