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

Judge Roy Bean will never leave the theatre alive.
Watch out, Judge—here comes Cole!
Bang Bangbang Bang
Cole gets him, of course. Now Roy Bean can be a legend.
And legends never die. He was an ordinary man, sitting in his
Civil War uniform waiting for Miss Lillie.
Bang Bangbang
Cole cradles the dying old man. Old as Pistol Pete. He
carries him like a baby into Miss Lillie’s room. Joy comes to the
Judge’s face then the screen goes black as he slides into death and
becomes a legend.
Like Lincoln, like John Wayne, like Trigger, like like—
THE END
—Roy Rogers.
Pete presses REWIND.
“Wasn’t that great? Huston made a version with Paul
Newman—it’s interestin’, what’d you expect, but Huston wasn’t
half the director Wyler was—you OK, Roy?”
Roy nods.
“Thinkin’s all.”
“Well.” Pete chuckles. “Practice makes perfect.”
He reaches down to where he keeps his stash.
“Snort?”
Roy continues his nod into a new paragraph.
His thoughts spring like a deer at the sound of cracking twigs.
Their glasses from the night before set sticky on the floor.
Pete unsticks his. Roy does likewise.
Pete pours.
The cork squeaks back.
He places the bottle on the floor between them.
“Pete?”
Pete drinks.
“Hm?”
Roy offers him a steady look.
“Who are you?”
Pete savors his mouthful of spirits.
“Who am I? I dunno. Who are you?”
ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY 2