Page 7 of Cowboy in Colorado
I lift the bottle of water I still have in my hand. “So…should I just leave some money?”
She nods. “We’re all used to it, ’round here. It’s an honor system, I guess. You ring yourself up, write down what you got…you just go about your business and be honest.” She sets her canvas bag down, tugs the notepad, paper, and calculator back over to her. “I’ll get ya, sweetie. Just that?”
“Yes, just this.” I dig into my Chanel clutch, pull out a fifty, and bring it over to her.
She eyes the bill. “The water’s a buck fifty.”
I roll a shoulder. “I didn’t bring anything smaller.”
She sighs. “Just keep the water. Not like he’d notice, anyways.”
“Is it that much trouble to break the bill?” I ask, puzzled.
She snorts again. “It’s barely noon. Guarantee I’m the first customer he’s had. And he don’t keep that much change in the store, Beemer.”
“Oh. I see.” I hand her the fifty. “Keep it, then. Put in the drawer.”
She blinks. “It’s a fifty-dollar bill.”
“It’s OK.” I smile. “Perhaps you can help me in another way, then.”
She shakes her head in disbelief, but opens the register and puts the fifty in. “Do my best. What’cha need?”
“I was wondering who is in charge of this place.”
She cocks her head, puzzled. “Of the store? Clancy. Told you that already.”
I shake my head. “No, I meant the town.”
She blinks again, as if I’d asked who owned the moon. “Who’s in charge? Of the town? Nobody. Not that kinda place, Beemer. No mayor, no police. Why? You got a complaint?”
I blink. “No police?”
She laughs. “There’s a county deputy who swings through once in a while, but we tend to take care of things ourselves around here. What’s your issue?”
I shake my head again. “No, it’s nothing like that. Is there someone who owns the town?”
She frowns even harder. “Well, the place is called Auden Town, and all the land hereabouts is owned by the Audens. I ain’t ever stopped to consider it, but I guess if anyone owned the town itself, it’d be the Audens. Why? You lookin’ to buy the town?” She says this last part with a snort of laughter, as if it was obviously a comically stupid idea.
“Well…yes, as a matter of fact.”
She just stares at me. “You on some kind of city-person drugs?”
“City-person drugs? As opposed to country-person drugs?” I shake my head to dispel my confusion. “No, I’m not. I’m very serious.”
“Why in hell would anyone want to buy a little ol’ speck of nothin’ in the middle of nowhere like this? We get our share of lost tourists, but not many come here on purpose.”
“I think it’s best I speak to the Audens.”
She nods. “Yeah, that’s the truth. Well, keep on going down the road. Only two places to go from here, Beemer—straight on through to the Big House, or back to the county highway.”
“The Big House?”
She rolls her eyes. “The main house of the ranch. I ain’t sure who you gotta talk to, but get yourself to the Big House and they’ll be able to tell you. Guessin’ you’ll want Will Auden, but I could wrong.”
I smile at her as I head for the exit. “Well, thank you, Mrs. …”
“Callie. Callie Henderson. My husband Rick is a shift foreman over at Echo Camp.”