601: bad Man from Bodie teaser#3

[LOSDOG]

2 months before bad man from bodie begins

Excerpts from the journal of James Wolfson. An employee with the "the Daily Bodie Standard" and worker for the district recorder. this was found in his room at the Wheaton and Hollis Hotel.

I was up at the Bonanza Saloon with Katie last night. After we were done doing our thing she was pretty worn out while i was still wide awake so i walked out to the balcony to get some air. I liked her room because it sat on the second floor with a view of Main Street. I remember that night not because of how manly I felt going at it with katie for several hours, but because it was such a different night than most. unlike other nights there were very few gunshots. a few skirmishes between some of the local miners in the early hours but nothing to put the locals on edge. i guess everyone got drunk early and passed out. we have a saying here, "why cant a man get along in Bodie without fighting? it must be the 8500 ft elevation. really we cant say it's the altitude. There must be an irresistable power in Bodie that impels us to shoot and cut each other.......the clashing of revolvers can be heard up and down Main Street, and.......a man cannot go to his dinner without getting a bullet hole in his hat, or the seat of his unmentionables cut away by the knife of the desperado. yes it is sad, but only true, that everyone that comes to Bodie must fight." this is what happens when you have over sixty saloons and only a few churches. as i was saying, it must have been four in the morning when i was out in the balcony. i sat there for about ten minutes looking up at the stars and enjoying the silence that rarely fell on this town. Then, from the opposite side of Main Street Frank Bodie appeared staggering out of an alley. The fastest gunfighter and most feared man in this side of the territory was not only a killer but a drunk who spent most of his time bendin' his elbow and looking up the neck of a whiskey bottle. but that night i saw something that made me freeze in my seat. a pack of large menacing wolves seemed to be with him. it was four of them. two walked in front of him maybe twenty feet or so while the other two came up behind from about the same distance. at first i didnt know what was going on, then it looked as if they were his personal protectors. as if he needed it. Bodie usually made his way back into town by himself. But the place was dead quiet that night so bodie and his furry friends musta put their guard down. they walked down Main Street for several minutes and were approaching the Bonanza. in a few minutes they were about to be in front of me. so i could get a better look at them I tried repositioning my chair without making noise. But i must've made a sound loud enough for them to hear because they stopped in their tracks. all four wolves shifted their heads in my direction. the banister offered me little little cover despite sitting in darkness. I knew they were looking right at me. bodie staggered for several feet before he stopped to take a drink of whiskey, then said "you forget what you saw unnerstand?" I froze again without saying a word. 'you unnerstand?" i managed to nod yes. 'You plan on doin' me wrong they'll know." as two of the wolves growled I could see their eyes glowing red. It almost felt as if they were making sure i understood what bodie said. then he spoke again. "I can protect the women and children in this town, but if you men want to shoot and carve each other up that's your business." a few seconds later frank bodie walked several feet, dropped to his knees, fell forward and passed out in the middle of main street. Then, almost on cue his friends got in closer around him. they looked at me before shifting their attention to four different directions of the town. they would stay right where they were until he woke up. even drunk n' passed out i knew no one was going to lay a hand on him. and after feeling a little safe moving more freely i stood up and walked back in the room. i picked up a bucket by katie's bed, stuck my head in it and threw up. i'll never say a damn thing to anybody.

[ballpoint]

Thats F*&^%ing awesome!! Is there more of this story?? I Have to know more about Bodie !!!
I love it. I'm a sucker for westerns