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“What the hell is this?”
Vin Tanner asked as he pulled the sprig of mint he had been chewing on
out of his mouth and picked up the item in question.
Ezra, however, recognized it immediately and reached out to
shove Vin’s hand back down so that he would not call
attention to it, silently curse the stagecoach driver that had thrown the
bundle to the boardwalk only to have it split open on impact. “They are ladies pantaloons and not for
public perusal.” Ezra took the offending
item and tried to get it back in its package, but the rent that had allowed
them to spill from their paper grew making it impossible.
For his part, Vin was staring at
the filmy red garment. Who would wear
something like that? Thinking it was
probably on of the girls at the saloon, he started trying to find the name on
the package.
When Ezra realized what Vin was doing he turned away from
Vin and said, “Mr. Tanner, I shall take these over to the saloon and endeavor
to facilitate the package’s redemption with the judicious application of
adhesive and more paper, then see to its delivery to its rightful owner.”
Vin pulled back and ran a hand
through his hair, “Ez, why cain’t you just say you
goin’ ta glue the thing back together and give it to
the gal that bought it?”
“I believe I just did, Mr. Tanner. And my name is Ezra,” Ezra sent over his shoulder as he
headed for the saloon, thankful that Vin hadn’t pursued the matter. He had noted the name on the paper when he
picked it up, and it would not do for the town to discover that Mary Travis,
who was currently incommunicado on her way to the territorial capital, wore
such garments.
And how was he to deliver it? Vin was sure to
recognize it if he didn’t disguise it somehow.
Perhaps the decorative pillow Maude had sent him for his last
birthday? Wrapped together, Vin would not connect the two. And with as many times as things were sent to
her for one of the seven, no one would question if she returned a package to
him a few days later, he would just have to include a note with her
garment.
Only problem was that if Chris saw him giving it to Mary…
Ezra shuddered at the thought. Maybe he
could get Billy to deliver….
