Outlaw Homecoming

At the ticket booth the clerk asks "What is your name, sir?" 

"Jim Rawlings." I don't tell him my full name which in America  is well known, decorating several wanted posters, along with my face. The clerk just writes it, showing no sign of recognition. I step out of the train ticket office into the sunshine outdoors. On the bench outside are several other people waiting for the train. 

I discreetly size them up from under the shade of my bowler hat  picking up clues to their identity that most people wouldn't notice but my years as a gunslinger had taught me. 

The fat guy in the natty suit who looks at his watch looks like a banker. There is a lady in plain homespun with her hair pulled in a tight bun, no makeup. She looks like a schoolteacher. I study the man and the woman seated next to each other. They are not touching or indicating that they are married. The man has a black medical bag by his side which marks him a doctor, so maybe the woman is a nurse.

On the other side of them is a priest dressed in black with a wide-brimmed hat. 'Must be hot, wearing that' I thought. 

The train soon pulled in and I let everyone else board first. I tried to sit in my own car but the priest sat down on the opposite seat. 

"Good afternoon sir. Lovely day isn't it?" I nodded and turned to look out the window. "I'm Father Joseph Marcel." He stretches his hand out. I clasped it briefly. He had calloused  hands which surprised me. I always expected priests did no physical labor, just spent all their time reading and praying. I mumbled my name. 

"Where are you headed?" He asked.

"Greenmond."

He looks pleasantly surprised. 

"Oh, that is where we are heading too. I am hoping to set up a hospital. My fellow travelers are members of a committee who want to see the building before they invest funds."

"Hospital eh?" I thought of my mother, sick with a mysterious illness that had plagued her for a while. She wrote to me weeks ago, but it was a long trip by boat from America, even though I had bought a ticket right after I received her letter. "We need a hospital. I grew up in Greenmond. My mother's taken ill, going home to see her."

His eyes crinkle with sympathy.

"You said one of yer people is a doctor?" I pop some baccy in my cheek and spit in the little can by my side.

We are interrupted by shouts and the sound of the brakes of the train screaming.

I had a feeling of what was going on and my suspicion was confirmed when three guys with guns in their hands and handkerchiefs covering their faces burst into our compartment and demanded our valuables. They grabbed Father Marcel's money pouch and turned to me. Their eyes sparked with recognition. Outlaws know other outlaws.

The priest's eyebrows shot up when one of the robbers turned to the other two and said "This geeza is James 'enry Rawlings the American gunslinger." 

"Geezer?!" I asked sharply.

He turned to me

"Nah offense gee.. Rawlings..we daan't want  rubble wif ya."

They hurried off the train and jumped on their horses.

Father Marcel cleared his throat. " So you are a gunslinger?"

I rolled my eyes. "Gunslinger?!" Says the schoolteacher, pressing her fist to her chest. Behind her are the rest of the committee. "Why didn't you stop those criminals from robbing the train, I should like to know!" Demanded the banker, red faced. He took a step back when I stood.

"Look! I ain't no lawman, not my fight."

"Well!" Huffed the schoolteacher. I turned to the window and tried to ignore them as they discussed the robbery among themselves. They sounded like a barnyard of chickens, though it was mostly the schoolteacher and the banker. The doctor and nurse didn't say much and Father Marcel was trying to encourage everyone that it would be alright. Then they started getting on him, I guess they just wanted somebody to blame.

So it went until the train pulled into Greenmond. I got off and stood on the platform and stretched. I was going to walk to my mother's house but there was something I wanted to do first. I tapped the doctor on the shoulder. "Say listen, doc, my mama is sick and the local doc up the road don't know what is ailing her. If you can come take a look at her and mebbe cure this thing..I'll get you all's goods for you. What do you say?"

He nodded. "Well I can't make any promises, but I will do my best."

While the rest of the committee checked into the inn, the three of us, the doctor, the nurse and I set off down the road toward my mother's house. I'm walking fast and the other two are hurrying.

'I really hope he can cure her. But even if he doesn't, I'm going to get that loot back. Because I know exactly where the robbers hangout. They are my old  crew. Last scam before I retire. This should be fun.'