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

50. The Water of Change

The most people stood there with open mouths. While the chameleon sank to its knees and held his hand, a figure stood on a terrace. She had a rifle in her hands. With shock, she lowered the gun and looked at the others in amazement.
"MUM!"
Immediately, Stanley and Portley ran to their mother. She had come out from the coma.
Stump couldn't believe it and hugged her, too. "Darling! You're awake!"
Meggy was still a bit sleepy and looked at him in surprise. "What happened?"
"How does it come that you woke up?" Stump asked with tears in his eyes.
Meggy rubbed her head. "I don't know. I only know that I smelled water."
Her husband looked at her in surprise. "You just had to smell water?"
In the meantime, the townspeople had regained their composure and surrounded the reunited couple.
Rango, on the other hand, was still sitting on his knees and looking disgruntled at the floor.
"Knocked out twice by a woman," he muttered bitterly. "What a shame."
Suddenly boots appeared before him. He looked up and looked into Beans's angry face.
"Don't tell me you wanted to shoot," she snapped at him and put her hands on her hips.
"Hey, look! There are riders coming!" someone suddenly shouted and pointed to the entrance to the town.
"Oh, we're getting visitors," Mayor John announced. "Even very distinguished visitors."
In the distance, four roadrunners and horsemen came racing through town. Three of them wore black suits while the other wore a white one.
Jake narrowed his eyes. Then he was frightened.
"Oh no! All just not these!"
In despair, he tried to free his body from the heavy weight of the kettle, but the part was far too heavy.
Rango wanted to run away too, but Beans prevented him from leaving. "You stay here!"
"Who are these people?" Spoons asked.
John rubbed his chin. "They look to me as if they come from the judiciary."
The riders came closer. They stopped just short of the crowd. There were several sheriffs.
A plump coyote in a white suit looked around. Then his gaze fixed on Jake. He dismounted and walked over to him.
"Are you, Mr. Jake?" he asked.
The rattlesnake looked down, then he nodded. "Yes."
The coyote clapped his hands. "Well, finally! We have been looking for you for weeks."
Jake sighed deeply. "Yes, I know."
The coyote raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you know? Well, for two weeks we wanted to tell you..."
"... that I have to go to jail," the rattlesnake finished the sentence. "I know."
"No, we should tell you that you were pardoned two weeks ago."
Everyone raised their heads in amazement. Jake just looked at the coyote. "What?"
The coyote put a stick of liquorice in his mouth. "You heard that right. One of the arrested gang members made an extensive confession and confirmed that you had nothing to do with the raid on the ranch. In short, you are a free man. So, you can go where you want... or crawl, whatever."
He waved goodbye to Jake with his hand. "Have a nice day."
With that, he turned and left the confused rattlesnake alone. On the way he passed the chameleon and his gaze stayed on him, too.
"And who are you?" he asked inquiringly.
Rango looked around. "Um, nobody."
"So?" The coyote scratched his head. "And I thought you would remind me of someone."
But then he shook his head and walked away, looking around questioningly.
"Tell me, was there a fight here?" He asked the turtle in the wheelchair.
But John shook his head. "No," he replied and folded his hands with a smile. "We only changed the word to Saturday."
The sheriff in the white suit looked around in amazement. Then he shrugged. "These are rough manners. Must be the sun."
Mumbling, he went to his roadrunner and rode off with his companions.
Meggy, on the other hand, seemed to be the only one who didn't understand anything. "How did he mean that?"
"Oh, that's a very long story, honey," her husband replied. He still hadn't loosened his grip on her.
The other townspeople were talking wildly together.
"I always knew that there was nothing in the allegation," Gordy said and immediately received a swipe from Kinski. "Oh, really?"
John turned to him. "Oh, nice to see you safe and sound again."
The turtle looked around. "Where's Bill?"
Kinski frowned. "Where do you think?"
He nodded his head backwards, where the Gila lizard stood not far from them with Rice.
Immediately, John rolled over to him. "Bill! Nice to see you safe and sound, too."
Both lizards looked up. Rice smiled sheepishly. "Well, but I don't know what my father will say about it..."
"I already know!"
The next moment, Joel stepped onto the scene.
His daughter looked at him in surprise. "What have you done with your shoulder?"
"Well, who do you think was that? This devious green guy shot me straight off the roof!" He loaded his rifle. "Where is that guy?!"
"Father!" Beans emerged from the crowd. "Is everything okay with you...?"
"Where is that hillbilly?!" Joel snapped without asking about his daughter's well-being.
Beans looked around. "Uhm, he's... gone."
"What do you mean he's gone?"
Beans crossed her arms indifferently. "Well, he ran away."
"That's not important at the moment," John said. "The main thing is that everyone is well."
"All but one," Coral objected.
John looked at her in surprise. "How come? Oh, I see!"
Coral immediately slid back to Jake, who was still trapped. She lifted his upper body comfortingly. The great rattlesnake was still completely confused by the whole turn of events.
Fortunately, Kinski thought faster and raised his voice. "Hey, everyone lends a hand!"
Immediately, all the townspeople came running and together they helped to get the heavy kettle away from the snake.
Jake wrapped his body around the albino snake, pleased with the relief.
Coral was a bit surprised at first, but before she could say anything, the others interrupt again.
"You saved the town, Mr. Jake!" John announced. "That was more than a masterpiece. And a victory against two big clans."
"What do we do with the clans now?" Wounded Bird asked, who had appeared out of nowhere while his tribe was still guarding the clans in the pit.
"Yeah, what should be done with them?" John asked Jake.
Jake seemed to be surprised that the mayor asked him that of all people, but John insisted on his judgment. "You are the sheriff. So, what should we do with them?"
The rattlesnake frowned. Then his gaze shifted to Wounded Bird. "Do you have any use for workers?"

Joey and Danny weren't thrilled when they were fished out of the pit. All of the other townspeople had come to see what Jake's judgment would be.
"For your crimes that you have caused here," Jake said. "You will do social work. Free of charge, of course."
The two clan leaders raised in protest. "That's unfair!"
When Jake held his gun in front of them, they calmed down.
"The Jenkins family can make themselves useful in the Indian canyons," Jake continued.
"Hey!" Balthazar's voice cried. "Does anyone think of us, too?"
Without consideration, he thrashed his cane to make his way forward. His two sons Ezekiel and Jedidiah followed him, even the hawk strode after them with its head bowed.
"How is it that the hawk is still alive?" One of the people wanted to know.
Jake cleared his throat. "Well, due to the high alcohol influence, he had hardly felt the pulse, because I still felt it after the kettle hit him on the head. The hawk was just passed out."
Angry looks fell on the doctor.
"I hope you didn't bury anyone alive in our cemetery," one of them threw in the group.
"Doc!" Meggy shouted reprovingly. "Did you drink again?"
"As for you," Jake turned to Balthazar. "You said, you have a big family. A gang of seven rabbits could do something useful." His gaze wandered to Danny. "As a small compensation for your effort."
Pappy waved it off. "Oh no, it was fun. Right guys?"
His sons groaned and shook their heads.
Jake smiled contentedly. "Well, well. Then I'll leave the gang of rabbits to you. At least as soon as you have made good your damage."
The desert mole rat lifted his head in surprise. "What kind of damage?"