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

46. Back

It was quiet in the town hall. John was still sitting in his office in silence, slowly writing on a sheet of paper with an ink-dipped pen. Then he folded it together and put the note in an old envelope. No sooner had he done that, there was a tentative knock on the door.
John muttered a depressed "Come in" and Angelique pushed the door open.
"Can I do something for you?" the vixen asked.
John looked at her in silence for a few seconds, then he nodded. "Yes, there is something you can do."
He pulled a lever on his wheelchair and drove towards her. Angelique left the door and approached him. They met in the middle of the room.
Without further ado, John held the letter out to her. "Keep it on file, please."
The secretary took the letter from him and turned it over. But the envelope was blank, without a return address.
"Our city is in times of deepest unrest," the turtle said slowly. "Over the years, I have tried to make it a showpiece in this arid desert. But now I have to realize that it will only remain a dream."
The vixen looked at him pityingly. "Maybe one day it will come like this."
The mayor shook his head doubtfully. "What are we left with? We have no water anymore, no sheriff, no freedom..."
Dejected, John steered the wheelchair back to the desk. "Everything that you fought for your whole life was in vain."
He reached into a shelf where he picked up a photo which showed himself, his wife, and Bill.
"There were great moments in my life. And that was about it."
He looked thoughtfully at the photo. Angelique joined him and put a hand on his shoulder. "But you and your wife did a good job for your adopted son and he still does it to this day."
John sighed heavily. "He's a good boy, I know. But is he just as good at controlling a city? He's depressed because he hasn't found a woman to start a family yet." He turned his head to her. "Angelique? Couldn't you...?"
He looked at her pleadingly. Angelique looked at him in silence. Then she smiled and shook her head.
"No, I'm sorry. We don't fit together. You know me."
"Unfortunately," John muttered sadly, putting the photo back in its place.
"I'm going to take a long walk now," he said, and headed for the exit in the wheelchair. "Should anything ever happen, open the letter. Otherwise not."
The vixen looked after him in surprise. Then her gaze wandered back to the letter.

A strong wind was blowing over the dry Mojave Desert. The sun was high, but it was far from noon. The Jenkins brothers' construction site was totally quiet. Nobody shoved earth or swung a shovel. All the workers were locked in an old shed. Jake peeked cautiously around the corner. There was also an old, derelict, large house next to the old shed. The snake slid across the hot sand in a crouched position. No sooner had he reached the hut, he pressed himself against it with his long body and looked for a gap in the wooden wall. When she finally found one, he peered through it.
There was enough light in the house to see what was going on.
As he suspected, two of the Jenkins relatives were in there. A big figure was chained to the wall. The rattlesnake narrowed its eyes suspiciously when he recognized Coral there. Her hat and the rest of her cloth items had been taken from her.
"Well, tell me," one of the big rodents urged, brandishing his whip. "Where is your little friend?"
The female albino rattlesnake hung on the wall, eyes down. She looked exhausted.
"I don't know," she gasped.
The Jenkins rodent hit her in the face. "Always the wrong answer, lady," he growled. "It's about time for you to take out your teeth and spoke more clearly."
Coral began to tremble. "I really don't know!"
The whip-carrier became more and more aggressive and turned to his thinner brother. "Jimmy! Come with the razor. Looks like we have to polish her scales."
Coral's eyes widened with horror when the other rodent pulled out a long knife and came up to her. The snake woman struggled in the chains.
"No! No, please don't!"
But the two Jenkins brothers just laughed and came menacingly closer. Coral whimpered when the knife almost touched her skin. But before it cut her, the two rodents were knocked down with two blows from something very heavy.
The rattlesnake watched excitedly as its tormentors passed out on the ground. She didn't notice the large shadow until later, when it rose in front of her.
"Jake!"
The rattlesnake, with the black hat and the weapon with which he had incapacitated the rodents, swayed its head.
"Sorry for the delay," he apologized. "But I first had to realize something myself to understand that it was a mistake to let you down."
He wrapped his strong body around the ropes and chains that held the albino snake and yanked it from its anchorages. Overjoyed, the woman wrapped her body around his neck.
"You came back!"
Before Jake could react, she pressed her mouth to his. The rattlesnake didn't know what was happening to it, but he didn't resist. Jake might have enjoyed it even longer if someone hadn't played a slowly romantic melody behind him at that moment. He broke the kiss.
Not far away stood the mariachi owls and gave their concert about the erotic moment.
Jake's mouth stayed open. "How...? What...? What are you doing here again?"
Señor Flan shrugged his wing axles. "Oh, we are everywhere and nowhere. We flutter to where the muse leads us."
Chico blew his trumpet enthusiastically.
Coral giggled. Jake looked at her in amazement when he noticed her flushed cheeks.
Finally, he cleared his throat. "All right." And headed for the door.
"What are you going to do now?" Coral asked and crept after him.
"I have a plan," Jake explained to her outside. "But I need a lot of help for that."
"What about my tribe?" Coral asked, pointing with her head to the old shed.

Fortunately, there were none of the relatives on the property, except for the two Jenkins brothers. Breaking the lock on the shed was also a breeze for Jake. He just had to shoot it up.
Then they freed the Indians and locked the two knocked out brothers instead.
After the work was done, Wounded Bird thanked him for their release and offered his help, which Jake only partially accepted.
"Thank you for your offer. But in this case, I will have to get support from someone else, too."
Coral looked at him curiously. "And with whom should that be?"

"Am I dreaming or am I hallucinating?" Balthazar lifted his nose higher in the air and giggled. "If that isn't the crawling poison fang sheriff."
Jake let out a loud hiss. The sons Jedidiah and Ezekiel huddled anxiously against their father. The great rattlesnake had appeared out of nowhere and was not looking down at them with a hostile face. Jake had found the merchant's trail that had led him to an ancient stone ruin in the desert. Coral stood nearby and watched the merchant rearing up in front of the rattlesnake with his arms crossed.
"What do you want, Sheriff?" The old man asked without taking a step back.
"You know exactly why I'm here," the rattlesnake hissed. "Where did you hide the water?"
The merchant twisted his mouth in mockery. "Which water?"
"What you stole from the bank."
"Stolen? Me?" Balthazar made a mock, startled gesture. "Why should I steal something? Do I look like a thief? I'm a businessman, not a bank robber."
Jake licked his tongue threateningly. "It is here. It was immediately clear to me when I smelled your tracks at the crime scene."
"Snakes shouldn't stick their tongues in anywhere, otherwise they could lose it," Balthazar said acidly. Then the desert mole rat puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "It's also a serious allegation - without any evidence."
Jake narrowed his eyes. Then he simply rushed past the old man towards one of the stone houses.
"Hey!" Balthazar cried after him. "This is private property!"
He immediately tried to catch up with the rattlesnake. The snake had stopped in front of a stone house and tore a curtain aside, which hid the interior.
The water tank with the water was actually there. And next to it... or above it...
"Sheriff!" Mr. Merrimack cried, beside himself with joy. The banker was hanging from a beam with his trousers. "Thank God. You came to save me!"
"How dare you?!" the merchant swore, but stopped abruptly when a loud click of a rattlesnake weapon reached his ears.
"Isn't that what you call "evidence"?" Jake growled darkly.
Jedidiah and Ezekiel, who had followed them, frowned. "Uh, maybe..."
And immediately they received a slap in their faces from Pappy's cane. "Shut up! - Okay, okay," the blind man admitted. "Old Joel made me an offer. So what? What of it?"
The loaded weapon came closer. "I would say, in addition to theft, there is also kidnapping."
The rattlesnake nodded at the squirrel still hanging from the ceiling.
"So?" Balthazar said with disinterest. "And what do you want to do now?"
"Usually something like that leads to a prison sentence," Jake explained to him.
The desert mole rat grinned. "Do you really think so, Sheriff?"
Suddenly the earth began to tremble around them. But it wasn't an earthquake. The ground loosened and a flock of prairie dogs came out, circling the rattlesnake with their loaded weapons. Coral ducked her head. There were definitely more than 100.
Balthazar grinned triumphantly. "Looks like we're gonna have ourselves a good old-fashioned standoff. - And the water stays here!"
At first there was silence. But then the rattlesnake lowered its weapon and slowly crawled past Balthazar. But then he turned around again at lightning speed and shot at the water tank. The water splashed out of the holes in the plastic and seeped into the dust-dry ground.
Mr. Merrimack clapped his hands over his head at the sight. "Oh no! That was the last water!"
"Are you insane?!" Balthazar yelled in horror.
Jake, on the other hand, showed no remorse for this act. "How so? You wanted the water to stay here. Well, now it can do."
The prairie dogs were advancing ominously. Even Balthazar raised his cane angrily. "What do you think is more difficult than taking care of a family of over 200?"
Jake curled up and lifted his head. "For this reason, I have a job for you."
Balthazar thought he wasn't hearing right and lifted his hand. "Wait! - What do I have to hear? A job?"
"You once said you could tame any animal, didn't you?" Jake asked.
"Of course I can," the merchant insisted sullenly.
The rattlesnake bowed its head. "Well, we could bypass the whole criminal case if you do a job for it."
The desert mole rat crossed his arms. "And why should I do that, Sheriff?"
"Because I know where the water is. I can bring it back then. Including for you, too."
The old man rubbed his chin. Then he turned to the others. "Family meeting!"
With that, most of the prairie dogs put their heads together. Coral crawled next to Jake and watched the strange family conversation, where Ezekiel received another blow on the head.
Finally, they all parted again and Balthazar stood in the foreground. "Mm, sounds interesting... tell me, Sheriff. What kind of job is that?"
Jake raised his eyebrows. "I have one more question."
"And what would it be?"
"How fast can you dig?"