The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #89268 Message #1694431
Posted By: Amos
15-Mar-06 - 05:23 PM
Thread Name: Fiction: Shenandoah and Beaver!
Subject: RE: Fiction: Shenandoah and Beaver!
Joseph's warnings weighed heavy on my mind. So the next morning, relying on past favors done as a ticket of entry, I showed up at the door of the Byway tavern and bawdy-house and asked for the only person I knew there that I could trust -- the greeneyed Dixie.
"Well, counselor! What an interesting surprise!!"
"Good morning, Dixie. I trust you are keeping well?"
"I am indeed, thank you , sir!" She smiled with that springtime-on-the-Mississippi smile that could melt the heart of a French voyageur in January.
"I assume your lessons are going well?"
"Very well, thank you counselor. But I am equally sure you didn't come to enquire about my education. Nor, I assume, to improve your own?"
I blushed in spite of myself. DIxie had that special feminine confidence that makes a man want to dance in public for her.
"Well, since I haven't sent for your services, Ben, and you are still declining mine, what can a poor girl do for Saint Louis' finest gentleman of the court?"
"I need a favor...".
We spoke briefly and she reckoned she owed me for getting her off some assault charges a few years back. So when I handed her my dusty, scarred lockbox, she took it with a smile, and said "It'll be right here when you need it, Ben. Jes' like me!"
I blushed again and smiled, and thanked her warmly, and I meant it, too. We seemed to understand each other, Dixie and I -- maybe because our professions were similar in age, and other respects. But I left feeling considerably lighter.