Recounting

    “Esther, come on up, dear.” The pastor waved to me. “Esther has agreed to tell us how she single-handedly brought a wanted outlaw to justice.” The congregation applauded.

 I stood slowly, feeling everyone’s eyes on me. It was hot in the church. There was no breeze coming in the windows. Why was there no breeze? 

    The steps creaked as I came forward. The echo sounded like it went on forever. I looked out at the congregation. My mother fanned herself on the second row. My fiancé, James, sat next to her, left arm still in a sling. Father, standing next to the pastor, smiled proudly at me, then he and the pastor moved to the front pew, leaving me alone at the front of the church.

    “Well, I’m the judge’s daughter, after all,” I said wryly. “There's a lot to live up to.” The congregation chuckled. A homeless man in the second-to-last pew twitched in his sleep, head on his arms resting on the back of the next pew.

            I wiped some sweat from my brow. My mouth was so dry. I looked down at the notes I had written.

    “It started on Tuesday, May 19. Father was hearing the Ace Walker case. I knew it was a big trial, but I didn’t really pay attention to such things. I was waiting in Father’s office for the trial to finish up. Um, I had been told to be careful because Ace Walker had so many of his gang around, ready to break him out of jail. 

    “The truth is, he didn’t have a gang with him. He had one man, his brother. As many of you know, Walker was able to break out of his handcuffs and escape from the courtroom. He came to my Father’s office to hide. That’s where I was waiting for the trial to be over so that I could talk to my father. Um…” I looked up at the congregation for the first time since I started. “Sorry, this is where it gets a little difficult.” I knew what they wanted to hear.

    “Walker burst into the office with his six-gun pointed dead at me.” This may have been a slight exaggeration. Ace would’ve been offended. “He grabbed me by my… my hair-” I touched a random spot on the top of my head- “And took me from the office. I remember him leaning in close and whispering that he would kill me if I didn’t cooperate.” The ladies in the congregation were all fanning now. There was still no breeze. 

    “He took me out the door in a headlock. I was so scared. He forced me down the hall with his gun pointed at my head the whole time. I didn’t know how I would make it out of this alive.” I looked pointedly at the congregation. “But I know that God was with me the whole time.”

    This received a loud “amen” from one of the older gentlemen in the congregation, and several nods of agreement. 

    “He took me out of the courthouse. The sheriff and James were there and tried to stop him, but there wasn’t much they could do, because Ace was- Ace Walker, that is- was holding me hostage. He fired a shot at James, who is recovering well, and then he took me outside. His accomplice had a horse outside waiting for us. He pulled me up onto the horse behind him, and I just remember hanging on for dear life. I was scared that if I let go, I would die. We rode hard for miles and miles.

    “Ace and his accomplice held me hostage during their flight to Mexico. By the time we reached the border, I had watched the two of them kill another man in cold blood. The law caught up with us then, and caught him red-handed.”

I deliberately left out how Ace had taken the blame for me. A young bounty hunter had gotten the drop on Ace and his brother, ironically by using me as a hostage. What the poor young man couldn’t have known was that, to my own surprise, I wanted to be with Ace. Against all odds, he had protected me, and even treated me kindly. He had even given me a hunting knife to use. I was able to reach behind me with the knife and ended the man’s life. Afterward, Ace had comforted me as I was in shock and covered in someone else’s blood. When the rest of the bounty hunter’s cohorts caught up with us, they accused me of killing the young man since I was still holding the knife. I could've claimed self-defense, but Ace spoke up before I could. It was just one more crime on his long list of wrongful charges. 

           I took a pause to look at the congregation again. The ladies were fanning, and it was now hot enough that the cicadas started buzzing in the oak trees outside. Still no breeze, but one of the curtains had fluttered, on my left towards the back of the church. I saw a quick movement as someone walked by outside. The homeless man snored once loudly, earning dirty looks from the folks in front of him. He had come in late and didn't even have the courtesy to stay awake?

           I continued on with my tale, most of it true, omitting the familiarity between Ace and I. My heart had been broken during that long trek back home, watching my unlikely friend and protector treated as a hostage himself. His brother had been able to slip away again, since he was not a wanted man. 

           “Ace Walker, a hardened criminal, has been a scourge to this area, unchecked for too long. I can only hope that his upcoming trial will go off without a hitch, and…”

           The homeless man raised his head and stood up. He walked up the aisle and then leaned back on the door of the church. “Goodness…” I recognized him immediately as Ace’s brother. I'd spent enough time with them to know that something was afoot.

    From somewhere behind me, Ace spoke. “Now, Miss Esther, I had thought we were better friends than that.” I whirled around to face him. How had he appeared out of nowhere? “Don’t you think it’s a little rude to be slanderin’ folks like that, darlin’?” 

    As my father and James started to move toward him, he wrapped an arm around me tightly, six-shooter in his other hand, again pointed right at me. 

    “Let’s calm down just a minute here,” he said amicably.

Some of the folks toward the back of the congregation stood to leave, but were stopped short by Ace’s brother lazily leveling a shotgun at the general crowd. “Sit.”

The folks obliged. 

I could see the wheels in James’ head turning, looking for an opening. So could Ace. “Oh, James, is it? I don’t want to mess up this pretty face.” He leaned around to kiss my cheek. Rough whiskers tickled my skin. “I wouldn’t try anything if I were you.” 

“What do you want with me?” I was surprised how shaky my voice was. 

“Why, I’m here to set the record straight. See, folks, it wasn’t me who killed that poor young man near the border. Your sweet, innocent Esther did it.” One of the older women cried out, and Ace continued. “Yes, I know! Hard to believe, isn’t it?” He walked me forward, gun still pointed at me. “The man had her hostage. Very much like this, actually. And then, she took a big knife, reached around, and put it right into his neck!” 

James looked at me in disbelief. I closed my eyes. 

“You don’t have any knives on you now, do you, darlin’?” I shook my head. “And then she let me get caught. I was as shocked as she was to see her covered in blood and sobbing, so of course I had to help her, and that’s when his buddies caught up with us. They had it right at first, didn’t they, darlin’? They said that you killed him.” 

“It was self-defense!” I said. “You know that as well as anyone. I wanted to tell them it was self-defense!”

“Ah yes, self-defense. But, Judge, wouldn’t that be aiding a known criminal?”

Father looked surprised to be involved in the conversation and said nothing, so Ace continued. “So I told them it was me. I took that for you, so you wouldn’t have to worry about it. Would you like to know why?” 

I froze. Everyone was listening, rapt. 

“Because I love you, Esther.” 

I turned and faced him. His arms dropped to his sides. 

“It's true, I do.”

James saw his moment and lunged toward us. Ace hit him hard under the chin, and he crumpled to the floor, unconscious, landing painfully on his already injured arm.

“Don’t tell me I did all this for nothing, darlin’. Don’t tell me Hank broke me out and I hid in the closet for two hours for nothin’.” He took my hands. “Come to Colorado with me. We’ll hide in the mountains, and they'll never find us.”

I looked around at my parents, my fiancé lying on the floor, and back at Ace’s face, eyes searching mine. “Of course I'll go with you,” I said. 

“Now wait just a minute!” Father stood, but heard the unmistakable lever action from Hank and went stock still. 

I looked from him, to my mother, to James lying on the floor. Ace took my hand. “I'm sorry,” I said softly, and followed the outlaw up the aisle, out the front door, to the waiting horses outside. He helped me onto a horse and swung up behind me.

We bolted away from the church, Hank close behind us, as several shots rang out. 

“What a performance, darlin’!” 

I laughed out loud, despite the impending danger of our situation. “Where are we going?” The wind cooled the sweat in my hair. My heart pounded from the excitement, and I couldn't have been happier. 

“I hope you're ready to learn Spanish,” Ace said in my ear. “We're headed for Mexico.”