evenin' stranger.
everybody but one. i don't know you.
orville weekly, and i can't be a total blank. i been here six years and i ain't dead yet.
day, week, month?
then it's eight bucks, cash in advance.
from arizona, huh?
room ten -- end of the hall. make your own bed. furnish your own towels. your bag's over there.
have some coffee?
they told me who was fightin'. i was getting ready to rent your room. cream or sugar?
myself, i'd rather fight a forest fire.
have some coffee?
some call me the town poet -- and some the village idiot. who am i to question either? how you feel today?
well, it figures to make you pretty famous. fact, people been askin' for you already.
that gold mine lady -- mrs. caslon.
couldn't do better. and charlie.
no. less.
why not? charlie owns a piece of everything, includin' the undertaker and the sheriff.
everything but the wednesday bible class. even owns a piece of me. takes your money while you're here, and makes you pay to leave.
can't find no word to rhyme with mick marion.
hey.
never do.
it's my fatality. i never finish nothin'.
maybe so. i thought i'd tell you. goin' back to your room will be a waste of time.
i don't know what happened on that buggy ride, but somebody came and took all your truck.
what could i do?
set a thief to catch a thief, eh?
a man couldn't ask for no prettier thief.
they been here lookin' for you, the men.
i told them you was out.
i had her finished, but what good is it? it was about your death.
for you it's not good. you're in bad trouble.
want to leave a call?
what time?
no.
you ain't going out there with that?
you'll never get closer to having nothin' --
say --
i'm naturally sentimental, bein' a sort of poet.
i keep a bunch of gimeracks -- an oldtime sheriff's gun, a bullet from a dead bandit, a rosary from some guy they hanged.
in a way -- want to leave me something?
army button. where's the uniform that goes with it?