flaming jewels

onc't in the west (iii): jewel

so, the lightquencher an' i wuz led up the steps ta where the hangman wuz a-waitin'. b'fore they slipped our necks in the nooses we embraced onc't more an' kissed each other on the lips but the sheriff dint look kindly on't, so we wuz roughly pulled apart an' readied fer our execution.

don't worry shugah, i smiled to the lightquencher.

an' she whispered back ta me "we'll fly raight outta this here hell-hole darlin'! i'll swaller up the sun an' quench the day...don't worry 'bout a thang."

the law man proceeded ta read the charges as the sun rose. it wuz gettin' mighty hot. so hot i wuz havin' trouble concentratin' on the catalogin' of our crimes...

"...murder...horse-thievin'...playin' with marked cards...armed robbery..."

the list of our mischief went on an' on. hell, i grimaced to the lightquencher: iffen they don't git on with the hangin' the sun'll do the job for 'em b'fore that ol' bucket-o-guts sheriff finishes with the charges...

she jes' winked at me an' fluttered her purdy li'l green wings.

the sheriff finally finished with the list an' asked us:

"any last words?"

the sun wuz 'bout halfway up.

loa, the lightquencher an' WORDSLINGER tossed her fine braided haid in the noose an' shouted:

"HELLLL NO!"

the sheriff an' the deputies an' the good townsfolk turned ta me an' i SPIT. then grrrrrrrrined wide an' big, showin' all my tobaccky-stained teeth.

hell no, my old yella teeth said.

"then be it known that these two miscreants known as jewel "smiley" the seraph and loa the lightquencher shall be hung by the neck until they are dead!" concluded the law man.

the hangman come up ta slip on the hoods but the lightquencher an' i shook him off. we wanted ta see our brutha' death a-ridin' up with both eyes open. he shrugged an' bound our hands behind our backs.

we lookt into each other's eyes an' smiled. our pupils had shrunk ta pinpricks from the mornin' sun steadily growin' stronger. we wuz both startin' ta sweat bloody bullets.

jes' a few minutes left b'fore we really started ta suffer.

an' then the hangman kicked the lever.

welllll, i tell ya we made a great show of it. i kicked m'left leg a bit an' stuck m'tobaccky-stained tongue out as far as i could. loa lightquencher hissed an' rolled her purdy green eyes up in her haid. an' there we hung a-hopin' the law men an' the townsfolk would be convinced we wuz dead.

a' course, bein' angelpires, we's LONG dead. long time gone.

i gotta tell ya it wuz DAMN hard ta hold still when the sun wuz jes' inches from bein' fully up an' i could feel it startin' ta make m'skin crawl...

but we held still long enuff.

the sheriff told the hangman ta leave us up fer a week ta teach any other would-be troublemakers what happens ta gunslingers an' gamblers in their fair town.

an' then they left.

i popped open one eye ta peek, still keepin' mah tongue a-waggin' fer good effect.

nope. not a soul. even the curious ones had gone fer breakfast.

the lightquencher rolled her eyes back down an' lookt at me. the whole of her eyeballs had turned black...black as black kin be. my lightquencher wuz already drinkin' up the fierce sun around her, jes' suckin' it up. bless her heart.

i smiled an' with one smooth motion slipped m'hands free. the lightquencher snapped the rope 'round her wrists an' reached fer me.

an' there, on the gibbet, we danced.

i'll be damned i swore we'd do it an' we did!

we jigged on th' end of a rope on our dyin' day we danced in each other's arms.

mah dusty brown derby'd been knocked off when the bottom dropped out from under me so my red hair wuz a-blazin' in the sunlight. i gave a wheezy sort a laugh as the sun licked up m'backbone an' started ta burn.

i flared out mah WINGS an' swept the lightquencher up in a waltz.

mah WINGS shadowed us enuff so we could dance on the razor's edge of dawn on the flamin' edge of our death for jus' a few moments. the lightquencher's eyes drunk up the light so she wuz only cookin' at the tips a' her braids.

jes' a bit. jes' a bit a' time 'cause we ALLUS been pushin' ourselves ta the brink.

mah WINGS wuz made a' canvas an' tumbleweeds an' whalebones. they wuz mighty an' powerful. i had nevah met another in _this_ world or _this_ time or _this_ place who had a set laik mine. the scorchin' sun matched my flamin' hair an' started ta burn holes in mah WINGS but i dint care.

the lightquencher whipped out her precious tiny green WINGS an' we danced on the gallows. we wuz rebels waltzin' on th' air. we wuz two halfbreeds, two angelpires, two queer gurls. a gambler an' a gunslinger dancin' to our own funeral dirge.

mah god, how we loved it!

an' jes' when the sun woulda cooked us fer sure, the lightquencher snapped the nooses an' i flew us far an' fast away...out-racin' the dawn itself...i flew west west west where it wuz still blessed darkness...

an' what iffen one a-those curious ones at the hangin' had turned back ta see two queer gurls, one with hair laik flames lickin' at her haid laik hell wuz after her an' t'other with tiny bright braids an' sharp green wings a-dancin' on th' end a' their ropes while the gallows creaked from a great rushing wind due ta WINGS a-beatin' so hard that they brung a TWISTER to the town later that very day?

what would that curious ghoul have thought?

[go to part (iv)] [back to index]

jewel@gleeful.com
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