Sue found herself nodding a bit. "When I was a kid, someone told me teachers were some of the toughest people in the world. I guess that's the proof there, eh?"

Meanwhile, the lockdown still puzzled her. She had to wonder just how long they'd been given those orders...It had been a while since Richard was shot. Shift made no secret of the fact he had no plans to track the guy down. He'd boarded the train after all, God knows where he could end up....With her husband working there, she could have told him it would have been as simple as looking at where the train was headed for and going from there, but he wouldn't hear any of it. She was a woman, after all, what does she know?

She didn't like to become to caught up in it. She needed to move on and live her life...But the way it was handled just made her so mad...She couldn't help but wonder sometimes...

"As it is, I've got the sneaking suspicion we're gonna be the new hotel pretty soon. We already had one overnighter this morning and all the visitors ended up coming in asking about the hotel...George can be such a softy with them, though, he probably won't want to charge them," Sue chuckled a bit.

Cole had filled up his water flask, which was made of buffalo sin. Chances are, the cherokee were the oringal makers of the flask. After that, he had fed his horse some of the oats he had brought with him, but the damn thing ate them all, "Dammit, Earp! Now we gotta buy more food 'fore we can keep goin'!" he scolded the horse, which he named Earp.

"I swear, Earp, you ain't nothing but a hog with a saddle." he grumbled at the horse he went ahead and walked over to the general store (I assume that's what "Mercantile" is) and entered, "Beg yer pardon but I need some horsefeed."

Keith sighed as he rode into town atop his horse. Both rider and mount seemed rather casually bored as they trotted in. Keith was oddly well armed, two pistols on his belt as well as a single barrel sawn off strapped to each leg. A rifle with three barrels arranged in a triangle was upon his back and a knife was visibly strapped to his belt.

He hopped off the horse and looked around at all the "closed" signs boarded up all over the place. "Well that's odd" he mumbled to himself. He progressed down the street thoughtfully while leading the horse. The california sun had warmed him that day and his long coat was left draped over the horse while he went about in his shirt to keep cool as possible. His messy hair getting in his face to offer protection from the sun instead of a hat as was traditional these days.

"So what do you think is so bad for business around here buddy?" Patting the horse as if expecting a response, then answering as if he had actually gotten one, "Yeah I see your point." Kicking a rock on the ground as he walked to amuse himself as he strode deeper into the town.

Rosalie looked at Deputy Jessup. She smiled, it not quite reaching her eyes. "Thank you, I might have to remember that. And thanks again." She said quietly, trying this time to stay calm. After all to much excitement couldn't be great for her. Then she turned towards the man who had his hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you, I think I'll be fine now. I just had to calm down. I'll be fine now, just to help my self calm down I'll head to Mom's Restaurant." Rosalie said, more trying to calm herself down, then the man who was obviously very shaken by her. She smiled softly again, and slowly took his hand off her shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, then you're welcome to come along." She added. He looked too nervous, for his own good.

Kane smiled a little and nodded, he mentally shook off those memories. It bothered him that it came back to so easy; he thought he had his past squared away.
“Yeah, I’d like that.” He said, he was a little surprised but it did not show.
He looked at Jessup. “Thank you for your time deputy.”
Kane looked back to Rosalie. “My name is Joseph Kane, by the way. It's a pleaser to meet you.”

Sue

Mom nods.

"Sheriff says he shut down the hotel cause of the kinda folks it was attractin. If all of them have just migrated on over to your saloon......well, best not think about it. Gotta keep a positive attitude right? After all, maybe all the Sheriff's tryin to do round here is drive out the riff raff.

Cole
OOC - yup that's what it is. Why did Mercantile come into my head before "general store?" hmmm...changed on the main page for clarification.

Chester, the owner of the general store comes out of the back room.

"Horse feed eh? Haven't been sellin as much of that since the Sheriff started on his personal crusade to run all the cowboys outta town. Got quite a supply just sittin round collectin dust. Hell I'll even give you a discount!"

He motions to some bags of oats stacked against the wall.

"Help yourself while ya still can. Just never know when a business is gonna get shut down round here......this here store could be the next one to go."

Kane and Rosalie

Deputy Jessup nods.

"If there's anythin else I can do fer you folks while you're in Coarsegold, you just let me know. I'm sorry to say I don't think the Sheriff will be of much help to any outsiders these days. In the mean time, I was just about to let a few folk out our cells in the back, per the Sheriff's orders. I arrested 'em the other day for thievin, but Sheriff says they done their time.....just watch yer belongings is all I'm advisin...."

Jessup picks up some keys off the desk and heads into one of the back rooms.

"Yes, of course." Rosalie said to Deputy Jessup. Then she turned back to Kane. "Ah, Mr. Kane," she said using formalities, not quite sure how to address him. "I am Mrs. Rosalie Holt." She added, not using her maiden name. She'd her maiden name up until she got married, then when she became a widow on the same day she still used her married name. She smiled wistfully, and walked out of the office. "The restaurant is just this way." She added.

"Who knows anymore. Nowadays it's hard to tell the ruffians apart from everyone else." Sue shook her head and took another bite out of her sandwich.

Her memory kicked in a bit. "Now that I think of it, something else kept coming up between all those guests. Gold. They were all talking about the old mine."

She saw a couple of the women giving her weird looks. Sue continued, "I know they abandoned that mine. They were done with it by the time we moved into town, so I never really learned much about it. But, a couple of those fellas went on arguing about the mine and apparently one of them was arguing with Sheriff Shift about it."

Sue gave a shrug. "Who can understand gold fever, though. I'm just glad mine didn't get into that nonsense. Every fella I've ever seen that went after gold went a little off their rocker in the meantime."

"The restaurant is just this way." Rosalie said with a smile.

Kane smiled back and put his hat on. “Well, after you. You can call me Joseph by the way, Mrs. Holt.” Kane never like people using his first name, but this was a rare exception.
He was about to ask her about being married but decided it would be best not to, not his business after all.

Sue shrugged again. "Who knows with men, really? If they're so much better than us, how come they make idiots out of themselves all the time?"

Sue finished her sandwich, then went up to the counter and gave Mom the money for her food and a tip. "Nice talking to you again, but I better get back to George before he sends one of his customers to hunt me down again. I'll see if I can talk to y'all again later."

She waved bye to the other ladies in the restaurant, then walked out the door and made her way back down the road towards the saloon. She rubbed Papa's head, perched on her shoulder as always, and muttered, "who knows with people, huh, Pops?"

Papa just purred in response as Sue looked around and noticed people on the street. She nodded a bit as a greeting. A lot of visitors lately, things were getting lively around here. She thought she'd seen the woman once or twice before, but wasn't sure enough to go up and say anything.

"Yes, Joseph. I like it, it fits you." Rosalie said. She smiled sadly. Then she turned to him and stopped walking. "Well, I was Mrs. Rosalie Holt. On my wedding day at least. Before Mr. Holt was killed." At this her voice broke off. It was all she could do to say Mr. Holt, she couldn't even bear to say his name. Rosalie turned away for a moment and blinked her eyes rapidly to keep the tears at bay. "It's been 9 years. I was married at 16." She added. Then she turned back around to face him. Then she opened the door to 'Mom's'. "Here it is." She said with renewed cheer.

Monday Evening

The sun begins to set on what may well be Coarsegold's last Monday. The sun peers over the mountains to the west, as if to get a last glimpse of the town before going to bed. The Sheriff rocks on the porch to the Sheriff station, waiting till nightfall when he takes his routine trip to the ladies house down the road. Tonight though, his snide grin could not be found on his face.

Snoopers. The lot of them....he had heard from one of his loyal deputies that people had been sniffing around the station asking questions today. Not to mention his own personal encounters earlier in the day. He would have to discuss this tonight after his.....work out....that was for sure.

Kane, Rosalie

The door swings open, and "Mom" ushers you in. "You tryin to let flies in? Mercy! Come on in and get some supper. What can I get for ya?"

In the corner, Phillip Gauge, the banker, seems to be having a heated argument with the General Store owner.

"Look here Chester I'm doing you a favor! You know as well as I do that this town'll be dead in less than a week! Who you gonna sell your feed to then eh? You answer me that Chester!"

Before he can respond, Mom intervenes. "Now see here you two! You start behavin in my restaurant or I'll have you thrown out on your hind quarters!"

The men grunt, and glare at each other across the table.

Sue
Frederick the pharmacist comes in through the saloon's double doors, this time for his own reasons and not to get a prescription corrected from Doc.

"Ay, ay ay.....what a day.....now that folks are packin up they're gettin all their subscriptions filled before they leave. Too bad business isn't like this all the time though......"

He plops some coins down on the bar. "I'll have a whiskey."

"Coming right up." George took the coins and went to fix up Frederick's drink.

Sue, meanwhile, was being kept busy around the saloon with other patrons. Papa took up his usual post in the rafters, busily pacing along above her.

The conversation was the usual drunk banter, if a bit depressing. Everyone was packing up and leaving. She sighed a bit. At this rate, the town really would turn into a ghost town. She could figure out somewhere else to go if she really needed to, probably hitch a ride somewhere, but she promised to stick it out here. But, being one of the last ones to go was downright depressing.

The drinking seemed to be improving some of the moods, though. And keeping busy kept her mind of all the depressing conversation...and some worries she was having.

Kane was surprised by Rosalie’s sudden explanation of her marriage; he didn’t know what to say.
“I’m… sorry to hear that.” He managed to get out.

Rosalie opened the door to 'Mom's' and said. "Here it is."

“Ok, great.” He was still trying to figure out what to say, it was almost like she read his mind.

Another woman swings the door the rest of the way open and says. "You tryin to let flies in? Mercy! Come on in and get some supper. What can I get for ya?" Kane assumed it was Mom.

Kane heard only a fragment of the argument of the two men in the corner but he had a good idea what it was about.
Kane pulled a chair out for Rosalie and asked Mom. “What’s today’s special?”