"Now, I tell ya Ed, you look like hell warmed over. What the hell happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"What, Eunice takin' the belt to you again?" A round of male laughter.

"Hell naw. You know I ain't lettin' no woman treat me like that, Jake. It was .. it was that damn new sheriff."

"That damn new sheriff did that to you, you say?"

"Well. Me and the boys, here we were enjoyin' our lunch at the tent, y'know. And then comes in this sheriff, lookin' all quiet in his gunbelts and all. He pins on his new star, talkin' with that Mex's wife? Well. He's talkin' to her, and we're givin' him the eye. Telling him to move on along, right. And he ignores us. Ignores us."

A grunt. "Well. So we followed him and waited until after work. Me and boys, we had a sip or two and found him in the alley, coming 'round. Hit him from behind, was gonna whup him but good. Show 'em who's boss."

Another grunt, a flask is passed around. "So ya showed him, Ed? You showed 'em good?"

An embarassed cough and rumble from a few of the men. "Well, we tried Jake. He took the plank away from one of us and beat Will over there until he was knocked out. Slapped me 'round like I was some kinda woman - the sass of that man! And where he kicked Jimmy ... well hell, that boy may not be havin' little ones after all."

A thoughtful grunt. "Well damn. Maybe we should try again. Boy can't be that tough."

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