Chapter 2, Part Two

No Honor Chapter 2 Pt. 2: Great Escape;

He was unconscious when we walked up to him, and I could all but feel Millie tensing up. She looked at me, but I darted up a bit, to get the man's hat off the ground. I stuffed it in my pants, and when I looked up, I could see her lookin' down at him, with disgust on her face.

How many of those looks does he get a day, I wondered. His hair, his skin, hell, even his eyelashes were white. It was a striking thing, to say the least.

Millie said, "What the hells wrong with 'im?"

"He's an albino", I said.

"And that means what?"

"Well, it means pretty much what yer lookin' at."

"That ain't natural", she said.

There was two ways of doing it, I thought. The horse was on his chest, so we could try to pull him out by his legs, but that left just one of us, to hoist the mare up. The other thing we could do, was to both lift up the mare, and get the man to scoot hisself out. That seemed like the better option.

Millie said, "You're a damn liar Wayne. This animal is huge, and it's gonna take a lot more than us, to get it offa him".

"Well, he'll just have to help us out", I said. I shook him a bit. "Hey, wake up son. C'mon now, wake up there".

He opened his eyes. They were gray, and rimmed with red from all that hollering he'd been doing. He looked like he was just now seeing me, and his situation, and looking at his horse again, he frowned.

"You gotta help us get you out from under here", I said. "Now, me and Millie are gonna hoist the horse up a bit. I just need you to scoot your head out from under 'er."

He nodded.

"This ain't gonna work Wayne", Millie said. "I'm telling you, this horse is too big".

"All we gotta do is get 'er up on her belly. She's thinner down there, and he'll be able to push out easier".

Millie shook her head, but she knelt down by the horse's shoulders and waited for me.

"On three, push hard", I said. "One.... Two.... Three".

We pushed, and the animal moved about a half inch. The spook pushed up, with his one hand, and just like I asked, he tried to shimmy out of there. She was too heavy though, and me and Millie gave out.

The corpse came down on his face.

I said, "Shit!"

He started flailing his arms, and tryin' to lift that mass, to get him a breath. Mildred started panicking, and I had to think fast.

"Get on the other side and push her belly", I said. "Quick now!"

We hopped over.

"PUSH!"

We gave it all we had. Luckily, once we got her on her spine, the body started to roll easier. The spook put his hands on the mare's underbelly, and with a cry of pain, he was able to get out from under her.

I've never been so exhausted in my life: and I felt a little guilty, 'cause I'm sure that could've gone better. Still, we done it, didn't we?

I scooted over next to him. "How it's goin' there? You hurt anywheres?".

He took a minute to say anything.

"My shoulder", he said. "My side".

I said, "Can you stand up?"

He thought about it, and then he shook his head.

Millie said, "He needs a doctor, Wayne."

I was still breathin' heavy.

"Well, let's see if we can get him up and in a bed first. What's side is hurtin' ya? The left one? The right one?"

It was his left.

"Alright Millie, grab hold of his right side, and help me hoist 'em up here."

He hollered a bit, but we got 'im up. He put his right arm, around my shoulders, and sure enough, he was favorin' his left side. He wouldn't put his left foot down.

Millie said,"Where you gonna take him?"

"Well, my place is next to the bar there. He kin have my bed for now."

"You know any doctors?"

I shook my head. "No, you?"

She thought a minute. "Well there's this one guy, that used to see some of my girls for things. I don't think he was no official doctor, but I think he knows his stuff."

"He'll have to do", I said. "Why don't you bring him by later on, and come get the rest o' that money."

"Alright."

"Thank you Millie."

"Alright."

With the young man leaning on me, we turned towards my place, and then we started making our way, slowly toward it. We hadn't got but three or four steps, before I caught somebody watching us.

It was Donny Wilson, looking from between some houses, on the east side. He had his arms folded up, and he was lookin' the spook up and down, very interested.

I cursed at myself, for my ill luck. For all the people in The Station, why'd it have to be loud-mouth Don? The man was a rum-runner, but he made most of his livin', sellin' information. If that woman hadn't told the whole town by noon, damn Donny would be sure to.

If the albino had any history at all, as I was sure he must have had, there'd be no hiding from it. Lookin' the way he looks, he'd be real easy to track down.

And here I was, bringing that mess inta my home.

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