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

37. Couples

"Priscilla?"
Coral looked in every room, but she couldn't find her. The aye-aye girl wasn't on the first floor of the town hall building. Now she crawled upstairs and came to a long corridor. The albino rattlesnake stopped when she heard and felt a familiar voice and steps.
She moved faster and reached a big door. Hesitantly, she leaned her head on the wood and listened. Indeed, it was her voice and another older one which she had heard last night, too.
She raised her rattle tail and knocked at the door.
"Com'in," the older voice said.
The snake opened the door and stuck her head through it. In a big office room stood a turtle in a wheelchair with a mouse looking girl who held something in her arms.
"Hey Coral!"
Priscilla ran to her and lifted the strange thing in her hands.
"This is August, he can survive without water for many, many months. Did you know that?"
"Greetings Miss," Mayor John said and lifted his hat.
Coral nodded back.
"That's very nice," she said to Priscilla. "Uhm, but could you put him back and come with me. The two ladies said, they have something for you."
"Does it have to be now?" the girl asked with disappointment.
"Maybe you can play later with it again, can't you?"
She gave Mayor John a questioning look.
"Of course you can," he said. "I'm glad about every visitor."
"You heard it," she said and waved her head. "Let's go."
Priscilla sighed, but she went over to Mayor John and put the fish on his lap. They took leave of the Mayor and left the room.

"Come on," Kinski said and held the glass in front of Bill's nose. "Just one. You still didn't drink a single glass."
The Gila monster sighed deeply.
"Alright. Just one."
Buford, who was still cleaning a glass watched them silently. "Did you have an off-day?"
Kinski gave him a warning wave with his hand, but Bill moved his lips for this question.
"More than off and down."
"Oh, c'mon!" Kinski said and gave the lizard a kick. "Where is the old Bill who I know from past days? I want to see him again."
"Time changes a lot," Bill said and touched over the counter with his long lizard nails.
"Maybe we should do a little tour through the North Mountains," Kinski suggested.
"You only want that I find another one."
The rabbit raised his hands to the sky. "Damn, what do you want to do instead?"
At that moment, the folding doors were opened and a familiar snake looked inside.
"Morning, Mr. Jake," Buford greeted. "A drink?"
Jake shook his head. "No thanks. Bill, there is someone who wants to talk with you."
Bill gave him a tired look. "Can't it wait until tomorrow? I'm not in the mood to speak with anyone."
"It's someone who you want to talk. Come on."
Without waiting, he grabbed the lizard and pulled it with him. Kinski and Chorizo exchanged glances.

"Where do you bring me?" Bill asked a little angry. "Is it really so important?"
"Wait and see," Jake answered and stopped near the store where he put down the lizard on the floor.
"Say, where did you meet her the last time?"
Bill thought he must be hearing things.
"Is that the reason why you dragged me here?"
"Just answer. Where?"
The Gila monster sighed loudly, but he moved ahead and walked to a side street next to the general store.
"It was here," Bill said and pointed ahead. "Right here..."
The final breath stuck in his throat. A shadow stood in the alley, turned its back on him, but her long hair tail was visible.
Jake said nothing, he just looked at the stoned lizard in front of him.
Suddenly a woman's voice said: "I was gone so long that I forgot so many things."
She looked behind at his direction. The female lizard had a sad track on her face. Everything was so strange and still familiar. In the past, she had looked for him in the alley, now she was standing in the shadow of the little street.
"Uhm, I think," she turned around and walked to him. "I think that's yours."
She handed the old empty candy paper.
Bill still didn't know what to say. Did he think that it wasn't real? Like paralyzed, he reached out his arms for the paper, but it was like automatically. He didn't realize his environment.
She lowered her hand, but before the paper touched his palm, the Gila lizard jumped ahead and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"Mmh, you are squeezing me," she hissed.
Terrified Bill loosened his grip. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, I only wanted to know whether you aren't a Fata Morgana."
"Do I look like?" she asked.
"No," he breathed. Then he leaned his head closer on her neck.
She cleaned her throat warningly. "That's close enough."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Bill stuttered.
In the next moment he relaxed his grasp and moved two steps away.
She winced when she saw tears in his eyes.
"Is anything wrong?" she asked worriedly.
Bill bent his arms closer to his body, biting his under lip. "No, it's... it's just..."
He couldn't hold it any longer. "I thought I would never see you again!"
With that, he covered his face with his hands.
For a moment she didn't know what to say. "Uh, and you had planned to come to me again?"
He moved his hands a little more away. "That was my plan."
"Even if my father wants to shoot you?"
He removed his hands completely; his dried tears were still visible. "I would have been careful."
She eyed him interrogatively.
"We know each other just a few hours in these years. What motivates you to do such things?"
"You are a great woman."
"How can you know that?"
He groped for an answer. "Be-because you are. You have that aura."
She crossed her arms skeptically. "Did you read that somewhere?"
"Maybe, but I can't explain it better."
She furrowed her brows and petted her chin.
Did he really mean it?
'This kind of love is an illusion, ' her sister had said.
Was that an illusion?
She dropped her gaze. Bill tried to follow her eyes, but she didn't allow.
"How long did you wait for me?" she asked.
Bill made one step forward. "Until today."
Suddenly she turned her back on him, staring at the ground.
For a while nobody said one word.
"I... I don't know what I should think." She rubbed her temples.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked carefully.
She turned back. "That I know nothing. That's all too much! I need time to think about it."
Bill moved his head to the side. "What's your plan?"
"I don't know." She crossed her arms again and watched him unsurely. "I don't know you, but..."
"But what?" The Gila monster was like on dynamite.
"But, maybe, we could, maybe, just maybe, we could get acquainted." She put her hands together and looked a little shyly. "Maybe."
"This would be...!"
"But maybe not, too," she interrupted his joy. "Father will disagree."
She winced when he wrapped his hands around hers.
"If so, let's start now."
"Now? With what?" She blushed. Never a man had done something like that with her.
"Acquainting."
"How?"
"Good question."
She thought one second. "Uhm, could you..." She hesitated to ask that question. "Maybe you could tell me your name. You already know my name."
"My name? Uh, William,... but you can call me... Bill."
She gave him a crooked smile. "Alright, Bill."
The Gila monster gasped with joy. She said his name!
But then she rubbed her sleeves of her blouse. "Uhm, and about what do you want to talk with me?"
"Well, what's your favorite color?"
"Uh." She blushed again. "Never somebody had asked me that, but if you want to know..."
"Sheriff?"
The rattlesnake, who had watched the lizards from the distance, turned around. First, he saw two saloon ladies.
"What do you think about it? Or more about her?" Fresca asked and both walked a few steps aside.
The lowered albino rattlesnake lifted his upper body slowly and shyly.
Jake's eyes became a little bigger. For the first time he saw her in the sunlight.
She wore a brown cowgirl hat with light brown line, a light blue scarf around her neck, which was held together with a flower brooch.
"And this was my idea," Melonee said and pointed at the rattlesnake tail where a little necklet wrapped her horn rings.
"And the perfume is from me," Fresca added.
The saloon ladies watched the silent rattlesnake. He needed more than a few seconds until he cleaned his throat. "It looks nice.... Eh."
"That's all?" Melonee and Fresca thought at the same time.
But it was enough for Coral to make her blush and leaned her head on a body part. "Maybe too many things."
"Nice answer," Fresca thought sarcastically, but Melonee took her aside.
"I think we let you alone now."
With that, they left them and both rattlesnakes stayed there and looked at each other.
"Uhm."
"Ehm."
"You're..."
"Thanks."
"I mean... you're welcome."
She gave him a smile. He forced a smile back. He lowered his face and called back his pride.
He was ready to take a new breath for a new sentence when loud voices paid his attention.
"Do I see right, or is that... is that you?"
He turned around.
Melonee and Fresca had stopped and looked at the alley of the store.
Rice and Bill were still standing on the small street. When the female lizard saw them, she was going to run away, but Bill grabbed her arm.
"No, not again," the Gila monster pleaded.
Rice pulled. "I mustn't be here."
"They will not bite you."
"Oh, yes. She is."
The two saloon ladies came closer. Rice's pulls were weaker, but her urge to escape was still there.
In the next second the women stood next to her and touched her arms.
"Oh dear! So long time ago!" Fresca said. "She looks like her mother."
"You grew big," Melonee added. "How is it possible to see you here?"
"Is your sister here, too? Is she still alive?"
"What is your father doing?"
"Please," Bill interrupted. "Let her."
"I-I came just to see... to take a look in the town," Rice stuttered.
She couldn't explain it. Usually she was a girl with fire, but now she felt like a lost little child in a big mall.
The two ladies exchanged glances. Then they looked at Bill.
"Oooh," they murmured finally. "Double couples today."
Now it was Bill who became a little redder in his face.
"Would you excuse us?"
With that, he pulled Rice forward and pushed her to the street.
But shortly after they had reached the roadside other voices met their ears.
"Bill? What are you doing?"
Both lizards winced when they looked into the two faces of Kinski and Chorizo.
"Didn't I have you seen on my father's land, too?" Rice asked.
"No, you didn't," Bill said quickly, who thought it could be too much for her.
"Who's that?" Jake heard Coral's question.
"Long story," the rattlesnake answered.
At the next moment Miss Oats came along the street.
"What's going on here? Is that..."
"It's Joel's daughter," Fresca said.
"What? Elgin!"
The desert cat ran to her. "What's going on?"
"It's Joel's daughter."
More and more people came together and surrounded them. Rice became smaller and smaller inside. Never she had seen so many people and assailed her with questions.
"No, I... I have to go."
With fast steps she ran through the crowd and crossed the street, while the city people remained behind with unanswered questions. A hard discussion murmured through them.
Bill followed her quickly.
"Where are you going?"
"I have been here for too long. I have to go back home. Or more, I have to ride back home."
"Can't you stay just a little longer?"
She wanted to ward off his question, but suddenly she stopped and stared at the building next to them. Bill followed her glance and knew what she was thinking.
The lizard girl put together her hands and looked up at the metal building.
"Nothing had changed after all."
She walked a little closer to the bank. It was like a walk in the past.
Bill took off his hat. "I remember the day. I'm sorry for this."
"Me, too," she muttered. "Especially for my sister. It had been a shock for her. It's still always present for her. After that, she never wanted to see a gun anymore. Just father and me are using weapons."
She interrupted herself. She didn't want to talk about that anymore.
"Can I take a look inside?" she asked.
"Oh, of course..." Bill was going to knock, but he hesitated. "Are you sure?"
She nodded.
First Bill knocked and wanted to open the door after that, but it had blocked.
After two seconds a key was turned around in the door and Mr. Parsons came out.
"What can I do for you?" he asked politely.
"Uhm, we want to go in the bank," Bill explained, but the bank assistant shook his head.
"I'm sorry. Mr. Merrimack is controlling the accounting. Nobody should disturb him now."
"In the opening time?" Rice asked with surprise. "It's no lunchtime."
"What opening time?" Mr. Parsons asked back. "The bank is almost empty. Finance work is impossible at the moment. We have to collect the last resources until it could be..." He didn't finish the sentence and waved it with his hand away. "Future will show. Means, if we have a future somehow."
With that, he left them and walked down the street.
"Is it really so bad?" she asked.
Bill kneaded his hat. "No water no future, say the most people."
They didn't know that Jake was in their near and tried to hear every word. He forgot Coral completely, who stood a few meters away and watched him. She wasn't angry with him. His glance was concentrated. What did he want to know from the lizard? Did it have something to do with the drought?
"I'm afraid, we will not survive without water," Bill continued.
"OH," she put her hands over her cheeks. "I'm so sorry for this. I just thought father would..."
She bit her under lip.
"What would your father?"
She avoided his glance. "No, it's not what you think."
She stroked over her hair. "It's just something... it's too complicated."
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Both winced with shock after that angry, loud voice.
Not far away stood a figure on the street. In his hands a long gun.
Rice grew pale. "Father."