Cowboy Girl Annie (10 page)

“
Don't I even get a say?” Big Ed
asked.

“
You can talk all you want once we
get you into an interrogation room.” The sarge handcuffed Ed and
led him away as he chanted the Miranda Rights. The other cops
followed along the two henchmen.

Annie listened to the big man
sputtering his innocence all the way down the alley to the
street.

“
Annie, why did you go and do that?”
Jake groaned, holding his head in his hands as he put his back
against the bakery and slid to the ground. “Big Ed’s going to find
a way to get back out on the street real soon just like he always
does. Sure as shooting, he'll be after the two of us to get even.
Sooner or later, we’re dead meat. The only thing we can do is leave
town fast.”

“
No, we don't want to do that, and we
won’t be in any danger from Big Ed anymore. You fret and stew more
than any other man I've ever seen. You know that, Jake? Big Ed’s
not coming back on the streets for a long time,” Annie assured
him.

Jake raised an eyebrow at her. “How
do you know that?”

“
Remember that gun has history. It
was used in a murder. When I decided to keep it for my own
protection, I didn't know I was going to have a tall, brave man
like you taking care of me.” Annie snickered.

“
Aw, Annie, you're making fun of me,
and I don't like it,” protested Jake as he turned red
faced.

“
Truth be told, I was nervous enough
when Big Ed headed at us to pee my pants. I just didn't want you to
know that.

I figured at this moment, Big Ed was
the right person to give the gun to. Probably the gun belonged to
one of his hit men anyway. Big Ed probably ordered the hit that gun
is connected to,” she stated vehemently. “He was going to have us
killed us out of spite for not joining his crooked protection
business.”

Annie scowled as she picked the
doughnut up before she sat down beside Jake. She turned her grimy
doughnut around in her hands. “Besides, somebody's got to pay for
letting my doughnut get dirty. I can't do anything to a cop and get
away with it so it might as well be Big Ed that pays.”

She handed Jake his sack. “Here, the
other doughnut is still in there.”

“
You shouldn't have to eat that dirty
doughnut. You want to share half of the clean one?” Jake asked
generously.

“
Nah, I am used to making do.” Annie
rubbed her doughnut gently against her skirt. It wasn't clean
enough to eat yet. She picked off more of the grit and flicked the
sticky icing crumbs away from her.

“
You sure are tricky to get the upper
hand on Big Ed. Remind me never to make you that mad at me,” said
Jake, glancing at her sideways.

“
Well, now that I’ve given it some
thought, you seemed to need some looking after to keep you out of
trouble. I’ve just decided to go into the protection business
myself. I'm giving you the honor of being my first client,” stated
Annie.

“
Oh no, I had my fill of Big Ed
pulling that on us. That was enough. Don’t you do that to me, too,”
groaned Jake.

“
Wait, you haven’t heard the payment
you have to give me. For my services, I’d like a fresh doughnut
ever now and then whenever you have spare
change.”

“
A doughnut?” Jake repeated, not
quite understanding at first. When he caught on, his face
brightened. “I reckon I could arrange that if the payment isn't
collected real often,” he agreed, grinning at her. “You know we
both need to get back to rummaging sort of quick like if we plan on
eating any kind of boughten food again soon.”

“
Aw, well, that doughnut is just for
starters as far as payments go. I'm thinking the two of us hit it
off so well we might as well just stick together for a while sort
of like partners and see how it goes. What do you say? Want to
share my cardboard box with me. It's a side by side refrigerator
one with plenty of room, but we might be able to find a freezer
one. That would be roomier yet.” Annie looked down her nose at
Jake, and returned the grin.

Jake puzzled about hanging out with
Annie now that they really didn't need to watch each other's back.
“I thought you was just fooling before when you said you was
getting fond of me. You sure sound serious now.

One thing about hanging out with
you, Annie, you have a way of making life exciting. Sometimes more
exciting than I think I could hack on a daily basis.”

Annie glared at him. “Life wasn't
that exciting until I met you. I'm not so sure all that happening
with Big Ed wasn't partly your fault, too. After all, he did have a
hit out on you for some reason.”

“
My only problem with Big Ed was he
didn't like my hanging out with you, Cowboy Girl Annie.” Skinny
Jake put his arm around her shoulders and smiled teasingly at
her.

Then the two of them burst into a
fit of laughter.

Dang, after what
we've been through it feels good to laugh for a change,
thought Annie. She looked over at Jake now that
he was enjoying himself. She patted him on the leg and continued to
laugh. It feels even better to have a partner to laugh
with.

Laughter had been a rare happening
for a long time, and it sure felt good to be happy. This good
feeling is just about as rare, Cowboy Girl Annie figured, as me
getting anymore doughnuts out of Skinny Jake without him first
checking to see if I have some spending money. He's bound to search
my pockets to make sure I'm not lying when I tell him I'm
broke.

About the author

Fay Risner lives with her husband on a
central Iowa acreage along with their chickens, rabbits, goats and
cats. A former Certified Nurse Aide at the Keystone Nursing Care
Center in Keystone, Iowa, she now divides her time between writing
books, working in her flower beds and the garden and going fishing
with her husband in their boat. Fay writes books in various genre –
historical mystery series, western series, Amish series set in
southern Iowa and two books for Caregivers about Alzheimer's. She
uses 12 font print in her books and 14 font print in her novellas
to make them reader friendly. Her books have a mid western Iowa and
small town flavor. She pulls the readers into her stories, making
it hard for them to put a book down until the reader sees how the
story ends. Readers say the characters are fun to get to know and
often humorous enough to cause the readers to laugh out loud. The
books leave the readers wanting a sequel or a series so they can
read about the characters again.