Free Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6 by Bernard Schaffer Page A

 
     
    “Everything all right?”
     
    She looked up to see her husband leaning against the doorframe.   “No, not really.”
     
    “I’ll take over.”
     
    Betsy snorted in contempt, “Oh really?   Since when?”
     
    “Since right now.   Since I saw you sitting there looking so tired.”
     
    “Sure.   Go for it.”
     
    Sam walked over to the crib and picked up his little girl.   His hands were bigger than the back of her head.   “What’s the matter, baby girl?   You cutting some teeth?” he said.   “I know that’s no fun.   When your daddy was a baby, grandpa would rub whiskey on his gums.   Worked like a charm.”
     
    “You put whiskey in my child’s mouth and I will personally shoot you, Samuel Clayton,” Betsy said.  
     
    Sam smiled and bounced Claire up and down in his arms.   She stopped wailing and played with his face, sticking wet fingers in his mouth and talking in soft, high-pitched gurgles.   “See that?” Sam said.   “She’s a Clayton all right.   One talk of whiskey and she’s happy as a clam.”
     
    Betsy sighed and stood up from the rocking chair.   “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna go lay down.   Hopefully she stays quiet long enough for me to actually fall asleep.”   She made it as far as the bedroom door when Claire threw back her head and started screaming again.   Betsy whimpered and dropped her head in defeat.   “Here.   Give her back to me.”
     
    “Nope.   I’ve got a better idea.   You go on and lay down.   I’ll handle this.”
     
    She looked at him skeptically.   “You're serious?”
     
    “Absolutely.”   He carried Claire past her and said, “Come on, you.   Daddy’s gonna show you something.”   Sam pushed the front door open and walked out onto the porch, looking up at the glittering sky in the clear expanse beyond the mountain peaks.   He bounced Claire against his chest as he hurried down the steps and went around the side of the house.   “You want to see the ponies?” he said.  
     
    He walked over to the barn and Claire stared at his massive destrier.   He patted the animal on the side and said, “Be nice now.   Feel how soft he is.”   He took her tiny fingers and stroked the animal’s fur.   Claire laughed in wonder as she patted and pulled.   Sam grabbed his saddle horn and in one swift movement swung himself up onto the animal’s back.   He clicked his teeth and they backed out of the stall and started to walk.  
     
    Sam turned Claire around and sat her face forward in the saddle, keeping his arm around her small chest as they gently rocked side to side.   She played with the destrier’s mane and cooed softly as the cool evening breeze blew through her golden hair.   Sam looked up at the twin moons and said, “I wasn’t much older than your brother when we came here.   I spent my early years on a freighter where my daddy worked in the furnace room.   He hired on with the mining company and off we went.   I’d never seen a skyline before.   Couldn’t believe how big it was.   Sometimes I’d just sit on the porch look up at it, watching it change from day to night.”  
     
    He picked Claire back up and she laid her head against his chest and grew still.   “Guess I bored you back to sleep, huh?”
     
    He kissed the top of her head and guided the destrier back to its stall.   He kept Claire tight to his chest as he lowered himself down and headed for the house.   He knew it wouldn’t always be so easy to make her content.   Knew it wouldn’t always be so easy to keep her safe.   But for right now, it was, and he took a deep breath of her fine, soft hair and locked the door behind him.  
     
    He put Claire down in her crib and checked the windows in her room.   Locked.   He shut her door and looked into his own bedroom.   Betsy lay on top of the covers, sound asleep.   He covered her up and walked around in the dark, inspecting the windows and the yard outside.   All