Between The Yees And The Haws

Sanjay The Outlaw

Name: Sanjay
Age: 27
Occupation: Outlaw
Created By/Modeled After: David Cott

"Willy?" Sanjay called out into the dark church.

"Back so soon, boy?" Willy asked eagerly. He looked up to face Sanjay. "Now who the hell are you?"

"Pardon me, sir, but do you think I could stay in your church for tonight? I don't have anywhere to go and I'm scared people will find me. People who want to hurt me." Sanjay said, trying his best to sound afraid. Willy smiled at him.

"I don't see why not. You a friend of that drunk boy's?" Willy asked as he dragged out a pew for Sanjay to sleep on. Sanjay nodded.

"Yeah, he's my friend. Don't have anyone other than him in this town."

"That don't surprise me too much. It's a small town, it is." Willy said as he walked back over to his own sleeping pew. "I'm gonna get some shut-eye, feel free to sleep wherever you like. Doesn't have to be that one." Willy pointed to the pew he had dragged out for Sanjay.

"This one's good, thank you sir."

   The morning light almost blinded Sanjay. There was too much stained glass for his liking. Willy was still asleep, snoring loudly on his pew. Sanjay got up quietly, careful not to wake him up. He headed out the door and began to walk to the house he saw Ar go into last night. Before he could get anywhere, he ran into a man on the dirt trail.

"Sorry partner, wasn't watchin' where I was goin'. Hope I didn't hurt ya." The man said to him.

"Nah, you're fine. I wasn't lookin' either." Sanjay told the man in front of him. The man looked at him, smiling. He cocked his head to one side.

"You look familiar." He said. Sanjay shrugged.

"I got one of those faces."

"I guess you do." The man paused, then held out his hand. "I'm Edward. I'm the town's mapmaker." Sanjay shook the man's hand.

"Sanjay." He told Edward. Edward smiled at him.

"I hope I'm not bein' too forward, Sanjay, but..." Edward traced a finger down the outlaw's collarbone. "I think you're-"

"Edward, goddammit, why you always gotta run off every time I get ahold of ya!" A man with a brown hat and blonde hair ran up to Edward. He noticed how close Edward had gotten to Sanjay and furrowed his brow.

"Who's this?" The blonde haired man asked Edward.

"This is Sanjay." Edward told him.

"Sanjay...why does that name ring a bell..." the man muttered. Sanjay shrugged.

"I don't know, partner. And who are you?" Sanjay asked him. The man held out his hand.

"Cletus Cowpussy. I'm a...friend...of Edward's." He said. Sanjay raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so? Well, Edward here was just tellin' me about his mapmakin' skills." Sanjay nudged Edward. Edward chuckled.

"Damn right. Always gotta brag to the next person I get a chance to." Edward grinned.

"Cletus, goddamn you! You can't just run like that, motherfucker!" Montgomery panted, catching up the group. He eyed Sanjay.

"Ain't you-"

"That ain't important, partner!" Sanjay shushed him. "I best get going. Y'all have a nice day."

"You too, pal." Cletus said insincerely. When Cletus turned to speak to Montgomery, Sanjay knelt down to Edward's ear and whispered,

"Wouldn't want your boyfriend to find out about the little move you just tried to pull." He winked. Edward's face flushed.

"He ain't my boyfriend." Edward mumbled. "I'm a grown man, I can do what I want."

"Whatever you say, partner." Sanjay smiled. He continued walking past the group of men, heading to Ar's house. He reached the front door an knocked. He waited. No one came to the door. He knocked again. Still no one. He tried to open the door. It was locked.

"Buddy? You in there?" He called from outside. No reply. The guy must have gone somewhere for the morning. Sanjay decided it was best to go back to the church. At least there, he could lay low. At least until that guy comes back. And who knows, maybe he'll take Edward up on his offer...whatever it was going to be. Something tells him it wasn't very PG. And he was definitely okay with that.

   By now, the group of men had gone. The tallest one with the brown hair had told them something about wanting to check up on Cletus' neighbor, the "waitress chick". He figured they wouldn't be back for a while. And with that, he figured he wouldn't see Edward for a while.

He walked back into the church, Willy still sleeping on his pew. Sanjay sat down on the floor, despite dozens of pews surrounding him. He sighed, leaning his back against the wall.

He was in a pretty rough position. On one hand, he was anxious and terrified that there was a chance someone was after him. He knew the price he carried and that this person would be relentless, whoever they were. On the other hand, he was glad he had a heads up and could potentially be one step ahead of his hunter.

But then, on a third hand, he couldn't help but think how unnecessary this all was. How, if he just stayed with his dad at the mill, he wouldn't even be a wanted criminal. He could live his life the way he wanted to. Maybe settle down and have a family. That seemed impossible now. Like a whole other universe. But he liked thinking about it. What he would be like if he wasn't "Sanjay The Outlaw". But hey, what's the use?

Sanjay didn't have a third hand.