Greetings all; in my stories my characters exist in my head, but there might be real life inspirations for some of them. Who knows?
As my regular readers are aware, I enjoy writing about people who possess fluid sexuality. Here I tell the story of an ex-slave's time as Marshal in a frontier town in the old American West. The women he encountered weren't as wholesome and the men weren't as macho as the mythical people who tamed the wilderness as seen in movies and on tv. And oh by the way, there were other black and brown people out there too.
~~
"Alright Magnum, have a drink of water while I'm in here and I'll get you fed in a little while," Thomas Jefferson said to his horse as he tied him to the hitching post in front of the Lodgepole Creek Hotel.
He was wary of how he'd be received as he walked into the lobby, but the clerk didn't show any disfavor when he looked at the tawny coloured man. However he did take a long time to decide how to address him.
"Afternoon," he finally uttered neutrally.
"Hey they-ah," said Thomas, being intentionally cordial.
"Can I help you?" asked the stone faced clerk.
"I'd like a room please," answered Thomas respectfully.
"For how long?" asked the clerk coolly.
"Oh, I don't know. One night for now I guess," replied Thomas.
"That'll be two dollars," stated the clerk as he slid the guest registry in front of him.
After hearing how well spoken Thomas was, and then seeing that he could write his name the clerk slightly arched an eyebrow.
Once he was signed in Thomas looked at the curious expression on the clerk's face and spoke in a friendly tone saying, "Could you tell me where the Town Council is meeting?"
"The bank," replied the clerk. "I expect that's where you'll find em."
"Thank you kindly," said Thomas as he accepted his key and headed up the stairs to his room.
~
After inspecting his room and visiting the chamber pot he strode down the wooden sidewalk heading for the bank. Apparently news traveled fast in Lodgepole Creek, because Mr. Mooney Baggs was outside of his office waiting for him. "Good afternoon sir," said the somewhat effeminate man jovially. "We heard that you were here."
The four men sitting around a table glanced at Thomas for a second. He smiled with one side of his mouth then said, "Afternoon gentlemen."
The men only nodded but Mooney Baggs replied while smiling warmly. "You're friend Captain Kirk told me to expect you today. He did a good job describing you." Then he bit his bottom lip.
Hearing the tone of his voice and seeing the look in his eyes made Thomas smile briefly with one side of his mouth before he took off his hat and waited to see what would happen next.
When no one else said anything Thomas looked at the men sitting at the table and named them one by one, based on how Captain Kirk had described them to him, saying, "Mr.. Doone to the tall man who was a Texan, Mr.. Lagrette to the Mexican, Mr. Express to the man with the fair skin who looked to be from back east. Mr. Wagoner to the red faced man Captain Kirk had warned him about. "Pleased to meet all of you." Then he took a couple of steps forward and offered his hand for each of them to shake.
Mario Lagrette and Tony Express stood briefly and accepted his greeting before sitting back down. However Dick Doone held onto his hand and made strong eye to eye contact that lasted long enough for him to pick up on his interest, which caused Thomas to blush at the thought of bottoming for him.
When Thomas didn't look away Dick wondered if he played, and when he saw how flushed his face became he was sure it was due to the signal he'd sent. It'd been too long since the last time he'd busted a nut in a cowboy's asshole and the possibility of tapping Thomas made his cock began to throb.
"I'm afraid Captain Kirk's telegraph didn't say you were coloured," said Red Wagoner, breaking Thomas and Dick's brief gaze at each other.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that," Mario Lagrette quickly assured.
"It's more about the townspeople and who they'll accept as Marshal," explained Anthony 'Tony' Express.
They all knew that the only townspeople Tony Express was talking about was the fifth member of the Town Council, Red Wagoner owner of the Lodgepole Creek Stagecoach Company.
Even though Mooney Baggs knew that was the case, when he saw the look on Thomas's face he felt more compassion for him than a banker usually feels. "If your friend Captain Kirk stood up for ya, that's good enough for me," he announced. Then he looked each of the men sitting around the table in the eye before continuing, "The Colorado Territory hopes to become a state some day and the politicians want the federal government to know that we consider everybody to be equal."
"I agree with that Mooney," said Dick Doone.
"Here-here," said Mario Lagrette and Tony Express in unison.
"I have an idea," said Red. "If ole Thomas here can cleanup this mess with the Hogg brothers even I will have to give him credit for that."
He then looked at Thomas and said, "A coloured rancher by the name of George Washington was found with an Arapahoe arrow in him, then the Hogg brothers came up with the deed to his Bar K ranch after he was found dead. It was signed with an x. Ah-course, being that he was coloured, George couldn't read nor write.
"The thing is, there was no sign of an Arapahoe war party."
"George's wife Kerry is refusing to leave. She had a coloured hired hand working for her but he left after the Hogg boys threatened him. Somebody's got to get it sorted out before something bad happens to her."
Thomas nodded his head; he could see where this was going.
"Something similar happen to Sam, the owner of the Lodgepole Creek Saloon," said Mooney Baggs. "The Hogg brothers brought in a hired gun to run off the fella who owned the saloon because non of the decent folks in town would go to the saloon they own. The owner wouldn't run, so the gunman baited him into a fight and killed him.
"Afterwards the Hoggs mysteriously came up with the deed to the saloon. It's signed with writing that kinda looks like Sam's signature. They claimed they'd bought the place from him, but they were letting him run it. His daughter Sammy works there, but she didn't know anything about her daddy selling it"
"I'd known Sam for a while. I think he would have come to the bank if he was hurting for money."
When Mooney Baggs finished the room was quiet for a moment, but just as Thomas was about to ask for the bottom line Red Wagoner looked at Tony Express and said, "Tony, ain't you gon tell him about the trouble you've been having?"
At that point Thomas rolled his eyes and wondered what he was getting himself into.
Tony Express cleared his throat before saying, "I own the Express Merchandise and Shipping Company. Somebody has been knocking over my shipments of merchandise between here and Julesburg.
"I have other stores in other towns, but I don't want to have to close this one since I live here."
Thomas bit his bottom lip and exhaled. He'd have a hell of a job ahead of him if they hired him. At least they were honest about what he'd be getting himself into.
Just as he was making up his mind whether or not to accept Red Wagoner's proposal the door to the bank opened. When he turned to see who it was, he saw someone with his head wrapped up like a mummy stumble inside. His right arm was in a sling and when he walked with the help of a crutch he was obviously in a lot of pain.
"Afternoon gentlemen. Sorry I'm late. I ain't movin as fast as I used too," he said.
"No need to apologize Marshal," said Dick.
"I used to be the Marshal. Ain't no more," the man quickly reminded him.
"What in tarnation happened to you?" asked Thomas while eyeing him up and down, before looking him in the eye through the gap between the bandages.
I got busted up like this by Bo Hogg while his no account brother watched," the former Marshal replied.
"Are you going to be okay?" asked Thomas with real concern.
"Uh, yeah, I'm alright, I'm alright," he responded as he waved the hand he was using to hold his crutch. "Specially compared to the two Marshals before me, they're dead."
Hearing him say that made Thomas's sphincter tightened reflexively and he raised an eyebrow as the former Marshal kept talking. "I'm sure the Councilmen have told you about all the things they suspicion the Hoggs of. Let me add another one for you, or make it two.
"Bo got drunk, which he does every day that ends in y. Anyhow, he made the sissy who works here as a teller for Mooney Baggs suck his dick at gunpoint." Then the Marshal abruptly stopped in midsentence and looked at the teller who was keeping the minutes of the meeting.
When Thomas glanced over at him the mortified teller's head was bowed and his eyes were focused on the logbook he was writing in.
The Marshal then continued, saying, "No offense intended there teller... Uh, like I was saying, when I tried to arrest Bo he pistol whipped me to within an inch of my life." Then he paused for a second and looked closely at Thomas. "I'm all drugged up on laudanum count of my busted ribs. Ain't sure if-n everything I see is real. You're a high yella coloured rather than white ain't ya?"
"Uh, yes-surr, I guess I am," acknowledged Thomas.
"Just checking," said the Marshal. "Looky here, this badge is yours to keep if you can bring Bo in for trial."
Thomas looked the former Marshal in his eyes through the gap between the bandages, then took the badge lying on the desk and pinned it on his chest.
"Just so as you know, you ain't hired till after you bring Bo Hogg in," said Red Wagoner.
Which meant that Thomas was laying his life on the line for free, but Red Wagoner had no way of knowing that Thomas didn't care about money when it came to defending women, children, LGBTQ people, or dogs. Cats he was iffy about.
"Where can I find Bo Hogg?" he asked coldly.
"Either the Hogg Ranch Saloon or the Lodgepole Creek Saloon," replied the former Marshal.
Thomas then looked at the Councilmen. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said
~
He walked along the planked sidewalk on main street with his 12 gauge sawed off shotgun in his left hand. Just as he was about to enter the Lodgepole Creek Saloon Butch Hogg rode by on his wagon. He'd just picked up a load of cheap whiskey from the Express Merchandise And Shipping Company and he was drinking from one of the bottles.
When Thomas turned to look at him, Butch saw his androgynous face and long curly hair.
"What the hell are you?" he demanded, as he pushed his dirty beat-up hat higher up his head.
