Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove

"What I can't figure out is why there ain't but two sinners in this saloon," Gus said.

Lorena made no comment, but Lippy piped up.

"I've tried to sin all my life-ain't you gonna count me?" he asked.

"No, you got a hole in your stomach," Augustus said. "You paid for yours, but so far me and Lorie have got off scot-free."

Gus poured a little whiskey in her glass, and filled his to just below the brim.

"I want a poke," he said, as casual as if he were asking her to loan him two bits.

Lorena was so taken aback that she didn't know what to say. She looked at Lippy, who was just sitting there listening, as if it were his right.

Gus, of course, was not the slightest bit embarrassed by what he was suggesting. He took his hat off and hung it on a chain, looking at her pleasantly.

Lorena felt sorely at a loss. She had never expected Gus to commit such a blunder, for it was well known that he and Jake were good friends. Gus must know that Jake was living with her; and yet he walked in and asked, as if it made no difference.

She sat silent, showing her puzzlement, which only seemed to amuse Gus.

"I wisht you wouldn't sit there thinking about it," he said. "Just sell me the poke and be done with it. I hate to sit and watch a woman think."

"Why?" she asked, finding her voice again. She felt the beginnings of indignation. "I guess I got the right to think, if I want to," she added.

Gus just grinned. "Oh, you got the right," he said. "It's just that it's fearsome for a man to have a woman start thinking right in front of him. It always leads to trouble."

He paused and drank a healthy swallow of whiskey.

"I'm with Jake now," Lorena said, merely stating the obvious.

"I know that, honey," Augustus said. "The minute I looked up the road and seen Jake coming, I knew you and him would settle in. Jake's a good hand to settle in with, I admit-a sight better than me. But the fact is he went out to the cow camp at the wrong time and Call put him to work. Call don't appreciate Jake's restful qualities like you and me do. He's been fretting for a week because Jake wasn't working, and now that he's got him you can bet he'll keep him a day or two."

Lorena looked at Lippy, wishing he wasn't there. But Lippy sat, astonished at what he was hearing. His lip hung down like a flap of some kind, as it always did when he forgot himself.

"Jake ain't got the stuff to stand up to Call," Augustus said. "He's gonna have to stay out there and brand dogies for a while. So there ain't no reason for you not to sell me a poke."

"I told you the reason," Lorena said. "Jake takes care of me now," she added.

"No he don't," Gus said. "You take care of him."

It was the very truth Lorena had discovered for herself, and it stumped her that Gus would not only know it but come right out with it as if it were an ordinary fact.

"Jake Spoon has never taken care of nobody," Gus said. "Not even himself. He's the world's child, and the main point about him is that he'll always find somebody to take care of him. It used to be me and Call, but right now it's you. That's fine and good, but it's no reason you should go out of business entirely. You can sell me a poke and still take care of Jake."

Lorena knew that was true, as far as it went. Jake was not hard to take care of, and probably not hard to fool. It wouldn't enter his head that she would sell a poke, now that she had him. He had plenty of pride and not a little vanity. It was one of the things she liked about him. Jake thought well of his looks; he was not a dressy man, like Tinkersley, but he nonetheless took pains with his appearance and knew that women fancied him. She had never seen him mad, but she knew he would not like anyone to make light of him.

"I believe he'd shoot the man that touches me," she said.

"I believe it too," Lippy said. "Jake's mighty partial to Lorie."

"Hell, you're partial to her yourself," Gus said. "We're all partial to her. But Jake ain't exactly a killer."

"He killed that man in Arkansas," Lorena said.

Augustus shrugged. "He fired off a buffalo gun and the bullet happened to hit a dentist," he said. "I don't call that no crime of passion."

Lorena didn't like it that Gus acted like Jake wasn't much. He had a reputation for being a cool man in a fight.

"He kilt that bandit," Lippy said. "Hit him right in the Adam's apple, I've heard."

"The truth of that is, the bandit rode into the bullet," Augustus said. "He was unlucky, like the dentist."

Lorena just sat. The situation was so unexpected that she could not think about it clearly. Of course she had no intention of going upstairs with Gus, but he couldn't just be scared off with a look like some cowboy. Gus was not afraid of looks-or of Jake either, it seemed.

"I'll give you fifty dollars," Gus said with a big grin.

Lippy nearly fell off his stool. He had never seen or imagined anything so rash. Fifty dollars for one poke? Then it occurred to him he would cheerfully give as much, if he had it, to get under Lorena's skirts. A man could always get more money, but there wasn't but one Lorie, not on the border, anyway.

"Hell, I would too," he said, just to register the offer.

"I didn't know you was so rich," Augustus said, a little amused.

"Well, I ain't now, but I might be," Lippy said. "Business is picking up."

"Pshaw," Augustus said. "Once we start the drive you'll be lucky to earn a nickel in a month."

Lorena decided her best out was to pretend to be frightened of Jake's vengeance, though now that she thought about it she knew Gus was probably right. She had met one or two men who were proven killers, and Jake didn't have their manner at all.

"I won't do it," she said. "He'll kill us if he finds out."

"How would he find out?" Gus asked.

"Lippy might tell him," she said.

Augustus looked at Lippy. It was true that the man was a dreadful gossip, and a gossip, moreover, who had scant materials to work with. It would not be easy for him to resist mentioning that he had heard a man offer fifty dollars for a poke.

"I'll give you ten dollars to keep your mouth shut," Augustus said. "And if you betray me I'll shoot another hole in your stomach."

"Gimme the ten," Lippy said, his astonishment growing. That made sixty dollars Gus would be spending. He had never heard of anyone spending such an amount on their pleasure, but then, so far as he knew, there was no one anywhere like Gus, a man who seemed to care nothing for money.

Gus handed over the money and Lippy pocketed it, knowing he had struck a bargain he had better keep, at least until Gus died. Gus was no one to fool with. He had seen several men try, usually over card games, and most all of them had got whacked over the head with Gus's big gun. Gus didn't shoot unless he had to, but he was not loath to whack a man. Lippy was dying to tell Xavier what he'd missed by going fishing, but he knew he had better postpone the pleasure for a few years. One hole in his stomach was enough.

Lorena felt her indignation growing. She was beginning to feel cornered, something she had not expected to have to feel again. Jake was supposed to have ended that, and yet he hadn't. Of course he probably never suspected his own friend would make such a move behind his back, and yet it still seemed negligent of him, for he knew Gus's ways.

"You can pay him if you want but I ain't going," she said. "Jake's my sweetheart."

"I ain't trying to cut him out," Augustus said. "I just want a poke."

Lorena felt her silence coming back. It was the only way to deal with such a situation. She sat for a few minutes, not talking, hoping he would go away. But it didn't work. He just sat and drank, perfectly friendly and in no hurry. Once she thought about it, the sum grew on her a little. It was something, to be offered fifty dollars. She would have thought it crazy in anyone except Gus, but Gus was clearly not crazy. In a way it was a big compliment that he would offer fifty dollars just for that.