Love Goes On And On

How It Really Happened

That night, Manolo, Joaquin, and Maria went back to the castle for the jailbreak. They brought a large cart to hold everyone.

“You remember the plan?” Manolo whispered.

“Yep.” Maria nodded, “Both of you be careful and don't stay longer than you need to.” She gave Manolo a quick kiss, “Good luck.”

Joaquin and Manolo silently snuck into the castle where the jail entrance was. They looked through the entrance way to see the Sheriff, Nutsy, and Trigger guarding the area. Thankfully this meant the first half of their plan would go well. 

“One o'clock and all's well!” Nutsy hollered as the clocktower chimed.

They heard the Sheriff talk about how he couldn't sleep with Nutsy calling out the time every hour. Trigger, the suspicious one, said he had a feeling there would be a jailbreak tonight. 

Manolo often wondered if he and Joaquin would be in jail by now if Trigger had been in charge and not the Sheriff. Then again, if Trigger was in charge, they'd most likely be dead.

The Sheriff brushed off Trigger's concerns as him being paranoid. 

When Nutsy walked close enough to the entrance way, Joaquin pulled him by the collar and Manolo knocked him out. Unfortunately, they weren't exactly quiet about it.

“Hey, did you hear that?” Trigger asked.

“Sure did, Trigger.” The Sheriff said.

Joaquin and Manolo panicked a little, quickly removing Nutsy's uniform off him for Manolo to wear as a disguise. To make extra sure no one could see through him, he put a scarf on the lower half of his face along with the helmet. This disguise would be harder to pull off since he was imitating a real person.

They couldn't stay hidden forever and the Sheriff and Trigger were getting closer. Holding his breath, the disguised outlaw stepped forward.

“Be careful, Manny.” Joaquin whispered. 

Manolo cleared his throat, putting on his best impersonation of Nutsy, “Hey, hey, hey, put the crossbow down. Where's the danger?”

The Sheriff rolled his eyes, “Oh, shucks, Trigger. It's only Nutsy. And ‘criminently,’ get back to your patrol. On the double. Git!” Trigger begrudgingly returned to his post.

The Sheriff sat down in a chair in front of the jail entrance. “That Trigger.” He grumbled, “He's gittin' everybody edgy. Nothing's gonna happen. That fat friar is gonna dangle from the gallows come daybreak.”

It took all of Manolo's strength not to attack the Sheriff on the spot. Instead, he said, “Ah, don't fret, Sheriff. You just sit there and get some rest. You deserve it, don't you?”

“Well, thank ya, Nutsy.”

“Here. Let me loosen that belt for you.” Manolo reached for the keys on the Sheriff's belt while lulling him to sleep with a lullaby he made up on the spot. It felt strange singing in disguise, but there wasn't much else he could do.

While Manolo was stealing the keys, Joaquin quickly and silently made his way towards them, hiding behind the jail tower.

Just as Manolo had gotten the belt loose enough to take the keys, the Sheriff stirred in his sleep, “Ooh. Oh, Nutsy, that's mighty sweet. Sing it one more time, will ya?”

Manolo rolled his eyes and repeated the lullaby, finally taking the keys off him. He'd have to tell Joaquin to not say anything if he heard any of that.

He handed Joaquin the keys and he quickly entered the jail, “Ok, go find the others. I'll find the treasury.” The two men nodded as they went to do their halves of the plan.