King of Hearts

{T.W.: Multiple}

Kate lifted her groggy head out of the stale whiskey and saliva cesspool. The morning sun rays shined through the wavy leaded glass windows and baked the empty room. The stool in front of the piano was unoccupied, as were all of the other barstools and chairs in the saloon besides her own. The barkeep must have trusted her in good faith not to walk out of there with all of the booze, for he, too, was absent. 

She managed to pull herself from her barstool, adjusting her gun belt and straightening her lacy, burgundy corset. She slipped her arms into the sleeves of her long duster coat. She gave it a quick brush with her left hand. She flipped her wide Stetson fedora onto her forehead and proceeded out the door. Her rugged leather boots clomped audibly on the wooden floor. The swinging doors clapped behind her. Outside, her long brown hair waved in the arid morning breeze. 

She staggered to the town well and worked the wooden pump handle until fresh water spurted out. She lapped fresh water into her face and blinked twice until the landscape gained clarity. She gazed out at the dry, dusty horizon. The mesas turned purple to light brown as the sun rose. A hawk off in the distance circled its prey. 

The quiet morning was interrupted when quite a dapper-looking fellow in a forest-green vest and spotless suede shoes appeared and began to lean on the well.

“Well, if it isn’t Magnolia Kate, the Damsel of Dixie. The whore of Babylon herself.”

“Go to hell, Locust.”

He grinned and spat on the ground. His golden tooth gleaned in the sunlight.

“From the looks of it, We’re already there. Now let’s not dilly-dally on petty conversation. Where’s the rest of my money, Kate?”

Kate knew she wasn’t good for it. He had so much of the town hooked on the so-called miracle remedy that any of them could owe him everything they had, down to the shirt off their back. 

“I don’t take your piss-poor remedy anymore. You and your pond scum of a medicine show can pack up and take the noon train to the next sorry town.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy, Kate. I thought we had something special going on. That night I was giving a lecture way down in Georgia that hot, sultry night when we locked eyes.”

“You were banking on my innocence and desperation, Locust. Our family lost it all in the war to you people. Our house burned to the ground. Rails were torn out of the railroad beds, melted, and twisted around trees. Women and children were left hanging in trees. And people like you, riding back down to us after the war, toting carpetbags full of charming empty promises.”

“And yet you made a good assistant to me, Kate. Sold more of my miracle cure-all remedy than I ever could in seven lifetimes.”

“You would’ve had any number of other glossy-eyed young women to do your bidding.”

“But you were something special, Kate. We could’ve made great partners. But you had to split and set up a massage parlor right here in this sad little town.”

“I knew what you were doing was evil. Your medicine did nothing but get people hooked. I wanted the only honest living an unmarried woman could make in the West.”

“Interesting you’d call my medicine practice evil. You took several vials for yourself before you left. And I do believe I am entitled to just compensation. Seeing as how much you took, I believe the deed to your little massage parlor will do.”

Her head nearly split open with steam.

In a split second, she whipped out her revolver, cocked back the gun’s hammer, set the sights on his forehead, and pulled the trigger.

*click*

“A gun that won’t fire is about as useful as a horse with a broken leg.”

She noticed that he had his gun trained on her forehead, too, but he refrained from pulling the trigger.

She abruptly threw her pistol into the dirt and kicked it across the ground.

“Damnit. Damnit. Damnit.”

He uncocked the hammer on his revolver and slipped it back into his holster.

“Why don’t we settle matters in a civilized manner? There’s no sense in flooding these streets with blood over a little gunplay, now is there?”

“And just how are we going to do that?”

“Three simple rounds of twenty-one. We head into your parlor. You win two out of the three rounds; I leave town on the next train and never return. I win two out of three, and I gain the deed to your parlor.”

She mulled it over for a moment.

“Deal.”

They strolled into her parlor and up the staircase to her chamber.

Locust brandished a deck of cards from his back pocket like a knife. He placed the cards on the table. The cardstock slapped the table rhythmically as he shuffled. 

“Cut the cards.”

She quietly did as she was told and moved the top half of the cards to the bottom of the deck. 

He slapped one card face up in front of her. The ace of spades. He did the same for himself. Three of hearts. He then dealt them each one additional card face down. Kate lifted her card. She couldn’t believe it. A ten of diamonds. How could she get so lucky in the first round?

Kate: twenty-one. Locust: thirteen. 

Next round, he slapped down a ten of spades in front of Kate. For himself, a ten of diamonds.

She looked at the card that was face down. Four of clubs. She knocked on the table. He threw her another card face up. Three of hearts. She cringed.

Locust smirked as he leaned back in his chair and flipped over his hidden card. Queen of clubs.

Kate: seventeen. Locust: twenty.

Kate tried to look stoic and unbothered, but Locust could sense a nervous twitch. He collected the cards and placed them off to the side.

He dealt the final round.

She held the ace of clubs and the six of hearts in her hand. Her ace made her hand worth either seven or seventeen. She knocked on the table. He laid down a jack of diamonds. Seventeen firm this time. She sweated. She reluctantly knocked one more time. Three of diamonds. Her heart raced. She waved her hand to stand. It was his turn.

His face-up card was the king of hearts. The one that shows the king thrusting his sword into his own head. He flipped over the hidden card. Ace of Spades. 

Kate: twenty. Locust: twenty-one.

She wanted to slam the table into his face.

Locust gleefully collected the cards and slipped them back into his pocket. She just glared at the wall. She did not have anywhere to go. Her home state of Georgia was in tatters, and now she was stuck with no business and no money. 

“I’ll be seeing myself out. Once I have the deed in hand, that is.”

“Oh yes, the deed,” she said with a scour.

“Let me get one of the ladies to go get it.”

She rang a little bell and a young maiden of around twenty years old wearing a bright pink frilly dress came to her side.

Kate instructed her at once to fetch the deed out of its hiding place. She hopped away to complete her task.

On the way downstairs, Locust was approached by another young lady named Delilah. 

“Leaving so soon?” Delilah placed her soft hand on his cheek. 

“You look so tired and worn out from your day. How about I give you a little company.”

“You don’t have to bother, Delilah,” Kate hollered. “He owns the place, now.” 

“Well, now we can’t let the gentleman leave out of here without a little celebratory fun, now can we?”

The young lady’s index finger ran gently behind Locust’s ear.

“This one’s on the house,” she whispered in his ear and gave him a little kiss.

“I own the house,” he sneered.

As they entered the private room, Delilah tossed Kate two objects. Kate could hear Delilah shushing Locust softly as she climbed on top of him, taking off his coat and shirt.

One of the objects was the king of hearts; the other was a key to the nightstand drawer.

Kate studied the playing card. She noticed the tiny metallic groove in the bottom of it.

That cheating scoundrel, she thought to herself.

She took the key and walked over to the nightstand, and opened it. Inside were some dried-up rose petals and a vile. She unscrewed the lid. One good sniff, and she knew that this strong stuff that Locust had peddled was the most potent of all. Half a thimble-full could cause a buffalo to fall flat.

She dipped the metallic corner of the King of Hearts into the liquid. She screwed the lid back shut. She understood the cue. She carefully opened the door to the private room. 

The girl had Locust straddled on the bed, thoroughly entranced, as she was undoing the laces of her corset. 

While his mind was fully occupied, she quietly tossed the card to Delilah, sending it spiraling as though it were a ninja star. The girl caught it with one hand. Delilah rubbed Locust’s back. She made a small incision in his lower back with her fingernail that, caused him to yelp.

“Oh, you poor thing. I’ll go a little softer, I promise,” she seductively replied. 

With his head still down, she took the card and rubbed it into the wound. 

Within a minute, he stopped moving. 

The girl inspected his head and then his wrist. Satisfied, she took his overshirt that was hanging on a chair and covered her bare chest. 

She slipped the deed out of his pocket and handed it back to Kate. 

The evening air started to cool the room as Kate and the girl looked out of the window towards the sun setting over the horizon.