Free the Hot Kid (2005) by Elmore - Carl Webster 0 Leonard Page B

kinds of pictures of me. Some I'm handcuffed."
    She watched him sit back as the waitress came with their supper and he gave her a pat on the butt when she turned from the table. The waitress said, "Fresh," and acted surprised in a cute way. Louly was ready to tell how Charley Floyd had his picture in the Sallisaw paper fifty-one times in the past year, once for each of the fifty-one banks robbed in Oklahoma, all of them claiming Charley as the one who robbed them. But she knew it couldn't be true, so didn't mention it. They finished their supper, breaded pork chops, and Joe Young told her to pay the bill--a buck-sixty for everything including rhubarb pie for dessert--out of her running-away money. They got back to the tourist court and he screwed her again on her full stomach, breathing through his nose, and she saw how this being a gun moll wasn't all a bed of roses.
    In the morning they set out east on Highway 40 for the Cookson Hills, Joe Young driving the Model A with his elbow out the window, Louly holding her coat close to her, the collar up against the wind, Joe Young talking a lot, saying they'd go on up to Muskogee and hold up a filling station along the way. Show her how it was done. Heading out of Henryetta she said, "There's one."
    He said, "Too many cars."
    Thirty miles later leaving Checotah, turning north toward Muskogee, Louly looked back and said, "What's wrong with that Texaco station?"
    "Something about it I don't like," Joe Young said. "You have to have a feel for this work."
    Louly said, "You pick it." She had the .38 he gave her in a black and pink bag Sylvia had crocheted for her.
    They came up on Summit and crept through town, both of them looking, Louly waiting for him to choose a place to rob. She was getting excited. They came to the other end of town and Joe Young said , "There's our place. We can fill up, get a cup of coffee."
    Louly said, "Hold it up?"
    "Look it over."
    "It's sure a dump."
    Two gas pumps in front of a rickety place, paint peeling, a sign that said eats and told that soup was a dime and a hamburger five cents. They went in while a bent-over old man filled their tank, Joe Young bringing his whiskey bottle with him, almost drained now, and put it on the counter. The woman behind it was frail, flat-chested and appeared worn out, brushing strands of hair from her face. She placed cups in front of them and Joe Young poured what was left of the whiskey into his. Louly did not want to rob this woman.
    The woman saying, "I think she's dry," meaning his bottle. Joe Young was concentrating on dripping the last drops into his cup. He said, "Can you help me out?"
    Now the woman was pouring their coffee. "You want shine? Or I can give you Canadian whiskey for three dollars."
    "Gimme a couple," Joe Young said, drawing his Colt to lay it on the counter, "and what's in the till."
    Louly did not want to rob this woman. She was thinking you didn't have to rob a person just 'cause the person had money, did you? The woman said, "Goddamn you, Mister." Joe Young picked up his gun and went around to open the cash register. Taking out bills he said to the woman, "Where you keep the whiskey money?"
    She said, "In there," despair in her voice.
    He said, "Fourteen dollars?" holding it up, and turned to Louly.
    "Put your gun on her so she don't move. The geezer come in, put it on him, too." Joe Young went through a doorway to what looked like a kitchen.
    The woman said to Louly, pointing the gun from the crocheted bag at her now, "How come you're with that trash? You seem like a girl from a nice family, have a pretty bag . . . There something wrong with you? My Lord, you can't do better'n him?"
    Louly said, "You know who's a good friend of mine? Charley Floyd, if you know who I mean. He married my cousin Ruby." The woman shook her head and Louly said, "Pretty Boy Floyd," and wanted to bite her tongue.
    Now the woman seemed to smile, showing black lines between the teeth she had. "He come in here one time. I