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

23. Water Means Hope

Meanwhile, the storm had become stronger. With narrowed eyes the group covered their mouths. Sand whirled around them and blocked the view.
Suddenly a stronger squall blew over them.
"Hey, my hat!"
As fast as he could Bill ran after his hat and grabbed it in the last second before it disappeared nowhere.
About Stump's mouth played a little smile. His friends had persuaded him to come with them to the saloon. But he wanted to look after his kids anyway.
With last forces the rattlesnake, the two rabbits, the Gila monster and the mouse entered the saloon.
"Oh, just in time," Buford received them who stood next to the door. In his hands he held a big wooden panel. "I was going to lock the entrance."
"Where are the kids?" Stump asked.
Buford pointed at a corner.
"Over..."
"DAD!"
Stanley and Portley ran at their father and wrapped their arms around his waist.
Jake's glance wandered at the counter.
"Oh, Mr. Jake," the Mayor greeted.
The rattlesnake nodded respectfully.
The mayor nodded back. "Windy day outside, isn't it?"
He took a glass. "Do you need a drink?"
"That's why we are here."
Kinski passed the mayor and knocked on the counter.
"Come soon," Buford said. With effort the toad managed to fix the wooden board on the leaf door, so that the entrance had obstructed and protected against the storm.
After that the barkeeper rubbed his hands and walked back behind the counter.
"What would you like, gentlemen?"
"Five glasses of cactus juice," Kinski ordered and put his hat on the table.
Jake placed himself beside the mayor. He looked up when the wind blew hard around the house with loud sound.
"That's normal," Buford calmed him.
Jake nodded. Then he side-eyed the mayor and noticed how he scratched his nails along his glass.
Mayor John realized his glance and looked at him.
"So, what makes your investigations?" he asked with a smile, but it was a played smile.
The rattlesnake narrowed his eyes. "How do you know?"
"I watched you and no one goes to Joel without good reason."
Jake got sidetracked and looked over at Mr. Merrimack who sat at a table and held with trembling hands a filled glass. The fluid swashed on the table. He was still a nervous wreck.
"Sheriff?!"
Jake winced when Mrs. Daisy ran up to him. "What happened?!"
"What do you mean, madam?"
"Mr. Merrimack said, the bandits had stolen some water!" Mrs. Oats cried.
"One daily ration," Mr. Merrimack muttered from his corner.
"Indeed, they did..."
"If the bank is already empty, we're dead!" Mrs. Daisy cried and put her hands over her head.
"Don't worry. He will bring back the water," Bill said. "We have already a hot scent."
Jake winced and gave him an angry look.
"What kind of hot trace?" Jake hissed at him.
"We almost have a hot trace," Bill whispered back. "Let's cozy them along."
"What is it now?"
All people had craned their necks and looked at them with nosy eyes.
"We are working on it," Jake tried to explain.
"Do you know where the water is?"
"He knows it?"
"What is he talking about?"
At this moment a loud clanging sound splintered through a window. The wind had smashed an object against it. All people jerked. Buford jumped behind the counter and ran at the window.
"I'll fix it!"
As fast as he could, he took some other little wood beams and stuck them over the broken window glass.

In the meantime, a high wind blew over the landscape. The view became more difficult because of so much sand. The streets were empty. All people stayed in their houses or in the saloon. The cemetery lay lonely between the hills. The flower of Mayor John on his wife's grave swayed in the wind and the next wind gust took it away. The flower flew over the ground to the big faucet until it touched a shoe of a mummed person who trapped it with his feet. The dark person eyed the dried flower. He kneeled down and took it. After a while he let it fly and the wind carried it away. The figure reached out his hand and touched with his fingers the ground where he found old snake scales. He picked it up and rubbed it between his fingertips.
"Hm. Interesting."
His moveable eyes looked ahead where the town became visible. He narrowed his eyes and stood up. As solid as a rock he stayed in the hard wind. His face had wrapped of a scarf which protected his mouth against the grinding sand. He wore a flat cowboy hat and a cape, which fluttered in the wind.

Doc yawned loudly and was going to shut the curtains of the sickroom. Suddenly he paused for a moment. Somebody was walking down the streets with slow steps. Doc narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't see more details, just a dark silhouette. And a few steps more, the strange figure had disappeared out of his sight.

"Well done." Buford spitted into his hands and left the fixed window. "That's normal."
The city people sighed with relief, but shortly after they continued their discussion.
"But what will be if they steal the whole water one day?" somebody asked.
"Without water we have no hope for a good future."
"It's not happened yet," Jake said. "We still have water."
"But how long?"
"There is no use in panicking as long as we have water. I know you have a water problem. But be sure I will do everything to protect the last water."
"Sheriff Jake is right," Mayor John said. "As long as we have the water, we have hope."
"Hope?"
Gordy sat in a corner like always with a whiskey bottle in his hand and chuckled.
"Hope is relative. It should be more a hope for us being dead before the clans will cut through our throats. They will make war about the last water. We have already seen it today."
Kinski bashed with his fist on the table. "Just because he was out of town for a brief moment! Don't fill our ears with your braindead claptrap."
He stopped when Jake took him aside with his gun. "You can be sure I will stay in town. I've some good helpers with me."
Bill rubbed his head nervously when Jake's eyes fell on him. "Uhm, yes."
But Gordy was unimpressed. He swung his hand in the air. "Listen, people. I've got a vision."
The most people rolled their eyes. It would be the first time that Gordy's "visions" would come true.
"And I prophesy you, the calamity will go through this door every moment..."
Suddenly the door flew up, the wooden board crashed into the inner house wall. All people winced. Hot sand blew them into their faces. Bill held the hands over his eyes, and the rattlesnake blinked heavily until he opened his eyes longer. A shadow stood behind the swing doors.