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Ed : How you
been, Ellis?
Ellis : You
lookin' at it. I got to say you lookin' older.
Ed : I am
older.
Ellis : Got a
letter from your wife. She writes to me pretty
regular, keep me up on
the family news.
Ed : Didn't
know there was any.
Ellis : She
told me you were quittin'.
Ed : You want
a cup?
Ellis : 'Preciate
it.
Ed : How
fresh is that coffee?
Ellis : I
generally make a fresh pot every week even if
there's some leftover.
Ed : That man
who shot you died in prison.
Ellis : In
Angola. Yeah.
Ed : What
would you’ve done if he'd been released?
Ellis : I
don't know. Nothin.
Wouldn't be no point to it.
Ed : I'm
kindly surprised to hear you say that.
Ellis : Well,
all the time you spend tryin' to get back what's
been took from you more is goin' out the door. After
a while, you just have to try to get a tourniquet on
it. Your granddaddy never asked me to sign on as a
deputy. Loretta tells me you're quittin'. How
come're you doin' that?
Ed : I don't
know. I feel overmatched.
I always figured when I got older, God would sort of
come into my life in some way. He didn't. I don't
blame him. If I was him I'd have the same opinion
about me that he does.
Ellis : You
don't know what he thinks. I sent Uncle Mac's
thumb-buster
and badge over to the Rangers. Put up in a museum.
Your daddy ever tell you how Uncle Mac come to his
reward? Gunned down on his own porch over in
Hudspeth County. Seven or eight of 'em come up to
here. Wantin' this and wantin' that. Uncle Mac went
back in the house and got the shotgun, they was way
ahead of him. Shot him in the doorway. Aunt Ella
came out and tried to stop the bleedin'. Uncle Mac all the while
tryin' to get that shotgun. They just sat there on
their horses watchin' him die. After a while, one of
'em says somethin in Injun and they all turned and
left out. Well, Uncle Mac
knew the score
even if Aunt Ella didn't. Shot through the left
lung. And that was that. As they say.
Ed : When did
he die?
Ellis : 1909.
Ed : No, I
mean was it right away or in the night or when was
it?
Ellis : I
believe it's that night. She buried him the next
mornin'. Diggin' in that hard old caliche. What you
got ain't nothin new. This country is hard on
people. You can't stop what's comin'. Ain't all
waitin' on you. That's vanity. |
