volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

Roy’s face muscles try hard to smile. Sore from their earlier
workout, they manage to struggle with his command briefly
before collapsing into a heap.
Meanwhile, in the mind of occupant 28/RR, things shape
up like this—: the sun snaps into the sky, and the hallway’s walls
darken and disappear. The ruby red, crusty carpet moulders and
turns to sand. A brisk wind kicks up a dust devil that dances
along the deserted street lined with weathered, clapboard stores.
Stonelike faces watch through rippling windows as their scene
unfolds. The final scene. Last reel. The part of the story when
Glenn Ford makes good on a boast in the Fastest Gun Alive, or
when Jimmy Stewart faces down crazed Lee Marvin in The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, or when Alan Ladd shoots the evil
Wilson in Shane.
A quite, blue sky. Puffs of white clouds. A horse whisks its
tail. A blanket of quiet descends.
Blue, blue sky. White, white clouds.
His right hand twitches. His fingers curl and straighten.
Slowly, his arm drops to his side while his other hand continues
to support the towel.
His right arm’s hand, at the end of its tether, stops. Spreading
out its fingers, it slaps at its owner’s hip, feeling for his gun. He
really needs his gun. What he gets instead is thick, terry towel
clouded with little Cowboys and Indians.
It is the Cowboy’s worse nightmare—caught with his boots off
and his gun hanging on the wall.
For the most part, the more he stares at the varmint standing
in front of him, blocking the path to his door, the more he looks
to be harmless. He doesn’t appear to be armed, either, except for
some sort of black box on his belt.
A cloud from nowhere occludes the sun.
In fact, the dude looks kinda familiar.
Stony faces recede as the hall’s real walls reappear.
He seems to be trying to smile, the dude does.
The crusty carpet in all its faded, ruby glory returns.
The occupant of 28/RR unscrews his eyes.
His exposed flesh is pimpled from the chilled air.
He takes a deep breath, straightens his spine and squares
1 2 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY