Fistful of Feet by Jordan Krall Read Free Book Online Page B

made Calamaro walk quickly out of the room.
       

 
    CHAPTER TEN
       
       Before he went to the brothel, Bluford Barnes decided to walk around the town and take in the sights. He wanted to be careful to steer clear of that Hard Candy Kid fellow but other than that, it should prove to be valuable time spent checking out the possibilities.
       As he walked past the barber shop, he heard voices behind him.
       One of them said, “Hey Nix, look at that guy dressed up like an Englishman. Must be lost.”
       “Shut up, Ryan. We got work to do,” said the other.
       The voices trailed off in the other direction and for that Bluford was grateful. In every town he went to, there were always a few troublemakers who would stop at nothing to harass a stranger, especially one dressed as immaculately as he. Besides, he didn’t consider himself a fighter of any sort and felt that there was no shame in running away from a confrontation if there was any chance of physical harm.
       He stopped at the General Store and looked out on the horizon. The Indians were still there, their camps a little bit closer now. That disturbed Bluford but he planned to be out of town before anything happened.
       Putting on a big smile, he walked into the General Store. He was greeted by a man with a bigger smile than his own.
       “Hello there!” the man said.
       “Good day, sir.”
       “What can I do you for?”
       Bluford shrugged. “Well sir, I don’t know if I even came in here for any one thing. I just came into town for a bit and thought I’d have a look around. You have a nice establishment here.”
       The man smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that. My name is Tom Duma.” He extended his hand and Bluford took it.
       “Bluford Barnes.”
       “What line of business you in, Mr. Barnes?”
       “Oh, a little of this and a little of that. Most recently I’ve been in the position of salesman.”
       Tom Duma’s eyes lit up. “Got anything of interest with you?”
       “Sorry, no. I don’t have my supplies with me at the moment.”
       Tom said, “Aw, that’s too bad. I’m always in the market for new wares. People in this town are always after something new. In fact, just last week a man from Rhode Island came through. You ever been to Rhode Island?”
       “No, sir, I haven’t. Heard it’s nice, though.”
       “Yeah, well, this man came through and brought a few boxes of things he was selling. Things from Tibet, he said. That’s somewhere in Asia, I believe,” Tom said. He pointed behind him at a group of jars filled with dark green candy-sticks. “Brought some candy called Tcho-Tchos. I wasn’t going to buy it at first being that I carry dozens of different types of candies from all over but some people in town had a taste of the Tcho-Tchos and insisted that I buy it for my store and so that’s what I did.”
       “They taste good, those Tcho-Tchos?”
       “Well, they’re not to my liking. Personally I think the things taste a bit too much like sweet fish but I never was one for the sweets. Of course I don’t know shit when it comes to that sort of thing. Hell, the Hard Candy Kid comes in nearly every day to buy one and that man knows his candy.”
       At the mention of the Hard Candy Kid, Bluford cleared his throat and said, “Well, I do regret that I don’t have anything to sell you but I would like to purchase a few items.”
       “I can help you with that, for sure,” Tom said. He tapped his fingertips on the counter. “But before I do, I have one question.”
       “Alright.”
       “Are you a drinking man, Mr. Barnes?”
       “Uh, well, I have been known to get my tongue wet with some whiskey on occasion, yes.”
       Tom said, “I think I might have something you’d be interested in.” He lowered his voice. “Ever hear of Ass Juice?”
       

 
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
       
       June left the starfish and