A Life Of 'Shine - Lem Fike

5

"Damn it girl. Maybe if you focused once in a while I would have those twenty bottles of moonshine I ordered!" Nora rolled her eyes as she helped the customer unload the wagon, ignoring the other's constant berates. Her blackouts and daydreams had all but fizzled, stopping suddenly one day and rarely returning. Although she didn't mind, the slightest hint of curiosity as to what they were about and to why they were always causing trouble lurked in the darkest parts of her mind.

"I was thinking of implementing a new system. We make, deliver and sell the moonshine while our customers deal with revenue agents so their precious purchase doesn't get shot at. Besides, nineteen out of twenty bottles ain't that big a deal." Sarcastic remarks were undeniably a way to get in trouble, but the customer only offered a slight grumble as he carried two bottles of 'shine into his own home. Most customers had something in mind they wished to do with the moonshine. Sell it for profit mostly, where as a small handful would just grab their moonshine and keep it to themselves.

Lem had offered to assist her on this journey, but his beloved aunt Maggie had managed to convince him that they needed a lot more firewood than they currently had available and so off he went to go chopping. Really he would find some house in some secluded area and take whatever firewood they had left out, he was never one for hard manual work that didn't necessarily involve moonshine.

The customer returned after the last of the moonshine was stored, handing over the money to Nora before shooing her away. She didn't bother thanking the customer, instead nodding with a forced smile before climbing onto the wagon with the journey of heading back to the house in mind.

Like all the other journeys it was quiet and peaceful, no unwanted attention to befall upon her as she made her way back.
When she did arrive back at the moonshine shack, the tell tale sign of revenuers had littered the roads outside and were inspecting the homestead before actually letting themselves inside.

Nora continued forward, straight down the mountain until she arrived at the Emerald Ranch train station. It was just as quiet, which wasn't unusual given the history of Emerald Ranch.
She pulled to a stop outside of the old saloon, leaving the wagon before entering the abandoned establishment. The blood stains and rotten smell prominent and worse in the summer heat.

"Were you followed?" The slight rasp and bitter tone of Maggie's voice from behind the door was like an unexpected gift to Nora's ears. She let out a sigh of relief before turning around to face the bitter old woman, a small smile on her face.

"Made sure I wasn't, how did you get out anyway?" She asked, more concerned rather than curious as she would be. The elder cackled, sitting down at the table her nephew was at before inviting Nora to join them. She of course took the offer, sitting closest to Lemuel with her full attention converted to just Maggie.

"Lem heard 'em coming up when he returned, walking up the hill because the bastards were too stupid to ambush us on horseback. Your camp weren't to far so finding Cripps and asking him to take us here was easy, all he needed to do was take the wagon after all. Revenuers were too focused on the homestead to pay attention to the roads. Marcel closed off the basement, so with any luck they'll think it's just a regular homestead. After all, the whole place was designed to hide the operation after all." Nora nodded at the woman's words, using the knife she had pulled from her holster during the speech to carve into the table.

It was silent for a while of course, secrecy wasn't something neither person could afford to give up in this situation but that peaceful quiet was broken when some unsuspecting visitors had all but barged into the Saloon.

The Auburn haired girl narrowed her eyes at the men, raising her revolver to aim at the intruders once she was standing out of her chair. Maggie and Lem followed, raising weapons of their own of course. Neither wanted to cause a fight, the intruders raising their arms in surrender which all but worried Nora more.

"Who the hell are you?" She spat, keeping an eye on the intruders so neither could shoot them when their guards were down.

"Nobody you need to worry about." She took in the details of the men, making sure to remember them for future preference.

One clearly stood out, the leader no doubt. Standing all high and mighty, proud to be held at gunpoint almost while the other two looked just as scruffy as any usual cowboy. This "leader" as Nora presumed him to be was also returning the female's harsh glare, but he appeared alot more composed than she did.

"I ain't wantin' a fight mister, but I will shoot one of you if you don't tell me who you are." She threatened before averting her attention to the back door once another joined them, this one she recognised all to well from the ginger hair and the irish accent. Sean MacGuire.

"Dutch we got lawmen coming down." Sean warned before he even realised the situation everybody else had currently been in. Nora took lead out of her, Lem and Maggie, turning to the other two and telling them to put their weapons away with her following.

"I see you know Sean." She commented, the male turning around once his name was mentioned before his face lit up with recognition. "I also see you found the "funny" bunch you lost a couple months back."

"Aye, It's okay Dutch. Nora won't harm you unless you shoot first, she's like you and I- outlaws." The irish man commented, winking in the females direction which she retaliated with a scoff.

Dutch nodded at Mr. MacGuire's words, allowing himself to sit down at one of the tables. He was calm, as if nothing previously had happened between the groups. She frowned as she looked down on him, shaking her head before returning to the seat she had taken up before. This time however, she made sure to keep her eyes on the guests incase they decided to pull anything with their guards lowered- but not completely down.