RANGO // OӘͶAЯ - Another Outlaw Story [Engl.]

13. Hope

It was getting dark. The sun dove everything in red light. It shined into the houses and also through the door window of the town hall.
In the Mayor's office, it was quiet, but not empty.
Two figures sat at the desk deep in thoughts.
On the table lay a checkerboard.
Mayor John rubbed his hand thoughtfully, while Bill was watching him a little bored and sighed deeply. The turtle had been thinking more than five minutes.
"A lot happened today," the turtle muttered.
Bill sighed again and tapped with his fingers on the table.
"Indeed," he admitted. "I'm glad that nothing happened more."
Silence fell again.
"What do you think about Amos?" Bill asked.
"I think we should give him a simple grave."
"That's not what I meant. I mean, what should we do now without a sheriff in town?"
Mayor John sighed. "I don't know, William." He sighed again and tapped lost in thoughts with his long nail against a chess piece. "I really don't know."
One minute passed until the Mayor broke the silence again. "The situation is bad, and I'm not young anymore. I don't know how much time I will live on this earth, but just in case, if I'm not here anymore... I don't know what will happen with the town which is my everything... beside my wife."
His glance wandered to an old picture on the wall, where he and his wife were.
Bill sighed. "She was a good woman. We all loved her."
"Indeed. Especially for you. She said, that you were for her like a son."
The Gila monster lowered his glance. "I know."
"We need someone who could give us a little hope. Just a little hope. Hope..."
Bill looked at the old turtle with thoughtful eyes who muttered again and again the single word.
"Hope."
They winced when there was a knocking sound at the door. Somebody opened it and the young female fox put her head into the room.
"Excuse me, Mayor John. There is a rattlesnake. His name is Jake."
"Let him come in, Angelique!" Mayor John said and left the table with his wheelchair.
The vixen disappeared and it wasn't long and the rattlesnake slithered in.
"Sorry for my entering," he apologized.
"It's okay, Mr. Jake. It's okay," Mayor John said quickly and rolled closer with his wheelchair. "I'm glad to see you."
Jake narrowed his eyes. Again something which was new for him, that someone let welcome a snake.
"Can I talk to you in private?"
"Of course, you can. William? Would you excuse us?"
Bill sighed and nodded. "Alright."
The Gila monster left his place and went to the door.
Jake watched him with his colorful eyes.
When Bill had almost passed the door, he stopped.
"Uh... thanks."
Jake raised his eyebrows. "For what?"
"For today."
"Uh... you're welcome."
He tipped his hat respectfully before Bill left the room. When the door had closed, there was a silence in the room.
Jake looked at the turtle, who made a friendly gesture.
"Don't worry. Come closer."
He slithered over the carpet, which tickled under his ventral scales. While he was crawling, his glance wandered through the room. The walls had filled with shelves of books. At the end of the room was a big desk with colorful window glasses behind. His glance stuck on something on the inlying windowsill. An aquarium stood there. But without water, just sand.
Mayor John followed his eyes. "You discovered this."
"No, I just took a look at it."
"But you didn't see it."
"Yes, I saw it."
"But not him."
"Who?"
Mayor John rolled over to the little aqua tank and tapped on the glass wall.
The sand began to move on a point and something dark, long crawled out.
Mayor John smiled.
"Never seen, did you? That's an African lungfish. Did you know that he can survive in dry mud for years? In his home country, he burrows himself while dry season until the rain comes."
Jake shook his head thoughtfully. "No, I never heard about that."
Mayor John reached his hands inside and the fish crawl on his big hand.
"Our motto is to survive as well as we can do," Mayor John continued. "That's the cruel law of the desert. Without water, there is no life."
"You are very philosophic, aren't you?"
"Well, Mr. Jake. If you are so old like me, you have to think a lot in your life and time to think about things."
"Indeed."
The turtle put the lungfish on the desk. The fish didn't move away and seemed to wait for something. He braced on his first fins and looked up. Mayor John meanwhile had taken a glass with little water. With a pipet, he dropped a drop of water into the open fish mouth. With a soft plop, a second drop trickled on the head of the little fish.
"That's good for you, August, isn't it?"
The fish opened his mouth for more water.
"Alright. Just one drop more. But that will be enough." His glance wandered back at Jake. "Do you see, how he is thirsty for life?"
Jake didn't speak, he only watched how the third water drop disappeared. Thereby his eyes met a familiar object on the desk.
Mayor John saw it and looked at the sheriff's badge.
"We will bury him tomorrow," Mayor John answered Jake's silent question. Sadness lay in his voice. "He was a good man, despite his nasty character."
But then he attempted at a faint smile. "But thanks for your help. Now our town is a little bit more saver, but also... well."
"Sorry about that."
"No, no. You did what you had to do. It was self-defense. I respect your courage."
"It was a given."
"Fighting against a hawk? I don't think so."
With that, Mayor John put the glass of water away. He took the fish in his hand and transported him back into the waterless aquarium, where he dug in again. Then he rolled his wheelchair around and paid his attention at the big snake.
"Well, what's your wish?" the mayor asked.
"I came from Stump's farm."
Mayor John raised an eyebrow. "Did something bad happen?"
"The Jenkins Brothers attacked them."
"Are they okay?"
"All, excepting his wife."
"How is she?"
"We still don't know. We brought her to town. She's still in Doc's house. We have no knowledge, whether she will pull through or not."
Mayor John sighed and lowered his glance.
"She came to me to talk about her home. She asked me for a credit or a way to get water for their ranch. But my recourses are restricted. I had to make her clear, that I can't give her anything of our reserves."
Jake narrowed his eyes. "I know. Her husband told me. And for this reason..."
Mayor John raised his eyebrows. "Yes, Mr. Jake?"
"I thought to stay here a little time longer."
A smile played the turtles lips. "I'm glad to hear that. Where do you want to sleep?"
Jake was glad that Mayor John didn't ask more questions.
"Or do you already have a place to stay?"
"I didn't think about it yet."
"Well, in this case, you can take our former parlor. We invited people there for sociable meetings in the past. But we didn't have guests so long time."
"It will be big enough for me."
"Now, William, can show you."
With these words, Mayor John rolled to the door and opened it.
Bill sat on a wooden bench in the corridor and had leaned the back of his head on his hands.
He lifted his head when he saw Mayor John came out of the Mayor's office.
"William. You eavesdropped," Mayor John said reproachfully.
"Uh, I was just waiting."
"Don't be too nosy. It was close enough today, don't forget about what happened this morning."
Bill ducked his head and looked at the floor guiltily.
"Now, be a good boy and show Mr. Jake the parlor. He will take up residence for a while."
"Alright," Bill said and stood up. "Follow me, Mister."

The parlor, or the lounge, lay on the first floor of the town hall and stood next to a conference room.
On their way, Jake watched the Gila lizard thoughtfully. He seemed to be over 30 years. Maybe older. Also the familiarity between him and Mayor John hadn't escaped his notice.
"Are you living here, too?" he asked.
Bill looked at him. "Yes. My room is in the attic floor. Mayor John's wife allowed me to stay there since I was a child."
Jake crawled a little slower. "Is she still alive?"
Bill stopped and sighed. "No, she died two years ago."
Jake nodded sadly. "I'm sorry."
"Well, she lived a good life. John was in love with her until her dying day. She was a good woman. So, here we are."
Bill opened two big doors and they entered a room with white towels covered furniture.
"Just to avoid that dust settles down," Bill explained and pushed away some towels.
At the end of the room stood a big couch.
"Well, it's not a real bed, but with some mattresses..."
"It will be enough," Jake said. "Now excuse me. Before I go to sleep, I wanted to go to Doc's house."
"As you wish," Bill said and followed him.

Jake crawled outside. Doc's house didn't lay far away. When he almost reached it, he saw Stump in front of it and walked up and down very nervously.
"Anything?" Jake asked.
First Stump didn't recognize him, but then he looked up. "Uh... still nothing."
"Why are you standing here outside?"
"I couldn't stand it any longer in the house."
Chorizo sat on the sidewalk with Stanley and Portley.
"Will mum come back?" Stanley asked.
"Of course, she will," Chorizo said with a track of worries. "Won't she?"
"We have to wait," Stump warded off.
"Hey, Stumpy."
Stump paused for a moment. "Oh, hi, Bill."
"I have heard about what happened. I'm sorry."
"Thanks dude."
They embraced and gave backslapping each other. They seemed to know each other a long time, Jake thought.
He lifted his head when he was seeing Kinski. The rabbit was all out of breath.
"S-stump," he panted. "I was on my evening walk, until I heard from riding angry rodents about a crazy rattlesnake in your area."
"The Jenkins Brothers damaged our ranch," Stump explained. "And Meggy... I don't know."
He threw his hands up in despair.
"What happened to her?"
"We don't know. Damn! We don't know. There was an explosion in the house, and she was lying in the ruins..."
In this second, Doc opened the door of his house.
All faces looked at him, but there was no smile on Doc's lips.


Well, I had to think about a picture with Mayor John in the book "The Ballad of Rango" page 55 (see picture above), where he feeds a fish with a water pipet. I thought the African Lungfish could be a nice example.