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

52. Epilog

The sun was already leaning towards the horizon. Nevertheless, there was still a lot of activity in the town. Or more precisely, next to the town. Thanks to the large amount of water that had shot out of the pipes, a large lake had built up next to the town over time. The animals tried every water sport or lay relaxed on the beach.
A little further away from the lake, Bill and the mayor stood and let the balls roll across the floor into the holes. While it was Bill's turn, John pulled out an old photo of him and his wife playing golf.
"Well, Margaret and I spent a lot of time playing golf," John muttered to himself.
At that moment, another voice piped up. "Not bad," Rice said approvingly. She looked pretty nice in golf pants, which Bill would never have admitted to in front of other people. But you could see it without words. With a smile, John watched as the two discussed how best to hold the golf club.
But when it got a bit too dark, golf was interrupted for the day and they went back to town.
Rice and Bill walked arm in arm, and John rolled after them frugally in his wheelchair. But before they turned into the town hall, John steered his wheelchair forward again.
"I'll visit Margaret's grave again," he said as he rolled by.
"Okay," Bill replied, dragging Rice into the town hall.
The street had become quiet, which surprised the turtle a little. Usually, you had a beach party or a drink in the saloon, but it was noticeably empty. But he thought nothing of it. It had been very hot again today and maybe the people were just tired from the summer heat.
When he finally arrived to Margaret's grave, he took a flower out of his pocket and placed it in front of the tombstone. This time it wasn't dry.
The mayor sighed. "Oh, Margaret, if you could see your garden today. It's blooming very nicely again."
The grave was silent, but somehow the presence of her coffin gave him some closeness to her.

It was already very dark when John made his way to the town hall. It was dark inside the house, too. But when he was on the way to his room, he saw a light shining under the door slit of the lounge. A little curious, he rolled over to it and listened. Soft voices could be heard inside. Presumably, Jake met Coral in the next room. He was about to turn away when suddenly the door opened.
"Surprise!" Several voices called out to him.
When his eyes got used to the bright light, he looked up in amazement. The whole town had gathered in the former salon room. Also Stump with his family. Everyone wore fine clothing and a buffet had even been set up on the wall.
"What's going on here?" John asked in surprise.
At that moment, Bill stepped forward. "Did you forget it? Today is the wedding anniversary of you and Margaret."
Now Jake crept into view, too. Coral stood behind him. She wore a kerchief and a brooch around her neck. As always, Priscilla was in her nice suit. And the boys, Portley and Stanley, wore fine shirts, too.
"Well," Jake began. "So because of your family couldn't come, we thought we could help out a little."
The others nodded as John rolled into the center of the room.
"Mayor John." As if out of nowhere, Balthazar suddenly jumped out of the crowd. He took off his floppy hat and cleared his throat again just before continuing. "Since I'm such a generous animal and a fair businessman, I took the liberty of giving this back to you in honor of your wedding day."
His two sons, Ezekiel and Jedidiah, pulled out a large, angular, wrapped object. Balthazar pulled down the cloth and a painting came out.
"Margaret's favorite picture," John breathed in surprise.
The desert mole rat grinned. "Well, someone haggled pretty well for it."
He was blind, but you could see that his face wandered towards Bill.
When Bill saw this, he wanted to quickly distract. "Uh, maybe you will be surprised," he said, pulling Rice over to him. "But we want to announce our betrothal today."
"That's not a surprise," Kinski said, who, for once, was wearing a fine suit.
Bill looked at him in surprise. "Oh, really not?"
"No, we've known it all along."
"Unfortunately, I less," Joel growled, who was also among the invited guests.
John looked at Rice in amazement. "Couldn't your sister come?"
"Well," Rice began in embarrassment. "I should send my best regards from my sister. She wrote her last card to me from Arizona. But she sent me something else along with it."
With these words, she took out a flower pot with a beautiful blue flower in it.
"A flower. For your wife's garden."
John took the flower and there was silence. Finally, John took a deep breath. "I'm overwhelmed."
For a moment, it looked like he wanted to cry, but before it even happened, the others urged to open the buffet.
The owls played a few melodies on a small tribune and Jake only raised his eyebrows when he noticed them.
"Don't you want to leave the town someday again?" he whispered to them.
Señor Flan paused for a moment. "Well, not yet. It could be that we are missing out on something here."
The rattlesnake rolled his eyes until Coral nudged him from the side.
Their eyes met. She smiled at him, which made Jake flush a little.
"Do you have anything specific to do tonight?" he asked quickly.

"So humble today?" Coral asked cheerfully while they were walking outside on the beach by the lake.
"No, I just wanted to use the moment to crawl a little on the patrol," Jake defended himself.
Coral giggled. "Even at a party?"
"Just to get a quick breath of fresh air."
Coral smiled and looked up at the moon, reflecting in the lake. But also on the skin of the albino snake, her scales shimmered and enveloped her in a bright light.
Jake looked at her and wondered if this was all just a dream. As if everything had never happened. He looked back. The town lay peacefully. When he thought of how he had fled into the desert, where he had expected nothing but death.
He licked his fangs briefly. He wore death within, but death missed him. If he hadn't endured the singing of the birds and if Stump hadn't taken him under his roof, he would probably not be here. Even not her.
Coral blushed at his glance and crawled down into the water.
"Fancy an evening swim?" She asked and slipped into the water.
Jake hesitated. But then he slipped into the water, too.
While he dived briefly, he felt the life around him.
Water meant life. Life in the dead desert.
He broke the surface and gasped for breath; his gaze glided over the town again. He was supposed to give hope to this town, but in truth the town had given him back hope of a life.

- The End -